Chapter 30

The man then began circling me, locking both his arms behind his back, and walking circles around me, while marching like an army man.

“You see, Cursed one, I have something to ask of you…”

I carefully looked at the man, weighing my options before I would speak, it truly is rare to find one with sanity on them in this place, and now such a person has presented themselves before me, the problem is, this one is a boss…And if the circle’s difficulty increase the more circles one descends, then this one is obviously powerful, I should not judge a man by his looks…

“What is it that you want to ask?”

I said

The arch devil looked at me, with an atmosphere filled with dread and seriousness.

“I want to know…Back in your world, why does bottled mineral water that has trickled down mountains for centuries goes out of date the next year?”

Huh?

“How the hell am I supposed to know? And by saying my world, you mean you have visited it or seen something of it right?”

The man slouched, disappointed probably by my lack of knowledge on this matter and said

“Too bad, I have been dying to know and for your information, I am quite well known back on your world…” he said

I then replied to the talking man

“What do you mean?” I asked not knowing how this was possible…

“Well, there are many books that actually mention my name, as being deceitful, insidious and annoying, well the annoying part is only here in hell…but still, I had quite the fame”

“Too bad, I never read books related to mythology. Yet how come they know of you? My question still persists”

“It seems that one of the inhabitants of this world was reincarnated to yours, and told the story. Funny thing, when he was reincarnated there he still had the ability to speak as an infant and use some of our magic, yet he was still summoned back here due to some administrative reasons…, I think he had established a cult of some sorts there, some people are actually going crazy about him, even more so worshipping him while he was but a man with a bliss…”

I think I know what he is speaking about…but let’s just remain quiet about that subject for now.

“Interesting enough, though I would like to ask something, oh Arch devil. I need a way to leave this dungeon, do you know how?”

I asked the question fully prepared to fight him if he showed the slightest sign of aggression then I will act accordingly.

“Well, to be honest” said the man and resumed his march

“I truly have no idea, I have been here for eons, stuck here in this place, not knowing how to leave or how to move out of this circle…”

He then looked at me with tears in his eyes crying, like if his heart had been broken, it seems that spending a long time here would make one go mad.

“But that is just a lie!” happily said the man “I can actually show you the exit, it’s really not far from here”

The heck?

“What are you saying, do you know the way or are you just playing games with me?”

“No, no, no, I do know the way, just follow me.”

The man then jumped back up, on the upside down stairs. And kept on walking, I decided to do the same, yet the moment I jumped, gravity pulled me back

How the hell is he able to do that?

I then used abyss walk to reappear on the other side, to my surprise I was pulled to the ceiling and the world turned over, the ceiling became the ground.

“Oh, very good, you can walk on these stairs without being impeded, this will make our journey simpler.”

I don’t trust the guy, he is a devil and already showed that he is capable of lies, so I decided to follow him without losing track of my surrounding, looking at every step I take trying to remember the paths and where I came from.

“Wait here for 3, 2, and 1 now”

The stairs then rotated, twisted and changed, paths have been created, and other have been submerged, nothing remained the same and the whole place became a mess. There is no way for anyone to remember the correct path, if there is such a thing.

“Now, we take a right!”

“Hold up!” I said “Aren’t you just luring me somewhere.” I had to come clear about this, I won’t let what happened then to happen again, I won’t let anyone the chance to manipulate me again and backstab me when they get the chance.

“How would you remember the exact path we need to take? This whole thing was scrambled, and there is no way for you to know the way, especially after mentioning the count down, meaning that this is a regular occurrence, and the place gets more messed up every time it starts to rotate.”

The man then stopped, putting his hand on his chin and contemplating my words

“Well, you seem to have some common sense in you, yet you need to know that I spent a lot of time here, although this might look strange and complex, but after seeing the pattern a few billion times, you begin to memories it, so trust me, I know the way. Hang on I am a devil I should not be trusted, Hehehehe, yet…how are you going to know for sure if I am saying the truth or not?”

“Stop with the mind games and keep going…” I said

Actually he is right, I should not trust him, yet no matter what, right or wrong, at least with him there lies a silver of hope for me to leave this place, if not I would have to wander this place for an eternity, either finding the exit with luck, or with dedicated memorization of the path, and with my stupid luck neither options will be favorable.

The man then kept on walking, I re-inspected the man trying to see if I could get any more information on him, yet his status screen remains the same.

“Lord of flies…” I said, somewhat in a loud voice.

“You called?” said the man

“I was just wondering about why you have such a title…”

“I actually can’t remember why…it seems that I received that title a long time ago, a time when I was a prince in the upper realms, the title used to mean, lord of anything that flies, now, after being damned, I became lord of flies, yet still I find them quite interesting, don’t you find flies interesting?”

Said the man happily while stopping and waiting for my reply.

“I find them dirty and disgusting” I said, instantly and without pause

“Oh such a great compliment! Thank you!” he replied.

Huh?

The man then resumed his walking,

“Let’s stop for a second” said the man.

So I did. The stairs will probably start rotating, I need to make sure that I would at least memories a pattern or a set of movements.

“Alright, let’s go”

What?

“Why did we stop then? Nothing changed, the stairs are still in the same place.”

“Oh, I only needed to take a fart actually, and I feel uncomfortable taking one while walking.”

Huh?

Is he making fun of me, I swear he is making fun of me…

“You want to piss me off?” I said while a vein was popping on my forehead

Who the hell in their right mind would stop to take a fart for god sake?

“No, no, no, it was the truth, you see I have this condition where-“

“Don’t explain to me about any condition that is related to your private stuff, I don’t even want to imagine it just go.”

