God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 346: Prepare For Battle! (1).

Cain heaved a sigh. He also wasn't sure if he would survive, just like these desperate men. Looking at their faces, Cain was able to see all sorts of emotions. However, none of these emotions were good ones.

Some bore deep resentment, some burning anger, and others, wicked despair that consumed them...

He was uncertain. He had fought {Blood Abominations} before, and they weren't terrifyingly strong. The only reason they were so feared, was because they tended to move in herds, which was a rather terrible thing for those fighting them.

However, what he was unsure of the most, was Angel, or rather, Stingè. Pulling out the {Hand of Stingè} from his inventory, he proceeded to go through it once again.

His eyelids twitched violently. The description of the weapon stated that Stingè was an absolute menace on the battlefield. What this meant, was that he was a fighter. Cain couldn't piece them both together at all...

The first time Cain had interacted with Stingè, he concluded that it was the most ungodly and terrifying creature he had ever encountered in his life.

It was as though it was veiled in a layer of evil constantly. Its aura was incredibly malevolent as well. However, there was one thing he couldn't deny about the creature. And that was its strength...

'Now that I think about it, it really did look a bit like a dragon, or a dragonoid. Horns, a serpentine tail, freaky long claws. Even its face...'

Cain could only imagine what sort of monstrosity Leonis, his mother, had to sleep with to birth him.

'Hunter had called him a demon, too...'

When Cain had created the second form of his Abyssal Dragon Blade Technique— Rakshasa, he had come to find out that a Rakshasa was a demon that lived for slaughter.

'Are they the same type of demon, or was Hunter just trying to describe how vile Stingè is?'

Cain didn't have answers. So he turned to the one thing he knew would...

'System, what exactly is a Demon?'

{Replying to host: A Demon is a lesser species that is below only the Devils and Celestials. Demons are created when the bloodlines of Devils and other species mix. As such, they usually inherit powers unique to the Devils. There are different hierarchies within the Demon race, as some are many times stronger than others.

However, all of them are very powerful from birth, courtesy of their superior bloodlines}.

Cain frowned, 'And what of Stingè? Is he a true Demon?'

{Repkying to host: Unfortunately, the host currently lacks the required amount of system points to access that information}.

Cain clicked his tongue. He thought it a whole then asked another question,

'Then... Where does a Rakshasa rank in the Demon Hierarchy?'

{Replying to host: Rakshasas are in the low-upper echelons within the Demon race}.

'Hmm... Not shabby.' Cain was impressed.

Shaking his head, he brought himself back to his original goal.

'So if this Stingè is a Demon, then things could get bad really fast.'

Still, He knew all this was just speculation. He wasn't going to overthink himself to death because of a small detail like that.

At the end of the day, he wasn't running from a fight. If he clashed with the bastard Demon again, they would fight. The person still standing after that fight would walk away, leaving the loser's corpse on the ground.

Cain was confident, but it still wouldn't hurt to cover all bases...

He had a battle to prepare for!

Walking through the dim corridors, he finally stumbled upon another group of Beastmen. Ignoring the fanatism in their eyes, he asked them for Hunter's location. Luckily for him, Hubter was very popular in the base, so he found him relatively quickly.

However, as soon as he entered the cave he had been directed to, he was taken aback by what was going on.

There were many Beastmen in the room. This included Hunter and three other Beastmen he hadn't seen before. They were all seated seated around a crude wooden table, on roughly carved wooden chairs.

Seated on a wooden seat around this table, were Susan and Jenny. There were many other Beastmen in this room as well. However, they were all standing. The room was big enough that there was still a decent amount of space with all the people present.

Judging from the unpleasant expressions of everyone at the table, Cain could tell they were discussing something serious.

And judging by the cold atmosphere in the room, and the frosty looks on the faces of the girls, the conversation was anything but pleasant.

As soon as Cain stepped into the room, all heads turned to face him. Some faces remained unchanged, some were filled with reverence, while others were filled with disdain, rage, or even outright jealousy.

'Ah... Classic internal conflict. Love to see it.'

Seeing that they had stopped their conversation the moment he had stepped in, he waved his hand, a relaxed smile on his face,

"Hope I didn't interrupt anything?"

Clearing his throat, Hunter spoke vividly,

"No. As a matter of fact, I think you should be a part of this conversation as well, Cain."

Cain raised a brow at Hunter, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes,

"In that case, don't mind if I do!"

Ignoring the glares aimed at him, Cain pulled up to the table and materialized a chair of gold out of thin air, earning him a few admiring gasps.

Sitting in between Jenny and Susan, who both looked at him with frowns on their faces, he took in his environment casually.

The lighting in this cave was far better compared to other parts of the cave, as well as the corridors.

The curved dome of the roof above this cave also gave it a bit more sophistication than the other caves. Since the walls of the caves were made of some sort of smooth, almost metallic stone, the general ambiance of the place was like that of a conference room.

A very shabby conference room, but one nonetheless...

Then, he turned his attention to the three individuals seated in front of him...

The first of them was a Beastman with a very wide and bulky physique. He looked so big, that Cain could tell that if he stood, the man would probably still be taller than him while sitting. His most unique feature was the fact that his entire visible body was covered in dense white fur.

He wasn't bad-looking. However, the serious and predatory look in his deep blue eyes told Cain he wasn't a very savory character.

'A polar bear, huh.'

Indeed, the first thing that came to Cain's mind was a polar bear. He had seen the image of a polar bear back in a book that had been scavenged from the old era. It contained various interesting details about a lot of the animals that had existed during that time. However, they were all now extinct.

And yet, Cain could see very clearly that this man looked so similar to the picture of the polar beat he had seen in that book.

He was a bit excited...

Seeing the strange look in his eyes, The man couldn't help but shift uncomfortably in his seat, his face showing how uncomfortable he felt being on the receiving end of Cain's weird gaze...

The second man was many times smaller than the first. The man sported two huge bird wings at his back, and in place of hair, he had a headful of slick feathers. He had sharp talons, and his eyes were a deep black with absolutely no cornea in them. Cain came to the only logical conclusion.

'A bird...'

He didn't need to see more. Initially, he didn't know what to think when he saw this man. Just like the first, he wasn't bad-looking. However, the sharp look in his eyes, as well as his other features made Cain feel a bit... strange.

The next man was the only one that made Cain narrow his eyes a bit. He was not as big as the first man, nor was he as small as the second. However, his entire body was filled with lean muscles built for power and speed.

He was also completely covered, head to toe, with azure scales. His eyes were yellow and serpentine. A long forked tongue slithered through his lips every once in a while and he was properly outfitted with sharp claws on his webbed limbs. He also stared Cain down with a disdainful look in his eyes.

'Hmmm... So these are the other system users here?'

Cain had no idea what the conditions for getting a system were. It couldn't be morality, nor did it seem to be health or a good physique. He could only speculate...

These men all had something in common. The moment he stepped in, they didn't seem to be happy to see him at all.

The huge, polar bear beastman furrowed his brows slightly and opened his mouth, a deep baritone flowing out,

"Is this the kid?"