I squeezed myself through the tunnel of dead nokotush flesh. I retraced the path I’d taken, until I arrived at the… new asshole I made for the monster, and subsequently entered through. It’d take a lot more than this to rattle me, who lived in the halls of Pandemonium.

  I exited the body of my dead prey. The squeeze of rock that followed was a little more complicated, but with my reserves reasonably topped off, I unleashed my magic both inside and out to force myself through the rocks. I swung Devilcalibur to crush them, almost like a digging tool. I found harder and more packed ground, and used that to stand on. I came across several enclosed caverns, and I only paused for a little while before I broke through the next set of walls as I continued my trek up.

  Finally, after a short while of travel–that nokotush had continued trying to escape further down til the very end–I arrived at the straight-ish tunnels that led back into the dwarven tunnels.

  I flew for a very short while, and found a gaggle of dwarves waiting above. Steelballs was among them, but only one person truly stood out to me today.

  “Moonwash!”

  “Haell!”

  We hugged like no one else was here, and no dwarves were digging right next to us.

  “Are you okay?” she asked as we separated.

  “Of course.” I flexed. My armor wasn’t missing too many pieces, but it was dented and depressed all over. I had been crushed so many times today.

  “That’s good. Did you get it?”

  I looked at her, then at the dwarves, before finally glancing down the abyss. “I did. Of course I did! Who do you think I am!? I am the Demon Queen Haell Zharignan, and I have slain the nokotush!”

  My grin widened.

  “Now help me retrieve its corpse.”

  ~~~

  The dwarves started digging. They never really stopped. They had a good idea of the location already, as they were in the process of trying to rescue me previously. A new small tunnel had already been dug; They just weren’t sure if the nokotush was truly dead, or if maybe I just managed to cut off a chunk. It would have been a worthy feat regardless, to be celebrated far and wide.

  But no. I did not do half measures. I finished my prey and finished it with finality. It was dead.

  “Good job,” Steelballs commented. “Even I would only be able to drive it off. But you were able to outright kill it.”

  “Naturally,” I boasted. “I am curious about how you fight, though. So what do you say? A spar?”

  Steelballs shook his head. “No. I’m not interested.”

  I rolled my evil eyes. “Oh come on. What happened to your Steelballs?”

  “You know that’s not what it means.”

  “Bah. Have a little fun. Aren’t those little spars something you guys like to do?”

  “I don’t. I sparred too during my time as a regular soldier, but I never did it for fun. But now those who come back from your pyramids like to do it for fun? What are you guys teaching them?” Oi! There was stink to that ‘you!’ “I’ve heard it used as a substitute for a forge-off, even! What’s wrong with a good-old fashioned forge-off!? It’s not a disagreement worth having if you’re not willing to battle it out on the smithy.”

  The large dwarven man crossed his arms and rumbled throatily.

  I was quiet for a second, until I finally shrugged and said, “I prefer the brawls.”

  “I figured.”

  “Can’t you just humor me? I got you a whole nokotush!”

  “And we’ve already settled on an exchange, for us helping you harvest it. Unless…” he hesitated, but ultimately had to know. “You’re offering us more if I sparred with you?”

  He didn’t want to. But he definitely wanted the worm’s skin! “Yes. If you win.”

  “Haell, plese don’t gamble away my materials,” Moonwash complained from behind me. “It’s not even gambling, because you’re not getting anything if you win.”

  “Ah, you’re right. You gotta give Moonwash something she wants too if I win, Steelballs!”

  “We will not be fighting,” he reiterated.

  “Bah!” I pouted. Why did no one want to fight me? Even Wind Oracle Jascara would only agree if I refrained from using hellfire at all. No infusing it into my eyes either! This was tyranny! Yet I had to agree, because there was so much training and knowledge to be had fighting her. It wasn’t fair! Maybe I would’ve knocked that bird out of the sky if I could just get in her head in the bluntest way I know how!

  “Haell. Are you coming?” Steelballs called from the new length of tunnel dug.

  “Yes,” I grumbled. I just realized that I definitely should not go around calling harpies birds. I was friends with a whole bunch of them. They were genuine sapient people just as full and valid as everyone else, and all that bullshit.

  Astan was a bird though. The suprasoars were birds. And they had no problems being referred to as such even when they’d achieved sapience.

  Whatever.

  I marched further into the tunnel, and followed the dwarves’ progress. I felt the nokotush’s corpse near, and sure enough, blood began to seep through the stone as they exposed the monster’s broken skin.

  I was ready to start hacking, but the dwarves actually had a different plan by making a proper cavern around the massive pile of Materials ready to be butchered. Moonwash was greatly interested in this process, and I watched her take notes.

  Finally, it was time to dismantle, preserve, and carry off the remains topside. More dwarves came down for this work, despite how so many tunnels were still a little unstable because of this very monster. I learned from them what needed to be done, and helped out. I was given knives and blades fitting for my size twice their own, which I put to work on the larger and tougher parts that needed to be separated out.

  Good fight. Good work. It was a pretty fun day.

