Chapter 32: Holy vs Evil.
Huo Yuhao was on his motorbike speeding towards the crater that he created with his rail gun attack, ready to meet one of the unique people of this world, the white rabbit.
Why was this creepy rabbit that showed humanlike behavior unique? You ask with a haughty tone while looking at the author with a piercing gaze for his late upload schedule. And, I answer with the same haughty tone while scrambling through wikis to obtain information about various worlds.
(An: Seriously this is not fun anymore. I spent more time on wikis last week that I started questioning if it was worth it.)
The white rabbit aka Usagi had two saint titles, meaning that he reached the pinnacle in two fields that world's consciousness offered him two saint titles, making him the first of his kind to achieve that status.
The saint title is a very noble and precious thing in the world of Argena. It is proof that the holder of that title had reached the pinnacle in certain fields.
When they obtain the [Saint] title, they can be considered a part of the [Holy].
But what is the [Holy] in the first place? You ask with an annoyed tone as you drink your iced tea. And I answer with the same tone, drinking my cold energy drink while also wearing a jacket because the weather is truly unpredictable at the moment.
(An: Seriously, global warming is a serious issue. Currently, it is too hot in the morning and too cold at night.)
The [Holy] is a group of remarkable individuals that achieved the pinnacle of their field and signed a contract with the world's consciousness to fight against the [Evil] and protect mankind.
The [Evil] is the opposite side of the same coin. It is the collective embodiment of humanity's darkest desires and deeds, gathered and sealed within [The World's Disposal Ground], a place where the warm, gentle sun never shines upon.
(An: Think of this as a weakened version of Angra Mainyu, aka Angry Mango.)
In a sense, the Holy were protecting mankind from itself, but that was a task that they accepted and were rewarded for by the world's consciousness.
The world's consciousness of Argena would boost the stats of the saints and allow them a faster growth rate as long as they keep fighting against the [Evil]. In case they stop fighting against the [Evil], the contract would be considered fulfilled, and the saint is no longer a part of the [Holy].
(An: Think of the [Holy] as counter guardians but treated like humans and not collared dogs. Emiya signed the contract with a black-hearted company.)
So now you can imagine how special this white rabbit was, having two saint titles.
His titles as [The Kicking Saint] and [The Ear Saint] meant that he achieved the pinnacle in the art of kicking and the art of hearing, and Yuhao was excited to spar with such an individual.
"Can we not meet that rabbit, Yuhao?" the tuna asked with a heavy tone. She didn't like the rabbit as it reminded her of certain memories that she preferred to remain buried in her mind.
"Well, he is one of the strongest people on the planet, and I need to know how strong I am compared to the saints," the blond boy answered the tuna while maneuvering through [Great Devil's Den] forest with his motorbike.
Huo Yuhao had an arsenal of top-tier skills, elements, and powers that could make him grow into a powerhouse in the future, and he wanted to use all of his arsenal to achieve victory with overwhelming might.
The best way to know how strong he was, was to keep testing his limits, and sparring, fighting, and killing strong individuals was the best way to test those limits.
"Hmph⁓" the Herrscher living in his head just pouted at him and sent a gust of wind to his face, messing with his hair. Yuhao ignored the domestic abuse and focused more on the road.
The ride to the crater was a silent one, with the occasional hmphs from the cute tuna living in the stigma space.
…⁓⁓⁓…⁓⁓⁓…
The white rabbit aka Usagi was bewildered. He had heard rumors spreading around [Great Devil's Den] forest.
Wandering adventurers and knights that guard the post around [Great Devil's Den] forest heard monster wails and roars more frequently in the last month.
That was not something new in [Great Devil's Den] forest. The forest housed calamity monsters that could end cities and kingdoms with ease; they simply stayed inside the forest for its dense mana and food resources, so they did not find a reason to leave.
However, throughout history, there have been recorded instances of anomalous monsters emerging from the forest, driven by a singular purpose: the destruction of human civilization.
Entire cities and kingdoms have fallen to their overwhelming power, with salvation coming only through the intervention of the [Holy] or the ultimate sacrifice of a nation's army.
This was the reason a post was established near the forest—to serve as an early warning system for the kingdoms, alerting them to any irregular monsters that might emerge from [Great Devil's Den] forest.
Luckily for humanity, irregular monsters were rare, and the chances of them surviving inside the forest were even rarer. That was the reason why humanity enjoyed a period of peace, but that peace, however, was going to end soon.
A month ago, adventurers and knights in the posts surrounding the [Great Devil's Den] forest felt the ground shaking and heard the wails and roars of a horde of monsters inside the forest. They thought that this was the end, but to their surprise, it stopped shortly after.
Needless to say, they were on high alert, and support requests had been sent to various kingdoms. They had learned from their mistake and would never allow it to happen again.
The situation continued for a month; every day tremors would shake the very earth that the post was built on, and the roars and wails of monsters would echo throughout the forest before stopping shortly after.
They requested one of the saints to investigate what was happening inside the [Great Devil's Den] forest, and [The Kicking Saint] was the first to respond.
