Chapter 130: Welcome to Hell. Can I Kill You Again?
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Chapter 130: Welcome to Hell. Can I Kill You Again?
A Devil sprinted through a chasm in a barren, gray mountain range. He was on a mission. One last mission, to kill Arlan Nota himself.
“Alright,” he said. “Let’s finish this.”
“Did you say something, Xhag?” the voice of his superior spoke into his ear.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.
“No, Superior,” he said. “Just eager to get back home.”
“Yes, I’m sure you are. Just think of everything you’ll get back once this is done.”
He nodded. Everything would come back. All he wanted was for things to go back to being the way they were. He just wanted some of that respect he was once afforded, some of that stability, some of that basic level of fulfillment. This would bring it all back to him. “Is Arlan Nota still moving in the same direction?”
“Hold on, let me get one of the Diviners to check.”
There was a shuffling sound, and then silence. The Devil was speaking to his superior over a Communication Crystal, with her remotely giving him orders from the Underworld. The general plan of action was simple. She’d locate Arlan Nota, then send the Devil to take him out. It was quick and easy—something the Devil wished he could have done when he was in charge.
But he couldn’t have done it back then. That ‘locate Arlan Nota’ part had proven extremely difficult time after time, considering the resources given to him. The main method to locate someone was using Diviners; that was how they’d found the Human in the first place. But using Diviners took time, and the only way to speed up that process was to add more Diviners to the group doing the locating. And, unfortunately, the Devil had been denied each and every time he attempted to ask for more to add to his teams.
So, the first time they were trying to find Arlan Nota, it was relatively easy; they had plenty of time, he wasn’t moving around too much, and there was nothing else the Devil had to worry about managing at the time. But after that, it was suddenly borderline impossible to use those same teams to find him. The couple days that had once been an acceptable time to take trying to find him were way too long to wait now that they had a fugitive on the run, and even if they did take that time to find him, by the time the Diviners’ results had come back, Arlan Nota would have been long gone from the location they found him in.
However, the Devil’s superior didn’t have to deal with those problems now that she was in charge. All she had to do was use her own authority to simply get more Diviners on the team. A request that had been denied time and time again when the Devil was in charge. He was completely aware of the unfairness of the situation, but he pushed it out of his mind. If he could get his old life back, he’d deal with whatever it took.
And dealing with whatever it took was what he was doing. Working as a simple footsoldier, fighting on the ground of the Overworld, it wasn’t exactly a glamorous position. In fact, it was borderline blasphemous for the Devil to so blatantly work in a position that was unbefitting of his Race. Working on the same level as the Infernals and Hellions? Something like this was normally punishable by death—or at least demotion to being a hall monitor. But his superior had explicitly asked him to do it, so he supposed she didn’t care.
So he continued to move through the mountain valley, pushing any thoughts about whether this was a good decision out of his mind. At the end of the day, it was either doing it or dying. He was just protecting himself.
“Xhag, I have word back from the Diviners,” his superior spoke to him. “Arlan Nota has abruptly left the trail. He moved into the mountains in the west, so he should be to your northwest.”
“Do you know where he is specifically?”
Huh. Weird. The Devil wasn’t totally sure what had caused the Dragon to move to some random other nearby mound of rock just to continue sitting around and doing what it’d done before, but it didn’t matter. At least now, it wasn’t in the way of his attempt to get to Arlan Nota.
So he just continued on, no longer forced to move in such a wide arc. Although he was still in range of eyesight of that massive thing, so it wasn’t like he could totally ignore caution.
He continued on for a few more minutes, until he saw the Dragon out of the corner of his eye flap its wings and take flight again. Watching it, he saw as it moved along yet another couple hundred paces, perching itself again on a random mountain ledge and doing nothing.
He stopped. This was getting weird. What was it doing? What was the point? His suspicions that this Dragon had something to do with Arlan Nota began to mount higher and higher. Why would it move like that?
“Superior,” he said, “what direction from me is Arlan Nota now?”
“The fugitive is north, slightly northwest.”
He looked upward to the sky so he could orient himself with the cardinal directions—something he’d learned how to do recently when speaking to the Human subordinates he’d hired. Yes, it was as he’d suspected. The direction the Dragon had moved perfectly lined up with the direction Arlan Nota was in.
There was something going on here, and he didn’t like it.
He waited a couple minutes, and like he’d suspected, the Dragon flew up once again to fly just around a hundred paces away, perching itself once again.
