'Damn why the hell do I get involved in this?'
In the novel, there was an incident that happened during the first year midterm test where a few of the students were illegally teleported to an unknown dungeon not managed by the government.
There was a Djinn under a high ranking demon from the Gluttony clan residing inside this dungeon. It indeed happened as described in the novel but wasn't it a bit early.
I thought I would manage to avoid it by getting out of the dungeon a bit earlier than Cedric but oh boy, today didn't seem like my lucky day.
Currently, I was alone despite getting sucked together at the same time with Cedric and Prince Theo into the same weird teleportation portal.
The creepy forest like dungeon didn't seem to scare me but instead made me feel like I'd been here before. Despite being in a forest, the area seemed black and grey with no hint of life whatsoever.
'Did Ares go inside a dungeon like this before?' I felt some sense of familiarity while looking around the area.
Noble families helped the government to manage dungeons thus it was not surprising if they bring their kids into a dungeon for training and Ares was from a powerful noble family.
Sniff sniff
Wait, isn't this the smell of demonic energy? There was demonic energy lingering in the air around here. The smell of Demonic energy was faint thus it wouldn't affect normal humans much but that didn't mean humans could stay here.
Long exposure to demonic energy could harm humans but that wasn't the case for a Zanuki or people that was blessed with holy power or those who use black mana.
This dungeon incident was most probably caused by a Djinn that had infiltrated HGA.
Djinns are humans that contracted with Demons and drink demons' blood in exchange for numbing their emotions and becoming more powerful. Thus they could use a more powerful source of energy other than regular mana, dark mana and holy energy called the Demonic energy.
That was why creatures that have demonic energy were trickier to capture or kill.
'Should I try finding Prince Theo and Cedric first?'
However, I didn't know where I was currently and it was never mentioned clearly in the novel where each character was. Thus I decided to move forward hoping Prince Theo's elemental might find me.
-Boom!
Suddenly a loud explosion sounded and before I realized it, an attack exploded not far from me which I barely managed to evade.
'Shit'
I cursed inwardly as a tall male figure wearing a black robe like a mage suddenly appeared not far from me.
"Oh my, did I find a jackpot today? I never expected a Zanuki to be here or maybe a half Zanuki," he said mockingly.
I unsheathed my two Katanas and changed my stance into ready to attack.
"Relax kid. I don't want to kill you but I can't let you ruin our plan either. Those other annoying bugs already started moving so I think maybe I can cripple you a bit"
"...."
"Are you mute? Poor lad."
I ignored him and started to attack him while coating my Katana with lightning mana since I realized I'm more capable of using lightning magic more efficiently than fire.
"That is one annoying magic you have there"
He defended himself using the metal claws coming out of his fingers. Those sharp long claws looked dangerous when every time my Katana clashed with them, the pressure on my Katanas was not small.
'I will die if those stabbed me'
Seeing ordinary attacks didn't seem to work, I started to infuse more mana around my body. Spark of electric currents spreading all over my body.
He got electric static every time his claw clashed with my Katanas.
"Tsk. This is why I don't like you guys. So troublesome"
He leapt over not far away from me and distanced himself. He stared at me while I also did the same as if we were assessing each other.
"I didn't plan on killing you kid, but you give me no choice"
Jet black magic arrows started to appear out of thin air behind him. Those arrows quickly shot towards Ares where Ares had to parry with his two Katanas. However, a few of the arrows managed to graze his thighs and arms.
Red blood started to trickle down all over his body. Feeling that he would be at a full disadvantage the longer the fight became, golden chains started appearing behind him and shoved the air flanging towards the Djinn.
"Fuck what the hell is this?!!"
The robed man decided to flee but there's no way Ares would let him be after he had seen his abilities. It dangerous if the real group behind him knew about his abilities.
A group brave enough to attack HGA under the nose of its Chief was definitely not a small fry.
Multiple daggers started floating in the air and attacked him from all directions along with the metal chains. Ares took the opportunity of the continuous attacks to shorten the distance between them and stabbed him.
"Arghhhh!"
He became enraged and the already down robe hood revealed a deformed face that look like a combination of bluish reptile skin and a human.
"I will make sure you die!"
Haywire red and black mana started to form around his body. His eyes turned bloodshot red and his skin became more grumpy and scaly.
'Damn he's a Djinn!'
Sensing that it was dangerous to be near him, Ares took out a large javelin from his spatial bracelet. Attacking those scaly skins with metal arrows might be a bit weak but if this javelin managed to pierce through him, Ares might have a chance to defeat him.
