Cycle Zero : reincarnated as the Demon King, Now What?

Unwanted (1)

Diablo walked into the guild, and every eye in the room turned toward him. Whispers spread through the hall faster than he could cross it. Wasn't this the man the Roaring Lions guild claimed had assaulted them the day before?

Isyrae approached him before he had taken more than a few steps inside.

"The guild master would like to see you," she said.

He followed her to the office. Once inside, Vasryn Kael'dathor looked up from his desk.

"Do you know why I called you here?" he asked.

"I don't know," Diablo said.

"It's about what you did to the Roaring Lions guild yesterday. Their party leader came to report you. He claims you tailed them and assaulted them. That's why you're here today."

"I did no such thing," Diablo said. "I was on my way to the tavern when I noticed them following me. I had to defend myself. They were greedy. They wanted to force me out of the guild, claiming I took their spot, even though I only joined a few days ago."

Vasryn studied him for a moment, then nodded slowly.

"I know you're not that type of person. In the short time I've known you, I just wanted to hear it from you myself. Rest assured, they'll be dealt with."

He leaned back in his chair.

"But right now I have a quest for you. Because of your quick promotion, some people in this guild feel I've been favoring you. So I want you and a few other D rank adventurers to explore a dungeon and prove you're capable of holding that rank, or more."

"I see," Diablo said. "So when do we leave? Now?"

"Yes. I've already arranged groups of D rank parties for this."

Diablo left the office. When he stepped outside the guild hall, he found three parties already gathered near the entrance, waiting alongside the receptionist. She explained that the quest required them to bring back four golden horns from an abyss spider, one horn per party.

One of the adventurers eyed Diablo and muttered to his companions.

"What is he doing with us?"

"Can we trust him not to attack us the moment we let our guard down?"

"No, he can't be trusted," another said. "I say he stays behind. We can handle this ourselves."

"How sure are we the Roaring Lions were even telling the truth?"

The receptionist cut them off.

"Please, keep quiet. This isn't just a quest, it's an exam. It will determine whether you're worthy of being D rank at all. If you succeed, you'll be promoted to C. If you fail to bring back a horn, you fail the exam."

None of them argued further, though the suspicion in their eyes didn't fade. They set out for the dungeon together, still refusing to let their guard down around Diablo.

When they reached the entrance, one of the party members raised a hand.

"Let's be careful."

They stepped inside.

The corridor was narrow and slick with a faint layer of webbing that clung to the stone walls. Torches burned low, casting long shadows that shifted with every step.

"Watch your back," someone called out. "Something's coming."

A cluster of spiders emerged from the darkness ahead, easily a dozen of them, their carapaces glinting black under the dim light. They moved fast, skittering low across the floor before fanning out to surround the group.

"These must be the abyss spider's minions," one of the adventurers said. "It already knows we're here."

The party scrambled into formation. A swordsman took the front line, cutting down the first spider that lunged for him with a wide horizontal slash that split its body in two. Behind him, an archer loosed arrows into the mass, each shot finding a joint or an eye socket where the carapace was thinner. A mage at the back conjured small bursts of flame, forcing the spiders to scatter rather than swarm as one.

Still, the spiders were relentless. Two of them leaped onto a swordsman's shield at once, their fangs scraping against the metal as he strained to hold them back. Another adventurer swept in from the side, driving a spear through both creatures before they could break through his guard. The fight dragged on, sweat and effort showing on every face, but slowly the party carved a path through the swarm, each kill costing them ground and breath.

Diablo moved differently.

He didn't wait for the spiders to come to him. He walked straight into the mass of them, and where the party had needed teamwork and careful positioning, he needed almost nothing at all. A single strike from his hand sent three spiders flying into the wall, their bodies crumpling on impact. When two more lunged at him from opposite sides, he sidestepped both without breaking stride and let them collide with each other, then finished them with a downward strike that split the stone floor beneath them.

Within moments, the spiders around him were gone. He hadn't drawn a weapon.

One of the party members, breathing hard and wiping spider ichor from his blade, stared at him.

"Did you see how fast he killed those spiders? Do you still think he's not capable of being a rank?"

Diablo said nothing. He turned and kept walking deeper into the dungeon, leaving the rest of them to catch up.

They hadn't gone much farther when a scream tore through the corridor behind him. Diablo turned and ran back the way he'd come.

A massive snake had coiled itself around the narrow passage, its scales a deep, oily black that seemed to drink in what little light remained. Its head reared back, jaws opening wide, and a jet of fire roared out toward the party.

They scattered, but not fast enough. The swordsman raised his shield just in time, the flame washing over it and scorching the metal black. Another adventurer wasn't as fortunate. The fire caught the edge of his cloak and he dropped to the ground, rolling to smother the flames while his companions shouted his name.

The mage tried to counter with a water spell, but the burst was too small and too slow, dissolving into steam before it reached the snake's head. The archer fired arrow after arrow, but they glanced harmlessly off the thick scales. The party regrouped, shields raised, trying to form a wall between themselves and the creature, but the snake struck again, its tail sweeping low and knocking two of them off their feet.

One adventurer, the same one who had spoken up for Diablo moments before, lay on the ground clutching his leg. Blood soaked through his trousers where the tail had caught him.

"I can't move," he said. "Please, help me."

The rest of the party had already scrambled back for cover, none of them moving to help.

His own party members tried to pull him away, dragging him by the arms across the stone floor, but the snake reared up again, its jaws opening for another blast of fire aimed directly at them.

Diablo stepped forward.

A circle of blue light bloomed in front of him, spreading outward into a shimmering barrier just as the flames struck. The fire broke against it and dispersed harmlessly to either side, leaving the injured man and the ones trying to save him untouched.

Diablo stood in front of them, the barrier still glowing faintly at his back, and turned his gaze up toward the snake.