Re: Devil - Volume 1 Chapter 18

[Hmm… Should I or should I not accept the offer?]

…

I continued to explore the eerie lifeless tower’s current floor. Though what was different from before was that there was one more being in front of me.

Although, there was a peculiarity from this being.

“Which Earl or Marquess demon you are under?”

“Wew it’s a good thing that I have met you a fellow demon from the same faction. I can not imagine what will happen to me if I were to meet a human or worse an angel.”

“Wow. I can see that you are different from a [Normal Imp]. What species are you now and how do you fulfill the evolution’s condition?” it asked too many questions.

This being chattered too much breaking the silent atmosphere of this floor.

Yes, I accepted the offer of truce from this smart ,no I took that back, noisy being.

“How rude of you to categorize me as a being! I am 100% [Normal Imp] and I prefer to describe myself as a curious imp.” it denied.

If I had not seen the [Status] of this imp, I would have suspected that it had a skill that enabled it to read the mind of others. Here was the [Status] of the imp.

[Insight]

Level 88 – No Name – No Title

Species: Normal Imp (Common)

Unranked

Skills

Inspect

Bird’s Eye

Agility

[Bird’s Eye]

Description: Increases the accuracy of an attack by 50%. Improve also the eyesight of the user making the user able to see a bit farther away and clearly.

[Agility]

Description: Increases evasiveness and dodge rate by 10%.

Honestly, I wanted to kill and devour this imp because of these 2 skills. If used it correctly, the utility of both of these skills were massive and could be applied in various situations.

However, I gave up the notion of killing him because of 2 no 3 reasons for now.

First, I didn’t know how the tower would distribute the rewards for the last faction standing.

There was no guarantee that I would acquire these 2 skills and considering from my experiences with [Hell Fire Lizardling]s the rate of acquiring skills was abysmal so to say.

Second, might as well I used this imp as a meat shield to trigger traps and guarding me from them.

I could also leave the imp on the spot if there was an enemy that was so strong that I could not beat it. It could buy me some time to teleport back to Hell.

Lastly and the saving grace that made me think twice before killing him.

When I was using [Insight] and reading the effects of the skills from the imp,

“I bet that you are curious about [Bird’s Eye] and [Agility] and want to know how do I get both of them, aren’t you?” it said.

He continued explaining even though I didn’t ask “Let me tell from the beginning. Like any other high ranked demons, Earl Furfur wants stronger and obedient minions in his legion.

To do that, when I and my fellow imps were created, we were immediately thrown outside to fend and survive by ourselves without any protection.

The only availabe hell beasts were only [Hell Pigeon] and they were coward in nature. They liked to travel in flocks and only hunted easy harmless prey.

Now came the interesting part to attract the pigeons, we agreed to tie one of the imps from my group and waited for the pigeons to come. Then I didn’t need to explain how we killed them, right? … ”

He blabbered his way out of death telling me all the necessary informations about [Hell Pigeon]s that I needed if I were to encounter one later.

I realized that keeping him alive for now was beneficial to me because sometimes he told me useful informations.

Of course, If he was trying to do anything funny, I didn’t mind killing him and hoped that my luck was good later so win-win.

I continued staying silent while I continued walking throughout the dark corridors as well as ignoring the imp.

“Hey! I know that I appear to be untrustworthy but don’t you think it’s a bit excessive ignoring me. At least, say something.” complained the imp.

…

We encountered 3 goblins and I found it a good chance to see how my meat shield I meant the imp would fight.

I pierced the body of the goblin as the goblin was howling in pain and it’s body turned into black substances and scattered.

I turned to see the imp and saw he also successfully killed the last remaining goblin.

Turned out the imp was actually not bad at all, at least his strength was stronger than most of the imps from my batch at least.

“I can not understand why you can kill the goblin faster than me even though you fight more goblins than me.” it said.

Of course, I ignored his questioning look and refused to answer.

The secret lied due to the result of my training. I could use my [Enhanced Shadow Claw] in a different way.

I was able to retract and extend my [Enhanced Shadow Claw] whenever I wanted. It was not instantaneous but it was pretty fast and hard to be seen with the n.a.k.e.d eye.

So, I simply took the risk and went near the goblins and when my hand was in contact with the body I immediately used my skill.

Effectively killing them as well as hiding my trump card against the imp. I didn’t fully trust it that much to tell my skills.

[Tower of Babel Floor 1 Area 2]

Alive:45 Dead:25

[Hm… Excluding me and the imp 43 more beings to go before returning to Hell…]

My thoughts were interrupted when a notification block popped up in front of me.

[Minimum Survival Condition]

Kill 3 living beings of your own faction

[Do you want to go back?]

I decided to stay here and was a bit confused why I had cleared my minimum survival condition although I had only killed 2 goblins.

There were some guesses and to confirm them I opened my mouth at the end and asked the imp

“Do you get the notification block that shows you have cleared the minimum survival condition?” I asked.

“Finally you are speaking! I thought that you were mute and to answer it unlike someone yes, I get the notification block but I decline it so that I can keep accompanying the lonely you.” it replied.

I ignored the last sentence and my suspicion was true.

[I see so my guess is that probably Hell has deemed that I and that imp are teamed up and our kills are shared with each other].

I didn’t know why but thinking about that exhausted me mentally.

…

“Huff huff can we take a break now? We are already walking very long and there is nothing to see here.” asked the imp while it was breathing heavily.

“Sure.” I answered as I sat down across the imp. I was uninjured but my skills were draining me rapidly making me a bit fatigued.

The imp slumped down at the opposite of me while sighing in relief. Well I should at least give him some break after working as a trap meat shield.

Our rest was cut short when I sensed something coming towards us that was making me very uncomfortable.

I quickly stood up as well as the imp. It seemed that it also sensed it too.

We glanced at each other and we were thinking the same thing.