"Demons... huh."

There was a book that I read a long time ago, about the demons who once roamed the human realm. According to the book, they were the embodiment of evil, incarnate defiance of the will of God—the enemies of all mankind.

It's not like I ever saw a demon before, but due to the stories I've heard and how I've been raised, I figured that demons are truly evil by nature, much worse than goblins, given their intellect comparable to a human.

"Interested in demons, are we? Don't worry; their species disappeared a long time ago," Niel claimed. However, that doesn't make the uneasy feeling wane.

"That's what makes me nervous. They just disappeared... right? And we don't know why. That means they could reappear again without any kind of explanation."

"Hmm... Maybe. Or maybe they were dealt with behind the scenes by the first hero."

The First Hero, the Unknown Hero and the progenitor of all succeeding heroes. His legend is written in the tales of the Black Cube. Once, there was a Dark Lord that embodied pure darkness, the first dark lord and the father of all evil. The first dark lord led the demons, considered a god by his army. When that taint appears, the hero appears as well from the arms of the church, and defeated the dark lord. However, the dark lord couldn't die as he was immortal, so as a last resort, the first hero sacrificed himself, sealing himself with the dark lord in a Black Cube.

However, the Dark Lord created a curse that makes every species point their blades against humanity until their demise. Even if the first dark lord is defeated, another one will appear after a century to try to destroy human civilization. But the divine favored the first hero, and his blood would carry the accumulation of his power. His descendants would inherit his power, protecting humans for centuries to come.

Still, the story doesn't delve into why and how demons disappeared after the defeat of the first dark lord.

...

...

...

Time is still moving too fast. A week has gone by with me traveling from place to place, and fortunately, I've made a mental map of this floor by keeping in mind the most distinguishable landmark. This floor is ruled by the Homorotabi; their main city is located at the center of the floor. They are the blue humanoids I met last time when I lost my lower half. A lot has happened between me and their princess, and I bet they hold a grudge against me for deceiving them.

There is an extensive river that flows from the northeast to the southwest. Most of the Homorotabi rely on fish as their primary food source, as they can't rely on plant cultivation anymore. Though their fishes are way too big to be captured by normal fishing rods.

How about hunting? Homorotabi are apparently not the types to risk their necks hunting monsters, although that's how I've lived all this time. There are plenty of monsters everywhere, spawning from nowhere, especially to the west. To the west lies a big forest, though it's lost its allure due to the cold winter. Apparently, I couldn't enter the forest because an invisible barrier prevented me from doing so.

To the northwest, you can find a mechanical behemoth that is already corroded and useless. Technologies from the ancient ones really spike my curiosity; I just wonder what it looked like when it was still functional and moving.

While most of the major plants died during the winter, there are some herbs that still grow around if you look closely. These herbs, called Resinvir, are tolerant to the cold; they can stop bleeding and increase the speed of natural healing if used correctly. They are one of the main ingredients used in creating healing potions. The flower Hilmaris can also be found everywhere, and I use it to cover my scent when hunting monsters.

Speaking of monsters, the monsters around here really vary in size, ranging from small to very big. I rely on traps most of the time; there's no need to put myself in danger when I can handle it passively. Sometimes, I put myself in action just to sharpen my skills. I don't know when there will be times when I need to use them so I need them polished.

The clouds became darker, overwhelming the light of the sun. Winter is getting much more severe, and the cold is getting worse. A storm is about to fall, and I know my basic camp shelter is not enough to handle it. It will just get blown away by the wind. I need to find somewhere else where I can rest.

I travel and find anywhere I can rest in the middle of the storm. My simple mana circulation is not enough to balance my body temperature anymore, so I need to move quickly before I become a frozen corpse. Luckily for me, I find a cave.

I enter this cave carefully and silently in case there is a beast living in there at rest. There is a scent of blood, a dark paint that stains the floor making it a hideous sight. My hands carefully grip the hilt of my sword, preparing myself for whatever beast I may encounter. However, what I see is not a beast.

There is a woman with silver long hair and dark skin sleeping in front of a rock. The blood comes from her chest as a sword penetrated into her back, still dripping, and I can vividly smell the pungent odor of iron. She's wearing a thick dark trench coat, and both of her hands are enlarged and... mechanical?

And her head, she has horns. Wait, I remember what her kind is. She's a demon!

"Ru... shia..."

Is she dreaming?

One thing that catches my attention is the sword struck in her chest. It looks amazing and sturdy. It's much more suitable for my own use than a demon. I want to take it. Maybe I should wait until the demon finally perishes. By the looks of her injury, she won't last after an hour or so.

