29 29 - Lucifer's Diary

If one looked closely, one would notice that around that pile of ashes only a few pieces of brush were slightly burned, leaving a strange impression about the place, as if that thing should not be there.

This young man could not have been anyone other than Noah who, in fact, was not even looking at the pile of ashes in front of him, but at a floating black screen that only he could see.

On the screen, some words were written. Among those words were some that he was used to as the first two sentences read:

[8 Exp acquired toward level.]

[8 Exp acquired for skill: [Hell Flames].]

Looking at the amount of exp points he received from killing this Blessed goblin, Noah couldn't help but rejoice and feel that he had made the right decision by abandoning the corpses of those three goblins who belonged to this one's group.

The amount of exp he received from that single Blessed goblin was equivalent to killing an entire squad of common goblins. Seeing how much exp a single monster like this could yield for him, Noah began to wonder how many points he would get if he killed a Boss alone by himself. 'I definitely have to do it at some point. Even though there are a lot of risks, the benefits can also be great. But for that, I first need to have enough strength.'

After reading the two notifications he was used to receiving, Noah looked at the third, which was much bigger and stranger than the other two.

[A part of Lucifer's Diary has been unlocked. Do you want to read?]

Seeing this question, Noah felt that it was definitely serious, since the last time the system asked if he wanted to do something or not was when he first received it, something that turned Noah's life upside down. Knowing that he could possibly have many benefits by accepting it, he didn't think twice before responding mentally, 'Yes.'

The black window disappeared for an instant and in the next second an exquisite red window appeared. Unlike letters that previously appeared to have been typed by some type of computer, these letters were written with beautiful handwriting, as if they had been written by Lucifer himself.

["Do you know why God brought me down? Because I loved Him. More than anything. And then God created humans. The little... hairless monkeys. And then, He asked us all to bow before them, to love them more than Him. And I said to Him, "Father... I can't." I said, "These human beings are flawed, murderous!" ...So God made Michael throw me into Hell. Does the punishment fit the crime? Especially when I was right? See what billions of them did with it. And how many of them now blame me for that?

Once Noah finished reading, the red window abruptly disappeared while another black window appeared in its place.

[Due to the interruption of energy absorption, the system was unable to obtain the rest of this fragment from the diary.]

When Noah saw the last message, the anger inside him grew. 'If it weren't for that damn goblin I wouldn't be stuck on a cliffhanger without knowing what happened next!!' Noah said mentally as he kicked at the pile of ashes that was left of the goblin he killed. 'I hate those who cause cliffhangers!'

Having collected himself, Noah started to think about what he managed to deduce from what he read of the diary.

'Apparently, Lucifer's relationship with his father, God, was not as bad as what I found on the internet. From what people talked about the stories and transcripts of humanity from the time they lived on Earth, God's relationship with Lucifer was terrible, but apparently it wasn't that bad. And another thing that raised doubts in me… What did Lucifer mean by 'lesser gods' in the diary? Who was he talking about? Perhaps they are the current gods?' Noah at this point ignored the possible goblins he could kill in this lost time amid theories and thoughts of what could have happened to Lucifer and God.

Realizing that a few minutes had already passed and he was still unable to reach a concrete conclusion, Noah was angry with the goblin who prevented him from reading the end of that part of the diary and again kicked the pile of ashes that was there once more as he left in looking for other groups to kill and gain experience from.

[User: Noah Stern

Level: 01, 66/100 exp

HP: 10/10

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Stamina: 10

Skills:

(Hell Flames Lv 01, 87/100 exp: A technique that consists of invoking the flames of hell itself. The flames of hell did not differ from normal flames, but after purifying so many sins and so many sinners, it became the most powerful flame, having even burned the flame god himself, making him beg Lucifer to extinguish the flames before he died. To increase the power of hell's flame ability, the user must burn sins or sinners.)]

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Elsewhere in the forest, a group of 14 people were fighting a large number of goblins, among them was the woman who had criticized and disparaged Noah.

"Damn it! Mages, shoot with your Blessings! We on the front line won't be able to keep up with this pace for long." A warrior shouted at the group of mages and archers in the rear, desperate from having to hold against 9 goblin warriors attacking him while another 3 goblins attacked from afar with blowguns, shooting darts which made their bodies weaker.

"Fuck, I'm running out of energy! Do you think I can do an earthquake by any chance?" A land mages screamed from afar as he used his own Blessing to extract large stones from the ground and hurl them at the goblins.

This was a major defect of Blessed mages: they lacked creativity and the willingness to work hard and create a new skill for their Blessing. As the skills of a Blessed person were not normally taught publicly, these Blessed mages could not think for themselves and develop a unique skill, as Noah was doing in trying to develop his fireball.

"Hell, stop moving around so much or I'll sink an arrow in one of you without meaning to!" The woman who argued with Noah at the entrance to the Fortress shouted at the warriors. Her Blessing was to slightly control the wind. This, added to the use of a bow, was very fatal, since she could propel and very much control an arrow even without having enough strength to fire one properly with a bow. But even though she was able to slightly change the arrow's trajectory in the air, unfortunately she was unable to turn the arrow 45 degrees in mid-flight to dodge a warrior who suddenly entered her line of fire.

The more they screamed during the battle, the more goblins they attracted to themselves, since the Fortress was so full of monsters that even if Noah ran without care, some goblin were bound to hear him, let alone several adults shouting at each other in the forest that is always silent. They were practically like a beacon to the goblins.

So far, the pile of goblin corpses around them had grown a lot. Since they started fighting in that place they have not been able to move more than a meter. If someone looked around and counted how many goblins they had already killed, the number would probably be over 30, but even though they had killed so many, it was as if these hordes of monsters never stopped arriving.

Mental fatigue was already affecting everyone in the group, especially the warriors and the healer who had had no opportunity to rest since the battle began when they entered the Fortress.

Since this was a normal Fortress and not a super Fortress, the portal they used to enter was still open. They could leave the Fortress anytime they wanted, but no one there wanted to leave, even if they were in such danger, as the government had decreed that when a Blessed person entered a Fortress, he had a duty to destroy that Fortress. If he left without the Fortress having been destroyed, the fine that the Blessed would receive for not fulfilling the task was high enough to practically make a Blessed work for almost a year for free.

The only exception to this rule was if only less than a third of the Blessed who went in made it out alive. In that case the invasion would be called off and the Blessed would receive neither a reward nor a fine, as was the case with some invasions that Noah had participated in.

Looking at the chaos that this battle had become, the woman who yelled at Noah had at least one thing in mind that made her feel calmer. 'At least that useless man must have died alone somewhere, since not even a group of 14 Blessed Rank E is making progress, let alone a weak Rank F, haha.'

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