Kind Demon King

“Aren’t we already inside a building now? Why there is another building in front of us?”

Is what I wanted to ask. Then I looked at the sky and saw a moon.

We were inside a dungeon with its own sky and moon. And now there was a building in front of us. For sake of my already-gone sanity, I will just accept things as they are and don’t think about them. It was a stone building with architecture similar to the road we have been walking which told me they were built by the same person or creature. Its door was red and metallic and had a black wolf’s head baring its fangs drawn on it.

“I swear the God, I don’t want to see anything canine-related after I get out of here.”

I said, sighing.

“You and me both, brother.”

Percavel let out a nervous chuckle as he said that.

“Be serious, both of you. I will kick the door open. Priestess give me buffs.”

Duncan said. After Agatha cast her buffs he kicked the door open with a single kick. We rushed inside.

“You could have knocked it first, you know?”

Inside was not what I expected.

Two expensive and comfy-looking couches.

A Bookshelf filled with you guessed, books.

A fireplace warmed up the entire room.

Most importantly a werewolf. A werewolf wearing glasses and holding a book.

I half expected a mug filled with coffee or tea but it wasn’t there. He(?) lowered his glasses to look at us. His fur was pitch black. Maybe it was because we came here from snow-filled white lands but his fur looked the darkest black I have ever seen. It felt like he was absorbing all the light inside this room by just existing.

“Welcome, welcome.”

His voice was deep and silky. Duncan let out a roar and threw one of his axes at him, using every muscle in his body. I wanted to stop him but it was too late. His axe, which carried enough power to destroy an iron wall flew towards the werewolf. But…

He caught it. With only one hand-claw? And threw it back. His throw wasn’t like Duncan’s. He just flicked his wrist to throw it. Duncan also managed to catch it but he was pushed back by the axe’s velocity and hit the wall.

Oh, fuck. I stopped Blanche and Percavel from rushing forward.

“What are you doing all of you? Attack! It is just growling to us!”

Duncan shouted.

“What are we going to do?”

Percavel asked. Meanwhile, Blanche looked at me blankly.

“Ummm, hello? Sorry for our intrusion.”

Werewolf took off his glasses and left his book on the couch he was sitting. Everyone else looked at me as if I was crazy. I can’t say I blame them.

“I see that at least one of you has manners. I understand that we are going to kill each other but that’s not an excuse for not having manners.”

He got up from the couch he was sitting on. He was tall, around 3 meters? His fur looked fluffy and smooth, unlike many werewolves we met on lower floors. He wore armor though it just covered his right arm, shoulder, and right side of the chest. A sword hung from his side. From its scabbard, I could tell that it was something similar to a katana. For him, it must be like a middle-sized sword but to me, it was nearly as long as me. An article of golden skirt-like clothing covered his lower body up to his knees. Or what I thought to be his knees. His legs were digitigrade so it was hard to pinpoint.

He clapped his hands, producing a loud noise.

“I greet you, challengers. My name is Lupus Ater, grandson of Wolf King and last son of Interitus Ater.”

I gulped when I was reminded of the presence I felt when I first met the Wolf King. Even as a “shadow” of his former himself, the pressure I felt from him was real. And now I had to fight his grandson.

“Did you build this place?”

I asked. He shook his head.

“Challenger, you should tell your name when someone tells you their name.”

“Ugh, sorry about that. My name is Poyraz. Poyraz Karabulut.”

“You are welcome, challenger. I suspect you here to fight me and get to the last floor?”

He said it as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Yes.”

He touched his chin and thought for a second.

“Then I have a single request. Will you listen?”

I looked back at my group before answering:

“Depends on what that request is.”

He slowly walked towards to bookshelf.

“It took me a lot of time to build this house. And these books are…”

He caressed one of the book’s cover gently.

“They carry information about lost civilizations. They are probably the only copies in the world. I am sure no matter who wins, you don’t want them to be damaged, no?”

“What do you suggest?”

“Let’s fight outside.”

“I see. That’s a request we can fulfill.”

He bowed his head.

“Thank you.”

“But I will have some questions. Will you answer?”

“Since you agreed to my request, I can do that much.”

“Thank you. Firstly, why are you here? I thought dungeons could only hold unintelligent beings.”

He laughed.

“Oh, you flatter. But let me ask you a question: Do you have to be bound forcefully to protect your own grandfather’s grave?”

“What would happen if we kill you here? Dungeons recover themselves, right?”

“A part of my own being gets stuck here. Without most of my personality or memory, doomed to fight and die.”

A horrible fate.

“Then you must hate us. We came here to rob your grandfather’s grave, kill you and cause a part of you to get stuck here.”

“My, my. Aren’t you a sensitive one?”

…

I just looked at him.

“My grandfather killed thousands of your kind and I also did the same, Poyraz Karabulut. If you are ready to kill…”

“…You should be ready to get killed.”

I completed his sentence.

“This is just how nature goes. If you are strong enough to kill me, I don’t care what you do to me. Weak beings are always at the mercy of strong beings, even when they don’t meet eye to eye. If you see a bug, you can always crush them, right? Why would doing that would be a bad thing?”

“I actually try to avoid crushing bugs when I walk.”

He stopped before bursting into laughter. His laugh lasted very long, to the point he doubled over while holding his stomach.

“My, my. You really are a sensitive one. How did you survive this lo-“

(Monstrous Strength is activated. Strength is increased by 25 for 135 seconds.)

(Frost Booster is activated. Your weapons will be enchanted with ice element for 10 minutes. During that time your weapon’s power will increase by 5 percent. Enemies hit by ice element will slow down and may get frostbite if their resistance is low.)

I rushed forward while swinging my sword. He avoided it barely, the tip of my sword cutting several hairs on its throat. The momentum of my strike caused me to spin.

“Go!”

I shouted. He tried to grab and pull out his sword. I kicked the scabbard. He swiped his claw, aiming for my head. I let the momentum carry me, turning around and blocking the attack with my shield. While I avoided my head being shish kebabed, the force that attack carried sent me flying to a wall. I bounced off it, jumping to join Duncan and Blanche who were attacking Lupus.

“You lied!”

He shouted, his silky voice turning to a feral growl.

“I know! I am sorry!”

I whimpered as another attack sent me crashing to the wall. This time I didn’t bounce or joined to the fight. I just fell to the ground face down.

“Hello pain, my old friend.”

My shoulder and ribs hurt. Okay, no broken stuff. What about dislocated? Nope. Okay, good to go. I forced myself to stand up. I nearly fell down as soon as I get up since red mana burst out from Lupus. I looked at him and saw his sword. Yeah, that was an oversized katana alright. It was nearly full black except for blood-red carving shining on it. I ran towards him. He pointed towards me.

“I will kill you last. I will make sure it will be painful!”

Okay, I deserved that.

“Come on man, it was just a prank! Look, the camera is over there!”

He swung his massive sword toward me. Fucking Duncan was on his way but he just dodged the blade and left me to deal with its consequences. I took a step back, meeting with only his blade’s tip. Even just that made me feel like my arm was being ripped apart but I managed to parry it. Duncan moved to his back and Blanche to his side. They attacked him at the same time and I joined too. He answered us by filling his blade with blood-red mana and swung his blade like a helicopter trying to get off. To my surprise and horror, it actually worked for him. Red mana swept us all, sending us flying. I found myself outside, covered with dust and rocks. Also with pain. A lot of pain. I watched as the building collapsed and Lupus exist from debris, roaring and looking very angry.

I sighed very deeply as I got up.

“Okay, you furry fuck. Let’s go!”