*yawn* sup Y'all. I finally dealt with all my work and can continue the novel. I extended the break a little to rest but Its gonna go on the regular release speed from now on.
Btw this chapter is mostly yap and lore for the latter chapters so do as you wish.
-continuing from last chapter-
The lowest floor of the bastion was shrouded in a unexplainable coldness. The eerie whispers that kept pouring out of the miniature gate appearing to be temptations from the sealed world itself.
"Do you want power~? "
"We could give you everything. "
"The world will in palm of your hands!"
And other temptations that any despairing person would have taken without a shadow of doubt, but fortunately everyone present was more than strong enough in mentality to resist them.
But despite having opened the gate just like he wanted. Asta wasn't excited or smiling, he was frowning as the timing was way off what he and Lemiel expected and this wasn't a gate they could close by destroying something.
Asta watched the portal slowly growing bigger, at a rate just barely enough to be visible to a eye but growing nonetheless.
The others also noticed that and quickly moved towards Asta, leaving Exir to maintain and restrict the portal as best as he could.
"Asta...! Somebody is trying to open the gate from the other side as well! " William exclaimed.
Yet before they could say anything else, the portal pulsed and shook like a heart and a wave of bloodlust flooded out towards Asta alone.
"And Its target is you." Yami spoke disappointingly, "So what's the plan now? Should we jump in?"
"That would be the worst option for you humans."
Liebe pops over Asta's shoulder.
"The corruption of Underworld will seep into your skin and plant a seed within your soul, like a imprint on a prisoner before it begans eating away at your personality until it matches a devil's. "
" Well couldn't Asta just cut it like he vut that Lucius guy's soul?"
" I don't that possible. "
Like a little phantom, Lemiel interrupts the conversation with his face holding an expression of panic.
He looks at the portal for a second, his eyes only briefly looking at the abyss of darkness before he pulls himself back and spoke:
"I have talked about it with Liebe. Apparently the so called seed isn't a bug or a tree seed, it a colony of parasites that will enter every corner of your soul and will feed on your mana until you die. "
Lemiel slightly pauses as the portal pulses again.
"... Whatever!... All I am saying is that except Asta, none of us will be safe if we move through the portal. So don't even think about going inside!"
"Fine. Fine... Geez~." Yami turns to Asta, "any plans? Need a little time to prepare?"
Yami spoke with full confidence about what Asta was probably thinking and least to say, he was correct.
Leaned forward with his two short swords in hand while his greatsword hovered behind, right between his wings.
Even Without having said a word, Asta's stance screamed he was more than willing to charge in at a moment's notice, his heart filled with a sort of emotion he was unfamiliar with.
It was like an unrelenting hatred, relentlessly trying to pour out and influence him into charging forward. However the anti-magic kept it suppressed as well as the Devil blood flowing through Asta's body so it could only be one thing... And a familiar ping confirmed that.
[Trait: Angelic blood is being activated forcefully]
[Suppression or nourishment required]
The golden blood was raging, almost as if it had met it's sworn enemy and wanted nothing more than to destroy and devour it to bits... But something confused Asta.
"Why? "
He couldn't fathom the reason, but the devils were obviously not the thing that the trait was reacting, it was projecting hostility not towards a being but the dimension itself.
Nevertheless Asta calmed it down with anti-magic, his mind weighting the risks between whether he should leave the front lines to his allies and charge into the home base, or should he take care of the triad first before marching ahead with everyone's support.
" If I leave everyone could very well be in danger. But if I don't, the devils could escape or maybe— "
Grab.
Asta turns at the sudden touch, his eyes meeting with Yami for a second before a fist swung and hit him on the head.
Thump!
The pain made him squat down, a small bump rising on his head while he slowly looked up with a questioning gaze.
"Stop acting like we are children, Brat! We have trained two months in a facilities centuries ahead of our own, we can take care of ourselves."
Yami scolds Asta with no mercy, hitting him with another light thwack on the head. Then he continues,
"We have four wizard kings on our side. If anything you should be happy we could end these nuisances faster... but..."
"But? "
" But the bigger problem are those girls. I wonder how they will react when they get to know the truth...Despite your idiotic face, you have quite a loyal harem honestly."
"H-h-Harem!!? B-But i—"
Yami smacks Asta again for good measure.
"Stop trying to ignore feeligravto feed your inferiority complex, you punk! I don't have the slightest interest in your private life but I can't watch you devaluing yourself because of some rejection in a possible future... Anyway–"
As casually as possible,Yami spins on his spot, delivering a kick to Asta's butt as if he was kicking a football.
And soon enough, before Asta could recover from the mental dump on his brain, Asta found himself in a world of black coloured rocks, roots and coarse dirt mixed with pebbles and gravel.
"Eh?"
Thwap-Bounce!
