"In our profession, we need to have such resolution. When we deal in handing out death, death may also come for us at any instant," an old tiefling a.s.sa.s.sin said to a much younger tiefling a.s.sa.s.sin. The older a.s.sa.s.sin had an accepting expression that said he accepted it if he were to die here. This was because the two a.s.sa.s.sins were each tied to a pole."It"s fine for someone as old as you, but I"m still so young, and haven"t even gotten married yet…"
The young a.s.sa.s.sin felt quite unwilling as this had been his very first mission, yet he had been instantly defeated. He had been defeated without even seeing his opponent clearly, which was still fine as that was a difference in power level. However, he felt quite unwilling to be eaten by a human cannibal like this as it was unlikely that his soul would be able to rest in peace and return to the embrace of the great Demon G.o.d Sback.
Meanwhile, I was ravenously devouring the a.s.sa.s.sins" dried meat rations that I had worked so hard to obtain. I also asked a question despite my mouth being filled with food. "Black girl, what are they saying?"
The other residents of the Chaos Abyss would think that tieflings spoke with a strange mortal plane accent as they liked to study the mortal plane"s human language. This made tieflings seem like rural hicks down here in the mortal plane. Only the tieflings would think that their own accent sounded lovely.
But right now, Ca.s.sandra only felt aggrieved from listening to this stranger speak with a mortal plane accent in the Chaos Abyss language.
This young warrior was amazingly powerful. The elite a.s.sa.s.sins who"d killed her guards were all nothing to him. All the a.s.sa.s.sins had been instantly defeated. However, it was evident that there was something wrong with this human"s interests.
Even though Ca.s.sandra was clearly a famous individual in these parts, this human didn"t even spare her a second glance. He instantly started taking off the male a.s.sa.s.sins" pants… Cough, cough, don"t misunderstand, as Roland was simply searching for food. The snacks that Ca.s.sandra carried weren"t even enough for an appetizer to him.
Roland explained that he was a traveler who had met with difficulties. However, the frightened Ca.s.sandra definitely didn"t believe him. Nor would she properly act as a tiefling translator for him. Instead, she directly told the tiefling a.s.sa.s.sins after her that this human was a cannibal, intentionally making them afraid that they would be eaten.
I was having a headache on what to do next. Although I knew how to speak the Chaos Abyss language, the tiefling dialect had too many cac.u.minal sounds. Only demonic descendants with curled tongues would be able to p.r.o.nounce these sounds. Their dialect also had nothing to do with magic, so it would be impossible for me to communicate with them.
But from the little I could understand from the tieflings" conversation, I learned that many different species lived here in the 102nd level of the Chaos Abyss. The tieflings were one of the most populous species here, and since this level was particularly large, there was no single ruler in this dimensional level. Instead, there were more than ten powerful existences ruling here that kept a subtle balance between them.
As for this little tiefling girl who had already peed her pants but was pretending that she was fine, it appeared that she was the daughter of a major tiefling lord. Not only that, it seemed like her domain was fairly close. In that case, I knew exactly what I should do next.
I would go to this little tiefling girl"s domain, obtain some food and a map, and then find a guide. It would be best if there was a teleportation portal leading directly to the 100th level, but if not, I would simply climb up to the 101st level, and then the 100th. That would be fine as well.
"I refuse. As a member of the Carolyn Family, I could never possibly bring an unknown individual to our oasis."
I felt rather helpless about this. I had just saved her life, yet she was refusing to be grateful already?
"Are you still holding a grudge against me for scaring you earlier? Fine, just tell me the direction, and I"ll go there by myself."
However, this black-skinned, red-haired female tiefling suddenly fell silent. A long while later, she said something to the oldest a.s.sa.s.sin tied to a pole, and he swiftly replied in a tone that sounded like they were arguing about something. The tieflings kept glancing over at me as they spoke.
Even though I couldn"t understand the tiefling dialect, I could pretty much guess what they were saying.
"Sheesh, you really don"t even know what direction your home is in?"
Alright then, her black face instantly turned a bright red, and her tail listlessly fell down to the ground. It would seem that she was truly easy to embarra.s.s.
