Demon's Virtue

Chapter 382 - Undead Hunters

"I have to step outside for a second. Until then, take a bit of a break and let your mana recover a little bit. I'll be right back." Eiro told his students, swiftly heading toward this room's exit. He made his way out of this building, and quickly waited for Ariella to land in front of him.

The Demon looked back at her with a light sigh, "Is something wrong, Ariella?"

"Are you seriously asking me that? Seriously?" She asked, crossing her arms and staring back at Eiro. The Demon thought about it for a moment, but didn't find any reason for her to be particularly mad.

"Wait, don't tell me you're somehow related to the Melachines..."

"Melachines? What are you talking about? No, I mean the fact that you're leading numerous 'Undead Hunters' to the capital. I heard about those rumours that you're spreading, Eiro." Ariella pointed out, "Why would you do something like that?"

"Because I need a specific person to come here, that's why. And why are you bothered with those 'Undead Hunters' at all? You're a Nephilim, not a Lich or something like that." The Demon pointed out, and Ariella rubbed the bridge of her nose annoyed, "Because Undead Hunters are absolute bothers. They think they're above the law, they use their 'Life Golems' or whatever they call them to search a whole town for anything with even an ounce of 'Death' Magic, and they-"

"Don't mind slaughtering anyone who they believe to be 'heretics', I know. But again, why are you bothered at all? What do you have to do with Death Magic?"

"It's not about me, it's about people I'm close to. One of them is a young girl, she's a novice Necromancer. She would never think of using people for her undead, of course, but she does practice using insects and vermin. If those Undead Hunters coincidentally find one of those bugs, they'll be able to trace it back to her. That means I'll have to leave with her, and that obviously messes with all my plans." Ariella explained to Eiro, who slowly crossed his arms.

"Hm, alright, I think I've got a solution for you there. Wait until the end of the schoolday, it's another six or so hours, I'll have a way to deal with those Undead Hunters ready for you by then." Eiro pointed out, and Ariella seemed a bit taken aback, "What are you-"

"I'm going to lure them to me, obviously. Believe it or not, but I have an affinity for death magic myself. I can't use it yet because I didn't practice it at all, but I do have the affinity. I'll deal with them. Actually, that's going to help me even more." Eiro pointed out, "If numerous Undead Hunters come here just to disappear, that's going to intice the one I want to come just the more."

Ariella stared back at Eiro, considering how lightly he seemed to take this situation. She groaned loudly, "If you don't give me a good plan by the end of the day, I'll have to think about leaving soon."

"It won't come to that, don't worry. Just come meet me at that lake just outside of town. You know, the one where I was waiting for a bunch of people from the organization. We'll meet there at midnight tonight." The Demon suggested, and Ariella groaned slightly and nodded her head, "Fine. Now go back to your classes, I'll leave again."

Eiro nodded his head, doing just as Ariella suggested as he watched her fly away again. And Eiro began to plot his plan out in his mind.

---

Eiro was standing at the edge of the small island in the center of the frozen lake, wearing his new armor with a cloak on top. He watched Ariella land on the snow-covered ice, slowly approaching Eiro.

"Alright, I'm here. What's your big plan, now?" She asked. The tone of her voice was a mixture of angry and hopeful, since she most likely didn't really want to leave yet.

"We're already in the middle of it, Ariella." The Demon pointed out, as he held one of his hands forward. From there, a small flower sprouted. Its stem seemed withered and nearly petrified, while its petals seemed to be made of bone. It was a flower that didn't really exist, created by combining Nature Magic with Death Magic. The Death Magic came from the small Death Magic stone that Eiro still had with him inside of his treasury.

"I spread these flowers in specific places in town and the nearby forest. It's going to definitely lead any 'Undead Hunter' here, I actually did already spot some of them heading into this direction when I came here. And of course, I'll take over a different role as well." The Demon pointed out, as he pressed the magic stone in his hand into the small slot in his chestplate.

He let his mana flow into it, then took the magic into his own body, quickly infusing himself with it. Soon, it was like Eiro's body began to rot, his armor turning into a bone-like substance. Eiro let his will flow into his mana to change the way that he would 'transform', and soon, his body changed like he wanted it to.

His horns lost their color and turned into bones, and the flesh seemed to disappear from his wings and tail as they turned into something skeletal.

