CH 18

It’s not waste material, but effective use

In the middle of greenery of forest, far from the village.

The sun shone through the gaps in the trees as a man walked aimlessly in search of the rumoured ‘Nightwalker’.

Before the incident in the Kingdom of Light, he wanted to compete with the lords forest in the east, west and south except the north, who are said to be bandits hunter around the Vajra wall, but no trace of them could be found in any of them.

“……”

The people of the “Demon Tribe”, known as the fighting tribe, grew up in an environment where the strongest were the most important.

From an early age, they are armed with spears and compete with their brothers and sisters.

From birth, they are lone warriors.

Among them, Asura was the one who stood out at a young age and boasted unrivaled strength.

The Demon Tribe has very high magical power and excellent physical abilities. Even if they are not exercised, they have a very high combat effectiveness. It is a group of people who keep “Oni” in their hearts.

As everyone cultivated their magical powers and fought each other day in and day out, Asura’s eyes were drawn to martial arts.

The martial arts, which had been passed down among the weak humans and subhumans, seemed to have a power that the demon exterminators did not possess.

At first he was ridiculed by everyone in the village.

They ridiculed him as a symbol of weakness, using martial arts as a foothold for the weak.

However, the day Asura returned from learning martial arts in a human village, the fierce fighters of the demon tribe were defeated one by one in front of him.

In front of a demon who has both power and skill, they was defeated without any difficulty.

Asura cut off here as having no opponent to fight against, and set out shortly after the one-time breeding season of the demons.

Several more years passed after that.

Although he wandered around gathering information and battling rumoured strongmen, until now he had not been able to meet an opponent who could satisfy his desire.

This time too, he had heard of the existence of monsters around the Vajra Wall, but had yet to encounter anything that matched that description.

“……!”

After he threw down his luggage and released a strange aura, he hastily took his stance because he felt an aura that was coming at an incredible speed.

The existence, which was unknown exactly, just silently landed in front of Asura.

“…… It’s suspicious that a little kid would appear in the depths of a forest like this …… Who are you?”

It was a teenager with lustrous black hair and pupils that were even darker than the night.

Just looking at those eyes, it was as if one was going to be sucked in by the boundless darkness.

Even Asura, whose blood of demons drives himself to the battlefield, and dissatisfied because he did not encounter a battle that would satisfy him… At this moment, he felt a little sense of anxiety.

“You’re the one who’s been looking for the “Night Walker” around here, and you’re called a “Oni”, right? I came here today to talk to you about something.”

Is this guy the so-called “Nightcrawler” who hunts mountain bandits?

I could feel an unnatural aura and majesty on his body.

No, it doesn’t matter who he is.

Although he felt a sense of the anxiety, Asura obeyed his bloodline and set up his spear.

Hopefully this hunger of his would be more or less satisfied, he so expected.

♢♢♢♢

“–Gah, ah ……”

Asura fell to his knees.

At that moment he was in the centre of the huge circular clearing that had formed in the forest.

His clothes and armour were blown away, the upper half of his body showed massive wounds of all sizes, and the spear in his hand had been mercilessly broken.

“What a shock. I didn’t expect you to be so strong.”

“….!”

The rage mode, which is said to be the true form of the Demon Tribe, relied on the ability to transcend boundaries by giving up most of one’s rationality before destroying the enemy, had now been unlocked. In front of his eyes …… turned around with a bright smile that had not changed in the slightest as he looked down at the unharmed teenager over here.

In front of him was a “Demon” incarnation.

Although his clothes were a little torn, he has deep magical power lodged in his body and stood there leisurely carrying the sword that was dyed black.

The gap between them was completely unbridgeable.

No matter how desperately he tried to use any kind of unconventional power, no matter what strategies and techniques he used, the gap between him and this boy only grew wider.

The gap between his strength and that of this boy was not of the same level, and he felt as if he was swinging a spear at the sky.

“It’s been a long time since I had good exercising. Well, you must have a lot to say, but I won this time.”

Seeing the refreshing smile contrary to his transcendent power, Asura felt the same feeling again.

It was because he had tasted defeat at a time when everything about him had been completely overwhelmed that he could easily understand what that feeling was.

It was a sense of fear.

Like a human being who fears the gods, Asura unwittingly felt a deep fear of the boy.

“Then, I’m leaving. If we meet again somewhere, let’s fight again. Goodbye, adieu~”

And then… the fear turned into awe.

“Please wait!”

Looking at the teenager who responded to himself with ease, turning his back and waving away as if nothing had happened, Asura, who had come back to his senses, hastily shouted out in order to stop him.

“What?”

“- by all means, could you please allow me, Asura, to join the end of Your Excellency’s vassals. Although I am still immature, I will certainly be a force to be reckoned with for Your Excellency. I implore you …… to grant me my wish.”

“………… eh.”

