The Demon King, Deran - Teear

There was not a single soul in there, at least from the outside, but they didn't let their guard down. It felt ominous; there was a high chance of a demon king being there.

At the crack of dawn, slowly and silently, they navigated through the debris of this ruin with Lyliane's excellent pathfinding; they'd probably be lost otherwise. They made their way into a hole, one of the many broken parts in the crumbling stone walls, since going through the main clear entrance was too predictable.

• • •

It had been hours, and some of the group members were starting to get exhausted and impatient.

'Is there really a demon king—hell, even something or anything here?' Deran was starting to have some doubts about this place, but they had come so far, too deep in, to turn back; they might as well explore it.

It was eerily quiet, which was unsettling. Not even insects, wind, or the usual sounds of nature can be heard, just them and their echoing steps. Might it be from the isolation this place is in, but it's definitely unnatural to have this level of quietness.

"Hey, is there really a demon king here? This just looks like any abandoned castle." Rodney whispered. His face contorted subtly, looking displeased, impatient; they were moving so cautiously, too slow for his liking, when there seemed to be no danger at all. His muscles ached for movements.

"That's what we're here to find out." Lyliane just glanced at him with a neutral expression. She understands what he's feeling, but it really isn't the time for that. She continued forward; the others still followed her obediently; they knew better than to get lost in an unfamiliar environment that had a possibility of having a demon king in it.

All of them stayed quiet for the rest of the exploration to prevent any more interruptions because they all wanted this to finish as fast as possible.

• • •

Exhaustion had taken a toll on their mind and physical bodies. Having explored almost every floor from the ground floor up, the basement was all that was left. They had been there from dawn until dusk with very little rest in between the careful exploration.

The group didn't explore the basement right away; such a dark, presumably dangerous place is not what their currently exhausted bodies were looking forward to.

Stan, who somehow just happened to be the leader, instructed them to rest in a cave they had found earlier while making their way to their destination, not too far from the castle.

"Ugh..." Rodney collapsed on the hard ground of the cave, mentally exhausted. He was itching for action—having sneaked the whole day, he wished to run around and go wild like a gorilla, though he's now also exhausted physically to even do that anymore.

"Rest up, everyone, we're exploring the basement tomorrow." Their leader chewed on a jerky as he instructed the rest of the members. Deran hummed affirmatively while leaning against the smoothest wall he could find. Mindy and Sireol just claimed the corners while Lyliane continued piling grass on the hard surface to sleep on.

These introverted groups of people, except Stan, generally got along well; they all liked the quiet, and they really didn't speak much. The fire was put out, yet it was still quite bright; the moon was.

They fell asleep without much more trouble; the lack of enemies they came across gave them peace of mind.

• • •

03:04

Year 1625

13th of September

[ Cowardly Survivalist is active! ]

The notification window quickly disappeared after just a few seconds of activation, as the "danger" passed.

'???' Though it was the next day, the sun had yet to rise, but Deran woke up sweating with his eyes snapping open as if shocked. He reached for his back, his hand coming back slick; it was strange considering the low temperature that was even lower at this hour. He realized he was in fight-or-flight mode as he stared at his shaking hands and rubbed the back of his neck that had gone numb.

'Bad dream? No....' He couldn't even remember if he had a dream; he just woke up all of a sudden. He composed himself, calming his racing heart. He glanced at the fellow heroes who were still sleeping soundly, when usually, he was the last one to wake up.

He dismissed it as a random panic attack, which he so often gets back on Earth, after all, in just a few hours, they were set to explore that creepy basement. He went back to sleep.

It was his body telling him to run away.

• • •

Stan woke everyone up, despite the interrupted sleep, Deran felt well rested. After some needed preparation, they all made their way to the crumbling castle once again, this time, for the unexplored basement.

It was a tunnel of some sort, about 2.5 meters in height and 2 meters in width. Though the overground of this place looked wrecked, the basement was unusually fine with not even a single crater on it. It was rather dusty in there, as far as their candles provide vision, all they can see is stone bricks, the material the underground tunnel was made of. There wasn't a single design or change as they continued on deeper.

'Ugh...' The tangy metallic smell of blood is especially severe here; it was akin to a butcher's shop, or worse. All of them covered their noses with a piece of cloth; it didn't eliminate the smell entirely, but it helped in making it bearable.

Lyliane, of course, took the lead as always; she was the only one here with night vision from her skills. The others used candles that Stan was carrying.

Rodney shifted uncomfortably, itching to move, grinding his teeth, but this time, he didn't even have a choice since he couldn't see well in the dark with his naked eyes.

• • •

A few hours had passed, yet there seemed to be no end to this tunnel, as if it were made to wear them out and test their patience.

