The Mysterious forest

"By the way, is there something the Devil likes, mister staff."

"Your soul."

The two word sent chills down their spine.

"Just kidding he is not like that, he is a magic nerd, he can do whatever he wants using magic. He always wants to study more and more magic. So much so that he now have all kind of possible magic formula."

The Devils voice echoed in Tenebris's mind,

"Who are you calling a nerd."

"Sorry master, sorry master that was a fatal error, please forgive me."

"Hey mister staff, do you know what magic I casted while fighting that boss monster in that dungeon."

"Yes, you casted Divine touch and God's hand."

"No, I know that much, I also know that huge thing that fell from the ceiling was probably God's hand but what does the devine touch do."

"Ah.... Divine touch is a very scary magic that mostly higher beings use, therefore for now you shouldn't try casting that again, even I have to be on full focus while casting it."

"What's so scary about that magic." Asked Albert.

"Well what this magic does is it envelopes you in a really thin coating burning mana. First problem is you have to make it thin so that it consumes less otherwise you will just run out of mana. Second you have to move it based on your movement as well otherwise you will burn yourself. And lastly you have to keep openings otherwise you will burn the air around you and you will not be able to breath.

But it's returns are also great, anything that tries to touch you gets converted into pure mana just like that fireball. But you also have to keep distance from you allies."

"That is a high risk high reward magic." Said Gale.

"Indeed, but for master, it's just a child's trick. His layer of divine touch is so thin that you can't tell if it's on or off. That's why don't touch master without him knowing because he always keeps his divine touch on."

"Why does he keep his divine touch on? Is there something even he doesn't want to touch?" Asked Aerin.

"No, but because he found an exploit, he converts the air around him into mana and since his mana layer is two thin, he gains mana instead of losing it."

"I guess he is at the peak of magic." Said Aerin.

"I too think the same but he always say that we guys quit too early, magic is just an endless abyss."

"I guess he is a really motivational person. Now I want to meet him in person even more than ever." Said Gale.

"Mister staff but you said he finished all kind of magic already then what is left for him in magic."

"Well there are certain magic spells that can only be casted when certain conditions are met. Right now he is researching on those magic. For example bending time, space and light in such a a way that it creates a stable wormhole which doesn't even require any mana. To be honest I just said what he said, I don't even know the meaning of a single word I used in that sentence."

"If he is that strong then why does he never try to escape the dungeon. With how you told us about him, I am certain that he can easily rule the world." Said Albert.

"It's because of a contract."

"Contract? With whome and for what?" Said Gale.

"A contract with a being even superior than him. The being granted him immeasurable power but the being in return wants him follow some of his commands until a certain criteria is met."

"What is the criteria?" Said Gale.

"That's something even I don't know, as far as I know he didn't told it to anyone and whoever asks him about it, he replies, ' It's none of your business, that is just a stupid criteria'."

"Who is the being making the contract? Is it God?" Said Aerin

"It can't be God for 2 reasons, first, he is powerful than God and second, both of them are best friends and for your other question, if he really wanted that much attention, he would have wrote his name as the creator not God."

"Wait are you saying he is the one who created this world?" Said Gale.

Suddenly Tenebris realized that he made another fatal error.

"Cccrraaapppp!!! You were not supposed to know that. Now I am surely going to get a death penalty."

The Devil telepathically spoke to Tenebris and said,

"Hey, Tenebris."

"I am sorry master, I made another fatal mistake, I am just going to selfdestruct myself after the mission is complete."

"No problem, I was about to give you the command to tell them. You don't have to worry about it."

"T-t-thank you master, I am going to hug you after coming back."

"No need to do that, I called you for a different reason however, I am sensing someone on your way who is trying to hide his wavelength but is quite strong even for those guys, transform into your demon and if possible defeat them without harming them. If they are really dangerous, kill them on the spot."

"Okay master. Leave the job to me."

"Okay I just received a message from master, we might be ambushed in the forest."

"Okay we will keep the formation." Said Gale.

"No, you all just focus on defending yourself."

Then suddenly the talking staff transformed into a higher ranked demon.

"I will take care of them." Said Tenebris.

After a while, they entered a zone the Devil warned them about.

"Everyone maintain the defense, I will do the attacking."

Suddenly a voice echoed in the forest.

"Chaaaarrrgge, as suddenly a horde of orks moved towards them."

"Aerin."

"Y-yes mister staff."

"You might not have learnt anything from masters spells but I am expecting you to learn something from me right now. So see it with your eyes and mind opened."

Tenebris, chanting.

"Hexa-incantation, Fireball gatlin."

Suddenly, a barrage of fire ball rained down from the sky and started devastating the orc horde.

"Mister staff weight, there are humans in there." Said Aerin

"Don't you worry my friend."

"Dual incantation, Instant teleport."

All the humans are teleported near the defence team.

"So this is the power of a high rank demon, 8 incantations at once." Said Gale.

"Okay then, the horde has been repelled, now tell me what we're you human doing in the forest. Ah.... 20 humans a raid party of 20 I see, were you trying to raid the Demon Lord dungeon, you know that you can only go there once in you life."

"We were hoping we could clear the dungeon once and for all but on the way a horde of thousand orcs outnumbered us and left us with no other choice than retreating. Thank you for saving us. As the leader of this raid team, I offer you my loyalty for saving our lives."

"As a leader, you should never underestimate you opponent, suppose you were able to make it into the dungeon and clear all the guards, how would you even fight the Devil. Were you just on a sucide mission."

