Chapter 307 - Meeting the Demon Lord Kretos

In the snowy mountains of the Northern Demon Lands, a lone human was running freely. This was the hero Takafumi Sora. He was currently separated from his group as they entered the mountains and encountered a few monsters. He could have beaten the monsters easily but Sora wanted to leave the group and meet Demon Lord Kretos by himself. He wanted to learn the truth that has been hidden from him. 

...

A group of four were in the middle of a fierce battle against a pack of ice wolves found in the Northern Mountains of the Demon Lands. These four were Sora's companions.

Niel the vanguard of the group blocked one ice wolf and pushed another. As he was busy killing the monsters the mercenary finally noticed something was amiss. He looked around and noticed that Sora was no longer with them. 

"I can't see the hero!" Niel shouted as he stabbed the ice wolf that was in front of him. The assassin Night dashed around the area and he too couldn't spot the hero as well. He quickened his pace and checked a wider area but he still couldn't find a single trace of Sora. 

"I can't see him either!" Night informed the others as he threw a dagger at a nearby ice wolf. 

The healer Jason punched the face of one of the ice wolves, and then two ice wolves tried to bite his hands but their fangs couldn't penetrate Jason's bulging muscles. Jason then held the two ice wolves necks and snapped them, after he was done killing the ice wolves near him, Jason shouted at the others. 

"Don't worry about the hero, if it's him he can take care of himself. As for now, we need to concentrate on finishing these monsters. Once we're done we can go and search for him." Hearing the veteran Jason's command the mercenary and assassin nodded their heads and continued killing the monsters. On the other hand, the court mage Jeter was looking around listlessly. 

He had made a mistake, and let the hero out of his sight. He must find the hero as quickly as possible if he meets the demon lord without him present, might spell the end of the Sliral Kingdom. 'I can't use the spell if he's too far away from me. If he learns of the truth and forms an alliance with the demon lord... That hero might... No, he wouldn't do that, his sense of justice won't allow it. Still, I should find him before things get worse.' Jeter wanted to leave and look for Sora but the ice wolves blocking his path wouldn't allow him to do what he wanted. 

"Get out of my way!" 

...

Sora knew that the monsters near his companions weren't strong enough to kill them, so once he was sure they were safe he continued onward on his own. As he was running ahead of his party members, Sora decided to clear any monsters he meets so that his party members won't have any trouble on the way. 

Sora was dashing through the mountain without any problem when he saw a horde of monsters ahead of him. 

'What spell should I use?... Oh, I always wanted to do this against such a large horde of monster.' Sora stopped running took out a wooden staff from his inventory and then took a pose. 

"My name is Sora, my calling is that of a hero, I am one who controls explosion magic, the strongest of all offensive magic!" 

As Sora shouted those lines that a certain red-eyed arch mage used to say, the monsters noticed his presence and started running towards him. Sora then gathered mana and started chanting. 

"Darkness blacker than black and darker than dark, I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson. The time of awakening cometh. Justice, fallen upon the infallible boundary, appear now as an intangible distortion! I desire for my torrent of power a destructive force: a destructive force without equal! Return all creation to cinders, and come from the abyss! Explosion!"

A huge flame from above the heavens came bursting down on the poor monsters, making the whole area explode in a fiery rage. None of the monsters survived the attack and as Sora watched his explosion he nodded his head. 

"That intensity, that display of power, I'm going to give this an 8 out of 10. Nice explosion." Sora gave himself a thumbs up and smiled. After he was done with his routine, Sora felt extremely happy. He was able to actually do the same thing as that mage from one of his favorite animes, he was even able to mimic the protagonist of the anime. 

'How about I use Phoenix Slave later.' Sora happily thought of that as he continued onward. 

...

It took Sora sometime before he was able to meet another group of monsters. When he saw the group he started to happily chant. 

"Darkness beyond twilight. Crimson beyond blood that flows. Buried in the flow of time. In thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness. Let all the fools who stand in our way be destroyed by the power you and I possess... PHOENIX SLAVE!"

A beam of mana came out of Sora's hands and blasted the nearby monsters. The spell that Sora used before and now came from his favorite anime characters, and the chants themselves were pretty much worthless. He could have the same effect happen even without chanting. 

As Sora was happily enjoying doing different poses and spells to satisfy his inner chuunibyou, his detection skill activated. He looked around but saw nothing in sight. As he was getting a bit confused by why his detection skill activated, Sora heard a voice. 

"Hmm, that's a pretty impressive spell, but what's the point of that long chant? Doing it without the chant would result in a similar effect, so why bother chanting?" 

Sora looked right beside him and saw a man suddenly appear out of nowhere. He wasn't able to notice this man get near him. Even the supposed best assassin of the Sliral Kingdom, Night couldn't get close to Sora without being spotted. Yet this man did it so nonchalantly. 

Sora looked at the young man that appeared out of nowhere and noticed that he had a pair of horns sticking out of his head, but aside from that, he looked the same as any other human. 

'Is this a demon?' Sora looked at the newcomer curiously. 

"So did you come here to test your spells?" The demon asked Sora. 

'Should I answer honestly?... I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell this demon why I'm here.'

"I didn't come here to test my spells. The truth is I have come to talk to the newly appointed demon lord, Kretos." When the demon heard what Sora said his expression changed for a second and then he smiled. 

"Oh, why do you want to talk to the demon lord?" 

"I just want to confirm some suspicions I've been having." 

"What would that be?" 

"Sorry, that's a conversation between me and the demon lord." 

"Hmm, then what if I told you I'm Demon Lord Kretos will you be willing to tell me then?" Kretos showed a vicious smile as he looked at the human before him. 

"This isn't the time to be joking around." The moment Sora said those words he suddenly felt immense pressure like no other. He quickly backed away from Kretos and took out his beloved weapon which he named Masamune. He looked at Kretos surprised by the pressure he felt, was that was bloodl.u.s.t?

This was the first time Sora had felt such an overbearing bloodl.u.s.t. It was the most fearsome feeling he had ever felt before. He had fought numerous monsters but none of them had given him such a feeling of desperation before. It was like he was going to be devoured. 

"Do you believe me now?" Kretos asked his smile never fading. 

Sora was now on high alert as he looked at the smiling demon. He quickly used his analysis skill to peer into the other person's stats. 

Status:

Name: Kretos 

Race: Horned Demon

Class: Strongest Demon Lord

Secret Class: Strongest Mortal Soul

Level:?

HP: ? MP: ?

STR:?

AGI:?

DEX:?

INT:?

WIS:?

VIT:?

Luck:?

Sora was surprised that he couldn't peer into any of Kretos's information except for his name and class. 

'The f*ck, my class is only Professional Hero, while his class is literally called the Strongest Demon Lord. Also what the heck is a secret class, how come he has it and I don't? Strongest Mortal Soul, even his secret class has the term strongest in it. Does this mean this guy is the literal strongest among all mortals, and only Gods could face him?' 

Sora was confused and was a little bit frightened by Kretos's stats. This was the demon lord he was supposed to face. Yet underneath the fear, Sora was also feeling excited. He was having the same feeling he has, as when he faces the final boss in a game. The stats of the hero was always leagues below that of the final boss, but in the end, the hero can still win. 

"So what is it you want to talk to me about?" Kretos asked as he looked curiously at the human before him.