Stray

Godwin stared at the silver-gray eyes of the young man opposite of him.

To be honest, he felt at odds with the idea that “Nemo Light is a superior demon”. As the largest mercenary group on the surface, over the years, Godwin himself had encounter several superior demons who used human bodies.

He was very good at distinguishing them.

No matter how good the surface work was, there was always a little cold detachment in the eyes of a superior demon. Even if the flesh, blood, and body on the surface were lost, it was nothing more than a loss of strength and health for them— Just like a painful, unpleasant, and debilitating deep cut on an insignificant part of a human limb, but usually wasn’t fatal.

They had a fundamentally different definition of “survival” from the rest of life on the surface.

After the “Demon Slayer” Aurorae eliminated those ambitious crazy guys, most of the rest were the types who came to play and have fun. In the view of superior demons, this was closer to a game of manipulating surface puppets from the Abyss. They only need to simply abide by the rules of the game set by Aurorae.

For the true surface race, the surface body represents only one life.

No matter how disguised the demons were, they couldn’t really understand the obsession of other lives in this playground to “live”. Their indifference and detachment were exacerbated by their great power.

He had never read it wrong.

But Nemo Light’s body language didn’t have much reaction despite being poked in a sore spot. Facing the question of “how he saw through the illusion of a superior demon”, he did seem a little embarrassed and distressed.

The black-haired mage of Tumbleweed scratched his cheeks and uttered a few words, as if struggling to speak.

There was no anger or gloom in his eyes, but instead there was some guilt.

Although he didn’t intend to express any opinions on the love between men, Godwin couldn’t deceive himself— When Mr. Light looked at his cousin, the softness and attachment in his eyes wouldn’t lie.

It was too contradictory.

Godwin stood quietly in the corridor, waiting for the other party to give him an answer. His instinct was frantically clamoring “this person is very dangerous”, but his long-term accumulated experience told him with great certainty that Nemo Light didn’t meet the characteristics of his well-known superior demons.

In fact, the great Demon King, who had just experienced the torture of a three-hour boring meeting, had a rusty brain and was drawing a blank.

He must give a relatively natural answer as soon as possible, Nemo thought anxiously.

When the magic array gave a prompt, he expected that this situation might happen, but the circumstances were special at that time, and it was impossible for him to remain silent in order to conceal his identity.

Nemo originally hoped that Godwin would speculate on a possible approach by himself like the rest of the strong people in that group, or easily push it to “the dirty and dark techniques of a Black Chapter”. Of course, just in case, he also prepared a set of rhetoric in advance…

But Godwin was staring at him with an extremely solemn expression. Forget telling one or two joking lies, Nemo found that he didn’t have the courage to make a long bullshitted speech in front of this acquaintance.

“Uh…how to put this. Actually…”

“Actually, this matter is not suitable for telling you.”

A familiar lazy voice sounded, and an arm was put on his shoulder from behind. Nemo instantly guessed the identity of the uninvited guest.

Jesse Dylan showed his signature sweet smile. “Our mage is a bit introverted. You see what he looks like. Let me talk about it. I don’t think you mind, dear Mr. Light.”

Nemo nodded stiffly.

“It’s like this. Mr. Light’s gray parrot is actually a superior demon.” Jesse touched his chin. “Its race is relatively rare, and it just happens to have a special ability to be sensitive to illusions.”

“It’s impossible for the superior demon to choose an animal body with extremely low magical ability like a parrot. Even if the contract can be obtained more easily, the parrot’s body is extremely fragile and cannot exert much power. This is not reasonable.” Godwin immediately pointed out.

“Of course, of course.” Jesse continued with a smile. “Mr. Light and Mr. Ramon didn’t lie to you. That parrot was still an intermediate demon when I joined! You know, it once secretly left the team by itself and ran to the Abyssal Church.”

The blond young man snatched the staff from Nemo’s hand very naturally.

“This is a powerful prop that no one can see through. You see, you should be able to feel the extremely powerful superior demon aura here. That parrot found it. Our little parrot definitely had an adventure.”

Nemo glanced at the handmade staff made from materials of a lamppost in silence. From the bottom of my heart, he admired Jesse’s ability to talk bullshit.

Mr. Dylan perfectly mixed truth and lies. His own staff did have a powerful enough superior demon aura, after all, the bone ball was from an intermediate demon, until it accumulated all the corruption from Colestoro at the Church of Silence.

