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Rank: B

Origin: Ophiuchus’ Staff and Sword

Type: Utility

Cooldown: None

Description: The Staff and the Sword are born from the alterations of their myth’s stories, but in the end, they’re one of the same. These two weapons will always be connected to one another and can feel each other's presence, the wielders of the Staff and Sword can also use this connection to communicate from any place across any dimension. This skill works similarly to a telephone in which a side could choose to connect or disconnect the call at will.>>

Ophiuchus’ Staff had projected a screen showing Lawrence’s side, it was like face timing but with the use of magic, Theodore had almost forgotten completely about the staff's ability with all the preparations he needed to do for the battle.

In the background, Greed’s forces were attacking Asmodeus’ and Rhys’, the fight seemed to be stuck at a stalemate at the current moment and the demon king had urged him to hurry up and cross the mountain.

Theodore willed the staff to disappear and looked up at the peak, his enhanced vision and senses allowed him to just barely see the top, Hell’s sky had no clouds, so it made things a lot easier too. “Alright then…Let’s get to work…”

[Shadow Warp]

The ground beneath him suddenly turned dark and his shadow shifted towards his feet, the clump of darkness began to solidify and emerged from the ground, engulfing his entire body and in an instant he would feel that he’d been lifted off of his feet.

When the shadow parted, he would find himself standing on top of the snowy peak of the mountain, looking down, the two armies looked like waves of ants crashing onto each other with the occasional flames and sparks of magic coming from patches of the army.

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[The Ophiuchus’ Staff’s Passive ‘Serpent’s Tenacity’ is replenishing your Mana Points!]

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Theodore turned his attention away from the battle below and began walking towards the other side of the peak, the temperature was low but it wasn’t anything that he couldn’t handle, after all, Frozen Disaster was several times colder than this.

It took him around ten minutes until he’d finally reached his destination, despite the mountain being a cone shape, the peak was still large enough that walking on foot made things difficult.

‘I need to conserve my mana, so I won't use Shadow Warp again.’ Theodore sighed as he stretched his arms in the air, feeling his muscles numbing from the continuous walk.

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Theodore leaned forward and looked below him, seeing the circular-shaped city bustling with life from the soldiers quickly dispatching from within, archers lined the castle walls and some of them were loading up cannons.

“Now then…Where to attack first…?”

After sweeping his eyes across the city, he soon found his first destination, it was a large building encircled by thick walls similar to the city’s walls, the red banners with the symbol of a golden dragon hung by the gates, it wasn’t hard to guess that they used the dragon to represent Greed.

Theodore wanted to destroy that place because it was a barrack and armory, he could see the tiny soldiers picking up their swords and spears from all the way up the mountain.

“…Looking this far is straining my eyes.” He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times, although he can adjust his vision at will, using it like that for too long had side effects too. “I should hurry up.”

He stared at the barrack one more time and activated his skill, the shadows surrounded his figure once again and in a blink he would disappear from the mountain top.

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“Fret not my soldiers! His Majesty will be sending us more troops! They’ll arrive through the teleporter in twenty minutes!” A red demon clad in extravagant armor spoke to the other soldiers within the barrack, he seemed to be the commander of the army that’s about to be dispatched.

The soldiers roared enthusiastically in reply while raising their weapons high above their heads.

“General Haise can always be trusted! I’m glad he’s our leader.” A blue demon spoke to his friend, who looked more human than the others, his horns curled downwards and his eyes gleamed blue, he had a fair complexion which brought out his dark brown hair.

“Me too, he’s one of His Majesty’s best men after all.” The brown-haired demon nodded, agreeing with his friend. “Maybe we can one day rise up the ranks and become someone like him.”

The blue demon laughed at his words. “Oh Lysear, that’s impossible, we’ve just barely crawled out of the low rank! Becoming a high rank? It would probably take more than a thousand years for us to reach that height.”

Lysear’s shoulders slumped down, feeling disappointed. “You’re right Olpis…Maybe we should aim somewhere lower like—“

“EVERYONE! GET READY FOR COMBAT!” General Haise’s sudden loud shout, catching the attention of every thousand soldiers within the camp, even some that were still checking their armor or weapons had peaked their heads up and turned towards him, curious as to why he’d abruptly screamed.

A large pool of darkness abruptly emerged from the ground between the barrack’s opened gates, it spiraled upwards until it was around fifteen meters in the air and the shadow grew longer on the ground as well, extending the entire shadow to a much greater length.

