William POV
Sigh!!!! I'm unable to keep up with the Demon Lord of Pride at this point, he's growing too quickly. Looks like Plan A is no longer a viable option. Fighting him alone at this point is tantamount to begging for death. It's time to implement Plan B, which is to locate Veronica, Loyd, and Anthem. According to my recollection, Veronica is located in region 1, Loyd is located in region 6, and Anthem is located in region 12. The distance between them is too large. I'll have to wait for them to get closer to each other. If my recollection serves me well, Loyd defeated his most powerful region demon two months from now before heading to region 8. Anthem killed his most powerful opponent a week later, just before traveling to Region 13. In a month or so after that, Loyd was able to defeat his second-strongest region demon, which enabled him to go to region 10. It took around two weeks after that for Veronica to be able to lead a group of fighters in a battle against the most powerful demon in their territory. After that, Veronica's squad of warriors headed to the 8th region. Anthem killed his second strongest demon the day after the Veronica party killed the strongest demon in their first region before heading back to 12. With this knowledge in mind, I believe that finding Veronica will be the most prudent course of action.
However, on second thought, while locating Veronica would be the most efficient way to cut the amount of time spent traveling, she should not be the top priority. According to the current situation, the Demon Lord of Pride is going in the direction of Region Thirteen. If Anthem engages in combat with the Demon Lord of Pride, he will visit the gates of heaven. Anthem will be unable to accomplish anything because of the enormous discrepancy between states and experience. If my recollection serves me well, Anthem was the most formidable mixed martial artist in the world before the apocalypse, combining the powerful kickboxing with muay thai to great effect. With such abilities, he might be able to defend himself and even win the battle, but only if the Demon Lord of Pride fights honestly and adheres to the rules of MMA. Even though Anthem possesses the potential and skills of the Best Human Fighter, he is just an above-average warrior in the early stages of the apocalypse.
Knowing Anthem, it appears like the confrontation with the Demon Lord of Pride will take place far sooner than is necessary. He will almost certainly request a spar with the Demon Lord of Pride in order to put himself to the test. Wait, I think I might be able to take advantage of this situation. Anthem is a man of dignity and morality, and all you must do to earn his lifelong allegiance is to save his life. Anthem will be grateful beyond measure for your efforts. While I was watching the tv one day, I recall him giving a man 100,000 dollars in return for loaning him 100 dollars when he was still a youngster. If I am able to save him from death, I will have successfully recruited the best fighter the human world has ever known. Yes, let's go ahead and execute the plan.
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Lockheart POV
Now that it's been a week after my battle with the Titanic Demon, I've been contemplating over the question I'd want to ask the system. I have been given one question that I may ask about whatever I can think of in my wildest dreams. The uneducated believe that one question is unimportant, which is accurate to a certain extent. However, if you ask the right question, you will discover that it is the most precious thing on the face of the planet. While in war, knowledge is the most crucial aspect to consider. Any side who has more intelligence than their competitor will almost certainly come out on top in the long run. As a result, I've opted to leave the question privilege on hold for the time being, only utilizing it when absolutely required. While it is frustrating to be ignorant about the world in which I live, to no longer have any control over anything. However, what's worse than being ignorant is using a precious object to alleviate my insecurity harming my sense of self-worth. The act of relieving one's uneasiness by the application of external force is a manifestation of one's lack of regard for oneself.
That's enough discussion on the subject of the question, since no matter how much I think about it, it's simply too much to ask without a clear purpose in mind. It was therefore quite monotonous over the whole week. I didn't come across a single soul. It's as though they've all vanished without a trace. I've grown bored of the aimless trekking through the vast land, with large crimson rocks strewn around me and no clear destination in sight. Even Crimson Light, which has the capability of detecting living forms in a big radius, is unable to identify any in the surrounding environment.
Before that fateful moment later in the day, I had given up hope of ever being able to exhibit my newfound strength. It is at this point that Crimson Light begins to hum excitedly to me, signaling to me that it is time, that it is time for blood to be spilt. I used the Expansion Style: Expansion Rocket to achieve supersonic speeds, and my speed quickly broke beyond the supersonic barrier. When the wind blows through the forest, it causes the trees to sway haggardly and little boulders to spatter all over the place, colliding and slamming against each other. The sound I produced as I accelerated was similar to the sound of a large nuclear weapon detonation on the horizon.