Nemo was distracted for a few seconds as he thought about how the Nightmare Leopard was doing now.

Godwin took the staff with a headache. “You mean, the demon in your team have upgraded?”

“Yes, this is not a good thing that can be advertised everywhere. Mr. Light wasn’t possessed by it, nor is he technically a demon warlock, and our leader didn’t want to swear by it indiscriminately.” The smile on Jesse’s face got bigger. “You know your attitude towards demons… Plus, like you said, even if it’s upgraded, the power of its flesh is still limited to the body of a parrot. In conclusion, it’s not that dangerous.”

The gray parrot did look terribly timid, and in the few meetings it had, it looked shivering and trembling. Godwin stared at the dark bone ball at the top of the staff, thinking seriously.

According to Jesse Dylan, this kind of thing did make sense. It hadn’t adapted to the role of a real superior demon, and the current Oliver Ramon could deal with a superior demon that was attached to a gray parrot.

“I understand, thank you for your explanation.” Godwin nodded indifferently at Jesse. “This matter is really not suitable to be publicize. You’d better keep an eye on that parrot. If it attempts to replace its body with a human by making a contract, I’ll indeed intervene.”

Then he turned to Nemo. “Sorry, Mr. Light, for delaying your time.”

Although the demonic aura during the witch incident in Caleb Village was still unexplainable, right now, he still lacked precise evidence that was related to Tumbleweed. Although there was still a residual sense of violation in his heart, due to unwarranted suspicion that would continue to haunt the other party… this wasn’t his style of doing things.

Godwin politely handed back the staff and turned around. His dark red cap fluttered in the air.

After confirming that Godwin had gone far, Nemo let out an earth-shattering sigh. “Thanks, Dylan.”

“By the way.” Jesse touched his chin. “Actually, I’m here to find you, dear Mr. Light.”

Nemo raised his eyebrows.

“You know who I am, so I need to remind you in advance— The closer you get to the Abyss, the greater the suppression of my power. Now I don’t know what will happen in the future. You’d better not acquiesce to everything being safe because I didn’t say anything.” The smile on Jesse’s face was a bit stiff.

Nemo was silent for a moment. “Will you be in danger in the Abyss? I mean the kind that will endanger your life. If you’re reluctant, you can stay here. This is also part of the escort’s job, and I don’t think Ollie would mind.”

“It won’t be to the extent of endangering life. If my body is ruined, the impact would be estimated to be similar to the loss of a piece of flesh from a superior demon. It’s just… Oh, I shouldn’t be so unlucky.”

The blond young man shrugged his shoulders, his tone relaxed.

“I won’t leave the team because of this. After all, Adri will definitely follow you. I’m just giving you a heads up.”

The rest of the plan went surprisingly well.

After nearly suffering a big loss at the first array, the next reconnaissance team acted extremely cautious. They no longer tried to repair the magic array, but record as much data as possible without starting them.

As for descending on the road to the Abyss, the three reconnaissance teams relied entirely on the two dragons and the self-built teleportation arrays of adventurers— Although the speed was slow, unstable, and the consumption of mana was staggering, at least there weren’t any fatal emergencies.

In the first three weeks, this approach still worked. Everything was calm, and there were no strange attacks. If it weren’t for the quiet destruction of these large teleportation arrays that required a lot of time and energy, people would simply think this was just a prank on the whim of a certain demon.

“Well, this is the fourth set.” Commander Rugo waved his short cane. “Is the data all recorded?”

“Yes, Lord Rugo.”

“Be more careful of the next one.” The one-eyed dwarf turned his eyes. “The depth here has exceeded 20 kilometers underground, and the means of communication on the surface should have failed. You must remember to record the information in as much detail as possible, one copy will be brought to Return Town with the puppet bird, and the other will be kept as a backup, just in case. I warn you, especially humans— Don’t try to use abyssal communication spells to save trouble! No matter what type of demon the enemy is, they cannot be given the opportunity to eavesdrop on intelligence.”

“Yes, Lord Rugo!”

“Next… Well, do you have anything you want to say?”

The two dragons leaned forward. The red-brown dragon that had been carrying the Tumbleweed leader remained motionless, while the blue dragon that was with him stretched out its forelimbs.

