Chapter 102 Bringing Eliza Up To Speed

|Contempt of the Many;

Type: Rare Active Skill

It is futile to attempt to use numbers to overwhelm the user of this skill as the more adversaries they face, the stronger they become.

For daring to be hostile against the Deadly Sin of Pride, those under the effect of this skill experience a reduction in strength that scales of how many hostiles are present.

The more hostiles there are, the greater the weakening effect, but this in turn increases the energy cost for the skill and reduces the duration exponentially. |

Pride stared at her skill's description before turning her gaze to the one knight who was able to dodge her slash by jumping upwards after enhancing his body via a strengthening skill.

"You...are suitable enough."

Before the knight could even comprehend what she meant, his vision tiled sideways as Pride had suddenly appeared behind him and swept him off his feet, literally.

He didn't even get the chance to hit the ground as a boot wearing leg slammed into his torso, cracking his armour and sending him flying into the distance.

**BAMM!!!

He crashed into a pile of trees that had been felled by Pride and was not given the opportunity to stand back up as Pride was already in front of him with her foot raised high.

**BAM!

She stomped her foot down on his chest, her absurd strength keeping him from getting back up to his feet.

"I feel like messing around so I'd be using you. Blame your weakness."

She then proceeded to beat up the knight with her bare hands, using enough force to inflict the maximum pain yet letting him keep his consciousness...and his life

This beat down continued until Eliza returned from healing the other knights but Pride continued to beat him up for another full minute while wearing a brilliant smile on her face before forcing him into the humiliating position the duo had encountered Evan and Sir Walsh in.

◇　◇　◇

By the time Eliza was done narrating, the trio had already gotten back to the town and Evan had changed torn clothes to another similar attire, but with a black cardigan this time.

He turned his gaze to Pride as the high demon looked elsewhere while whistling.

"Why?"

"NO reason whatsoever."

Pride replied as she continued avoiding Evan's gaze, making the young hero heave a sigh of exasperation.

Deciding to address the high demon's sadistic tendencies later, Evan brought up the more important topic of the group's next destination.

"So, given that none of us are as high levelled as a low rank scout demon, increasing our levels is number one on our priority list.

I happen to know a few dungeons where we can go to and increase our levels rapidly in a short period of time. Although they would be dangerous, it'd be more rewarding than the dingle floor dungeons I've been going to for the past few months.

Any questions?"

As he spoke, Eliza rose her hand with a questioning look on her face.

"Hmm? Ask away."

After being given the go ahead, Eliza began firing a barrage of questions at Evan, far too many questions for Evan to answer at once.

"So, what's this thing you called a 'demon'?

Is it that strange humanoid monster with wings that the both of you fought?

Why was it trying to kill you?

Why did you call it a 'low rank scout demon'?

Where did it come from?

Wha-."

"Hold up, will ya?!"

Evan had to interrupt her barrage of questions as it seemed that she would have kept on going for quite a while if he didn't.

Taking a deep breath, Evan thought about the fact that he hadn't really explained things in detail to Eliza. This made him grateful for the fact that she still decided to side with him even though he did not tell her his full goals.

'Though I won't say that, I have a feeling I might regret it if I told her how grateful I was.'

Evan shook off those thoughts and turned his gaze to Pride who was flipping through one of the catalogues from the clothes shop where they procured their outfits from.

'She's not gonna help.'

He turned back to Eliza who was silently pressuring him for answers with her deep sapphire eyes. The young hero began arranging all the information in his head, trying to filter out what he was not allowed to tell her and what he could not.

[The 'Eternal of Time and Destruction' says you can tell her everything besides the fact that you are not from this world.]

'Huh? I can?'

[The 'Eternal of Time and Destruction' says that the entity, 'Eliza Lane', has met majority of the requirements to know of the impending demon threat.

After all, she has seen and participated in a battle against a demon from G#30^.]

'I don't think the restrictions were that easy to break, though?'

[The 'Eternal of Time and Destruction' says that her case is different due to her circumstances.]

Evan felt like there was another reason but he decided to ignore it and explain the situation to Eliza who was visibly growing impatient.

He told her everything, from how he was one of the new generation seven heroes, to part of the truth of the invasion that occurred a thousand years ago and how the demons would return soon.

He also informed her of the real reason he left the duke's mansion, to Pride's identity and why he unsealed her, to the reason Xakon tried to kill him and why he could not let Xakon return to the demon world.

When he was done, Eliza massaged her fore head with her hand as she attempted to digest all the information she was suddenly fed with.

"Oh, Laurene is also one of the new generation seven heroes. I can't tell you what her powers are though, I'd lose part of mine if I do so without her permission."

"Evan, be quiet."

"Yes, ma'am."

Evan obediently kept shut after hearing Eliza's annoyed voice. The fifteen-year-old then turned her gaze to the demon who was happily looking through the previous year's outfit catalogues with a smile on her face.

"So, you mean 'she', is actually more powerful and higher ranked than that 'demon', Xakon, you called him?"

"Yep. She's one of the famed 'Seven strongest invaders' from a thousand years ago."

Upon hearing the young hero's reply, Eliza thought about the stories she had been told about the most powerful invaders but could not connect them to the young-looking woman who was trying to create a new fashion trend beside her.

She heaved another sigh of exasperation and turned her gaze to Evan, thinking that the boy she happened to meet in Luka, a nearly a year ago, had such an identity.

"Honestly, I don't fully understand everything you told me. It's quite a lot to take in at once. But I get the general idea.

The bottom line is you had some sort of deal with the goddess where she would grant you a wish if you took out the...um, demons that are gonna invade, am I right?"

"So far, so good."

"Okay. And you decided to recruit one of said demons who happens to have a grudge against their ruler as your ally, and she also happens to be the 'demon of Pride', who was sealed at the bottom of the Graveyard of the Arrogant."

"Yup."

"I really don't know what being the 'Demon of Pride' entails and I am not even gonna bother with asking. Moving on, you left home due to the reason that your growth would be limited if you stayed there. Met me in Luka, before coming over here where you nearly got killed by a demon who identified you as a hero."

"That just about sums it all up."

Eliza nodded in affirmation before deciding to filter out the parts that sounded crazy like him meeting the goddess 'Artemisia' in person or the fact that Pride is one of the reasons that dozens of island countries met their ends a thousand years ago.

"So where did you say our next destination was again?"

"I feel like we are skipping a lot of steps but I'm gonna ignore it. Our next destination is a dungeon known by many as the 'Mansion of the Damned.'

The location is in the country that shares borders with us and the Desert Kingdom. The City State of Magic, Kasteblum."

"Kasteblum, huh? I always wanted to go there once."

Eliza spoke in a tone filled with yearning, thinking about how she had wanted to be a great mage while she was younger.

"Kasteblum? That place still exists? I thought Gluttony ate everything there?"

Pride forcefully ended Eliza's reverie with her casually ominous words, further reminding Eliza of the fact that the woman beside her was indeed over a thousand years old.

The reason was simple, the last time that the City State of Kasteblum had been recorded to ever be under the threat of annihilation, was a thousand years ago when one of the 'Invaders' from another world attacked the city and razed it to the ground.