The Damned Demon

"That armor must be something indeed…" Asher mumbled as he felt that for even a level 4 and 5 Hunters to fight over it, that armor must be good enough.

Still, seeing the difficult level of "Child's Play", he wondered if this was a joke. Even for the first quest, he took up as a demon, the difficulty level was "Not-so-Easy" which was two levels higher than "Child's Play". And the strongest Hunter he had to face was a level 4. So how could this quest pose itself as easier than the other when level 4 and 5 Hunters were involved?

"Hmm…no wonder…" Asher remembered that two demons were still alive in this quest, and this quest must be posing itself as "Child's Play" after considering the presence of those two demons.

Surely, if those two demons were strong enough to deal with those two hunters, then it might very well be Child's Play since he might not even have to raise a finger.

But anyone with common sense can see that if a level 1 enters this quest, there was a good chance they will end up dead. Even a level 3 would have no guarantee of making it through this alive.

This was a quest disguising itself as harmless when in reality, it would be considered insane for someone of his level to accept.

The rewards were also dirt poor, and nobody in their right mind would dare enter this quest. No bonus rating points can be earned because of how low the difficulty level was. In every sense, this quest was a big red flag.

However, Asher subtly smiled as he realized that the true reward here was the armor. Just by reading the details, he knew he need not have to defeat any Hunters to complete the quest.

He quickly opened the door and shouted, "Merina!"

Merina, who was standing nearby, immediately came rushing with an anxious look, "Yes! Your Highness, what can I—"

"Don't let anybody come in, no matter what. Even if my wife comes, tell her that I will be there on time for the celebration. No need for anybody to remind me again. Got it?" Asher stressed.

Seeing how serious he was, Merina readily nodded, "Of course. I will make sure of it."

Merina could only wonder why he didn't want to be disturbed as she saw him lock the door before going back in. Asher grabbed a black cloak since his present clothes might attract unnecessary attention.

Asher knew he was no ordinary level 1, and so he decided to accept it, taking the gamble, "I accept! Teleport instantly."

But his expression fell when he got the message,

[ Teleportation Failed ]

[ Restriction Detected ]

"What restriction? Did Rowena place some kind of restriction on this castle to prevent anyone from instantly teleporting? Shit…She must have done it to prevent me from taking up any quests just in case…" Asher mumbled inwardly as he felt that it made sense since Rowena never instructed him to never accept any quests. Considering how much she wanted him inside this castle, she would have done that already if not for this restriction.

"Then how did I…" Asher wondered how he was able to teleport for his first quest, and that was when his eyes lit up, realizing the answer.

"The Dimension of the Damned…" Asher looked at his ring and realized he was able to teleport the first time because he teleported from that mysterious dimension and not from this room.

Even though he can only teleport to this dimension once a day, Asher decided to use up today's quota for this quest.

He briefly closed his eyes as his ring glinted with a dark green light, and the next moment his figure vanished from the room.

The next moment, Asher felt scorching heat that was hot enough to melt his body. However, unconsciously wished this place to be less hot to comfortably stand in this place, and to his surprise, the heat in this place drastically reduced to the point it was bearable for him.

"So I can control how hot this place can be?" Asher was surprised as he stood in this dark green eerie world filled with raging volcanoes and dark green lava.

"Teleport!" But he didn't have the time to admire the scenery of this place and activated his Hellbringer Form, making his skin and flesh turn into ashes as dark green flames lit up all over his body.

The transformation this time only took a second, but the pain he felt was no less than the first time. And the next moment, his figure transformed into a charred black skeleton blazing with dark green flames.

[ 2 Life Crystals consumed for teleportation ]

Asher felt the space around him twist and contract, and the next moment he felt the temperature drop till he felt that he was in a cold place.

And he found himself in a narrow waterfall on a foggy mountain whose base marked the entrance to the place he knew he should enter.

Cool, dark forests covered the rest of his surroundings, and he wasn't surprised that he couldn't recognize this place. After all, dungeons were specially constructed places for these kinds of quests. After the quest was over, this dungeon would simply disappear and be like it was never there in the first place.

But the stench of blood made him quickly spot dark red liquid splattered here and there, and as expected, he spotted six corpses. Three humans and the rest demons. It seemed like the fighting initially took place here before the rest of them took it inside, where the main reward must be kept.

He wasn't surprised that he got a quest that was an already-in-progress dungeon since any quests that involved dungeons could come up with similar quests.

[ MP : 94 / 250 ]

Asher took note of his MP, that hadn't regenerated at all after his last quest. He had already realized that, unlike normal mana users, his mana won't regenerate over time. The only way would be to use his own blood to restore his mana. He wondered if this was the reason this ring was a cursed thing.

Still, whatever he had was way better than having nothing, and he knew that he was taking quite some risk by accepting this quest with this much mana. However, as a daredevil, he couldn't back down from a quest where he could potentially earn great rewards with the least effort.

He flexed his hand as his ring transformed into its weapon form. He narrowed his eyes as he rushed towards the entrance, knowing that he could not risk wasting any time.

Beyond the waterfall, there was a long, dark, narrow passage. And beyond that, there was a grand yet grimy hall. It was covered in dead vermin and remains of hideous creatures.

"Get them, Porun! I am not leaving without getting that armor!" A youngster with pale skin, red eyes, and looking around 17 shouted with a rageful expression as he stood behind another 17-year-old demon with green skin.

"I am trying my best, Young Lord Jairus…" The young goblin said with an exhausted expression as he tightened the grip around his spear while looking at the humans in front of him, their eyes glinting with killing intent. His condition wasn't looking good, as there were serious lacerations on his thighs and his left arm. He might very well die any second.

"Tch, how useless. I can't believe my father let you weaklings join me for this quest," Jairus said with a frustrated look, seeing that Porun wouldn't last much longer.

Porun knew this 'Young Lord Jairus' was trying to use him as a shield and a weapon to tire out these two humans while he could later join in and deal the killing blow and snatch most of the rating points for himself despite both of them being level 5.

But he could only swallow such treatment since Jairus was the son of a Demon Lord and could only do his bidding while he was just a servant, just like the three others who died whose only purpose was to make this quest easy enough for the young lord.

"This dungeon will be the resting place for you demons," A young man among the humans said with a cold smirk. He looked around 18, tall, and was holding a silver sword. His entire figure oozed with confidence as he looked at these two demons with contempt.

"Haha, of course. These filthy demons are no match for you, Brother William, especially since your Silver Mangler Sword would surely cut them down like pigs," The youngster standing beside William said with a dark smile while glancing at the large plinth up ahead where the Kronus' Silver Armor Set was kept.

Both groups knew they could only successfully retrieve it after trying to eliminate the other.

Jarius looked at them with a mocking expression and said with a sneer, "You two underestimate the power of this young lord!" Saying so, he took out a vial of dark red liquid and swallowed it, much to the surprise of the two humans.