Stray Soul

After I drew a really rough sketch of what my plan was, assuming that the adventurers were here to kill the demon for some reason.

And they seemed... tense. Which made sense as they don’t exactly seem like your casual demon hunters, you know?

No paladin, no holy book, no holy symbols like a cross of sorts, and no holy water whatsoever.

So, it made sense that they were tense seeing as even I, the person who managed to actually poison the demon, was tense.

Though they kinda had the option of just... running away.

Which was not an option I had as I just happened to have a few bodies near where the demon was.

As they were just... going at it, I started drawing a rough sketch of a plan that involved both parties.

And I was going faster than I normally would because, holy shit, was the demon a fast worker. Like what I said before, it was just cracking the shell of my turtle body like it was opening a lobster, and most goblins were either captured by it, lying down on the ground, or had escaped.

And no, I didn’t know if those on the ground were alive or not.

I don’t have that many eyes on my other bodies, which is a problem I will be rectifying after this battle... after I survive this battle.

As I focused on the crude drawing of my plan, I just put myself on the frontline as... well, even though the weird ball of divinity/holy mana that the demon had thrown at me was sticking to my soul like tar, and was blocking me from using mana in certain places, I was still mostly operational... and I just didn’t want to put the adventurers in the frontline while I was in the backlines as that would’ve been bullshit and they would’ve just left.

After I drew myself, I quicky made symbols, like an arrow and shield, for the adventurers, and put them on the ground, and just made a basic battle plan for them too.

The big guy with the tower shield would be coming just behind me in my charge against the demon to take its attention from the others, while the elven lady would take the sceptre and either throw it at the demon, or hand it to me so I could stab it with the sceptre.

And the others... well, they were on shaman beating duty.

Then as they looked at my crude plan, I waited impatiently, but didn’t let it be shown in my body language, and as they talked between themselves, I saw that they removed 2 of the pieces I made, the glasses and the witch hat, out of the drawing, and changed it so that all of them, other than the tower shield guy, would first beat up the shaman then they’d take the sceptre and try to use it against the demon.

After they had shown me the first draft of their mission, they started arguing a bit more as the short brown lady was not really being cooperative.

Did she not want to fight against a demon? Or was she just not willing to let her friends fight against a literal demon? Not sure, but I could understand her worry.

But I also didn’t have time because the demon was just having a jolly old time with my lesser soul in the turtle body as it was attempting to catch it... though its hands were way, waaay slower than they actually were, so I just assumed he was just trying have fun, or me moving my soul through the giant body of the turtle was actually working!

But I really didn’t have any more time, so I just thumped on the ground and drew the adventurer’s attention.

After I had their attention, I just turned back, took a few steps towards the street, and motioned with my head for them to come.

And after a bit more squabbling between them, they started making their way towards me, and I immediately ran through the street, and... faceplanted into a stone wall... and yes, the sound of me crashing through a stone wall did catch the shaman’s attention, and I could see the demon perking up a bit for... some reason.

As I got up and just started running towards where the shaman and the demon were, the demon stopped playing with my turtle body, grabbed it, and just... threw it at the sarcophagus that held the bear, and my view of it was cut... not connection to my lesser souls tho.

So, I just made them combine and start making a new body out of the parts of the bear and the turtle that they could use and, if I am correct, the bear should have a few useful eyes...

Focusing on what was in front of me, and not my lesser souls, I just continued to run towards where the demon was while ignoring the stone bullets from the shaman, and as I turned the corner, I saw the demon just standing there, surrounded by a lot of flesh and blood from the turtle, and goblins that were getting out of there slowly.

Seeing that there were no major obstacles in the way, I started charging towards the demon and jumped on top of it... just to get hit by an uppercut and be thrown up into the air.

“...This is totally not going to suck.” I muttered to myself as I started falling towards the demon, who was waiting to catch me with closed knuckles.

*BANG*

*BANG*

The sounds of stone arrows hitting my shield reverberated as I ran forwards, trying to follow the lead of the parasite who had just jumped out into the open.

