he Wandering Devil
Chapter: 5
pa/t reon details below if you're interested, hope you enjoy the chapter.
(Limits)
I inhaled deeply and exhaled as I found myself sitting in a lotus position, since Hestia had decided to leave and go off on her own somewhere, I had decided it was about time I started working on my Demonic Energy control.
It had taken some usage to get used to doing it physically instead of going off my secondary memories that showed me how it was done through magical tutoring. Copying it from memory just wasn't the same as actually trying it out. I should be able to be more adventurous with it.
I focused inside myself where I felt that raging ball of chaotic energy every time I used demonic energy. The red ball of chaotic swirling energy inside me became clear to me as I delved deeper into a weird trance.
The problem I was having with my spells was the demonic energy was wildly trying to escape along with the spell, this led to wasted demonic energy residue that flaked off uselessly. Luckily I had memories guiding me.
Sending a probe of intent at the orb it immediately responded and pushed back against it. My intent had been to make it move but the demonic energy rebelled like its creator.
Wait… did Lucifer even create demonic energy? Food for thought.
The brief lapse in concentration caused the demonic energy to snap back into its chaotic swirling state. With an aggravated sigh, I focused again, I kept prodding the ball of demonic energy with intent before using my will to command a small sliver of it to run through my body.
It was a slow process and I was fought by the Demonic Energy every step of the way. No wonder we use magic circles, seriously what the fuck is up with this energy. Even the little help they do with control should be appreciated.
The fact it also kept amplifying my emotions made it hard to concentrate. The unexplained hatred along with many other suppressed emotions suddenly getting out of control, forced me to take practised deep breaths.
"Zeph!" Hestia suddenly appeared.
"AAHHHHHH."
I cried out in surprise as I pathetically fell off the couch. I had been so focused on trying to gradually increase its speed that I hadn't noticed Hestia enter the room.
She giggled and I sent her a look of irritation.
"Sorry, you just looked so focused." She giggled out and I rolled my eyes.
Hopping back up easily, I dusted myself.
"So where did you go?" I questioned idly as I flopped back down onto the couch lazily and she blushed lightly.
"Just out," Hestia replied lamely.
I sent her a flat look before shrugging. If she didn't want to share I wouldn't pry.
She plopped herself right next to me.
"Did the transfer at the guild go okay?" She asked after a moment, I responded by taking out a pouch filled up with Vali. Giving it a tantalising shake and lightly handing it to her.
"Yup, 44,814 Vali in total," I responded cheerfully.
Hestia hummed happily.
"What were you doing? You looked like you were focusing on something. Are you okay?" Hestia asked.
"I was trying to improve my control over my demonic power," I replied, laying my head down.
"That chaotic energy I can feel within you?" Hestia affirmed.
I nodded lightly.
"Yeah, turns out there's a reason demonic circles were created to help with control. It's pretty hard." I replied with a tsk of faux annoyance.
We sat there and chatted about nothing special in particular. Hestia made for good company when she wasn't being a missile of energy. I noticed she seemed to be looking extra clean today, her silky hair having a healthy shine to it.
Her skin also looked extra smooth and shiny. I secretly checked her out and was satisfied with my observations. Wait, had she gone to the bathhouse all the gods go to?
That would make sense, why did she try to keep it a secret though?
"Zeph?" Hestia questioned and I was brought back to reality.
My eyes briefly glanced down to her soft lips as she had her head on my shoulder, extremely close to my face.
"Want to go grab some lunch?" I asked out of the blue after we stared at each other for a while.
She nodded with a small blush.
I grinned in response.
-Scene Break-
I wiped my forehead as I just finished the basic workout routine I had developed. My thoughts were along the lines of, If the falna boosted what was already there, why not add to that?
I had just completed my two thousandth press-up.
Turns out that having an insane physique meant working out required a lot more to tire me out. It had been a week since the dungeon incident, and Hestia had been quite firm on not letting me dungeon dive after that.
She had been acting like a warden, following me wherever I went. Not that I minded, her company was always welcome. I could have gone within the dungeon if I wanted to, but I genuinely didn't want to worry her.
The short busty Goddess had also been acting like my own personal cheerleader since I had come here, supporting me more than anyone had before at anything I tried. That thought brought an image of Hestia wearing a cheerleading outfit to the front of my mind.
Naturally Zephyrion junior arose like a trained soldier standing at attention in front of his general, ready to go to war. I pushed those thoughts down and started the last part of my daily routine.
Touching up on my martial arts training, I wouldn't claim to be a master or anything but I had been forced to learn martial arts in my old life since the place I had lived in wasn't exactly friendly.
