[Vuixhor's Pov]
I left the girl in my base and swiftly ran towards the city to buy some food and to check for any hints of the count's activity.
When I arrived inside the city, I went towards the assassin's guild, and what I found there didn't suprise me much.
There was a request to capture a girl, and the description obviously stated that it was that girl. What I didn't expect was that the reward would be 100 gold coins and that it requested that she be brought back alive. I don't want to know what kind of things they'd do to her if they managed to capture her...
After buying some meat from the butcher and some other things, I left the city and ran back towards my base. I usually only stay one hour or two in the city and not more, as I'm scared that I might be recognized.
Before arriving at the base, I saw the 'Hero' and his party hunting the local monsters. These bastards already killed 3/4 of the entire population, and now the forest just looks... empty. Real good job 'Hero', real good job...
Once I arrive at my base 20 minutes later, I arrive and first drop off the grocieries, then I checked up on the girl. Shure enough, she was still sleeping and she was already shivering intensely. I simply pat her head for a while and she calms down. Poor kid, I wonder where and who her parents are... Probably best not to mention it though.
I leave the room and go back downstairs and prepare some of my favourite dishes. I don't spend much money, but when it comes to food or weapons you should never hold back. I prepare steak with baked potatoes, bring out some wine for me and water for her. I'm not going to let a minor drink wine, I'm a responsible demon.
As if on clue, I hear footsteps from upstairs and soon enough she appears, sniffling the air. She looks at me with a blank stare, and then at the steak. She looked quite hungry, so I decide to call her "If you want to eat then come down here."
She swiftly jumps down the stairs and walks over to me. She then sits down and coils her tails around her waist. I guess those are in the way huh.
"So tatoo boy, mind explaining what's happening? First you shoot me, then I find myself in your house with a delicious-looking steak in front of me. I'm kinda lost here~" I suppose my actions don't indeed make much sense. I'm still asking myself why exactly I'm doing this. Actually, I know exactly why. I hate those noble humans, the commoners are bad too, but the nobles are just trash. I couldn't stand seeing her being in such danger even though she's so strong.
"I'll explain everything, for now you can eat. I will immediatly tell you that I have no friendly relations with the count or with humans in general." She looks up at me for a second then asks "Humans? Do you mean you're not human?" I facepalm at that. Just where did she come from...?
"No. I'm a demon born inside human lands." I say and her eyes open pretty wide.
"I... Imagined that demons were... you know... Scarier? Like with wings, horns, tails, tall, multiple arms?" What the hell is she talking about? Those sound a lot like monsters.
"I don't know where you come from, but I'm a pure demon, if you don't like it then that's your own fault." I say but she shakes her head and smiles awkwardly.
She then somehow takes the entire steak and cuts it in pieces using her nails. Those are very sharp aren't they...
"I suppose I should thank you for this. What's your name? And can you fully explain to me what exactly you want with me?"
I tell her my name and my story, how she was wanted on the assassin's guild and my work of helping all fellow demons in the area. When I finish, I look at her only to see her staring at me with a questioning gaze.
"I understand most of the story, but why haven't you tried taking revenge for your past? I shure as hell will..." She mumbles the last part, which I ignore and simply state "Humans are scary exactly because of their revenge quests. If I was to actively try taking revenge I'd simply get killed very quickly. I'm not strong enough to fight an entire race, and it would end up with pointless slaughter." I finish but she giggles a bit.
"There's no such thing as pointless slaughter. Every kill has a meaning you know? Maybe their body will fertilize the ground or some wild beast could have them as their dinner." So she is indeed an insane psycopath huh... Well, too late now.
I get up and walk outside and she follows me. She was still mumbling things without me being able to hear her.
"Can you promise me to never tell a soul about my base? It's not only where I live but multiple other demons sometimes come to take refuge here. Can you promise me at least that?" She nods at me with a faint smile.
"Sure, but you're gonna have to treat me to a couple more of those delicious meats if you want me to keep the promise..." She trails off and giggles a bit. Isn't she like, really wierd?
