The Prince of Demons

King Ilrymax was standing patiently on the cliff while he debated what he wanted to talk to me about. He already decided on the trial he wants for the dragons and Vndrglz so quickly. What about the challenge for them made the decision so easy for him? How did King Ilrymax decide them so fast? He landed and was chatting with us for a few minutes at most. What was so difficult for him to decide on the trial for Ikol and me? I knew for a fact that we were staying here until King Ilrymax made his decision based on my experience with Miril. Unlike Miril, King Ilrymax was at least pleasant as he thought it over. Last time Miril wanted to debate her next move she decided to keep me pinned as she listened to Ikol happily discuss the food he got served on Tenebrae. She even got annoyed if it even appeared like I had zoned out of listening to her son. She is such a bezka. King Ilrymax was bobbing his head back and forth while he debated what he was thinking.

"Ikol, what do you wish to get out of this <Journey>?" Ilrymax asked him to break the silence finally.

"To learn!" Ikol answered happily. King Ilrymax was smirking because he clearly expected an answer along those lines.

"What information do you want from me?" I probed, wondering what King Ilrymax was mulling over so thoroughly.

"You see, Lux, Sovereign Hoggdin and King Miril gave us suggestions for you as the rest of us Kings may not have seen, heard, or talked to beings that know you. What you all may or may not know is that we Kings do talk about those who will be on each <Journey> so we can think of challenges for those coming to meet us, so we do not have to do it on the spot." Ilrymax informed us. I could only imagine what Miril would suggest as a trial. My <Pack> minus Ikol were giving me some intense stares after hearing that piece of information. I know them, okay? Why do they seem so intrigued by that information?

"You can feel free to come up with your own idea." I tried, really, really, really not wanting to see what Miril came up with. King Ilrymax laughed at that.

"Scared of what your mentor came up with?" Ilrymax taunted. That is so weird to hear in regard to Miril. It just sounded wrong.

"I was not aware Miril thought of herself as my mentor." I deflected, trying to avoid thinking more on this line of questions. King Ilrymax began laughing even harder while the stares from behind me got more intense.

"I cannot begin to express how much I am enjoying this conversation." Ilrymax taunted while laughing again.

"Why?" I checked because he seemed way more amused by this than he should have.

"I will not clarify." Ilrymax informed me after a few moments of laughter.

Now, why did you come to Phestia? Ilrymax asked me mentally.

I needed to grow stronger; I wanted experience to catch up with my friend. I answered him. I was also sick of feeling like dead weight, but that was not relevant to my answer.

I believe Sovereign Hoggdin explained you wanting to be able to fight someone called Nil. I am struggling to grasp what can help that goal on my end. Ilrymax stated calmly.

So, the challenges from Kings are to help <Spirit Beasts> grow? Not some benchmark we need to pass? I verified. I definitely needed to ask more questions upfront than I did in future situations because my mental picture was lackluster.

Correct. Ilrymax answered. His gold eyes were oddly intense as he focused on me.

I am trying to learn Miril's hyper speed <Technique>. I have the speed down, but my joints scream whenever I try to pivot with it. I also am working on improving my fighting style because it recently showed to be lacking. I told Ilrymax. He snorted in response.

You can run as fast as King Miril? Ilrymax challenged me, clearly thinking I was exaggerating.

For a short burst. Not as long or smooth as her, but roughly the same speed. Maybe not as fast but the same general idea. I clarified for him.

Show me. Run from here to that tall mountain and back. Ilrymax ordered, taking a quick hop across the cliff face, flying to the other side with little effort before pointing to a mountain we could barely see.

I did some light stretching, envisioning my path to the goal. I pointed at the mountain I thought it was, making sure I understood where he wanted me to run to and back. King Ilrymax nodded to confirm while looking at me intently. There was a fairly straight, flat path to it which was helpful as it would not require me to move side to side at all in order to reach there and back. Now that I was warmed up, I bound over to the mountain. The world slipped around me as all color bled from it while I sprinted towards the mountain King Ilrymax indicated. This was feeling better than before, but the real test was when I tried turning around. It took mere moments to reach the mountain, where I swung out my back legs to try and pivot back towards my starting point. Maybe increasing the time for the motion a bit will help. I also adjusted how my body was reinforced currently, excessively augmenting my joints so I wouldn't harm myself doing this. I kicked off the cliff face, rocketing back towards King Ilrymax. My hips and ankles didn't scream from that rotation! I will call that a success! This was a starting point because I used way more <Mana> than necessary to do the flip, but it was at least successful. In less than a second, I was back in front of King Ilrymax who seemed surprised.

"I stand corrected. I guess King Miril's challenge suggestion is not as insane as I originally believed." Ilrymax told me. Shiza; that was not what I wanted to hear.

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"You can come up with your own." I suggested again, not wanting to see Miril's idea for me. King Ilrymax just laughed at my shameless attempt.

"Okay <Pack> Lux, I have decided what each trial each of you are to face before you can leave my territory." Ilrymax announced to us.

"Yay!" Ikol chimed happily. The rest of us were not as enthusiastic as Ikol.

"Onilin and Zagzin, your challenge is simple, all you have to do is fly through my mountains, delivering a boulder from one side to the other." Ilrymax told them with glee in his voice. Well, I guess they are not dodging flying in these harsh winds.

"Yes sir." Zagzin replied, clearly fighting the urge to sigh.

"Understood, King Ilrymax." Onilin added while sounding just as thrilled as her brother.

