Chapter 3: Jura Forest

Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 3: Jura Forest

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- Felix -

A Dragon.

I'm fighting a fucking Dragon.

Well, this wasn't part of the plan.

Alright let's analyze the situation.

The Dragon itself is massive, probably the biggest thing I've ever fought.

I watch as it rises past the trees.

I notice some monsters fleeing through Magic Sense.

Can I even beat it?

I try to get a read on its power and it seems to be around my level if not a little above me.

It's doable.

At the rate my magicules are depleting just by being in the Demi-Material Plane I can likely last a few days up here.

That's not taking into account the magicules I spend in this fight though.

I quickly set up a Multilayer Barrier and imbue it with Thermal Resistance, Lightning Resistance and Paralysis Resistance.

Hopefully this should weaken some of its attacks.

Thankfully I put my sword inside my Spatial Storage, I take it out and coat it in aura before sending an aura slash towards the dragon before I use my wings to try and get an aerial advantage.

The slash itself is avoided but this does tell me that it likely would have taken some damage from it.

After all, why would it dodge an attack that couldn't hurt it?

Fuck, this thing is like a tank, its natural body is able to handle a lot of my attacks without issue.

I've been fighting it for an hour or so, it was even able to take on Red with minimal injuries.

I've even tried using my Unique Skills but it is able to avoid almost all of my attacks.

I haven't tried Hollow Purple yet but I might have to.

I'm slowly running out of magicules, I not only have to supply my Skills and Magic's with magicules but I also have to put conscious effort to stay in this world.

I have not taken much damage at all thanks to Infinity blocking all the incoming attacks, but I have also been unable to deal a ton of damage.

The surrounding area of the forest has been destroyed, I am contemplating retreating as I don't want any stronger monsters to come over here due to all the noise.

I don't know my environment, it's better to play it safe.

I did sense some other powerful monsters around the area though they seem to be focusing on keeping the destruction contained.

That is part of the reason I am not using Nuclear Magic. I don't want to give them a reason to interfere in the fight if their goals are only to protect the environment. 

I take this opportunity to quickly use Blue to teleport behind the dragon and coat my sword in Lightning before slashing at its back.

Surprisingly I finally got a hit in causing a large gash to appear on its body.

I heard it roar in both pain and anger.

It quickly turned towards me and flew at me at its highest speed so far.

The dragon isn't the most intelligent creature, it's seen how ineffective his attacks are due to my Infinity but continues anyway.

I'm still wary though as I don't want to be caught off guard if something manages to pierce my Infinity.

Thankfully it fails once again as I take the opportunity to land another Lightning enhanced blow on its body.

Finally making some progress.

- ??? -

She watched as the Daemon and Dragon continued their battle causing shockwaves that destroyed the forest.

She and her sisters had felt the forest being damaged and came over immediately to deal with the attacker.

Once they arrived she and her sisters made barriers to prevent the shockwaves from damaging more of the forest than it already did.

When she looked to see who was fighting she was surprised.

They weren't expecting a daemon and a dragon to be fighting after all.

The Daemon seemed to have been summoned here by the corpse they found earlier, but what is this dragon doing away from the Canaat Mountains?

She will have to give this Daemon a stern talking to after the fight, if he wants to stay in the Cardinal World he can't be causing wanton destruction.

"Focus sisters, keep the destruction contained!"

"We're trying, the dragon is making it difficult!"

"Yeah, at least the daemon isn't doing nearly as much damage!"

She sighs, this fight has been going on for an hour now and there seems to be no end in sight.

She wants to interfere but in that scenario the Daemon or Dragon might cause even more damage, let alone the fact that she might not be able to win against them.

At least for now the Daemon is keeping it tamer than most of his kind.

For now she and her sisters will continue to observe and contain the destruction.

- Felix -

I came up with a plan to finally finish the dragon off, I don't have many other options and I do want to beat the dragon rather than just retreating.

Everytime I use an ability that can potentially cause it harm it dodges. I tried to use spatial manipulation to hold it in place but it seems that I'm not experienced enough as it breaks my hold every time.

This time I won't give it time to react.

I'll go all in on this next attack, if it doesn't work I'm going to have no choice but to retreat.

I charge up Hollow Purple, it notices the incoming danger and prepares to dodge. It may not have much intelligence but it does have keen instincts.

However instead of just firing it at him like normal I use Limitless to teleport behind it and before he can react I fire it.

"Hollow Purple"

It still almost manages to dodge out of the way but thankfully I still hit most of its body causing it to drop dead.

Thankfully there should be enough of it left to make a golem out of.