He kneeled on Chrono, who has stopped walking smoothly, hung his head as he offered his petition with uncontainable excitement and enthusiasm and sincerity.

For Asura, who had always sought to be powerful, he could only imagine that this young man was something like a demon god or a god of destruction.

There was nothing more worthy of being entrusted with his spear but him.

♢♢♢

In short, after proposing to pay him for his weapon before talking about anything else, he followed Crono’s lead and headed for the Vajra wall that served as the residence.

After crossing many mountains, jungles and valleys at his speed, his destination was in sight.

“……”

The sun poured down on a valley that was surrounded by cliffs whose full extent could not be known without looking up.

The combination of the deep green of the cliffs, the clear waterfall cascading down, and the black reflective stone wall at the end of the cliff was enough to fascinate many people.

‘It’s a great view, isn’t it? You should be able to climb this wall too. I’ll wait for you up there.”

Leaving Asura, who had been robbed of his vision by the fantastical view, Chrono easily jumped halfway up the Vajra wall.

It was impossible to imitate Crono’s skill. But he still reached out to the rock face in order to make the effort to climb up.

With this alone, he understood the reason why this rock wall was called the ‘Vajra Wall’. The moment he touched it, a chill ran down his spine at the overly hard feel.

He didn’t think it was something that belonged to this world at all.

A moment of thought such as this was interrupted by the sight of it coming from above.

Panicked, Asura hurriedly drove his powerful body up the cliff.

“You came.”

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”

Asura, who had climbed the cliff, noticed the change and stood between Chrono on the cliff and the door behind him as if to shelter him.

“Please stand back for a moment.” (Asura)

“You said stand back …… I was already standing on the edge of the cliff. Am I supposed to fall?” (Chrono)

From the gap between the two open doors, the face of a large snake emerged.

As if it were flowing slowly, the huge orange body, that could make people feel a considerable amount of weight crawled out.

Covered in dragon-like scales, the huge body of more than 10 metres squirmed and moved straight towards Crono.

“I’ll take care of this…” (Asura)

“Ah, no, no. This kid is a doorman.” (Chrono)

“…… doorman, huh?” (Asura)

As the words said, the snake rubbed against Chrono like a cat, constantly rubbing his head and body.

“Yeah. This kid called “Dosan”. Then there was another one ……”

The silent object slid down and rode on top of the head of the snake, which looked like a raised scythe.

“This is “Hisahide”, who guard my house when I’m not home. After all, I’m short of manpower, so even if it’s the owl and snake. I want to make use everything.”

“…… You two, I’m Asura. I’ll be looking after you from now on.”

Asura greeted the flying owl and the serpent with a soft greeting, and then secretly convinced why the forest lords were not found.

After all, it was supposed to be the giant snake in the east, and the white owl with evil eyes in the west, forming a sphere of influence.

“Dosan sometimes spits out lava, so we have to teach him a lesson properly. Well, let’s go in then.”

♢♢♢

Beyond the gold-decorated black door-it was a completely different world.

Once inside, there was a vast, deep space with high ceilings and a proper bonfire illuminating the black-coloured floor and walls, creating a solemn atmosphere.

It was a somewhat strange, mysterious and rather uncanny atmosphere.

The most impressive thing about it is that if you look down, you can see that it is so beautifully polished that it reflects your own form.

The adamantine walls, famous for being indestructible, have been ground to perfection.

According to Chrono, it was “made according to the impression of a high class hotel”.

In addition to this, he also proudly introduced the passageways on the side that allow water to flow down, and the lounge with a clear river running through it. It was so unrealistic that his mind went blank.

Even though he understands that he shouldn’t do it, he slows down his pace due to the difference in design as if the world is different, and he repeats the blunder that makes Chrono wait.

Then, after passing through 『Demin King’s Room』, which had a completely different harsh atmosphere from the rest of the space, he was told to stay here.

While being overwhelmed by the throne in front of him, which was reminiscent of the heavenly world, a question came to his mind.

Why would a man of that magnitude call himself a demon king?

It is true that the demon king is also very powerful, but to have the same title as such an ugly person is incomprehensible.

(…No, everything has to be done according to Chrono-sama’s will. After all, it is his business. There must be foresight that I can’t detect.)

“I’ve kept you waiting.”

From the doorway to the right of the throne, Crono returned, accompanied by Dosan and Hisahide.

Asura immediately knelt down.

“No such thing at all. The fact that you took time for this humble me is a great honour for me ……”

“Mmm, yeah… then, Asura. Raise your head now.”

“Yes!”

Since he had never belonged to anyone, he was not used to doing anything rude. Although there was some such anxiety in his heart, he still raised his head in accordance with the permission.

There was Chrono, who had arrived carrying something …… and handed over a black spear with a special shape.

“…… this is ……”

“This ia waste material…. No, this is something that is sharpened out of adamantine wall, and its name is …… ‘Black Heavenly Halberd’.