Similar Strength, but Even More Dangerous
1796 Words
“Now follow me. This place is hardly a good location to conduct any negotiations.”
Julius turned around and walked back into the fiend plasm-infested area. Cali frowned when she heard and saw how the young man acted. From the looks of things, he seemed to be the Fiend Lord but he looked exactly like a human, but the most unsettling thing was through his actions and words, it seemed that he was already expecting them.
“You just said that we’d die from long exposure to this so-called ‘plasm’... why are you leading us into it then?”
Julius chuckled because he understood what she was inferring. However, it wasn’t like that.
“Oh please, if I wanted to kill you, I would have done it while you two were separated.”
“...”
“No need to be so wary. Unlike the humans, I welcome travelers that have come a long way from across the sea!”
“...Let’s just follow him. If he did want to kill us, he wouldn’t need to do all this,” Bael said before fearlessly stepping forward.
“Bael!”
“Staying here won’t get us anywhere, and remember, those humans are still on their way here.”
“...Fine.”
As the two reached the border of the infected lands, the red miasma began parting ways, leaving behind a corridor of normal air for the fiends.
“I control everything in the plasm fields. There’s no need to worry about being exposed to the plasm,” Julius reassured.
Bael nodded and stepped forward, followed by Cali and the rest of the demon entourage. Behind them, Julius’s dark fiends followed after.
As they walked through the red miasmic fields, the demons had shivers move up and down their spines. It really was unsettling to be moving through an unknown field that could potentially kill you and all that was needed was but a single word or action from the person they were following.
Julius could feel their fear and worry so he stopped and said, “Don’t worry about the plasm, or the miasma, as you’ve been calling it. Direct exposure won’t kill you, only long-term exposure will...infect you.”
“That’s...good to know, but where are you taking us?”
Julius started walking again and said, “I’m taking you to my castle, the Fiend’s Sanctum.”
He was walking in the direction of the Arachne Sanctum, not the main Fiend Sanctum. Julius wasn’t stupid enough to expose the location of his main base. The Arachne Sanctum was underground and it was of little consequence if he lost it.
Aria held an ability that allowed her to open up mini-Sanctums around the area of the Arachne Sanctum and spatially connect every one of them together. It formed a sort of spider web around the northern area of the Shifting Hallows and she could deploy any of her arachne fiends from these mini-sanctums.
It was a unique ability she gained after reaching level 50 and it provided better unit mobility and deployment options for Julius and with the humans coming to attack them, it was an ability that he greatly welcomed.
The [Space Tunnel] ability was going to help Julius a lot in the impending war his fiends were going to take part in. He honestly couldn’t wait because things have been a little boring lately.
Julius and the demons quickly arrived at the Arachne Sanctum which was marked by a large fiend castle that was situated above the actual Sanctum. This was naturally a place Julius created to act both as accommodations and pretense for when he needed a place to house his guests.
One could say that a sanctum was like another race’s city. Each of Julius’s sanctums indicated one city, however, unlike normal city’s that had city walls, townspeople, and other constructs, the only building that consisted of this city, at least on the surface, was the large castle or ‘city lord’s manor’.
The rest of the buildings were underground where the actual sanctum was located. Julius didn’t need to be upfront with anyone, including his allies, since he still saw the rest of the world as a potential threat to him.
Once they entered the castle, the red miasma that was roiling around and inside the castle quickly dispersed as clean air began filtering in. Julius led them to the great hall and once they got to the door, Julius’s body quickly began to change as it grew smaller.
The demons were shocked when they saw Proto take Julius’s place but once the door to the great hall was opened, a turbulent aura burst out from the room which quickly attracted the demons’ attention.
Sitting on the throne within the great hall was Julius in his real body. The previous Julius was naturally just Proto. He was the King here so there was no way he’d personally go out of his way to greet these demon emissaries.
Of course, he did the bare minimum by sending Proto to go fetch them. Julius naturally ordered Proto to use his body because it wouldn’t need to take so much to convince the demons into following the homunculus if he did.
“You… that was not you?”
Julius was in his Metamorphosis form so his appearance was rather demon-like. However, the aura he was radiating was unlike the demons. Julius scrutinized the two demons that were just outside the great hall.