It was as if he had actually became a ball but Asta bounced everywhere as soon as he entered the underworld.
His tough body crashed into every corner in the vicinity, his skin dragging against the gravel while he flipped many times in the air before finally reaching a boulder big enough to stop him.
There was no actual damage but the sudden launch made Asta imagine a pain that felt real to him. However the moment he stopped and slid down the boulder like a snail, he noticed a pair of eyes looking curiously at him from the side.
"Ummm... Hello?"
" *Wierd incomprehensible Roar*"
The figure instinctively attacked Asta without warning, but it was too slow and the attack was easily avoided. Asta then instantly grabbed the figure's head in retaliation.
It was a devil, a non intelligent one that resembled a beast in body. It looked like a dog but bigger with a skin as black tar but that was the end of it.
No magic, no ki and no intelligence, the beast died with its head crushed just like one would expect out of the situation.
But it wasn't long before similar roars filled the entire landscape. And soon, similar if not bigger and more deformed beasts began spawning out of the ground, each baring their fangs for Asta's neck.
"Damn! Just how many of these bastards are there!?"
Yet whatever the quantity of his enemies may be. Asta simply did what he did best– a slash and dash charge with no mercy for any devils.
The mindless beasts could only watch three swords fluttering through the wind like arrows, picking and chopping one of them every second into pieces.
But did the beasts care? Not in the slightest. For them Asta was their only target and soon a flood of jaws erupted, swarming towards Asta with thousands of their teeth aligned to shred him to pieces.
"This is annoying... *grabs Katana* I don't feel the thrill anymore."
A saddened voice left Asta's mouth as he casually swung Demon slasher and instinctively added Zettan on top, creating dozens of black shadows formed from his ki and anti-magic that shredded the swarm like a tomato on a cutting board.
He had more gotten stronger then he wanted. And now he couldn't feel the thrill even if he wanted to because now he knew what the difference between the paladins and the devils was.
It was almost as bland as working a job, giving him not not a tint of enthusiasm in his effort that might as well be a waste of energy.
For a moment, Asta even contemplated whether he should just head down to the supreme devils.
But then he received the motivation he needed.
[Ding!]
"Did you have to make that fake ding?" Asta nonchalantly asked Astra, "it's not a mission, is it?"
[Is the mission only thing in your mind!? I wanted to share good news but now I am not going to! ]
Asta was stunned for a second. A little annoyed but he knew he was the one at the fault.
So he clasped his together apologetically, making a innocent face that would work on almost everyone he knew.
Almost...
[System shutting down in 3... 2... 1—]
"Wait wait!... " Asta clicks tongue in defeat, "Fine. Just tell me already."
[... You are starting to sound more like Yuno with each passing day.]
"Well what can i say? It's not fun anymore! All these traits have already taken out most of my adventuring spirit!"
Meanwhile another wave of beasts came, only to be crushed into a orb of flesh with a wave of Asta's hand while he looks exhaustingly at the panel.
"The anti-magic makes my attack unblockable to mages. My gravity magic makes their speed useless and slashing magic gives me full defense penetration... It feels more like a errand than a fight. "
[So you are just boarded out of your wits then? ]
Asta sighs again, "pretty much."
There was no voice but Asta could imagine Astra sighing back at him from panel.
But for some reason, the panel changed right in front of his eyes, changing from its usual colour palette to a pure white one with black text.
"Well this is new. "
[It is. What are you seeing is not a system panel... It's a kind of a quest board of requests for the spirits in the spirit realm. ]
Grab! Crack!!
Asta grabs an attacking beast and shatters it's skull with thwack to it's head.
"Request board? "
[You see. I have been gathering information ever since I became sentient. And apparently, the other continent in the map you have is the smallest one. ]
The system panel shows a image of the real world map where the four kingdoms were not even present.
[And above all, their are people throughout every single continent that keep doing summoning and contract rituals to gain a spirit as allies... As well as devils.]
Asta could feel his anticipation reaching new peaks with each words spoken, His eyes glittering in imagination of the amount of things that he hasn't seen.
And that's when the bombshell of motivation was thrown onto him.
[The final reward for the chain quest, is a monthly teleporter to the main land... You understand what that means don't you? ]
SLAMM!!
The gravity suddenly peaks as a greedy expression formed onto Asta's face. It was just a moment, but the excitement had almost made him lose control of his magic.
He slowlys stands up, his eyes flashing again with a determination to fight.
"You don't have to say it again. This shitty place... I am gonna turn into a grinder. " He says, his wings sprouting wide open, all five of his swords now dancing in and out his hands as he flies right into the beast horde like monster.
Moments later only a single invisible panel was left behind at the scene:
[Mission (4/4) Devour the core of underworld]
[Mission grading: B+ difficulty]
[Reward:?????? ]