Chapter 323 - Off To Hell's Core (Part 2)
Daniel's appearance was quite odd. He did not appear to be in hell as a slave, but as a simple visitor. His clothes were clean, and he did not look at his surroundings in fear, but in curiosity. However, for how odd as he appeared, his presence was not enough to justify the behaviour of the young demoness' companion.
From a single look at the young demoness, Daniel was able to infer that her level of power was not something to scoff at. He presented himself as a low level human cultivator, who by logic, should not be able to feel the power of somebody at her level. Nevertheless, the faint wisps of immortal essence that he allowed out of his body were more than enough for him to feel the power of not only this demoness, but of her quadruped companion as well.
When compared to all of the high demons he had encountered, the young demoness was definitely one of the most powerful, possessing a power just lower than that of the captain of the Cruga family. Of course, that was not enough to grant her an advantage in a hypothetical fight between the two.. Or at least not as much as the presence of the demonic she wolf which did not appear to be any weaker than her humanoid companion.
Daniel was quick to notice the odd looks of the she wolf, and before the imagination of the young demoness could start concocting strange ideas, Daniel took a high level fire essence sphere from within his spatial ring, and quietly engraved it on the surface of one of his rings. Once done, he put the ring on before moving the hand in front of his face, and brushing his chin with confusion.
The young demoness quickly noticed the fire sphere encrusted on Daniel's ring, and showed an expression of realization. She then turned to look at her wolf companion, and said with a caring tone "Nana, if you were hungry, you should have told me." She then turned to look at Daniel, and with a demanding tone, she said "Human, give me that ring."
While not rude, it seemed that she expected for everyone to agree with her requests right away.. and that caused for Daniel to be puzzled. After all, her karma was positive.. For her to be someone which would demand for other people's possession, her karma should have been much more negative than what it was.
Of course, for that to be the case, the owners of the items she required would not have to be happy about complying. If they were more than happy to agree with her requests, then there would be no reason for her to obtain bad karma.
However, Daniel couldn't help but feel slightly irritated by the tone of the young demoness, so he responded by saying "Out of the question. This is my spatial ring, and it contains the belongings of my master, as well as mine."
The young demoness was taken aback. Never before had anyone ever refused one of her requests, and the first one to do so, was a human. A clean, dignified, and good looking one, but still a human. Nevertheless, while pushy, she wasn't going to steal other people's possessions, so she gritted her teeth, swallowed her pride, and said "I just need the stone engraved on the ring."
"Can you ask politely for it?" Responded Daniel with an emotionless expression. He did not know who this young lady was, and aside from her relationship with this particular race of wolves, he did not care.
Once again shocked, the young demoness was left with the inability to respond. The one who responded in her stead was a young demon with dark complexion, and reptilian eyes. His head was smooth, and he did not possess either horns nor wings. Until just a moment ago this demon was still hanging around with the group of beastmasters, when he had heard the conversation between Daniel and the young lady whom he couldn't stop bothering only minutes earlier. He was one of the reasons why she had left so soon to begin with.
His companion appeared to be a baboon with demonic features. Two large bat wings came out of the sides of his head in its ears' stead, which appeared to be large and powerful enough to lift its body off of the ground with ease. In its hands was a staff that, while seemingly a weapon, was instead of moving part of the beasts body. No matter with what body part the beast would touch this staff, its surface would immediately merge to the baboon's skin.
This hornless demon had felt the need to intervene from the very first exchange between Daniel and the demoness, but after noticing the way the lady had responded, he had decided to mind his own business. However, after Daniel had refused her gracefulness one more time, he had lost his patience, and decided to join in.
"You must be stupid, ignorant, or both to speak to her like this, human. Don't you know where you are?! Or who you are talking to?!" Asked the hornless demon while overly displaying his anger. He clearly wanted to impress the young demoness, who instead rolled her eyes at the sky in annoyance.
"I do not.. But I guess that you'll tell me."
Horrified by the casual way in which Daniel responded to him, the young demon turned to look at his beast, and said "Teach him a lesson for me."
In response to its companion's words, the baboon opened its wings to their maximum capacity, and began to flap them. Its hairy long fingers were wrapped around the pole he was carrying, ready to bash it on the head of whomever was unlucky enough to be an enemy of his companion.
The demonic baboon rose in the air for around a meter, but before it could flap its wings and fly in Daniel's direction, a massive hand moved through the tent of the carriage's door, and grabbed its wooden frame.
