I stand up, done with my meal. There are two doors in the coliseum, the one which I entered through and the one waiting to be opened. I can pretty much imagine what is inside in that one though. Rhea was advancing downstairs because she wanted to settle down there. She wanted what was beyond that door.

I haven’t moved from this place for three weeks. According to Rhea, countless superior demons have already passed this dungeon to descend down into its depths. Though only after killing the various bosses of this dungeon time and again. That means even if no one actively replaces the dead demons, they reproduce and keep up the numbers and strength by themselves.

No one has bothered me ―and my meal― for an entire of three weeks. Nobody came from above, and nobody came from below. Maybe the demons from above can sense my strength, and thus fear me. Well, they might have even recognized me as the boss of hundredth floor.

My stats have risen to abnormal degrees. Nobody can show me these values, and nor do I precisely know, but I instinctively know they are high. I have even gained a [skill], which much like Rhea's, turn my fragile nails into deadly claws. I didn’t bother to name it since its not useful to me.

My intelligence probably is the lowest stat right now. Well, it’s not because I’m dumb or anything but because demons usually posses very little intelligence.

“Time to get moving,” I mumble to myself and am surprised. It came out huskier than what I had grown used to. I say a few random sentences to get used to it but this will take some time. Nowadays I mostly use my mouth for eating and not for speaking. Not like there is anyone to speak to anyway.

I get up to the sudden creak of the door.

A woman who looked to be in her twenties came out. After seeing me, she just walks up to me. She touches her brown hair and asks, “Have you seen a blonde girl who’s a bit short in stature somewhere around here?”

“She was supposed to meet my master three weeks ago."

I narrow my eyebrows and ask, “Why do you want to know?”

“Since she hasn’t arrived yet, my master sent me to search for her. Ah, also, she’s a vampire, if that helps. Her name is Rhea.” She doesn’t seem to have noticed the skeletons. Well, they are closer to the other door, so she probably can’t recognize them at this distance.

I reply, “I know of only one vampire named Rhea. I had met her three weeks ago.”

“Oh? Then do you know where she is right now?”

“Of course. Follow me, I’ll take you there.”

I take her to the skeletons and she questions me, “What is this?”

“The remains,” I tell her, “The remains of my food.”

“What? That’s so gross―you’re a cannibal? Wait, surely you didn’t―”

“Yes, I did,” I reply as I point towards the smallest of the skeletons. “She was tender and sweet. Like a piece of paradise.”

She blankly stares at me for a second, but then hastily unsheathes her sword. I take out my daggers too.

She charges in. A demon with a sword? Guess not all of them have melee abilities. I’m just a novice, but even I can tell that she’s just a beginner with a sword. There’s really is almost no gain in devouring her. What about the one she calls her ‘master’, then?

She tries to attack me, but its easy enough to side-step. So easy that I dodge all of her clumsy slashes. I close in and push her back with her every miss. Soon enough she has  her back to the wall.

I take the chance and grab her by her throat. “It’s my turn to ask questions.”

“Who is your master?”

She struggles but quiets down after a vicious, but a futile struggle for freedom. “What makes you think that I’ll tell you?” she asks me, completely enraged.

“I’m the one who is asking the questions here. But I will let you know two things before I start, I don't like to speak much, and nor do I like to repeat myself. So, lets try again.” With my eyes closed, I slowly exhale before asking,“Who is your master?”

“…he’s the head of this colony.”

“What else?”

“He’s the prince. There is no one stronger than him here,” She further adds,“ He does have a big personality though. His highness, Modric.”

“That’s just the first name. Tell me the entire thing,” I demand with a squeeze on her neck. It made her cough blood.

She grimaced. “Modric Clayrest Askadon, Crown prince of Askadonia, Prima of Grust.”

“Askadonia? Prima? Grust? What’s that?”

She eyes me suspiciously, “You don’t know? Askadonia, the name of our glorious kingdom.”

“Tell me about this. About all this.” I demand.

“Named after the royal family of Askadon…”

I tighten my grip to make her continue when she stops. She coughs and starts speaking again.

“Prima, the ruler of Grust. Its a rank of nobility. Grust is the name of demon colony down here.  Its one of the largest colonies of Askadonia. Are you not from here? Even small children know about this…”

I look at her because she starts digressing. She understands at once and continues in a loud voice, “Modric Clayrest Askadon is the ruler of Grust. The King sent him to rule... probably so that he gets to learn a bit about life.”

“And has he?”

She sighs, and replies, “No, not really. Like I said, he has personality problems. I’ve answered all your questions. Let me go. Please.”