He then kept on walking

About the fact that he had farted, I actually confirmed it, in few more moments. It smelled…and oh boy it did so with viciousness, the thing almost corroded my nostrils. I think that if not for my undead nature I would have been poisoned.

“Almost there. We would need to wait for the stairs to rotate one last time.”

And the moment he finished that sentence, the stairs began to move, this time they all moved away from a single spot that looked like a giant black hole, which was hidden with stairs.

“This exit only appears once in a thousand years, and it is the only way down to the sixth circle, you are quite lucky actually to have sat foot here and in meeting me.”

I don’t believe that.

“Jump in first.” I said

“Why? You don’t trust me? Hehehehe” said the devil, while I kept looking at him with all seriousness, there is no way I will jump in there without insurance, and if he is willing to jump in first then I will follow, even more so he said that he wanted to leave this place, why didn’t he do so if he already knows the exit?

“Actually there is someone there that I really don’t want to meet, and he is the reason for why I am unable to leave this place…I kind of did something to him, and knowing the guy I think that there will be about a few thousand high grade demons that are waiting for me at the other side of this place, so you can go by yourself.”

I looked at him and approached the black hole, I slowly placed my hand within it, expecting to feel pain or damage, but nothing of the sort happened, it was as if I was pressing against water.

I looked back at the devil and smirked.

Instantly using shadow step behind him and pushing him with all my strength.

I have no idea why he didn’t react, and let me do this to him, normally a boss especially with his size should be extremely nimble, yet he was motionless, only looking at me pushing him towards the exit with a daze.

The reason behind my action was simple, first of all, if he was trying to bait me into entering the vortex, and I die somewhat there, then the same should happen to him, seeing that the system did not give me the notification of the defeat of the boss of this circle, then he is still alive.

The second thing was that if his words were correct and there are demons waiting for him out there, then it’s better if he is sent there first to deal with them or they would deal with him. Either way I could just use the commotion and find a way out.

So I jumped in afterwards, however I still used my chains to latch onto one of the stairs, even if there is something out there, I would have a way back.

There was nothing but darkness there, and far away was a shimmering red light.

The chain that was anchoring me to the stairs was suddenly released. And I fell down, rapidly towards the other side, I prepared myself for the worst, hoping that it would be solid ground. Ready to use shadow step at a drop of a hat.

Yet once I was close enough to the exit, I began to slow down, then was gently ejected through the other side.

Congratulations on clearing the Fifth circle.

Accessed the sixth circle

sixth circle

Circle of Tyranny

Already? It seems that the bastard was telling the truth, we already left the fifth circle…however something is still bugging me…the fifth circle was named the circle of deception, is it possible that all of this is just a lie? Maybe I am still back there…yet it is quite unlikely, although one should expect anything…

I found myself standing in front of a towering cliff where a giant gate was locking the only pathway that was a valley penetrating the cliff.

I saw Beelzebub near me, he had both his hands held up high. Like in surrendering motion.

I didn’t know why he was doing so but once I took a closer look I found out about the reason behind it.

Thousands of soldiers were all stationed above the cliff, magic and arrows, all nocked and ready to be loosed at a single moment, not even shadow step would save me from this.

Beelzebub then spoke, in a loud voice.

“You don’t need to be edgy guys! Just tell Smody that I came to say hi…”

I took a look at the guys high above and inspect one of them.

Deathstalker

***

Level 700

One of the death stalker under the supreme devil.

Vicious, strong, and extremely malevolent.

Beware the ones that would chase an undead even after they pass

For that those that stalk death, fear nothing.

This is just one! There are thousands of them…what the hell have I gotten myself into…

I turned to look back to see the gate that brought us here fully closing down. Only a vast desert was what remained…this place looks similar to where the palace of Annwn is…

I then heard a loud explosion noise.

It seems that someone had fell when I was not looking, and only dust was rising.

Beelzebub then said

“Oh shit, Smody is here…”

Smody?

“Who the hell are you calling Smody?!”

Roared a voice from within the dissipating dust.

It revealed a giant of a man, about four meters tall, red skin, and black horns on his face. His face looked like that of a lion, while his horns were twirling backwards.

His body was buffed and shredded, while he had few scars on his chest. He had a tail that had a red flame on it, and wings of great length sprouted from his back.

He instantly appeared before Beelzebub and grabbed him by the throat.

“Damn bastard! You still have the guts to come back here! Today will be your end!”

Beelzebub whose face began to change colors as he tried to say something, even tapped on the demon’s wrist as a sign of surrender.

The demon seemed that he didn’t want to hear what he had to say, so he kept on squeezing his throat. Beelzebub then dissipated and transformed into thousands of little flies, that began to swirl about and surround the demon.

He then spoke

As if every single one of those tiny creatures spoke at once he said

“Well, I really didn’t want to get here, it was that guy’s fault, he pushed me to getting here.”

The red demon then looked at me and said.

“Cursed one! How dare you bring this abomination to my kingdom?”

I had nothing to say to the thing so I inspected him, trying to figure out what he is before I would say anything stupid, especially after he had claimed that this place is his kingdom.

Asmodeus

(Prince of hell)

Boss class

King of the sixth circle

Supreme Archdevil

Level???

As one of the first devils, Asmodeus boasted with enormous powers, more than enough to disrupt the reign of those in the upper realms, forced to be locked down into the pits of hell, he took the decree as an act against him, forever swearing vengeance against their injustice.

…so Smody, as in Asmodeus…this is not looking that great isn’t it…

To be continued…