Chapter 144: You must be kidding me

[Sufferings of Misfortune]

[1st Suffering—Suffering of Man]

[Remaining Time: 0Y/11M/27D/3H/2M/11S]

Standing on a tree branch, Mark breathed out a puff of morning air, eyes sharp. He had just put away the Boss and the Minotaur into his World Space and was currently looking around with a rather surprised expression.

"It's so quiet here," he said.

Before him, about two kilometers away, stood a towering wall. It dwarfed him. It dwarfed the gigantic trees of the Demon World. And it dwarfed everything he had known in size. It awed him into a feeling of fear just at a glance.

The wall seemed beyond even the heights of the sky—and before it, all felt tiny.

Fear had never stopped Mark, though, so he clenched his mouth and stared at it again. The wall loomed over him, choking his breath; early threatening to eat him up with just its appearance.

He breathed heavily as the forest around him quietened even more.

This was the wall to the Demon City. After walking for around three days—barely escaping sometimes from Demons who could utterly overpower him—he had finally reached it.

The city of demons, a place of savagery.

Of sin.

"My heart is thumping," he said, sweating. "I can't believe I am being intimidated by a mere wall."

Reol'ran nodded from his mind, also aware of his arrival.

"The Demon City's walls, it is built to keep away colossal, of course, it would be huge, and of course, a mere Middle Demon would cower. Why? Because this wall alone had killed foes much mightier than you. This wall has an aura of slaughter that I wouldn't dare face myself."

Mark faced his palm against it, feeling a sort of determination in his heart.

"One day," he muttered, and then, looked at the Wall cautiously.

Because general violence—not to mention murder—is prohibited inside the city, many Upper Demons stood in ambush around this part of the forest. On the way, Mark had come across some Upper Demons, rounding them without moving even kilometers close in worry. He didn't want to become food.

Even though Upper Demons were supposedly intelligent and somewhat sociable, he didn't care. No way he was going to interact with one without being sure of his survival. And suddenly, Mark's demonic countenance twisted into a frown.

In the distant forestry, something stirred.

"An Upper Demon?"

"Don't run, it will think of you as a Demonling and ignore you."

Mark nodded, not trying to run.

Demons judged the strength of their demonic enemies in two ways. One, by judging them by their size—Demonlings were generally human-sized, Lower Demons were the size of a car, and Middle Demons were as big as a huge bus.

Upper Demons?

They were generally as huge as buildings. Each one of their movements caused a general stir in the savage forestry of the Demon World and that was a big thing—Demonlings were like ants. Truly, in size, too.

When he had been a Demonling, he hadn't noticed it but to an Upper Demon who was as big as a building, a Demonling truly was no different from an ant. Even for Middle Demons, Demonlings seemed at most like bugs.

The second way that Demons judged each other's strength was by the size of the enemy's Soul Sense. Since Mark looked like a Demonling in size and his Soul Sense was contained within himself, no Upper Demon actually gave him any heed.

He was just an above-average Demonling.

Of course, funnily enough, no Demonling dared to come and test his mettle either. By just glancing at him, the Demonlings felt instinctive fear—he looked very competent. Very strong. Nobody wanted to mess with the strong.

The Upper Demon, a huge creature that seemed to have been made entirely of smock, stared at Mark and as its thunderous gaze fell on him, paused.

Mark started.

"Run!"

Wings spread out on his back and Mark flew. He flew with speed he had never displayed. Even though his body was not the size of the Upper Demon, his wings were about that huge—his wings were 20 meters!

Mark glanced back, golden eyes gleaming.

It's following. Is it targeting me? Why?

He had learned to use Dream Wings demonic trick a bit better in the past few days. Now, he could use the Trick just in time to prevent his wings from slamming into an obstacle by turning his wings into a dream and back into reality when needed.

It made his flight much cleaner.

With his bullet-like sharp physique—the condensed and masculine version of his 12-meter-sized demonic body in the size of two meters—he could fly much faster. So fast, he could feel himself break a sort of barrier as he moved with an immense sound.

The creature followed, walking but reaching the same speed as Mark's flight.

"It can move at the speed of sound by walking?!"

And why is it running after me? For fun? Another reason?

"Where will you run to, little Middle Demon?" The creature thundered, a weird giggle echoing across Mark's mind.

Mental Abilities?

"You can't run anywhere!"

Slightly above the speed of sound, Mark moved 350 meters per second and he only needed six seconds to reach the Wall. He reached the wall, hitting hard against the wall. The stone crunched beneath his demonic foot as he skidded to a stop and his wings turned, moving upwards instead of to the side.