"What's all the commotion?" Asked Sewah after stepping out of the carriage.
Daniel did not have the time to respond, before the young demon recognized the Oni leader, and stopped his beast companion from acting against Daniel. He then said "Your slave is behaving rudely."
Sewah turned to look at Daniel with the intention of teasing him a little, but after noticing his ice cold expression, the playful part of his personality died out before it could even emerge. Instead, he asked "What happened?"
"The demoness demanded for one of your belongings.. Master." Responded Daniel while falling a little short on the fear that a slave was supposed to have towards his master.
Daniel's words seemed to shock Sewah greatly, who immediately slapped the back of his head while not putting any power behind, and said "How dare you! We are guests here! Say sorry, and offer the item they wanted as a token of apology."
For the fraction of a second, the right side of Daniel's upper lip twitched. To be slapped by Sewah was way more annoying than any spoiled demon. But since Sewah had done well in ending this uncomfortable situation without breaking character, Daniel quickly calmed down. He then removed the fire sphere from his ring, he tossed it at the young demoness while saying "Forgive my behaviour."
As soon as the young demoness obtained the fire sphere, she decided to drop the matter. She had no intention of lashing out on Daniel, nor did she want to ask for her master to punish him. She simply wanted the sphere that her companion seemed to be interested in.
The moment the sphere landed on her hand, the young demoness turned to look at the she wolf, and said "Here. Is this what you wanted?" However, she quickly noticed that something was wrong wrong. Throughout everything that had happened, and even now that she had obtained the sphere and placed it right next to her mouth, the demonic wolf had never stopped staring at Daniel.
"What is up with you?" Asked the young demoness in confusion. But before she could probe deeper into the matter, a powerful sounding voice came from the head of the caravan.
"We are ready to depart. All of you, Go back to your carriages."
This voice belonged to one of the demons who was flying high up in the sky, riding on the back of a massive condor-like beast. The power that was pushed through the air in the form of a wave of sound essence, possessed the power of a noble demon.. And not an average one at that. If Daniel had been forced to put the owner of this voice, the previous owner of Sewah's body, and the other demons he had met into a power ranking, there was no doubt that the owner of this voice would take the first place.
Luckily, the person who had just spoken possessed enough authority to command these annoying young demons, who after hearing this voice, quickly left in the direction of the carriage owned by the families to which they belonged to, along with their beasts companions.
The same was not for the young demoness and the she wolf that followed her. She stayed in place for a few moments before taking a last look at Daniel, and calmly leaving with her beast companion right after.
"What was that about?" Asked Sewah in confusion. He was unaware of everything that had happened to Daniel while he had stayed within the carriage, and he had made a decision simply based on the small amount of information he had obtained after hearing the commotion right outside of his resting place. Fortunately, his call had been the right one, and he had been able to solve Daniel's problem for him before things got any worse.
"None of your business." Responded Daniel with irritation, a residue left by being slapped by Sewah. A slap which carried no actual power, with exception made for the humiliating factor.
After shutting Sewah up, Daniel jumped down of he carriage, and approached the one right in front of his. This carriage was marked with the crest of the cruga family, just like the one they were using. Once he reached the side of the carriage, Daniel looked at one of the two coachmen that were sitting on the driving seat, and after giving a nod to the one sitting to the right, he went back to his carriage, and entered the back with Sewah.. Leaving the driving seat empty.
Moments later, the demon to which Daniel had nodded approached the carriage, and sat at the driving seat just in time for him to depart along with the rest of the caravan.
Meanwhile, inside the carriage there was no trace of either Daniel or Sewah, who right after entering the passenger seat, had shifted into Daniel's pocket dimension. A newly made pocket dimension, created by Daniel out of one of the nails that kept the boards of which the carriage was composed of in place, and that was hidden by a small formation of dark essence.
Inside this pocket dimension there was nothing but a small ring which contained the pocket dimension where Virgil and the rest of the group were living in.
Not long was left to the signing of the demonic pact, and if Daniel had understood Hell's traditions correctly, the event in which Aeron could end up dying in, would be hosted right before the signing of the demonic pact.
What he intended on doing during the travel, was to keep cultivating. His system had already told him a method to save Aeron, but he knew that if he wanted to save Xargy as well, and leave hell alive and safe, he needed a lot more power. Once the fight would start, he would likely not have the time to create and read missions. He would have to act fast, and probably fight against numerous powerful demons.