Chapter 76 - A Four-Horned Demon

...

My eyes opened... to see myself in a cave.

The air was musty with a slight stench. The cave itself was quite dirty, but that was to be expected considering it was the middle of the forest.

My body was shivering uncontrollably while a dull ache spread across my body from various wounds.

It was a vision, I could no longer control my actions.

My feet dragged on deeper into the cave.

Then, they froze in shock.

There was a four-horned demon in front of me, with a mangled leg. Its breaths were ragged and pained.

It was leaning against the cave wall, in as bad of a condition as I was.

Different from three-horned demons, the demon with four horns did not have an overbearingly large physique. In fact, it was scraggly, like me.

My head raised to look at the four-horned demon's face. In turn, the four-horned demon met my eyes.

There was a moment of silence.

On one side was a human and on the other was a demon.

We were enemies by default. Races that couldn't come to an agreement.

Yet, the only thing we did was stare at one another. Both of us could tell the other had no intention of fighting.

A chuckle escaped me.

"You look just like me."

The four-horned demon had a deep look at me. After a few moments, the voice of a young girl rang out.

"...We are both heavily injured."

My eyes rolled.

"Not that. I bet you're an outcast like me, aren't you?"

The four-horned demon took a moment to respond.

"Yeah..."

A sigh seeped out from my mouth.

"And now, both of us are dying."

The four-horned demon laughed.

"I suppose..."

My steps dragged my weary body next to the four-horned demon. Then, my rear fell to the ground, letting me sit right next to the four-horned demon.

The four-horned demon narrowed its eyes.

"You seem very comfortable talking to a demon. It's almost like you aren't a human."

A cackle seeped out of my lips.

"To me, both humans and demons are the same. Frankly, I don't consider myself a human or any race for that matter."

The four-horned demon giggled.

"That is quite a strange mindset. The people I've seen are quite attached to anything that identifies them."

I scoffed.

"Well, I am quite different from the normal person. Quite a few strange things happened to me."

The four-horned demon hummed.

"Seems like you had a strange life."

A bitter smile appeared on my face.

"You want to hear what I've been through? It is kinda boring though."

The four-horned demon let out a soft chuckle.

"...Tell me."

My head laid back, resting on the cold cave wall.

"Well... it all started with the very day I was born."

My eyes narrowed.

"I was a slave."

The four-horned demon looked at me curiously.

"A slave? What is that?"

My shoulders shrugged.

"A label for people that are not allowed to live. The only thing they were permitted to do was follow commands."

The four-horned demon fell silent.

It appeared I wasn't discouraged by that, enthusiastically continuing the story.

"People born as slaves at least have a chance of turning their life around if they have any sort of talent. However, I had none."

My eyes closed.

"For most of my life, I was whipped and starved. Sometimes when I look back, it's hard to believe that I actually survived."

The four-horned demon sighed.

"That sounds quite miserable."

I slowly nodded.

"Pretty much... In the end, I was alone most of the time. Hah..."

The four-horned demon chuckled sadly.

"I see."

My eyes fluttered open.

"I did try to at least get an ally slave on my side, but it never really worked out."

The four-horned demon took a ragged breath in.

"How so?"

My face lost its expression.

"Haha... I would come to an agreement with someone, that we both help each other out. I foolishly did my part, but was left to die by my so called companion."

My arms wrapped around my legs.

"Somehow I survived... but I never learned my lesson. I thought maybe other people would be different."

A chuckle came out of me.

"I wonder why I thought that..."

The four-horned demon shrugged.

"I guess you learnt your lesson by now."

A smile of mockery emerged on my face. It was a mockery of myself.

"Well... it took a while. At one point, I was thrown into a pit. The bottom was maybe fifty meters away."

My shoulders shrugged.

"Then I awakened to a new power, so I survived."

The four-horned demon turned to look at me, but didn't say anything.

A sinister chuckle seeped from my lips.

"But still... I somehow still thought that I could make an ally. I thought it was because I was powerless. Now that I had a power, surely I could make at least one ally, right?"

The four-horned demon blinked a few times.

"...You didn't make any?"

My head shook.

"The first person sold me out to the guards immediately."

An eerie smile appeared on my face.

"So I killed them all."

The four-horned demon laughed.

"It took you a while to come around to that."

A giggle escaped me.

"Sure did..."

My lungs took in a deep breath.

"Then... I left."

The four-horned demon's eyes widened.

"Ah, then how did you convince them to let you go?"

A wild look appeared in my eyes.

"I forced myself out."

The four-horned demon was speechless.

"Without magic, or is your power magical?"

A smirk appeared on my face.

"It's like magic, but not really."

The four-horned demon tilted its head to the side.

"And what does that mean?"

My body stood up, albeit shakily.

The four-horned demon watched on curiously.

Then, my figure disappeared before reappearing a meter or so ahead.

The four-horned demon gasped in shock.

"What? Was that teleportation?"

My body collapsed onto the ground.

"Yeah..."

As my hands dragged my body back, the four-horned demon closed its eyes. It was deep in thought.

The four-horned demon clutched its fist.

"I must say, I am jealous."

After propping myself back up on the wall, my eyes rolled.

"That's pretty much all I got going for me though."

The four-horned demon laid its head onto the cave wall.

"I hardly have anything going for me either."

My eyebrow raised.

"You have four horns though."

The four-horned demon laughed.

"They might as well be for show..."

My eyebrow raised.

"How can that be?"

The four-horned demon fell silent.

My eyes blinked a few times, but my voice did not ring out.

Eventually, the four-horned demon let out a chuckle.

"...I suppose I am not that different from you."

A laugh escaped me.

"You're joking, right?"

The four-horned demon slowly shook its head.

"The moment I was born, my fate was decided for me. I suppose you could consider me a slave."

After a few moments of silence, a sigh escaped me.

"...Perhaps demons and humans are more similar than I thought."

The four-horned demon smiled bitterly.

"Haha, perhaps. Demons are generally born very weak, yet need a tremendous amount of resources to grow."

My brows furrowed.

"...But from what I've seen, they don't eat anything."

The four-horned demon laughed.

"That's because they have been what we call... 'optimized'..."

My head turned to face the four-horned demon.

"Care to explain?"

The four-horned demon closed its eyes.

"...There is a mana volcano. When a demon is thrown inside, they become optimized."

My eyes blinked a few times.

"So what's the difference?"

The four-horned demon sighed.

"Normally, demons are weak creatures that require large amounts of food to survive. As we grow up, our horns increase as does our strength."

The four-horned demon shook its head.

"But the biggest change is the increase in appetite. This quickly caused food shortages among our people."

The four-horned demon paused.

"And so, the demons fight the humans for land. They are essentially fighting for food."

A smirk appeared on my face.

"Haha, I bet the humans don't even need the land."

The four-horned demon chuckled.

"I wouldn't know... Anyways, it was initially a losing battle since our strength did not befit the food consumptions."

The four-horned demon's eyes parted ever so slightly.

"...But then the demons found out about the mana volcano. When a demon is thrown in, they no longer need food to operate. Instead, they use mana."

The corner of the four-horned demon's lip twitched.

"They gained tremendous strength and some even got the ability to use spells. ...However, that came at the cost of their autonomy. Optimized demons can hardly think of anything other than natural instincts."

My expression became solemn, but my lips remained sealed.

The four-horned demon continued with hatred in her voice.

"These optimized demons are used for war. Countless children are thrown into this mana volcano, never able to live a real life."

She stopped there, leaving the cavern to be silent for a few minutes.

Suddenly, the four-horned demon laughed.

"We are going to die if we don't eat something.. While we are the only people here."