The couple walked over to a cafe known as Deadly Gluttony and walked through the door. It was clean and neat as they walked to a table and sat down. There were booths with fur seats stuffed with cotton. There were two menus on the table and Sophia picked one up.
“I don’t know… Maybe I’ll get a waffle with cream on it.”
“Hmmm? Yes, the cream is sweet and delicious and the waffles are fluffy and good.”
Soon after, a waitress came over and asked for their orders. Sophia ordered the waffle and Rune just ordered water to not be rude. After jotting down their orders, she left and Rune started to talk to Sophia.
The waitress placed a plate of waffles in front of Sophia and gave Rune a cup of water. Sophia started to eat the waffles and cream.
When she finished, Rune noticed that, like a cliche, she had some cream on her nose and her wiped it off. She smiled gently as he wiped her face.
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“This is one of the more decent inns in the capital. Their rooms are pretty spacious and they even have a bar!”
“You can drink at the age of twelve usually.”
“Really? Well, anyway, we should get going!”
She clung to Rune’s arm and they strode into the door. Rune could feel jealous looks upon him as men glared at him. They were probably thinking something like, “Just explode, you normie!”
A moment after they entered the inn, a girl in a french maid outfit strode up to them rather quickly. She was holding a tray and had her blue hair in a short pigtails.
“Hello there, loyal customer! Would you like a room?”
“Ah, yes! A room for two, please.”
“Yes, right this way! Come with me to the counter so that I can check you in. There are many rooms to pick from. What kind would you like? We have five floors and large to small rooms.”
She spoke as they walked to the counter and she started to write down what Sophia told her. They got a medium sized room at a medium size and they paid five silver for it.
“Come this way! My name is Era and I am the assistant manager of this fine establishment!”
The three of them made their way up the stairs and now stood outside the room.
“Here is your key. Make sure to not do anything too noisy when you are in there!”
She said in a taunting voice to Sophia and her face started to redden as she held her hands to her face. Rune ignored that last sentence and accepted the key from Era. The two of them went in and Sophia flopped onto the bed.
She seemed tired from the encounters of the day and started to sleep as soon as she hit the bed. Rune leaned against a wall and slid down it. His mind wrapped in thought as he waited until morning.
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Morning had arrived when Rune had finished enchanting himself. He became bored in the middle of the night and decided to try out [Enchant]. He learned that he could only put one enchantment on each different item.
He put strength in his fingers and feet, acceleration into his legs, farsight in his helmet, and was able to make his chestplate provide more defense. He also learned that some of his enchantments could be used when he poured magic through and so he added a heal feature to his palm.
He also used his skill to fuse magic stones into several different weapons and also enchanted them with different attributes so that the weapons could be used better and more efficiently.
If any of his classmates saw him, they would say he is like a cheat character who can only grow stronger. In fact, if people knew that he got to level 14 in two months, they would see him as a monster.
Sophia sat up in bed with disheveled hair and looked at Rune sitting against the wall. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.
“What are you doing?”
“Okay. Should we get breakfast?”
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After breakfast, they stepped into the adventurer’s guild to find that the person who had Iram was crying in the corner. He seemed to have taken a large emotional attack the day before.
Rune walked up to the counter to see that the same woman who was there yesterday was sitting at the counter again. She looked up in surprise as she saw him and Sophia who was clinging to his arm.
“Ah! Sir, I forgot to give you your guild card due to all the commotion. You will start out as an F rank, but I am confident that you will rise up the ranks quickly enough.
To rank up, you need to defeat a monster that is outside of the regular challenge level for a rank. F ranks usually defeat up to challenge 1, D ranks go up to challenge 5, C ranks fight up to challenge 8, B ranks fight up to challenge 14, A ranks fight up to challenge 25, and S ranks fight challenge 30+.”
She paused a moment to see if Rune understood, but couldn’t figure out his expression. She started to continue her speech again.
