Chapter 2: Family of Dé

Time left: 00:20:47

De Kalhari

Dé Kalhari was a Greater Demon from the Ischáyoj race. He had a monkeyish face with a pair of gills by the side of his jaw and a very long neck, forty inches long. His lower body looked human if you excluded the fifteen inches tail wagging behind his back.

His job as a Hunter was to kill Outsiders, people who came from the outside realm, and he had been doing the same thing for the past two decades. He currently flew on a raptor toward St. Archaic mountain range, chasing another Outsider. This mission was a way of redeeming his last failure.

Last two years, he was tasked with finding a powerful Outsider. The Outsider had killed five of their Hunters and had escaped every trap. The family chose Kalhari to handle the matter. He had killed the Outsider twice but the man kept coming back from the dead. When the time limit for the job expired he went back to the ancestral castle of the family, waiting to be executed. Luckily, the executioner wasn't around and another job turned out. He pulled some strings and secured the new job. He would not fail again.

The ancestral castle was just a few miles north of St. Archaic mountains and his raptor covered the distance in thirty minutes. A group of giant mountains surrounded a huge valley called the Archaic Valley. Millions of beasts and many other dangerous creatures lived in the valley.

Kalhari wasn't aiming for the valley. He settled on one of the mountains as he searched the surrounding mountains.

"There!" He pointed to a mountain in the distance. "That is where the energy comes from."

"Are you sure? I can pick a similar energy coming from that mountain as well." The raptor said.

"Let's check all the mountains out." Kalhari said, climbing the raptor again. They flew from one mountain to the next until they finally settled on a smaller one.

"This is it, I'm sure." He said excitedly.

"Stop getting excited," the raptor snapped, "we failed to secure the last bounty how sure are you we'll get this one?"

"Oh common, Dlis, just because that bastard keeps coming back from the dead doesn't mean we have failed."

"I forgot to ask, what are the orders?" Dlis changed the topic.

"As usual, they want the target's head."

"What else do we have on the target?"

Kalhari sighed softly. The Dé weren't known for giving details when it came to missions. "His name is Edard and he is either a male or a female."

Dlis laughed. "That's more than the last time. Maybe they are desperate to get this one. It's our lucky day, the target is still inside the cave. Shall I flush him out?"

"Wait, I can't sense the summoner, he is completely gone."

"Isn't that even better? Summoners have proven to be a pain for most hunters."

"You know me, Dlis, my thirst won't go away if I don't kill both."

"Well, you have to settle for this one first. We will get the summoner later."

Edard

Edard thought briefly. In this world there was magic, dragons and elves. The myths had turned into a reality.

Even though, he was excited about the whole thing and the perspective of possibly finding his family he was concerned about his miniscule lifespan. First, he needed to stay alive for the next twenty minutes and get longevity. Food and water would be next.

As Edard went out of the cave, he opened the dragon dimension. A warning screen popped up.

Taking lava out of the dimension consumes 30 life energy. Do you want to proceed, Y/N?

Edard hit yes but instead of lava another screen popped up.

Choose a body part that will communicate with the dimension.

Edard debated between breathing it through his mouth like a dragon and punching it with his fist. He chose punching. With a mental command another window appeared.

Are you sure you want to Mark your left hand with the dragon tattoo? Y/N?

He hit yes. A burning sensation engulfed the entire hand for several seconds. When it finally subsided a red tattoo of a dragon with three pairs of wings appeared on his palm. He immediately got the awareness of how to connect the hand with the dragon dimension.

Lava stored: 3 units

Ejection Speed: 5m/sec

Trajectory control: depends on willpower

Shape/form: depends on willpower

Cost: 30 per unit

He pointed at the opening and lava burst out of his palm instead of the igneous rocks he had stored. Edard sealed the entrance with the lava to prevent trespass before he headed out.

Seeing how the dimension worked an idea came to him and he used the Dimensional Annihilation on anything he came across.

Dragon-essence has stored earth element in the dragon dimension.

Dragon-essence has stored wind element in the dragon dimension.

Dragon-essence has stored water element in the dragon dimension.

You do not have enough life energy to use Dimensional Annihilation!!!

When it was time to choose skills again he would likely have the opportunity to choose another element. He would store as many elements as he could before the time.

He created a clone and merged with it, improving his speed to 100m/sec. When he reached the end of the narrow passage he put a mark to help him remember the way.

As he headed out he heard a voice behind him. "He is a wussy."

"Why would anyone summon someone so weak?" A different voice asked.

"Maybe we should ask the summoner." The first voice said.

"We should, because this one won't do. Thousands of them won't make a difference."

A humanoid with a long neck and a tail appeared on top of the nearest boulder. He rode a huge green lizard with wings.

Kalhari, Ischáyoj, male, Magician level 10/10 (secondary).

Dlis, Boobrie, female, Wind Elementalist level 5/10 (secondary)

The humanoid had reached the peak of Secondary Awakening and his raptor was a female and a wind elementalist. This coupled with her powerful wings should give a superior speed. He probably couldn't outrun them.

