(Third person pov)
In the morning, at 8:00 am, after Noah had left the shelter, the council members decided to summon Elina.
A stifling silence continued as Elina stood in front of all the them.
'Their expression looks quite bad, I wonder what happened'
Elina thought to herself as she waited for someone in the room to speak.
"Noah has left, do you know where he went?" It was Edward who questioned.
"No, I don't" Elina lied with no hesitation, she knew Noah went to demonic continent but she wasn't planning telling it to anyone.
"Do you really have no idea?"
"I don't but why are you so concerned about it, it's just a single person leaving the base, right?" Elina answered, she couldn't understand why they wore a grim expression and she simply reached the conclusion that it must be related to Noah.
"He has stolen a very important artifact."
'...Ah, so that's why. Now, I know why Noah came here all the way'
Elina wanted to ask why Noah came here, at first she thought she was the one who brought him here but those thoughts changed after Noah fought against Edward, she became more sure that Noah had some other motive for coming here after everything he told her yesterday.
"What kind of artifact was it and how did he steal it?" Elina curiously asked wondering how he got past all the protocols, if it was such an important artifact the council members surely would have kept it in tight security.
"...That we can't answer," Edward said shaking his head as he continued "Sorry for taking your time, you spent a lot of time with him while on your way here, so if you remember anything about where he might have gone please inform us right away," Edward said.
"Understood"
Elina said prepared to leave.
The only reason Elina wasn't caught lying was because of the trust that council members have for her, that's why they haven't used any devices to ascertain whether she had lied or not.. though they didn't know Elina's thoughts about them have taken a nose dive.
For now, Elina was going to execute the plan she had thought of with the help of the required materials that she had gotten from Noah.
'This is crazy..'
Elina thought, preparing herself for the chaos that she was about to start.
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(Noah's pov)
Spirit stone.
What's a spirit stone? Basically, something that will allow you to use all kinds of elemental affinities. You embed it into your weapon and use mana to control the affinities however you please and use it. FYI, you can't embed into your own body
Being able to use all elemental affinities is a huge advantage, this is what those boomers were planning on using.
As I have said before elemental affinities are your classic wind, fire, earth, water, light, and dark.
What effects does having elemental affinities bring to a person?
Well, if you are a mage you will have an easy time learning the spells related to your affinity.
The other part is, that elemental affinities give a boost to a person's physique.
For instance, a person with water affinity will have better dexterity when compared to a person with the same rank, a person with earth affinity will have better durability, and so on.
Since I don't have any elemental affinity, I couldn't care less about it.
But yeah, having elemental affinity gives you a permanent boost.
Back on topic, the spirit stone was made by countless sacrifices.
Don't worry guys, your deaths won't be in vain. I will use this as efficiently as possible.
What? It's selfish of me?
Well, selfishness is a part of humans, and as a paragon of humanity, I am all about being a human.
Regardless, I have managed to steal it and put it in my inventory, now the question is, will I be able to take it in the outside world?
What I am trying to say is I am gonna get my rewards for clearing this hidden dungeon but what if I can take things from inside the dungeon with me too? Like a bonus thing.
We will see how it goes...
What?
How did I manage to steal it? Well, that was easy.
Unlike others I knew the whole base like the back of my hand so even if they tried to hide the room, I easily found it with the help of my system, the passwords they put to get through. I asked my system to stalk the council members and see what the password is when they enter the room, besides I have read the novel.
And bang!
As a guy who had stolen one of the national treasures with even less information about the place, this was a piece of cake!
The system is op!
I also left Elina the whole blue prints of all the shelters and food farms made by demons.
It's not hard to imagine what's going to happen, is it?
Elina is sure gonna ask other shelters for help to deal with her current predicament and with the help of complete blue prints of all the food farms, and places where demons are located, she can gain an upper hand in the negotiations.
As they say, information is most important.
My goal was to leave all the shelters with the required information.
And in a months time or so, they will be prepared to launch their attacks.
I sure gonna farm my EXP when that time comes, the plan might be a bit flimsy but that's for others to work towards, I have laid a rough structure of it, and people will fill those holes themselves for me.
Rustle~
I head the rustling sound.
What is this sound?
You see, my necklace transports me to a safe place if I want to. The key word is 'Safe place'.
I wanted to know if I could simply go to a place I 'wanted' to if it's a safe place, kinda like using it as a teleportation necklace instead of just a protection necklace.
And voila I am at my designated place.
"You can turn around now" A disinterested tone reached my ears as I did what it told me to.
In front of me stood a lady, a lady who is 669 years old. Her hazel colored eyes looked at me.