Eventually it would dissipate, revealing a giant serpent underneath the mysterious cocoon, its cold stare sent shivers down every demon’s spine, even a high-rank demon like Haise couldn’t help but feel fear when faced against this monster. ‘A high-ranked snake demon? Is it one of Lust’s? No…Lust chose a goat as her symbol…!’

Haise swallowed the nervousness down his throat and drew his longsword from its sheath, the blade gleamed a majestic silver and the guard was shaped like two wings spreading to either side. “Did Lust send you here?”

The snake laughed, causing those behind Haise to step back on instinct, they felt that something was wrong with its laughter; it was thundering and proud, as if nothing in the world could ever faze it. “Oh, she didn’t, this whole operation was my idea after all.”

“Your idea?” Haise frowned. “Who are you? How can you leisurely order a demon king around?”

“You wish to know my name?” The snake let out another disturbing laugh, a burst of dark magic surrounded its entire body and radiated outwards, enveloping the entire barrack in thick, invisible yet powerful miasma. “If you cannot tell just by looking at me, I will not waste my time answering to a dead body.”

Haise gritted his teeth and glanced behind him, the demon soldiers each had a terrified look on their faces, some of the weaker ones had collapsed from the pressure while some seemed to be choking under the serpent’s gaze. “You’re a demon king…Are you the sealed Pride?”

Stolen story; please report.

“Sealed?” The snake’s eyes gleamed as a large purple magic circle manifested overhead, it expanded bigger and bigger until it fully covered the sky above the barrack. “Oh I’m not sealed, I’m way more powerful than the old Pride, I killed him and took his name for myself.”

Haise could only stare in awe and fear, he could feel that the sheer power that the magic circle was emitting could rival even his master, Greed’s. ‘We’ll be obliterated if the spell goes off…’

As if responding to Haise's thoughts, the arcane gleamed ominously as a ball of darkness began to form in the center of the circle and it was growing larger at a visible rate, though it was still slow, as if the serpent was deliberately giving them time. “I wish for you low lives’ slaughter, however, our goal is to take this city from Greed, if you surrender, you all will be spared.”

“You will spare us?” Haise huffed at the demon king’s words. “Why should I believe someone like you? You’re Pride, you would never let us go that easily.”

“Are you willing to risk your countrymen on a gamble such as that?” The serpent tited its head as it stared off somewhere behind Haise; it was looking straight at the shivering soldiers behind him.

‘Shit…He took them hostage right under my nose…!’

Haise gritted his teeth and raised his sword defensively. “Okay! If I recall the troops, you won’t kill them, right?”

“Of course, you have my words.”

Haise sighed with relief. “Okay…Just wait—“

“AH!!!!!” Suddenly, Lysear shouted and began running straight towards the snake, the grip of his sword trembled with fear but the demon pushed through and somehow managed to move at an alarming speed despite there being a crowd in front of him. “WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER!!!!!”

“Lyser you fool!” Olpis tried pushing through the army of confused and scared soldiers but it was already too late, Lysear had reached the foot of the serpent and he struck its scales with his sword.

‘CLANG!’

Eyes widened, Lysear stared at the broken sword, it had shattered the instant it made contact with the snake. “What…? No way…” He mumbled to himself as he took shaky steps back, dropping whatever remained of the weapon.

Haise was confused, but he instinctively looked up at the snake. “Wait! This isn’t what it looks like—“

“Oh, I think I know exactly what this looks like.” The demon king’s eyes gleamed, and in a flash, Lysear disappeared from the ground.

Only Haise was able to barely follow its movements, he saw how poor Lysear was grabbed by the serpent’s fangs and swallowed whole, the most terrifying of all was how fast it all had happened; in the blink of an eye and even he could just about see. “…Oh Great Pride, please spare us…”

“Spare you?” The snake turned towards the rest of the army, its eyes stared hungrily at them as if it was looking at an all-you-can-eat buffet. “You didn’t do your job as a general, Haise, now you’ll have to pay the consequences.”

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‘Cringe.’

Theodore thought to himself as he swiftly navigated through the army of demons while swallowing the ones that were conveniently in front of his mouth.

He was planning to kill them all in one fell swoop, but he saw it as an opportunity to establish his place in the demon world.

‘After we get back the city of Koaw, you should spend some time letting the other demons know your status.’ Asmodeus had told him.

‘Why? Doesn’t having territory enough?’

‘Sure, but they won’t treat you seriously. Even if they fear your strength, there will be some who don't believe that you’re the new Pride and attack you.’