Unfortunately the forest took quite a lot of damage from my last attack.

An entire region of this area is gone.

I suddenly feel three raging auras and take that as the que to leave.

Before I leave I notice something appear out of the Dragon's corpse.

I watch as a ball of bluish white light came out of the corpse and flew towards me.

I instinctively knew what it was.

A soul.

I extend my hand and gulp it down, I try not to fully digest it so I can have some time to find somewhere safe.

I feel an evolution coming so I act quickly, I store the dragon's corpse in Spatial Storage and use my wings, Gravity Flight and Air Flight to get as far away as possible.

Once I get to a point where I can't feel those raging auras I use Isolate to protect myself as I allow myself to fall unconscious.

Conditions for Evolution have been met.

Commencing Evolution.

Extra Skill: Pain Resistance has evolved into Extra Skill: Pain Nullification.

Extra Skill: Fear Resistance has evolved into Extra Skill: Fear Nullification.

Extra Skill Physical Attack Resistance has evolved into Extra Skill: Physical Attack Nullification.

Extra Skill: Thermal Fluctuation Resistance has evolved into Extra Skill: Thermal Fluctuation Nullification.

Extra Skill: Natural Effects Resistance Acquisition Successful.

Extra Skill: Abnormal Condition Resistance Acquisition Successful.

Extra Skill: Magic Sense has evolved into Extra Skill: Universal Sense.

Extra Skill: Danger Sense has evolved into Extra Skill: Ultra Instinct.

Common Skill: Gravity Flight has evolved into Extra Skill: Gravity Manipulation.

Evolution to Arch Daemon Complete.

Demonic Core has been Strengthened. 

…

Notice. Requesting Evolution of Cursed Sage.

Request for evolution of Unique Skill: Cursed Sage Rejected.

I woke up in an unfamiliar area, quite different from what I was used to.

I quickly went through my memories to try and piece together what happened.

….

Right, I was summoned, fought a dragon and it seems like I also evolved.

I looked around and saw that the world was much clearer to me now. The only way to describe it is that it felt like the world was in high definition now.

I felt the changes in my body so I got up and inspected myself.

Best to learn what changed as soon as possible.

I use some Ice Magic to create a large slab allowing me to see my reflection.

I grin as I take in my new appearance, I still have my claws, horns, and tail but those are easily hidden.

The rest of my body is where the differences become apparent.

My hair is back to how it was in my last life, white.

My eyes are still the same, blue eyes with a black sclera but that's okay.

The most important thing is that my legs and face are back to how I looked in my previous life.

No more looking like a monster.

I got used to my demonic appearance after some time but some part of me always hated it.

It was a constant reminder that I was different.

That I was not human.

That I was a monster.

Now while I mostly accepted that part of me there would always be some part that craved my previous looks if only for the vain thought of being attractive.

I observe the rest of my physical differences.

It seemed like I've grown a few inches taller.

I clenched my fists and could feel the strength in my body surge.

It was unreal.

It was beyond anything I can compare it to, my previous level looked like a complete joke compared to how strong I was now.

And to think there might be even higher evolutionary stages.

The next thing I noticed was my magicules. 

My magicule capacity grew by an absurd amount. It felt practically endless compared to my previous amount.

Though I do still feel the drain of staying in the Demi-Material World as a Spiritual Life Form, I should take care of that soon.

Is this the power of an Arch Daemon?

I felt as if I could easily wipe out my previous self without even trying.

That's not even considering my newly upgraded skills.

The power to destroy a country at my fingertips.

I decide to learn what my new skills do before I leave the isolated dimension.

Universal Sense is basically Magic Sense on steroids, it basically allows me to sense everything in an extremely large radius, multiple times over what I was able to sense with Magic Sense.

Along with this it allows me to perceive light, sound, smell and heat, much better than Magic Sense which only allowed me to perceive light and sound.

Ultra Instinct gives me an even better danger precognition, very useful.

Gravity Manipulation allows me to freely manipulate and utilize gravity. I can still use it to fly but it also has quite a few more uses now that I can utilize gravity freely. 

Gravity Manipulation is quite a broken skill if used right, I can use it to increase gravity causing everything to become heavier, using this I can easily crush weaker opponents to death.

At a certain point I should be capable of creating black holes as well, after all black holes are a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape, not even light. Even then it can still do more.

Gravity Manipulation has a lot of high level abilities to be learned, something I'm looking forward to.

Hmm now that I think about it, couldn't I do Shinra Tensei and Banshō Ten'in with Limitless?

After all, at their core Blue and Red use Attraction and Repulsion to do what they do.