"I will discuss with the two of you the exact rules of the trial in a few moments, so do not worry as I will make sure the criteria of success or having to reattempt it are clear." Ilrymax informed them.

"Yes sir." The two responded.

"As for you, Vndrglz, you will procure me a Cragrac Mushroom. I will show you what it looks like before letting you look for one." Ilrymax continued. That seemed deceptively simple, but I had the distinct feeling it was much more challenging than it sounded. Each of these probably were.

"Yes, King Ilrymax." Vndrglz agreed. I was a bit concerned about what Ikol's challenge was going to be. He will hopefully be fine.

"Ikol, your trial is going to be to carve a rock into a ball." Ilrymax informed him. I have no idea how difficult that is, but it at least sounds super simple.

"Okay!" Ikol chimed happily in response. His challenge seemed fairly doable, but all the trials were at least incredibly straightforward in nature.

"Now Lux, your challenge is going to be complete a lap around the Jagged Peaks." Ilrymax told me. Just run a lap? That seems way too easy.

"What order do you want to explain our challenges in?" I inquired. King Ilrymax seemed to keep his challenges somewhat reasonable which was comforting, or the trials appeared to be fair on the surface of them which was assuring.

"You'll go first because you're the leader." Ilrymax declared, scooping me up in one of his talons and taking off. He flew up quickly into the clouds, easily overpowering the winds. Whoa, neither of the dragons can fly with this much force naturally. This was not him using <Mana>, this was all his ability and muscle.

"So, what are the Jagged Peaks?" I checked, suspecting that they were going to be spread apart.

"Hold on, I need to be a bit higher in order to see them clearly." Ilrymax informed me as he climbed up more until it was slightly difficult to breathe.

"Okay, do you see those taller mountains? The ones on the edges around the mountain range that all have sharper, straighter peaks?" Ilrymax asked as he gestured to six specific mountains with cliffs to the top that were much steeper and more jagged than the other mountains making a rough ring around the territory. Each was barely visible from where we were in the sky.

"I see them. There are six of them?" I verified, making sure I knew what he wanted from me.

"Correct. The challenge is simple, run one lap around them faster than a stone I toss before it hits the ground." Ilrymax explained like it was super easy. I looked at the lap, seeing how far one lap was going to be.

"How high are you tossing the stone?" I checked, feeling this was Miril's suggestion.

"Enough." Ilrymax answered with a bit of a chuckle. Of course I wasn't getting a specific answer, but that didn't make the lap any shorter.

"Is there a specific path?" I inquired as it was hard to tell from this height.

"Hold on for a second." Ilrymax told me as he dive bombed towards the ground. The speed he produced without using <Mana> was impressive; how could he move this fast without <Mana>? Just how fast is King Ilrymax with <Mana>? He killed all of our speed at the last second, stopping us feet off the ground. Now that we were closer to the ground, there was a clear set of marks from where someone ran previously.

"Follow the run marks?" I checked as King Ilrymax set me down.

"Correct, they form the path of the lap you will be running. I would recommend practicing it a bit before trying it full speed." Ilrymax suggested. That was a good idea.

"Will do. Thank you, King Ilrymax." I replied before he flew off without more clarification.

Well, I at least knew the path I needed to run. I began following the trail, seeing the gap between some of the bounds confirmed that whoever ran or made the path was swift. Did King Miril make this route? As I continued following the markings, I was beginning to grasp just how far I was going to have to run. All of this before a stone hits the ground from a toss? There was no way I would be able to cover this much distance without the hyper speed <Technique>. I really should ask what its name is. King Ilrymax probably knew the answer; I should've thought of asking him that sooner. I was running along, seeing how far the wind deflected me when I jumped from point to point. Usually, I was fairly accurate, but the wind was moving me over several feet. Are Onilin and Zagzin going to be okay flying in this? Their trial seemed to be the most difficult on the surface. To be fair, I did not grasp just how challenging Ikol's or Vndrglz's trials were; this seemed straightforward, just difficult to execute if anything.

I augmented my body with more <Mana>, running a bit faster as I familiarized myself with the path I needed to run. There were several stretches where the gaps to land were vastly spaced out due to the awkward geometry of the cliffs, others were several rapid shifts were needed because of the winding mountainsides, and a few spots where I was basically wall kicking along as there was no actual path to land on just cliffs over a ravine. It also went up and down a lot to accommodate the changes in the terrain as well. I wasn't sure if this was the most optimal path around the Jagged Peaks, but the trail appeared to be a reasonable lap to make if I was using Miril's speed <Technique>. It took me several hours of full speed running to complete a single lap; I was panting on the ground to recover, enjoying the cool stone beneath me.

Wait, I didn't have my musclehead to procure me food. I let out an annoyed sigh as I realized I was going to have to catch my own food during this. My <Mana> was recovering fairly quickly here, so I could try to run the lap again using Miril's hyper speed <Technique> after I ate. I also need to find myself something to drink. There was no point in trying to ask Ilrymax to bring me Ikol so I wouldn't have to hunt myself. This sucks, Ikol is so nice to have around. After walking for a few minutes, I used <Waypoint Compass> to see if it could point towards the nearest source of water. It spun around a little until locking into a direction that I followed. Several minutes later I found a spring that looked clean; to my dismay there were no fish in the small pond. Was this a pond? It was too large to call it a puddle. I'm going with pond or spring for now. I quenched my thirst before using <Waypoint Compass> to find myself some of the goat thing Ikol got before. They seemed fairly plentiful, so finding one to hunt took little effort, and one <Light Blade> later I had my food. Now that I'm recharged, time to try this at full speed. How hard could this be?