Should I help her? Nope, of course not! She's a demon, a man-eater! If I help her and keep her alive, she'll definitely become an enemy later on. Now that I saw a demon here, I finally knew why the demons disappeared after the first divine war. They migrated into this dungeon to hide.

Suddenly, the demon's eye opened.

"Shit!"

She swiftly pulled out a gun and shot at me, forcing me to hide behind a rock. Damn it! If I had been a little slower, it would have hit me!

When her bullets finally run out, she took out a knife from her pocket. I then pass all my mana to my sword and drain all my mana. Here's a trick: my opponent is a warrior, I knew it based on her reaction speed and the calm hostility in her eyes. Even if she's injured, she almost killed me. However, someone like her is prone to being deceived by mana.

I threw my sword imbued with all my mana to divert her attention from mine; she took the bait. Her eyes followed the trail of the sword while I took it as a time to dash towards her. I couldn't blame her; if I couldn't see in the dark, I could be deceived by such tactics as well, but inside a cave, I have the advantage.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I am already halfway near her when she finally realizes what's going on and throws her knife towards me. But I easily evade it, and she took an upper cut to her chin. The demon loses consciousness and falls asleep. It's my victory...

Or not.

"[Fireball]"

"!"

Chant-less magic!?

Shit! She's just pretending to lose consciousness! She summons a fireball and fires it point-blank at my stomach, hurling me away.

I crash into a wall and vomit. Lucky for me that the demon is weakened; her fireball didn't open my stomach or something, but I can definitely tell that my insides are churning.

I need to revise my approach towards her; she's more than what I can deal with at the moment.

Pretend to be an ally!

I stand up and calm her down. "I... I didn't come here to fight. I just want to help you."

"A talking goblin? What's next, a flying pig?" she says before vomiting blood.

"You're bleeding, your injuries are fatal. If we don't do something soon, you'll die. I want to help you."

"And why would I trust a goblin?"

I bite my tongue on her point. That's right, I'm a goblin; if I were her, I wouldn't trust a goblin at all. And she's right; she shouldn't trust me since I really don't care whether she dies or lives. Think Theo, think! What should I say at the moment?

"There's no reason not to. Based on your injuries, I can tell you're going to die in the next several minutes. Walking away and turning a blind eye is the same as killing you; we need to do something."

"That's rich coming from a goblin."

No luck, huh... Should I run away now? But I really want that sword at all costs!

The demon suddenly speaks softly and caresses the wounds around the sword. "My heart's pulmonary veins and arteries have been severed, three... no, five parts of my ribs and some of my bones are broken. I've lost probably more than a hundred ounces of blood. If you mess up, you could make it worse."

So, she wants me to fix her? Shit, this will work. I walk in front of her calmly and tap her shoulders to ease her.

"Don't worry. Trust me," I started. "I'm an engineer."

"I'm not a machine, am I?"

"I'm not a doctor either," I say, giving her a strong, serious gaze. What could I do? You want me to perform surgery on her or something?

Then the girl punches me right under the stomach. "If you really want to help me, go pick that bottle over there!"

There is a green bottle lying on the ground; I pick it up and ask, "What is this? A healing potion?" If it's potent enough, it could probably fix her wounds.

"Yes, it's a panacea for all kinds of pain. Give it to me."

I hand it to her, and she immediately opens it and gulps it down her throat.

"PWAH! That's more like it! _Burp_"

"Damn it, that reeks. It's just alcohol!" As soon as she opened the bottle, the strong smell immediately invaded my nose. I really don't know what's so good about drinking alcohol; it doesn't even taste good.

"I could die at peace now. AS IF! I'm not going to die with just this; I'm still going to kill all those rotten brats!"

"Brats...?"

"The visage of the frost, the followers of the shitty queen. They are the reason why I'm fucking impaled like this!"

Ah... right. The shitty queen herself warned me about them, and probably, they are the strongest ones I could face on this floor. That means... this demon could actually prove useful to me if we teamed up to defeat them. But is this the right thing to do? If I do this, I'm betraying humanity.

No, that problem will be dealt with later if we actually manage to defeat the visage. For now, the main problem is how will we defeat them. And possibly, if I use her, my chances of survival are better than without. This means I need to help her.

"Give me that bottle," I say.

"Hey, that's mine!"

I didn't wait for her to give it to me; I take it forcibly. When she tries to take it, I evade, and she drops to the ground with how weak her body became. I take it as a chance to put the alcohol on the wounds on her back.