The place I came to is ..demonic continent, well, more accurately, I wanted to get as close as I could to the demon lord.
Yes, the demon lord is a female, a cliche as old as time.
Back on point, I got teleported to like 50 meters away from her when ...she was naked, seems like she had just taken the bath.
I turned around right away to let her change.
'..Okay, so anywhere near 50 meters to her is not a 'safe place', gotcha'
My necklace's main job is to land me in a safe place where I don't die.
In other words, even if I can use it as a teleportation necklace it won't allow me to go anywhere where I won't be safe.
Information noted.
So, yeah. That's the gist.
"Why did you come here and what do you want, kid?"
I didn't take offense at being called a kid, now don't get me wrong. If it had been a human I might have sent him to his grave but this is a 669-year-old person in front of me if she hadn't called me kid then I might have ended up questioning her character instead.
Though despite being 669 she looked even younger than Elina.
Damn.. must be nice being another race, got such a huge life span and you guys live your youthful appearance for soo long.
No, I am not complaining about being a human, definitely not. I am satisfied with being a human.
Yup, no hard feelings.
"I want you to take me as your disciple," I said in a polite tone. I needed her help, it was only natural to be polite to the one you were asking for a favor.
You see, this demon lord is quite strong, like super type hidden boss level strong.
Her rank is SSS+. Basically, she is the strongest person.
And she has all elemental affinities except for the light.
Just so you know even the protagonist has only 3 elemental affinity.
Her class? She has mastered all the weapons there are to master and she is great with magic too.
Her skills? Too many to count.
I am new to this world, and swinging swords around ain't something I do back home, so if I am gonna learn something as fast as possible I gotta find the best person for it, that's all my reasons are.
Now, you must be wondering how did protagonist won against her in the fight. Well, the person in front of me is soo strong she has lost all interest in everything.
You see, even if she restricts her rank to her opponent's level the sheer skill and mastery that she has and experience of being a boomer is still on her side giving her a huge advantage.
Do you get what I meant? Yeah, she restricted her rank except our protagonist used his cheat of temporary ranking up by 2 ranks in the middle of a fight... and barely won.
Well, if she wanted she could have actually killed the protagonist but she didn't 'coz she has lost the will to live.
All in all, she is suffering from success.
She doesn't have an end goal or any goal to begin with.
So, she simply one day thought 'let's just destroy everything.'
That's right, everyone including demons.
Remember the mission I told you guys about? It's 'save the world' not something like 'hey, buddy your race is suffering, help them out there'
I think I am starting to understand why they called it an 'easy' hidden dungeon.
On one hand, you can fight this monster who will cap herself to your rank out of her generosity-she just wants some challenge.. or you can change her whole idea of killing everyone using other methods. The thing is you will have to figure out everything while being in the dungeon with a timer which isn't really easy, I know about her and the situation because I read the novel.
I waited for her response. I am still waiting.
Um.. Hello!? Earth to the demon!
She blinked her eyes, shook her head and spoke
"I see... before I answer your question, tell me, do you have something that could kill me?"
What?
Where did that come from?
I can't kill you, no one can unless you agree to it yourself!
Even during the fight when the protagonist temporarily raised his rank by 2, you didn't remove your restrictions because of some bullshit like 'Oh, that's an interesting skill, I don't have such a skill that could raise my rank, I guess I will have to fight someone 2 ranks above me'
This person has some dumb logic in her head.
Privileges of the strong.
"No, I don't"
"Really, I thought you would have something like that."
...Why?
Why would she even think of something like that? As if sensing my confusion she spoke
"You came here.. no, you 'teleported' here, I haven't heard of anything that let's one teleport from one place to another without teleportation wrap gates, so whatever you have with yourself isn't something that anyone has ever seen."
Well, it is something that I got from hidden dungeon, and stuff from there is supposed to be op.
On a side note, there is no hidden dungeon or dungeon in this world for that matter. If there have been, I would definitely start going into Hidden Dungeon's hidden dungeon... man, such a tiring game would it become.
"You also came to me, Demon lord. No one in their right mind would do something like that, even if you have something that would let you 'teleport' away from me in an instant, after all, I can kill you before you even know it so that leads to me believe that I can't kill you. Maybe you have something that would protect you from me if I tried to kill you in an instant."
...What's her intelligence stat!?
I don't know!
I don't remember!
Fuck!
"..That leaves me with the option to not kill you but to capture you but if I do that you can teleport out of here easily. That means I can't kill you or capture you. I don't know how many artifacts you have with you or how you can use them.. maybe it's soul-bound?"