Theodore sighed inwardly as he swallowed a few more demons. ‘This is such a hassle…Whatever, I’m killing two birds with one stone here anyway.’

[You killed an ‘Adult Demon’. Gained 1,000,000 EXP.]

[You killed an ‘Adult Demon’. Gained 1,000,000 EXP.]

[You killed an ‘Adult Demon’. Gained 1,000,000 EXP.]

There were about a thousand soldiers in this large barrack, it would give him a lot of experience points to level up way too many times than he could count. ‘Now that I’ve established a stable bloodline, I should focus on leveling up the skills and my overall stats.’

“General—AH!!!”

“General please help—NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!!”

“AHHH! MY LEGS!! MY LEGS!!!”

“Help us General!!!”

Haise the demon general had been forced to his knees at the sight of his men getting slaughtered, tears rolled down his cheeks as he clenched his eyes shut. “No…I’m sorry everyone…I couldn’t protect you…!”

Theodore would soon need to stop eating the demons, since he could feel that he was getting full, he turned towards the sky and stared at the dark orb that’d grown to about the size of a small house. ‘Let’s just clean them all up.’

[The Spell ‘Doom Desire: Half-Stage’ is ready for use.]

[Would you like to release ‘Doomsday’?]

Doom Desire, a spell from the Demon Arts magic, Theodore was instantly interested in its effects because of the eye-catching name. It was a spell with multiple stages similar to the Ice Cage spell, but basically, it’s a spell used to cause mass destruction.

‘The mana cost is insane though…’

The Half-Stage used up half of his mana points, he couldn’t fathom the amount of mana he needed to use to release its full potential.

‘Whatever, System, release Doomsday.’

[‘Doomsday’ has been released.]

The dark ball dropped from the sky, it fell towards the ground in mere seconds, and as soon as it landed, a large explosion swept away everything within the magic circle’s radius.

[The Personal Attribute ‘Scales of the Serpent’ has been activated!]

When the smoke cleared, Theodore was left standing in the middle of a large crater as notifications flooded his vision, he pushed them to the side and began to look around, seeing the amount of destruction that he had created. “Wow, I should use this more often.”

[‘???’ EXP is being converted into Levels.]

[Calculating…]

[Leveled up! You’re now Level 20!]

[Congratulations! You have completed a Hidden Quest!]

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Now that you have power, why not show off your strength? With the virtue of a demon king and the strength of a deity, let the world know the name of the Serpent Bearer…Show them who’s the real Demon King of Pride!

-Kill at least 1000 people with a single skill 1/1

Time Limit: None

Rewards: 100 Skill Points. Max skill upgrade (1 time use).>>

[Would you like to use your Max Skill Upgrade?]

“Max skill upgrade?” Theodore was intrigued, he brought up the information on the reward just to see if it has any sort of limitations.

It turned out that anything other than the Bloodline Skills and Unique Magic can be upgraded using the Max Skill Upgrade, he was tempted to throw them all into Asclepius’ Secrets but decided against it.

Looking at the skill, 13th’s Knowledge, he thought it would be better to use the reward on that ability instead, since it would be like upgrading his magic indirectly.

‘I might be able to learn some new spells with this…!’

[Would you like to use the Max Skill Upgrade on ‘13th’s Knowledge’?]

‘Yes.’

[The Skill ‘13th’s Knowledge’ has been upgraded to its final form.]

[You’re now a step closer to godhood!]

[Your chance of learning ‘Magic of the Gods’ has significantly increased!]

[All of your Unique Magic will be upgraded by one (1) level!]

[Your status window has been updated. Would you like to view it?]

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Species: The Ouroboros Serpent (30 Meters)

Titles: 13th Zodiac: Serpent Bearer. Demon King of Pride.

Lvl: 20

EXP: 0/21,000,000

Skill Points: 741

HP: 2,500,000/2,500,000

MP: 20,000/20,000

Rank: S+

Attack: 800 (S-)

Speed: 850 (S-)

Defense: 1,200 (S+)

Charm: 200 (D)

Intelligence: 500 (A-)

Magic: 900 (S-)

Elements: Ice. Fire. Draconic. Lightning. Divine.