Definitely something to try out later.

I also gained some new resistances while some evolved.

With my new resistances I should be able to create an even better Multilayer Barrier.

Now that I generally know my new abilities I decide to get ready to leave my dimension.

I take the dragon out of my Spatial Storage and dig out its bones.

Once that is complete I use Creation Magic to create a golem in the form of a skeleton made out of the dragon's bones.

I store the rest of the Dragon meat in Spatial Storage and use Spirit Possession to possess the skeleton.

I feel flesh start to form on the skeleton.

Soon enough my body looks just like it did beforehand.

Common Skill: Self-Regeneration Acquisition Successful.

It feels odd having a physical body after so long without one.

I'll get used to it though.

For now I focus on analyzing my new skill and getting used to this new body.

Self-Regeneration allows me to heal from any physical injury as long as I have the magicules for it, even limbs and missing organs can be regenerated.

Now that I'm ready It's time to leave.

The moment I step out my eyes go wide open.

What the fuck is that massive aura!

I couldn't feel it before due to my Magic Sense not reaching that far but with Universal Sense my range has increased astronomically. 

But still what the fuck is that?!

I wonder how much stronger than me it is, I cannot tell due to how vast the difference between us currently is.

Answer. To the nearest measurable degree, its magicules exceed yours by more than fifteen times.

What the fuck? It seems to just be casually releasing its aura, it doesn't seem to even be trying to fight anything.

And even then it is still at least fifteen times stronger than me?

The aura is west of my current location and doesn't seem to be moving.

Knowing this I decide to go nowhere near that area, fuck that.

I decide to fly south of my current location, hopefully there is at least a village that way.

I was constantly on alert, this forest is a dangerous one if that Dragon from earlier was anything to go by and while I could easily beat the Dragon as I am now, who knows if there are stronger monsters in this forest?

And while I assume there are far less monsters that can fight in the sky it is best to be careful.

I made sure to keep an eye on that massive aura just in case, though my concerns have been unfounded so far as it hasn't moved at all.

After some time I have Cursed Sage manage Universal Sense, while I could have done it myself and was doing it with Parallel Processing I find it easier to rely on Cursed Sage for these kinds of things.

Cursed Sage can quickly utilize my skills to analyze the threat level of anything around me at a rate much quicker than my own.

Man does Cursed Sage makes life a lot easier.

It's been an hour or so since I started flying, unfortunately not much has happened. 

I did spot some monsters along the way but they were much much weaker compared to me so I ignored them.

Fortunately something interesting did happen, I managed to spot some bee hives in the forest.

I was able to extract a bunch of honey from multiple bee hives, I stored the extra honey in some glass containers I created using Material Creation and ate the rest. 

It's been ages since I was able to eat anything, I can't wait to try out the cuisine of this world.

As I was pondering on what sort of food there might be in this world I spotted a village in the distance.

Finally, hopefully I can learn where I am and maybe get some shelter and food. 

As I focus in on the village I check to see if there is anyone strong there, I don't find anyone that could prove a challenge to me but I decide to be careful anyways as they might be capable of hiding their auras.

Maybe they might know what that large aura is, who knows it might not even be a hostile monster.

Thankfully I still had some of the Dragon's corpse in my Spatial Storage, hopefully I can exchange that for everything I need.

As I descend down I used an illusion to hide my black sclera and concealed my demonic presence as much as possible.

Once that was done I released some of my aura in order to alert them that I'm there but not enough to scare them. I don't want to be rude and come into their village unannounced after all.

I watch as five battle ready monsters come outside, they all have horns, could they be oni of some kind?

Answer. According to analysis of subjects they are Ogres.

Ogres? They aren't Oni?

That's interesting, I wonder what other sorts of races are out there that I wasn't able to learn about.

There were two red headed males who are wielding katanas, one with his hair styled in a ponytail, one purple haired female holding a mace, a blue haired male wielding a tanto, and lastly an elderly man wielding a katana in a familiar stance.

As the redhead with the ponytail approached me I heard the elderly man whisper in his ear to be careful, and that I was a trained swordsman. How was he able to tell? The Old Man said only an extremely skilled swordmaster should be capable of telling that with only a look.

This put me on edge, I could feel that the elderly man wasn't as strong as me but he could be hiding some of his aura.

The redhead approached me and said, "What brings you here outsider?"

"Ah I was just looking for some food, and shelter for a day or so, along with any information you would be willing to share. I would also be willing to exchange part of a Dragon's corpse for your help, if that isn't enough I'd be willing to pay you in another way as long as it's within limits."