“He is still in the same direction?” the Devil asked.
“Yes.”
That confirmed it. The Dragon, for some reason, was following Arlan Nota. Or maybe the Human was following the Dragon. Whatever it was, it seemed he could follow the monster to find the fugitive. The Devil had no idea how the man had convinced that damn thing to not kill him, but whatever the method, it seemed like Arlan Nota had somehow grouped up with a Dragon, following them in their travel to the Empire. If the Devil had just passed the thing by, he’d effectively had been led on a wild goose chase through the wilderness, trying to find the fugitive while never being able to actually approach him because of the Dragon guarding him.
But was the Dragon actually guarding them? The Devil couldn’t think of a world where that was the case. They had absolutely nothing to offer in exchange. So why was it helping? And if they had gotten it to follow them, why would they do it if it wasn’t to get it to guard them? He was stuck knowing exactly where the damn man was, but completely unable to approach because they’d somehow convinced the strongest beast in the mountain range to kill him if he did.
He frowned. Maybe that was the point. Maybe it wasn’t guarding them at all. Or, at least, not knowingly. They could have come up with some random bullshit reason for the Dragon to follow them—leading it to some valuable made-up treasure, or something—in an attempt to make it look like the Dragon was their guard. It’d scare the Devil off without even knowing it was doing so.
He grinned. Clever tricksters. He’d always known the Humans were crafty little fuckers, but this was the first time he’d been the one on the receiving end of their deceptions. But he’d seen through it.
So he walked straight forward toward them, intent on confronting his target directly.
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Chapter 130: Welcome to Hell. Can I Kill You Again?
A Devil sprinted through a chasm in a barren, gray mountain range. He was on a mission. One last mission, to kill Arlan Nota himself.
“Alright,” he said. “Let’s finish this.”
“Did you say something, Xhag?” the voice of his superior spoke into his ear.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.
“No, Superior,” he said. “Just eager to get back home.”
“Yes, I’m sure you are. Just think of everything you’ll get back once this is done.”
He nodded. Everything would come back. All he wanted was for things to go back to being the way they were. He just wanted some of that respect he was once afforded, some of that stability, some of that basic level of fulfillment. This would bring it all back to him. “Is Arlan Nota still moving in the same direction?”
“Hold on, let me get one of the Diviners to check.”
There was a shuffling sound, and then silence. The Devil was speaking to his superior over a Communication Crystal, with her remotely giving him orders from the Underworld. The general plan of action was simple. She’d locate Arlan Nota, then send the Devil to take him out. It was quick and easy—something the Devil wished he could have done when he was in charge.
But he couldn’t have done it back then. That ‘locate Arlan Nota’ part had proven extremely difficult time after time, considering the resources given to him. The main method to locate someone was using Diviners; that was how they’d found the Human in the first place. But using Diviners took time, and the only way to speed up that process was to add more Diviners to the group doing the locating. And, unfortunately, the Devil had been denied each and every time he attempted to ask for more to add to his teams.
So, the first time they were trying to find Arlan Nota, it was relatively easy; they had plenty of time, he wasn’t moving around too much, and there was nothing else the Devil had to worry about managing at the time. But after that, it was suddenly borderline impossible to use those same teams to find him. The couple days that had once been an acceptable time to take trying to find him were way too long to wait now that they had a fugitive on the run, and even if they did take that time to find him, by the time the Diviners’ results had come back, Arlan Nota would have been long gone from the location they found him in.
However, the Devil’s superior didn’t have to deal with those problems now that she was in charge. All she had to do was use her own authority to simply get more Diviners on the team. A request that had been denied time and time again when the Devil was in charge. He was completely aware of the unfairness of the situation, but he pushed it out of his mind. If he could get his old life back, he’d deal with whatever it took.
And dealing with whatever it took was what he was doing. Working as a simple footsoldier, fighting on the ground of the Overworld, it wasn’t exactly a glamorous position. In fact, it was borderline blasphemous for the Devil to so blatantly work in a position that was unbefitting of his Race. Working on the same level as the Infernals and Hellions? Something like this was normally punishable by death—or at least demotion to being a hall monitor. But his superior had explicitly asked him to do it, so he supposed she didn’t care.
So he continued to move through the mountain valley, pushing any thoughts about whether this was a good decision out of his mind. At the end of the day, it was either doing it or dying. He was just protecting himself.