It was useful for conserving stamina with breathing, it wasn't anything like total concentration breathing from Demon Slayer but it was useful. My fist struck out multitudes faster than my previous life.
I went through three jabs and a hook in a flash of movement. Keeping my footwork light and malleable. Ready to move around at a moment's notice, I sent another jab as I imagined an opponent.
Ducking to the side and narrowly avoiding a punch from the imaginary figure I sent a jab and kick, forcing it to stumble back. I took advantage of its lowered guard and sent a nasty hook.
Rattling my imaginary opponent's head and forcing it into a daze, I followed up with a nasty combo of rapid jabs and a spin kick.
My concentration was lost as I heard a cheer.
"Whooo go Zeph!" Hestia cheered from her place on the couch.
I merely shook my head in amusement at my cheerful Goddess. I really should look into that cheerleader outfit.
I let out a breath, slowing the hyperfocus I had been in and adrenaline. I performed a few stretches to relax my muscles.
"Alright, I'm heading out," I announced and Hestia pouted.
"Zephhhh, stay with me," Hestia asked, opening her arms invitingly. I paused as the tantalising view of my beautiful Goddess was taken into serious consideration.
"I'll be back later," I responded a moment later and the adorable pout magnified.
I rolled my eyes. Tossing her the money pouch with a sly wink as I left. I was now deemed safe by the almighty authority that was Hestia, (Ouranos who?) so I wasn't under constant surveillance.
This meant I could finally dungeon dive once again. Hopefully without the whole army of monster things. I didn't feel like spamming fireballs again. Despite Hestia's casual attitude, I could tell she was worried.
The slight tremble and biting of her perfect nails made it easy to see. Acting confident should put her mind slightly more at ease for now, though I think it'll take a few runs of nothing happening to calm her down.
I practically skipped my way down to the dungeon, I hadn't been able to test my magic out other than slowly getting a better grasp on manipulating demonic energy.
Other than spamming massive balls of fire, I wanted to experiment more. Perhaps even incorporate it into my martial arts? It takes a while to build up but I'm sure with my improvement in control it will become easier as I progress.
I made my way towards the large dungeon entrance, the foreboding aura of it and the eery way all noise seemed to die when entering. A grim silence of determination taking presidence among the adventurers.
Not including me.
I hummed a song from my old world, feeling particularly upbeat. Perhaps it's because I was a devil that the strange aura didn't seem to bother me as much. Some adventurers looked at me like I was already dead meat. Probably due to my lack of armour.
Unfortunately, the original sword I had gained from the guild was lost but with five thousand Vali I had bought a new if not a slightly worse replacement.
It was of no worry though, I was here to grind. I needed to start making more Vali for Hestia and me. She was still trying to convince me to allow her to work and that was an insult to my ability to provide.
A feral grin appeared on my face for a moment before I reigned it back. It seemed like my devil instincts were playing up again. I remember what had happened last time when I had given in to them and ended up slaughtering everything during the flood.
I'm pretty sure my sin was either pride or wrath but I wasn't too sure on which. I steadily broke away from the main stream of fellow adventurers entering the dreary-looking dungeon. Down the large spiralling staircase.
The haunting silence I had been subjected to last time returned. To be honest I felt more nervous than I acted. The brief thought that another dungeon flood could occur due to my presence wasn't exactly comforting.
If I even saw a hint of it starting I was bailing and reconsidering my stance on dungeon diving. A screech alerted me to the small green humanoid figure of a goblin making its presence known.
Pausing and doing the usual routine of being confused before screeching and rushing me, its sharp claws come for me. I side-stepped, kicking its leg. Which caused it to stumble and I sliced its head off.
Experience dealing with these clumsy little fuckers had made it even more effortless to kill them. I dug out its little crystal and watched its body dissolve into black smoke.
Yeah, not hard when I wasn't surrounded by hundreds of these fuckers. I put the monster crystal into a pouch I had bought especially to store them in. I swirled the blade a bit novishly.
Perhaps I should look into learning how to wield a sword properly. Two more goblins rounded the corner and charged me with reckless abandon. Gaining an idea I focused my intent.
Imagine, supply and will. A clear image of what I wanted appeared and I grinned when the sword suddenly lit up with flame. Raising the blade I imagined what I wanted to happen and sliced it down.
I used a big amount of my energy and proceeded to gawk as a massive crescent slash exploded out, consuming everything in front of me in a wave of fire and dissecting the two poor goblins.
Then after instantly burning up their corpses into ashes, only their monster crystals remained on the floor. The crescent slash of fire travelled all the way down the cave-like hallway and exploded when it impacted the end wall.
