Chapter 261: Welcome to the Overworld. Cause Some Chaos.

Xhag’duul hid in an alleyway in a dark, dangerous city. He could feel the Spell that’d summoned him forcing him to return to his prison now that the immediate danger was over. That Human that’d been chasing him had lost him, and for a little while afterward, Xhag’duul had been able to retain control of his body. He’d made it all the way out of the town walls and even killed a few monsters—some big dark beasts that spewed out annoying smoke—before the Spell started to kick in and suddenly he found himself automatically moving back toward the Humans during any moment he didn’t find himself in danger.

However, even though his escape plan was quickly failing, Xhag’duul couldn’t help but feel excited. Happy. He’d managed to kill a few monsters out in the wilderness, and that meant he’d gotten a few points of XP. And at Level 1, a few points of XP went a long way. Specifically, it went the length needed to reach Level 4.

In his hundreds of years of life, Xhag’duul had forgotten what it was like to Level up so easily. Unlike the Humans’ strange way of acquiring System power, the Demons had no ‘Classes’ to speak of. They were free to collect XP and Levels from the day they were born. So, he’d literally reached Level 4 as an infant—before he even began forming memories. 

His numbers were still pathetically small, of course, but they were growing. And they were certainly larger than they’d been back when he’d first reached this Level. Xhag’duul thought he remembered hearing about how Humans got 1 added to their Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity every two years for their first twenty years of life, and felt bad for the poor things. Demons got 1 added to all of their Stats every ten years, indefinitely. So, even if he was still low-Level, he certainly held quite a bit of power, just from his age.

Though, Humans did get extra Spells and Talents and all that garbage, so he supposed it was evened out. He’d have to wait until Level 10 before he got any sort of System benefit that wasn’t purely based on Stats. And he’d have no choices to speak of, either, unlike how Humans got to pick one of three options.

The only ‘choice’ regarding what benefits he’d get at Level 10 was what species he was when he reached that Level. As a Demon, he could change his species by eating specific ingredients, like how Infernals became Nefariors upon drinking a god’s blood. As a Devil, though, he wasn’t aware of anything he could eat to become something else. Devils were a ‘dead-end’ species, as far as the Underworld was concerned. The pinnacle of its respective chain. He was at his peak, sure, but that also meant that whatever Devils got every 10 Levels, that was what he’d have to work with. So there would be no discovering new power in this process; only reclaiming what he’d lost.

Xhag’duul was almost saddened. The thought of returning to who he once was…Getting reset to Level 0 was a clean slate for him, almost like that fugitive’s ability to reset time. And to think he’d be wasting it on going back to exactly who he was before, that sad sack of shit, it wasn’t exactly exciting. But it only almost saddened him. He still had plenty opportunity to make up for his past downfalls in this new life. 

After catching his breath, he was forced to continue moving to return to that damned basement in the orphanage. He slipped across alleys and ducked through shadows, taking care not to be seen, and taking as roundabout a path back as he was allowed to.

If he had to return now, that was fine. He’d made a small bit of progress toward his major goal—getting high enough Level to be able to defy his summoner’s commands. He didn’t know how high he’d need to reach before the Spell would stop working on him, but every Level he obtained worked toward that goal. He’d have to find more moments to briefly escape in the future, or convince her to take him out as a bodyguard. 

He could envision the argument now. You want to Level up more to protect yourself and me—your research—don’t you, Aliss? So it would make sense to keep me by your side when you do. 

He’d slowly build trust over years—or maybe even decades—and convince her that he wouldn’t abandon her if he were given freedom. Yes. Yes, he’d play the long game. He had the lifespan to support it.

As he crossed another street, keeping an eye out for witnesses, he spotted something in the distance, near the outer wall. Were those…Humans? Some massive group of people was dashing through the town’s entrance, sprinting through the streets brandishing weapons and hollering war cries into the air.

Wait, no, Humans didn’t come in that color, did they? He’d seen people who had an off-white skin color, people whose skin was dark brown, and the whole spectrum in between. But these people in the distance, they were green. They were short, too, like the young Humans in the orphanage. What were these things?

And shuffling through the town entrance they’d burst through was someone who undeniably was a Human. He stepped over a couple—oh, those were two Human corpses. These things had killed the town guards and broken through the gate. Anyway, a Human stumbled into the town, looking like he definitely did not want to be there, but all of the shorter ones looked up to him like he was…an authority figure? The Charisma Stat helped with face reading, so Xhag’duul’s drained Stats left him feeling slightly crippled in this department, but he saw an extremely strange dynamic between these people.

