Origin Seeker

Chapter 104: Demons

What ensued next could only be described as absolute carnage.

1 man against 1500 demons. Although all the mages and fighters knew who to root for, they couldn't help but have pity on their enemy. 

Dream made short work of every demon that came within 20 feet of him. And the only reason he wasn't killing as fast as he was while in his mind space was because the demons were less dense, and these ones could experience fear.

At a certain point, the demons knew that they had no chance of facing this enemy. None of them lasted for more than a fraction of a second under his blades. So while they wouldn't run away, they wouldn't actively pursue him either, instead pushing others around them to go to their deaths first.

Eventually, Dream needed to send out his weapons to act at a distance. His swords flew out and sought the nearest enemy, driving themselves straight through their skull or dicing them into pieces. He also brought out his guns which never lost their killing speed. They could punch through any barrier at any distance and constantly rained metal. 

But there were only 1500 demons, and Dream's main focus wasn't the horde of weak class 2's, but the sole class 3.

"You dare..."

A deep and sadistic voice came from the biggest building in the village. It was only after Dream had felled 60% of the horde that this class 3 turned his attention. Not that that took very long.

When he heard that voice, Dream stopped his killing spree and faced the direction of this class 3. He always knew where it was, but he wanted a little warmup before facing it, as well as some time to gather a bit more data on it.

[Mana level is A-. Strong body. Wields an axe of bone. Heavily armored with bone armor. Mana concentration of this armor puts it at the grade 6 mithril strength level.]

'Something I can punch through. Good.'

Dream smiled as he received the data. This was looking to be an easy fight.

He watched as the class 3 demon walked out of the building.

"Human scum."

"Just fight me, you horny bastard."

"Grrr..."

The demon growled. It was at least 7 feet tall and was a humanoid. It was covered in bone armor like Sophia said dragged its surprisingly sharp axe across the floor as it walked, leaving a trench under its weight. It also had several horns.

"Grahhh!!"

The demon charged when it saw Dream standing his ground. It jumped up several meters in the air and brought its mana-filled axe down.

*Boom!*

A shockwave was released and dirt was kicked up. The demon looked under its axe, but found nothing.

"A little too predictable, don't you think?"

Dream spoke a few feet away, looking at the demon as if it were an idiot. It snarled and swung its long axe towards him.

*Slice*

The axe only cut air as Dream easily dodged. It kept swinging its weapon as if it weren't several dozen pounds, only getting angrier with each miss.

"You little pest! Die!"

"I didn't say you could touch me."

The demon lunged at Dream to grab him, who called out Aegis that very moment. His arm turned silver as a blade was formed.

*Slice*

The blade glided through the demon's wrist like it was butter. 

"Arghh!"

"Tie him down, Aegis."

"Understood, my lord."

The next moment, a silver cloud streamed out from under Dream's clothes. It turned into a long silver thread and began wrapping itself around the demon's limbs and between the gaps in its armor. The demon couldn't react to Dream's high agility.

"Ahh! Let me go! Argh!!"

The demon thrashed against the wire, but this only lead to it getting deep slices. Soon, it fell onto the floor, unable to move.

"Thank you."

"Of course."

Dream thanked Aegis and walked over to the demon. He brought out some metal and shackled it, freeing up Aegis and further incapacitating the demon.

'Sophia?'

[Ready when you are.]

Dream nodded and reached out, placing his hand on the Demon's head.

[Beginning soul search...]

"AAHHH!!"

"Quiet down."

"----"

Dream cut the demon's vocal cords, rendering it speechless. Though it still thrashed around in unbearable pain and tried to blast Dream away with mana. But it was an axe wielder and obviously didn't have the best spell-based abilities, so it couldn't do anything. 

[Soul Search complete. The following skills have been found:

1. Hierarchy
2. Mana-Body Manipulation
3. Demonic Regeneration
4. Crazed Axe Arts
5. Bone Forgery
6. Bone Enhancement

Dream read the list. Most of the skills were expected like the bone and axe ones. But he was intrigued by the Hierarchy and Manipulation skills.

'Can we take these?'

[Sure. Beginning Emulation...]

Right as she started, the demon thrashed around even harder, as if the previous pain was only a tickle. It spasmed and used every drop of mana it had, but after Aegis shielded Dream by covering his front in cloud form, the mana was rendered useless. In fact, Aegis even began inflicting wounds with his thin thread to increase the pain the demon was experiencing to throw off its control over mana, which proved to be useful. 

