Chapter 132: The demon's quest
The feral bear's heads disappeared in thousands of flame tongues.
In fact, even before that, there had been an explosion that stole the spotlight. Those flames were simply after-effects meant to inflict more damage on enemies that actually could survive Leon's skill. That wild monster obviously didn't seem like any real threat, so Leon wasn't surprised.
His fox girl's eyes gleamed in excitement, though.
Louise believed she would never get bored of the sight of her master using fire skills that were deeply connected to her skill and race.
He aroused her. That scarf lit up in flames and seemed like one of her fox tails on fire, so Louise rubbed her ass on the seat and waggled her fox tails, overjoyed.
Leon also didn't waste his momentum. He was like the family head — without a doubt, Alexandra, Celes, and Louise were together because of him — so it was important for him to be the strongest and keep providing them with security, allowing them to pursue their goals while being together.
Leon wanted to be part of their lives, and so did the girls.
[Ender's Scarlet Fox's Scarf(Divine) - Damage output depends on the mana's usage(The user can pour an unlimited amount of mana into the scarf). The scarf possesses one main skill — Ignition. You light up your scarf in fire and deal damage over time to your enemies. Every ignition causes an explosion. The scarf is thin, smooth, flexible, tough, and strong. Depending on the usage, the user might bring out more effects of it. The user can easily use fire skills through it and strengthen them.]
"Come. I won't use fire against you." Leon lifted his left hand and gestured for the rest of the bears to attack him.
Heeding his arrogant call, the feral monsters threw themselves at Leon, clawing him. Their claws shimmered with innate skill, raising their sharpness. They opened their jaws, too, sending an ear-splitting wall at Leon.
He didn't bulge and simply defended himself against their claws.
Because his hands were wrapped in his scarves, Leon didn't receive any damage. He felt a little disappointed because it meant he wouldn't be able to use Celes' scarf to the maximum and showcase its usefulness. Well, he still could show a few useful concepts.
Leon's vampire scarf slipped through the bears' defenses, coiling around them. He smirked at them as they were wincing at his prowess that cut tons of their health points. This resulted in blood fountaining in abundance, dirtying Leon's white clothes.
Of course, while Leon's weapons seemed pleasant in touch, Leon could turn the vampiress' scarf into a sharp and deadly weapon through the familiar skill [The Royal Vampire Hunter's Red Claws.]
It became a passive effect that he could turn on and off.
He didn't summon any claws on his red-black scarf and only made it sharp like a fine sword.
The feral bears howled in pain as the vampiress' scarf flayed them and kept digging to their bones!
[You have killed the feral bear Lv. 50]
[You have killed the feral bear Lv. 50]
[You have killed…]
Leon's second scarf wasn't done yet. He ordered it to devour a few parts of the feral bears. His scarf swathed those beasts and started the meal. In this case, the black stripes began doing the work, surprising Celes and Louise.
[You have eaten the flesh of your enemy.]
[Your health points are full.]
[You can't regenerate your health points.]
[Ender's Vampiress' Scarf(Divine) - Damage output depends on your mana usage, hunger, and thirst(The user can pour an unlimited amount of mana into the scarf). The scarf possesses one main passive skill — The Royal Vampire Hunter's Red Claws. You can toggle it up and control the mana usage. The scarf is thin, smooth, flexible, tough, and strong. Depending on the usage, the user might bring out more effects of it. The unique energy and bloodline within it allow the user to eat flesh and drink blood through it. The user lacks understanding of the blood origin to fully understand this skill.]
Leon swathed himself in his vampiress' scarf and cleaned himself off the foreign blood. He turned around and returned to his girls' side as though he coming back from a stroll. He also had sensed the blood of other feral bears far away from him but didn't pay that any attention.
His eyes remained golden.
"Master, something black is coming out from these dead bodies!" Celes notified her master, worried. "This energy smells like shit… So demons."
Louise nodded and narrowed her beautiful big eyes. "Demons indeed. Why would these scum hide their mana in the wild beasts?"
