Chapter 314 - I'll Just Run.
"A devil? Hahahaha" Beldar laughed loudly and so hard that he held his stomach.
"Oh, you don't believe me?" Hal asked with a smirk.
"Of course I don't! What, because your eyes changed color, I'm supposed to believe you're a Devil?" Beldar said and laughed once again.
Hal chuckled,
"An unbeliever, huh? This is interesting" Hal said and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
It seemed it had been a little shallow of him to believe that all those from dystopia will have a reverence for the Devil just because of Arya.
Oh well, it would not have made a difference.
"Let's say you really are a Devil, I 'm curious how you will fight off me and my forces" Beldar said, and finally the rumbling in the dark at the back of the cave made sense as at least twenty individuals all encrusted in the grey shell that was synonymous with the mutating technique showed up.
Seeing as he had not seen Beldar change them now, Hal was willing to bet whoever this was, they had been that way for a while.
Beldar looked them over with pride of an artist surveying his handy work,
"I came to the Haron continent with my fellow Dystopian brothers and we were bright-eyed younglings with big plans and ideas.
We would take down the Haron continent from the inside.
You see, we felt the reason Dystopia has never won was that they never attempted sabotage and when we proposed our ideas to the elders of our tribe, they shunned us and told us we were too young to understand the intricacies of what we were suggesting.
However, we were sure of our plan's viability and so we proceeded to infiltrate the Haron continent regardless and the journey was perilous. We almost did not make it.
But we did and it was only then we finally understood how stupid our plans were especially since we had no support and most importantly, very little money.
And then I had an idea that could make us money which was a personal project of mine that I had tweaked even further with the power of a Semi-saint.
I would make an inferior copy of this technique and sell it. I knew we would make a lot from it as this continent lacks body strengthening techniques such as this."
At first, Hal really considered telling Beldar to get on with the attacking or at least skip over to the end of his story but he decided he might as well hear the full details so he would have something to tell Ehrlich when he was awake.
Beldar sighed,
"This was when the disagreement with my brothers began. They claimed that we were here to destroy the Haron continent from the inside and not to give them an avenue to be stronger, even if it was an inferior copy.
They would not budge on this even though I told them I would sabotage the technique so that continuous use will eventually turn the user mad and lose all sense of reasoning to eventually be put down like a savage beast.
The good thing was, I had planned for such a possibility and marked them as subtly as I could in preparation for me to use the technique on them."
Hal looked confused,
"Mark?"
Beldar smiled,
"Oh yes. The technique can't just turn anybody at the behest of its master. The victims have to be marked prior. Of course, if they are subordinates, they receive the mark like a badge of honor.
Well, if my brothers will not be useful to the cause by supporting me, at least now they will be useful to me by being my fighting force for the rest of their lives.
So, will you give up now or will you try to pathetically fight against such large odds?"
Hal smiled lightly before turning towards the exit and dashing out,
"I'll just run"
Beldar closed his eyes and tilted his head back as he sighed with disappointment. He had expected Hal to at least put up a fight and not just run out like a coward.
"Get him!" He ordered the twenty monsters with him and they ran out ahead of him while he followed at a steady pace.
They found Hal standing right in front of the cave entrance and surrounded him in seconds.
When Beldar came out of the cave, he was a little surprised Hal had not gone that far.
Was he that slow?
"Did you think I was running?" Hal asked and chuckled before stretching his arms wide as a portal opened and out of it slithered a large green serpent.
"I wasn't running. You are so silly to even think I was. No, I was taking the fight out of that cramped-up cave so that I can let loose. So you have twenty monsters, well, meet my army..."
Following the arrival of Sassy the familiar serpent was forty other beasts at the forefront of which was Borus.
These were the most powerful of the beasts he had in the habitat and they all exuded Devil-like energies thanks to Hal's Blood evolution.
Beldar's eyes widened and his mouth gaped in confusion at how the tables seemed to have been turned on him so quickly. He took a step back just as the beasts wasted no time leaping into action and taking the monsters in a two-on-one battle that guaranteed quick dismantling of their hard-crusted exteriors.
Hal bent low to stroke Sassy's head and the serpent let out a low hiss of content before swiveling her head towards Beldar,
"He's ugly" She said.
Hal's forehead was filled with black lines,
"Well, he's no me, but I think he's doing okay for himself in the looks department" he told her with a mild chuckle.
"No, he's ugly" Sassy said again and Hal knew she was doing it deliberately to get on Beldar's nerves which from the look on Beldar's face, was working.
Then she slithered off towards the battle of monsters and beasts while already condensing a toxic arrow which she released and tore a hole through a monster, thereby showcasing her dominance.
Hal nodded at the display with a smile. The monsters should be taken care of soon and he could focus all of his attention on their leader and Ex-brother.
"So, you have demon beasts trapped by your side? Fucking entitled Haron Bastard!" Beldar spat but Hal just rolled his eyes.
"You turned your brothers into monsters and you really want to point the accusatory finger? Well, point away, I really don't care either way.
Ehrlich might have considered capturing you but now that you've seen so much of my secrets, I can't very well have you telling anyone, can I?"
Beldar understood what Hal was getting at and quickly activated his scroll not to transform his hand but his whole form.
He went from being 6 feet tall to 12 feet and became twice as wide as he used to be. He was rippling with monstrous strength and was clearly being complacent.
Hal grinned and his skin turned crimson, marred with black lines as he sprouted black horns on his forehead while large bat-like wings spread from his back.
The complete transformation into the lesser Devil form was not where it ended as Hal stretched his hand and summoned Executioner which was giving off violent fiendish energy.
"By the gods! You are a monster too!" Beldar exclaimed.
Hal sighed as he flexed the arm that was holding the Broadsword that was Executioner and in the process, flaunting the weapon itself,
"Not a monster, a Devil. But hey, at least you are getting closer. By the time I'm snuffing out your life, I'm sure you'll get it right" he said.
And with that, he flapped his wings once and got enough lift to strike directly at Beldar's chest...