[Something's happening.]

"Hm?"

As Dream watched a simulated Sophia attempt to dismantle a simulated soul in his mind space, the soul suddenly started breaking down. She quickened her pace and focused all her attention on one skill, trying to come out with something. 

But soon, the soul broke down entirely and the demon stopped thrashing. 

<You have killed a level 215 [High Demon]>

<You have gained Experience!>

<You have leveled up!>

<[Sophia] has leveled up!>

<[Magic] has leveled up!>

[Damn.]

Sophia cursed after the demon died. 

'Get anything?'

[I got the majority of the [Demonic Regeneration], but that's about it.]

'That's alright. At least we got some levels. Status.'

|Profile|

Name: Dream

Species: Human Male

Class: [Master Artificer]

Titles: [Origin Seeker]

Level: 164

Stats: Strength- B      Agility- B

           Stamina- B-       Magic- B+

Passive Skills: [Sophia] Lvl. 69, [Magic] Lvl. 42

Active Skills: [Summons From Another World], [Material Magic] Lvl. 51

'Nine levels huh. And you got level 69. Nice.'

[Heh. Nice.]

They both smiled. At the same time, Riddick floated down and landed next to the demon.

"Boy? I'm impressed that you were able to handle yourself so well, but what are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing. Just checking out the biology of these demons."

"...Right."

Riddick looked down at the restrained corpse. It had brutal lacerations everywhere and a few lost limbs. Even now blood continued to flow out from it excessively. But the problem wasn't the mangled corpse. The problem was why the demon had looked like it had gone insane under Dream's torture. 

It was common knowledge that as one gained power, their tolerance for pain would skyrocket. And for these demons that didn't seem very intelligent, they shouldn't be able to experience that much pain, rendering torture useless. But somehow Dream was able to bypass that and even with such 'light' wounds, make the demon look like a pitiful animal. Riddick was almost afraid to ask what kind of technique he had to do that.

After Dream finished, the other members of the team took it upon themselves to clear out the remaining few hundred demons. Soon, the village was cleared.

"Alright, we're leaving within 20 minutes.  Do whatever you want until then."

Ciroc yelled out to everyone. All the mages and fighters nodded before finding a demon corpse and studying it. They were all interested in this weird creature and wanted to know its weaknesses and strengths. 

Ciroc and Idona went up to Dream and Riddick. 

"Good job, Dream. I'm impressed. Your use of weapons is...unique." (Ciroc)

"Indeed. You have fantastic ability against crowds. And despite having less mana than the demon, it was almost powerless against you." (Idona)

"Thanks. I guess it being an axe wielder helped. Too many openings. Though it was also a recently ascended class 3 by the looks of it. Had it been a veteran, the battle wouldn't have been so easy."

"Hmm, maybe. By the way, that weapon you used. The thread. What is that?" (Ciroc)

"Oh, it's just some grade 6 Mithril that I wove. Enchant it a little and voila."

Dream put Aegis away under his clothes as he spoke. He really didn't want to get too in-depth. 

"A skillful enchanter indeed." (Idona)

"Mm. Well, take this time to recover. We leave soon. Oh, and if you want it, the corpse is yours."

"Sure. I guess I could find a use for it."

Dream thanked him and put the corpse in his inventory. He actually did have something he wanted to try.

For the next 20 minutes, everyone wandered while looking at corpses. Many even took some in their inventory. They all wanted to study this odd species they had never seen before, especially the people who were enchanters, blacksmiths, or alchemists as a hobby. 

Soon they all loaded back up and set off to the next outpost. This next one was much closer, as would all the others be. Though since it still hit nightfall on the way there, many decided to sleep. But since Dream was more than awake he volunteered to go clear the next outpost, which nobody opposed. 

While those still awake set themselves up for another show, Dream headed over to the large village that was less than a mile away.

[Two mana signatures higher than yours have been detected. One is quite a bit higher, though still not as much as Riddick. The rest are class 2's and below, but even the class 2's are rather strong. You'll be facing much more resistance this time.]

'And I'm still being watched by Ciroc and Idona. I guess since they're so powerful, they have no need for sleep either. Though I won't hold back should I get in danger, I'd be nice if I could keep my cards hidden. Anyway, let's get this party started.'