Which made the dungeon tremble slightly. No wonder it took a massive amount of demonic energy. Holy fuck. My face stretched into a massive grin, I glanced down at my sword only to abruptly frown.
The once straight blade was steadily, starting to glow red and warp.
Shit.
I dispelled the fire immediately and summoned a small amount of ice to coat the blade from my Imagination Magic. By the time the blade cooled down, it was slightly wonky and bent out of place.
Oh dear.
I probably should have foreseen this. At least it was still usable. Screeching announced the fact I had drawn quite a bit of attention. A group of four goblins started charging at me from behind.
Shrugging I got into a solid stance. Shooting off I carved through the group of goblins with a wild grin.
-Scene Break-
I made my way down to the third floor, somewhat carefully. I was still weary of a dungeon flood. There had been no signs so far but I kept the usage of magic nonexistent after my first test to save on energy.
Just in case.
Entering the third floor as I entered the archway leading into a new set of hallways. The wolf heads of the kobolds snarled after doing the basic confused action. I dodged a claw swipe and effortlessly cut the first kobolds arm off.
Elbowing the second in the throat, forcing it back as it stuttered to regain breath. I swung and decapitated the first and pierced the second through the heart. Ducking the thirds dive I slashed it through the head at an odd angle.
I winced. That didn't look right. I proceeded to loot their corpses for their monster crystals. I spent the next hour or so just hunting down the small groups of kobolds.
Taking a few breaks in between, which wasn't easy since the monsters came in constant waves. I could see how normal adventurers got tired and ultimately ended up dying.
I found that not being constantly fucked by an army of endless monsters on the third floor was actually pretty manageable, my devil genes were definitely showing their benefit.
I had seen some first-level adventures struggling against monsters on the first floor and it had given me a view of how overpowered my existence was. I still had no idea what my current strength was at. Since I hadn't exactly been going around picking fights with any level 2 adventurers.
My eyes travelled over to the archway leading to the stairway that would lead me down to the fourth floor. I didn't want to be an idiot like Rose had suggested and rush in recklessly.
Yet, I was cleaning through these kobolds with relative ease. Plus according to the leaflet, the only difference was it spawned both goblins and kobolds with a higher spawn rate.
Might as well.
It would be good to find where my limit was anyway.
-Scene Break-
I think I may have gone a bit overboard.
What had initially meant to be a trip down to the fourth maybe even the fifth floor to test how strong I was had ended up going much further than intended.
I jumped away as a massive torrent of flames tore through my previous position. The dense mist was not making it easy to keep a track of the small wannabe dragon. A thunderous roar of bestial rage rang out a moment later.
Two red glowing eyes were the only thing keeping its entire body in view as I jumped away easily. The dungeon space had become much larger the further I went down, I had found myself descending without much challenge.
The killer ants had only been mildly inconvenient with sheer numbers, they all kept letting out weird screams that kept attracting more of them. My pouch had long since been overflowing with monster crystals by this point.
Turns out I had been being too careful, stupid Rose had made me all cautious and the dungeon flood hadn't helped that belief. Now, here I was fighting what I believe is an infant dragon. On the eleventh floor.
Yup, I had gone all the way down to the eleventh floor. It turns out I had been massively underestimating my devil physique. Which in turn had made me subconsciously hold back. I don't really know how that worked but I had come to find that I was a lot stronger than I initially thought.
I jumped away from another blast and launched myself closer to the infant dragon. The infant dragon stood at a height of around 150 centimetres and was four metres long.
Its scaled tail whipped out and tried to hit me, I slid under it and landed a solid punch to his cheek.
Unfortunately, my cheap sword had long since stopped working at this point so I was forced to rely on my fists and magic. The infant dragon's scaled head snapped back as its entire body was sent rolling back.
A few scales fell off as a large amount of monster blood spurted out. It roared in pain and sent a massive wave of flame at me. Jumping I sent a beam of frost at its body, the ice immediately freezing its body to the ground.
Fire spewed erratically out of its mouth. Soon melting the ice away and getting up to face me. I simply grinned at its determination. I've discovered that I was a bit of a battle manic.
I couldn't help it, I just felt so alive.
I jumped back on a tree and watched as it charged me. A fireball shot at me and I jumped, allowing the tree to explode in flames. I smashed down on top of it sending more scales dislodging from its draconic face.
Honestly, I was pretty lucky to stumble upon the infant dragon. I had found it chewing on a corpse so I'm guessing an overly ambitious adventurer had tried to slay it. Probably risked it due to the fact infant dragons were meant to be rare I think.