I felt rather helpless about all this. However, my rumbling stomach reminded me that I still hadn"t had enough of the food that others "were generous enough to donate to me", and that I needed to hurry and find a place to stock up at.
Twenty minutes later, a comical scene appeared in the desert. I was urging the tiefling scion to lead the way, and she urged all the black-caped a.s.sa.s.sins who were previously after her life to lead the way.
Ca.s.sandra had just reached an accord with the a.s.sa.s.sins. When they reached the Ha.s.s Oasis, she would let all the younger a.s.sa.s.sins go, except for their leader. Both parties had sworn an oath using the name of the great Demon G.o.d Sback, an oath that no tiefling would dare to go against.
And since this was a dimensional level with many tiefling tribes, I also intentionally showed some demonized traits in order to avoid trouble. For instance, I showed off my Original Sin Demon Form"s demon wings, as well as dragon scales and dragon claws, all traits that would easily be misunderstood as demonized traits.
And so, these tieflings now saw me as an unlucky demonized human who had answered the summons of the Chaos Abyss.
No matter if it was the a.s.sa.s.sins or the scion, they were all now looking at me with more sympathy. There were countless "comrades" that were brought down here to the Chaos Abyss by their bloodline"s summons in each and every year. However, while those who answered the summons might believe that they were returning home to family, the Chaos Abyss would be nothing but h.e.l.l.
"Actually, since you have the power to hide your demonized traits, there was no need for you to come down here to the Chaos Abyss…"
Ca.s.sandra had a compa.s.sionate expression as she said this.
"What do you know, little girl? You"re a native descendant of the tieflings who came here. You know nothing about how irresistible the summons of the bloodline can be."
Only the most powerful tieflings would be able to hide their demonized traits as this would mean they were capable of controlling their own bloodline. Such tieflings would always have high status in their tribes.
And so, I casually swore an oath to the tieflings" great Demon G.o.d Sback. I promised that I wouldn"t do anything to harm the Ha.s.s Oasis or the tiefling tribes. However, I actually felt nothing about this oath at all.
"You think that oaths sworn in front of the Demon G.o.d Sback are unbreakable? Ha, even if Sback appears right in front of me, I can still swear in his name all I want with no consequences."
Although it might sound scary to hear about a "great" Demon G.o.d, Sback wasn"t really that strong amongst the Chaos Evil G.o.ds. However, he was originally a tiefling/demon halfblood who managed to obtain divinity and the Divine Concept of becoming the Guardian G.o.d of the tieflings, which made him the most amazing tiefling wors.h.i.+pped by all other tieflings.
But in all the dimensions out there, Sback was only the dimensional ruler of the 245th level in the Chaos Abyss. He was only a weak Low G.o.d with few believers. Neither was his combat strength all that powerful. On top of that, he had no special abilities or powerful allies. In fact, he couldn"t even keep full control over his own dimensional level. His incarnations were always being killed off, causing him to lose power. It could be said that he was a failure amongst the Low G.o.ds.
But to the tieflings, Sback was the most venerated existence of all. They wors.h.i.+ped him even more than the Chaos Main G.o.ds.
This was mainly because of the tieflings" status. To the other higher-level existences in the Chaos Abyss, the tieflings were nothing but "b.a.s.t.a.r.ds". Tieflings could have anything from demon, devil, or even an Evil G.o.d"s bloodline. Also, more than ninety percent of tieflings lived in the mortal plane.
That was right, more than ninety percent. It could be said that most of the tieflings down in the Chaos Abyss had formerly been residents of the mortal plane!
Tieflings had either black or brown skin, sulfur-smelling breath, and unique demonized traits. Every tiefling would have a different demonized body part. The most common and obvious traits would be all sorts of horns or curved tails that would be impossible to hide.
Physically, they would somewhat resemble succubi, but tieflings were far weaker and easier than succubi. This was why many devils and Demon Lords would keep tieflings around as pets.
There were many reasons for tieflings" existence. Perhaps an Evil G.o.d or a Demon Lord would descend in the mortal plane, stealing someone"s physical body. Or, an incarnation would leave behind a descendant. Some demon or devil armies would also commit rape after conquering a city. There were also dark cultists that performed demonization rituals on themselves, Evil G.o.ds that schemed to demonize those in the mortal plane, the children of witches, and so on.
