The Maniac of DxD (Highschool dxd insert/ semi-crack): Chapter 45

South Africa.

In the wilds of the South African continent, I sat cross-legged, focusing on the natural energy of this land, which felt much more potent and wild compared to the energy in Japan, or anywhere else, for that matter.

As for my dear apprentice? He was taking care of the commission, and the last leg of our journey for which we travelled here in the first place-

“AAHHH! SHISHOU! SAVE ME!!”

Which does not seem to be going too well.

I turned to the pathetic display put on by the Red Dragon Emperor of this generation and could not help but smirk a little.

Soon, it will be nearly two years since I took in Issei Hyoudou as my apprentice, during which the younger boy has grown on me.

He has flaws, just like any other human, but he has a kind heart, which is enough for me.

Plus, he provides some serious entertainment value thanks to his luck (which admittedly equals my own bad luck and results in some seriously funny and dangerous situations whenever we step out of Kuoh)

“STOP DAY DREAMING AND FUCKING HELP ME ALREADY!!”

Ah! Looks like I lost myself in recent memories. No matter.

I watched my student be surrounded by three monsters, for which we came here in the first place.

Their bark proving far too impervious even to Issei’s Dragon Claw, and he can’t use the more destructive moves in his arsenal, such as the Dragon Shot or Dragon Roar, since we don’t want to damage them too much, lest this task prove to be a failure.

At the same time, their crab-like claws proved to be too strong for the partial scale mail that Issei managed to develop further, and finally managed to create a helm for himself (even if the helm looks more like a helmet from the Power Rangers, or the Super Sentai as they are called in Japan)

Thankfully, the beasts have yet to find the opportunity to use their poison, otherwise, it would have been game over for the little dragon.

With a practiced ease, I pulled on my Super-Mode as Issei insisted I call it, boosting my strength to the middle ranks of the Ultimate-Class.

It is quite an intimidating sight from what I have seen (yes, I am vain enough to look at what I look like when I use this form with a full body mirror), and our targets must have felt the same since they flinched the moment they felt the divinity within my form.

Apparently, thanks to the sacred flame’s continuous use whenever I use my Gada, thanks to the Orochi poison,  the flame was not only bolstering my poison resistance, but also refining my body in a natural alchemical process, giving birth to a primitive form of divinity within my soul.

What does this mean for me in a practical sense? It meant that the paywall on my Touki training has finally shown a major crack and given me some really cool abilities.

For example, Exhibit A!

I shot towards the monsters known as The Umdhlebi, a monster that cleverly disguises itself as an Euphorbia tree but in actuality is a beast with a potent poison said to be capable of killing nearly anything.

With crab-like claws, roots that it uses like tentacles and legs at the same time, dragging its prey underground or to move away from hostile areas, and fruits filled with the poison it is famous for, it is a formidable monster that would require an entire team of peak High-class beings to bring down.

Sensing the danger they were in, the three tree monsters tried to flee. Unfortunately for them, their locomotion is not all that great despite their power, which meant that they were not all that much of a challenge for me or Issei.

The only reason Issei was put in the situation he was in was because all of his attacks and offensive capabilities are focused on pure destructive potential, and we need these creatures intact.

The moment they fell within my reach, I used my tried and true method of incapacitation.

Three coconuts rolled under the three trees as I activated the spells hidden within, directly locking down their souls and putting them under my control, which was much easier compared to that Phenex stray that died all that time ago since these things worked on base instincts and did not have much higher thoughts (much like me!)

“WHY DIDN’T YOU DO THAT FROM THE BEGINNING!? WERE YOU HAVING FUN WATCHING ME SUFFER?”

“Yes, I was. Be glad that I did not live stream that fight.”

The powerful Red Dragon Emperor, who was already making a name for himself in the freelancer industry thanks to the various jobs he had done during the weekends under my supervision, fell to the ground and cried ugly tears.

Seriously, this guy is far too easy to mess with.

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“Thank you, Mr. Ren. With three of these creatures with us and given that you’ve kept them alive, we can safely harvest their fruits for our medicine.”

The man who spoke English with a thick accent shook hands with us as he expressed his gratitude while his people harvested the poisonous fruits from the monsters.