  ~~~

  A large number of wagons both big and small gathered along the foot of Mount Hargo. An impressive variety of animals, and sometimes people, were here to pull them. Crates upon crates of various products were being loaded into the carriages. People of so many different species worked together to prepare the massive caravan that we were all about to ride home.

  “Good luck out there,” Steelballs said as we all stood by the largest tunnel mouth leading into the mountain. “You’re welcome to come back anytime.”

  “You know how fast we can be. We really will take you up on it.”

  “As you should. You’re no harpy, but you’ve yet to reach the limits of your flight,” Jascara said from above.

  “Yeah. I’ll go come back for that.” I was genuinely grateful, despite my complaints about not being able to go all out. That wasn’t the point of the exercise.

  “Everyone! Please board! We depart in 10 minutes!” High Councillor Aran shouted. These periodic visits to the dwarven and harpy lands were so lucrative, that New Grandera sent full-on High Councillors to lead it.

  The harpy territory was a pleasant and unique place to vacation as well.

  “We’re ready.”

  “To the harpies above! Please descend for a moment, so we can start our journey with the right count.”

  Of course, the dwarves and the harpies cooperated, but still had their own way of organization.

  “Well, that’s our cue.” I held out my hand, and Moonwash jumped on. “Don’t miss me too much.”

  “We won’t.”

  “Good riddance!”

  “Rude fuckers,” I snapped my jaws at the Oracle and Creator Smith pair, before then taking off and alighting on mine and Moonwash’s set of wagons. They were all dwarven made, and packed to bursting with our purchases.

  Our caravan began its travel west, back to New Grandera.

  ~~~

  The journey proved uneventful.

  It took quite a while until any monster was finally brave enough to actually attack our caravan.

  It was a Level 40 warsymbol that came barreling out of the treeline, knocking aside trees along the way. The animal was immediately met by a barrage of projectiles, from the ground and from the air, so I didn’t even bother getting up to meet it. I just chose this as an opportunity to practice my archery a bit more, and gouged some pretty good holes on my opponent as it finally realized its mistake and tried to flee.

  Too little too late.

  ~~~

  Another time, Moonwash spotted a particularly distinct canopy beyond the treeline, and I carried her over to take a look. People were still startled by the sudden sonic booms, but they quickly calmed down. Plenty of them had gotten used to it on the way to the mountain before anyway.

  I balanced in the air with newfound grace as Moonwash picked the riyu fruits at leisure.

  ~~~

  “I GOT IT!” My eyes snapped open as I suddenly shouted in the middle of the night.

  People stirred awake, and I winced.

  “Sorry about that!”

  No one really dared to make too much of a fuss. My reputation preceded me now.

  “What did you get?” Moonwash asked, rubbing the sleep in her eyes.

  Ah. Now I really feel guilty.

  I extended a hand down, and pulled her up to the carriage rooftop. I tossed an anti-sound enchantment between us as the words were just ready to spill out of my mouth.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “I got it!” I repeated, but my sheer enthusiasm would not spill into the greater camp this time. “The way to curse the entire demon race! Or well, to change us. Change the way we reproduce. Progenitor privileges!”

  “Okay. What is it?”

  “Self-Destructive Antipathy Magic!” I spoke the name I’d come up with, with relish.

  “I see,” she leaned right up to my face. “Tell me more.”

  “W-well… There’s already magic that harms another for how I am harmed. But it’s inherently only aimed towards those who directly hurt me. Physically. So what I need to figure out is how to propagate a curse from myself to other people through some other medium. And that’s when I came up with sympathy! As I’m hurt, so do you feel my pain. Trying to activate my curse with that does give a little bit of a response. But sympathy doesn’t really feel like a curse. A bit of messing around with my mana confirmed that. But if I just tweaked it a little, then I might actually be able to get something! There’s just… no one word for the concept I’m thinking of in either Varyalan or Angelian, hence Self-Destructive Antipathy Magic.”

  Moonwash was quiet for a few seconds. “I’ve never heard of such a magic, but it’d be great if we can figure it out.”

  “Yeah! Let’s do it!” Ideas were already flooding my head on how it could be used.

  ~~~

  Some unlucky crustecar adventurer fell to a tyrantula who targeted the tailend of the convoy, and had somehow avoided all the scouts. The adventurer held the creature in her big claw as she died. I arrived way too late, as did the harpies above who also immediately reacted to her shout.