[It’s too deep here. We won’t descend in the form of flight anymore.]

Unlike the one-eyed dwarves, the structure of the vocal cords of dragons prevented them from using human language and most dragons didn’t like to turn themselves into human forms specifically for communication. They tended to take a simpler and more direct form— Writing in the air with light.

[The concentration of abyssal magic is too great, and if we descend any faster like this, we may experience dizziness and fatigue, so we’re not sure if we’ll fall in mid-air. This is not a negotiation, it’s a statement. The flight is over. We will climb down with you.]

“Oh, I had guessed this.” Dwarf Rugo waved his hand indifferently. “Of course, everyone has to use their hands and feet next— It’s enough for now. You two can take a good rest. We’ll send a warning if needed.”

The blue dragon snorted and agreed. The reddish-brown one nodded a little, and it seemed that he was about to fall asleep.

For a moment, Oliver showed an expression close to joy.

Now, he really preferred to climb down by himself than riding a flying dragon everywhere.

In the past three weeks, things have been much simpler than they thought. Although he had also encountered several dangerous situations, most of them were unexpected encounters with the demon race, and the other party made it clear that there was no plot. Bluntly put, there were indeed several groups of particularly difficult intermediate demon who attacked sneakily, but they were all easily repelled by the ones leading them.

A part of the troops was left in Return Town, so there weren’t many people in the reconnaissance team, so it wasn’t difficult to guard them.

But the deepening darkness was really chilling.

As they descended deeper in the Abyss, the volume of the demons began to divide into two levels— The big ones were like whales floating in the air, and the small ones were close to mosquitoes. They exuded a weird brilliance as they wandered around in the darkness.

To avoid attracting deadly opponents, only the team at the front and back ignited magic lamps powered by abyssal magic.

Everyone else wore a special crystal, connecting the people around them with a weak magic rope. They moved cautiously in the dark and always kept an eye on the status of their companions.

Oliver knew exactly why the expedition army had to use a large teleportation array to travel back and forth.

Eating and resting, and the feeling of moving forward in the dark was really uncomfortable. He could at least hug Nemo while resting and feel the warm body temperature of his lover. If one was alone, just maintaining their sanity would become a laborious task.

Not to mention the countless deformed monsters staring at them in silence in the darkness.

He kept his perception open at all times, and once “saw” with his own eyes a mage unknowingly stepped on the upturned lip of a monster. Fortunately, the giant was sleeping and completely ignored the group of “surface ants” on the move.

Despite being so powerful he couldn’t help but sweat coldly.

This was the “safest” way the commander had chosen in advance.

Fortunately, the reduced reconnaissance team had more than one hundred people, and its operations were relatively compact. If this was replaced by tens of thousands of troops, this monster only needed to roll its tongue to break the entire team into pieces.

“Do you have any special feelings?” Oliver pinched the palm of his lover’s hand. The darkness was too strong that it felt like a layer of ink had been glued to his eyeballs. “If you think something is wrong…”

“No, don’t worry.” Nemo’s voice penetrated through the darkness, coming from close at hand, with a smile. “Compared to me, you should care more about it… Huh?”

In an instant, the lights turned on.

The dwarf Rugo obviously gave some kind of instruction, and the spare floating lights in the team floated neatly to illuminate the rock wall in front of him.

The rock wall was swarthy and rough like a reef by the sea. It was full of holes, and the entire reconnaissance team was standing in front of the largest cave.

There was a faint light of fire in the depths of the cave.

“Lighting is allowed in the cave, so you’d better adapt your eyes to the light in advance.” The dwarf’s unpleasant voice was magnified by magic. “After passing the cave, it’s the Gravity Maze. Get your gravity pendulum ready and be prepared!”

“Is it still okay?” Oliver said nervously. “Why do I feel like the place called the ‘Gravity Maze’ is a bit familiar?”

“Do you remember the superior demon who worked with Telaranea when we were in Garland?” Nemo swallowed with difficulty. “I seemed to have…thrown it there from the surface.”

“…The one who seriously injured you? I remember it was Witherspoon.” Oliver muttered.

“That’s the name.” Nemo stared solemnly at the rock wall in front of him. “And I feel it.”

“It, uh, how is it now?”

“Very unhappy.”

The author has something to say:

Do you remember Witherspoon that directly caused the Demon King’s first awakening?

It’s really unhappy (……