“Present us with the same monster part to earn money. For example, say you want to choose right ears, you can only bring back right ears until you change it or if something doesn’t have ears.”
Rune said this and reached into the air. He placed down fifteen Ogre skulls onto the counter in front of her.
“A-about two silver each. Together, this is worth 30 silver. Her you are…”
She reached into a drawer and drew out money. Then she placed it into his hands and started to write some things down.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“You are now a D rank. You have defeated a challenge 2 monster.”
She announced this and seemed like she was going to say something else when the front doors burst open. A guard wearing iron armor ran up to the counter, next to Rune, and started to scream in fear.
“I-I saw them!! T-there must’ve been h-hundreds of them!! Devils!! They are coming this way!!”
He was crying and had some blood on his chestplate and greaves.
The receptionist that the man was screaming to grabbed out an orb from her drawer and placed her hand on it. Suddenly, everyone could hear a voice coming from all around them.
“Devil raid!!! All adventurers and soldiers meet at battlefield.”
People started to run around them and Rune held Sophia closer to his arms. The two of them rushed out to face the oncoming threat.
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I suppose gods like to send obstacles in our ways for their entertainment, huh.
Rune was on a wall with Sophia and the two of them looked towards the horizon. They could see a guard tower destroyed and a devil camp several miles away. They seemed to be getting ready with extreme disorganization.
Behind them, they could see a moving fortress with legs like a spider made of steel. It seemed like a boss would be hiding in there.
Rune gave a cloak imbued with Protection and a light attribute and sent Sophia off. Then he turned to the devils and watched.
A man in golden armor was at the front of the charge to protect the capital of Storveld. He rode on a griffon and was carrying a golden greatsword which glinted in the light. He held it high above his head and started the charge.
The soldiers were the ones that had just charged while the adventurers were still getting ready. Rune, however, was always ready to kill things and leapt from the wall. He used [Earthen Shield] to jump onto several platforms before hitting the ground.
He ran towards the enemy faster than the soldiers who stared at him with pity, thinking that he would die quickly. Contrary to their predictions, he started to cut down Horned Devils, Imps, and a couple Ice Devils. He seemed to have to trouble annihilating a couple hundred demons.
In Rune’s eyes, the Imps and Horned Devils were small fries. Only the Ice Devils proved to be a bit of a challenge, but were easily killed with a couple strikes from his lightning and wind blade. He kept at it and devil blood filled the area as shrieks and screams of pain appeared. Some devils even tried to run away just to be cornered by the soldiers and killed.
The only problem was that there was a large fortress with multiple legs that looked to be made of metal. It was advancing slowly until it reached a hill and it planted itself firmly in the ground.
He had no idea of what could be in it and it definitely posed a threat. The other soldiers seemed to be spooked when they saw it involved their vision.
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After his 180th kill, he made it to the fortress. He had no fatigue due to him not needing any regular necessities to stay alive. He also felt no remorse for the devils for he knew that it was most definitely kill or be killed in this situation.
He stabbed a Horned Devil in the face as he trudged into the large door. It was dark inside, but the hall was lit by candles. He was walking on a red carpet as he strode to meet whoever dwelled inside.
After a bit of walking, and several traps that he broke immediately, he reached a throne. He saw several piles of flesh and oozing intestines laying around the room. He saw movement on the throne and looked to see a red devil that looked an awful lot like Rick, except was definitely more powerful. It had orange eyes and wings and a tail. It was a size larger than what Rick had been and it was holding a black mace.
It’s hand moved to pick up a person in chains and it proceeded to bite its upper body. The thing squirmed around for a while before falling limp and the Pit Fiend swallowed the rest. It lazily looked at Rune and spoke in his mind.
Rune looked to see a figure in chains holding itself in its arms as it curled up into a ball. The Pit Fiend moved out of it’s throne and stood up. A shadow moved near it and a succubus appeared on one of his throne armrests. It sneered at Rune as the Pit Fiend approached him.
