Chapter 104 The Leave

The sun was slowly rising from the ground, welcoming a new day.

There was a place where smoke was rising around the walls.

Where a bunch of supposed-to-be green grass was being burned.

Where a scene of the devastation took place.

There was one lone young man with a mask on his face, with his body tattered, his clothes burned, and his sword stabbed to the ground; he was breathing heavily while trying to grab a potion from his ring.

Around him was nothing but destruction.

The grass was cut, revealing the soil underneath….

The tree was cut, really showing the strength of the attack.

The dark clouds that were formed in the sky were slowly scattering.

And there was a man with his chest cut, with his breaths stopped.

A cloud of black smoke was rising from his body.

/GULP/

A sound of gulping was heard.

The boy gulped a potion he brought out from his ring.

"Huff….. That was one hell of a fight. My body is aching."

Feeling the strength slowly leaving my body and the pain returning, I mumbled, slowly gulping the potion.

<Host. Do you want to get your rewards now?>

'Wait for a while. I need to look at something.'

Answering the system like that, I grabbed my sword standing up.

Walking towards the dead body of the person I have made a lot of memories of in the last five months, I shook off the dirt on my body and my face.

'I feel really uncomfortable now.'

With my clothes tattered and my body dirty, I thought.

"You can now rest freely."

With my hands reaching Akira's eyes, which had already lost the sense of life inside, I gently closed his eyes.

And then, lowering my hands, I saw a handful of black powder over his chest where a cloud of smoke was rising.

"There you are, Essence of Demon."

With my hand reaching there, I touched the black powder.

And the moment I touched it, an uncomfortable feeling spread through my body, making me shiver.

'This is undoubtedly the Essence of Demon.'

Bringing out the bottle from my ring, I cupped everything sharded on there, storing it.

After that, I once again bowed my head towards the dead corpse that I made lean towards the tree.

"Farewell."

And mumbled, leaving the place.

******

"Rest in peace, my friend."

With a bunch of officials around him, Wayne mumbled, seeing the devastated scene and the dead body of his friend.

"So, he managed to beat it, huh? Callius…. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of future he has ahead…. What a monster."

"Did you say something, Mister Wayne?"

"No, please continue."

"Understood. As you have said, we have confirmed that he was the Adventurer Akira Renshou. We will continue with the investigation and inform you when we reach a conclusion, but for now, it looks like a duel between two swordsmen. Do you know someone who holds a grudge against him?"

"I don't."

And the investigation went on, with Wayne answering the questions of the officials.

However, the culprit of this scene had already left the city…..

******

The essence of Demon.

It was an item that would drop after you kill a demon that has a significant status in Hell.

It is such an item that, most of the time, it would be sought by the sages of the tower, archmages, maguses, or many other people that would specialize in magic.

Because it would make the person's mana capacity increase while making them more resistant to the demon's aptitude.

Therefore, right now, this item has very strong importance to me.

After I returned to the city, the first thing I did was to book a room for a morning's rest and to clean myself since mine was pretty much occupied by a girl that had her first time.

After cleaning myself thoroughly and resting for a while, while trying to refresh my aura reserves through meditation, I left my room to go to the marketplace.

Buying the ingredients which I would need in order to make the mixture I would use while digesting the Essence of the Demon, I returned to my room.

Mixing the herbs, the potions, and the monster cores, the thing in front of me was nothing but a bottle of ominous-looking black substance.

"That really looks disgusting."

If I didn't know how that looked in the game and its effects, there was just no way that I would drink such a thing.

"It is what it is."

Slowly mumbling that, I put the bottle in my mouth and poured the substances into my stomach.

"Urghk---"

Feeling the bitter taste entering my mouth, I gritted my teeth and endured the uncomfortable feeling.

'It is burning again. It has been a long time since I felt this sensation.'

Feeling the mana nerves around my body and my core burning, I thought.

Passing five months without mana.

Thanks to that, I was slowly forgetting the sensations of my mana inside.

But now that I am trying to digest such a resource that affects my mana, the sensation returned, although it was partially.

'Hmm? Why does it feel like that could also affect the aura inside me?'

In the game, it didn't have any effect on the person's aura but rather on his mana; therefore, I thought I wouldn't need to use my aura as well.

'What if I try it? The game can't be absolute as always.'

"Kurght…. Cough-"

Coughing a mouthful of black substance, I digested; I sat on the floor and took a lotus position, and then started circulating my aura.

'Yes, it is working. My aura is increasing as well.'

With that thought, I closed my eyes and focused only on my aura, trying to forget the pain inside me….

******

<Ding! The essence of Demon is completely digested. The host's aura and mana reserves increased.>

Hearing the system sound coming through my head, I opened my eyes.

/EXHALE/

Exhaling a breath, I stood up and felt the changes around my body.

'I can definitely feel the changes.'

'System, give me my rewards now.'

<Understood.>

The moment I said that a set of armor appeared beside me.

A bitch black armor that had some slight blue ornaments over it. Black cloak with feathers covering it.

Inside, a tight leather armor that looked like it got out from the monster's body, showcasing how high quality it was.

Underneath the same pants and black boots with blue gems over them.

It was a robe that would suit such a quest.

Robe of the Wandering Swordsman.

It was an item that you would get once you defeated the demon named Hell's Swordsman.

That appearing right there means that demon was related to the Otakemaru, or maybe the Otakemaru itself.

It was an item that would increase the user's basic atrocities and dexterity stat by a lot when a sword was equipped with it.

However, that was not the main strong point of that robe.

'The Way of the Wanderer.'

A passive skill that would make the user's critical strike chance increase permanently with each step that is taken when the robe is equipped.

Truly a robe that was fitting to the title of a wanderer.

And to my goal for the time being…..

Grabbing my robe and putting it on, I left my room, heading towards the place where I would explore next…..