SLKD – Volume 4 Chapter 3

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Escaped, Four Demons, Return to the Demon World Once Again

“Xiang!  What happened?  The broadcast said that there was a rift in the dimensional space – what does that mean?”  When I ran up to Satsuki, Satsuki had a look on her face like she was completely confused by the situation.

“Satsuki, right now, you have to hurry up and get away from here!  Hey!  You over there, get over here quickly!”  I yelled at the boy who was standing not too far from us.

When that boy heard me, he ran towards us…  The distance he covered was only about fifty or so meters, but he was already out of breath.  By the looks of it, he must have exhausted himself during the match moments ago.

“Wha… what happened?  Hufff-haaaa-hufff…”

“Demons are coming — I don’t know why, just that they are coming.  Can you see the rift over that hill?”  I’m not sure if it was because the system was messed up at the time, snow flurries even started falling…

“That… is that a rift in the dimensional space?  Is it for real… that demons are climbing out from that crack as we speak?”  After seeing the rift, Satsuki looked a bit frightened…  After all, she was just a student…  Outside of fighting against demons in the simulator, she had never really encountered any real demons.

“It can’t be, right?  That demons are here?  What do we do now?  The containment barrier around the spectator area has already been activated…  We are now sealed shut.”  That boy was so scared that even his legs were shaking…  Damn it, what to do now?  Just like what he has pointed out, the containment barrier is now activated, and the arena exit is locked… what can we do?  Is there really no way out?  What exactly are the arena managers doing?  Why won’t they unlock the arena exit?

Is there really that there is nothing we could do but to watch the rift grow wider and wider, like sitting ducks?

“Xiang… what should we do now?  Can we not get out of here?”  Satsuki held onto my hand tightly.  The warmth from her hand made me realize that I had to find a way out of here…  But, at the same time, I really couldn’t think of any way out of the arena lockdown.

‘Freed, Yalide, say something!  This is an emergency!’

‘…’

Damn it!  Now isn’t the time to put me to the test…  On the other hand, even if it is them, I doubt there is anything they could do in this situation…  I need to think of something myself…  The ceiling?  Right, if we could fly, then we can get out of here from the ceiling.

I took a look at the ceiling that was about thirty to forty meters above us, then I turned to the boy who had been scared witless and asked…

“Hey, what type of elemental attribute is your spirit?”

“M…my spirit… i…isss…. mist… type…  Wh…what about… it?”  This boy got so scared that he couldn’t even speak properly.  Is this for real?  Satsuki, being a girl, is not even nearly as wimpy as you.

“Mist type?  It can’t fly…  Damn.”

Right when I thought I was all out of ideas, the broadcast came on again, “I apologize to the students who are in the arena.  Just now, the system initiated a level A defensive protocol; as a result, all the exits were sealed shut.  We have since lifted the lockdown around the arena exit area, so, please exit the area quickly.  I repeat, just now, the system initiated a level A defensive protocol; as a result, all the exits were sealed shut.  We have since lifted the lockdown around the arena exit area, so, please exit the area quickly.”

“That’s great!  The lockdown has been lifted.” As I was saying this, I grabbed Satsuki and started running towards the exit.

“You guys… don’t… leave without me…  M…my… legs… won’t listen to me…”  The boy behind us asked for our help in a trembling voice.

Aiya…  This boy… can’t even hold a candle to Satsuki…

I let go of Satsuki’s hand, “Satsuki, you go on ahead, I will go carry that boy out.”

“Got it.  Xiang, you’d better hurry.”  Satsuki nodded her head and ran towards the exit.

“Mhm.”  After I finished talking to Satsuki, I ran back to where that boy was…

“Oh… what a tight squeeze…”  At this time, the rift had already expanded to the size of about a standard doorway…  A demon stuck his head out, then… his torso… his lower body… a skeleton?  And a superior class demon at that?

Are you kidding me?  It is coming out now?  Wait a minute… there are more?!

Right at this moment, I saw another demon crawl out of the dimensional rift – it was also a superior class skeletal type demon…

When the boy saw this, he nearly fell over.  I hurried over to where he was and grabbed hold of him.  Then, I carried him on my back and started running.

“Hey, isn’t that the human brat, the one who is running away now, Chad?”

“Hm… I have been tracking his scent for like five or six days now; it can’t be wrong — that’s him.”

What are they talking about?  Are they talking about me? Scent?  Huh?  Never mind, I need to first take this useless excuse of a boy to the exit first…

“Hey, he is trying to get away.”