I look into her eyes and say, “Not yet. Take me to him. You don’t particularly like him either, do you? I’ll get rid of him.”

She looks at me as if I’m a madman at this. “That’s not an easy thing to do. He is the crown prince. You will face severe consequences for even trying to mess with him. That vampire and my master are worlds apart. He would break you with a click of his fingers.” She speaks with a deep voice.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I don’t need you to worry about me,” I reply, “Take me to him. You are still young… you wouldn’t want to die young, would you?”

She stares straight into my eyes, and I strengthen my grip. She struggles, waits for a minute and replies, “...Fine. But promise me...please don’t kill me.”

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The door opened under a pub and we had to walk out of it to see the city.

With a cursory glance I see no big difference from a human city.....except maybe the fights everywhere. I have seen three already, and its only been about five minutes since I set foot in Grust.

“Quite a rowdy bunch, huh?”

The woman who’s accompanying me nods. “Superiority is determined by strength, so fights are frequent.”

“Well, I can’t complain since I’m going to start a fight too.”

When we walk further, I notice a man going berserk in a store. He was destroying things and nobody was saying anything. Hmm… my gut tells me that’s the idiot I’m looking for.

“That’s him,” She tells me.

“I figured,” I tell her.

Burly, broad shouldered and black haired. Tall too. Apart from that, he has two horns on his head, unlike most of the demons I’ve seen. In half a minute, we’re staring at each other. “Who’s this?” He asks my hostage, “I goddamn told you to search for the female vampire named Rhea!”

“I’ve come instead,” I speak, “She’s otherwise occupied. I have come on her behalf.”

He shouts at me, completely angry, “What―? I’m more important than any crappy circumstances! Who are you to her, anyway?!”

“Like I said, I―” Before I finish, he fells me with a punch to the face. I see the black blood dripping down my nose. My face is so....bloody, so...why am I smiling?

“You piece of crap… who the hell do you think, you piece of crap are directing that godamn impudence at?” He roars at me.

At least learn to speak properly...

With my dagger out, I charge in. Without a weapon in hand he dodges my slashes and charges at me. He probably has a lot of power so it’s way easier for him to deal damage with his fists and kicks. I keep up my onslaught, but I have yet to land a hit on him. And all the rubble caused ―by our berserking prince― is a great hindrance to me.

I fall back, faking tiredness, hoping that he chases after me. Which he does without thinking, and I run out of the store. He breaks down the store door and chases after me.

He looks at me with bloodshot eyes ―seems like he is really angry. He charges in straight, like a bull and I easily dodge. He maybe powerful but he’s an idiot.  “Don’t try to ridicule me any further or you’ll be sorry,” He speaks threateningly. I pay him and his threats no heed as I keep trying to trying to slice him.

He dodges with the help of his godly perception everytime. He manages to land another punch on my face as I recklessly charge in. He grins and runs to me. I just manage to sidestep in the nick of time, or so I think when he suddenly changes the trajectory of his punch and it hits me in my defenseless chest.

The punch throws me a few meters back, but I taunt him by laughing at him. “Time for payback,” I say as he foolishly tries to kick me. I easily dodge that predictable attack and stab him in his right shoulder, albeit I did not manage to go in deep. “You sure are tough...” I grumble, “Just what are you made up of?”

We switch between offense and defense many times before realizing that we’re equal footed. There is a huge mob of people staring at us with awe. From the corner of my vision, I see demons betting and cheering for us. My hostage looks surprised. It seems that she didn’t expect us having such a close match. We’ve wrecked too many things, and he’s keeping me too busy to keep count.

Modric Clayrest Askadon lunges in faster than the earlier times and catches me by surprise. I receive an uppercut to my chin, his abnormal strength even lifts me of my feet. Cursing deeply, I get back up, but only to be kicked on my chest. I cough out blood as I’m thrown into the air.

He lets down his guard since he thought he managed to land successive fatal blows on me. So he attacks me again, I feint a dodge, and deftly pierce his neck with my dagger.

He takes a step back, surprised, so I take the chance to take my other dagger and jab it into his head.

With two daggers into him, he quickly falls down and the audience falls silent.

With some effort I cut off his hand and take a bite to proclaim my victory. I can see some of the audience expressing their disgust at this, but they say nothing. A minute passes and they’re still silent. Then, my hostage does an action that I do not understand very well at first. The audience follow her and do the same.

I look at them and smirk as I see them kneel.

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Author's Notes: Hope you like this~ A comment is always appreciated. If you don't like it, please tell me why. If its a bit stiff/sorry, I'm sorry, but I did my level best. Thank you for helping me with this, Senpai~

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