The journey back to this remote village was a relatively tame affair. Since I had already enslaved the beasts to my will, I decided to give my little student some rest and let him ride them back to the village.

“Don’t worry about it. You hired us for a job, so we need to fulfill the task to the best of our abilities. That is the least you should expect from professionals like us.”

The man laughed loudly at my words before shaking his head.

“Not many people would be able to say that with such pride, especially those thieves from before. Anyways, here is the agreed-upon payment.”

Just like with any poison in the world, with the correct knowledge, the poisonous fruits of this tree can also be turned into a potent medicine capable of healing nearly all mundane health issues and can even cure some curses.

Unfortunately, as the practice of ancient techniques of the Zulu tribes has declined in these years, so has the knowledge of how to create such things.

It is also the reason why our reward for this task, the very medicine I talked about, is so hard to find.

Shaking hands with the man, I turned around and started walking with Issei towards the nearest town.

“Another job well done. Where to next? Shishou?”

“You are quite eager to continue our adventure. Didn’t you say you want all of this to end as soon as possible?”

“Hehehe! What can I say? I’ve changed my mind.”

When we first began this long trip, thanks to vacation time at school, Issei had been adamant about taking this time to rest at home and have fun with his friends.

In other words, he wanted to laze about and not work for a living like a decent adult should (Granted, he is still a teenager, but it is the principle of things!)

Of course, I was having none of that and dragged him across the world where he would do his part of the work for receiving a share of the profit and items earned through the work. Not to mention the fact that the main reason for this entire trip was to find suitable materials for a proper weapon that he could use.

Since I have already decided to make this guy my apprentice and successor, it is only right that I make sure to instill some level of morality and way of life in him (even if my chat claims that I am the worst person ever to take as a role model and expresses their pity for the boy quite clearly through STube points donation on his account)

And man, what an adventure it was.

From fighting the remnants of the Aztec pantheon, like the forgotten river gods and their servants, the man-eating Ahuizotl, to the special kind of crazy like the Indian Rakshasa and Pretas.

Hunting ancient and forgotten creatures and meeting powerful guardians of various landmasses.

It was an exhilarating experience.

The kind of wacky adventures we’ve had thanks to our combined luck is enough to write entire books about.

Sadly, this hunt should be the last since school would reopen soon, which would also mark the beginning of my Third year since I enrolled in Kuoh and Issei’s second year.

How time flies when you are having fun.

I turned to Issei and grinned at his curious expression.

“Well, I did get a commission request from Kyoto about some kind of pest problem. Might as well take the time to go meet your ‘little sister Kunou’ and relax a little.”

Instantly, Issei activated his partial scale mail and deployed his Bastion shield, looking at me warily.

“What the hell are you planning? And is it detrimental to my mental health?”

I raised an eyebrow at that reaction.

“Hey! Just because I like trolling you does not mean that I will fool you all the time. This time, I am telling the truth. We really are going to go to Kyoto for relaxation. Besides, Miki-san and Gorou-san did say they wanted to meet Yasaka-Hime and Kunou so might as well take them and Akeno for a short vacation.”

“….Really?”

“Really.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Really Promise-“

“Issei.”

The boy instantly shut up at my warning tone, but could not hide the happiness on his face.

It is, of course, a tragedy that most of what I’ve said is a blatant lie.

While I do plan to give Akeno and the elder Hyoudous a vacation and let them meet the Kyuubi and her daughter, I also plan to tortu-ahem, train Issei while we are in Kyoto since the ‘pest problem’ I talked about happens to be a rather sizable population of creatures that escaped from Yomi, the underworld of the Shinto Pantheon.

Besides, what kind of a master would I be if I let his education fall to the wayside when we still have the time to cram in some delicious last-minute trauma and life lessons into his thick skull?

With a happy hum, we soon returned to the town and took a taxi to the airport, heading back home.

Ah! That reminds me, maybe I should get a souvenir for the girls and the Hyoudous?

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Author Notes: With this, we are finally entering the canon timeline, although most of the initial and mid-stage canon events have been butterflied away by Ren. Still, some things remain constant, so I guess we will see what happens.

The Umdhlebi (Zulu mythical monster):