A Demon's Journey

In the forest, Azaroth was leading Laura to the location where she will be staying for the next couple of days.

As they were walking towards that location, Laura asked Azaroth, "Are you really a human? Why can you use the Demonic Ardor and the Celestial Ardor? I have never heard about someone using both of them at the same time."

Azaroth had been expecting this question from her ever since he first showed her his Demonic Ardor and the Celestial Ardor. He wasn't planning on hiding the Demonic Ardor from her even if it might brew distrust between them.

But hiding this and her later finding it would make it even more dangerous. It was better to remove such an issue as soon as possible.

"My Celestial Ardor is because of the bloodline I possess. As for the Demonic Ardor…" Azaroth suddenly stopped moving and turned quiet. He looked at the ground as he stayed quiet with a sullen face.

Laura suddenly bowed her head and apologized, "I didn't mean to ask something personal."

Azaroth heard her response and internally smiled. He was happy that his first excuse was successful. If not, he would have to proceed with a weak explanation with some weird examples.

A weak smile then appeared on Azaroth's face as he replied, "I will tell you when I am more comfortable, Laura."

"Where are we going, though?" Laura then asked him the next question.

Azaroth heard her and wondered whether he should reply or not.

'It seems that she is rather fond of talking to others. Guess it can't be helped…'

"I have rescued you by using the Merchant Union. If not for their experts coming over, the Silent Death Organization's true experts wouldn't have moved up to keep watch over them. And right now, these organizations have probably realized they have been fooled so they will thoroughly search the city."

"Don't be surprised if their search leads them to this forest," Azaroth spoke rather seriously as he continued walking deeper into the woods.

Just when Laura was about to ask something again, Azaroth spoke with a low tone, "We are here."

Currently, this was a location somewhat away from his totem. It was the lair of the Golden Eyed Tiger who was killed by Azaroth as soon as he had revived in Edwin's body.

Even though it had been months since the Golden Eyed Tiger's death, the aura here still prevented the other beasts from approaching this area.

Laura's senses in the forests were even more sensitive than his own so if nobody could sneak up on her without her realizing.

Azaroth then moved towards Laura and placed his hand over her head, "Stay here along with this woman for the next couple of days. We will leave after a few days."

Touching Laura's head, Azaroth injected some bits of his spirit inside her. He was planning to track her using it or even kill her if she decided to escape.

This could be considered a sort of test of whether she was willing to fulfill her commitment or not.

If not, then there was no point in keeping her.

Azaroth had already done the same to Yrellea.

"She is a succubus, so stay careful. I haven't unsealed her Ardor so you can easily defeat her."

"Alright."

~~

While Azaroth was returning, he sensed multiple warriors roaming in the market and checking up the houses and stores.

'Once they have interrogated the prisoners, they will know I used the Demonic Ardor. They should then divert their search towards Demonic Beings and because I have revealed Holy Ardor to Jonas, I will never be one of their targets.'

After returning to his room in the Rhodes Estate, Azaroth began to examine the egg he had stolen from the Merchant Union.

The egg of a rare beast was incredibly precious. Because after hatching, the beast would imprint the individual and think of it as its parent.

It would be incredibly difficult or even impossible to break that bond.

'Well, it needs a large amount of electricity to hatch though. Fortunately, I do have a lightning element. But which lightning should I provide it? The Heavenly Lightning, Demonic Lightning, or the Humanely Lightning? This beast already possesses the Golden Lightning of the Beasts.'

He continued to think for some moments and had an idea.

'I should try out all these three. I will use the Lightning variant that is accepted by this beast.'

And the Lightning accepted by this egg turned out to be the Heavenly Lightning.

'How surprising that even though it possesses the Golden Lightning of the Beasts, it also accepts the Heavenly Lightning. Does that mean there is a scope that it can turn into a Holy Beast?'

The possibility of this beast turning into a Holy Beast pleased Azaroth quite a bit. A Holy Beast was one of the most respected kinds of beasts on the Frascoia Continent.

'After mutating into a Holy Beast, its bloodline wouldn't be much inferior to that Golden Ape Bloodline.'

Azaroth compared the bloodline of this beast with that Ape possessing the Golden Ape Bloodline back in Kloras Town.

The Golden Ape Bloodline was a top-tier Beast God Bloodline. It won't lose even against the Bloodlines of the likes of Dragons, Phoenix, the White Tiger, and other mythical beasts.

Unfortunately, he could sense that the energy this egg required to hatch was unbelievably high.

Also, it wasn't as if he could continue to provide his energy to this egg at all times. So, making a schedule in his mind, Azaroth deduced that he would need atleast a month to hatch this egg.

After having made this plan, he called up Sargan, Noah, and Ralph.

Noah was already a one-star warrior and was beginning to understand the power system of the world.

It was Ralph who had explained it to Noah.

Ralph and Sargan weren't surprised to see that Noah had already become a one-star warrior. They had seen how Azaroth favored him and must have handed him one of the best skills for cultivation.

It would have been weirder if he took a long time for a breakthrough.

Meanwhile, Noah was quite delighted as he felt that he had managed to pass Azaroth's test.

