“Cain, did you finish him off?” Alice rushed toward Cain as she finished healing Gracie.
Since the three of them could see well in the darkness, he didn’t both turn the light on. “I did, how is Gracie?”
“She will be fine, only small fractures that weren’t a problem with healing magic. But I suggest she rest for a while.” Alice said as she looked toward Gracie sitting on the ground.
Cain weaved his fingers and opened an arcane Gate to the maze. “Take her and head home, I bet you still have work. I will keep grinding dungeons for this day.” Cain said with a smile.
“Grinding dungeons alone!” Alice yelled at him, “I know you’re strong but that’s still risky, Come home with us and we will grind them later.”
Alice had a point. No one knew what could happen inside a dungeon. Cain understood that well, yet he still wanted to continue. Dragons could be flying toward them at this moment after all. They were known to react violently.
“We don’t have that much time to waste. Don’t worry about me as I’m not alone, I can summon Mei and the other pixies, or even Spindle and the devils.” Cain replied.
Alice remembered that he had dispatched Devils with the dragon fang to rescue the Kenku people. Those devils must be strong enough to buy him time to run.
“Fine, but if I sensed anything strange I will teleport immediately,” Alice replied as she helped Gracie walk into the maze.
Cain watched them leave waving his hand. He quickly turned around after they left.
The supposed boss is long dead yet the dungeon didn’t close, there was only one explanation.
“You’re a real gentleman, giving them time to leave and all,” Cain said looking at the darkness.
“Would it be strange if I said that I don’t want to fight?” A voice replied to him from the darkness.
“You’re not stupid as that guy, even so, I still need the dungeon core. Sadly you have to die.” Cain stared at the darkness as the shadowy figure of a woman emerged. Her entire body was made of shadow with glowing red eyes.
“I might not be able to kill you but I will at least give you a disability.” She growled as her body started to vibrate.
“A duel boss dungeon. After beating the bone devil, you face a shadow devil. This explains why the whole place was dark as hell.” Cain lifted his palm and prepared a spell.
“There is no way out of this, right?” The devil asked.
Cain stopped in place, was she serious? She was still vibrating so she was getting ready to attack, right? Cain wasn’t going to get fooled.
[Thunder step] [Elemental Weapon: light] Cain flashed toward her while his blade glowed white. At the last moment, Cain saw the shadow cover her face with her arms. Thud! He switched the slash into a kick and smacked her in the guts.
She stumbled backward. Cain felt a considerable amount of resistance so she was not weak. She could have countered him just now but she was busy hiding her face.
Cain stared at his blade, was the light coming from it stronger than normal? Even so, to make a shadow devil cover her face was unheard of. Something was off.
Unable to understand the reason behind her actions, Cain decided it was just a plan to fool him so he kept attacking while being cautious.
She was about to take the slash earlier, if that was what she wants then Cain wouldn’t give it to her. He refrained from slashing and decided to go for ranged spells.
[Far Step] [Fireball] Cain teleported back and hurled a fireball at her.
The shadow stumbled around and barely dodged the fireball. The explosion behind her sent her flying to a wall. Coughing, she managed to stand back up, “Die!” She screamed as she rushed toward him with a shadow blade in her hand.
[Fireball] Cain blasted her again. She isn’t teleporting with the shadows, this was strange. The fact she was still standing up after eating two fireballs meant that she had the strength to put up a fight.
“Hey, can’t we reach a peaceful agreement?” The shadow devil called Cain as she stood again. “I really can’t fight you today.”
“I don’t need to fight you, all I need is for you to die so I can take the dungeon core,” Cain replied. The only peaceful conclusion was for her to die. Cain hurled another fireball at her.
The fireball exploded in the devil’s face. Cain couldn’t tell if she was burnt or not since the wall was all made of shadows.
The devil quickly managed to regain her stance and cried again. “I will do anything, I can give you the core even without me dying.” She sounded as if she was pleading. Cain canceled his next fireball.
‘A shadow devil would be a great companion for Gracie if this whole charade was genuine’ Cain was almost certain this was just an elaborate trick. There were only two types of devils. The angry type and the scheming type.
“Fine, but I will have you enslaved without any freedom. If you managed to win my trust I will start freeing you slowly.” Cain replied.
The devil’s face brightened up as her red eyes started to glow. “For real?”
“Now get your head on the ground, I will kill if I felt any shred of magic,” Cain growled at her.
The shadow devil hurried and smacked her face on the ground, a waiting Cain to approach her to cast the enslavement magic.
Cain slowly approached her and charged a fireball. “Before I cast enslavement magic on you, would you mind me burning you a bit?” Cain wanted to test her will, if she was faking this whole thing she would attack him immediately.
“Please do whatever you like!” She replied.
Hearing her answer, Cain released the fireball at her. She took the hit directly and screamed in agony. Watching that, Cain smiled. ‘This confirms it, I can act with confidence.’
Cain walked toward her slowly, “I’m going to start the enslavement ritual, don’t move.” Cain said as he created the enslavement magic in his palm.
The devil stayed on the ground and awaited him to start casting the magic.
The moment Cain started the enslavement magic ritual. The shadow disappeared and appeared behind him swinging her blade at his neck.
Just before hitting him, her blade stopped. It wasn’t just her blade, her whole body couldn’t move an inch.
Cain slowly turned toward her with a smile. “If you wanted to trick me, you were better off eating my fireball instead of using shadow magic to reduce the damage.” Cain grinned at her.
“Wait, please I can explain. That magic just scared me and…” Cain stabbed her in the chest before she can finish the explanation.
“I’ve wasted enough time with you. I know that not all devils are bad, but you are bad at acting. And by the way, you’re not going back to hell.” Cain said as he absorbed her soul.
Usually, when devils die, they go to hell. Just like sinners. The catch is that that is their home world. With that, they can be summoned again, killed, sent to hell, and summoned again.
What Cain did was absorb her soul so she won’t go back to hell. This way the kill was permanent. You could also kill a devil by killing him in hell. But who will do that?
Even in with Cain’s extensive knowledge, there was only one insane man who chased devils to the depth of hell to kill them. That was the Ice hero who was nicknamed, Absolute Zero.
Around five hundred years ago, after the devil invasion failed and the devils retreated. He jumped after them to hell so he can keep killing them. Of course, he never returned.
That man’s descendants became the royal family that rules the kingdom right now.
The dungeon core fell to the ground immediately after the devil died. The dungeon started shaking so Cain teleported outside immediately.
“Now for the next one.” Cain flew toward the next dungeon.
Cain still had a couple of dungeons to run through before going back home. He then will have to build the waypoints. Find a suitable place to hold the wedding, and hunt a few gorgons for meat. Buy wedding rings for the girls, and prepare gifts and dowers for their families.