Chapter 65: Hellish Training: I Want to Go Home! Part 2 - It was Easier than I Expected It to be

{Day 2/14}

After waking up, I got terrible back pain. "D*mn, I'm like an old man at this point."

But I couldn't show any weakness tight now, since Luna and Dawn might be watching, and I want to impress Ryou too.

So a simple back pain wouldn't do a thing to me!

After doing my best to make makeshift clothes with the fur that the hellhound I killed has I put them on, well... The only thing that I made was a jacket so that I wouldn't get cold.

Since if I keep relying on my Fire Manipulation skill, it'll exhaust me faster.

I already reported my tasked to Dawn, and I got the other three new tasks now.

So I did them immediately, and I sure was lucky to get an easy task.

Like my first task was to travel 6,000m, so while traveling I did the other two tasked.

The other two were getting a type of mantis called the boar mantis and the other one is collecting 500 leaves from the trees here.

The boar mantis was easy to catch because of one thing, it's the same size as a boar and as hairy as a boar.

Also, good thing that Dawn said that I can use my Space Cutter as a way to teleport the leaves and the boar mantis to her at Akemi and Ryou's house.

I don't know why Dawn needs the leaves, but I better not judge what she's gonna do to it.

So the mission for all tasks 1, 2, and 3. Accomplished.

That was easier than I expected it to be.

{Day 3/14}

Haruki Hotaru here, almost dead from what I'm doing right now.

When I finally got to the destination that Dawn was tasking me to go to yesterday, there was a waterfall near that location, and today's task involves the waterfall that I saw.

And I can say that the water is freaking cold! Why hasn't it frozen yet? It seems odd that water isn't frozen here on my location, which is already 6,000m high.

Thankfully, Dawn was nice enough to only give me that as a task for today. [Task: Sit at the bottom of the waterfall until you see the moon come. Naked.] Seems like an easy thing to do right? No, it's not actually! It's really cold, and it's still in the middle of the day.

And since she says that I should sit here naked, I'm doing it. So right now, I'm not wearing anything at all!

This is the worst training that I have had in my entire life, please I want to go home now. "Can I even do this..?" That is what I asked myself

No, what am I even saying? If everyone did the same thing as me before they've inherited the names of the fallen Archdukes, then I can do this.

"...." Of course I can do this! Dawn said that there are no rules.

This means, with the help of Fire Manipulation I've heated the water to about the right temperature and finished the task for today.

"Hehe, good thing that my entire life is literally a cheat on its own." Thank you mysterious beautiful blonde girl! You'll forever be my goddess and savior!

{Day 4/14}

Why didn't I expect this to happen? No... It's because I was just too smug yesterday for using my skills instead of using my brain.

Let's get to what happened, shall we? If you stay in a shower, or this case a waterfall for too long, then it can cause itchiness to your skin. And my body is almost like an old man since it has many wrinkles from staying on the waterfall for too long. That, and it turned weak that when I scratch my body, I can easily put a wound on my skin. "I guess I should be worried about that, but who cares? I cut my arm on the first day here just to get the fur. Now let's do today's task!"

Just joking, I don't have anything to do for today. (Every 4 days you can take a rest Haruki, and do any task that you haven't finished yet since it's gonna be harder the next day.) That's what Dawn messaged me, so right now. "What do I do!?" I have nothing to do here at all, I'm just here taking a bath at the waterfall."

Also, I've read the guidebook and it turns out that Mt. Levi is actually an active volcano. "So is that the reason why there's water here?" No, I still don't know about that part.

What a boring day... Nothing to do, and nothing dangerous comes... "*Sigh* If only I can talk to someone..."

{Day 4.5/14}

"Haaa! I'm gonna drown!-" That's what was suppose to happen since I fell asleep on the waterfall without even noticing it happening. That's dangerous... I better not do something like that ever again.

"Good day Haruki, looks like you're finally awake."