Leon turned around and hovered his eyes on the black orb that manifested from the oozing mana from the four dead bodies. It floated above them and soon turned into an eye.
That eye scrutinized Leon.
"The Heaven Library Guild… Ender… Haven't heard of you, but you must be strong since I can't see through your level. I gotta commend you. I didn't expect that friendly guild to have someone like you. No one could find me, yet you managed to kill those feral bears and bring me out. Commendable."
Leon stood muted. He joked that succubi barred his way before fighting those bears, wanting to have some real challenge. And now, the real demon came out, praising him for something he wasn't even aiming for.
It was odd.
But his girls often told him that demons were a bunch of weird and twisted personalities.
"If you want to save that kid, you gotta work harder, man. I've split my consciousness across this area's feral beasts and fed on their stats to regenerate mine. Conveniently, I also use them to scout this area… We're not that far away from your main guild, right? Hehe! Feel free to call the main guild here and have them find me! But you know what will happen next, right, man? You'll lose all contribution points and the spotlight! You know that kid's identity, right? Everyone from your guild would lose a limb or more to save her and bring her back to her mother!" The demonic eye exuded laughter that scratched the hearts of everyone in the vicinity.
Leon hadn't parted his lips yet.
From this short exchange, he inferred a few things. This demon had caught someone's kid, and that someone was surely an important person in The Heaven Library Guild. The demon had been wounded, too. He's been using these forest beasts to heal himself and hide.
And his words clearly aimed to force Leon to not call his guild.
He wanted to draw Leon to his hideout and fight him alone!
That was the demon's game.
"You've caught an innocent kid and trapped her?" Leon flatly asked.
And if the demon's lips could be seen, everyone would see him sneering. "Yes. A spoiled and loved by everyone kid that had never left her home. Ah, man, you can't image how many bridges and sacrifices we've burned to catch that little brat… And now, I'm giving you a chance to be the hero! The hero!"
[You have received a quest — Save the kid(???) - A quest issued by the demon. You'll enter the demon's game and follow his map to find his hideout. You'll fight him to save the kid. Your reward? The kid! If you accept the quest and refuse to fulfill it, you'll become marked by the demon's insignia.]
[The demon's insignia — Every demon kind will see through your failure to play the demon's game. You'll be more prone to their demonic skills and rituals.]
"The hero? Of course I'll be the hero! How despicable and cruel can you be to kidnap an innocent kid away from her mother? To keep her alone in a dark and cold room?! I'll save her!" Leon accepted the quest and turned around, facing his girls with a peculiar smile.
Behind him, the demon's eye burst into black particles, laughing.
[You have accepted the demon's quest — Save the kid(???)]
[You have received new information.]
-
-
-
-
"He's gone, right?" Leon asked, his voice back to normal.
Celes and Louise nodded.
Leon licked his lips, not knowing where to start. "I've been through the Underworld's trails. I know that getting into trouble this way is one of the fastest ways to die. It's naive, stupid, and irresponsible. I should've called the main guild and brought them here, then just left with a little more fame."
A heavy silence dropped onto the party.
Leon continued. "But I went with that hero play and decided to play the demon's game. He's wounded, so he will simply plan to either use my body as a resource to heal himself or just kill me. I think it's the former since he must have noticed you, yet he didn't issue any quest to you."
"He knows we will go with you, Master." Celes quickly added.
"Yeah. He wants to heal and run away from this place…." Leon sighed and looked at the skies. "I might have a weak spot for kids… I wanted to have a family… Had many plans with Athena… I also went through some stuff when I was a kid… My mother's hug was what I needed to keep going."
Everyone silently looked at their master.
Even loud horses didn't dare to make a sound.
Louise's eyes flashed warmly, and she jumped to stay before her master. "There are always exceptions, Master!"
She alluded to his words when Louise received the dwarf quest.
Leon faintly smiled.
Celes remained on her seat and spoke to her master while twirling her umbrella, also alluding to something but much more recent. "You have the vampiress, the fox, and the dragon. Shall we drink some blood, Master?"
"We shall." Leon's heart warmed so much that he kept smiling.