It lifted its hand and smashed the mace into the spot where Rune used to be. Rune was behind one of the Pit Fiend’s legs. He stabbed both of his swords into it and unleashed [Lightning Grip] on them to rend his legs.
The pit fiend screamed and tried to step on Rune with the bloody leg. However, when the foot hit Rune, the leg exploded as its flesh went everywhere. The succubus on the armrest started to shift around.
The Pit Fiend swung his tail down to the ground to balance him as a replacement for the utterly destroyed leg. Then he swung his mace at Rune. One moment it was in his grasp, the next, it was gone. Rune had stored it into his storage as he swung.
The succubus unleashed a spell on Rune and it hit him in the head. No one moved for a moment before the succubus moved towards him.
“Hey now. Don’t you want to come with me for a bit?”
With a surprised look on her face, Rune used his chains to bring the Pit Fiend down and he cut off its head in one fell strike. The body collapsed onto the ground and it seemed to sink into it before disappearing. Rune stored the body in his storage like he did with some of the other devils.
He turned towards the Succubus who was now prostrating on the ground. She was shivering in fear and didn’t want to die.
“Please, make this servant yours. She will be loyal to you for as long as you live!”
She was definitely begging. Rune decided to chain her up for a while while he explored the fortress. His chains unwound from his arms and wrapped around her as he started walking. It was like a coal miner dragging a cart of coal with a rope, except it was Cursed Armor dragging a demon girl in chains.
Rune walked over to the person crouched in the corner and shone light on them. The person was a girl in chains who seemed young and had blonde hair. She had long hair and red eyes that looked at Rune. On her head was a pair of ears and a tail that had a black striped pattern. She had her wrists and ankles in chains and had a symbol on her right shoulder.
Rune spouted an iconic line, but would have saved her anyway. He doubted that she had the energy to move, much less talk, but now it was Rune’s turn to be surprised as she spoke in a hoarse voice.
“...yes…”
“What about me?!”
“Well, I affiliate with the devils.”
She said in a high and mighty manner, but Rune brought her down in a single sentence.
“...”
Rune heaved the girl onto his back and kept moving with the Succubus still in chains. There was nowhere to go now except to exit the fortress. Rune walked as the Succubus started to make strange noises.
I wish I could sigh now because I have to deal with a masochist now. Seems like the gods are having their fun. Well, as long as it doesn’t kill me or Sophia…
Rune left the building to find that there were still more devils left. He released the chains and set the beast girl down. The Succubus started to snort in displeasure when Rune took out an even longer chain that he had made the night before. This chain used the effects of [Ultimate Bind], [Faint], and [Truth Telling].
He tied the Succubus down with it and she stayed in place, making even stranger sounds. The sounds of a pervert. Disgusted by her attitude, he left to kill some more devils while expressing his annoyance with a
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He killed numerous devils around the beast girl to protect her. She was just snoring and still asleep while the Succubus was moaning and laughing for some reason.
After an hour of more slaughtering, it seemed that there were no more devils left. The succubus was, sadly, still alive and the beast girl was still sleeping. Several soldiers ran up to him.
“Thank you!! Thanks to you, we only had twelve casualties and the rest of us have made it through the devils!”
“I get to return home to my wife and child!”
“We also get paid!!”
“Only a small group of adventurers who barely killed three devils.”
“We saw you kill at least a couple hundred demons!! That was pretty amazing skill!”
“Quite a hefty amount I imagine. The last time this happened, a lesser army attacked and about 10% of the capital’s population was killed. This is truly a historical moment!”
Rune didn’t really care for the soldiers’ praise or other adventurers too much, but he did care about the money and if anyone special came to the field.
After a while of dodging questions and ignoring praise, Rune picked up the beast girl and saw that they Succubus disappeared. Thoroughly disappointed in the soldiers for keeping him distracted, he left.