That voice? "Lucifer!" So I'm back at this place again because of course, I am. "What do you want from me this time Lucifer?" Seriously, it's already annoying that he's always transporting me to this world, but I guess it'll cure my boredom for today

"I saw that you're doing the infamous Archdemon training, so I was curious about how you are doing lately."

"Infamous Archdemon training? What a lazy name, but I can see you Archdukes naming it that-" Hmm... This is awkward, really awkward... Because I'm still naked right now! Well, we're both men, so I guess that's okay.

"So, I heard that you've talked to Beelzebub recently, so how did it go?"

"Oh now that I remember that, GIVE THAT F*CKING B*TCH TO ME LUCIFER! I'LL KILL HIM!"

"So that bad huh? Sorry that I can't bring him here today Haruki, since Beelzebub is being punished by Leviathan right now, so you need to wait for your turn."

Good for him! If I meet Leviathan, I'm gonna plead my own life and loyalty to her, glory to Leviathan! Is what I'm gonna say.

"Lucifer, I want to ask you this, but since you have a connection with that beautiful blonde girl, I guess you know what's the concoction that she made, so can you tell me what it is?"

"First, how would you know that I'm not gonna lie to you? Because she might've asked me not to reveal it, or maybe because I don't want to say it to you."

"It's because I know that you won't lie to me Lucifer, so just hurry it up and tell me already." Being used to talking to Lucifer, made me not afraid of him anymore.

At first, I thought Lucifer was someone scary like what he is usually depicted in the Bible, but I guess not everything is believable without you seeing it in your own eyes.

Because, Where was the devil Ifrit is a childish idiot man child who loves incest for some weird reason, and the other one Beelzebub who is a total b*tch, where was that written in? So this is what they call, 'never judge a book by its cover'.

"Is that a compliment? Thank you, Haruki."

"Yes, okay. So can you tell me now? I sometimes can't sleep for overthinking about what it was."

"Actually Haruki, that concoction that the girl gave you is to help you."

"...." Can you stop being sarcastic? "Really? So she helped me agai- of course, I know that! Beelzebub already told me!"

"Really? Then if he told you, why are you still asking me?"

"That's because he didn't tell me! He only told me that she made it to help me, but I don't know what the type of 'help' she is helping me with." Stop being pedantic, will you? It irritates me.

"Concoction... Concoction... Concoction, the only thing I remember about that concoction she made is just for your protection from overusing your Soul Bound."

"Protection? What do I need it fo-" No, how can I forget? Of course, I need protection from my own Soul Bound.

I remembered that day when I fought Milicas in my room and Yahweh came to save them, he told me. "I forgot to say this, but you better not use Soul Bound always. It's very draining to the user's life." That's what he told me, and that's the reason why Akemi cried and begged me to not overuse my Soul Bound.

So if that concoction was to protect me from Soul Bound, then that's fantastic. "Again... Even if I don't know who she is or what she wants from me, I'm grateful that she's been looking out for me..."

"Must be nice isn't it?" Lucifer smiles brightly. "To be this young."

"What are you an old man? Well, you're technically about a hundred thousand years old right? So I guess it makes sense."

"That's all for today Haruki, I'll come to visit you on the 8th and 12th day of your training so that you won't get bored, so any last question you want to ask me before I depart?"

"Yes." I looked at Lucifer seriously in the eyes, filled with anger and resentment, not because I want him to see it, but for the other him to see it. "Lucifer, can you tell me the purpose of creating a clone?" The other Lucifer, Milicas Lucifer.

Everyone was all surprised when they found out that Milicas is not Lucifer's biological son, but was his clone instead. For someone as powerful as Lucifer to create a clone is odd. Because what is the exact purpose of Milicas?

Does Lucifer want to achieve immortality? Then it would mean that Milicas is Lucifer, but if he's Lucifer then why is he trying to kill us though? Then it's not immortality, or could Milicas be a weapon for Lucifer to use?

Lucifer smiles at me. "I'll tell you that on the 12th day since I want you to be strong by that point when I tell you, so I guess it's goodbye for now Haruki."