“Ack?  Running away?  You think he can get away from us?”

Even though the demons’ voices weren’t loud, I could still hear their conversation clearly – they were definitely talking about me.  Did I do something that made them mad at me?  Crap, because the demons came out of the rift, the containment barrier is going to activate again – I have to go into my wind state…

…

“Xiang?”  Satsuki, who was waiting for me at the exit, was caught off guard by my speed and was stunned.

“Satsuki, quick, back away a little; the containment barrier has been activated…”  I shoved the boy inside and stood on the other side of the barrier…  At that instant, the barrier began to seal up slowly…

I looked towards the two demons who were standing in the arena; they were also looking at me.  All of a sudden, a third demon came out of the rift…  What the heck?  That many demons?  Are they all here for me?

Crap!  This containment barrier won’t be able to withstand their attacks…  Huh?  Another one?  There are four now?  Did they all win a lotto for a day trip to the Human World, and all came here together on a tour?

‘Kid, they are all here for you.’  Freed’s voice rang out.

‘I figured as much — but I just don’t understand why.’

‘I don’t know either…  Anyway, this flimsy containment barrier definitely won’t be able to hold out for long; with a full on assault of a superior class demon…  If this barrier were to be breached, before any powerful spirit users could get here, the school would for sure lose some of its students to these demons…’

‘What you are trying to tell me is, for me to go out there now and attract their attention?’

‘Mhmm, that’s right.  What’s the matter?  You scared?’

I took a look at the Satsuki who was standing next to me – she looked terrified after seeing four superior class demons.  There was also that useless boy who was lying on the ground.

Damn it!!!

I decided to take a gamble and slide through the soon to be sealed shut containment barrier…

…

“Oh?  That human came back out again.  Ha!  Looks like he does have the foresight to know that he could not escape.”  The third demon was a fire elemental demon.  He saw me sliding through the soon to be sealed shut containment barrier and started to laugh.

“Was it this weak little human who killed Guntheru?”  The fourth demon was an earth type rock demon; he looked a bit like Guntheru…  He pointed at me and asked one of the skeletal demons.

“Based on the scent left behind around the area where Guntheru disappeared, it had to be this human brat.  There were two other humanoid spirits as well.”

After I heard what that skeletal demon said… and I know this isn’t time to complain, but… what scent left behind where?  I mean… you are a skeleton, aren’t you?  Just where is your… nose?

“So, he was the one?  Guntheru that guy… can’t believe he got killed by such a weak little human.”  The rock demon said.  From the looks of it, he must be acquainted with Guntheru, or maybe they are relatives?

“I know, right?  And here I was, wondering just what kind of human could be that powerful, to run all the way to the Demon World, and manage to kill off Guntheru.  As it turned out, it was just a brat.  Lurgi, couldn’t you just handle this yourself?”  Another skeletal demon elbowed the rock demon and asked.

“Don’t you forget, because of the residual effect of that damn dragon god’s magic, whenever us demons cross over the spatial membrane to the Human World, our magical power will be reduced.  When you think about it, would a human who could kill off a special class demon at its prime in the Demon World be simple to deal with?  How could I have known that it was just a brat?  Maybe it were those two humanoid spirits who got Guntheru killed.”

“Hmm… that makes sense.  Those two humanoid spirits must have also come to the Human World…  No wonder for the past five or six days, I couldn’t pick up the scents of those two humanoid spirits.  So, they have escaped with this human to the Human World…”

“Then, let’s take care of this human, and go look for those two humanoid spirits…  Although, this looks to be some sort of academy, with plenty of low-level spiritual users.  Why don’t we capture a few hundred of them and absorb their power?”

“Even though what you have here is an academy, there are still plenty of powerful humans around.  We have to take care of this quickly.  Our power in the Human World is only sixty percent of what we have in the Demon World.”

“All the more reason to absorb power from those humans to replenish our magic.”

“Suit yourself.  Now, who is going to take care of him?”

“Ah… such a pain!  Chad, you go.”

“No can do. I need to preserve my power to look for those two humanoid spirits.”

“Then, Lurgi, you go; since it was you who said that you wanted to avenge Guntheru, saying that he was your brother – so you can go kill that human yourself.”

“Humph…”  The one called Lurgi, the rock demon, snorted and walked towards me…

“Brat, was it you who killed Guntheru?”