"Ah! Right! I was gonna go have dinner with the bandits! I forgot! Sorry, I'll see you another time!" She says and runs off. Dinner with the bandits? What? Is she a bandit herself? I doubt it...
[Alysha's Pov]
The cooked meat was delicious and talking with the guy was pretty funny. I immediatly felt a weight lifted off of my shoulders when I heard he wasn't human. Still, to think demons didn't have wings... I totally wanted to see one...
For some reason, I felt peaceful during my sleep and my everynight nightmares didn't come this time. It was a really pleasant sleep, even though I probably shouldn't have fallen asleep just like that, but I think that me being completely immune might actually not be for every poison? Or was I just tired? I'm not sure...
I'm kinda lost now though. I still want to kill the bandits, but if I can't find them how can I kill them? I should've asked for directions...
I hopped from tree to tree for at least 3 hours before finding something. Something pretty god damn big too.
There was a snake. A really long snake. It should've been at least 20 meters in lenght and 2 meters wide. It was coiled on itself and would have normally been pretty hard to see due to it's green color, but due to being so big and since It was bleeding quite a bit it wasn't too hard to spot. I'm pretty sure it just had a fight with an adventurer group or something...
As I observe it from the tree, the snake suddently turns and I hear a voice in my head
"Go away, humans, or it won't end well for you. I can sense your near. Scram!"
Oh my god. This snake can use telepathy! I'm so excited, if I eat him will I be able to use it too?!
I jump down from the tree and the snake looks at me for a couple of seconds, the says "... Where are your little friends? I can smell at least 5 different people on your body. What did you do?" Ain't you a polite snake? Asking what's wrong and not attacking me immediatly. Might be because he's injured, but still. He's nicer then most humans I know...
"Ah, yes! That might be because I eat a lot, but I'm not sure. I also have a special~ skill but I can't tell you what it is tough. Also, I'm sorry mr. Snake but I'm going to have to kill you now. If you have any wishes then please say them now~."
"Hahahaha, kill me? You? Based on your attitude and lack of reaction, I suppose it'll be a hard fight for me then. Well, since you seem so eager to kill me, I'll fight you with everything I have, but let's take this away from here." The snake uncoils itself and starts slithering away. it still faces me, but when it fully uncoils I realize the reason for it's scratches.
There was a giant egg where it was coiling around. It looked really pretty. It shined a golden color and had some green stripes on it.
"Ah, I can see why you're wounded now. I think I might even know the only human who could possibly injure such a noble snake like you. Was the guy perhaps a perverted black-haired idiot?" The snake looked at me for a second before laughing (Or at least it seemed like it was laughing) and answered in my mind
"Hahaha, yes. He was indeed a black-haired idiot and he kept blabbering about how I was a danger to his 'friends' but kept apologizing at the same time after I spoke to him. There were 3 more people with him though. Ah, We've arrived. Let's fight here if you don't mind."
We arrived at a clearing of the forest similar to my pond. The snake slithered and coiled itself again. Facing me, he began to shake his tail.
"I'm kinda sorry to have to kill you. You see, I before said that I have a special skill. It let's me strenghten by eating strong people or monsters, and you seem insanely strong. Well, what should I do with your egg after this? Oh, and don't think you can win, I can myself easily kill the 4 people that damaged you this much."
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"We'll see, we'll see. I haven't lived for 200 years for nothing. Well, if you manage to win then please protect the baby. It was my mistake coming to human lands after all. I should've stayed in the deeper parts of the forest. Oh well, with the King gone, it has become much harder living here anyways due to the massive increase in hunters and trappers. I wonder what happened to him. He was a tiger and had two tails and ears very similar to yours." Ah, so that's the king! Did I perhaps doom this forest when I killed him? Good.
"Ah, yes! as I said before, I can absorb their strenght when I eat someone. I killed that tiger and ate him and then woke up with these the next morning. They're really nice to comb..." I say as I bring my tails forward and hug them to my face.
