Chapter 31

"Do you trust me Alex?" Asks Lily as her eyes shadowed by her hair, so he couldn't see what she was thinking.

Alex frowned at the question, his brain working while tired as it tried to figure out the best answer.

"I do not know enough about you," was Alex's simple answer.

"You didn't answer the question," said Lily, standing still in her place. "Do you trust me, Alex?"

"No… not that much," he answered truthfully as he looked her straight in the eyes.

She nodded and sat back down on Alex's bed. "What you want to know about me?"

He calculates where this could lead and what decisions he should make. "Who do you work for?"

Asks Alex a magic circle appears in front of one of his eyes.

{Vampire's Eye}

Alex can see all of the blood vessels running through Lily's body, he can see her heart and her hot blood flowing through it. With this, he can have the eye of a vampire. He closes the other eye so it doesn't get disoriented.

With this, he can see, even if Lily's heartbeats, one beat out of place or it seems suspicious. Lily could lie… but her body can't.

His eye narrows as he sees the blood flow and analyses Lily's internal structure. He can see that she is telling the truth now.

'She couldn't hide her heartbeat from the guard back then.' Contemplated Alex. 'But at the same time, she could have done it to trick me so, later on, I would trust her when she pulls something like this. Or maybe she learned how to hide the truth from things like this, she is a hero after all.'

Alex's mind thinks up many different ideas and thoughts, they all clash together. In the end, only the most logical ideas remain. This is like a simulation program inside his head. Thinking up different things.

*sigh* Alex just sighs in the end and reluctantly nods.

Lily smiled. "I won't betray you."

Alex smiles back and nods at her reassuringly, while contrarily to his outside appearance he is thinking. 'I don't trust you in the slightest, but that doesn't mean that I need to say it out loud.'

"Then you can go to sleep." Advised Lily, back to having a calm look on her face.

"No," Alex refused calmly. "The people in this ship are too dangerous. We are in their palms and there is nothing we can do. Sleeping isn't the best idea. They are bound to know a spell which can restrain you easily before you could wake me up."

"I see," that was all Lily said as she went back and sat down on the bed. Her face was casual with an unreadable expression on it.

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The third day came around and Lily looked at Alex as he stabbed himself as soon as his eyes closed slightly. This was all done so he could keep himself awake, yet there were still two more days till they reached Magic Academy, but Alex had already resulted to cutting himself.

'How pitiful.' Pondered Lily as she calmly observed what he was doing. 'Knowledge sometimes is truly a curse...'

Dark circles had appeared below Alex's eyes as he looked towards the door, clutching the Dragon Horn in his hand.

...

As evening came about, Alex had reached a strange state of half-sleepiness. He was sleeping while awake. A dull gaze in his eyes showed that his concentration wasn't quite at the moment and his brain had entered a short nap.

At that split second that his consciousness slipped into sleep, something strange happened. Cracks appeared in the air as if reality itself was breaking apart.

Lily was immediately alert and in less than a second had her red dagger at hand.

*Fwish!*

The next second she was next to Alex, who also awakened instantly and frowned when he noticed the cracks in the air turning red.

"Be careful, these are hell creatures," Alex cautioned her. "They usually have the fire, corruption, and curse abilities. Don't get hit by them and dodge all of their attacks. In case some strange creature comes out, don't do anything."

"Okay," Lily nodded, keeping his words in mind.

The room was illuminated by a red light as the cracks in the air got wider and wider. On the other end, red flames appeared that seemed to release unnatural heat. A thin clawed hand tried to force open the tear in space.

"Hihihihihihi~" Laughter came from the other side as a big red head, with two dark eyes and miniature crimson horns came out. They swung their tail around, the tip of which was like a trident with three prongs. Alex recognized the creature as an Imp; they were also considered as the pest of the Underworld.

The imp opened its mouth and spewed out a fireball about the size of a human's head.

Alex took out his wand and waved it, at the top of the wand, a red construct formed out of the red liquid that resembled blood and took the form of a whip.

*Whish!*

The red whip cuts through the air at incredible speeds, breaking the sound barrier and cutting the fireball in two, dispersing the ball of flame as if it was nothing.

Out of the shred in space, the imp pulled its body through and got ready to attack again.

Its head was disproportionately bigger than the rest of its body.

"Kekekeke~" it laughed maliciously. Alex only twisted his wand slightly and the whip wrapped around the imp's thin neck. Then he tugged.

*Crack!*

The creature's neck was twisted at a weird angle and broke. But Alex already had prepared the next sequence of attacking. The whip detached from the wand and it formed into a snake. Jumping into the tear in space and traveling to the other side.

'This should slow them down.' Thought Alex as a feeling of doubt settled in his stomach. 'Letting that portal open for too long isn't good.'

"Kikikikikiki..." more impish laughter came from the other side of the crack. "Gah!" At the same time, the screams of the creatures were heard as the red snake Alex had sent was doing its job.

Alex had already started muttering a spell under his breath as the Mana around him flared and Lily was in front of him and ready to defend against any attack.

Nine imps came out of the opening, and they seemed to have some kind of alliance with each other. Laughing annoyingly as they looked at Alex and Lily hungrily, salvia dripped out of their mouths and landed on the ground burning through it slightly like acid.

Alex compiled what he knew about the imps and remembered that they got weaker once outside of Hell. But even outside they were Rank 1 Creatures, and he didn't plan to go easy on them.

His hands moved hypnotically, conjuring two magic circles and this made Alex sweat while trying to concentrate.

The imps opened their mouths to attack, but suddenly crimson red crystals shot out of the magic circles.

<Blood Crystal Machinegun>

The imps' bodies got riddled, but amongst them were some who used their comrades' bodies as shields against the attack. They then opened their mouths and shot out a dozen weak fireballs towards Alex.

He didn't worry about any of them as Lily blitzed, her hands moving like a snake's shadow, cutting up the blasts of fire before any of them could even heat the air around him.

"Good job," Alex complimented her, glad that he had a Melee Class user like Lily who could protect him while he cast spells. In-game partying like this was the norm back during his previous life.

Alex shook his head, to get rid of any useless thoughts. There was still the problem of closing the tear that connected this world to the realm of Hell. He didn't have any of the things needed to close such a portal, and even if he did, with his current power it was a gamble at best.

While he was thinking that, the imps' were killed as the blood of their comrades moved like it had a mind of its own and turned into sharp blades that cut them up. Leaving none of them alive.

"W -What is that?" Lily looked behind Alex with a terrified look on her face. She could instinctively feel that it was something dangerous.

Alex looked behind to see the creature she pointed out. But there was nothing. He turned back.

"Hallo~ Hallo~" a childish voice greeted him. Alex's calm usually calm face paled in terror once he saw what it was.

…