12 Undead Catacombs
"I'm so… tired." She scrunched up at her desk in her office. Her head rested against her arms on the desk with closed eyes, as the events that happened in the last two weeks resurfaced.
Ayin had subjected her to battle theory, as well as basic eldritch energy control, forcing her to shape eldritch spheres, arrows and so on for three thirds of each day, with the one third covering the means on clothing, things necessary for woman, and a multitude of other things. After one straight week of theory, she put her to the test, making her hone all what she learned the week prior.
Under her arms, which she was now using as an arm rest, lay thousands of papers, scattered on the desk and around her—she had used them for the lessons Ayin had given her.
[You're overreacting! You were just fine several moments ago, so why are you acting like you haven't rested?] Ayin voiced her thoughts—she couldn't understand why Lilith was suddenly acting this way.
'Rest? You think 30 minutes of rest a day for the last two weeks is enough?'
[Certainly, one can live off 30 minutes of rest.]
'You must be going by the terms of a god. We aren't like gods, who can thrive off divine or eldritch energy; for us to live, we need food, shelter, rest, and a number of other things.' Slowly standing up from her chair, she swayed from side to side, making her way through the hallways.
[You're a demon. A demon naturally has double the stamina of an ordinary human, so even though I may be going by the terms of a god, you should still be able to live off half an hour of sleep per day as a demon.]
'That might've been true if you didn't constantly overwork me…'
[It was a noble sacrifice needed for you to complete the lessons within the two-week time frame.]
Once she reached her room, she fell onto her bed, and her exhausted body finally got to relax after two weeks.
'Let me... rest…'
Her accumulated exhaustion had caused her to reach the point where she fell asleep seconds after her head hit the pillow—she slept soundly, as Ayin observed.
[I may not understand the logic of humans, as I've always been a god, but they are reliable when it comes to a multitude of things. Lilith! Your journey starts tomorrow; rest now; you'll need it…] A smile formed across her face—an unexpected smile for an evil goddess.
~~~
The bright morning sun had started rising into the sky, filling the world with much-needed warmth and light.
As the light shown through the window, falling onto Lilith's body, it revealed a beautiful young woman who seemed like she was sleeping peacefully. She lied there in a relaxed position, and as her face gave a look of peace, no one could guess she was a demon, nor that she was forcibly overworked.
The only difference she had now compared to before was the peaceful smile that went across her face.
The young woman's eyes slowly opened before she covered them, blocking the bright sun from entering her eyes.
"I feel refreshed as if I was reborn…" She sat up, stretching her arms. 'I presume I'll begin with raiding dungeons?'
[Precisely, you'll be raiding an E-rank dungeon. However, don't think it'll be easy to implement the battle theory that I taught you—there's a huge difference between learning battle theory and actually implementing it in your battles.]
'I know… You've said this from the start…' Lilith scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up. She left her room on the second floor and headed downstairs into the kitchen. 'I'm craving for human flesh.'
Suddenly, as she craved for human flesh, a leg appeared within her hand; she placed it on a platter within the kitchen and cut it up into edible slices.
Sliding the slices onto a glass plate, she walked over to the round dining table and dug her fork into a slice. As soon as it reached her mouth, it was delicious.
[Satiate Hunger: Daily Quest Completed]
[10 exp have been earned]
[50/200 exp]
Seeing her exp rise, a smile formed on her face. This was a familiar screen that would appear once a day, and she had already risen to level 2 by doing this daily task.
She opened her status screen...
[User: Lilith]
[Race: Half-Demon]
[Level: 2]
[50/200 EXP]
[HP: 40/40]
[Strength: 20]
[Agility: 20]
[Stamina: 20]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 2]
'As I'm currently a strength-focused demon. I should allocate one to strength and the other to agility…'
She checked her stats again after allocating the stat points.
