Worlds First Demon Lord - Chapter 113 Gamer v Human

Irade

May 19 11:21 pm BT – 9:21 pm UT, Somewhere In The Tian Shan Mountain Range, China

She sat atop the trees, gazing up at the heavens. The wind was cold, and bit slightly into her skin. Her light, etles dress flowed in the wind, and when she stood up, her bright red harem pants would also flow in the wind. She felt the wind flow through her short hair. She reached up to touch it, remembering how it looked in the mirror. Käwsär’s mom had styled it into a more fashionable pixie cut.

Irade had been surprised that she knew of such a style.

“I do like to keep up with modern styles every now and then,” she had said, smiling. “I may be a traditional woman, but that doesn’t mean all women have to be.”

“Besides, I always wanted to try giving my daughter a more modern style,” she added, sighing as Irade had looked at her angles in the mirror.

Irade hadn’t known what to say to that. In fact, she had almost started crying again. She had to go out for a walk with Black Wind to calm down again.

Speaking of Black Wind, where was he?

She frowned, looking down at the darkness below. She couldn’t sense him; not since she had lost all ability to sense magic. And that meant all forms of sensing magic. Including any sort of sensory Skill.

That included the [Monster Map].

If she tried to activate any sensing Skill, she would simply get an [ERROR]. If she tried to sense magic the ‘proper’ way that Black Wind was teaching her, she would only feel the weird, erratic flow of her own core. It was as if her own magic was suddenly in a void, cut off from any other outside sources.

She had tried, in vain, to reach out into the void, to sense something outside of herself. But doing so was like pushing into a wall made of nothing. She was reaching out, grasping at solid nothing, unable to feel the magic she knew was there. It was incredibly frustrating.

Still, she had told Black Wind what she was planning tonight; he should have been able to sense her and follow her up here. What was keeping him?

Had he gotten into a fight with a monster?

Irade started to get worried. Not for Black Wind; she knew he could take care of himself. But for Käwsär and his family. If there was a monster close enough that Black Wind felt the need to take care of it, then it would mean the this King of the Mountain person was sending scouts, or worse, assassins, to take care of her already.

Before the stated one week deadline.

Could the HUD be lying to her?

No, no. Calm down. Irade took in a deep, cool breath of fresh, night air.

She was jumping to conclusions. She needed to stop that.

Take this step by step.

Black Wind wasn’t here, even though she told him to be.

So where was he?

Only to find Black Wind right at the bottom.

With K��wsär sitting on him.

Irade blinked in surprise. Black Wind did not look very happy with this situation, and Käwsär had his arms crossed like he was an adult about to scold her. Irade immediately took a step back. She noticed that he had both his rifle and quiver full of arrows slung across his shoulder.

“What are you doing out here so late?” he asked her accusingly.

“Just a walk,” she answered automatically. “The night air is cool.”

“So you’re coming back inside now then?” he asked.

“No, I still want to walk around some more,” she answered.

“Go on then.”

Neither of them moved.

“Why are you on Black Wind?” she asked Käwsär eventually.

Black Wind growled. A couple of days ago, when Irade had first used the name for him, he had been a little surprised. Surprised, but delighted. Every time Irade called him by that name, despite his usual gruff response, his tail would be wagging furiously.

Even now was not an exception. Although he was clearly disgruntled at being ridden by Käwsär, his ears perked up a little at the sound of his name.

“I had a feeling you and him were going to go off somewhere,” he said, arms still crossed. “So I thought I’d tag along.”

Irade bit her lip. She looked down at Black Wind, eyebrow raised.

Really?

How had he let himself get ridden like this?

Black Wind whined in embarrassment, looking away.

“…he tricked me with fish,” he grumbled, just loud enough for Irade to hear.

Irade was at a loss for words. Wasn’t he supposed to be a wolf? Why was he acting more like a meek dog these days?

“We’re not going anywhere,” Irade repeated. “So you can get off of him.”

“It’s pretty comfortable up here,” Käwsär replied. “I think I’ll just stay on.”

Irade bit her lip in frustration.

“Look, you can’t come with us,” she said finally. “You’ll just hold us back.”

“So you were planning on going to meet this King,” he said triumphantly. “I’m coming.”

“I said you’re not,” said Irade flatly, taking a step forward. “You’ll just hold us back.”

“I was doing pretty well against the monsters from before,” he shot back, not giving up. “Why can’t I go with you?”

“I’ve told you twice already why,” said Irade. “Because you’ll hold us ba-”

“Then can you beat all those monsters all by yourself?” Käwsär interrupted. Irade found herself biting back her annoyance.

