Chương 53: Exalted Figure of Demon Continent
"This… this can't be happening!"
Astaga cursed while he ran as fast as he could. In front of him were Princess Aiburi and Misaka. Both Misaka's spirits and the fairies accompanying them were no more in sight. They might have been killed by their pursuer, Demon General Ebulis who was hot on their tails.
"Uncle… uncle Selitis…"
"Shut up, princess! Focus on escaping first and you can cry all you want later."
Misaka reprimanded the crying princess harshly. She was also at a loss right now. She regretted the fact that she agreed to help this princess. She knew that this mission was impossible from the very start yet she agreed on impulse.
The three of them were running like a caged rat inside White Stone City, the largest city in Stoness Dukedom. They arrived here one days ago and immediately requested a meeting with the lord, Reptilian King Selitis as soon as possible. Who would have thought that this meeting was actually the signal for Kuriza and Ebulis to commence their coordinated attack instead?
At the moment, Reptilian King Selitis was in a deadlock against Death Bringer Kuriza inside his palace. Everything happened too fast. During the meeting between the princess and Reptilian King Selitis, Kuriza suddenly appeared and tried to assassinate Selitis on the spot.
Selitis who was also a top ranked insane boss managed to evade that sneak attack and they soon entered an intense fight. The scale of the fight escalated quickly when all other high level guards inside the palace showed up to assist Selitis who was fighting Kuriza.
Only with the help of his elite guards could Selitis fight off Kuriza who was obviously stronger than him. Kuriza was an undead, a zombie to be exact. He had high physical and magical resistance on par with those legendary dragons themselves. Someone like Selitis couldn't even hope to fight against him one on one.
On top of a sneak attack from someone ranked sixth on the strongest list, there was even another group of enemy acting as a backup. This person was surprisingly another member of the top ranked insane bosses list, Demon General Ebulis and his close aids. How could Selitis alone fend off these enemies by himself?
Misaka, Princess Aiburi and Astaga was still on the run. One wrong turn inside the city and now the three of them were surrounded by enemies. All of them were Ancient Demon Empire's elite unit led by Ebulis himself.
"Go on, Princess! I'll hold them off!"
Astaga was quick at making decision. Now that all the exits were blocked, he decided to sacrifice himself by acting as a bait. Misaka would be able to break through the other side while he delayed their pursuer. They must do it fast or Ebulis who was currently afar might catch up.
"No, Astaga! We need to survive together!"
"We can't! The situation is beyond bad already. Go follow Misaka and move out from this city!"
At the moment, Misaka was in no mood to babysit the princess either. She only had one thing in her mind, her own survival. She already said so before this. She would abandon these people once her own life was threaten.
"Just go! Berserk Call!"
Burning his own life force to activate his racial skill, Astaga smiled at the princess one last time before he rushed toward the three enemies who was approaching. The other two enemy who was blocking their path were in battle with Misaka right now.
Reluctantly leaving her knight behind, Princess Aiburi made up her mind as she ran forward. Misaka was quite good in battle despite how clumsy she looked. She managed to defeat the two enemies in a few seconds. Aiburi didn't know that those demon blocking her were just normal boss monster which were literally as weak as a child compared to godkins.
Misaka ran toward the city gate without looking back. Princess Aiburi was close by, out of breath. She never ran that far all her life. This was the very first time she ran as if her life was on the line.
"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!"
Before the two of them could let out a relieved sigh, a loud bang resounded in front of them. A large crater was created with a person in the middle of it. Someone they didn't want to see most was now standing in front of them. This person was Ebulis, the Demon General. Him being there meant both Misaka's spirits were already dead, killed by him.
"Planning on leaving? Hehehehe."
With a grin on his face, Ebulis stared at both Misaka and Princess Aiburi.
"The princess, will be my trophy while you, human, will die here!"
Together with his loud roar, Ebulis swung his big spear toward Misaka. This attack was just a normal attack but the force behind it was no joke. Misaka leapt to the side, evading that attack with haste. The land cracked after the spear landed, leaving a small fissure at the area.
"You did good evading that, human!"
Both her swords were already unsheathed as she observed the demon in front of her. Misaka knew that her chances of winning against this boss was next to nothing. Bleu and Reid, both her spirits died trying to stall this guy. She alone obviously wouldn't fare any better.
"I won't give up that easily! Dual Slash!"
Both her swords shone brightly as she attacked Ebulis. Dual Slash was actually a skill for her class, Blade Dancers. That same skill was often used by Mays who was a Magic Swordsman. Hidden class had several of their skills integrated from other class, the same as Shield Bash skills which Ria often used. It actually belonged to Knights.
"Ktang!"
The [Dual Slash] was parried easily by Ebulis's spear. Misaka was just not used to fighting. Her motion was straight out of the textbook slashing pattern. Unlike Mays who moved elegantly, her movement really brought shame to the name blade dancer.