Coating his aura and mana on the javelin, Ares sprinted forward for a few meters before throwing the javelin toward the Djinn, who was still in the midst of a berserk transformation.
The javelin travelled fast in the air before managing to pierce the Djinn's lung.
"Bluerghhh!"
Due to the attack, the Djinn coughed up red blackish blood from his mouth. Not allowing him to grab the javelin out from his body, Ares quickly lessens the distance between them before he throws a barrage of punches all over the Djinn's body.
'This is why I don't like being too close to any creature with demonic energy. The instinct to kill them is so strong. It's an instinct inherited by all Zanuki as an ancient demon hunter clan. It's really weird for the original Ares in the novel to work with a demon while having the blood of a Zanuki.'
While Ares's mind became dazed for a moment, the Djinn managed to counterattack by stabbing Ares's gut and he was barely able to dodge causing the stab to be shallow.
"Urghh"
Blood started to trickle down more. Seeing the dishevelled Djinn and Ares's injured appearance, no clear victory could be seen at the moment.
Sensing that he would die if the fight prolonged any longer, Ares wrapped the metal chains' aura in his hands and started a barrage of heavy punches on the Djinn.
Ares just let his instinct as a Zanuki led him to kill the Djinn since he would be killed instead if he still tried to suppress the instinct.
{Hahaha more more! Punch him harder!}
More golden chains started covering the Djinn and Ares still didn't show any hint to stop his punches.
Ares was shocked when suddenly he heard a deep coarse voice in his head. Lightning started to cover his palms. The Djinn was not only injured but also burnt.
"Wuhhh please let me go....."
The Djinn might have realized that he was getting sealed.
'Unfortunately, I still didn't learn how to do the sealing properly from Grand that's why I have to kill him'
The Djinn shouted incoherent words that sting Ares's ears. Out of the blue, when Ares punched him, the Djinn suddenly bite Ares's arm in his last struggle.
"Arghhh, you!?"
Ares instinctively used all his strength and choked the Djinn's neck before smashing his head onto the ground. The ground cracked and blood splattered around it.
Seeing him already half-dead, Ares decided to just decapitate his head since Ares knew, there was nothing much that could be interrogated from him.
This kind of reptile-like Djinn might already put a multi-layer mental interference in his brain and trying to breach into them would cause the memory to be automatically wiped out and he would then become like a dementia patient.
-Plop
Ares fell flat onto the ground, lying while panting for breath with his body covered with fresh blood. His cloth was already soaked with blood.
After a few moments later, his breathing had become normal, he took out the first aid kit from his spatial bracelets and a few potions before carefully treating the wounds on his body where his hands could reach.
Fortunately, there were fewer injuries in the area he couldn't touch like behind his back. After he simply bandaged up the injuries, Ares walked away to find any other students since it was dangerous for him to be alone like this.
The previous voice seem just like an illusion but Ares was confident he heard it. However, no one was there.
"Wait did I just kill the Djinn Cedric was supposed to kill?!"
Ares quickly forgot about the voice when he just realized who he have killed.
There was supposed to be a Djinn inside this dungeon which was the mastermind for this incident and Cedric was supposed to kill him.
But now that Djinn is already dead.
"Is there another Djinn? What will happen in the future after I messed up Cedric's plot?"
Ares just wanted to change his fate and not be the protagonist. Cedric was someone that became stronger through fighting but now Ares already messed it up twice.
First was in the museum and now this.
"Damn, I think I should just sit here and let Cedric settle everything regarding other things that this Djinn have done inside this dungeon"
Looking at the lifeless Djinn's corpse, Ares decided to put it inside his spatial bracelet since he didn't want anyone to interrogate him for killing the Djinn.
However, Ares splattered the Djinn's blood around the area so that when HGA or the government send an investigation team, they would know who the perpetrator was.
'Djinn body fetches at a high price in the black market; thus, why not just sell it there. It's better than the fact Ares was the one killing the Djinn responsible for this incident became known.'
A lot of hunters and mercenaries hunted Djinn and sold their bodies so it was hard to trace which Djinn's body was sold especially when they rarely sold the head and only sell the body parts separately.
The Djinn Association would target Ares if that fact were known to them. He didn't have a protagonist halo or a system so let's just remain low profile.
Having decided on what to do, Ares walked around half an hour before choosing to climb a tree and taking a nap on one of the tree branches.