Eiro's skin became pale and unhealthy. It really did look as if he was a walking corpse. As if he was a Lich.

"So, what do you say?" Eiro asked, his voice sounding raspy as if his throat was falling apart, "Do I look dead enough?"

The Demon wore a broad smile on his face, showing his yellow, rotting teeth as a smell reminiscent of a corpse escaped his throat.

Ariella took a step back and slowly nodded her head, "Y-Yes... You certainly do... But how..."

"Ah, I'll explain it later. Basically, I have the ability to infuse every part of my body with any sort of magic I want without any damage to my being. And not just magic, it's why I was able to fuse with that slime I introduced you to in the way that I did. Just through him was I able to look like a human." Eiro explained. His introduction was uncomfortable to listen to due to his voice, and he looked as if he was about to fall over dead any moment now.

"Either way, that's not important right now. I suggest you take a step back for now." The Demon said, as he concentrated on his Aura. He strengthened it, fusing some death magic into it. He made sure that anyone with the ability to sense 'death' would end up taking notice of him.

"Of course, I-" Eiro started, but quickly stopped when he noticed something approaching, "Ariella, take a step back. I'll show you that I can deal with any 'Undead Hunter' that comes by, no matter their numbers."

The Nephilim looked at Eiro, this Demon that looked like he was already dead, confidently stepping onto the ice. Eiro squatted down, and quickly caught something slithering through the thick snow. It was a white snake, flailing around in Eiro's hand.

He could tell that it was hurting his hand just by him holding it. It wasn't holy, of course, this was just because of the Death Magic Eiro was infused with. This was one of the 'Life Golems' that Ariella mentioned earlier today.

"Well, hello there. Which of these Hunters is your master, huh? The one hiding behind the large oak tree, the one that climbed the pine, or the one that hid behind the pile of snow?" The Demon asked with a broad grin on his face, before he proceeded to crush the snake's skull to kill it. But even then, it surprisingly still kept moving. It wasn't really alive in the first place, after all.

These people were just capable of using Life Magic, to an extent. And not particularly strongly either, as far as Eiro could tell. For now, he just had to make sure to threaten these Undead Hunters to lead even more here.

The Demon got rid of the snow and cleaned up the ice, showing the many corpses frozen within the lake that Eiro hid here.

Seeing these corpses, one of the Undead Hunters chose to get to work immediately before Eiro could animate them. Of course, before he even crossed half the lake, Eiro pierced his skull with ice and killed him, making the ice swallow him.

They were only strong against Death Magic, any other kind would painfully overwhelm them. Clearly, that was the case. One of the others became rather shocked at this sight alone, and seemed ready to leave already. The other one was as confident as before, thinking that the one that was killed was nothing but a fool. That wasn't just a guess on Eiro's side either, he heard both of their muttering.

However, to Eiro's surprise, what came at the Demon next wasn't the next Undead Hunter, but rather an animated lump of snow and ice. Since it was 'alive' right now, Eiro couldn't manipulate it either, and it would obviously be unaffected by any attacks using ice-magic.

It was a clever tactic, so Eiro chose to play along for now to make the Hunter more confident. The Demon used ice magic to try and get rid of the snow-creature, as more and more of them were created by the Hunter.

And using them as a cover, the hunter himself tried to approach Eiro, who kept acting like he was in trouble. Until the man was close enough, of course, which was when Eiro stopped his act. With a snap of his finger, flames appeared in the middle of the air and started to melt the snow-creatures, showing the shocked Undead Hunter.

"Sorry, but you'll become fodder for the Queen of Undeath as well." The Demon smiled, as he killed the second Undead Hunter. He exerted an aura that would scare most people off, as it did with the last Undead Hunter, who Eiro quickly let get away.

"Undead Hunters are rare, especially those that can actually use Life Magic. Most of them tend to use Holy Magic. Out of these three, just the second one could actually use it, I think. The snake was also his golem.

"Wait, three? So you're just letting one of them get away?" Ariella asked, "Why would you do that?"

"Because he's going to find the other Undead Hunters, who I know he already made contact with, to lead them here. I want to get rid of anyone with Life Magic that's here, for now.. I don't care about the others, they're glorified Paladins, nothing else."