"Y-you killed the king?! How?? He was the strongest monster in the area!" Oh my, scared now? Hehehe.
"Well, yeah I killed him, although I had an advantage since I stabbed his eyes out at the start he still bit off my arm, which kinda hurt... He was very tasty though." The snake looked quite nervous now. "... You're arm is still there. It makes it hard to believe what you're saying." I make a gesture of realization, and then cut off my own arm with the other. Blood sprays onto the ground and the snake looked shocked. The blood stopped after 3 seconds and a new arm regrew in 10 seconds.
I didn't think snakes could make facial expressions, but it's jaw was literally hanging open. giggling a bit, I wave my new arm that had absolutely no signs of ever having been cut off. Sadly, whenever I regrow a limb the one that is cut off turns into ashes.
"T-t-that's quite something... I never saw anything like this... Oh well, I guess I'm going to die today. Please stick to your promise and take care of my baby at least." I simply nod with a smile and get into a pouncing stance. There was no more need for chit-chatter and we both ready ourselves
As if on agreement, we launch at each other at the same time. I don't hold back and the ground cracks under my weight. The snake tries to bite me and succedes by biting me right in the waist. I ignore the pain and wrap my tails around its head and start punching, biting and scratching furiously ignoring all the trashing he tries. It tries to let me go and throw me off but I hold strong on it.
it swings his head into the ground, damaging itself but succesfully throwing me off. I had stabbed off one of it's eyes and it had several deep slashes in it's face.
My wounds rapidly close off, leaving only a destroyed shirt as signs of ever being bitten. Smirking evilly, I say "Forgive me for my lack of regards to your poison, but it's not going to work on me..." I say and get into a pouncing stance once again. The snake understands that simply biting me won't do anything and with my steel-tough skin it would be very hard to seriously damage me.
We once again pounce at each other, and I slam my tails on the side of the face of the snake before it could try to swallow me. This sends him reeling to the side and I crash into it's back, Immediatly starting to tear it apart.
The snake wraps itself around me and constricts me, breaking a couple of bones. I disregard the pain one again and single-mindedly start biting and chewing on it's skin. I swallow the meat I tear off and can immediately feel myself strenghtening. It's really tasty.
The snakes tries even harder to constrict me, but with my now slightly increased strenght I begin pushing on it back.
After 3 minutes of him constricting and me pushing, I get bored of it and shoot my tails and wrap them around parts of it's serpentine body. I then constrict them myself, leaving it hissing in pain.
I then finally free myself, Pick it up in the air by the end of the tail, and start twisting myself around, dragging it with me and then throwing him into the trees, breaking several of them. The snake now had probably 1/2 of it's bones broken.
I walk up to it, and see it turn to me with a resigned look. I guess it is kind of unfair how I can ignore it's two major sources of damage, constricting and poison. Too bad for you...
"This was the best fight I've had ever since I fought the king. Thank you for the fight." I say with a deep bow.
The snakes simply laughs in my head and says "Hahaha... *cough cough*, I guess I never stood a chance... did I... You're a polite one regardless... Most humans consider me a simple-minded beast... *coughs again* I guess you're more of a monster then I am...".
It finally dies after finishing the sentence. The poor snake probably just wanted to live and help it's child grow up... I feel really bad having killed such a noble and beutiful being. It probably was right too that I am more of a monster then it ever was.
I walk up to it and start tearing it apart, eating it on the spot. I start with the head. Since it was too big to swallow whole, I simply tear it into four piece and devour each.
It takes untill nightfall to finally finish consuming the snake. It wasn't quite on the level of the tiger king, but it was very delicious neverthless.
I wash myself in a small river nearby and throw away my now unwearable shirt and remain only in underwear.
I walk back to where the egg was left and pick it up. I'm going to guard this with my immortal life, I refuse to break the promise made to such a noble beast. It never complained during our fight, and never once asked for mercy. I might have more hesitation killing it then killing a million humans.
The egg still shined it's golden color with green stripes. I think I'll ask the demon boy for some help on this...