The Strongest Demon Lord in the Modern World - Chapter 19

After coming across the first-ever semi-intelligent lifeforms that after his countless years of solitude, Aziel was growing rather conflicted about the situation. It wasn’t even about the fact that they were probably, a sort of predecessor of humanity, he has long since accepted that fact.

He even realized the great potential he had in front of him. If this race, these strange bipedal mammals, that whilst showed signs of intelligence, were indeed the precursor to those that later would turn out to be the humanity he used to hate in his old life… He could directly influence them, shape them, mold them to his liking!

No, he was having problems about how he should go about approaching them. He was just as wary of them as they would be of him. After spending his endless life in complete and utter solitude, he had trouble with how to actually approach them.

Not that he was actually that great at interacting with others in his previous life to be fair…

—

Aziel observed the primitive tribe from the shadows for the past several days; examining them and learning how they acted not just with each other but with their surroundings.

He tried to find patterns in their behavior, see if they were truly capable of complex actions based on their thoughts and emotions and not merely just on acting out their instincts.

Before anything, he wanted to make sure that his first targets, his first subjects for this prehistoric social experiment were indeed fit and feasible, he did not want to end up trying to interact with mere furless monkeys like some crazed madman.

Also, he wanted to analyze them, so he could come up with a way of approaching them without the need for unnecessary conflict.

From the very start, Aziel realized the very first hurdle, that he wasn’t sure how he should go about crossing. Their language, -if it could actually be called like that-, was nothing more than a grotesque mixture of howls, gurgles, and a wider variety of barbaric roars; sounds of various animals morphed to their liking.

From what he had inspected, their exchange was on the level of hurling objects at each other, with the occasional howling as well.

Still, before he could deem the entire venture as a failure and decide to move on to a different approach, a small smile began to slowly form at the edges of his lips.

Regularly, at around dawn, but not later than early morning, the small tribe-like group left their caves, only to separate into two larger groups.

The first group consisted of mostly the bulkier-looking males, and the rest, mostly females and their offspring.

Then the first group picked up the sharp sticks they had used also as a sort of demarcation of their own, claimed ground, and ventured out to gather some fresh raw meat for the night.

All the while, the group of weaker, less aggressive portion of the group seemed to focus on foraging for whatever they could find, mostly black bean-like one-seeded fruits.

He watched their behavior for several days, making sure to analyze each group’s actions thoroughly.

He was hiding behind an array of bushes at the edge of the tribe’s borders, just out of sight, lurking like a true predator. He kept his eyes on the movement patterns of these primitive creatures. After some time pondering about the various possibilities, he decided that the best would be to absorb one or a few more of them.

Luckily, it wasn’t even that outlandish of a thought. During their hunts that they ventured out for every couple of days, it wasn’t that rare that one or two of the males never return.

From what he had seen from only a few clumsy attempts they had made, they could end up either impaled by their prey, crushed beneath their heavy hooves, or could even fall prey themselves by a third party, another beast that was prowling of its own.

The plan was simple, he could just take the place of one of these predators in their next hunt and grab one of the stray males!

With the plan made in his mind, Aziel made sure to erase his presence as he stealthily stayed hidden in his wait.

Early next day, with the first rays of the emerging sun, to his absolute luck a lonesome figure, -probably an early scout-, approached in the direction Aziel was laying in wait.

As the hunter got a little too close to Aziel’s location, he got into a perfect position for him to pounce. Not willing to let such an unexpected opportunity escape his grasp, Aziel decisively lunged at the caveman and covered his mouth to keep it from making any noise to alert his brethren.

Using his other, free left hand he shushed at the stunned and frightened humanoid, signaling him to be silent. Unfortunately, the native creature either didn’t understand or just couldn’t swallow his growing fear.

He kept fidgeting, trying to break free from the forced hold.

‘I really hope, you are not what you seem to be…’

Immediately after he caught the primitive humanoid, Aziel morphed his hands into claws and swiftly slit its throat. Before the body could slump to the ground, Aziel absorbed it and… instantly felt the surge of changes.

From the absorption, first came a new influx of memories. A rather uncomfortable process, that while it was the most hated part, it also proved that the creature was truly intelligent.

The images, although weren’t overly long or complicated, it showed the creature’s life, living as a cave dweller, greatly detailing every moment of the seemingly roughly two decades of existence right up to the point of its recent demise. He also gained an understanding of their means of communication, finding it rather disappointing to find out that it wasn’t that much more than what it seemed.

They were barely more than those playful, mischievous monkeys he had found in abundance in the warmer biomes.

Still, he at least found a way to reach out to these creatures, if nothing else, it would serve as some sort of entertainment… He really craved some social or semi-social interaction.

Finishing processing its memories, Aziel felt that he was finally ready to try and approach the tribe. He was tired of the endless solitude, the eternal loneliness he was cursed with.

Wearing his animal skin clothing, Aziel took a chest-full of air to calm his nervousness. He was feeling weirdly nervous, feeling nothing like his usual self.

Taking a few extra minutes, he finally began walking towards the tribe of neanderthals in anticipation of what he could discover.

Maybe he could potentially form a sense of kinship with them.. Something in the back of his mind told Aziel that this couldn’t happen.