"What do you want?" He said, taking a step back.

"Your life." The raptor blurted.

Edard checked his time.

00:18:55

He had eighteen minutes remaining. He could fight but...

Family of Dé

Ancestral Castle

Dé Abas

He sped increasingly faster toward the ancestral castle. He had never been so eager in his entire life.

He gulped as he sighted castle gates. As etiquette demanded, he flew down to the ground and walked toward the gate.

The person guarding the gate looked through the window to see Abas approaching. "Show your card, soldier." The guard shouted.

Tsk..as usual. Abas pulled a square-shaped stone tablet and showed it to the guard. "I'm a Dé and I demand entry."

A period of silence passed before the guard opened the gate and Abas entered. He went into the castle and headed directly toward the post office. Flying was prohibited inside the castle so he walked.

Even during the day the castle was a deserted place but at night you could call it empty. Most of the buildings existed separately with no connection to each other. There was something unique about each building and that was their yellow color. The stone used to build the castle was either yellow originally or it was tinged yellow with magic. Even the sand was yellow in nature.

Abas reached a big house at the northern region of the castle. He knocked several times before he got a response.

"What do you want?" A voice called out.

"I'm Dé Abas, I have come to register my mission." Abas answered, showing his identification card.

A tall, old man opened the door slightly and snatched the card. He closed the door and went inside for several minutes before he came out again. "It appears your card is authentic. What mission? I don't remember giving you any."

"I received it directly from the queen." Abas said urgently.

The old man jumped out of the door and took a proper look at Abas. His clothes were tattered and stained with blue blood. He had lost his right eye and the right side of his face was scarred, probably from a blast.

"You are from the battlefield?" The old man asked with wide eyes.

Abas nodded.

"What could be so urgent?! The queen has never given any mission directly from the battlefield."

"There is a powerful Outsider that needed to be killed ASAP. His name is Edard, he was summoned forty minutes ago. The queen wants him dead!"

"E...Edard?!" The old man asked, trembling. He'd never seen the queen acted so serious about anything. The problem was he had already sent another hunter after the Outsider.

"What!?" Abas snapped.

"I... have sent Kalhari after him thirty-minutes ago."

"What the hell? Who gave you the permission?"

The old man trembled. He pulled a map out of his pocket and pointed at a spot. "He will likely be here. You can find him, you are one of the best hunters that have ever lived."

Abas fell silent for a while before he sighed. "The queen told me this could happen but..." He clenched his fist. "I was not ready to lose this chance."

"She told you this could happen?" The old man was startled again. Not that he didn't know the queen's powers but everything had happened so fast. This was the fastest they had pursued any Outsider. What's so special about him?!

Abas nodded. "We still have the Longevity Satellite, right?"

The old man nodded.

"Let's observe him for a while. If he completed the mission I won't have to get involved."

Edard

The distance between Edard and Kalhari was less than five meters. With his speed he instantly appeared behind him and stabbed with Dragon-essense. At the same time using Crush to pin the target.

In that instant, he became 1.5 times heavier and his movements slowed down by 150%. Kalhari was startled but he still dodged sideways and gripped Edard's arm, he punched him in the side. Two ribs shattered and blood splashed. The force from the impact dislocate Edard's elbow.

You have been cursed.

-20sec/minute for 5 hours.

Aside from the physical injury he was Cursed to lose 20 secs of his life every minute for five hours.

"Goodbye, Outsider." Kalhari said, closing his eyes. He focused his energy on absorbing Edard's longevity.

Edard was desperate, he looked around for anything that could help him escape but there was nothing. The man in front of him was a hundred times more powerful than he was and Edard had no experience in battles. The truth was he would have no chance in a fair fight, in any fight either. But the Curse suddenly turned to his advantage by allowing him to gain a similar skill.

You have gained the skill Curse

Curse your enemies by touching their blood, draining their longevity. A common Dé is limited by the longevity he absorbs, you are not.

Activate skill? Y/N?

You have two slot remaining, choose wisely.

No time to deliberate.

You have activated the skill Curse

Curse has reached level 1

Target: only cultivators

Drain rate: 30seconds/minute for 1min

Edard ground his teeth and tried creating Dragon-essense.

You have no life energy.

Punching won't do either.

Edard's eyes turned red with rage and agony. He needed to touch Kalhari's blood to activate the Curse so he bit his arm with all his strength. Two of his incisors broke and he didn't get a drop.

Kalhari looked at Edard and sighed at his fruitless attempt before he closed his eyes again.

Edard became bedevilled, he pulled out his dislocated elbow and stabbed Kalhari with the ragged edges. He finally got a drop.

You have Cursed the target.

Initiating drain...

Drain rate: 30secs/min for 1 min

After two seconds he saw a warning.

Warning: target can't withstand your Curse!

Warning: target can't withstand your Curse!!

The smile on Kalhari's face disappeared, followed by the moisture on his skin. He became desiccated in an instant. You could see surprise on his face as he died.

You have gained one second from Curse.