Though I didn’t support the parasites decision to jump into the fray instead of using the cover of the nearby huts to our advantage, I also understood that we needed to catch the attention of the demon so the other 3 would be able to get the staff stuck to the front of the structure without being attacked.

And though I was not sure about my prowess, as even though I was an E rank, I was weaker than a normal E rank as I had switched classes from a production-based class to a fighting-based class which messed with my skills greatly as I just... didn’t have the skills to back my strength.

Who cared if I could plow a field faster than an ox if I couldn’t properly gouge the strength of my enemies, or if my skills weren’t high ranked enough to matter in a fight?

So, to bridge the gap between my physical strength and my skills, I had taken to absorbing any and all information I could about fighting and monsters.

If you asked me about any kind of monster that could appear in nature, or in dungeons, I could tell you with ease their weaknesses, and how to fight against them.

And even though I do not use any polearms myself, I had read enough books on their usage to give a few pointers to even people a few ranks above me!

...Which wasn’t that much of a surprise as adventurers aren’t really known for their tendency to read but—you get my point.

But no matter how many books I read, or with how many ex-adventurers and veterans I talk with, there were monsters I just couldn’t learn anything about.

And one of them was demons.

Gulping silently, I pushed a few steps forwards and held my shield steady against the barrage of stone arrows that flew towards me.

Then I started thinking about everything I knew of demons... or, more correctly, the lack of things I knew about them.

The only ones with even some knowledge about demons were the churches, and their attitude to demons could be summed up to “Just notify us if you see one!”.

So, they didn’t really give out a lot of information out to commoners such as myself.

And, though the lack of information in the western continent was bad, my homeland, the lunar continent, wasn’t that much better than it.

Even though Goddess Lunara, and the gods under her, ruled her portion of the southern continent with a lighter touch than any other gods, she was the same as the other gods about not indulging too much information about certain things, like the demons and Death.

...Well, I had actually heard a few things about demons from listening to the sermons of a few angles in Imperia, which was a city that was in dire need of a name change as Imperium had collapsed nearly 500 years ago, and all that they said was just propaganda about how the forces of Solara were stronger than it ever was and Death was no longer a threat to no one after its forces had been neutered in the collapse.

So, not useful at all... and if you ask me why I was attending the sermon made by angles not of my religion, well—I wasn’t. I was just passing through the temple district and sightseeing.

“...Hopefully though the parasite’s plan goes well enough that I don’t have to actually fight against the demon... much.” I muttered to myself and as I continued to push forwards through the rain of stone arrows, I saw something rise above the huts for a moment, and quickly realised that it was the parasite...

“...Huh maybe—”

“Oh? What do I hear? Maybe I was right?” Lazarus said—somehow in a voice that was more annoying than his usual one.

“Be quiet for a second, I am aiming.” I told him, not really trying to hide that he was bothering me, and 3... 2... 1...

*Swooosh~*

My arrow flew towards the head of the goblin shaman, but it acted fast enough and blocked my arrow with its arm.

“Now!” I yelled to both Lazarus and Xylene.

And, as they ran to finish the goblin shaman, I ran towards the staff stuck on the side of the wooden building, and with a simple jump, I was able to grab it without any problems.

“AAAAAA!” I heard Xylene scream, and turning around I saw... something coiling itself around the goblin shaman?

It was a weird plant being with a singular eye at the top, with 2 bear paws at the front of it, and it was coiling its branches around the goblin shaman, and was looking at me—more specifically, at the staff.

“Oho? That shaman didn’t tell me anything about any humans or elves... interesting.” A voice came from the town square, and turning my head, I saw that it was the demon... whose voice was... not demon-like at all. It just sounded like a normal voice, just a bit easier to hear if anything.

Though, the fact that it was holding a ragdoll of the parasite was... concerning.

“Throw sceptre at it.” Suddenly a voice seemingly made of rustlings of plants told me. Though I hadn’t heard of it before, I knew it was coming from the sceptre in my hand.

Obliging with its request of the voice, I quickly reared my arm back and aimed at the heart of the demon with the sceptre, planning to use it like a spear.

