CHAPTER 3

In an unwholesome land where even light refuses to shin. Covered with dark clouds originating from the highest tower of a dark palace. They stood.

Hordes of demons, all of them had been called to hear the decree of the one who rules over them.

The monarch of this wretched lands had spoken and with his will they are all to obey.

His strongest and most reliable servants were the five Devil lords that remained.

Perzahar, Great general and leader of all the armies advanced forward looking down on the gathered troops from the veranda of the palace, he looked like a human except for the pointing ears and the red eyes with slits in the middle with the addition of two horns that sprouted from the sides of his forehead and bended back. Wearing a black vest that matched well with his black pants. He stood on the veranda of the palace and spoke.

Even under the loud chatter and noise that the armies that had been assembled made, his voice resounded throughout the entire field hushing the miss figured creations and demons into a stupefying silence.

“My fellow brethren” he said

“THE ORACLE HAD GIVEN NEWS. The last Ashurian had fallen. And with it our victory is assured.”

Roars and shouts soon followed this statement

“Our great overlord had asked you all to partake in this conquest. It is finally time to rid ourselves from this prison. It is finally time for us to go back to where we belong. It is finally our time to triumph.”

Even louder cheers soon followed

“However, we suspect that this is a ruse and as we cannot afford to risk our plans to fail. We will send but a single army of our militia force. For them, the job is to figure out if the Ashurian line had truly ended. And with their inquiry, and if proven correct. The entire army shall soon follow.”

The cheers now were reduced to chatter and whispers between the demons.

“The leader of the second army Lord Vasbokh shall be the one to lead the recon forces”

The one in question was a hulking mass of muscles that doubled the size of the already tall Perzahar

He was shirtless his great and somewhat torn leathery wings added to his threatening appearance

His horns sprouted from the temple area where one of them was broken, and the scares covering his body only indicated that this creature had survived too many battles to count

The one named Vasbokh was the only non-mage of the devil lords although he had the power to control death magic it was minor and not to the extent of the excellent Perzahar. Yet what he lacked in magic he compensated for it via strength.

“As you all know our great overlord is the only one capable of opening the wall that separate us from the realm of those pitiful humans.” Said Perzahar

“And once our great overlord opens it, there will be nothing to stop us from overtaking them.”

Cheers and shouts erupted blessing the decision taken by the old ones.

It was a known fact for all of those that dwelled in the blighted lands that once the overlord opens the path, he will be in a weakened state. Yet even in that state his is still much stronger than all of his devil lords combined. However, he will be needing a lot of time to recover. So destroying more than one part of the wall is impossible. If the demons are to fail in the attempt to exit through the small opening created by their king the mission will be for naught.

Yet they will not give up the hope. They will fight for a chance to redeem themselves. For a chance to go back to the real world.

“We march in two months!” said Vasbokh in a voice that even without magic infusion boomed throughout the fields.

***

The hell is this…this man is crazy…

I was reading through the book collection of the old man. His research was based on void magic, most of it explained how to integrate void magic into another type to change its properties. From the books I have read back at Osfor-sense’s library, Void magic is said to be the absence of an element. I found that notion to be wired, how can someone control void and nothingness? But this old man says the contrary.

“Void magic in itself is the origin of all magic; from it, magic is derived and exposed. By fully understanding the properties of this element you can create or reinforce any already existing magic. Take for example a normal fire ball. It is known that using the correct sign and mana infusion will result in its creation. However if one were to correctly add the void word into it magic text. The fireball spell will become void-fireball with the properties of both the conflagration of things and its consumption via the void properties.”

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So in short if one were to add void to an attack it will both damage the target with the element’s own property and then eat away at its essence by the void part.

However that part. ‘One must correctly add the void word’ I guess when I was trying to do the same that time with Osfor-sensei that was the reason why I was unable to perfectly change the properties of that spell.

Opening another book I delved into the vast amount of research and work that the old man had spent creating. However the gurgling sounds that my stomach began to make after few more hours, reminded me that I am a human and I need to eat.

Looking through the small room that I was in, I failed to find anything edible, but even if there was it will be a few hundred years old and probably not very healthy…

I decided to go out, if I remember correctly the wolf leader said he will have one bring me food every day…did they forget?

By the time I was outside the cave I saw it. It was a carcass of a strange looking dear with a purple gem embedded into its forehead and with one of the biggest horns on a deer that I had ever seen they too were glowing purple. The shadow wolf was cautiously looking around probably waiting for me to take the carcass the moment I met his eyes he disappeared.

I hastily grabbed the dear’s body and brought it inside.

Few hours later I was having roasted unflavored meat inside the cave.

