I am finally where it all started, at the demon king's castle, but not like before, I came back with new knowledge, more mana and a new objective : the mountains and what was in it, the metals.
Because they are where the metals, minerals and others are found in these mountains, I don't know what the evil army is doing with the metals that were in it, only one person I know must surely have the answer, Thanatos.
Lucian : "Thanatos, did you dig the mountains to equip the soldiers with armors ? »
Thanatos : "Yes, for some of it, don't tell me you want me to dig you a mountain"
Lucian : "No, not yet ...just do you know where did they put the metals and other things they find there and didn't use"
Thanatos : "Oh that, everything that is glowing in the treasure room and you will not get it, the rest is in the ocean or in the basements"
Lucian : "Can you show me where"
Well well I don't have to look far to find it... I wouldn't put it away like everyone else, I will use it to the maximum, but since it was of no interest for anyone, I surely can take everything and do whatever I want.
I then headed to the basements where Thanatos showed me where some of it was, there were no guards here because no one cares so I had no trouble finding the metals and taking it away.
Lucian : "Thanatos I'm going to put some stuff aside, you can teleport it for me in a safe place like an unused underground cave"
Thanatos : "You're still going to make me work until no time"
Lucian : "Yes but I might have a way to kill the hero with all this"
Thanatos : "Stop saying that, no one believes it"
The time during which Thanatos was busy moving all the randim thing that I gave him to my personal cave, I moved to the treasure room to see what I could take away.
But near that room it was different from the basement where no one cares about what was in it, here the demon king some shiny stuff and also old armors and a lot of things.
??? : "What is one of the humans doing so far? »
Lucian : "Huh..."
??? : "If you don't answer me, I will just kill you"
He had his weapon, a spear, under my chin and there I was very happy to have my demonic aura otherwise I would have already had my head cut off without being able to react.
He seems to be a 4 star soldier, atleast it's the only reason why he surprised me that much, a master of the spear and in addition so fast that I didn't see him move or come to my side that quick.
Lucian: "Please excuse me, I'm looking if I can take some stuff in there with me, Thanatos allowed me"
??? : "As long as you don't take the stuff on pedestals you can pass"
Lucian: "Okay that's enough for me"
??? : "Don't try to take anything away or else next time your head will be on the ground"
I don't really know why he let me pass but I guess the aura of Thanatos that remained on me and also probably because he didn't care much about the three-quarters of the stuff in it.
Then I took the door and opened it, the guardian looking at me with very clear doubt, in the room, some stuff everywhere, and a lot of colours, I see why it's here now.
??? : "Who dares to get into the gold chest? oh but what a beautiful aura, about 3 stars, what are you looking for? »
An old blind demon dressed like a butler who seemed to be tidying up and making inventories of each object apeared in front of me, he was there analyzing objects that were present here.
He was holding his book pretty well so even being almost blind there was no chance that I could take an object without him realizing it, even though I wouldn't have tried anyway.
Lucian : "Hello, I'm coming to pick up some of the shiny ores"
??? : "And what are you offering in exchange"
Lucian : "Exchange??"
??? : "You have to give something in exchange if you want to take something away"
Lucian : "Thanatos didn't tell me..."
??? : "If you dont have something to give, just look and come back later"
The reason I was in a bit of a bad mood is that I have to give something of equivalent value, and having stolen the baron's thing before blowing up his entire house would prove very useful.
I had precious objects on me, jewels, gold and whatever I didn't care about to which I had removed all jewels that could be of any use to me (everything that is not too small).
I knew I could take a lot of pretty ugly jewels in exchange for something more shiny since they don't know what it is as I could see if that is good or not.
Lucian : "I have all that if you want"
I had to make a quick trip to get the stuff I got and showed him some pieces of jewelry, some of the armor and a lot of stuff, he was kinda impressed by what I had and liked it a lot.
As I studied some of it I also gave him some of the enchanted stuff that was pretty bad or weapons that I was not gonna study and he was even more pleased.
??? : "You can take everything that is not in notebook 3"
Lucian : "Thank you"
As previously indicated, notebook three was the most brilliant stuff but also the weapons and others collected during the previous wars, I think he didn't expect it but I ended up leaving with absolutely everything that wasn't in this notebook and he said nothing about it.
I moved everything I wanted little by little thanks to bags and also just my muscles, and let Thanatos do all the work again to also put that in a cave so that I could use them.
??? : "Well you didn't go back with dead hands"
Lucian: "Too bad now your post is even more useless"
He looked at me clearly telling me with his eyes to not mess with him, as I previously got his blade on me, I had to take revenge.
And for that, I already knew what I was going to do, make fun of him, just like with Thanatos, that's why I like my position as a human here, nobody can really kill me.
??? : "What are you saying, it is a pride to guard his majesty's treasures"
Lucian: "Yes that's why you seem to be bored like a dead rat"
I had guess that staying in a corridor where absolutely nobody go to guard things nobody even cares about was pretty hard for him, atleast it would be for me.
And I wasn't wrong, his reaction was not as calm as before and even though his weapon was not moving, I saw some reaction from him, even though he calmed down almost immediately.
