CHAPTER 1 – PART TWOThis chicken-head seems big but I can see that deceivingly, it"s quite thin on the inside. The feathers actually cover up its body and make it big and intimidating. How deceitful this bird is.
"Well then, why don"t you come down here and fight? You want to eat me right?!" I gave it a bit of provocation. Although Overpower is constantly active in my case, it only intimidates people and when that doesn"t work, I can add mana to it to actually make it more intimidating, my aura.
*shriek*
A shriek and a nose dive towards me. Is it possibly thinking of swooping down on me and taking me on its talons, throw me, and die from the impact alone? This bird is smart.
I avoided its charge and prepared for the next one. I want to see how it would go about trying to eat me.
It took a ninety degrees from the dive and turned away only to return again with even more obvious intent. It was going to use its beak to take me this time.
"Tsk. I"m disappointed in you birdy; you should have done something else instead." With a slight movement I appeared next to it in the air and delivered a very refined and elegant neck chop and the bird abruptly and violently hit the ground. Although it"s a deceitful bird with its appearance of being big and in reality being thin, it still was quite big and a big thud resounded as it collided with the ground.
Looking at it carefully now, its red feathers that had patterns similar to flames was eye-catching. Is it perhaps a phoenix? Nah, it shouldn"t be this weak and un-mythical right?
I left it behind and just started walking again in a direction that is not fixed, but before I could take the third step away I sensed blood l.u.s.t from behind me and air broke with the movement of the one emitting such blood l.u.s.t.
One has to understand, blood l.u.s.t and killing intent are two very distinct things. Blood l.u.s.t refers to a person or creature"s desire to see blood or for some other cases the thirst of a vampric creature. Killing intent on the other hand is a person or creature"s intent to kill regardless of whether there"s blood or not.
And what I felt then was blood l.u.s.t.
*lick*
I heard a distinct movement of the tongue to lick the lips from the creature. I"m pretty sure this thing is out for food and this case, my blood. Just how random does a vampire appear in a fantasy world?
Usually, vampires would be present in old abandoned buildings or towers or something right? Why do templates never happen to me?
*shaaa*
The vampire finally reached my range and I turned around to greet it. It was moving quite slowly fro my point of view so I had to wait for it.
What greeted me was a creature that had long thin limbs, a face that was divided into four sections like in those movies where alien creatures are able to separate their mouths into four parts including the eyes and nose. It"s really grotesque to look at.
It also had claws that reached to the ground while its torso looked like that of a decrepit old man"s. And even though it looked like that this thing"s strength is not a joke.
To be able to break the sound barrier even if just a little as it moved in burst just now, it should possess some sort of strength right, and even when it was pouncing me, it already had its mouth ready to gobble my head and drink my blood.
Still, this thing"s no challenge.
I clenched my fist and sent out a punch towards it. However, the expected result of it dying from my punch did not occur.
*shhh*
Only the sound of air being whisked away resounded but in this case, it was mist. The thing actually became mist the moment my fist collided with its body. It wasn"t expected but it is one of the vampire"s abilities huh?
Having it"s surprise attack foiled, it retreated a bit and materialized its part of the body that turned to mist. It was confused for a moment before letting out what can only look like roaring but with a sharp sound being produced instead.
*shaaaaa*
After letting out that sound it slowly turned invisible and I could actually not see it. However, the smell of blood from it just cannot be covered and I sent out a fist towards it judging from the smell alone.
*pa!*
It got smacked squarely on the chest when I sent out that punch. The impact was there and I"m sure I damaged it greatly but then it turned visible and I saw how the b.l.o.o.d.y chest turned into mist and slowly rearranged it.
"d.a.m.n, this thing has regeneration. Typical of vampires, I would have liked to dance with you longer but you"re just bad news and I don"t have a means to kill you, so ciao!" The result was, I turned tail and ran away by flying.
Leaving behind that stupid regeneration freak, I flew to the nearest place with structures that resembled houses or something. Demons should still live in those right?
With that in mind it took me not too long to find a settlement that looked big enough to call a city. I went down and nonchalantly strolled into their night life.
The city had instead of a gloomy feel, a lively one instead and the noise produced from merry making was the same or even at a higher level than that when humans started their nights. I feel like I can blend it quite easily here. However,
{Hey, look at that. There"s a brave human trying to mix in with us as if it"s a natural thing.}, said a demon person that had scales for skin and a horn on his forehead. His body was that of a snake though, so he"s probably a Naga or something.
*Ping!*
Demon Language – Basic Acquired
I missed hearing this sound. It"s quite a refreshing sound now.
{He"s probably a lost person. This is a long way away from human settlement and if this were a captured slave, then he should be hiding somewhere instead, this guy"s probably lost its mind from being tortured too much. Kekekeke} another one chimed in and this one looked like a werewolf with clothes on.