"We will depart for another town soon. Don't be surprised to see two more women joining us. One of them is a succubus while the other is an Elf. The Elf possesses a special identity within her race so don't rile her up. Understood!" Azaroth spoke while glaring at Sargan.

Sargan looked visibly upset but he nodded his head. He knew well enough that there was no point in disobeying this man. Azaroth could effortlessly kill him or torture him. He would experience no real loss by choosing either option so it was best not to annoy him.

"You will each have your tasks there." Azaroth then spoke with a serious voice.

"I will teach you some movement skills. It shouldn't be too hard to learn with your dexterity and agility. I will give you your next tasks after you master them." These instructions were for Ralph.

"…Umm. Alright, master."

Azaroth then turned towards Sargan, "I don't trust you a lot but I am sure you realize just what will happen if you betray me."

Sargan fearfully nodded.

"Good. Keep that fear within you. It will save your life and prevent you from making any foolish decision. Now, let's get to the topic. Your spiritual attacks are somewhat impressive but I am sure you have realized that you just have an average physique for a demon. It's so weak that you might even lose to a human in hand-to-hand combat." Azaroth calmly spoke to Sargan.

Sargan was quite embarrassed as he heard Azaroth. The frustrating thing was he couldn't even retort against that. His physique was his weak point that he couldn't improve no matter how hard he tried.

"Take this skill. Begin practicing it every day. It will be painful but worth it for you." Azaroth threw a scroll with the technique, Vajra Body Technique written on it.

Sargan casually took a glance at the technique and was more surprised as he continued to read it. By the time he finished reading this skill, he concluded that this was a Demon Emperor level of Body Cultivation Method.

Even in his Bach Clan, only the Clan Head and his most precious sons were allowed to cultivate the Emperor Level skill. But here Azaroth was just casually throwing it to him.

'He really has some connection with a Demon God.'

"Thank you, milord."

And last was Noah.

"As for you, you will start fighting these two every morning in a one-on-one fight. The skills I have provided you should be more than enough. Once you can beat them individually, you will fight the two at the same time." Azaroth casually ordered Noah.

Noah nodded with his eyes shining at the prospect of fighting.

He had continued to practice his sword skills and wanted some opponent now.

'Noah's Ardor is too weak right now. Even if I find precious herbs and other things to grow his realm, he needs to keep the foundation strong. This is the best I can do for now. The rest can be managed once we reach Kloras Town.'

Jonas had sent news back to the Estate that he was going to return in a couple of days.

Azaroth asked Sargan to stay behind while the other two returned.

Sargan nervously asked, "What is it you require me to do, milord?"

"I need three drops of your Blood Essence." Azaroth seriously spoke to Sargan.

"My Blood Essence?!" Sargan nearly shouted out as he heard Azaroth's order.

His surprise was natural as the Blood Essence contained the power of his bloodline and cultivation. If he gave away three drops of his Blood Essence, his cultivation base would fall and his bloodline would become weaker.

Recovering his lost Blood Essence would take a lot of time and effort.

"Yes. Three drops of your blood essence. I will compensate you later. Are you willing or not?" Azaroth nominally asked Sargan.

Azaroth didn't care whether Sargan wanted to give away his Blood Essence or not. If Sargan refused, he would just take it from his body. But if he gave it away on his own accord…

"I will give it to you, milord," Sargan replied, steeling his mind.

Now that he knew that this man ahead of him possessed connections with a Demon God, he had to sacrifice something to even think of gaining something.

"Milord, would you compensate me by giving me a helping hand against the Bach Clan?" Sargan asked with some hope evident in his voice.

His hatred for Bach Clan was much greater than anything. He was willing to sacrifice anything if it meant taking his revenge against the Bach Clan.

Azaroth decisively answered, "No."

That tone made Sargan give up at that instant. But Azaroth continued, "I will compensate you by giving you the blood essence of the Evil Tyrant Eyes. As for the Bach Clan, I always had planned on taking control of it so it can't really be a suitable compensation for you."

Even though Azaroth was quite emotionless, he knew that there was a world's difference between a servant willing to work for him and a servant being forced to work.

The efficiency of the servant willing to work would be definitely higher.

And if a few words from him could control that, he naturally chose the option more favorable to himself in the long run.

In fact, when Sargan heard Azaroth's words, he was quite touched. The Evil Tyrant was a type of demonic beast that possessed Eye Abilities along with impressive physique strength.

Drinking its blood essence would not just recover Sargan's Blood Essence but his Evil Eyes would evolve as well!

Also, Azaroth had even stated that he was going to take action against the Bach Clan. There was no better condition for Sargan than this!

Soon, Sargan pulled out a knife and then stabbed his right hand strongly.

He focused with all his might and condensed three drops of the Blood Essence.

Three red drops of blood that appeared to be blazing with fire were released from his hand. These three red drops entered Azaroth's ring and then vanished.

Sargan instantly experienced his peak 3 Star Warrior strength falling to the 2 Star Warrior level. Before long, he fell unconscious.

Azaroth called for some servants and sent Sargan to the common room shared by his three retainers.