Personal Attributes: Thermal Vision (Lvl.MAX). Venom (Lvl.5). Agility (Lvl. 3). Tongue Receptor (Lvl.MAX). Deitify (Lvl.MAX). All-Speak (Lvl.MAX). Greater than Dragons (Lvl.MAX). Dragon’s Heart (LVL.MAX). Scales of the Serpent (Lvl.1). Apex Predator (Lvl.MAX). Asclepius’ Guidance (Lvl.MAX). Final Desperation (Lvl.MAX). Hell’s Master (Lvl.1). True Dragon Eyes (Lvl.MAX)

Unique Magic: Frozen Disaster (Lvl.2). Immortal Flames (Lvl.2). Demon Arts (Lvl.2)

Skills: Ambitious Snake: Devour (Lvl.3). Master of Poison (Lvl.2). Persistence (Lvl.2). Uriel’s Blessings (Lvl.2). Wild Thunder (Lvl.1). Asclepius’ Secrets (Lvl.2). 13th’s Knowledge (Lvl.MAX). Lord of Souls (Lvl.1). First Deceptor (Lvl.1).

Bloodline Skills: Embodiment of Chaos (Lvl.4). Super Regeneration (Lvl.MAX). Corrupting Touch (Lvl. 3). Divine Blaze (Lvl.MAX). Coldest Death (Lvl.2). Predator of All (Lvl.2). The Great Cycle (Lvl.1). Forgotten Star (Lvl. 1). First Fallen (Lvl.1). Lightbringer (Lvl.1)>>

Theodore swept his eyes through his attribute window and nodded in approval, the amount of skills and numbers that were on the panel could certainly give anyone a headache to look at, but growing stronger in as short an amount of time as possible had always been his goal, so this was certainly a success. ‘Part of it was luck too…That fight with Lucifer gave me a bunch of skills.’

‘…It's like someone's helping me behind my back.’

Theodore swatted those thoughts away. ‘It’s probably what the System was supposed to do anyway.’

He closed all of the windows and cleared the notification pop ups, he was about to slither away when he felt a tingling feeling run down his spine. On instinct, he whipped his head around to see a portal slowly swirling into shape, until it got big enough for an entire army to push through.

Theodore used his speed to gain distance from the portal and watched as thousands of demon soldiers walked out, all armed to the teeth with at least A grade equipment while some even had S grade weapons.

Though one person stood out to him the most.

At the front of the army was a skeleton horse with golden flames as its mane, and it looked even creepier with its floating red eyes in its meatless sockets.

However, the man riding the horse was several thousand times more pleasing to look at, despite it being the middle of a battle, he wore no armor and only dawned a nicely ironed dark orange business suit, his horns curled outwards similar to the ones seen on yaks, he has long silver hair that barely touches his broad shoulders and his gold-like eyes gleamed under the flames from his horse as he stared at Theodore with a mixture of awe and mockery.

“So you’re the new Pride?” The demon spoke, it wasn't hard to guess his identity at all.

Theodore would’ve expressed more on his face if he could. ‘Greed…’

“Of course,” Theodore replied in a tone filled with arrogance, he internally cringed at himself, but he’d already gone this far. “And I’m guessing you’re Greed? What’s your name again…? Mammon, was it?”

Mammon laughed. “For a mere snake, you sure speak a lot.”

“I’m not just all talks either, you want to see what I can do?”

“No need, really.” Greed spreaded his hands to the side. “This crater already speaks for itself, and you killed one of my best generals with a single attack, how can I not see that you’re strong?”

‘…So he has connections to his trusted aids?’ Theodore guessed. It was the only explanation as to how Mammon would know about how Haise had died.

Either way, he continued talking. “If you already know my strength, why don’t you surrender this city to us?”

“I’m curious.” Mammon ignored his declaration. “Why did you choose to join forces with Lust? Are you infatuated by her beauty?”

Theodore’s reaction was genuine this time. “The fuck? No, out of all the other kings, she was the only one that I know won’t backstab me.”

His response caused Mammon to laugh. “Oh, okay that’s understandable, I did the exact same thing to Sloth after all, that’s why he’d been stuck at the bottom for thousands of years!”

“It doesn’t matter, give up this city.” Theodore lifted his head up high, staring down at Greed. “Or else I will wipe out your army.”

Mammon raised his eyebrows. “The army I brought with me had stood toe to toe with Wrath’s men before, they aren’t going to lose that easily like the small fries that you just killed.”

Theodore was hoping that the demon king would choose a more rational path, but this result was within his expectations, even Asmodeus had said that words were useless against these power-hungry kings. He let out a tired sigh and released his demonic aura, preparing to use Demon Arts. “Fine, you chose the wrong path, Mammon.”

[You have triggered a Main Quest!]

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