His legs started moving on their own, evidently not willing to allow him to stand still any longer. Humans killing Humans, who cared? But if these things were gonna kill him…that’d be great! New source of danger, right here for him. The moment his life was threatened, he’d have a ticket to extend his little vacation from prison a little longer. And, judging from those things’ little bodies, he didn’t think they could be that threatening. Just barely enough for him to be technically considered “in danger,” but not enough for him to truly be vulnerable.

So he kept his ears open, listening closely for any sign that they were getting closer. He had no idea why they were here, but it seemed to be some sort of invasion of this settlement. If they saw him, they’d surely attack. It was perfect.

He heard a faint whisper in the distance. “Human. Where thing? Where thing we hunting?”

“I-I-I don’t know,” responded another voice. “It should be around here somewhere. B-but we should really leave soon. A-and please don’t kill any more people, they didn’t do anything—”

Xhag’duul punched a wall so hard it caved inward. Some rando’s house collapsed in on itself, the supportive beam snapping in half beneath the force of his fist. The wall shattered and the roof slid downward.

There we go. That should draw some attention.

Sure enough, there was a brief moment of silence between the two voices, followed by the clamoring footsteps of everyone in the area running to him. He grinned, staring off in the direction of the sound, and waited. And in just a few moments…

One of those short things burst around the corner and stared at Xhag’duul, wide-eyed. For a moment, he assumed a fight was about to break out. But it didn’t move. Instead it just looked at him and he was forced to just look at it, disallowed from directly attacking someone when not acting in self-defense.

“Human,” it said, looking off to the side at some unseen person, “is this thing? Hunting thing? Demon thing we are hunting?”

Xhag’duul frowned. They were hunting him? Then he smiled, and almost laughed. They were hunting them. Perfect.

A pair of eyes peeked around the corner of the building, revealing a face whose expression turned to one of shock and fear immediately upon spotting Xhag’duul. A familiar face—one he’d definitely seen before.

Is that…the Human that freed me? The one who came down and tried to kill me, letting me run out of here in the first place? He’s still kicking around, I guess. But, uh…What the fuck is going on here?

The man instantly ducked back behind the wall, shouting, “Y-y-yes! That’s the Demon! Kill it, Goblins!”

Ah, that’s my ticket.

The thing—a Goblin, apparently—started running at Xhag’duul, knife in hand. And now he was free to charge straight at it, too. He moved ridiculously slowly compared to his old powers, felt pathetically frail, and knew for a fact that he’d hit about as hard as a feather compared to his old self. Not only was he missing the Stats of his previously accumulated Levels, but also the powers offered to him as a Devil. And those powers were really what gave him strength. Setting people on fire at will, multiplying all of his Stat values by a huge factor…Without it, he really was comparable to a Human.

Well, he was comparable to a very strong Human. And he suspected all it would take to eliminate these Goblin things was a very strong Human.

The Goblin thrust its knife at Xhag’duul, but he twisted out of the way before it even got close to him. Then, he reached out and grabbed the thing’s face. Lifting it up off the ground by its head, he held it up to eye level, watching it struggle and scratch. It even bit his finger to try and get him to drop it, but to no avail. Xhag’duul squeezed his fingers closed, and…

Nothing happened.

Shit. I guess I’m not strong enough to kill something like that anymore, even when it’s this weak. Oh well, I’ll just kill it some other way.

He lifted the Goblin up and slammed it into the ground. Not quite enough damage to finish it off, so he stomped his heel into its skull. Finally, a kill notification came through.

Xhag’duul looked up to see a dozen more Goblins staring at him from afar. He stretched his lips out into a toothy grin, and they scattered, all running off in random directions.

“Too strong!” one shouted, climbing up the side of a building at a rapid pace.

“Human lied! Said was weak now! Only strong later!” screeched another as it sprinted down the main road.

Xhag’duul ran right after them, paying no heed to the Human he passed and after his Goblin prey. Ignoring the whimpering sounds from behind him, he surveyed his options.

I think I’ll go after…the one on the roof.

But just as he started after that one, a shout came from afar. “Help! Monsters! Monsters have broken into town!”

He glanced over at the source of the sound, and saw another Human standing in the middle of the street. This one he didn’t recognize, but they seemed determined to interlope regardless, shouting out like this was their business.

Well, if this person is going to call for help in killing me, that means killing them is just self defense, right?

Xhag’duul felt a series of actions unlock in his mind, and grinned.

Great. This Human seems easier to kill than those agile Goblin things, climbing all over buildings and hiding in alleyways. And it looks like this one’s just gonna call in more and more prey for me to slaughter.