??? : "You are wrong, I'm glad to be of service to his majesty"
Lucian: "You must be so weak to be here rather than be useful and go to the front"
That was enough for him, he clearly was not happy at all that I called him weak, something so ironic as I am sure that he is undoubtedly stronger than me or any person I knew for now.
??? : "How dare you? »
Lucian: "I face you whenever you want to prove it to you"
??? : "I have no time to waste with you"
Here is probably one of the people who can serve as my training later, indeed annoying several of the high ranks of the army of evil was rather a good strategy to make them fight me.
They fight you without powers to kill you so they show you a lot of techniques since they are full of rage, a good opportunity to observe a plethora of potentially useful things.
Lucian : "You chicken"
??? : "Go away now before I chabge my mind"
Lucian : "Yeah, oh I fear so much"
He started to move his weapon and I got away pretty quick as I didn't knew what he would do and really didn't want to learn that the hard way.
The things I was able to get in the castle are the darkest material which suits me very well because the darker they are the more they are loaded with demonic mana and therefore the more they will be good for me.
The rest of my research didn't give much more, the maximum I could get being a gem that had absorbed so much demonic mana that it was as black as coal and some little thing that are not really shining.
Thanatos: "Are we done here? »
Lucian: "Do you know where I can find powerful sources of heat? »
Thanatos: "Surely in the underwater volcanoes"
It seems I had to move to the sea one day or the other, so I did, once I arrived I saw something strange, as if the rocky massifs protecting the access to the back of the castle had been hit.
It seems that someone has moved stones discreetly to make their way to the back of the castle that was very close to water and not protected at all like that possibility didn't exist.
Lucian : "Thanatos do you see that ?
Thanatos : "What ?"
Lucian : "It seems their was movement here, is it you ?"
Thanatos: "No it's not"
Then Who? There was no need to go very far to find out on one of the mini islands not far behind the castle there was a boat lying discreetly on which there was, it would seem, a troop of adventurer explorer.
Lucian : "Oh humans"
Thanatos: "How did they get here ?"
Lucian : "They made all the trip, that must have took around 8 months"
Thanatos: "I am gonna get rid of them"
Lucian : "No no I will, just watch"
They are not so stupid it seems, not being able to go through the lands because of the mass of demonic mana that would kill them, so they went through the waters, they are rather troubled waters on which old legends tell that there are monsters.
But at the same time if someone promise them that everything will be fine and pay them enough and they will go even if their lives are clearly in danger.
They had probably been there for a very short time given the progress made, if I had arrived later then we would have had some problems, the humans would have discovered our plan too early.
Human 1: "Ah we are kinda finished, just have to work for a few more days to see the castle and then we go home if their os something"
Human 2: "They are crazy in the guild, just because the hero has appeared for some time they are paranoid that somehow something must have happened"
Human 1: "Anyway there is no noise, nor any movement on the side of the borders it seems that we have even more time, these demons really have no chance of winning"
Human 3 (in contact with them thanks to a magic device): "Good if you went to work instead of talking"
I was clearly going to use the reputation of the evil territories to my advantage for this "fight", I must kill them, while making it seem that it is the fault of a monster so that the other guy did not think it was suspicious.
Again, mana seemed to be the solution to this problem, indeed moving mana to form a "creature" and attacking them with it was certainly difficult but at least no one would venture here anymore.
Lucian: "Mana Manipulation: puppet form"
Thanatos: "Looks weird"
Lucian : "But its a good disguise"
Forming a giant mana octopus was not an easy task by itself but then making all this huge thing move so that it looked like a real monster was even worse than I imagined.
Human 1: "Ah a giant monster"
Human 3: What are you talking about? »
His magic device also allowed him to share the field of vision of the other two, so he could see the "octopus" decimate his comrades and then his connection with his orb cut when I touch it with my mana tentacles.
--- In the human kingdom somewhere (narrator's pov)
In a tavern somewhere in the east someone was looking at a communication orb to see the progression of the mission he gave to his followers.
Because of the fact that no demons seemed to have appeared and no movement as been made, he made thzt mission so that they cpuld see whether it was a plan or just the demon didnt appear at all.
Human 3: "Damn, now no one is going to want to go there anymore I even lost a most precious communication stone"
In fact, his orb was not even broken but had just been recovered by Lucian, indeed during the fight as soon as the octopus touched the artifact it cut the communication, making it seem that it was broke on impact while the mana had just cut everything.
Now it was too late, Lucian had been careful not to break this artifact and filled it with demonic mana so that he would be the sole owner.
Here is another extra piece that can surely be useful to him as now humans dont have any clue as of the existance of demons and nobody would even try confirm it, it seems that everything is just going innthe bad direction for the humans.
--- Back to Lucian's POV
Now that I had everything I needed, in my opinion I still lacked a single element to defeat the hero, information, and how to get that better than with a short trip to the capital, where the hero resides and does his studies.
Yes there was no other choice but that and the little intruders provided me with perfect documents to enter the capital, some piece of identification that could enter the capital.
Otherwise I would have had to take the place of a nobleman, spending way too much time and effort for me.
I probably couldn't get close to the hero as it would be too complicated but observing him from a very long distance will be enough.