{Hyahahaha! That"s right. Shall we give him a bit of a scare?} Another demon kind laughed like a madman and suggested. I wonder who"s lost their minds if normal people look at this conversation. This one looked like some chicken-head with three eyes one on the forehead and two on the regular face. I think this guy would probably pa.s.s as a c.o.c.katrice"s sub-species?
I was actually having fun trying to identify the races that intermixed and produced these kinds of demons. I wonder if they can be talked to. The three moved towards me on such a busy street and struck a conversation with me.
The busy night filled with lights as people stepped on the paved road producing lots of diverse sounds flooded the atmosphere along the shouts from stalls and the orders from a lot of different kind of demons. Snake-heads, lizard-heads, bird-heads and all other kinds are mixed up here. I can"t feel anything that has a strong mana fluctuation here at the moment so maybe they"re considered as normal citizens of the demon world? The scene just resembles the normal human business districts at night but without the humans and replaced by demons.
{Hey human sc.u.m, what"re you doing here strolling around as if it"s your territory huh?} Oh it was an aggressive conversation; I thought they were going to try and be friendly then rob me in one of the dark alleys.
Now that I think about it, I"m the stranger here not them. I forget. Fufufu
{Yea, yea! You"re looking to die right, or are you some slave that got asked to buy something for master?}, said the chicken-head condescendingly. It"s still not enough to annoy me; I"m actually in an enjoyable mood so I can"t be too sensitive for these guys. The other one the wolf-head kept quiet and just observed.
So I spoke in demon tongue, "{h.e.l.lo, I"m just a tourist trying to take in the sights. It"s an enjoyable sight how diverse your kind is. I like taking a guess at your ident.i.ties. For example the chicken-head there is probably a mix of a c.o.c.katrice and something else right? The other two are obvious as a snake demon and the other being a werewolf, right?}" That should have been quite a surprise for them as evidenced by their mouths agape.
{How is he able to talk in our language? I wanted to scare him with our language, but he understood us.} The snake-head was perplexed and the others did not say anything and just looked at me with unbelief.
"{No need to worry about it. I"m just a tourist as I said. No need to be on guard. If you don"t touch me, I won"t make a scene, isn"t that best for all of us?}" I tried to make them back off. I"m pretty sure they"re just trying to scare me or if they were trying to hurt me, I can still let them go.
Again, I"m in an enjoyable mood and I don"t want to be disturbed unreasonably. I will let this pa.s.s since I"m pretty much a human who trespa.s.sed but if they just indiscriminately attack me just for being human then that would probably make me a bit annoyed.
{This human is weird. I don"t want to get involved with him. Let the n.o.bles deal with him.} The werewolf suggested an started to back away and disappeared in the crowd.
There was already a crowd of demons around us by the time they finished their "interrogation" and the hubbub was reasonable. I have a feeling that werewolf was someone well connected.
True enough, after a bit of time being surrounded by a lot of people, there were shouts of authority from the direction in front of me. If I remember correctly that"s the way towards that grand building at the center of the city.
{What"s this commotion?! Make way! Make way!} A demon that had a big frame and well defined muscles, actually it"s bulging as if he"s carrying coconuts stuffed inside those arms. He"s wearing nothing but pants while his arm was waving the pedestrians to make way and the other three were supporting his hips. Yes, the guy had four arms. Arnold would get a run for his money competing with this guy in body building!
{Hey you! Are you the cause of this- what"s a d.a.m.ned human like you doing here in demon territory huh? We don"t have human slaves here, so that"s out of the question. So who are you?!} He was scolding me with a tone of authority at first but then noticed that I was human then his tone changed close to being mad.
Yep, they really hate humans just as humans hate these guys and other races.
"{Sorry about the commotion. I was just sightseeing and saw that there was a city here and tried to see for myself how demon cities were like.}" I explained to the giant.
Contrary to my expectations of having a fight, he instead held his chin and thought about something then gestured for guards to surround me and said, {Follow me to the mayor"s office. I"ll let the mayor handle this. We"ve never had a case like this before. Although I hate your kind, I can"t stoop so low as to kill you just for being human. Plus you"re unarmed and don"t look to be a soldier. If you were, I"d probably kill you on the spot without mercy.} The big guy said as we started walking towards the center building of the city. Just what kind of development is this, I can"t follow properly.
I was expecting a fight even though I looked to enjoying myself. Then he comes to me and tells me some cheesy c.r.a.p and now takes me to the mayor. Are they planning to dispose of me where no one can see in the mayor"s office or will something else happen? Well, no matter what it is, I think this is interesting nonetheless.
*Ping!*
Demon Language – Advanced acquired.
"{Will there be snacks?}" I asked playfully while following along the big guy.