I was a Nerfed Hero in Another World

I offered Crayman my hand and accepted the devil's deal. But the devil didn't change his face as he gave me what my team wanted.

"By accepting my hand, we all agreed to get what we wished for. It's good making business with you, Arthur...I hope to see you soon."

"Good….Well then, catch you later," Crayman said, as he snapped his fingers. "You may feel some side effects, including nausea, vomiting, headache, and pain on your back. The five of you would land against the obsidian ground. So you better prepare your heads and protect your heads, okay?"

Within a split second, the scroll emerged on his hands before warping us in another dimension. Since teleporting became a taboo to players and NPCs, the vacuum effect became blurry in my eyes. I had experienced this sensation once, but I never felt it again from my earlier years of gameplay.

But my team members got overwhelmed by the dimension transfer as they screamed for their lives. Well, everyone but Lilith, who remained calm throughout the trip.

Within a few seconds, our bodies fell on the ground, hitting the stone cold floor. Fortunately, the distance between our fall was not enough to break our bones. But, boy, that fall did some damage on my chest as I continued rolling on my side.

I assumed that Crayman could call forth the power from the scroll and transfer it in his hands. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned the parchment and threw us into a vacuum. 

It took us a few moments before reverting to our usual self, while studying the environment surrounding us. Our eyes widened when the setting changed from the plain terrain into an apocalyptic world. 

Luckily, all of us protected ourselves with our hands, just like Crayman had warned. It turned out that the side effects that the devil spoke of came to life and haunted us down. But we didn't falter and shook those feelings off our chest, since we had better things to do than take our breather.

The usual soil disappeared and got replaced into rocks formed by volcanoes. It even emitted a warm sensation when our skin landed on the stones, which only strengthened my claim. There were also no birds or any life forms within our vicinity. And as luck would have it, no demons greeted our arrival as soon as we reached this place.

It was as if someone transferred us into a different planet far from our home.

"Where are we?" I asked, and threw a wild guess. "Are we on the border's of the demonic kingdom?"

Lilith nodded and replied, "You bet we are. I remember this place quite well, since I frequently escape my prison."

I acknowledged Lilith's claim and confirmed it with my own eyes. As soon as I realised those words, I checked out my comrades if they were doing alright.

Fenrir protected Merleen as they plummeted above ground. Meliodas shielded his musical instrument and landed straight at his buttocks. He kept rubbing his bottom as I wandered my eyes in my surroundings.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked.

Those two ladies gave me a nod and told them they survived the jump. Meliodas didn't give me an answer as he played his harp quietly in the corner. 

As soon as my team stood from the ground, I directed them to follow Lilith's lead. 

"We can't idle around in this place. There are gargoyles everywhere in this place. Be on the lookout for them as we head onwards!" Lilith said, and issued everyone to follow her behind. "There's a gate not far from here! It would take us a few minutes….Hours to reach that place! But it's okay! We're already here, anyways."

"We better not go against those gargoyles or other familiars in the area! They are tough to deal with and resilient against magic and physical abilities. The only way to defeat them is to place them inside a cage and lock them up for an eternity. And that cage must have dark elements and a regular vase for it to work…Well, if your dark magic is strong enough to kill one of them, that's good. But those beasts travel in a group. So we will have trouble fighting them," Lilith continued, as we went on our merry way.

All of us heeded Lilith's command and ran straight near her back. As luck would have it, we didn't fight any demons along our way. Well, we had Lilith, which helped us evade those demonic beasts patrolling the area. There were some close calls that everyone thought we would fight one of those, but that didn't happen. Thanks to Lilith's guidance, we avoided any unnecessary fight and continued towards our journey.

We traveled around an hour and met the silver gate Lilith spoke of. That stone wall covered the area and filled the outside part with demonic guards. Those soldiers armed themselves with pitchforks and other cursed armour, which I had already suspected. 

"So what do you propose to do right now?" I asked, while glueing my eye in the area. "Do we need to travel to a secret area and meet your father there or…?"

"Yeah," Lilith answered, and stood from the ground. "We go knock on the front door."

I almost spilt the food I ate this morning after hearing those words. Since our goal had gone this route, we had no other choice but to believe in Lilith's words.

"You know that's the craziest idea I've ever heard, right? What if those demons fight us? We won't stand a chance against them!" I voiced my concerns, while flailing my hands.

"If you're too worried about dying, you should've been a hero wandering around in other places. You need to prepare yourself to fight in every situation, since everyone would hate you for who you are."

After hearing those words, my pride wanted some comeback. I helped the others to follow my lead and went at Lilith's side, showing him I was also a capable man. 

"Right back at you, Lilith."

As soon as we had that exchange, our group finally reached the gate's front. We passed by dozens of demonic people falling in line to enter the gate. They all looked at us with worried eyes and avoided eye contact at any cost. Despite this odd circumstance, we continued marching onwards without any delay.

"Those demons are living outside the demonic main kingdom. They are going here to trade, sell, and buy stuff they need from this place. But since the entire world was struck by a famine, the soils they used did not give them the plants they needed to grow. And thanks to those humans attacking our turf, my people can't live peacefully with their lives," Lilith explained, as we went near the entrance.

But before we could even enter the place, those soldiers went on a defensive stance. They planned on attacking us blindly with all their abilities. My system even warned me that some spells were already on our way, which the demons coated with our shadow. 

However, Lilith overpowered the magic skills thrown on our sides. With a flick of her finger, Lilith pushed away those abilities and returned them to the attackers with more immense power. Those demons fell on the ground and continued glaring in our direction. But their aggressiveness stopped when the door opened before us.

"Well, well, if it isn't Lilith. The daughter of this entire place. It's great to see you after a few months of leaving this place. Forgive these demonic thugs for attacking you. Well, I suppose this is just a test that your father wanted, right? So, we have no hard feelings, hm?" the demon said, who walked confidently before us. "And I suppose you wish to meet your father after all the chaos you've done to us?....And I can see you brought some human friends along your way. You've become soft, Lilith. Your father will be ashamed if he sees this.

"It took your pets forever to open that damn door for us. And, yes. I've brought some humans inside the kingdom. What about it?" Lilith muttered, and sent daggers at the arrogant demon. "Move, or you'll be the next victim of my wrath."

"Very well, child. You've won this round," the demon, who I assumed was the chief of these soldiers, retorted. 

After their exchange, Lilith motioned her hand. She told us to follow close behind her and never unlatched ourselves in the open crowd. We obeyed his advice and stayed beside her, since we didn't know what we would see inside the kingdom.

As we entered the place, the gate closed behind us. Some guards tried following our tails, but Lilith snarled at them.

"If I saw your men following me, I would kill you and those demons surrounding you." 

Upon hearing Lilith's warning, those demonic soldiers stopped following us. They returned to their post as the demonic chief had ordered.

"Who was that demon, anyway?" I asked Lilith, as we strolled the plaza.

"That's one of the nobles who loyally supports my father."