"T-That makes sense." The slave let out a long breath, giving the corpses a compassionate look.
''Yeah, rest in peace in the hell.''
Morris's expression shifted from confusion to anger, and he shouted—no fear in his voice at all:
"YOU FUCKING SHIT! WHAT HAPPENED?!"
Huh… that guy must be furious. Especially the part where they experienced death through a damn meat grinder in a sea of fiends.
For a genius like him, that had to be a massive humiliation.
Curry, standing nearby, was pissed too. But he just hid that murderous intent in his eyes and stayed silent, cold as ever.
The demon shrugged and replied casually,
"Uh, yeah… to put it simply… uhm… you guys just passed through a realm between illusion and reality. Thus, all trick or item could never use properly..that place will made you guys get through a real grinder"
…
Silence.
…
The slave rubbed his chin, trying to digest the demon's explanation. He began to believe the demon's words because his back wounds had fully healed. He had already realized about 5 minutes ago when his body suddenly grew healthy normally but why, and when? Had he received some small reward for completing the challenge, or had this strange realm itself caused his wounds to disappear?
"So… Sir demon, where exactly are we now?"
The demon clicked his tongue, then answered,
"Obviously, we're in the real world now—not an illusion anymore. Anyway, you have already passed the first challenge."
He added.
"Actually, it's the divine power of the nameless god. He created this land and the rules of the challenge. The moment you were killed by the fiends, you had already cleared the game. That's why I call it the challenge of truthfulness."
Everyone's faces twisted at the demon's explanation. So… they were destined to die from the start.
The demon smirked.
"It's fine for you, since you charged into that pack of fiends even when you knew you'd die. Not like those cowards over there. The moment they chose the safe option and stayed put, their souls were devoured by me — as per the rules of the challenge."
"If you thought you could easily obtain the god's reward without losing anything… Well, sorry, but that's a stupid thought."
His voice dropped, heavy and cold.
"You bet your whole life on this… get the reward, or die."
…
The demon let out a long sigh and then continued,
"Now, we'll pick up where we left off. The second challenge. Ah, it is not exactly like a challenge. It's preparation for the final challenge."
The young butler gulped before asking,
"What's… its title?"
The demon tilted his head, muttering, "Let me think… I need a second to come up with a proper name.''
…
"Ah — The Challenge of Cooperation."
The slave and the others frowned, confused. Did that mean they had to work together this time? What kind of challenge would it be? They had no clue, so they simply waited for the demon's next words.
"Alright. Now, listen to my words carefully," the demon cleared his throat and added.
"You guys will look for the three pieces of the crystal skull that were scattered around this place. After that, gather them at the mountain peak where that bright column of light is shining ahead."
The demon said while pointing to the west, and the candidates' eyes followed his gesture.
The highest mountain in Hell, lying beneath the solar eclipse… Yeah, anyone could see it. The mountain looked far away, yet somehow close enough to make their skin crawl with fear.
"So, where can we find the three pieces of the crystal skull?" the fat guy asked. He wasn't the only one—everyone else clearly wanted to know the same thing. After all, the demon did no mention the locations of the skulls yet
"Kukuku." The demon chuckled, once again pointing his fingers toward the west.
"There are three red pillars near the mountain. Those glowing spots are where you'll find them."
…
"But I have to warn you first: there are a lot of fiends there… but don't worry too much. Those fiends are weak and stupid. At the very least, they should be a match for your capability."
The slave gazed ahead, thinking. From what he saw, there were three locations—meaning they'd have to split into three groups. So that was why the demon said this challenge was named that way.
The challenge of cooperation.
He quickly snapped out of his thoughts when Curry called his name and gathered everyone.
At this moment, they couldn't act alone anymore.
Curry spoke up, explaining the "perfect plan" he had come up with.
"Since Morris and I are the strongest, we'll go alone to find two pieces of the skull. Meanwhile, the rest of you will look for the remaining together. Understand? Just try to survive and bring the skull piece to the mountain peak. We'll leave the location that's closest to the mountain for you. Easy mission, right?"
He glanced at his butler and added,
"I'll be counting on you, my personal butler. And… one more thing—sorry for dragging you into such a dangerous place."
The young butler looked at his master with a complicated expression, then finally nodded.
"Yes, my lord. Just promise you'll give me extra payment after we clear this damn challenge."
Curry smiled, then swept his gaze over everyone, his tone heavy as he checked for objections.
"Has anyone got a problem with my plan?"
The slave simply shrugged, and the others also didn't raise any complaints. In this situation, Curry's plan was the best they had.
The demon only smiled faintly before quickly flying up into the blood-red sky, disappearing without a trace.
Alaric blinked, staring at the sky one last time before the journey began—searching for the skull piece with the young butler and the fat man.
Because Curry had given them the safest route to the first piece of skull, they barely faced many fiends. Their journey was rather safe and comfortable. Uh, anyway, they were the weakest of the candidates — the easiest and closest piece near the mountain belonged to them. What if they had to look for another piece of skull placed far from the mountain? Not sure they could complete their mission.
Failure might be the only outcome if that way.
Even with an easy mission, the slave was hardly pleased at all. Uh, basically, his partners were abusing him. He understood their bloodlines were steeped in pompousness.
They hardly treated the slave like a normal human.
The fat man, who showed his dirty character without thinking, constantly scolded and mocked the slave. The butler looked like a gentleman, but in fact he was just a hypocrite.
"Move quickly, slave," the fat man shouted, taking a swig from his flask.
The butler sighed and said in an uncomfortable tone.
"You should keep a polite manner when you talk to a slave. They're human like us. They were just unlucky to be born into a low-life family."
Then he turned his eyes to the slave, who was nearly breathless from dragging the corpse of the demonic pig behind.
"We'll rest for a while. You're lucky there's a good person like me in the group — you should be grateful to me."
The slave nearly collapsed from exhaustion; he lay on the ground as his chest rose and fell nonstop.
"M-my ass... somehow I'm gonna kill you first," he muttered and looked at the screen system. The mission he had activated after beginning his journey… It was bitter, his mission to be dragging the demonic pig until the noble's pace finally stopped. Well, at least he felt like he was doing it for himself, not for the nobles.
[You have completed the Normal Mission]
[Reward: 5 Chaos Points]
[Personal] [Summon] [Gacha] [Mission]
[Chaos Points]: 260
After a short minute of rest, they set up a campfire and began cooking the demonic pig they had hunted earlier. They weren't even sure if the meat was edible, but letting starvation kill them before passing the challenge wasn't a good idea. So, they decided to handle it in a way that made it at least somewhat edible.
Luckily for them, there was a good cook here.
The slave, with plenty of experience turning low-quality ingredients into something tasty, had surely learned to adapt due to his low status; otherwise, mud porridge and moldy bread would have been the only thing he could eat in Tyler's family
"G-good!.. You've got skills. I'm going to buy you as soon as I pass the challenge," the fat man said with his mouth full, talking while enjoying the slave's cooking.
"It's an honor for me," Alaric replied politely. But deep inside, he was thinking about killing that ugly pig first. But it would be a hard challenge due to the fact that those damned guys' summoned creatures still were guarding them without letting a chance for the slave.
After two hours of break, they resumed their journey.
Eventually, they arrived at the place where the first piece of the skull was located. Just like the demon said — the first piece lay on a flat area beneath the jagged rock slopes of the highest mountain.
All in all, the terrain here was extremely dangerous. However, that wasn't the worst part.
The fiends. Yes. A whole pack of fiends lived here. And obviously, if they wanted the skull piece, those fiends would be the first obstacle the slave's group had to face.