Baal PoV
I was outside in the castle ground with all the new recruits who would be trained to guard the city after the paladins decide to leave. Last night my five elites came back completely spent. Having to fight an ogre, though they said it was Rachet who did the actually killing since he pretty much crippled him half way through. Still they were the ones who fought all the other creatures. After explaining what had happened they simply crashed into the bed and were instantly asleep.
I just smiled as they slept. I followed them to the dream world and woke up to a surprise. Lily and Ro had ranked up during the night and were now high imps. They looked a bit different from how I looked as an imp. First the color, obviously, second they had a less savage look. Their claws and fangs were shorter but their horns were longer than i remember mine being. It became a hassle after that. They were about the size of an 8 year old now and Lily was just as clingy as before but now her weight was MUCH more noticeable but she didn’t care and only hung onto me firmly.
If I said their strength was leagues beyond what they had before it would still come up short. I was able to properly spar with her, though I still won which was the obvious result since I was higher rank and had been training much longer than her.
Today Rachet began training Lilian and me. He said we still needed a lot of training before we could safely protect ourselves. He told us to attack him and as we fought him he advised us in what we were doing wrong or how we should move to bring out more strength while wasting less energy. He also made sure to pound us making us go on total defence. If it wasn’t for magic to heal ourselves we would have easily died though he held back tremendously but if he let out a “strong” punch he could easily send me flying up above the castle if he wanted to.
Whenever he suddenly vanishes like a shadow and appears next to me i barely see him form the corner of my eye and 6 out of 10 i get smacked in the face while 4 out of 10 I’m at least able to block it while but I could never completely dodge the attacks.
Thankfully I wasn’t the only one that suffered this though. Lilian had to suffer along with me and after we were done our daily training the new recruits started to train. I was amazed by the variety of weapons. Spears, helberg, swords, daggers, mace. Every possible weapon was equipped to a specific race and all of that race had the same weapons. Rachet says that this setup is the best because each species can take the most advantage of that weapons.
One example are the Naga. They were give extra long helberg and were taught to use it with their hands as well as with their tail. This led to a few cuts since they never learned to skillfully use their tails like that.
While they trained Rachet brought enchanted weights and wrapped it to their tails and told them that this was their weight training. Their tails were weak, a real warrior Naga could use his tail as a deadly weapons.
(Naga warrior https://www.danielmaghen.com/images/planches/29797-1.jpg)
Each recruit was lectured on how weak their were and how to train and at the end of it all, we were all wearing enchanted on a certain part of our body that needed to be stronger. Lilian and I were forced to remain in our original forms or we couldn’t train. Yep he had the weights strapped to our wings...and arms and legs.
The weights were braclets that made everything we carried twice as heavy for us. We had a special ring that went at the base of the wing, leg guards and regular bracelets. This made us feel 16x the normal weight. (2x2=4x2=8x2=16)(1 pair = 2x weight and it stacks)
Even in our demon form we could just move around. To top it off he made us stay with it on all day and only at night we could take it off or we wouldn't be able to sleep.
Baal: Ahh I feel pain all over.
I was laying in bed. My elites were their in no better shape. Even the recently ranked up Lily and Ro couldn’t handle the training. They were given 8x weight since they needed to maintain the elite rank. The the minions were given 4x while the guards 2x.
To say I felt abused by this was an understatement but I couldn’t do anything. Rachet was in a league of his own. I’m sure he can fight some of the strongest foreigners and come out the winner.
The next morning, Rachet told me to sit out for a bit cause he wanted to see something first. He instructed the others and then took me out of town and into the forest.
Baal: So what did you need?
Rachet: Tell me is your gun loaded.
Baal: I have the bullet casings ready but I leave the spells for when I actually use it like the cupid do.
What I was refering to is that when cupids prepare their arrows beforehand they make only the arrow shaft which is pure mana. Its the time of the arrow that holds the spell which activates after impact and consumes that mana in the shaft. I took this principle for myself and I only make an empty bullet casing ready for a spell. You never know what spell you need so to leave it blank would allow me some versatility.
Rachet: Did you know you can make a bullet from you miasma.
Baal: Really? When I was absorbing Galtons look miasma I felt very little power in it.
Rachet: The feeling is of little power but why do you think it is what mindless demons use to survive. Its a powerful powersource. Try it, many demon bosses who can release their miasma can use their power as a weapon.
I nod and dispel a single bullet. I pull the hammer spur causing the chamber to turn to the empty slot. I then release my miasma and start absorbing it into the gun. All this was done in my demon form because I can’t release miasma in human form. It very slowly funnels into the barrel and begins compressing until its ready.