“Xhag, I have word back from the Diviners,” his superior spoke to him. “Arlan Nota has abruptly left the trail. He moved into the mountains in the west, so he should be to your northwest.”
“Do you know where he is specifically?”
Huh. Weird. The Devil wasn’t totally sure what had caused the Dragon to move to some random other nearby mound of rock just to continue sitting around and doing what it’d done before, but it didn’t matter. At least now, it wasn’t in the way of his attempt to get to Arlan Nota.
So he just continued on, no longer forced to move in such a wide arc. Although he was still in range of eyesight of that massive thing, so it wasn’t like he could totally ignore caution.
He continued on for a few more minutes, until he saw the Dragon out of the corner of his eye flap its wings and take flight again. Watching it, he saw as it moved along yet another couple hundred paces, perching itself again on a random mountain ledge and doing nothing.
He stopped. This was getting weird. What was it doing? What was the point? His suspicions that this Dragon had something to do with Arlan Nota began to mount higher and higher. Why would it move like that?
“Superior,” he said, “what direction from me is Arlan Nota now?”
“The fugitive is north, slightly northwest.”
He looked upward to the sky so he could orient himself with the cardinal directions—something he’d learned how to do recently when speaking to the Human subordinates he’d hired. Yes, it was as he’d suspected. The direction the Dragon had moved perfectly lined up with the direction Arlan Nota was in.
There was something going on here, and he didn’t like it.
He waited a couple minutes, and like he’d suspected, the Dragon flew up once again to fly just around a hundred paces away, perching itself once again.
“He is still in the same direction?” the Devil asked.
“Yes.”
That confirmed it. The Dragon, for some reason, was following Arlan Nota. Or maybe the Human was following the Dragon. Whatever it was, it seemed he could follow the monster to find the fugitive. The Devil had no idea how the man had convinced that damn thing to not kill him, but whatever the method, it seemed like Arlan Nota had somehow grouped up with a Dragon, following them in their travel to the Empire. If the Devil had just passed the thing by, he’d effectively had been led on a wild goose chase through the wilderness, trying to find the fugitive while never being able to actually approach him because of the Dragon guarding him.
But was the Dragon actually guarding them? The Devil couldn’t think of a world where that was the case. They had absolutely nothing to offer in exchange. So why was it helping? And if they had gotten it to follow them, why would they do it if it wasn’t to get it to guard them? He was stuck knowing exactly where the damn man was, but completely unable to approach because they’d somehow convinced the strongest beast in the mountain range to kill him if he did.
He frowned. Maybe that was the point. Maybe it wasn’t guarding them at all. Or, at least, not knowingly. They could have come up with some random bullshit reason for the Dragon to follow them—leading it to some valuable made-up treasure, or something—in an attempt to make it look like the Dragon was their guard. It’d scare the Devil off without even knowing it was doing so.
He grinned. Clever tricksters. He’d always known the Humans were crafty little fuckers, but this was the first time he’d been the one on the receiving end of their deceptions. But he’d seen through it.
So he walked straight forward toward them, intent on confronting his target directly.
Chapter 130: Welcome to Hell. Can I Kill You Again?A Devil sprinted through a chasm in a barren, gray mountain range. He was on a mission. One last mission, to kill Arlan Nota himself.Alright, he said. Let's finish this.Did you say something, Xhag? the voice of his superior spoke into his ear.The debut release of this chapter happened at Novl-B1n.No, Superior, he said. Just eager to get back home.Yes, I'm sure you are. Just think of everything you'll get back once this is done.He nodded. Everything would come back. All he wanted was for things to go back to being the way they were. He just wanted some of that respect he was once afforded, some of that stability, some of that basic level of fulfillment. This would bring it all back to him. Is Arlan Nota still moving in the same direction?Hold on, let me get one of the Diviners to check.There was a shuffling sound, and then silence. The Devil was speaking to his superior over a Communication Crystal, with her remotely giving him orders from the Underworld. The general plan of action was simple. She'd locate Arlan Nota, then send the Devil to take him out. It was quick and easysomething the Devil wished he could have done when he was in charge.But he couldn't have done it back then. That locate Arlan Nota' part had proven extremely difficult time after time, considering the resources given to him. The main method to locate someone was using Diviners; that was how they'd found the Human in the first place. But using Diviners took time, and the only way to speed up that process was to add more Diviners to the group doing the locating. And, unfortunately, the Devil had been denied each and every time he attempted to ask for more to add to his teams.So, the first time