  Pina was her name. And she would be the only casualty of this whole trip.

  ~~~

  The caravan reached its main destination, though it had already shed a fair number of people in the towns and villages along the way. Wayfarer City accepted all the carriages into its massive square, where most of the people we had traveled with would spend some days or more, before moving on to their own destinations.

  I and Moonwash only stayed for a night, before we got back on the roof of one of our hired carriages and went straight for Arisen City.

  We could’ve just left and went back home, really. The dwarves and harpies could finish the delivery themselves. Hell, there was no need for us to have joined the caravan at all. But Moonwash insisted on guarding her stash herself. We’d bought literal metric tons of Materials, but she was also excited about all the finished works she’d bought off the dwarves.

  “Visiting their true home is really different. The pyramid dwarves probably do experiment more, but there aren’t that many of them, whereas Dargo has been stockpiling for generations. I love all their unique ideas, even if most of them don’t work. There’s always something to be learned, and I think their sensibilities can be so different that they might not recognize what we find to be beautiful.”

  So saying, she hefted a jar that contained the figure of a dwarf created by a patchwork of different fleshy monster parts glued together, and then finally preserved in some amber solution.

  “You’re right. How could they ever have let go of this gem?”

  ~~~

  “Well, I guess they’re fearless.”

  Very few creatures had dared to attack our convoy so far despite being only a fraction of the size of our original caravan. Monsters had good instincts, and bandits were smart enough not to try. Not only the dwarves, but we still had harpies as part of our escort, which meant that it was really truly unlikely for any serious trouble to befall our delivery.

  The goblins did not care. Even if they were to die, their corpses would just be reused by their seeds to rise as goblins anew. We had already come across a few patrols, but now the whole horde had come down upon us. The dwarves and harpies immediately began their bombardment, and I took it upon myself to dive into the fray and get their attention all on me.

  Taunt.

  They swarmed.

  I didn’t set the treeline alight, because the people on our caravan might suffer, and I didn’t really need to.

  Not against this caliber of enemies.

  Resentment came out to play.

  Nothing stopped me from spreading my rot, nor my flesh-mangling curse.

  We wiped out the horde, and the dwarves dug a pit nearby.

  The corpses were tossed there, and now I finally had the chance to burn something.

  The blood red pyre rose high, and everyone else took a hesitant step back as I basked.

  There would be a bounty for this. Especially with us having taken the right steps.

  I did feel bad for starting the trend that led to the larger proliferation of goblins. I occasionally took quests to make up for it a little. I spent so much of my time killing anyway. It didn’t hurt to rekindle that adventurer spirit every so often.

  Arisen had its own guilds that were compatible with the systems of either New Granderas. Rather, we just kept the exact same one as the south.

  ~~~

  “Can I flip the page?” Moonwash asked.

  “Wait a second.” And I did mean a second.

  The pitter patter of the rain echoed outside the carriage as I and my girlfriend read through the same big book. This wasn’t something we usually did, as we both preferred to read at our own pace, but it was nice once in a while. The story about a harpy who flew all the way to another world was boring at times, but utterly heartwrenching in others.

  Our caravan really did arrive at Arisen City without encountering a single problem that its crew couldn’t have dealt with on their own. I had told my girlfriend as much, but I did enjoy this small vacation that we took.

  ~~~

  —Larah PoV—

  Born to two fountan parents.

  They lived a good life, just providing mana like a plant.

  They wanted the same for me. It’s how I was raised.

  But my sights were always set outside, instead of the parlors where we gossiped as our mana founts did all the work for us.

  I wished I could’ve used that frost magic myself. I think every fountan has thought the same at least once.

  I WANT MAGIC.

  Haell placed her hand on my head as I repeatedly reasserted myself and my identity.

  I tried to show resolve as her terrifying eyes stared back at mine.

  I sought new friends.

  We explored the city and caused trouble.

  I never stopped no matter how my parents scolded me.

  I haven’t talked to them since I joined the Adventurer’s Guild.

  Oh how they begged me to stop.

  But I WANT TO SEE THE WORLD.

  Curse mana flooded into my mind, and I screamed like every other time. I chanted the mantra of my whole life, and I swore that this time, I would conquer my emotions and earn Haell’s approval!

  We formed the Hope Aspires.

  We saw Haell Zharignan and felt inspired.

  We crossed through the border, losing half of our party along the way.

  Those damned Edengarians.

  Those damned monsters.

  I WANT REVENGE.

  I WANT POWER.

  I WANT TO BECOME A DEMON.

  Ragnar grunted from beside me. An ugly expression twisted his face, but he remained still.

  I remembered then that I shouldn’t be struggling so much. The goal was to control it. I must appear calm.

  I will act like how you want me to act.

  Like how I once lied to my parents and apologized.

  I’m calm I’m fine I’m of the right mind.

  One day I will sink a dagger into your back.

  Once I have her power, I will be unstoppable!!!