He was heading towards the monster horde to determine the reason for such an unnatural phenomenon, only to find a crater filled with blood and traces of energy that he had never felt before.
He was bewildered by such a scene—one moment he could hear the noise coming from a huge number of monsters, and in the next moment, he heard silence.
(An: He did not see Yuhao's railgun attack.)
But he did not give up on a lead in the investigation, and he started thinking like a certain rabbit that would trick a girl named Alice into entering a wonderland.
His ears picked up the sound of something moving towards him at a fast speed. He was [Ear Saint] for a reason; being able to hear farther than anyone allowed him to pinpoint where enemies might attack him, and he could respond with ease.
He waited for a moment to see who was foolish enough to attack the one and only twin saint title holder, only to be left gobsmacked when he noticed a blond human? moving towards him on a magical item that he had never seen before.
He watched as the human child neared him before stopping. He got off the magical item, and it disintegrated into nothingness as the blond boy stared at him.
"Nice to meet you, Kicking Saint. Would you like to spar with me a little?" the boy asked with his immature voice, leaving the twin saint title holder stunned and speechless.
'What the hell happened inside [Great Devil's Den] forest?' he thought to himself as he stared at the boy in front of him.
…⁓⁓⁓…⁓⁓⁓…
"Hahahaha," the tuna was rolling on the ground laughing. The stunned expression on the rabbit's face was priceless, and Yuhao was barely preventing himself from joining her.
"I remember that the white rabbit used to troll normal people by disguising himself as a cute, normal rabbit for them to approach and pet him," Yuhao recalled reading about that part in the novel.
"Only for him to start speaking with a mature voice and standing on two legs, freaking them out. So, it is satisfying to see him all stunned by my appearance." He was satisfied by leaving one of the greatest trolls in this world stunned and speechless.
The tuna laughed even harder after knowing that information. She was creeped out at first by the rabbit, but seeing that stunned reaction on the rabbit's face was so funny that she forgot about her unpleasant memories.
The rabbit, also known as Usagi, snapped out of it and started observing Yuhao with great interest. He felt similar energy to that in the crater around the boy, so he guessed that the boy was linked to the crater in some way or another.
Another thing he noticed about the boy was that he was not human? He couldn't tell exactly, but even though the boy looked human, his presence was not entirely human.
He felt that way towards half-elves, but the boy had no characteristics of elves around him.
"Name?" Usagi asked the blond boy in front of him. He recalled that the boy had asked for a spar, but that could wait a bit.
"Huo Yuhao," Yuhao answered with a neutral tone and met Usagi's eyes. He was quite surprised by the rabbit's deep voice, so much so that he suspected that Usagi was British in his past life or something.
The tuna nearly passed out from laughing before recomposing herself and paying attention to the situation at hand.
"You already know who I am, but still. I am [The Kicking Saint]. As for your sparring request, we can spar after you answer a few questions, how about that?" Usagi replied with an amused tone.
It was not every day that someone would ask to spar with a saint, as they are known to be the best at their field, so seeing that boy ask for a spar was refreshing.
"Ask away, [Kicking Saint]. But I will only answer what I am comfortable with," Yuhao replied to the white rabbit in front of him with a shrug, and Usagi just nodded to him.
And that was when the friendship between the boy and the rabbit started in [Great Devil's Den] forest.
(Chapter 32 finished.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Author's Note:
Phew, this chapter is about 1.8k words without the author's note. Shorter than the usual chapters. I will try to at least post every other day or so. Let's hope that we can keep the upload schedule consistent.
I spent some of the chapter explaining the setting of the world as the anime did not really explain much. It even changed the name [Evil] to [The Vile], which was weird.
We are following the light novel, and there is no major difference between the anime and the novel. Just a couple of details that I would mention in the chapter if needed.
Yuhao finally met with one of the main cast of the original story, and I added the part about the post surrounding [Great Devil's Den] forest for a future plot, and it kinda makes sense for the kingdoms to have a safe line around the forest that has monsters that could end humanity, you know?
Managing time really requires self-discipline and strong will. I wasted a lot of time on wikis to learn about tech and abilities from games to implement in the upcoming arc before returning to Douluo Dalu.
Also, I wasted a lot of time finding fanfics on Webnovel, but most of them are unbearable at the moment. It's either smut or translated stuff that doesn't appeal to anyone, which is frustrating.
Sigh, recommend good stuff that is currently being updated.
For those who asked for Patreon, I am not entirely sure about the process, but I am mostly done with it. Just a question: what should the tier cost be?
Like, what is the amount that you are comfortable spending on Patreon without it sounding too expensive?
I visited the Patreon of famous fanfic authors to get an estimate, and mostly they set it to 7-10 American dollars, but I would like to ask my target audience.
Would you be interested in joining a Discord server? I don't know how to manage one, but I can give it a shot if the majority would join in.
I'm ready to read all your suggestions in the comments. Share some waifu pics in the comment section to cheer me up a bit.
Anyhow, don't forget to comment on memes, share your thoughts, and, most importantly, post waifu pics.
That's all for now.
Bye.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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