“Urgh, how annoying.” The demon said with an almost bored tone and threw the ragdoll of the parasite at me.

For a few moments, the body closed in on me, and I feared that it may actually hit me, but from the corner of my eye, I could see Xavier charging in with his tower shield, probably aiming to divert the carcass of course so it wouldn’t hit me.

Taking a leap of faith, I continued to rear my arm for a few more moments before throwing the sceptre forwards like a spear, and as the sceptre flew through the air, it seemed like it was going to hit the carcass—that is, before Xavier pushed it away, and the sceptre passed from behind his head, and went straight for the demon, who hadn’t expected the coming sceptre and was wholly unprepared to dodge it.

But it tried nonetheless and failed.

The sceptre passed straight through the demon’s left shoulder, and a few pieces of abyssal flesh, skin and blood were separated from its body, and the green veins all around the demon’s body started growing in huge leaps.

The demon was then left speechless as it just touched the injury on its shoulder and looked at it, and then threw me and the carcass of the parasite a look.

“I promise, this is not the last time we meet.” The demon said matter of factly, and suddenly, a portal of pure black appeared a few centimetres behind the demon, and with a flap of its wings, it flew through it.

*Whoom~*

The portal transported me to Tartarus and closed a moment after with no noise whatsoever.

“...I am so going to get my payback at those two for ruining my...” I started but quickly realised that I wasn’t back at my home, and instead I was in a... green house?

“Ruining your... what now?” Then an all too familiar voice asked from behind me.

...

“David! Oh, how I’ve missed you dear friend!” I said cheerfully as I turned around and greeted David and saw that he had brought a... desk full of paperwork to a green house?

“Urgh... Alexander.” He started, and seeing the green marks on my body, he removed them with a simple wave of his hands.

“For the umpteenth time—I am not your friend. And you will refer to me as Baron David—not just David. These horns are not just for show, you know?” He said, pointing at his head, and I could see all 4 of his horns and his 6 eyes placed horizontally on his face.

And other than that, the other 2 differences between him and me were that he was taller and slenderer than me and didn’t have a mouth.

“Yes yes, I know of your woes David the Baron!”

“...Urgh... I really—really can’t with you anymore...” He said, and leaned on his chair and started massaging his temples which was... useless as we didn’t have blood, but sure.

“Tell me Alexander...” He started.

“Why did you leave Tartarus?”

“Well, it was my job! You told me to grant prayers, so grant prayers I did!”

“And when did I tell you to leave Tartarus and mess with random deities?”

“W-well---”

“And I do remember telling you that leaving Tartarus wasn’t on the table until you were a BARON or had gotten permission from a BARON! And do tell, Alexander, what is your rank right now?”

“Umm... my rank?”

“Yes, that is what I asked. Are you incapable of even doing such a simple task?”

“I... don’t have a rank?”

“Yes, that is right. So, WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LEAVE TARTARUS YOU MORON!” He yelled, let out his anger on the poor table by hitting it.

“I was uh... granting prayers...?” I said, not really knowing how to get out of this situation.

“...A-are you fucking—Haaaaah...” Then David just started massaging his temples again and continued to do so for the next few seconds.

Then he got up and walked towards me. Coming to my side, he put an arm on my shoulder and... patted it?

“Well, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“The—what?” I asked in confusion.

“The paperwork, don’t you see it?” He said and pointed at the desk whit piles upon piles of papers, and every so often new pieces of papers were appearing and placing themselves neatly on top of the piles.

“...What?” I asked once again in confusion.

“Put it simply Alexander, I have to leave Tartarus for a few months, as I will be doing some business in the southern continent, and I don’t have an aide so... you will have to do all of my paperwork.” He said and left after patting my back.

“...What?” I muttered, still confused, and scared as I watched more and more papers falling on top of the already large piles.

“Oh, and, when I come back, if I see any papers on my desk... you are going to get a proper punishment so... better start working!” David said from afar, which caused me to immediately run to his desk and sit down and start writing away at the papers.

“Urgh... I am going to get vengeance from all of you for ruining my vacation!” I muttered in anger as I tried to rush through and complete as many papers as I could.