Let me just start by saying that this is hundred times harder to do then making mana bullets. It took me half an hour to make a single miasma bullet which was pure black and gave off a metal shine when i pulled it out of the chamber to see. It was also a complete bullet which I could not leave hollow because it would have collapsed in on itself otherwise.
Rachet: *whistles* Damn this thing looks scary.
Baal: *huff* Really? Looks weak *huff* to me. I couldn’t *huff* even pick out a spell.
Rachet: You don’t need to. Every demon weapon has what is called a miasma spell. Its unique to each weapon and all of them are disastrous.
Baal: Really? Should I try it out to see?
Rachet: Yep. Thats why I brought you hear.
I stand up straight after catching my breath and put the bullet back into the chamber and arm the gun. I had a kind of foreboding feeling as I got ready. I hold the gun at eye level while holding with two hands because of this feeling I was getting. I took a deep breath to calm myself and finally pulled the trigger. I had aimed away from the castle and thank god I did.
As soon as I pulled the trigger I understood this foreboding feeling. From the small barrel of my gun what can only be called a beam shot out. It ate through the trees in front and only stopped about 300 meters away with a monstrous explosion after it made contact with a rising hill which was completely blown away. The crater it left behind was around 30 meters in diameter and nothing within was left.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3MsOj4iHUc at 5:13)
I look at the destruction the gun with my mouth wide open and my eyes bulging. Rachet wasn’t far behind in that he was slightly wide eyed and sweating a bit.
Rachet: What...power. I’ve never seen an attack with so much power packed behind it much less a weapon that sent out a beam of energy like that.
Ding
You have gained a new skillAkuma no taihō (Devil’s Cannon)The unique skill of the Lesser Tengu Baal’s High Imp Colt Supernatural.
By compressing all your available miasma into a bullet you can fire off a devastating beam cannon from your gun.
This skill will cause anyone it strikes to die no matter if they are healed. It will also prevent priests from reviving them and necromancers from raising the victims as undead.
Cooldown 1 month
You cannot produce miasma for 1 week after using the skill.
You cannot use this weapon for 3 days after using this skill due to overheating.
(I named it in Japanese because it would sound cooler it think. If you guys want I will leave it with just english name)
Baal: Rachet I got a skill for that attack. The drawbacks really hurt.
Rachet: Let me see it. Just say Show them the skills name and them to me.
Baal: Ok “Show Akuma no taihō to Rachet”
I see Rachet’s eyes move around as he read and then opened a bit.
Rachet: Baal. This is one hell of an attack you know. It could even kill Lucifer if he was stupid enough to take it head on.
Baal: But the cool down is intense.
Rachet: As you rank up it will lower as well. The weapon will grow stronger depending on how strong your body is when you rank up, so...
He grinned menacingly as he pulled my weights out.
Rachet: Lets make a demon lord out of you. Hehehe
His evil laugh only made me see that fate was against me. I reluctantly had them put on while Rachet had his foot on my back after catching me when I tried to run. It was like having shackles put on you after being caught by the city guards after doing some crime.
Rachet: *clicks tongue 3x times* You should already know you can't get away. Until you can actually beat me in a fight you won't get away from me. Now then...fly boy. We need these weak little wings to have you flying faster than your enemies eyes can follow. You will be an easy target for them if you're so weak and slow.
I desperately flap my wings and was able to get 2 feet into the air with intense flapping while moving slowly forward. It was about the speed of a normal walk one which Rachet easily kept up to as he walked me flap.
As soon as we reached the cities gate my strength gave way and i crumpled to the ground though i was caught mid way by Rachet who threw me on his shoulder and took me to the castle. It was noon so he had someone feed me food to help me regain my energy and them had me rest on one of the floors with miasma. He said that being inside black miasma helped demons regain their strength faster, which is why dungeon demons would always have energy until they were too injured to fight. We stayed in a room on the fourth floor while resting. All the recruits were there as well. They were talking about how strange miasma was. It was their first time being inside it and it felt strange how it felt to them since they lived most their lives outside.
A few that had gone up stairs to the white miasma area and said it felt uncomfortable up there with that pure miasma where celestial monsters lived.
I didn’t feel any different in either type. Probably because I’m a boss of the dungeon so it doesn't affect me or because my own power pushes it back.
We rested there until Rachet came and we walked out and began training again until night time. He told everyone that we would be going to a nearby dungeon. Obviously that was for everyone but me and Lilian cause we had to do more intense training so we could rank up soon. Man how I’m hating being a boss but I need to get stronger I know that so I will try harder.
Lilian PoV
We’ve been training for a week now. Last week after our minions returned from the goblin dungeon Jesse and Flow ranked up. Now looking like 8 year olds they were much stronger. Jesse’s daggers turned into Cupid twin daggers and grew longer and it had grown a few feathers on the hilt and guard. Flow’s bow was a really small before but now as a Cupid’s bow it was at a regular short bow’s size. It had also grown feathers near the ends of the bow giving a more angelic look. They also didn’t look alike, small cupids have many similar features and only the personality was what showed who it was.