"OOUCHHH! You fricking!" Of course, it's painful, but it's necessary to clean the wounds and prevent infection. "How dare you waste my! YOU IDIOT! I'M GOING TO CUT YOU IN HALF!"

That's what you're angry at!?

"Shut up, and show me your back." I start cutting away her trench coat with my sword; it takes a while since my sword is dull at the very best from getting overused. Also, the fact that the demon is struggling to break free.

"No! My young sexy body! I'm being humiliated by an ugly goblin! Goblin slayer, help me!"

"Clench your teeth; this will going to sting a little."

I grab the hilt of the sword; immediately, I pull it out of her back.

"Kyah❤"

The erotic sound makes me accidentally thrust the sword again into her back, exactly at her wounds!

"Ack! Fricking hell! Why did you stab it to me again!?"

"It's because you're making a weird sound!" I can't help it; I was shocked!

"If you just want to kill me, just do it!"

"Fine!"

I pull out the sword again, but this time, she vomits blood that she has to close her mouth with her mechanical hand. More blood starts gushing out of her wounds that the sight makes me panic that I accidentally thrust the sword at her back again.

"Damn you!" The demon is really getting angry at me this time. It's an accident! An accident, you hear me?

"You... You kept pulling it out, then thrusting it in, then pulling it out again, then putting it in, again and again... You... YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE ME PREGNANT!"

With what she said, my blood boils, and I immediately pull out the sword without warning.

"Brugh!"

And the demon vomits more blood as I do so.

...

Lucky for her that I brought some resinvir and used her cut-away trench coat to cover her wounds. It's not a clean way of doing things, but it should work.

"I don't feel any better than before. Anyway, thanks, goblin, you messed up," the demon said.

"You're welcome, demon. I should have left you alone to die."

After I said that, the demon kept looking at me with a weird neutral face. "What? Don't stare at me like that. You're making me uncomfortable."

The demon pinches her chin as she speaks. "Are you Rethus? Did you shrink?"

"Rethus? I haven't heard that name before."

"Hmm... Weird. But your grims exactly look the same."

"Grims?"

Here it is again. I keep hearing that thing over and over. Just what the hell are grims? But when I ask that question, the demon changes topics.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

I nod.

"You should ascend to the upper floors as soon as possible. This floor is going to be destroyed soon."

"What do you mean by that?"

The demon looks at the scenery outside the cave, but I can see nothing but the howling wind of snow and their loud whispers.

"It's not just the never-ending winter that makes this place hard to get used to. The unstable fabric of reality, this place is the most disoriented floor of all the places I've ventured to."

Unstable what?... "Then why are you here?"

"It's none of your business, but if you really insist. I'm on a journey to find a legendary sword that could be found on this floor."

That's too much information! Grims, unstable craps, Rethus, and now the legendary sword? I don't know how to react, but I squint my eyes and try to extract more information out of her.

Sensing my thirst for information, the demon tells me why the floor is disoriented.

"An archaic lesser god we called Magroth is undergoing the stage of puberty after a couple million years. After a huge amount of time being used by the Homorotabi to travel to different parallel worlds, it finally came to a stage where it became uncontrollable and destructive. It kept on opening portals to unknown worlds, causing disasters and spawning entities of strange origins."

Is that why strangely, there are creatures out in the wild that are appearing out of nowhere?

"Currently, Magroth is sealed inside the Igrus temple. Thanks to the strange knowledge of the Homorotabi acquired from traveling within space and time, they managed to suppress the power of a god." The demon sighs. "But even if it is being sealed, it is still spawning small creatures, though we could handle them. But who knows when someday, a bigger one comes that is capable of destroying not just this floor but the world itself. We are dealing with a god here, you know. More than that, the puberty of a lesser god could last until a billion years."

I don't know if I could buy this story, but this is the only trace I could follow. It's not related to my dungeon quest or else, but the lore may give me an idea of the next steps I should take.

"Now then, enough with the bedtime stories. I'm going to sleep now. Don't come touching me and move away three meters from my young sexy body."

"What!? Demon, at least tell me where I can find the rotten queen!"

"My name's not demon, it's Hannathema."

With that, the demon falls asleep. The next day, I wake up in silence and peace. Rubbing my eyes, I look around my surrounding, damn, I must have slept peacefully and doing so is fatal. The demon could take it as a chance to take me out of existence or I may get devoured by a monster before a I knew it... Speaking of demon... she's gone.

Shit, I couldn't take her sword and extract information what she knew about the queen.