"No, we had a perfect plan, I am a barrier expert, I planned to cast anti magic barrier over him and she is the vice captain who is expert in making poison. She recently created a poison that is deadly to dermons. If we somehow made into the dungeon we would have killed it."

Listening to this was very painful to Tenebris, he was extremely angry to hear that this raid team believed that his master would fall for such a cheap trick. If his master had given him orders he would have exterminated them but he chose a wiser option.

"You all don't know what kind of a calamity the Demon Lord is. I will show you a glimpse of the power of a true demon. Hey raid captain, use your preparation against me."

"But sir we can do that to our benefactor."

"Shut up, and do it."

"But sir."

"I said do it."

A heavy bloodlust was coming off from Tenebris.

"Okay sir but this might be life threatening. Everyone maintain position. Cast anti magic barrier. Natasha, released poison."

Just as the vice-captain was about to release the poison, Tenebris snatched the bottle from her hand and drank the entire poison bottle.

"No sir, that is extremely dangerous to demons. That heavy dose would just kill you on the spot."

And then,

Nothing happened.

Then Tenebris shocked them even more after he destroyed the barrier in just a flick of a finger.

"And you guys were off to defeat the Devil. Just so you know, a lowly demon like me is nothing but a grain of sand compared to the abyss the true Devil is. So don't you dare disrespect the Devil by taking such a cheap trick in there. With this amount of prep, you won't even pass the first guard. Now go home take your rest."

"Y-yes we understood."

And after that, the raid team escaped from their sight.

"M-mister s-staff."

"Yes."

As he said yes he transformed into a staff again.

"Why did your mana reading went off the charts all of a sudden."

"Well that's because we top demon nobles hide our true mana so that it won't harm anybody."

"Harm anybody?"

"Yes, even this wasn't my true mana. If I were to show you my true mana, you all will just die of suffocation. So when you reach to master don't say that you don't sense any mana, his mana is so dense that even us high rank demons struggle to even stay alive."

Everyone felt chills down their spine after hearing to Tenebris' words.

"Okay then, we shall move now."

Far away from the mysterious forest, in the orc kingdom dungeon.

"Your majesty, your majesty we have a really bad news."

"Tell... me..... the news Bablos....."

"Yes my Lord, our forses which we sent to chase the raid team have been annihilated. The culprits appears to be a group of 4 adventurers including a high rank demon."

"Such..... insolence.... will not... be tolerated... , go.... find... the culprits...."

"I... Gorthgar..... declare... demons..... hostile... The demon kind shall pay....."

"Gor-th-gar Gor-th-gar Gor-th-gar Gor-th-gar Gor-th-gar."

"Master we are about to reach the dungeon."

"Good, I will do the preparations."

"I can't believe I am about to meet the creator of this world." Said Albert.

"Yeah, me to but the area around here is very foggy, I can't see literally anything."

"That's because we have already stepped inside the dungeon."

All the three shouted in confusion,

"What?"

"Yeah, you remember the story told by that old lady, that either you are finding the dungeon or the dungeon is finding you. That's because the dungeon is separated into 2 parts, the outside dungeon that moves around the forest and the inside dungeon where the actual dungeon is. There it is, we arrived to our destination."

"Wow, that's, a pretty pitiful cave, don't get me wrong, it is large but it is the same size as an S-rank dungeon, but I thought it would be bigger." Said Albert.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, just you enter."

After heading inside, the pretty mediocre dungeon transformed into a massive labyrinth.

"Wwooooww! How large is this?" Said Aerin.

"It's about 15 km in diameter."

"That's about 20 times the largest dungeon ever recorded." Said Gale, "can we ever even think of clearing this dungeon."

"With how strong you guys are right now, you might me able to take down the first guard. The best raid team in the world can take down up to 5 guards. All the 7 rank 1 demons can clear till the 9th guard. For now there is no known being other than the Devil and the God who can take down the 10th guard."

"Mister staff, how many guards can you defeat." Asked Aerin.

"I can just barely defeat 7 guards."

"If the Devil didn't used magic, how many guards can he defeat?"

A childish voice echoed through the cave.

"I can defeat 6 guards without using magic or any for of mana. I am not that good in holding a sword you see, even your 'mister staff' can beat me in a dual."

"I am the master of sorcery and magic, the Devil himself. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"What the hell am I seeing?"-Albert

"The devil is..."-Gale

"A cute little child!?!"-Aerin

"Don't jump to conclusions all of a sudden, I might be cute because of this appearance but neither I am little, nor am I a child."

"So let's-"-Gale

"Let's just head in the dining hall why talk in the middle of nowhere."

"Okay, I guess."

"Wait, who prepared the food in the middle of the dungeon."-Aerin

"You see, the Devil is a good chef as well."

"I have a lot of questions to ask, first of all, how can mister staff be stronger than you when both of you don't use magic?"-Albert

"You see, Tenebris, aka your mister staff, has been refining his swordsmanship for centuries. He is the best swordsman in the higher relm if we exclude angel of war from the list."

"I have more question, I-"-Albert

"Let's just head to the dining room first. There we will have a lot of chatting and fun stuff."

"Well it's a little refreshing to talk to a childish figure."-Gale

"I know right."-the Devil

"I am very hungry." -Aerin

"Me too."-Staff

"How can a demon feel hunger, Tenebris."

"Your dishes are really tasty master."

"Ha Ha Ha I see."

Kuro watching from above.

"Are they really unfamiliar with each others? I think this look more like a family reunion compared to a meeting."