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Now Jesse had darker blonde hair which she soon braided in a single tail which hung behind her. She had also developed a few visible freckles on her face which made her sky blue eyes stand out. Jesse’s body had also gain a bit of visible muscle from being a sword wielder but it wasn’t large muscles. Flow had gained light brown hair and eyes. Her body stayed lean but not with as much visible packed muscle like Jesse. As for her archery lets just say she can stand on her own at when hunting now. Her speed with the bow is impressive and her aim is extreme. Using archery targets we test all the cupids. She can hit 6 out of 10 exactly in the center of the bulls eye. the other 4 shots are near the edges of the bulls eye.
Out of curiosity during our training I asked her to make a magic circle by herself to see if she can and to see how fast. The results are that barely has enough mana to make a circle herself and that it takes about 1 minute and about 20 seconds for it to be complete but she is empty of mana so she can't activate it after its built. What was interesting is Jesse displaying her form of making them. Using her daggers she rapidly drew the entire circle into the ground and poured mana into it. She had cast a healing spell but it cost her 90% of her mana. But it was a continuous and lasted nearly 1 whole hour and healed whoever was within. Also there was no need to recharge it because after it was finished it began absorbing mana from the air. It had a 1 hour cool down so i guess its relative to its time of usage
It was a cool discovery which would prove useful if we needed traps. The problem is that everyone only has beginner level Magic Circle formation skill. We learned that this skill increases by practice but also by gaining knowledge about the magic circles themselves. When we learned about drawing a physical circle and i explained my theory everyone gained 2 levels to the skill. I reached level 7 in the skill so figuring it out was cool. We need to do more research with them. I have been trying lots of things with it like trying to make smaller circles while retaining its power. It’s really difficult because the runes and those strange lines that cross throughout the outer circle are confusing.
(hint to its secret its similar to computer circuits)
I can usually only practice this at night with Baal though we train to make them during combat training be cant research make them effective since we lack time. We take much of the early morning stowed away in the library reading many of the books looking for clues but we can't find any.
At the end of this week we kind of gave up and let mom teach us basic studies that we haven’t been taught yet. Math, science and such mom took the time to teach all of us as well as teaching the minions to read in the first place.
As mom taught us we started to feel bored with this elementary stuff and started searching for other stuff more advanced. We didn’t find much, mostly history books that mom says are all rare books that would cost a fortune. We did find a few more advanced math books to pass the time but by that time we had to go do physical training with Rachet.
For the next month, it continued. With the frequent visits to nearby dungeons all the minions ranked up to high rank of lower demon and were nearing higher demon tier. The guard recruits have also grown strong and were had built up quite a lot of power. They now surpassed the minions because they were high rank just needing training. Many of them grew to adult size seems as a child around 12 they still had the lesser in their name and after training and leveling they were able to break past it. Seems it was the parents help believing in their kids that they grew to true higher demons and not lesser ones. Me and Baal also ranked up finally. Just like the guards we were now around 18 years old if compared and our strength put the guards to shame. Each of us could fight 5 of them as equals and they all knew how to use circles and how to do so effectively as well making traps while others distract them.
Now for our new forms I went from Lesser angel to Greater Angel. I grew to new large wings on my back and now have a much more developed body fitting a woman in her prime. Mom said something strange like my statue in the chapel gave me the same look as Valeria but I didn’t see the resemblance.
Baal’s change wasn't so drastic like grewing something new. Though his horn that was growing under his feathers were now visible since they grew and appeared under the ear after curving around his head. His build was that of a young lean man and he gave off the feeling of a noble gentleman no matter what form he was in. When he holds his scythe and is fighting seriously he gives off the feeling of a reaper.
It was around a week after we both ranked up that a really strange foreigner appeared at the castle door.
We both flew down and found a boy about 15 at best with what looked to be blacksmith cloths and on his arm and back was a strange metal gauntlet and a metal arm which was moving independently.
Boy: So who is the boss here I’m here to crush this dungeon. I’ve heard there's a really powerful demon here.
Baal: Hey kid what are you doing here?
Boy: My name isn’t boy! It Dok Smith! I’m the greatest Inventor this world has seen.
Baal: ”Feels more like craziest kid this world has seen”
I giggled at what Baal whispered.
Lilian: Anyway what do you want to do here against a demon beyond your league.
Dok: I’m here to kill the boss duh now which way to the dungeon.
