I am Effraye, a former demon ruler. One who escaped death by overcoming my fate, but in exchange, I had to endure some terrible things. To begin with, the only way I managed to escape was by allowing myself to be imprisoned in a desolate dungeon. Second, I spent more than a thousand years being petrified and turning into a stone statue. Third, most of my skills were rendered useless because this dungeon forbids me from using them, and last but not least, when I did manage to escape my prison, my demonic core had been devoured by a human child, that forced me to serve as her butler for leading me out of this dungeon. Losing my previous core and my ability to navigate was a great loss as it was but serving a human child was the peak of insult for a demon.
For someone who had defeated fate itself, I have faced nothing but humiliation in the aftermath.
"Hurry up already, Give me some of those candies!!!"
A young girl was arguing with her brother, both were dressed similarly and were wearing a smaller version of a coat designed for adventures. The children appeared to be arguing over something, but I preferred to stay out of their business.
In order for them to lead me out of this location, both of these loudmouthed and sharp-tongued beings forced me to be their butler. If not for the malfunctioning navigation system and the dungeon master locking my powers, I would not have accepted this deal.
"Give me the package right now!"
The girl attempted to steal the candy packet from her brother, and the two got into a fight over it while paying absolutely no attention to the route in front of them. It was entertaining to watch two wild cats battle each other, but they didn't pay attention to the large hole in the ground in front of them. As we came to the end of the tunnel, a large room with a wormhole covering most of it from the center to a distance from the wall stood in front of us. There was barely enough room for one person to pass between the wall and the extremities of the wormhole.
I grabbed them both from the back of their clothing as they were ready to enter the wormhole after reaching the end of the tunnel.
"You need to concentrate on the path."
"Pfft, says the person who kept finding themselves in a circle over the same place," Baal spoke the statements with a furious pout.
"Can you now put us down?" Slime made a similar remark before asking me to put them on them.
To be quite honest, I don't expect anything better from humans, but these two are being really disrespectful to the gentleman who just saved them.
These two would unquestionably receive a 0 on a scale of 1 to 10, while I would rate humans as a whole a 3. Despite being twins who were 11 years old, they had a dark sense of humor and twisted personalities. Even to each other, they were only able to offer caustic remarks. In their brief human existence, they would probably become thieves or con artists.
"Baal! I think this was the way?"
Slime indicated one of the seven possible tunnels in the Hall.
Do you notice the arrow those idiots placed there?
"Yeah, I guess so. The white ones were the explored pathways, and the red ones indicated the starting point, right?"
"I believe so-"
Even if it appeared that they were unsure of the way, their sense of direction was still superior to mine.
"Do you two understand why there is such a big hole here?" I asked to gauge their level of familiarity with the area.
Slime responded, "It's meant to be a wormhole that links to another location and purportedly leads to a trap."
"That seems very elementary, doesn't it? Why even bother asking about it, I wonder?"
"Perhaps he shared your previous curiosity."
"Ha- In your dreams."
These two are without limits. They also talk back whenever they have the chance. I hardly managed to have a decent chat with them.
We kept moving down the path that was marked with a red tint. The two were talking to one other, discussing the items they had taken from the party they were traveling with and how they may be able to escape without perishing within the dungeon. I could tell from their statements that these two are not typical young people. This time, Slime talked loudly; perhaps he wanted me to pay attention.
"When we left this place the last time, a worm creature fled, right?"
"It probably won't bother to appear because it is probably lurking elsewhere."
"Sounds like fun."
"I believe the dude strolling behind us is a coward, sistah."
Baal spoke with a loud voice and taunting way.
"Oh yah, I believe that too."
"I know right? Why would he be imprisoned in stone for so long, otherwise? He was most likely escaping a monster."
"He is weak."
"Have you two forgotten that I'm accompanying you both as you walk?" Their conversations had worn me out.
"Did you hear something, Sistah?"
"Yes, a coward's justifications, that is."
I'm at a loss for words to characterize these two at this point.
We proceeded down the hallway till we came to the gate that was intended to let us out. Fortunately, there were no creatures to be found along the way. Being fully freed from my shackles felt incredibly gratifying. The moment I reached out to unlock the gate, the earth began to tremble erratically. Near where we were standing, the earth began to show signs of cracking. In addition, innumerable creatures that resembled worms sprang. They possessed rough textures and skin that was pink in hue. Even some of them had spikes all over their bodies. They had a hole with sharp fangs on the end of their bodies that faced us.
Slime questioned, "Were there always so many of them?"
"All I can think of is that one of them got away."
"It must have multiplied and made additional duplicates of itself," I spoke.
The two children were too calm, even though we were forced into a precarious situation. Even if they faced difficult lives or occasionally traveled with explorers. For two human children, this was extraordinary.
"So why are you still waiting? Go murder them," commanded Baal.
"I-"
"Don't tell me you can't even kill them," slime pleaded.
"I'm unable to use my powers-"
If there were only a few, I might have been able to figure something out, but there were simply too many monsters, so I had to admit it.
"So why are you holding out, you moron, open the door," spoke Baal.
Slime pushed the door but was unable to open it until I assisted in opening it. However, as we flung open the door, we were shocked. The chamber had an exit indeed, but those things were everywhere. There wasn't a single area of the room that was devoid of those monsters. I grabbed up the two loudmouths and flew in the direction of the wormhole knowing there was no way we could leave through the room.
Baal said, "Why did you agree to be our bodyguard if you can't even kill some worms."
"Had you given me any options? In addition, I had not anticipated this result."
"What's next?"
"You mistook the wormhole for a trap,"
"What was it intended to be, then?"
"only a shortcut"
The worm-like monsters chased us down the hallway as I soared through it holding them. There were some instances when I was just about to get caught. We came to the end of the hallway and I dove down the wormhole.