  “It’s working,” I said as clearly as I could. “This is it. I’m ready.”

  “Ehhh, give it time,” Haell just decided on her own.

  Anger ruined the smile I had tried so hard to plaster on in the face of this tyrant.

  I want to kill her, peel her, and wear her skin.

  She didn’t deserve to be a demon.

  It should be me! I’ll make better use of it!

  “Fine,” I spat. “This is it for today then. I’m tired.”

  “Okay,” Haell shrugged and removed her claws on my head.

  I was forced to just stare at her as she continued to flood curses into that Ragnar who was doing a better job of fooling her and keeping still!

  “What about the chains?” I gritted out.

  “After I’m done with Ragnar. We gotta hang out, remember?”

  “Watch us, you mean.”

  “I can do both.”

  “No. No, you’re only here to watch us. I bet you don’t even intend to turn us into demons. Just leading us along! We’re not friends.”

  She paused, and then turned a glare at me that made me fear.

  “No. We are. Just maybe not right now. But this’ll be so funny later.”

  “ARGH!” I snapped and lunged for her, but the chains held me back. How dare she how dare she how dare she! “You are no better than the people that imprisoned you!”

  He fist barreled towards me, and I didn’t even have the time to flinch. But it missed.

  “Hah! You can’t even hit–”

  “I did not hit you.” The demon relaxed. “I’ll release you later. You literally did ask for this. That’s what makes me better than those scum.”

  I snarled, but didn’t say any more. Only glared at her.

  I watched Ragnar’s progress, who looked so stressed, but yet endured.

  Why can he do this so much better than me?

  Why can he pretend?

  Why can’t I?

  Why why why why why why!?

  I began to feel like maybe I made a mistake.

  Did I really just antagonize our one greatest benefactor?

  I didn’t fully agree with her take on demonhood, but she didn’t have to help. She was doing so much just to try and give us what we want… safely.

  She was a true friend.

  I hope I didn’t just ruin that!

  Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

  “Oh shit I’m sorry Haell!” I screamed. “I didn’t mean it! Any of that!”

  “It’s fine,” she smiled kindly, though it still looked so scary. Demons were so cool. “I, of all people, understand.”

  ~~~

  —Back to Haell PoV—

  “That’s not good,” I commented as I sat in on my own Arisen City’s war council. A map was sprawled out on the table, and it showed two New Granderan cities that they’d held for a few years now, retaken by Edengar.

  “Eden appeared,” Granuel said, troubled. “She’s not a demon, with all the magic that you wield, but she’s still a very effective spearhead for a charge.”

  “...She is,” I admitted through gritted teeth. Their Hero-rank Queen had finally chosen to get off her toilet throne to help out her own side. I wished she’d stayed constipated for longer.

  “It’s a shame,” General Qilian added. That she’s not shitting herself anymore!? I agree. Qilian was an old belfegor commander from New Grandera who took a position here in her later years. The old woman’s well-honed guerilla tactics suited our small standing army just fine, when all they had to do in the event of a direct invasion was stall long enough for me to return. “The situation on the frontlines was really affecting them. Their armies were becoming less and less effective despite their territory contracting. Even all that brainwashing and indoctrination will break under enough pressure. But now, Queen Eden is stabilizing things again. It’s not just her power, but her presence, and the reputation that surrounds her.”

  “Then I’ll just go and destabilize them again,” I stated plainly, snarling.

  “Are you sure that’s wise?” Qilian dared to ask. “What if you meet Eden? What if she suddenly ambushes you?”

  “Then I’ll kill her,” I snapped. Do you think me so much weaker than that bitch!? “If she’s foolish enough to appear in front of me again, then I won’t let her escape a second time.”

  If I can. My fury only grew as a niggle of doubt crossed my mind.

  In truth, I’d thought about it many times. Our last fight replayed over and over in my head. My memory core let me relive every painful detail. I raged at every mistake that I made. The shame burned, stronger than the hellfire in my veins, as I watched myself be toyed with, barely able to land a single hit.

  But I refused to cower. Not against her, who had stuffed me in prison, and tried to rape me in both mind and body to make more demon babies. That was an insult I would never ever forgive. I… didn’t want to lose, but I wanted to be frozen in fear even less.

  If we were to meet, then so be it. Eden would suffer for our every fight.

  My friends had thoroughly impressed upon me that my methods were torture in and of themselves.

  Another slow chapter after a big fight. Established a whole bunch of things, at least. That whole caravan trip, I kept trying to think of a good side event to happen, until I settled on how it’d actually be good to show how strong these caravans can be. And how Haell now fares against regular travel like that. Something she used to do all the time. But now something the cast hasn’t done in a while because they just kept taking Air Haell to destinations. Portal Zharignan. Demon Queen Spacelines.

  We could’ve gotten a fight if Steelballs steeled his balls!!

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