Dream walked closer and closer to the village. Demons quickly picked up on him and started screeching and growling. He brought out his weapons once more and dashed straight into the gathering horde.

Blades flew, guns fired, and blood splattered. He was much less reserved this time and lets his weapons move freely, attaining peak killing efficiency. And although he didn't need to do anything, he still went around with his fists as to not get bored.

He punched, kicked, slashed, and crushed all the demons around him. His arms were bloodied and he began to enjoy the feeling of absolutely demolishing his enemies. 

But it didn't last forever. The class 3's were quicker to react this time and came out from the center of the village. They laid eyes on Dream who also looked at them while crushing the skull of a demon in his hands. 

"Human..."

Both of them growled and narrowed their eyes. Dream smiled while putting his weapons away.

"Let's see. An archer and a sword fighter. And both of you have rather strong weapons. This'll be interesting. Much better than the axe fighter from before."

"Grrr... Don't act so arrogant human!"

The sword wielder yelled and drew his weapon, charging straight for Dream. The archer also took out his bow and nocked an arrow, taking aim. 

As the archer demon drew back what looked like a tendon, Dream could pick up on the large amount of mana and strength it took to do so. All the mana went to the tip of the arrow and it was obvious that there was a spell tied to the arrow.

*Fwoosh!*

The arrow was released and Dream began to accelerate his thinking like he did with Sophia.

'Damn that's fast.'

[Faster than a bullet. 460 meters a second.]

'...'

As Dream sighed in amazement at that number, he didn't forget to dodge and defend. Aegis quickly solidified around his arm in the shape of a shield as he bent to the side, raising the shield up to deflect what he couldn't dodge.

*Ding!*

"*grunt*"

When the arrow hit his shield, Dream was thrown a dozen meters away. He quickly recovered though and landed nimbly.

"Ejecting poisoned material."

Aegis spoke and Dream could sense a layer of metal being separated from the shield. Though it was a very small amount, he could sense how fast this corrosive substance was dissolving Aegis and didn't fight his reaction.

*SSsss*

The material dropped to the floor and sizzled, turning to smoke. Dream had a bit of an ugly look.

"Aegis took a lot of effort to make, asshole."

Although he was mad, he was also very surprised at how strong the corrosive substance was. And this was just a simple spell for that archer.

"I guess I should get rid of you first."

Dream quickly recovered, but as he did the sword demon was right on him. His sword came hurtling at his neck. 

"Too slow."

Dream didn't hesitate and dodged easily. Though this demon wasn't so easily shaken off and came right back with another chop. 

[The sword is equal to grade 7 mithril and loaded with mana. The arrow tips for the archer are grade 6.]

Sophia transmitted data to Dream as she got it. He nodded in his mind and formulated what he could and couldn't do.

Aegis wouldn't get chopped up by a same grade material, especially with his enchantments. So he could take more than plenty of damage from the sword demon. It was the archer demon he was worried about with that corrosive ability. 

'I still want to look at their abilities. This'll be tough. But I think I can do it.'

After he said that, he got to work. Aegis solidified around his arm and legs. And when he was done, a little hole opened up from his shoulder.

*Bang!*

A shot rang out and a big hole was created in the elbow of the sword demon's arm. Dream expected the demon to lose control, but he didn't , which surprised him. But his momentum was still halted, which gave Dream another opening.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

More shots rang out, but they weren't headed for the sword demon. 

*Crack!*

The archer demon was surprised as his bow shaft was suddenly shattered in his hands, rendering it useless. Dream smiled seeing that. Then, more holes appeared in his suit.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

"Grahh!!"

The sword demon yelled as several of his joints were shot through. Dream didn't let go of the opportunity and created a blade from Aegis.

*Slice*

His blade hacked through the demon's limbs and cut his arms and legs off. Though it surprisingly took a bit of effort to get through the bone, it was already damaged from his bullets and couldn't put up much of a fight. The sword demon was incapacitated.

"There. Now- Oh no you don't."

Seeing what was happening, the archer demon actually began to run! Dream dashed after him. After a bit of magic usage, the demon was brought back and captured. He quickly took off its limbs as well and placed it with the sword demon.

Two limbless demons laid in front of him, bleeding but recovering surprisingly fast.

"*sigh* That was a bit intense. You actually scratched my armor. I don't exactly appreciate that, so you'll be first."

Saying so, Dream walked over to the archer demon, ready to do some soul searching.