Another spear strike from Ebulis and Misaka was sent flying like a ragdoll. Her defense was low to begin with. She might be able to fight toe to toe against an intermediate bosses but insane boss was totally on a different level.
"Ugh!"
Misaka coughed out a mouthful of blood as she once again stood up. Walking toward her leisurely was Ebulis with his spear ready to strike.
"You're tougher than you look human. This time, I'll send you to the underworld for real. Destruction Spear!"
For the first time in the fight, Ebulis used an attack skill. He only used normal attack thus far but that was already enough to deal with Misaka. Now that he used an attack skill, Misaka's chances of surviving was obviously non-existent.
"So what? Sword Dance!"
Most people would cower in fear in front of these kind of overwhelming odd. It was beyond obvious that Misaka stood no chance against Ebulis yet she didn't falter. Her fighting spirits was over the top. He rushed toward Ebulis without fear for her own life.
"KTAAAAAAAAAANGGG!"
Princess Aiburi who stood at the side couldn't believe what she saw. Misaka who was about to attack Ebulis stopped midway because Ebulis was not in front of her anymore. He had been sent flying quite a distance away, buried under the rubbles of the building he rammed into. In front of Misaka right now was a man in black armors with a body size comparable to a pro wrestler.
"When… Since when were you here?!"
Rather than showing a grateful face toward her savior, her face right now was totally pale. She knew well who the person in front of her was. It was Black Death Whacko, one of the two leader of DarkMonarch.
"Well, well. Here you are, Misaka."
Not too far from them, another man dressed in black came out. He was Stan, Whacko's counterpart. The two of them made the infamous Black Death Duo.
Fiuu! Fiuuu!
One after another, elites of DarkMonarch appeared, surrounding the whole area in an instant. The whole DarkMonarch was here in Stoness Dukedom for reasons unknown. Princess Aiburi didn't even know what to think of. This was the first time in her life seeing so many humans in demon continent.
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Twenty one exalted figure. These exalted figure was widely known in Demon Continent. Each and every single one of them held absolute authority over their designated dukedom and the likes. These exalted figure were none other than the top insane bosses in HeavensTale with the addition of the former Demon Lord in the mix.
Unlike the boss ranking where each and every individual bosses were ranked according to their strength, the classification for these exalted figure was simpler. There were only three category of bosses which were the sky ranks, the earth ranks and the mortal ranks.
These ranks started with the lowest one which was the mortal ranks. Insane bosses or these exalted figure need to overcome their heavenly tribulation to gain the recognition of everyone in demon continent. So far, only twenty one figure managed to survive this tribulation.
Sky rank were conferred to those with extreme prowess which could change landscape on a whim. They passed through the tribulation as if it was nothing. There were only six such beings thus far with two figure sharing the ultimate top, the former Demon Lord and the Black Dragon King. Both Drasca and Shalala were also members of this rank.
The earth ranks were second tier rank with only five members while the mortal ranks had a total of ten people in it. Those of earth ranks were way weaker than those of sky ranks but they were still stronger than mortal ranks regardless.
Drasca attempted the heavenly tribulation and was conferred the sky rank around two hundred years ago. Back then, she was an exceptional genius nurtured by the flood dragon race, the ShenLong Dukedom. She passed the heavenly tribulation at the young age of one hundred and sixty years. It was also at that time when something entered her consciousness, forcefully taking control of her body.
Two hundred years. It was by no means short. She lost control of her body, caged inside her own consciousness while another personality took over. The hatred she had for the one who did that to her was unimaginable at first. She would without doubt rip apart the heavens to chase and kill whoever behind it.
For the first hundred years, Drasca's mind was filled with vengeance. She could see, hear and feel whatever her body was doing but she had no control over her body. She tried to take back her body countless times but she failed. She who was famed for her mind power was actually inferior to whoever it was that snatched her body.
Drasca gave up after one hundred and fifty years of struggling for supremacy. She knew for sure that she wouldn't be able to take back what was hers. Her fighting spirits had withered. She would live her whole life trapped within her own consciousness forever until the day she died.
During the time she was caged, Drasca often meet up with other exalted beings to do their master's bidding. Truth be told, Drasca knew that her companion was without doubt someone like her, a living puppet. Even though these so called companions had their own personality and the likes, they all showed absolute loyalty toward one person, their master.
It was then when she was suddenly summoned to back up someone in DemonFall Forest. She was picked up by Shalala on her floating fortress. The real Drasca never knew nor met Shalala before she was possessed but apparently their possessor were close friends. Because of how much they spent their time together, even the real Drasca felt like there was a connection between her and Shalala. She might be the only one who felt that way though.
Something totally unexpected happened during the battle in DemonFall Forest. Whatever it was that occupied her body was expelled the moment her real body equipped the collar provided by the human in front of her. A huge pillar of light enclosed her whole body as if it was purifying her from whatever it was which possessed her all these time.