[User: Lilith]
[Race: Half-Demon]
[Level: 2]
[50/200 EXP]
[HP: 40/40]
[Strength: 21]
[Agility: 21]
[Stamina: 20]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 0]
'Not bad. Not bad at all. My stats are double those of the average recently contracted E-Rank Hunter. Demons are fortunate with their stats, starting off at double that of a human's.' Lilith finished eating, cleaned up, and changed into a black dress. 'However, a human's strength is insignificant when alone, but when gathered together, their strength rivals a demons.'
As she set off from her house, heading for the dungeon, a memory of Ayin flashed through her head.
[Since humans' accumulated strength can rival a demon's, you'll need to grow strong to the point where their numbers are insignificant.]
~~~
The location of the dungeon was quite isolated.
There the gate floated, right in the center of a solitary, ruined intersection on the outer side of the city. It was a circular, black gate, with the void particles within swirling slowly. As the gate was in a ruined, isolated area, there were no civilians or police who could seal off the surroundings around the gate.
If a civilian was desperate, either for money or fame, they could enter the gate and no one would know; the region was simply out of the police's jurisdiction; it had been abandoned, a lost region.
As soon as a gate opens, a countdown begins. 14 days was the amount of time a party of hunters had to clear the dungeon for an E-rank dungeon, that is, before the demons could start leaking through the gate and invade Earth. For higher-ranking dungeons, the amount of time would be higher, depending on the dungeon's rank.
'This'll be my first step in taking my revenge…' Tightly clutching her fist until flood came. 'I'll give them the death they deserve…'
She stepped through the gate. Immediately, the surroundings changed from a ruined city to a damp, eerie catacomb. As it belonged to the catacombs archetype, the demons found were of the undead race, a lower-rank race of demon where they'd roam around the catacombs mindlessly.
[New quest received]
[You have met all the requirements to trigger the quest, "Demon" Hunter]
[Objective: Defeat the Dungeon Boss. Failure to do so will result in a penalty]
[Penalty: Stat Regression]
[Reward: 1000 exp, 3 stat points]
'The system is blatantly asking me to slaughter other demons... Fine by me… I was planning on doing it even without this blatant request…'
The reason was simple: there were two types of demons: the naturally born, such as the demon gods and several others, and the corrupted ones. The difference between the two is that naturally born demons were the manifestation of pure eldritch energy, while the corrupted, who were formerly humans, animals, and several other races, were turned into demons by a source of eldritch energy.
In doing so, their intelligence dropped to a low level, and they could no longer differentiate between friend and foe. They would attack any of those who came before them, whether it be a demon, a human, or even a god, thus giving them their name, "corrupted ones."
'Now then… Let's begin the hunt...' She set off from the dungeon's gate, slowly and cautiously making her way around, searching for any sign of demons.
As this dungeon was of the undead archetype, it generally contained undead skeletons for low-rank dungeons, especially when it came to E-rank dungeons. As such, she listened for the faint sound of grinding bones—footsteps. In no time, she heard what she was searching for and headed closer to the source of that sound.
She only had to turn a corner to get there.
'There you are…'
She found herself staring at the distant back of a skeleton swordsman. It marched slowly and steadily, like a zombie, as if it were a guard set to watch over this place. Any loyalty or chivalry it could've had from its past life were nowhere to be seen, now reduced to a mindless skeleton that wandered these eerie catacombs.
Lilith needed to be quick about this, as it wasn't the only pair of footsteps she heard. There were, no doubt, more skeletons not far from here. She dashed forward, nimbly moving towards her target.
Upon arriving before the skeleton swordsman, she sent a punch flying; the punch landed on the skeleton's chest. The punch was strong to the point where it shattered its chest and caused it to lose balance.
Using this chance, she sent another punch, this time aiming for the base of its neck.
Like glass, the skeleton's swordsman's neck shattered, and its now soulless body dropped to the ground, lifeless. It had died without having a chance to even retaliate, nor could it even take a look at the one who killed it.
[Skeleton Swordsman (Lv. 5) - Defeated!]
[+20 exp]
[70/200 exp]
'As expected, they're weak individually, but when together, they were strong. No different than humans…'
Determined to clear the dungeon, she set out in search of more... prey.