There were a lot of new monsters on the floors above floor ten, I had run into a few orcs which were large creatures with pig heads that held a huge amount of strength. I had also encountered Imps. Tricky little fuckers that were basically smarter goblins that grouped up. Attacking in massive forces.
I think there were some more creatures on this floor but I hadn't run into them yet, I performed a spin kick to the dazed infant dragon and a series of powerful punches that repeatedly knocked scales off its body.
I let out a breath after my onslaught, the infant dragon barely standing.
"How's that for power you small wingless wannabe dragon." I taunted with a grin, crazily enough the dragon wingless infant dragon looked like it understood.
It unleashed one final torrent of flames from its gaping maw before I delivered the decisive blow. With a powerful strike, I brought it crashing down, the infant dragon's head collapsing moments later.
My arm glimmered with a faint red aura. Throughout the battle, I had been channelling the limited amount of demonic energy I possessed into my arm, bolstering its strength. While it required deliberate focus and wouldn't be practical in a life-or-death situation, I was steadily improving my control over it.
I let out a tired sigh, sweat glistening on my skin after all the exercise I got from killing monsters. It seemed like a good moment to call it quits and head back up to the surface. I had stayed down in the dungeon much longer than I initially planned.
My eyes trailed back to the dead corpse of the infant dragon, now. How the fuck was I going to remove this things monster crystal?
-{Rias Gremory}-
Rias Gremory sat with her legs brought up to her chest as she stared outside her window. The crystal blue eyes she possessed that normally held cheer looked dead, the edges of her eyes were red and puffy.
The younger daughter of the Gremory was a beautiful young woman with long crimson hair, soft blue-greenish eyes, and fair soft skin. With an hourglass, she was a woman many sought the hand of.
Currently, It had been a week since she had learnt of the disappearance of her precious younger brother, Zephyrion Gremory. To say she was shocked would be an understatement.
Rias had spoken to her younger brother just a few hours prior to the incident. Mainly when she was trying to cuddle him and convince him to watch anime with her.
Naturally, this had made her an emotional wreck as the underworld scrambled to search for him. Only to come up empty. This had made Rias even more distraught as no one decided it was worth the time to update her on what was happening.
Akeno Himejima stood behind her looking just as distraught as Rias. She and Zephyrion had been close ever since he would come in to calm her down when she awoke in a mess after experiencing nightmares of her mother dying.
Akeno was trying to keep strong but she had long since gained a bit of a dependence on Zephyrion's calming presence and his absence was bringing up her trauma once more.
The thought of losing someone else she held dear and being powerless to stop it hurt her on a spiritual level. Rias simply continued to stare outside the window with her fists clenched.
Rias knew Sona and the others were worried about her, after all, Sona had already attempted to contact her three times but Rias didn't have the energy. She had tried to go out and search with the rest of the underworld only to be rejected and placed on high security.
The only thing she knew of was that Serafall had felt a massive magical disturbance in Zephyrion's room which Ajuka's and his peerage were combing through for any information.
Serafall herself had looked terrible. The short-stacked Satan no longer found herself acting in her normally cheerful demeanour but instead, she was cold and serious.
To convey the seriousness of this matter, the shooting of her magical girl show has been cancelled for as long as Zeph isn't found.
Rias hadn't seen her elder sister but she knew it couldn't be good. Sirena had always had a certain obsession with Zephyrion and Rias could only imagine the state she was in.
Rias didn't know what to do, she was stuck in the gremory castle with an armada of guards surrounding her position. Normally she would binge-watch anime but even that didn't seem appealing.
The magical circle of the Sitri pulsed again as Sona attempted to call her, Rias simply stared at it apathetically. It continued to pulse for a few minutes before dissipating.
She let out a depressed sigh.
'Little brother, I wonder what you are doing now?' She mentally asked as she stared up into the purple sky.
-{Zephyrion}-
Whistling, I exited the dungeon, covered in monster blood with a giant monster crystal tucked in my right arm. My pouch was filled to the brim with monster crystals, I should look into maybe taking a bigger bag or finding someone to pick them up for me.
So many monster crystals had been left behind. To be fair I hadn't been planning on going so far down in the dungeon. I hadn't planned on spending so much time down there either. I had been forced to chuck all the goblin crystals away in favour of better monster crystals from lower floors.
I started making my way towards the guild, unbothered by the large number of adventurers entering and exiting the dungeon. I didn't want to worry Hestia too much by being out longer than I had already been so I made haste.
Only to pause as I came across something or rather someone. Sitting down slumped with dirt on his face was a familiar boy with pure white hair that also seemed to have dirt matted on it. The boy's expression was one of defeat and self-loathing.
Holy shit.
Bell Cranel?
-END-
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