However, the tieflings were quite different from pure demons or devils. The pure demons and devils were also pure evil. Generations had honed them into the purest slaughter machines, and they were the precious children of the Evil G.o.ds.
Any demon or devil in the mortal plane would surely try to stir up major trouble or plot some dastardly scheme. For instance, in history, there was Charnam, the son of an Evil G.o.d. Charnam slew G.o.ds and demons alike until he ascended to become a G.o.d of Slaughter. Meanwhile, tieflings were mere ordinary species that had become slightly demonized. They had been invaded by demon corruption while still inside their mothers" wombs, causing them to have some slightly demonized traits. Tieflings would be completely different from the native residents of the Chaos Abyss… but other mortals wouldn"t care.
"Demonic children", "the jinxed", "the harbingers of misfortune", and so on were all nicknames for the tieflings. There were countless negative insults heaped upon them. And, their mothers (most tieflings would be raised by single mothers) would typically be vilified as witches or s.l.u.ts who had s.e.x with demons and devils and so on. None of the G.o.ds" Churches in the mortal plane would even try to defend them. My original world of Earth wasn"t the only one that burned witches. Tieflings living in the mortal plane would suffer nothing but misfortune, and their families would rarely meet a happy ending.
In the mortal plane where people viewed things as either black or white, most tieflings would have nightmarish childhood while growing up. The tieflings" nightmarish abuse also extended to their relatives.
But, the nightmare was only beginning in childhood. Most tieflings would be incapable of hiding their demonized traits. While there were still some barely pa.s.sable methods for disguising horns and tails, their unique skin color was the hardest to conceal. In order for tieflings to live among humans, they would forever need to wear masks and capes.
Not only would it be difficult for tieflings to find normal jobs and establish social relations.h.i.+ps, even accidentally having a veil fall off might result in the tiefling being burned to death by an angry mob.
And even for the lucky tieflings that made great efforts in using their outstanding natural talents to help others, such as defeating a rampaging horde of magic beasts that threatened a city and gaining the reputation of hero, their demonic blood would always bring misfortune upon them in the end. Perhaps there would be a long drought, or an unavoidable calamity, or some suddenly arrived G.o.d"s church job cla.s.s member. Even the hero tieflings would still end up being blamed for bringing bad luck or accused of scheming against the city, so those tieflings would silently be forced to leave in the end.
No matter what a tiefling did in the mortal plane, that tiefling would only be treated with suspicion and distrust.
Unfortunately, this stereotype-focused att.i.tude toward them could also be said to be mostly correct. Since they had partial demonic or devil bloodlines, this would make them easier to anger, impatient, greedy, l.u.s.tful, and so on. Their natural talents were also small magic tricks related to darkness, such as invisibility, short-distance teleportation, night vision, and so on. These natural talents just happened to be so especially well-suited to committing evil deeds…
Their "ugly" appearances made it difficult for the tieflings to find proper jobs. Human stereotypes against them and their powerful natural talents (well, only powerful when compared to humans") made it quite normal for tieflings to take improper paths in society. Thieves, rogues, a.s.sa.s.sins, and so on would forever be the most popular jobs in the tiefling species. And even in the Chaos Abyss, there were quite a few tieflings.
Tieflings had longer lifespans than humans, so no matter what they experienced, they would always taste the coldness of the world, and see their relatives dying off and leaving them behind, so they would no longer relish the mortal plane…
A scholar had once proposed a theory that most tieflings ended up answering the summons of the Chaos Abyss not because they weren"t able to resist the summons, but more because they had despaired, doubting their ever being able to join human society in the mortal plane.
And even if they entered the Chaos Abyss… the Chaos Abyss was no warm and welcoming location. The pure demons saw tieflings as nothing more than weaklings they could toy with. It would only be going from h.e.l.l to an even worse h.e.l.l for the tieflings.
In comparison, the Order G.o.ds" descendants were known as "Asmos", which meant the "venerated".
