Demon's Virtue

Chapter 697: The Greeting

Jess nervously looked at the back of the Arcane Mage stood next to the creature actually controlling the dungeon. Sure, she was confident in her strength now, but Merlin was a famously powerful mage. Even if he failed to reach the 'Master' grade, that was something logically unachievable in the first place.

There weren't that many 'Master' skill holders in this world; the fact that she had met four of them was already an achievement in itself. Merlin was extremely powerful, and Jess had no idea what had happened ever since he disappeared. At the very least... he looked different than the illustrations that had been shown of him.

His eyes were surrounded by dark shadows that made it appear as if they sunk deep into his skull, and his skin was unnaturally pale, as if someone had actively painted him white. And not only that, but now that Jess was looking more closely, his arms seemed a bit too... long.

Not only that, but his gaze was strong and penetrating, and Jess' whole body shivered as she realized his irises were pure black.

She nearly gasped as the realization set in, but it was already too late. Merlin stretched out his hand toward Jess, and she felt a tight grasp around her throat. Her feet lifted off the ground through some sort of invisible force, and no matter how much she tried, she just barely managed to scrape the ground with the front of her foot as she was dragged toward Merlin.

"Well, well, well... A little rat, huh?" He asked, though clearly not expecting an answer. His voice was sharp and... inhuman. Like something was completely and utterly wrong about Merlin at this point in time. For a few moments, he just stared at Jess as she was unsuccessfully trying to rip the invisible force away from her throat to allow her to breathe, before her body suddenly jolted into the air.

She was flung against that large mass of flesh in the center of the room, and not only just once. Like an upset child with its doll, Merlin used Jess to hit that mass of flesh, "You imbecile! How could you place her so close to us?! Imbecile, imbecile, imbecile!" he practically screamed, as Jess could feel the air escape from her body.

Luckily, it didn't seem like that mass of flesh had bones or even cartilage; the impacts were well-cushioned, even if that didn't completely negate the pain she felt at being forced through the air so roughly.

Merlin clicked his tongue, flicking his wrist as he threw Jess to the other side of the room. Now, she hit the brick wall, scraping over the ground and breaking her arm in the process. She immediately started to use healing magic inwardly, but the fact that she finally had the opportunity to breathe again took precedence right now.

"But..." Merlin muttered, as he approached Jess curiously, "At the same time, you do have some great materials to offer... Girl, you are a mage, correct?"

Jess glared at Merlin intensely, but clearly, he didn't really care, "Yes, yes you are... Are you not curious as well? What would happen if I plucked the abilities of a human mage and placed it into a goblin... or maybe a lizardman?" he asked curiously, before seemingly getting an epiphany, "Oh! Or would you, instead, maybe like to be reborn? I have a wonderful catalogue for you to choose from...

I could give you the wings of a harpy, or a troll's regeneration? The mimicry abilities of a doppelganger might not be too shabby for you..."

Fear filled Jess' body and mind. Something was wrong; really, really wrong. Something was off about Merlin. He felt too... too far away. Too massive, too...

powerful. He gave off the aura of something greater, but at the same time, it was familiar. She didn't know how she recognized it, but she did. If only she could remember, she... she might be able to come up with something.

"Ah..." Jess let out. She suddenly realized what it was. Or rather, who it was that Merlin reminded her of. It was Eiro. As if he had been reading her mind, Merlin snapped around his whole body.

"You! You!! How did you escape, how, how, how?! You, no- what- how could I forget about you?! Where did you go, you-" Merlin stared at the large map that was floating in front of the wall, which was still being manipulated by that mass of flesh. On there, a small sigil was moving at an incredibly fast speed throughout the dungeon, navigating it as though it had a plan.

From where she was kneeling, she was practically able to hear Merlin's heartbeat. But even when she looked at his face, she couldn't tell whether it was out of fear, or maybe even excitement.

And that moment was exactly when something else happened. A certain scent entered Merlin's nose. Confused, he stared at its source, noticing smoke rising from the body of that large mass of flesh, as its body began to convulse in immense pain. Merlin turned toward Jess, who simply had a soft smile on her face.

Jess may have forgotten about Eiro for a short while, but she hadn't forgotten the things that he taught her. And one of the things that she was taught was how to activate magic from afar using her own blood as a conduit. She still wasn't able to do it from too far away, but if she was able to distinctly see her own blood, that was generally a hint that she was close enough to do so.

And after Merlin's bout of anger, there were some splatters of her blood that had come onto that creature's body. Of course, it wasn't a lot. But that wasn't needed either. Jess wasn't trying to kill that creature anymore, she was just trying to roast its flesh.

And then, now that she had air in her lungs again, she released all of it at once; a strong gust shot through the room as Jess blew the smoke down the hallway.

As Merlin once more extended his hand toward her, choking her as he did before, except this time with the clear intention of ending her once and for all, he also extended his hand toward the doorway, and the wind that Jess created was stopped. Even if a moment too late.

As her sight went dark, Jess managed to glance at the map. The sigil that had been moving around so rapidly, searching through as many hallways and rooms of the dungeon as possible, closing in ever so slightly, had suddenly started moving perfectly. In a direct route, the sigil was approaching the room. And just a few seconds later, Jess saw a figure in the doorway. Eiro had made it.

"Good job, Jess," he said, smiling at her as he extended his hand. She felt the magical grasp around her neck suddenly disappear, as Merlin let out an ear-deafening scream. Jess stared at the mage, whose arm had been detached with some quickly-cast magic.

But she once more felt her body being pulled at, even if incredibly gently this time around, as Eiro used different magics to pull her over toward him.

"...You take care of the thing controlling the dungeon. It's not strong, but it has multiple cores and stinks of troll regeneration," Eiro said, and Jess quickly thought of some spells that she could use to counteract a troll's fast regeneration. However, if he just tried, Eiro could do so much faster... so why wasn't he?

Jess looked up at Eiro's face, as he intently stared at Merlin. But it wasn't rage. Or at least, it wasn't 'only' rage. Of course, Eiro utterly despised Merlin for what he had done at the academy, but what Jess saw on the Demon's face was mostly another emotion. It was caution.

Basically the moment she realized that was when she realized something else; what she had thought to be a scream of pain and terror coming from Merlin was instead an extremely distorted, ugly laughter. Something so inhuman that she was barely able to recognize it as such. The detached arm next to Merlin suddenly started wriggling on its own, and like a snake began to slither back up Merlin's body.

As if nothing happened, the mage grabbed his limb and pushed it back into place. And with some few simple motions of his other arm, he used invisible needles and threads to stitch his arm back into place, without breaking his laughter for even a moment.

"So he gave up on Avalin? I guess even the Monster King realized he would never be able to get his hands on her anymore... but you? You seem like a rather shabby replacement," Eiro said with a deep stare, taking in every tiny movement Merlin was making.

And suddenly, Merlin's laughter stopped, "Do you think you're better than me? Well, until recently, I would have agreed, but now, now, now... I have ascended! I reached that which I truly yearned for! The pinnacle of life!"

Eiro pulled out his daggers, tensing up his wings to get ready for anything. And then, Merlin continued.

"Let me re-introduce myself... I can hardly be called the same being anymore! Dear Eiro... the Fool greets the World!"