The Damned Demon

*GROWLLL!!*

Most of them had their hearts shudder when a hellish tiger with red skin and blazing eyes manifested in the chamber of hell. Its teeth were sharp and strong as steel, and its terrifying claws were enough to tear flesh like paper.

Hot vapors were coming out of its maw as it stared at Asher with killing intent while letting out low growls that could make any ordinary person faint from fright.

Its sheer size and muscular body were enough to make one feel despair in its presence. Despite standing on all fours, its height was reaching Asher's neck.

But what made it even more terrifying was how, unlike an ordinary tiger, it had no fur. Instead, on its red skin, there were small red hot spikes all over its body, even on its face.

Asher saw how these spikes were bent in such a way that even with a decent blade, it would be hard to even scratch its body without getting past those spikes. At least not without wearing down its armor-like defenses. And even if one managed to do that, by that time, they would be surely long dead.

Rebecca was gleefully smiling inwardly since this demon spirit was a terror among every young person in this kingdom. This was not without reason since only a genius can have a chance against this thing, but not everybody was one, especially not this filth.

Eradicator shook her head silently, wondering what in the world the royal consort was thinking. She remembered defeating this thing when she was in her teens. But even then, she remembered it not being easy. So she wondered how the royal consort was going to survive this if he didn't have the experience to deal with it.

"Devils save me…Isn't that Doomfall? Its strength knows no bounds, makings its attacks highly terrifying, phewww. I heard one of the seniors who had his entire chest torn out with just one single move."

"Yeah, and as if being strong wasn't enough, its body has those eerie spikes to make it hard for anyone to injure it."

"Everyone who faced this beast in the past few years has died. The last one to defeat it was Young Lord Daimon from House Xenos. Despite being a genius, he lost an arm and an eye trying to defeat it."

"Yeah, I heard about it. There is no way the royal consort is surviving this. Whatever tricks he used to defeat the last three spirits won't work against this one."

"I bet he will go down within 5 seconds."

"I bet he won't go down within 5 seconds," A woman's charming voice came from behind, which made the man who mentioned the bet have his hair stand on its ends upon seeing a pair of ghostly red eyes winking at him.

"W-Warden Sa-Sabina…I…I…" The man gulped as he had no idea when she got so close and even listened in on their conversation.

"Don't be so startled. This is just a simple bet, and I am sure you are fully confident in winning, aren't you?"

Upon hearing her wanting to bet against him, the man was sweating bullets as he winced and stammered, "O-On second thought…I-I think…I will just reconsider, Warden Sabina."

He didn't know why but he felt like she wouldn't lose the bet and the last he wanted was to lose a bet against her. He had already heard rumors of how she loved to place bets and won every single time. And the stories about what happened to those who lost were enough to make a man's legs feel weak.

Asher finally straightened his back upon seeing this beast which was powerful for sure. He was sure just one strike from it could deal serious injury to him. He also observed how its body was protected with spiky defenses. It wouldn't be possible to get past them without shedding one's own blood.

But he had no plans on shedding blood against something he could kill, even in his sleep.

*GROAARR!* Doomfall roared upon sensing contempt in Asher's eyes, and with blazing eyes, it opened its jaws wide to chew off this puny boy's head.

"You won't roar at me again," Asher said coolly as his right hand moved like lightning and placed his Blade of Damnation right between its jaws.

*Grnnnf* Doomfall was startled as it found it unable to move or even close its jaws which caused it distress as it tried to get this annoying blade out of its mouth. It accidentally tried to close its jaws which only caused the blade to cut the flesh in its mouth.

But right before it could think what to do next, it saw this boy's right arm zooming into its mouth.

It didn't even think twice before raising its claws to maul him. But, suddenly the flames in its eyes tremored, and the next moment they died out as its face also became lifeless.

It was standing on its hind legs when Asher took his bloody hand out of its mouth and simply took out his ring blade stuck between its jaws before it collapsed on the floor. The next moment it simply turned into embers till not a speck of it was left.

Asher didn't have to think much to find out its true weakness. If that beast had such an elaborate set of spikes to protect its body, it only went on to show that without the spikes, its defenses must be weak. So how much more weak must its insides be?

Rebecca's previously gleeful look had suddenly turned gray, her left eye twitching uncontrollably.

The reaction of the others standing in the hall was not too far from hers. Some of them were even terrified by the actions of the royal consort by now. They felt as if a monster was hiding beneath his demon skin. Otherwise, how else would he have defeated that frightening beast without even getting a scratch on his body? Even that beast looked shocked before it got defeated.

It was said that each of these spirits the chamber summons was not ordinary at all. The more challengers they fight, the more they learn what to expect and how people will try to target their weaknesses. And the fact that it looked shocked only meant that it had never experienced such a defeat.

"Isn't he quite the genius….To think that there was such a straightforward way to defeat it," Sabina giggled softly as she stood in between Duncan and Eradicator.

Duncan hummed as he said with an appreciative nod, "He is more than just a genius. To directly cripple one of the major junctions in its mana circuit, it would require deep knowledge of the mana circuit, extreme precision, and fearlessness."

"Right…no sane person would think of putting their arm inside such a beast, would they?" Sabina chuckled, though inwardly she wondered who taught him these things, especially within just a month. It just seemed unbelievable.

Jarius Thorne slumped against a chair, his face pale. He was the young lord of one of the three strongest houses in the kingdom, and yet someone who had been a cripple for all these years managed to not even pass the trial but even passed the 4th summoning, which he wouldn't even dream of.

But what unsettled him even more was the ring blade in Asher's hands. For some reason, it looked quite familiar, and he couldn't help but think back to the moment he got humiliated by that level 1 lich.

It can't be…The royal consort doesn't seem like a lich, but if it was really him…Jarius clenched his fists with a red face, just thinking about how pathetic he made him look.

But now, even if he knew its identity, it was only worse. If people knew that the royal consort fooled him like a child when he was just a level 1, he would lose even more face. His first thought was to take revenge personally but seeing Asher defeat Doomfall made Jarius gulp feeling as if fate was against him in every way.

With a pale face, he continued to sit in the chair, wondering what to do with his miserable life.

The people on the floor didn't even get to process the sight of Doomfall getting defeated so easily when the fiery rune circle shone again, commencing the 5th summoning.

Was he really serious about not stopping despite coming all this way?...At this point, they wondered where the royal consort was finding the courage to keep going. But one thing they realized now was that the royal consort was far from the useless person they thought him to be.

In fact, by now, people were already talking about how he was a hidden genius who must have gained the ability to use mana a few years ago and remained silent to make a comeback like this.

Or maybe the demon king had wanted things to happen this way in case he died, which did happen.

Lots of theories were being circulated as to how the royal consort was no longer a cripple and how he seemed to be a hidden genius. The Chamber of Hell was a trial that let people know the level of their talent or the quality of their bloodline as well since the higher the quality of one's bloodline, the more they would be gifted with natural talent and intelligence.

Usually, one was considered to be talented if they simply passed the trial. If one was a genius, then they would somehow pass the 4th summoning, and the royal consort just did that!

*HISSS!!!*

A spine-chilling hiss echoed from the chamber that silenced all the voices and thoughts of everyone on the floor.