His completely red and somewhat glowing eyes seemed as if they were peering into the souls of the two demons. Bael and Cali felt like their secrets were being upended by Julius’s stare but they couldn’t do anything but stiffen up.
The only time they’ve felt this way was when their father, Solomon, looked at them. The feeling that the two demons were having was due to the appraisal function of Julius’s system.
He was able to see the two’s status screens and he was rather shocked by their statuses.
[Status
Name: Bael
Race: Demon
Class: Grand Magus
Level: ???
STR: ??? (S)
AGI: ??? (S)
INT: ??? (S+)
Skill: [----], [----], [----]
Condition: Healthy, Stiffened, Slightly Fearful
]
[Status
Name: Cali
Race: Demon
Class: Sword Saint
Level: ???
STR: ??? (S+)
AGI: ??? (S)
INT: ??? (S)
Skill: [----], [----], [----]
Condition: Healthy, Stiffened, Slightly Fearful
]
The two demons had stats that couldn’t be appraised, but their grades were made known, giving Julius a good picture of how powerful they were.
He turned to the side and looked at Sammael who was kneeling with his head facing down.
[Status
Name: Fallen Sammael
Race: Dark Fiend
Class: Unholy Knight
Level: 110
STR: 225 (S+)
AGI: 180 (S)
INT: 110 (S)
Skill: [Unholy s***h A], [Unholy Shock A], [Bulwark of the Fallen A]
Addition: [Unholy Aura], [Fiend’s Zeal], [Dark Tracer]
Condition: Healthy,
]
Bael had stat grades that were similar to his while Cali and Sammael were similar. Unfortunately, Julius wasn’t able to see the two demons’ exact stats. He retracted his gaze and quickly said, “Please come in. I shouldn’t let my guests stand for too long. Pick anywhere to sit, the food will be arriving shortly.”
All of that happened within a split second so nobody was able to notice anything amiss. Bael and Cali only felt it for a brief moment and stiffened up instinctively because it was a sensation they felt whenever they were in the presence of their father.
The two’s eyes darted around but it was irrational to think that their father would even be here at this moment. Their eyes gradually turned towards Julius and they frowned.
“Brother...you felt that earlier...didn’t you?”
“...I did...however, he doesn’t seem stronger than us but he’s dangerous...that’s for certain.”
The two judged by feeling out his aura and they noticed that Julius was at best, on par with them. However, despite that, Bael concluded that Julius was still dangerous.
Bael greeted Julius in the way a demon greets their superior and said, “We thank you for the hospitality, Your Majesty Fiend Lord.”
“Hmm...calling myself that feels okay but others calling me Fiend Lord feels kinda icky…” Julius mumbled this to himself. It sounded cool when he addressed himself as the ‘Fiend Lord’ or the ‘Lord of the Fiends’ but when he heard others call him that, it was a little...odd.
“Just address me as King Julius…”
The demons quickly walked inside and took their respective seats. The dark fiends filed in and stood close to the walls on standby.
The food was quickly brought in by a few homunculi but Bael and Cali finally noticed something strange about this place. It was too quiet and it had...little to no people inside of it.
There was a lack of atmosphere and personnel in this room. Other than Julius’s dark fiend guards, there was no one else. Even the few homunculi that came in quickly exited the room a short while later and disappeared into the Sanctum.
“The castle feels empty...but the miasma has been blocking all of my sensory skills and abilities so I could be wrong…” Cali said with a frown.
“No, your skills and deduction aren’t wrong. On our way here, there was no sight of other fiends being around. Even those fields of mutated crops we saw on the way here, there was no one tending to them…”
“These fiends...are you sure they’re worth allying with? They seem more creepy than trustworthy to me…”
“...”
When Julus’s food was finally served, he looked up and addressed the demons, “I’m sure you’re all tired from the journey. Please, eat and rest first for a bit. After that, then we can talk about why you came here and looked for me.”
“Alright...we thank you once again for your hospitality.”
“Mhm, my pleasure. Now, let’s eat! Don’t worry, this is normal food that both humans and demons can consume. There is no poison in these!”
- Writer