"A Dragon!, I see, we will take you to the chief, he will decide whether we can host you.

I politely tilt my head to them as I say "Thank you."

As I follow the group, I approach the older one, as I approach I can tell the group is ready in case of a sudden attack but ignore that and ask, "What style of swordsmanship do you practice, your stance is similar to the style I was taught?"

"Hmm? I practice the Hazy Style, a style that was passed down to me by my grandfather. Which style do you practice?"

I looked at him in surprise, "Odd, that's the style I was taught as well."

Now he looked at me in shock, "That shouldn't be possible unless your teacher was someone my grandfather taught, and he died ages ago."

Huh, could the Old Man have learnt from this grandfather of his?

"Maybe, the Old Man who taught me it was at least a few centuries old, maybe he knew your grandfather?"

I didn't want to tip off anyone to my Daemon heritage just yet, that's why I hid my sclera, it's one of the most obvious signs that I'm a Daemon.

"Hmm possibly, I would like to spar with you when you get a chance if that is agreeable to you. I find myself curious to what degree someone who learned the Hazy Style outside this village has mastered it."

"Hmm that sounds good to me, I could use the practice and while I haven't mastered the Hazy Style to the degree my teacher has I have been practicing it for a while."

Once we enter the village I take in the view.

The village isn't all that large, it can likely house 300 people max but it's how do I say it, untouched, yes it's untouched.

Nature is shining in its natural state, no cars, no modern homes, just pure untouched nature.

As I follow behind and look around, the redhead with the ponytail says, "We are taking you to the chief, he is the one who has the final decision on whether you can stay or not."

On the way we pass by quite a few of these presumably oni.

The village is quite lively, there are children playing on a swing, others running around.

We finally make it to the center of the village where the largest home is.

Once we enter I see another redhaired oni, could these guys be related?

"Hmm, who did you bring to the village today? I warned you to be careful, you never know what kind of intentions someone has."

The redhead with shorter hair steps up, "Yes father we know, this Majin simply wanted some shelter, food and information, he is willing to pay for it with a Dragon's corpse.

"A Dragon's Corpse! Their meat is notoriously delicious."

Aha, so they are related, and what's this about a Majin?

I take this moment to step up and say, "Hello sir, I am indeed willing to compensate you with a Dragon's corpse, however it isn't a full corpse as some of it was destroyed in the battle, most of its meat is still there however."

I decide to be respectful as they haven't given me a reason not to be.

"Hmm I see, may I see how much of the Dragon you were able to preserve?"

"Yeah sure, just tell me where I can take it out, I don't want to get your home all dirty."

I follow him to the back of his home where he leads me to his backyard of sorts.

"Please take it out here if you wouldn't mind."

I give a curt nod and take the Dragon Corpse out of my Spatial Storage.

I hear the group that escorted me here gasp.

"It seems you were telling the truth, quite an impressive feat, especially with the amount of magicules the corpse is radiating, it was likely a Medium Dragon, did you do it alone?"

Medium Dragon?

Is that its classification, sort of like how Daemons are classified as Lesser Daemons, Greater Daemons and Arch Daemons?

It seems I still have quite a bit to learn about the world.

Seeing no reason to not honestly answer his question I say, "Yeah, it was quite challenging though, its scales were hard to get through."

"I see, you must be quite powerful then, it would take a large group of us Ogres to take a Dragon like this out."

"Aha yeah, I am kinda strong, I've been training for a while after all."

"Hmm, well this is sufficient payment to stay as long as you don't cause trouble, I will have two clansmen teach you about the surrounding area as well."

"Thank you Village Chief, I won't cause any trouble."

I decided not to share my Demonic Heritage, it's not like I'm going to stay here for long anyway.

He nodded at me and looked towards his sons and said, "Escort him to the guest home and make sure he has everything he needs."

"Of course father."

The short haired redhead looked towards me and said, "Follow me, I will show you where you will be staying."

I nodded and followed him out of the chief's house, the other Ogres split off to do their own business I assume, though the redhead with the ponytail followed along.

The two Ogres showed me around the village on the way. From what I saw, life in this village is quite simple.

Everyone has their roles and everyone seems generally satisfied with their lives.

After all that I was shown where I will be staying, the house isn't massive but it is more than sufficient for one person.

It has everything I will need to live comfortably which is more than enough.

I wasn't here for the shelter primarily, I was after the food and the information they possess.

"Feel free to settle in, we will come to pick you up later once it's time for food."

I thank them as they leave and decide to heed their words and lay on the bed until it's time for food, not much else to do after all.