“That’s right, and what about it?  Got any complaints?”

I’ve got to buy ourselves some time so that those powerful magicians can get here in time to take care of these demons…  Under the current situation, I can’t use Sacred Fire right now…  Even if I could, there are four demons here…

“Oh?  Rather confident, eh…”  A black magical circle appeared in front of the demon as he said this…

Those rapidly firing rocks should appear from inside the circle, right?

“Brat, prepare yourself, and let me see what you can do.”  As expected, the instant the demon finished his sentence, a barrage of rocks rapidly fired from inside the magic circle.

Eh?  The speed of those rocks are even faster than those of Guntheru’s?

I quickly dodged to one side and landed outside the rocks range…  Those rocks hit the wall behind me and stirred up a lot of dust.

“Oho?  Rather quick, aren’t you?  It doesn’t quite match the level of spiritual power in your body.”

“Tsk!  Lurgi, don’t you go making excuses just because you missed.  That brat’s speed is just average.”  Shouted the demons who were standing on the hill.

“So noisy, Belushi.”  The demon retorted.  Then, his body began to emit some black smoke.

“Hey, is Lurgi for real?  Is he going to resort to using Eruption?  You didn’t let your anger get to your head, did you?”

“Who cares?  Whatever you do, just hurry up!  I can’t wait to go and absorb all those adorable low-level spirit users’ souls.”

‘Kid, this is not good.  Judging from the magical power emanating from his body… there is no way you can withstand his attack.’

‘I get that feeling too…  But.. what can I do?’

‘You have two choices: one, let him kill you — afterward, they can invade your school; two, you can dial your speed up to the max, let loose a Dragon Roar and catch them by surprise, then jump through the dimensional rift…  I believe they will definitely chase after you.’

‘There isn’t a third option?’  Going back to the Demon World again?  I’d rather pass.  Just passing through the spatial membrane already almost got me killed.

‘No.  Not unless you have some ways to beat them in a brawl.’

Damn…  Right now, is picking the second option the only way?

I took a deep breath, then, “Hufff…hwaaaaa!!!”

My roar was like a ball of pure energy, gunning straight for that Lurgi.  That Lurgi noticed something was wrong, and he immediately braced himself with his arms around his head.  Then, under the power of the Dragon Roar, he got pushed back more than ten meters, forming a long, deep trench on the ground, stirring up dust and dirt everywhere…

“Impossible!  Dragon Roar?  What that brat just used was Dragon Roar!”  The skeleton that had the sharp nose exclaimed, he almost couldn’t believe his own eyes.

“How could a human brat know Dragon Roar?  That isn’t possible!”  Another skeleton said.  Even though he didn’t have any expression, based on his gaping mouth, I could tell that he was very surprised.

“No!  Some humans can do Dragon Roar – I have heard that from Lord Darcy.”

“So, Lord Darcy said so?  Though, I never imagined humans would know Dragon Roar…  Lurgi wouldn’t be dead, would he?”

“No way.  Look, isn’t Lurgi looking just fine, standing over… wait, what…  Is he injured?”

After the dust settled, I could see that the earth type demon lost an arm as a result of my Dragon Roar attack.  His other arm was also cracked…

“Brat…  Dragon Roar… eh?  N…no wonder… Guntheru… was killed.”  The earth type demon voice kind of cracked up.  From the looks of it, my Dragon Roar did quite a number on him.

‘Kid, don’t get cocky.  That was because he was preparing his magic and lowered his guard.  Even though your Dragon Roar was filled with energy, if he had his defense up, your Dragon Roar definitely wouldn’t be able to do that much damage to him.’

‘Is that so…  I thought my Dragon Roar was very powerful…’

‘Now, this is your chance!  Use your wind speed to run up that hill.  Then, use your Dragon Roar to push the demons back and jump into the rift.’

‘Understood!’

I couldn’t win against that many demons.  In order to buy time so that the students could evacuate, I need to lead them away…

“Hey!  That brat has disappeared.”

“Impossible…  There he is… just when did he…” I raised my speed to the max, utilizing my wind state to power my dash and ran all the way to the back of the hill.  This created the after image that they saw.  Then, I sneaked behind them… and began my Dragon Roar…

“Huffff…  Haaaahhhh!”

Because the distance between the demons and I was very close, my Dragon Roar made a direct hit on them… and they all got blown away…  I took this opportunity and yelled, “Come and catch me if you can!”  Then, I jumped into that pitch black dimensional rift….

