DEMON'S VIRTUE

Eiro killed more and more wyverns, ripping their bodies apart, ending their lives within just an instant. They fell before Eiro's feet, they could do nothing to stop what was happening to them. Some of them tried to escape, but of course, the Demon didn't let anything like that happen. That's why he had sealed up all possible entrances and exits to this place.

Eiro rushed throughout this place, watching as the wyverns continued to feed on their brethren after they died. The Demon knew that 'The Devil' was watching him right now. There was no way that he wouldn't realize that something was so suddenly happening to so many beings that he had given his mark to.

But why didn't he just appear here to try and stop him? Well, this place was probably something like a throwaway-site, a place that he didn't really care much about. He was probably watching all of this unfold with absolute delight, more than curious about what might happen next.

And the thing that happened was that Eiro killed them all, without a single exception. He found out that a few more of the wyverns seemed ready to lay their eggs, or had already done so a few days prior. Of course, these ones actually had wyvern hatchlings within them. Eiro might throw these eggs into the magma later if he still needed more experience, otherwise he may as well bring some of them to the monster village as pets for the monster leaders.

The whole inside of this cave system was filled with the disgusting scent of rusted metal, as the blood of the wyverns fell to the magma and was immediately evaporated. It was hard to see everything that was happening down there by now. A small island had even formed there, created out of the bodies of wyverns that had molten into the magma, as well as parts of rock that had been cooled down by their blood.

It was a rather disgusting sight, but it wasn't one that Eiro particularly cared about. The wyverns falling down there were actually covering a bit of the blood smell, since their burning flesh had a very pleasant scent to it, something nearly mouth-watering. Maybe Eiro should take a bit of a break later and have lunch using some of these bodies. He deserved a bit of a treat, after all.

Just as Eiro pushed his hands through the flesh of one of the wyverns, before tightening his grip around its spine, he realized an interesting fact. With the exception of a single individual, all the actual wyverns were already dead.

"Huh... Let me see... 99,98%..? I'm not sure if I'm lucky or unlucky..." The Demon grumbled as he realized how close he was to leveling up that one last time. He let out a deep, annoyed sigh, and turned his sight toward the place where he would be able to find that single last individual. He doubted that it would be enough for him to level up, though.

"I mean, you finished everything here up pretty quickly, right? You must have spotted some other groups of monsters around here, and monsters that can survive in this climate must be pretty strong... right?" Nelli pointed out, as Eiro scratched the back of his head, "I guess you're right." He muttered, "I might just drop a few explosions around here and there, and see what happens."

"...that's not exactly what I was suggesting, but sure..." The Naiad replied, as Eiro lightly smiled at her, "I know, I know. Let's see how much experience this one gives me first, though. It should be an evolution or two ahead of the others, considering its stature."

"That much? Then if it's that strong, why didn't it come out to fight you while you were slaughtering all these weaklings?" Sarius asked curiously, as Eiro pointed toward one particular, narrow tunnel, "Because that's the only entrance to where it is. And it's probably three to four times bigger than all these other wyverns." He explained, and Sarius immediately understood.

The wyvern had probably gone in there to be undisturbed during its evolution, and then grew to be too big to leave the place again.

"Isn't that kinda... sad?" The Salamander asked with a wry smile. Eiro simply shrugged, "Sure it is. But you'd be surprised how often this kind of thing happens. It actually sometimes leads to special evolutions suddenly happening. I remember this one story, where a monster that lived underground spent months creating this hideout in this super hard rock. Well, after that hideout was finished, that monster continued hunting like normal, and due to the narrow entrance and hard surface of the entrance, it was unable to be killed by any other monsters. So, it soon evolved, and of course fell asleep within its hideout. It was just that it grew to a size too large to be held within the space it had carved out personally, so instead, the system accomodated, and fused the monster with the rock instead. I'm not sure if you've heard of it or not, but it continued evolving more and more, until it did finally die. Its corpse is a mountain in the eastern continent now." Eiro explained, "And not just any mountain, by the way, it is apperently the greatest mountain that exists."

"...Isn't that just a children's story? At least that's what it sounds like." Nelli pointed out, but Gondos immediately spoke for Eiro, "No, as far as I'm aware, it is a true story. I remember some other earth spirits talking about it in the plane of earth. I think in the moment of its death, the Golem King took it as its pet, and its now the mountain that the royal castle stands upon in the plane of earth."

"Seriously? That's kinda cool..." Sarius pointed out, "All we have in the plane of fire are boiling rivers, deserts, and eternal sunlight. We have nothing cool like that."

"At least you have something like land to begin with. The plane of water is just an infinite ocean." Nelli added, "Although, it is still pretty amazing there, honestly. It's a shame that Eiro isn't able to see it."

"...By the way, why is that? He has the spirit gateways within his body, so he should be able to come by to at least the planes of fire and water, right?"

"...Sarius, that is the first logical thing you've said since I've known you." Nelli pointed out, "Eiro, do you think you-"

Eiro immediately interrupted the naiad and shook his head, "I've already tried, no luck, sorry. I've spent hours of meditation just trying to squeeze myself through there, but it just doesn't seem like that's how it works."

"Then maybe you just have to await the true awakening of your legendary skill, as well as the moment you gain the title of 'The World'... Maybe you can do so once you reach that point." Gondos suggested, and Eiro raised his brows, "Maybe, but let's not assume so beforehand. That's only going to set us up for disappointment. And before that can happen, I need to level up again first anyway, so let's make that happen first, alright?" Eiro pointed out as he flapped his wings, quickly flying over toward that narrow tunnel, beyond which he would then find the largest wyvern amongst all of them.

How this one ended up becoming so powerful compared to others was really beyond Eiro. Although, when he came closer, he could at least guess. There were traces of other wyverns within its stomach, and there were even dried bits of flesh stuck between its teeth and scales. Clearly, this wyvern had just somehow forced the others to feed it. Maybe it had a skill that let it control the other wyverns somehow. Not that it really mattered.

The monster gave off an incredibly loud screech the moment Eiro stepped into this space that was barely large enough to hold the wyvern.

"Sorry bud, I'm not bringing you any food. Rather, I think you're going to turn out to be my lunch in a bit." Eiro explained, and soon saw some huge claws being swung at him, while the wyvern pushed its head forward to try and bite the Demon as well. But of course, that didn't happen, since Eiro used the three of swords to fight back. He cut off the wyvern's claws with some swift motions, and pulled its fangs out the moment they came even somewhat close to him.

"These are actually pretty high-quality items... thanks, I'll have Armodeus make some items out of these." Eiro pointed out, surprised at the sharpness and overall health of these parts of the wyvern. At first, he had expected most parts of its body to be just completely rotten, since that's what had happened with most of the other wyverns, but this one was actually in surprisingly decent health. Of course, it was still as hungry as all the others, probably even more hungry considering its size, and it was thin enough that if it lost any more weight, its ribs may or may not end up just piercing through the wyvern's skin.

That also sadly meant that there wasn't that much meat on its bones... but well, it was large enough, so Eiro would have enough to eat no matter what, even if the food might end up being a little bit tough. Eiro's jaw was strong enough to bite through metal with ease, so chewing a little more than normal wasn't an issue.

"Alright, let's finish this quickly. I don't think I've properly eaten anything in a few days now..." The Demon grumbled, holding his stomach as well. The wyvern once more tried to attack Eiro, with the bits of claws and fangs that were still left on its body, but Eiro simply swung itself over its body and proceeded to cut through its spine with the three of swords, making its body fall to the ground immediately.

But something surprising happened that Eiro didn't expect. He thought it would take a bit longer for him to see this.

[You have leveled up]