You have killed an enemy at the peak of the Secondary Awakening with Curse

No added benefit

You have touched the blood of an Ischáyoj, you have gained a temporary regeneration ability for the next thirty minutes.

Edard dropped on his knees, groaning. The pain skyroketted as the adrenaline waned. He could see his arm slowly reconstructing, his broken teeth filled up and his ribs joined together. All his wounds disappeared.

After five minutes he had no wounds and a brand-new arm. He checked Kalhari's corpse, wanting to take more drops of blood but it was completely dry. The raptor laid listlessly beside him.

"Lost your balls, huh?" Edard created a Dragon-essence dagger and stabbed the raptor's leg. He touched the blood but nothing happened, he couldn't Curse the raptor.

Only cultivators. He remembered the description in the skill. He needed to find another way of getting longevity before he ran out.

00:17:44!

The raptor didn't budge an inch when he cut it and it stayed still afterward. Killing Kalhari had severed his connection to the raptor which robbed it of its intelligence. He created another dagger and plunged it into its heart.

He knew nothing about Kalhari or why he'd attacked him. The man had no surname and he carried nothing except a small chest of blue stones in his pocket.

Why would anyone summon someone so weak? He remembered what Kalhari said when he first saw him. They knew he was summoned but how? Probably, that was their reason for wanting to kill him. There would be others.

Edard walked away but after taking three steps he turned around and looked at the corpse. His heart felt heavy, he remembered everything on the man's face. The wrinkles on his forehead and how his mouth curled up in shock when he died. He wanted to bury him but that would take another ten minutes out of his longevity.

It was self defense. He sighed and walked away. He would kill the next person who came to murder him even if it meant regretting it afterward.

He quickly climbed the nearest boulder and observed the four cardinal directions, searching for any sign of civilization. Starting with his left there was nothing but an endless green. His right was the same though there were larger mountains breaking the green at intervals. Behind him was an endless range of larger mountains. Edard figured each mountain was the size of a city on Earth. It would take an entire week to cross them. His only hope was the direction in front of him, where he'd decided to call north. He could see a water body in that direction, possibly there would be life.

He ran northwards, looking around for any sign of life and using a combination of his speed with Spiritual Sense and Interracial Communication to avoid danger.

00:16:06

It was becoming increasingly hopeless, his eyes constantly darted over his watch.

Adrenaline rushed into him, increasing his focus. He climbed an entire mountain in two minutes and he ran further north, hoping to find the water body and a civilization.

00:14:10

Despite running at a very high speed he couldn't see the water body. He even thought what he saw earlier was a mirage not water.

00:13:55

After a short debate, he decided to focus on the surrounding mountains as he ran. It was unlikely to find any cultivator there, maybe a hermit or monks.

00:11:47

He came across a series of caves laying at the base of a mountain. He heard a faint sound from one cave, something he couldn't have picked without Interracial Communication. At first, he thought it was snoring but then he realized it was more like the screech of an animal.

He created a Dragon-essence flame in his hand and cleared the entrance with it. He wouldn't make the same mistake of going into a cave blindly, so he first used Spiritual Sense to search it. The inside was dim but he spotted something like an elephant and a humanoid covered in blood, probably the remains of the larger beast's meal.

He had to check out the humanoid even if he would awake the elephant. He could only hope for the humanoid to be alive. It would be his last chance.

It was better to face the elephant outside so he threw a rock into the cave. He was successful but before he made any move a mammoth had jumped out of the cave. Edard jumped several meters back. The beast was several size larger than him. He was quite sure it didn't exist on Earth.

Mammoth, level 2

The list of his skills came to him as he tried to choose the most appropriate. He clenched his left hand and fired a lava at the mammoth.

The lava erupted with an explosive force but it moved haphazardly and most of it would miss the target. The trajectory and shape depended on his will so he willed it and it came together into a medium-sized fist of molten rock surrounded by fire and smoke as it flew. Even though, someone looking would think the lava was coming out of his fist it came from the dimension and his hand only served as a connection.

The mammoth showed no fear as it swung its tree-like nose at the lava fist. Beads of sweat ran down Edard's body. The lava was slow and the mammoth could easily dodge it. The fact that it had chosen not to dodge meant it was no threat. Even its nose was three times the size of the lava fist.

Edard created a Dragon-essense dagger and prepared to attack as soon as the lava failed. If the Dragon-essence failed he could activate his clone and run. As he calculated his chances, the lava fist hit the mammoth. The mammoth released a desperate screech as it dropped to the ground, barely moving.

P..painful.. Make it stop, please...

You have learned Mammoth Tongue.

Interracial Communication has reached level 4

Edard widened his eyes in shock, looking at the giant body of the mammoth.

He checked the dreaded timer.

00:08:11

Edard was afraid for the first time since he arrived. Even if the humanoid was alive it might not be a cultivator. If it was, he might not be able to Curse it. Let's say he Cursed it, at his current level the rate of absorption was 30sec/minute which translated to additional four minutes after he ran out. And then additional two minutes after that. Then one minute, then thirty seconds and so on. He would die eventually.