"Ugh..." Stan gagged, the first one to make a noise since they got here, but no one scolded him. They were all trying not to puke. The smell had gotten considerably worse; it was the smell of death, decay, or rot, making eating barely an option. They couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, but it was everywhere, as if it were the walls themselves.

Just as even the most patient person in this group, Lyliane, was considering turning back, she spotted light that wasn't theirs; it was artificial, but not from a fire; it had a cool blue tone.

There was an unexpected left turn they've almost missed in this straight tunnel, with the angle of the opening, it was easy to miss unless they turned around.

She stopped to glance at the rest behind her, their faces looking like they were dying before even meeting the demon king. She pointed toward the light as the others followed her finger, their expression immediately turning more serious and their steps significantly more cautious.

Collectively putting out their candles, they sneaked toward the light. The leading scout peeked slowly from the opening. From what she could see, some stones or gems stuck on the walls were glowing; the one providing light. It was scattered evenly, yet it was still rather dim. It seemed to be an extension of the main tunnel, the space quadrupling in size, yet its shape remained consistent.

Sensing no immediate danger, she cautiously started going through the dimly lit tunnel. All of them were crouched, almost crawling as they followed her.

'Why do I feel... There's going to be a demon king. Fuck.' Deran tried to calm his nerves; he had been sensing something ominous, but he had been too distracted by the smell to acknowledge it properly. At least in this part of the basement, there was no smell at all.

Just as he was about to beg Lyliane to come back here another time, a gust of wind swept past them, and they all froze in response. Sweat as cold as the wind dripped down their foreheads. He could feel a chilling presence beside him that he didn't want to look at, yet his eyes moved sideways anyway.

A figure clad in a grey robe that frayed at the ends, jagged pitch-black horns sticking out of the hood, and beneath them were oppressive eyes that glowed a bright red; they were staring back at him.

'Fuck.' The back of his head turned numb, and the feeling travelled through his spine, ending at his tailbone.

It was the demon king, dressed like death, a grim reaper. Deran immediately conjured a wall of black crystals between him and the enemy. He then turned to look at the other heroes, who were already prepared to strike just from their stance alone. He felt relieved that they were not lingering on the shock.

Lyliane pulled out her weapon, steel wires that were dangerously thin, almost invisible with the dim lighting. She wrapped them around the demon's neck in seconds, yet he didn't even so much as flinch. He hadn't moved a muscle since the moment he appeared. For the heroes, this is a free chance to attack that they definitely are not going to waste.

The rest, except Lyliane—who was currently occupied with the demon king—gathered behind Rodney while he was holding up his shield. Mindy, with the majority of the members, laced the weapons of her comrades with her poison whilst Deran thickened the crystal barrier, providing further protection. With teamwork like this, it's clear they didn't just train but got along as well.

"What?!" Lyliane agilely hopped back a few meters away from the demon king, droplets of sweat forming and dripping between her eyebrows, her eyelids quivering as she processed the scene before her.

Her attack did not work; she simply strangled fabric, her wires passed through the demon king's body, ripping and disconnecting only his hood from the robe, revealing his head. Thick, spiky black hair burst out as if they were being held back by the hood.

The others witnessed it, but their will has yet to falter. The sound of the arrow was a sharp hiss that ripped through the stale air—fluttering fabric and hair as it passed. It squarely hit the demon's chest, yet there was no sound of flesh tearing. Instead, the poisoned arrow passed through as if hitting a ghost, shredding only the demon's clothes and imprinting a crater into the wall behind it. It had destroyed everything in its way but the point-blank target.

The demon king casually glanced down at his torn clothes, then back at the heroes. His gaze said everything; he was bored and disappointed at the opposing force. A sudden flying poisoned knife aimed for the head of the lone enemy, only to get stuck on the wall along with Stan's arrow, but the demon king didn't even blink at the attempt.

"Tsk. Damn." Sireol grumbled at his uselessness in the current situation.

"Shit— Use magic! Physical attacks are no use!" Stan shouted, it was directed at Deran. The arrow he fired was just to confirm his hunch; the enemy was invulnerable to physical attacks. Proven even more with Sireol's wild knife.

'Fuck.' Deran was the only one who had offensive magic in the group; almost everything depended on him. Without even forming another thought, he used a debuff on the demon king.

[ Debuff: Confusion applied to the target for 1.4s ]

The demon's expression changed; he looked confused for the exact duration of the ability.

"It worked." Deran was testing the waters before going all out, but at this point, the demon who had recovered grinned, now entertained.

A blur of motion similar to the movement of the demon king when he made his first appearance was barely captured by his eyes. He was just about to attack, but at that moment, he knew he didn't stand a chance. In that single second, he could hear flesh tearing and ripping behind, beside, and where he last remembered his teammates were. The demon king reappeared in front of him with what seemed to be a genuine smile, the complete opposite of his expression. He didn't even need to turn his head to know what happened. He didn't want to.