The first thing Drasca felt after she was released from her cage of consciousness was not hatred. It was not rage either. She had long ago resigned to her fate. She wouldn't even complaint if she was killed. Now that she was released all of a sudden, she was totally at a loss of what to do.
As she slowly calmed herself down while processing what just happened, she was once again rendered speechless by what the human did. The weak, tiny human actually beat up an earth rank figure with overwhelming force. The might that human just showed was something on par even with herself. If not, stronger even. How could she not be shocked by that?
It was then when she recalled something her ancestor once told her during her youth. There would come a time where all the dukedom would bow their head against an existence called godkins, a group of people who was foretold to be the true leader of this world. She also remembered the fact that those godkins resembled the weakest race in this world, the humans.
When Kokakola decided to sacrifice his own life to destroy everything, Drasca made up her mind to offer herself to the human who saved her. It was also in alignment with the belief of her exalted tribe for them to pledge loyalty to their savior. It might be coincidental but the fact that this human saved her was real. Not to mention that this human might even be one of the legendary godkins.
Deep in her heart, she already acknowledged Mays as someone worthy of her. A human who was on par with a sky ranked exalted being was something that never been recorded in history before. This man would without doubt make a legend for himself for sure.
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Several days passed by with both Mays and Hallel travelling without any real destination in minds. During all these times, Mays had learnt almost everything he needed to know about demon continent from both Hallel and Drasca.
He never told Hallel about Drasca in details either. He vaguely told her that Drasca became his familiar using the slave collar. He didn't even told her that Drasca could appear in his consciousness nor the fact that Drasca was actually the ranked fifth strongest insane boss either.
Since Drasca never appeared in this small form back in HeavensTale, nobody could connect those two. The current Drasca looked like a crystal colored snake with small pair of legs on it, totally fitting to be an accessory on top of Mays's shoulder.
"Today is the last day huh."
Mays let out a relieved sigh as he sat on a stone nearby. Today is the seventh day since his fight against Kokakola, the last day of the curse residing within his body. The curse would be lifted within several hours and he would retain his former strength again.
"Hahha, good for you."
At the moment, Hallel was busying herself by taking out cooking tools one after another. They were all the most basic of tools though. She also brought several cooking materials out of her space belt before putting them all in front of Mays.
"So, what do you want today?"
"I don't mind anything as long as you cook them."
"Nothing you wanna eat in particular?"
"Nope. As long as it is delicious."
"Bleh, whatever. Let's just go with curry today."
After two days of eating grilled meat sprinkled with salt three times a day, Mays gave up and asked Hallel to let him cook for once. Mays's skill was in no way comparable to great chef but he did have some skills in cooking. At the very least, he knew how to cook a decent home meal like curry and soup and so on.
Mays busied himself with the preparation of food while Hallel do nothing as she watched. She tried to help once but it didn't end well. Mays even need to do everything again after her interference. It was then decided that she shouldn't bother helping and just wait patiently until the food was served.
"The curse will be lifted today right?"
"In a few hour I think."
"So, what do you plan to do after that? Rush back toward Demonfall Forest?"
"I might do so. And you?"
There were traces of disappointment in Hallel's face after she heard Mays's reply. What she say next would determine whether she would still travel together with Mays or not.
"I'll just go back to treasure hunting I guess."
Truthfully, Hallel would love to go with Mays and travel together. But she knew, Mays have somewhere he belonged. Everyone might even trying real hard to look for him right now. Nobody would bother with someone like her. She had been stranded here in demon continent for five years yet nobody bat an eye about it.
These few days, she felt that her life was a bliss. It was way better than the five years she spent alone wandering all over the continent. She had not laughed and talked to others these much even before she got transferred into this world. She felt like that there was some connection between her and Mays, making it comfortable for her to be around him.
"Why don't you come with me?"
"Can I?"
"Why can't you?"
Mays asked back with his indifferent tone. His argument was legit though. There was no reason for Hallel to refuse him. Nobody loved being alone. Mays knew that fact well. As an introvert himself, he hated crowd but that didn't mean he hated everyone. He didn't mind being with people he was on good term with.
"Well…"
Fidgeting while stealing a glance at Mays once in a while, Hallel couldn't even finish her line.
"Seriously? Even someone like you was troubled over simple things?"
"Of course, jerk! I am also a girl you know!"
A flying bowl landed on Mays's head thanks to his tactless question. Hallel stomped her feet as she walked away. It was impossible for Mays to see but Hallel smiled mischievously behind his back. Hallel was really happy when Mays asked her so.
"That remark didn't warrant a flying bowl no?"
Obviously his question was left unanswered as Hallel was not there anymore. Before Mays started cooking, he once again glanced at a direction on the sky, as if he was searching for something.
"That male human. Could he perhaps noticed us?"
"It's not possible."
"Yeah it's not."
"I think so too. Indeed it's not."
One of the three Sky Overseer asked his peer after he noticed that Mays was looking at their location again. But when the others rejected that notion, he also agreed with them. They then continued to observe the two while keeping their distance.
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