Gosh, she isn't a boomer for nothing!
"That's why I couldn't help but wonder if you have some sort of artifact to kill me anytime, using that as leverage to make me accept your deal but from your reaction it doesn't seem like you can kill me. But the same goes for me."
"Yeah, I can't kill you and you are also right about how you can't capture me or kill me for that matter."
Actually, you can. You are the only one who can because of your rank but even then you will have to play your cards right to trap me which is impossible!
If you snatch my necklace before I could use it then voila I am doomed the only thing is you need to know where the necklace is.
It might be a necklace but it's not necessary to wear it on your neck!
"Hm.. So, we are already at a stalemate" She said with her hand on the cheek.
"...I just came here to ask if you will be willing to teach me how to fight with a sword, dagger, and a scythe, oh, and mana."
What? Sword might be a cliche but it is actually a good choice! Daggers are necessary if I ever have to go stealth and assassinate someone and let's be real, who has never used a scythe in games before!? They are cool! And the psychological fear it puts on your opponent is just a chef kiss!
"I am a demon, demons use demonic energy, I thought it was a well known fact"
Demonic energy.
How beastfolk usually are aura users and Elves mana users, the key word being 'usually' sometimes some Elves are able to use aura, not mana, and some beastfolk use mana but not the aura. It's just not common.
The point is, that you can be a mana user or an aura user.
But that doesn't work for demonic energy. Demons are the only ones who can use it and they can't use mana or aura.
That's how the world has always seen it but.. I read the novel.
The person in front of me can use demonic energy and mana. An irregularity.
A true cheat hidden boss.
"You can't use mana?" I asked knowing the answer damn well, try to lie if you c-
"I can"
Oh, pretty honest, huh...
Damn it!
The sentence I prepared beforehand can't be used now!
"So, what's the problem?"
"Nothing, I guess. What will you do if I say no to your request?"
"Try to annoy the shit outta of you until you accept?"
What else can I do? She doesn't know how many times I could teleport or any proper details so I can use it to my advantage.
"..And I can't kill you. Makes sense. What will I get if I accept to teach you?" She asked in a bit of curiosity leaking out from her voice.
"Nothing."
She frowned.
Sorry, I am stingy. Just kidding.
"Here"
I pulled out a spirit stone and threw it her way. No, I am not giving it to her, once I am done with her teaching me I will just steal it back, it's a child's play for me.
She caught the spirit stone, a light bluish shiny quartz crystal having a small hexagonal cylindrical shape.
"...Why are you gawking at my hand"
"Ah, Um no.. It's just.. It's ... d-did this stone just came out from the empty air?" She looked at the stone and then at my hand, again and again.
Hey, I just got an idea.
How about I make people think I can bring stuff out of thin air and start my own cult?
If I play my cards right, then it might be possible, hell forget about cult I might start a whole religion.
Hahahaaahaha!
"A spirit stone? Let's see it's description, hmm? Oh~ I can use all elemental affinities except light but with its help, I will be able to use even light elements. How many people did you kill?" Breaking me out of my inner evil thoughts was the curious voice of the demon lord who was looking in the air, probably at her system window.
"I just stole it"
I answered honestly, there's no reason to lie. I would rather she look at me as a thief than a killer.
"That means, you can steal it from me too. I should better use it before you are ready to leave."
Wait no!
That's not what I pla-
Wait what?
"Are taking you taking me in?"
I asked for confirmation.
"Hm," She nodded and spoke "Besides this stone, it's pretty interesting to see things I have never seen. What sort of artifacts do you have and how did you find them? I am interested in knowing about it all. I have never seen something like making something appear out of thin air or having something portable that would help you teleport."
I see.
Good for me.
"My lord, your food is ready" The door opened. I and the demon lord looked toward the source of the voice.
A girl who looked like she was in her teenage years and another who looked like in her early twenties appeared.
The one in her early twenties looked at me with a sharp glare and then towards the demon lord, of course, her gaze changed when she looked at the demon lord.
"Should I dispose of him, my lord?"
..Excuse me!
That's not how you treat your guests! What an abomination of manners!
Ha! Try if you can dispose of me I have already made the deal with the demon lord!
I looked towards the most powerful person in the world as I saw the smirk on her face.
'Oh fuck'
"Incapacitate him"
She is a demon alright.
The next instant I felt a weird and warm feeling in my stomach. I looked down and saw a hand piecing it and then I looked towards who the hand belonged to.
It was, of course, the early twenties who glared at me.
Oh well, I also had something I wanted to check up on.
As, they say, use everything and anything.