“I’m not going there to fight,” she said, frustrated. “I’m going there to negotiate.”

“Negotiate what, exactly?” said Käwsär, eyes narrowing. “I hope you’re planning on giving yourself up before we even fight.”

“N-no,” said Irade, unconvincingly. “T-That’s not what I was planning.”

She cursed herself for stammering. Why couldn’t she be a smoother liar?

“Do you hate us?” Käwsär suddenly asked. The question came out of left field for Irade, leaving her stunned.

“Hate you?” Irade asked in return. “Why would I hate you?”

“I dunno, maybe because you’d rather run off to be with some monster king instead of spend time with us here and fight,” said Käwsär.

Irade narrowed her eyes. He couldn’t actually be that dumb, could he?

“I’m doing this because I want to protect you all,” she said. “If I don’t do this, then you’re all going to die!”

“Can you see the future?”

“What? Of course not! Magic can’t do that!”

She gave Black Wind a look to make sure, and he nodded. Okay cool, magic could not look into the future.

“How would I know what magic can and canno-” Käwsär stopped himself, then started again.

“Then how do you know we’re gonna die if we fight?” he said.

“Because I know how these scenarios work,” said Irade. “That boss I beat? Is probably not even one of their higher ranking ones. I know that up there, at the top of this mountain, it’s gonna be some bull dungeon with minibosses galore, each one stronger than the last, right until the King.”

“This whole scenario is some sort of event,” she went on. “One that isn’t noob friendly. And if I don’t resolve it before it starts, then you will die.”

Käwsär stared at Irade like she was talking some foreign language. She realized that she was actually mixing Uyghur with Chinese; using the Chinese words for all her gamer terms.

He sighed before Irade could find a way to correct herself.

“Look, I don’t know all your magic lingo,” he said. “But you’re basically saying that you’re taking the decision out of a mere mortal’s hands because we’re too weak to know what’s good for us, right?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Yes, it is!” said Käwsär, walking closer to Irade, uncrossing his arms. “You’re trying to do all this all by yourself cause you think you’re the only one capable here. That me and my family are just a liability.”

“I didn’t say that!”

“Yes, you did!” yelled Käwsär. “Literally five minutes ago!”

“I- you-” her words were stuck in her throat, a rising sense of urgency in her chest making it harder for her to get them out.

“You don’t understand!” she finally said.

“Then explain it to me!” said Käwsär. “Don’t just run away and try to fix everything yourself! Ask us for help!”

“You can’t help me,” said Irade. “You won’t understand.”

“Try me,” said Käwsär. “Just…have you even tried? To tell anyone about this?”

Irade bit back her response. She knew that he wouldn’t understand. No one else did.

It was better to just let him think she was the bad guy. To cut ties with them, so that they wouldn’t be caught up in her messes. It was for the best.

And it was much easier.

“I…”

She opened her mouth to say the words that would end it. She knew exactly what she needed to say.

That she hated them. That she didn’t want to see them again. That she didn’t need them, and that they were stupid and weak and would die without her.

…

A block even stronger than her frustration stopped the words from even leaving her lungs. She could imagine the face Käwsär would make once the words left her.

The pain. The shock.

The anger. The disgust.

The resentment.

At her.

To her horror, she started to well up. An ache started up in her throat. Irade covered her mouth and quickly turned so he couldn’t see the tears falling. She bit into her palm so that she wouldn’t sob aloud.

She couldn’t do it. She didn’t want him to look at her like that. She didn’t want to be someone he hated.

Even though she believed, in her heart of hearts, that it was the right thing to do.

“Irade…”

Suddenly, she felt herself getting pulled by a gentle, warm hand. She looked up, surprised, to find Käwsär looking down at her. He had gotten off Black Wind, and was pulling her in to a hug.

She could’ve pulled away. She could’ve pushed him off.

But she didn’t.

His expression was gentle, and wasn’t looking at her with pity, or embarrassment. He was simply…looking at her.

So she let him pull her in.

His arms were strong and secure around her, his chest wide and warm. For a moment, she worried about not being able to see, but all her fears melted away in Käwsär’s arms. She felt…warm. Seen. Comforted.

Safe.

…

Was it really okay for her to feel like this?

She wanted to hold him back. She wanted to stay like this, safe and warm in Käwsär’s arms. Forever, if that was alright.

But she knew she couldn’t.

She needed to protect him.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

Before he could say anything, she pushed him away. Hard.

Käwsär went flying into the darkness.

“Black Wind!”

He growled in assent, and Irade jumped on. Since she could no longer sense anything, he would have to guide her in the dark.

The two of them ran off into the night, Irade’s silver tears gently twinkling in the moonlight as they fell.