E.

Chapter 3: E.

The silver sword in Bryce's hand went through a significant change. It was no longer plain and silver and became a classy, dark crimson sword. A design of thorny vines spread across the blade, then actual tendrils coiled around Bryce's waist as he held onto the sword.

He felt mana pumping into his body and vice versa, a connection he had never felt in his entire life increased his strength, and it allowed him to understand what he had been missing.

It was mana and means to coat his sword with it. His swordsmanship became complete with just the addition of that fantasy element; his talent unlocked, Bryce finally could start improving himself further, scratch the limits of humanity and go beyond!

There wasn't any deep purpose behind his 'odd feeling', either. It had been only warning and pushing him to train a swordsmanship, preparing him for the inevitable event, which had already happened.

And from that moment onward, everything was within Bryce's hands.

He was a descendant of a demon lord, at least halfway, and those existences never cared about others and their opinions. Demon Lords paved their own path, free of shackles of fate and worldly limitations, and only those of equal power could bar their way and question them(in extreme cases, they clashed for life and death, a disaster of worldwide level). On the other hand, daring challengers could only try their luck, and loyal followers could only follow the doctrine of their master.

Bryce was young blood and hadn't even taken proper steps in another world yet. Let alone ideas, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do in a new environment, and his heart was currently muddled with a desire to kill the troll before him.

"DEMON!" the troll howled and charged straight at Bryce.

It was lost in madness and fear. But the former prevailed as it was no longer cautious before the demon, even as more demonic energy oozed out of him, it just formed fists and extended them forth.

In its furious form, the troll was stronger and faster than before. The latter hadn't surprised Bryce as he glowered at the monster with widely opened eyes. He just lifted his sword, tilted it close to his chest, and waited; he waited for that fool of a troll to come closer.

And when it did, Bryce drew a crimson arc, cutting the soft flesh into a gash, the weapon collided with a fist, and both glared at each other. Of course, the troll had another free hand, so it hailed it up, hovering above him as though channeling mana into its fist, and prepared to smash Bryce's head.

But then, the thorny veins invaded the monster's wound, rooting inside and gnawing on its flesh.

[-354 HP!] That had been the first cut.

[-39 HP!]

[Your HP is full.]

The troll's other fist finally descended onto Bryce's face; upon the impact, he wheeled to Gengo while still standing straight, and his cold, red eyes turned warm. His friend was safe, only bleeding, but that soon will be mended, too.

[You have lost 54 HP!]

[39 HP has been sucked out of the troll.]

[Your HP is full.]

As long as Gengo was fine, Bryce could fight without any worries. He retraced his vision, eyes chilling, and his face scrunched with hatred. Yet, he smiled, satisfaction billowing within him.

When the troll took off its fist to attack again, Bryce promptly thrust his sword into the laceration he had left on it, and following his vines, he easily stuffed his sword deep inside. His thrust did more damage than before, immense pain freezing the monster.

It knelt and waved its hand, trying to shake off the vines as Bryce had drawn his sword back.

And as Bryce saw the monster on its knees, crying in anguish with maddened eyes, his bloodline stirred, and the image of a golden-haired woman clouded his mind. He saw her moving forward to the troll as well, but her enemy was clad in steel armor, his level was much higher, and he wasn't a presence a mere level one could come close to.

He was wounded worse than Bryce's enemy, his giant body dotted with lacerations, blood spilling out in abundance, and his deformed face lacked eyes, nose, and lips.

Maids followed that woman, their beautiful faces lacking any emotion as they respectfully followed their master, and when the woman raised her hand, the bloody and thorny vines climbed up her arm, they all knelt behind her, rearing their ears to a speech of the demon lord.

[Inferior creature, a mistake of the world. Surely, you haven't actually thought you could face me without the regalia of a demon lord, have you? If you have, that's not how you acquire it, Troll King. Though I can't blame you, your race only knows how to eat, truly inferior.]

She turned her eyes behind her and whispered. [A speech worthy of the demon lord, right? I can finally kill this shit and return home, right? All of you won't pester me to make any grand speeches for at least fifty years. That's the order.]

The expressionless faces of maids twitched, and one of them, exasperated, stood up. [You could've waited until killing this lanky trash, Master!]

The Demon Lord gazed at them without saying a word, then turned back to the troll king. She stretched her fingers, inviting her thorny veins onto her palm, which formed a dark red rose. The same pattern crossed the troll's body, and he felt imminent death as the flower bloomed on his head.

[Lucky you are, I'm a lazy girl, unlike a few demon lords… E stands for the execution.]

The rose billowed, then burst into thousands of petals, swirling around the headless body, which soon heavily dropped onto the ground. The Troll King was dead.

[Home!]

The Demon Lord turned into a bat, then flew out of the cave. While her entrance had been cool, her departure left much to be desired. The maids surely would complain about that back in their castle.

And as that memory ended, Bryce saw the same veins across the troll's body, and before he noticed, his sword protruded from the monster's eye socket; he couldn't remember himself doing that, so it was surely his body acting on its own while he watched the scene from the past.

"E stands for the execution."

The troll died in the same way one of the troll kings did, a worthy death.

[You have killed the Cave Troll.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have…]

In an abandoned, dark castle, a woman that Bryce would recognize now stood, her eyes hovering on a hole in the red carpet. She was in a throne room where her master usually slept; hibernation had been her favorite hobby. Glancing at the throne stirred her memories of the golden-haired demon lord.

The head maid smiled, her green eyes watered, and she became slightly redder.

She then trained her vision entirely on the hole in the ground as though she wanted to etch that sight into her heart.

"Master, another wave of summoned scum has arrived in our world. Despicable bastards have made contact with the demon lords, humans, and beasts. At last, your son has been summoned." Her green eyes turned into slits, and her long legs, hidden within her long maid dress, became a scaled, thick tail. "I will do what you couldn't, I will find and kill him. The bloodline of that hero scum must be gone! Your blood can not be tainted by that waste of air!"

As the head maid shrieked, some of her streaks of black hair turned white and hissed, her green eyes shone like lanterns and everything she had cast her eyes on turned into a stone.

"Failure of a hero who couldn't resist the allure of my master and failed to do his task, a failure who ra-" the crime worse than death couldn't go through the maid's throat, she froze, crying endlessly, then her shrieks soon crumbled the whole castle after all of it turned into stone.

Though she couldn't bring herself to think and speak about the hero's crime, she could well imagine the fruit of it, and her desire to erase it swelled her heart with killing intent.

The woman, just like the castle, was long since gone.

A few pairs of red eyes saw that event, fortunately, they didn't hear the maid's words, for she had been sane enough to not let even a word to the world.

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