"Damn, that's why I couldn't see you."
Not long after that, suddenly someone shouted from below the tree and made him woke up. Ares looked down and saw a familiar face.
"Oh it's you," he said before jumping down the tree and facing the dark-skinned, silver-grey hair guy. Ares wasn't shocked that Prince Theo managed to find him.
"Tsk so ugly," Prince Theo said while scrutinizing Ares up and down
"So do you"
********************
[POV: Prince Theo]
After arriving inside another weird dungeon through the weird teleportation portal, Prince Theo decided to quickly find Ares. He didn't really think about Cedric.
It wasn't because he was biased about his friend but he knew Cedric has holy power thus the faint demonic energy that was lingering in the air wouldn't affect him. Cedric's holy power seemed strong the last time Prince Theo sensed it during the *museum incident.
*(Refer to chapter 24)
However even though Ares as a Zanuki also wouldn't be affected with demonic energy, Prince Theo's elemental said that there were a few demonic creatures and presumably a Djinn also here.
Zanuki was known as the ancient Demon Hunter thus Prince Theo was worried if Ares might encounter the Djinn and have to fight alone.
After the museum incident, Prince Theo experienced first-hand how powerful a Djinn could be and it was mostly luck from the Goddess that they could defeat the Djinn without being severely injured.
"Erm, something feels different...." Prince Theo muttered.
With the help of his elemental, he avoided the Demonic monster trees that walking around the forest. Although he was confident he could defeat them but if those things come in groups, it might be difficult for him. Furthermore, demonic energy acted like a doping drug to those creatures and they would become mindless creatures the more demonic energy they have.
"Hmm, you saw Cedric? But I want to find Ares" Prince Theo said towards his elemental.
"..."
While walking, he continued talking to his elemental. Elemental could only communicate among themselves and their own contractor.
"Hmm, Cedric seems to be in trouble huh? But I think it's better to find Ares first and drag him to help Cedric"
After deciding on what to do, Prince Theo quickened his pace and using his elemental, found where Ares was and quickly headed towards him.
An hour later, he found Ares and the first thing he saw was Ares smashing a Djinn's head to the ground before slashing his neck but the head was still intact to the body since Ares was also badly injured and couldn't exert more force.
He(A) then just tossed away the Djinn's corpse and Prince Theo's guts told him it was not the correct time for him to show up yet.
Ares's clothes were covered with blood and the next shocking thing was what he did to all the blood.
He used maybe a water spell on the blood and extract them from his cloth before putting it inside a bottle. He then proceeded on bandaging himself up.
He never said that he was able to use a water spell. Not everyone could use multiple elemental spells and Ares is already capable of using three which are wind, fire and lightning. So if we added on the water element, it would become four.
It was quite rare for someone who was not a mage to be able to do that. Even Prince Theo couldn't use water elements since he was more proficient in fire and wind elements.
While observing him, Prince Theo could see various scars and huge burn marks all over his(A) body. The old scars mixed with his new injuries thus Prince Theo wasn't sure how severe Ares's injuries were.
But looking at Ares nonchalantly treating himself with not even a frown forming on his face, Prince Theo thought maybe it looked very bad due to the scars and burn marks.
Ares put on a jacket over his shirt to cover his tattered shirt from the fight. He later observed the Djinn's corpse before taking out a large syringe from his spatial bracelet and drawing out the Djinn's blood into two separate glass bottles.
He threw away the blood in the first bottle around the battle area while keeping away the second bottle. The Djinn's corpse was later put inside his spatial bracelet.
He walked away before climbing up a tree branch and taking a nap as if nothing happened. Prince Theo waited for 20 minutes before showing up when it seem like Ares didn't plan on doing anything else.
"Damn, that's why I couldn't see you." After kicking the tree trunk slightly, Prince Theo complained, shaking the tree a bit, and the person on one of the tree branches opened his eyes.
"Oh, it's you," Ares said looking at Prince Theo before jumping down from the tree.
"Tsk so ugly," Prince Theo said while scrutinizing Ares up and down
"So do you"
'Sigh, this bastard is as nonchalant as ever' Prince Theo muttered inwardly.
"Let's find Cedric next. I know the way" Prince Theo said and seeing Ares nod slightly, they continue walking with Prince Theo leading.
But Ares was annoyed after they arrived where Prince Theo said Cedric was supposed to be.
'Don't tell me now I have to clean up the shit the protagonist is supposed to do after I accidentally messed his plot a bit by killing the Djinn?!'