An Asmo would have bright eyes that gave off light and special golden skin that would glow along with glowing golden hair. Basically, they would look like light bulbs. It would be quite easy for an Asmo to find a job at any G.o.d"s Church. It would only be a matter of time for an Asmo to become a high-ranked member of a particular church. And, any Asmo who went out adventuring would easily obtain ordinary people"s trust and support. It would be ridiculously easy for an Asmo to become an idol.
Strictly speaking, angel bloodlines were also a type of As...o...b..oodline. The treatment I received back in the Bardi Empire was the most obvious evidence of this. Of course, many tieflings felt aggrieved about such unfair treatment, but I would say…
"Ha, immigrants want to compare themselves to the treatment received by the locals? Ha, why don"t they try asking the politicians in charge if they agree or not?"
Cough, I seem to have accidentally said too much.
Getting back to the topic, the reason why Demon G.o.d Sback was fervently wors.h.i.+pped by so many tieflings was because he had established a n.o.ble goal of saving the tiefling race. He often performed divine miracles in the mortal plane, sending out an incarnation or a G.o.d Envoy to save tieflings like himself. And then, he would be hunted down like a pitiful dog by the Order G.o.ds…
Although Sback wasn"t all that reliable, the very fact that such a bullied species like the tieflings even had a Guardian G.o.d was a supreme joy to all tieflings. They were far more fanatical believers of their great Demon G.o.d Sback compared to any other species. So, Sback would forever be the #1 G.o.d wors.h.i.+pped by any and all tiefling tribes.
There were reasons why I understood so much about tieflings.
Strictly speaking, Elisa who had been demonized by the River Styx was also a tiefling. For quite a long period of time, she had been a pure tiefling. And since the Underground was a place for the exiles from the aboveground world, it was only normal that there would be many tieflings underground.
However, Elisa received far too much favor from the Chaos Abyss. In the end, she demonized far too much, and became a half-demon. As long as she wanted to, she could achieve even deeper demonization and become a true demon at any time she wanted. It was as if she was the Chaos Abyss"s b.a.s.t.a.r.d daughter.
It wouldn"t be that easy to transform into a complete demon in normal circ.u.mstances. Even if a tiefling "gave up on trying to be a human", there would be a great price to pay for such a transformation. You would need to already have enough power, as well as need to somehow obtain a powerful demon"s or devil"s pure bloodline, along with obtaining a great deal of demon or devil blood. This would be no easy matter.
Now that I thought about it, since the Chaos Abyss had a will of its own, and the will of the Chaos Abyss was actually Cynthia"s will, and Cynthia had always been giving Elisa so much power, this basically meant that Cynthia had been constantly spying on us. It would seem that the affairs from back in the day were truly messy indeed.
Perhaps Elisa had been Cynthia"s spy and a ticking time bomb all this time. Maybe she would have betrayed us at a critical moment… Should I actually be grateful to Karwenz for dragging Cynthia into a pitfall? Otherwise, this truly would have been troublesome.
Deserts would always be hot during the day and cold at night. However, this desert was far different from the normal deserts in the mortal plane. In the 102nd level, there were three suns cycling through the sky, and each night had less than two hours of darkness. Just this alone would make anyone feel like they were in a living h.e.l.l.
Not long ago, I had been in a damp and dark swamp. Yet, I was now in a desert filled with nothing but sunlight. The tremendous change in environment was difficult to get accustomed to.
"Heh, this is probably still a decent environment. Down here in the Chaos Abyss, there are many places that are even worse than this one."
From what I could recall, there were indeed far worse environments in the Chaos Abyss. Some dimensional levels would be filled with toxic gas, while others would have raging flames or nothing but ocean. There were even some dimensions with no breathable air whatsoever. This environment filled with only wind and sand was already quite friendly compared to many other Chaos Abyss levels. At the very least, this place was far more hospitable than the Earth Elemental Plane.
But when I thought about the Earth Elemental Plane, I suddenly recalled a certain someone who must not be named. I suddenly had a terribly ominous premonition.
"No way, he wouldn"t… I didn"t summon him to come join me…"
At this moment, after pa.s.sing several desert hills, the brightest pearl of the 102nd level of the Chaos Abyss, the Ha.s.s Oasis appeared before us.