{Day 5/14}

"Haa!" I shouted again loudly, the cold breeze from before returned and the feeling of the unbelievably not frozen water is on my legs. "So I'm back here."

It's already a new day when I woke up, and Dawn has finally sent me the task that I have to do for today.

When I looked at it, I was speechless. "What are these tasks?! Travel 7,000m butt naked without the help of Fire Manipulation?! Do push-ups 50 times?! And don't sleep for today!?"

This is not training at all! This is torture! Is Dawn a sadist? Because if she isn't then why is she ordering me to do this sort of thing? And I can't see the original Archdukes tasking them to do this, well I didn't meet the ones who died in the war, but still! "I guess I'll do this now."

"20... 21... 22..." Since I'm a neet back at Earth, my muscles are already hating me for being one.

It hurts, I can't do this anymore, especially on top of a cold mountain. "25... 26... 27... 28-" I've already fallen before I got to 30.

"Why? Why did I become a lowly shut-in neet, whose purpose in life is constantly watching anime and reading mangas back on Earth?" If I've known that the world is almost ending when I was still on Earth, I could've trained hard to be the protagonist of some story.

"....." Wait... Even if Soul bound is draining to my own life, I still drank that concoction that the girl gave me right? So that means that I can use it right? Just for once?

So what is it? [A. Yes] [B. No] [C. Maybe.] [D. Of course not! Don't even think about it stupid!] What is your decision player?

"What am I even referencing visual novels in this situation right now? that girl saved me, so there's no way she's lying right? Soul Bound." Of course, she gave me some sort of protection, so I should use it for good use. "Good use... But I used it for push-ups." Well, training is indeed good for you.

Now! Time to go to that location butt naked! And since that I'm a professional(self-proclaimed) neet and also a professional(self-proclaimed) otaku, not sleeping for a day is for the weak normies.

And running butt naked on a cold place like Hokkaido is one of my bucket lists. "So! off we go!"

{Day 6/14}

For now, I traveled to 7,000m up high on a cold mountain like this, a good thing that I was smart enough to convert the electricity of my Electric Manipulation to heat.

"Haha! Take that Dawn!" I shouted in pride when I first discovered that I can do it.

Well, I was on the verge of dying when I was about 6,300m high on the mountain, and when I feinted *Cough* I mean fell asleep, I remembered when my teacher in high school was teaching us about electricity.

With those three tasked done, I sent them to Dawn and at the same time, I got my new task.

If you're wondering about my sleep, I'll say the truth, I haven't slept at all! "Wait? Who am I even talking to?" I guess being schizophrenic when being alone isn't that bad.

Anyway, since all of the slimes on my bag are all gone, I decided to hunt first before doing my tasks.

With no food left, my only food source is the boar mantis that I killed before, so I'm in the forest to get more.

Surprisingly, boar mantis is made out of pork, but since it's a boar, not a pig, the taste is really disgusting because of the game taste on it.

So if only I have salt or something else on it, it wouldn't have that gamey earthy taste on it, but I don't have any of those.

So I'll just have to force myself to eat them. "Actually, thanks to Beelzebub for making me eat disgusting foods, I'm already used to it." So I guess I have to apologize to him soon for swearing at him.

Now my task for today. Travel inside the cave to go up to 7,500m. Don't die there. And get some rest.

So for today Dawn is awfully nice to me this time, since I'm going inside the cave that's on the way on the track to go to the peak.

This is why I'm hunting for more food and getting some wood with my trusty ax (not sword) Ignisvem to use to make campfires inside.

Since when I checked the map, It looks like this cave travels up to 10,000m up to the entire mountain, so I'm gonna stay inside the cave for about 3 or 4 days.

So, that means when I go inside the cave, that's when the real threat would come.

When I'm in the forest, not a single creature is dangerous and is coming for my head, but if it's inside the cave, it could be a different matter.

I slapped myself on my cheeks proudly. "Come on Haruki! You can do this! I'll show everyone that I can survive this training!"