…

‘Hey, Freed.  There should be water below this spatial membrane, right?’  The spatial membrane was pitch black as usual…

‘Ugh… I don’t know.  Hey, Yalide, where would it be right below us?’

‘Right below us?  Hmm…  It should be the Valley of Fire?’

‘Oh?  The Valley of Fire?’

‘Hey!  What are you two talking about?  What is this Valley of Fire?  I just want to know if there would be any kind of lake or large body of water below us.’

‘No.  But if it is the Valley of Fire, then Venus should still be around, right?’

‘I don’t know, it has been so many years.  Back when I was still alive, I went to visit him often.’

‘Like I said, what are you two talking about?  Yalide, whom did you visit?  Venus?  Who’s that?’

‘It’s a friend of mine.  Um?  Brat, right below us is solid ground… this time around, you are dead meat.’

‘Are you kidding me?  Freed, help…’

‘Right below us is indeed solid ground… don’t worry – when you land, land on both of your feet and quickly follow that up with a roll to break the fall.’

‘Oi, I know how to break a fall with a roll, but with this much momentum, does rolling even help?’  I could gradually see light coming up from down below… the end is near.

‘Of course it will help.  I will circulate the dragon energy inside your body, no harm will come to you.  Oh, right, don’t forget to say hello to Venus for me.’

‘Freed, Venus is…’  “Wahhhh!!!”

Bright light…

Damn, it was too bright, for an instant there, my eyes couldn’t adjust…  I forced my eyes open – below me was a forest… “Ka… Ka… ka-chi… kakaka (the sound of branches breaking).  “Oh! Oh! Oh!”

“Thump!” (An object hitting the ground.)

…

Ouch!  It hurts a lot…  It feels like my whole body is falling apart…  With this many trees, how exactly am I supposed to roll…

With much difficulty, I pulled myself up…  “Boom.”  At this moment, a heavy object fell from above and hit me square in the head.  “Fwump…”  I ended up sprawled on the ground again.

Looking at the tree branch that landed next to me… I sighed to myself.  Having been to the Demon World only twice, each landing more embarrassing than the last…

‘Yalide, Freed…’

No reply?

‘Hey!  Would it kill you two to answer me?’

‘…’

Still no reply…  What the hell are those two doing?

“Oh… it hurts…”  I pulled myself up again, shook my head that still felt a bit dazed from being hit by the tree branch, and jumped up and down a couple of times.

Hm… other than the fact that my body hurts a lot, there aren’t any appendages or body parts missing.  This has to be the silver lining in all of this…  Speaking of, where exactly am I?

Ancient trees… blood red sky…  Hmm?  The sky looks to be even redder?  It is so red that it even looked a bit black?  Over there, smoke is billowing from… a volcano?  So huge!

I couldn’t tell if it was to the east or if it was to the south — to my right was an enormous volcano…  Black smoke was billowing out of the top of the volcano…  This must be the Valley of Fire that Freed and Yalide mentioned?

——————————

I walked along a rather tidy and neat path and I got closer and closer to that enormous volcano.  I didn’t know why I kept walking towards the direction of the volcano…  I just had a feeling that there wouldn’t be any demons over there…

The giant trees around here all have red leaves.  It looks like they are affected by the volcano…  On the other hand, if there are trees growing here, does that mean that the volcano has never erupted?  These trees have to have been around for over a thousand years, right?  So, this enormous volcano hasn’t erupted for the past thousand years?  How could that be…

Eh?  There is a small stream here… the water is so clear…  There are even fish swimming in the river?  They don’t look like they are spirits, just your average, normal fish…

I walked next to the stream, kneeled down, used my hands to scoop up some water and splashed the water onto my face.  A cooling sensation made me feel incredibly refreshed.

‘Freed?  Yalide?’

Still no response.

…

I don’t know why Freed and Yalide would stop talking to me…  I rested by the stream for a bit and resumed my walk towards the volcano.

…

I was getting closer and closer to the volcano, by now, I have already reached the base of it…  There was a surprisingly large amount of vegetation at the base of the volcano…  Maybe because the temperature around here is a bit higher, kind of like in the tropics, and as a result, plants can grow more readily?  Hm… is there something that seems to be moving about below that tree?

What could it be?  Did it just move?  Now, I can see that thing standing up, then walks to another tree, and squats down.  From the shape of it, that thing looks to be a human, and a kid at that?  He seems to be gathering something…

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