they were trying to find Arlan Nota, it was relatively easy; they had plenty of time, he wasn't moving around too much, and there was nothing else the Devil had to worry about managing at the time. But after that, it was suddenly borderline impossible to use those same teams to find him. The couple days that had once been an acceptable time to take trying to find him were way too long to wait now that they had a fugitive on the run, and even if they did take that time to find him, by the time the Diviners' results had come back, Arlan Nota would have been long gone from the location they found him in.However, the Devil's superior didn't have to deal with those problems now that she was in charge. All she had to do was use her own authority to simply get more Diviners on the team. A request that had been denied time and time again when the Devil was in charge. He was completely aware of the unfairness of the situation, but he pushed it out of his mind. If he could get his old life back, he'd deal with whatever it took.And dealing with whatever it took was what he was doing. Working as a simple footsoldier, fighting on the ground of the Overworld, it wasn't exactly a glamorous position. In fact, it was borderline blasphemous for the Devil to so blatantly work in a position that was unbefitting of his Race. Working on the same level as the Infernals and Hellions? Something like this was normally punishable by deathor at least demotion to being a hall monitor. But his superior had explicitly asked him to do it, so he supposed she didn't care.So he continued to move through the mountain valley, pushing any thoughts about whether this was a good decision out of his mind. At the end of the day, it was either doing it or dying. He was just protecting himself.Xhag, I have word back from the Diviners, his superior spoke to him. Arlan Nota has abruptly left the trail. He moved into the mountains in the west, so he should be to your northwest.Do you know where he is specifically?Huh. Weird. The Devil wasn't totally sure what had caused the Dragon to move to some random other nearby mound of rock just to continue sitting around and doing what it'd done before, but it didn't matter. At least now, it wasn't in the way of his attempt to get to Arlan Nota.So he just continued on, no longer forced to move in such a wide arc. Although he was still in range of eyesight of that massive thing, so it wasn't like he could totally ignore caution.He continued on for a few more minutes, until he saw the Dragon out of the corner of his eye flap its wings and take flight again. Watching it, he saw as it moved along yet another couple hundred paces, perching itself again on a random mountain ledge and doing nothing.He stopped. This was getting weird. What was it doing? What was the point? His suspicions that this Dragon had something to do with Arlan Nota began to mount higher and higher. Why would it move like that?Superior, he said, what direction from me is Arlan Nota now?The fugitive is north, slightly northwest.He looked upward to the sky so he could orient himself with the cardinal directionssomething he'd learned how to do recently when speaking to the Human subordinates he'd hired. Yes, it was as he'd suspected. The direction the Dragon had moved perfectly lined up with the direction Arlan Nota was in.There was something going on here, and he didn't like it. He waited a couple minutes, and like he'd suspected, the Dragon flew up once again to fly just around a hundred paces away, perching itself once again.He is still in the same direction? the Devil asked.Yes.That confirmed it. The Dragon, for some reason, was following Arlan Nota. Or maybe the Human was following the Dragon. Whatever it was, it seemed he could follow the monster to find the fugitive. The Devil had no idea how the man had convinced that damn thing to not kill him, but whatever the method, it seemed like Arlan Nota had somehow grouped up with a Dragon, following them in their travel to the Empire. If the Devil had just passed the thing by, he'd effectively had been led on a wild goose chase through the wilderness, trying to find the fugitive while never being able to actually approach him because of the Dragon guarding him.But was the Dragon actually guarding them? The Devil couldn't think of a world where that was the case. They had absolutely nothing to offer in exchange. So why was it helping? And if they had gotten it to follow them, why would they do it if it wasn't to get it to guard them? He was stuck knowing exactly where the damn man was, but completely unable to approach because they'd somehow convinced the strongest beast in the mountain range to kill him if he did.He frowned. Maybe that was the point. Maybe it wasn't guarding them at all. Or, at least, not knowingly. They could have come up with some random bullshit reason for the Dragon to follow themleading it to some valuable made-up treasure, or somethingin an attempt to make it look like the Dragon was their guard. It'd scare the Devil off without even knowing it was doing so.He grinned. Clever tricksters. He'd always known the Humans were crafty little fuckers, but this was the first time he'd been the one on the receiving end of their deceptions. But he'd seen through it.So he walked straight forward toward them, intent on confronting his target directly.