I look at Baal who was thinking before making a mischievous grin. We had come here with only our wings so he thought we might just be random demons servant
Baal: The dungeon is through the door. The boss is at the top floor. Be careful there are 2 mini bosses who command packs. Oh also don't attack anyone in floors 1 and 2 those aren’t part of the dungeon and are the towns workshops
Dok: pff As if I’m worried.
The kid pushed his way into the dungeon and Baal fell over laughing. All our minions were outside with us the same with the guards. A few groups of foreigners have appeared here after we cleared the dungeon. The “mini” bosses weren't the normal ones (alpha wolf and great eagle). Lona normally scares off the eagle and stays in its place. The few poor suckers who fell to her are still haven’t returned. But this time Baal’s grin was extra mischievous.
Baal: I want to take this guy on personally. That metal hand also got me curious about something.
Lily: What master?
Baal: Didn’t you guys see how that arm moved. I didn’t feel magic moving it. When I looked close i also noticed something about it. It gave me a sense of deja vu like i’ve seen it before. I want to see that thing close up without the armor cover.
He spread his wings and flew straight up and into the fifth floor. I followed him. He had grown really fast thanks to all the weight training and if someone didn’t be careful they would only see a blur before getting hit by Baal, same for me.
We reach the fifth floor quickly and in the room the pack of wolves were sleeping. As we landed the all woke up and started growling but soon their tails were in between their legs and cowering. Why? Baal was releasing a lot of killing intent which he had learned to release after being beaten so badly by Rachet that he got close to deaths door countless times.
After that, whenever he got agitated he would release killing intent along with a light leak of miasma which helped to engrain the fear the enemy felt into their very souls, through the miasma only appeared in his demon form..
All the wolves including the alpha were cowering and soon they all fled towards a room that was made for breeding for them. After they all left he stopped releasing his killing intent and started grinning again. He walked over to the stairs and sat down on the first step. I sat down next to him and looked at him. He was thinking deeply about something while smiling.
Lilian: What are you smiling about?
Baal: You didn’t notice right? That extra metal arm.
Lilian: What about it?
Baal: I was able to look through an open spot between the plates. The wires and all the strange stuff making up its inside it looks similar to our magic circles.
Lilian: What?! Are you sure?
Baal: Completely but I want to check it out without anyone around. Lona and Rachet would just kill him so I need to see it myself.
Lilian: I hope your right cause I dont want to anger those foreigners. Who knows if he is affiliated to some guild or something.
Baal: If he was he would be in a group. I think he likes to go solo using that strange metal arm.
Lilian: ...I’m going to watch from the corner. Don’t cause him harm just check out the arm and let him go.
Baal: Hehehe don’t worry I will, though if my suspicions are correct he will live but won't be leaving anytime soon. Hehehehe
I looked at him with a wary smile and cast an illusion spell making myself invisible. I stayed sitting next to him and waited. After an hour we heard the footsteps of thick leather sole boots. Baal’s grin returned as he turned into his demon form and walked half way into the room. He stood there grinning as the footsteps grow closer and finally the small kid with the large metal arm appeared.
Dok: Huh? You're the mini boss. Great lets test out the power of my robo arm.
Without care for his own health he rushed forward...I say rush but it was a pathetic attempt at running. He was slow beyond compared and running strangely because of that thing on his back. When he was almost reaching Baal the metal arm moved back and then forward in a punch. From the looks it would easily have sent an elite flying but Baal stopped the arm with on hand grabbing onto it with his left hand so that it didn't move. Then with his other hand he stuck his claw in between the plate and unsealed the armor showing the insides.
Dok: HEY!! What are you planning!!
I got curious since I was behind Baal I couldn’t see so I walked over and noticing Baal with a grin that went from ear to ear I looked down into the arms interior. I couldn’t believe what I saw but before I could say anything Baal did.
Baal: Good job oh greatest inventor in the world you have just gained the best teaching job in this world. Hehehe
Dok: What wa...ukr.
Before he finished Baal hit him with a chop of his hand to the side of the humans head and knocked him out.
Baal: Lily! Ro! Take our new teacher to a guest room and take this thing off of him so he won't be a threat.
The two appeared from the corridor that Dok appeared from. The unstrapped the arm which Ro took while Lily flew off with Dok taking him upstairs to the 9th floor which had all the guest rooms.
Baal: You saw didn’t you Lilian.
Lilian: Of course. Who would have thought foreigner technology was the key to magic circles
Baal: I hope he is compliant cause I’m quite sure mom is still obsessed about this type of magic. If we show her it won't be pretty if she has to squeeze out the information from him.
Lilian: Please don't say that...It scares me thinking about mom angry.
We continued to talk about our future teacher while in the upper rooms he was being delivered.
Dok: I am so screwed
That was the only thought passing through his head as he woke up in the guest rooms being looked at by two high imps without his only weapon.
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