It would have tasted much better if I had some salt, however I still ate worse than this with master... Now I just hope that this dear or whatever it is, is not harmful to the human body.

The room inside the cave was marvelously tidy, with a bed and a fireplace and even a makeshift stove. The shelves where the books were placed on were made of wood and the floor was also wooden. The old man must have spent a lot of time making this.

There was even a bed. And a small section at a side of the cave that had a small hole with water running under it. I don’t have to guess what that was for.

The cave was well equipped that calling it a cave would be insulting.

I took a nap in my temporary new home.

I had a dreamless sleep, I failed to know how much time had passed but I still woke up and continued on with my routine. Read eat and sleep. I did this for god know how long until I finally managed to finish almost all the books.

Some were too hard to understand at first as they relied heavily on knowledge of other books. Yet luckily my understanding was still superb as I was still able to fully memories the verses. Although I could not for the life of me replicate any of them I still fully remember the Mahojins and magic texts.

I was happy when I finally understood why I was unable to merge void into my other spells. If what this old man is saying to be true I think now I can utilize the void magic to its maximum potential…ah I always forget that I don’t have the eye anymore…

Anyway. What I and Osfor-sensei were doing was replicating a baseless idea that void was the absence of magic, However if I use the theory that this old man spoke about. That Void is the cumulative energy of all magic. The text for the magic formula will radically change. And if placing it correctly the spell, not only would it work it will be far stronger.

Sadly I cannot use mana...

It was yet again time for the wolf to be bringing me food. So I got out and went looking for him. Oddly enough he was not there. I waited and waited and my hunger only grew stronger.

I have to rely on myself now I cannot wait for someone to bring me food. Looking at my body condition I noticed that most of my wounds had healed although not perfectly I can now utilize my hands better.

It was daytime and it was rather warm so I took a stroll out not caring for the warnings of the old man.

I got down the hill where the cave was located at and followed the stream line.

There were various herbs out there; I saw most of them in the old man’s books. He had mentioned that some of them were capable of healing minor wounds so I grabbed what I could and placed them on a small lather bag I found back at the cave.

The whole scenery was marvelous although sinister. However one thing was bothering me. The great mountain that was a few hundred kilometers away gave me a sense of dread. As whenever I headed toward that direction I felt my body becoming slightly rigid and heavy.

This was the mountain where the dragon is said to have nested in.

I should probably take a look sometime…

I was woken from my day dreaming when I heard a growling voice a few meters behind me.

Instinctively jumping sideways I managed to dodge a claw that would have ripped me in half.

A giant hulking monster just ripped through dirt and stone like if it was nothing with its hand that had claws that were freakishly long.

He had a slim body almost three meters tall, a purplish black fur and red eyes with long arms and a gaping mouth that made no sense. His maw resembled that of a wolf and his ears were too long that they limply hanged down his head. He also had a jewel in his forehead one that was much bigger than the dear’s.

He growled and dashed again with a speed that did not match his size. His claws yet again missed me as I sidestepped them. Still feeling the pain in my legs I grumbled some profanities under my breath and rolled sideways from another downward cut. This time his claw was stuck on a boulder underground so I took the chance and struck at his abdomen.

Sadly that was a poor decision to make as his side was stronger than steel.

He swung at me with his other free arm but luckily I dodged by going under it then immediately rotated my body while striking its hand with a heavy kick making his own claw slash at his other arm.

Blood poured from the newly open wound and the monster screamed and howled form pain.

A few seconds later more of these creatures showed up. They growled in response and got closer to where I was. I slowly backed away thinking of a way to get myself from this mess only to be surprised by the fact that they were not heading toward me.

All of them jumped surprisingly on their comrade that was stuck. They ravaged him while he screamed and swung is free hand trying to push them away to no avail. He died almost instantly and the beasts began to feast on him. I ran away immediately afraid to be the next one on the menu.

I headed back toward the cave, looking every now and then behind me in fear of having one of those things to be on my tail

Reaching the cave I rested thanking whatever demonic luck i had back there

i looked around the room and decided to continued reading some of the books.

I ignored the growing hunger and still read through several of them. Some were even speaking about alchemy and synergy. Probably with these he managed to create the papers on these books to write on them and mold the cave into a habitable home.

A few hours later I heard the howling of one of the wolves.

He brought prey. But he did not explain his tardiness, and he just left.

Eating to my heart’ content I continued on with reading the few remaining books.

I cannot remember how much time I had spent in this place but right now it should be more than one month.

I had enough rest. I should restart my training. Seeing how I could easily get killed in this place remaining in this weakened state is not beneficial at all. If I ever decide on meeting that dragon, I would need to make sure that I can at least survive the journey.