That would explain why by the time I reach my location, there are already twenty-five individuals armed and ready. There appear to be 17 males and 8 females in the human group, according to the evidence. The leader, if I had to guess, would be the menacing looking middle-aged man in the middle, with bulging muscles, who is standing tall and proud at the front. On the other hand, appearances and positioning can be misleading. As the phrase implies, a leader must be able to lead effectively in addition to being strong himself or herself. I'd say the one who comes off as the most leader-like is the woman in the back, who is yelling directives left and right at the individuals in her group.
Well, that was enough ruminating, because the man in front of me simply rushed over to me like a crazed barbarian. This just serves to reinforce my belief that this individual is not a leader. His leap and right punch at my left midsection was a great initiative, to which I humbly answered with a back slap of my own in return. Although expectations are high, reality prevails because one of the males has the capacity to create a light rope that attaches my arm to the tree, allowing the menacing man ample time to land a strike on me. Unfortunately, although they have the ability to derail my expectations, I also have the ability to do it as well. He will not be able to damage me since my endurance is just too high. His strike to me ended in him doing absolutely nothing resulting in him being burned by the black flame from my Black Fire Demon Constitution.
In response to seeing the menacing man wounded, the leader woman shouted out "Cure", but the spell that the leader woman cast suffered a power loss owing to the black fire attribute of corroding magic, only lessening the flames. While I was thinking about it, a man on the right fired a Light Bullet in my direction. I didn't see where the bullet struck me, but the mild itch I'm experiencing at my left shoulder is evidence that the bullet made contact with me. When the light guy realized that his strike had done no damage to me, he fired up another one with even greater concentration of light.
Seeing that he wants to fight a range battle. I put a bit of mana in my Black Fireball, launching it toward the light man. His companions were alerted to my attack and reacted fast, rushing in front of him and yelling "Mirror Reflection." An elusive mirror appearing out of nowhere comes into touch with my attack. The mirror man's protective ability failed to achieve what its name was intended to do; instead, it just served to cancel out both itself and my spell. Of course, while all of this was going on, none of the folks were sitting around doing nothing. A woman with a bow and arrow, as well as another young lady, charged their bow and arrow with magic before shooting it toward me with their arrows. One of them shot a wind arrow, while the other fired a fire arrow at the same time. I employed Expansion Style: Thundering Clap when I saw their coordination. However, the same rope person decided to intervene once more, this time with the assistance of another guy who possessed quicksand abilities, causing me to descend to the ground below.
However, other than scratch marks appearing on my skin, nothing occurred when the arrow struck me. It's true that there was a fire, but as we all know, a fire of this scale has no effect on my incredible fire resistance. Knowing that their onslaught had no impact on me, the two females exchanged a look before charging their arrows with even more magic.
As a result of this struggle, I discovered just how weak these individuals are. It was entertaining at first, but now it is depressing. The fact that human development is so gradual reminds me of my past self, which is unfortunate. A human being who is weak and has limitations. I feel it is time to take things seriously.
Before utilizing Expansion Style: Arm Cannon, I whined up my fist. My arm enlarged to three times its original size as I raced for the five gentlemen in the front row. Due to the sheer rapid expansion, none of them were able to respond, turning themselves into meat pastes. My initial attack causes a cry of horror from the rest of the group, but this is not the end of the story. My next attack will be on the two young ladies wielding bows and arrows. As a thank you for those two arrows, I've shot a ten-meter Black Fireball in their direction. I can see the pupils dilate in their eyes. I can only assume they loved it since, for a fraction of a second after that, they were no longer there to see it.
The light guy finally completed the channeling of his attack, but the outcome was not what he had anticipated. Despite the fact that I am still unable to respond to the attack, the outcome was the same slight itch on my skin. When he realized that his attack did nothing once more, he stared at me in despair. I give him my blessing, by slashing him with Crimson Light splitting him into two.
After taking care of those obnoxious attackers, I switch my focus to the two irritating flies that keep disrupting my attacks. Alternatively, I could assault them directly, but the prospect of murdering someone with a swing of the sword no longer inspires dread in the hearts of these people. In order to make it more demoralizing for them and magnificent for me, I shall demonstrate my whole height to them. I gradually expand in size, causing them to lose hope as I become larger and larger, resulting in a vicious circle of brilliant terror.
After I reached my full height, I began to diminish their numbers one by one. I murdered them all except for the leader. I then dropped to my knees and spoke to her. "Did you enjoy the show?" Her face turned from pale with dread to shocked with confusion. The entire course of a strong leader's descent into despair just serves to reinforce my belief that I am the finest leader they could ever hope to have.