"Oh, I like that, your wings are big. But it ends here, little guy. You killed my Naga, so I have been on your tails, but it's fine—you look much better than that snake. I will throw you into my belly and you will act as its cleaner. As long as you do, I won't kill you. I wonder what kind of things have been messing up my insides for a while."

Mark groaned as he flew up even faster.

That fucking Naga?

Suddenly, he felt a sharp Soul Sense surround him, and unlike his own Soul Sense, this one was heavier.

Actually having true physical power in the Soul Sense? Psychokinesis?

But thankfully, the Demon didn't use it to pull on him, and instead, used it to target its Demonic Trick on him. But that only made Mark feel a sense of horror. What kind of demonic trick was it going to use?

And will it not push him down with its tangible Soul Sense even if he escaped the Demonic Trick?

Mark turned. "Fuck you, you bitch," he shouted.

Using his own Soul Sense, he pulled the tangible Soul Sense of the enemy that was around him into his World Space, essentially cutting it off of the thunderous Demon on the ground. All that Soul Sense immediately dissolved into scattered power.

The creature groaned in pain.

Pain of the soul.

"You are a mere Middle Demon! Wh—What did you do to my Soul Sense? No Middle Demon can hurt an Upper Demon!"

Mark sneered and flew further up. He hadn't escaped yet, the Upper Demon's solid Soul Sense couldn't drag him down because of his constant 'eating', but its demonic trick was coming, and Mark's Defensive Magic Aura couldn't help him escape a Tier 3 attack.

Think, think, think.

A cold gaze flashed across Mark's face. He absolutely couldn't use Clown's Circus here. The demons outside the Trick's influence would all want a piece of him if he did that. That was an ability anyone would covet.

How can I escape? How?

He would never let himself be caught, never let himself be enslaved. Not until he lived.

The ability arrived and Mark's face changed.

Tier 3 Low-level Demonic Trick—Forced Enslavement.

It was a demonic trick that could force other weaker creatures to feel loyal to the Upper Demon. It was an amazing Demonic Trick.

Mark just looked down with a smirk. S~eaʀᴄh the nôvel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

It was a Heart Type Demonic Trick.

His cultivation had just reached Tier 2 Pinnacle but his Heart, Dream, and Plant Poison Resistances were…

[Heart Resistance—Tier 3 (Low)]

The ability was utterly useless on him and before the dumbfounded Demon could catch up with him, he flew high above the clouds and vanished. The creature bellowed in rage and screamed, Mark felt his heart tremble.

He was the natural nemesis of the creature below.

"HOW DARE YOU!" It screamed with ardent rage.

Mark once again turned back, but this time, he felt calmer. Yet, that calm was also broken as immediately as it was born. Suddenly, the screaming Upper Demon looked behind it with a sharp, irritated turn and then froze in horror.

Another creature was behind it, at least two times its size.

The gigantic creature grabbed the smoke-like figure and amidst the sound of crunching bones, threw it into its mouth. Green blood dropped to the ground like a miniature waterfall. The Upper Demon was dead.

"Annoying," the giant muttered.

It didn't even deign to glance at Mark and ambled towards the Black Wall, when it reached, it just passed through the wall and vanished. Mark felt his heart finally calm down and then, he stared around in further surprise.

The sky was full of Demons just like the land was.

He saw something gigantic flying towards the wall—straight at him. A huge shadow.

Fuck…

He flew to the side just in time to let the giant demon crash into the Wall and vanish. If he had been a second late, he would have become part of the many demon corpses stuck to that giant creature.

I am in the dangerous part of the Demon World…

Another giant headed towards him and this time, Mark looked towards the Wall and clenched his teeth, then flew headfirst at it. Hatefully, he didn't vanish into it like Harry Potter vanished into his train platform and instead just hit his head incredibly hard.

"Place your hands on the wall and think you want to enter it!"

He did that.

[To enter the Demon Cities scattered across the Demon World, you have to have the approval of the Will of the Demon World.]

Hundreds of Upper Demons flew towards the Wall from all sides and Mark knew one thing. If he headed down or up, it didn't matter now. Somehow, he had reached a dangerous area—wherever his Soul Sense moved, it was a flood of demons.

Wherever he moved, he was so dead.

The Violet Screen flickered again.

[Pay with a 'Seal of Destiny' or a 'Portal Key' to gain the Entrance Permit to all the Demon Cities in the World.]

He only had one Portal Key, but Mark didn't even mind losing it anymore and accepted the deal in his mind. The Portal Key within his World Space vanished into some and as he touched the Wall, his hands sank into it.

His body also began to sink as if it was water, not a wall.

Darkness fell on his vision.

Finally, Mark had stepped foot into the true World of Demons.