It's been about an hour since Zach and Asmodeus began their journey with one goal in their mind, which was to defeat the demon lord of the first hell. However, they hadn't exchanged a single word with each other ever since they left the cave.
Of course, Zach wanted to ask her many things, but he didn't want her to snap like she did in the cave, so he kept his mouth shut and continued walking. But he had walked enough.
"Can't we just fly?" he asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"No."
"Why not? If you are afraid of being seen, then that's a stupid reason. I can deal with the enemies if something happens," he said calmly, without sounding demanding.
"We are not flying."
SIGH!
"I thought if I talked to you nicely and calmly, you would change your attitude, but it's still the same, huh?" he remarked.
Asmodeus glared at Zach and said, "If you have something to say, then say it on my face."
"I believe I was pretty loud. And it's hard to believe that you didn't hear it. So if you are just trying to make me repeat myself, thinking I would change my statement or rephrase it, then you are wrong."
He shrugged and said, "I will happily apologize if I am in the wrong, but right now, you are being a bitc—" He coughed. "Brat."
"..." Asmodeus continued walking alongside Zach and muttered, "There is a reason we can't fly."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"And that is?"
"I… can't fly."
"Why not? We won't be seen if we fly above the clouds."
"I said I can't fly! It's not that I don't want to fly… I can't fly!"
"Oh…" Zach facepalmed himself and muttered, "So that's what you meant."
"Go ahead and make fun of me. I was teased about it all my life. Even at school, all my classmates called me a wingless demon."
"I would have made fun of you if that was a laughing matter. It's just like making fun of a cripple person because they can't walk. That's just inhumane…. who in the hell would do that," Zach muttered with a disgusted look on his face.
"But you must be feeling superior, right?" Asmodeus scoffed wryly. "You can fly effortlessly even though you don't have any wings, while I can't fly even though I have wings."
"Wait, you have wings? So why did they call you wingless?" Zach asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Because you couldn't fly with the wings?"
Asmodeus nodded in response.
"That's just stupid."
"..."
"I am not calling you stupid, I was calling your classmates stupid, by the way."
"I wasn't like this before. I could fly just like everyone else, but then something happened, and… I lost my ability to fly," she uttered with a disdainful face.
"I wish I could teach you how to fly, but I know nothing about flying with wings. But if you want, I can carry you in my arms and fly…."
Zach stopped on his words when he noticed the glare in Asmodues' eyes.
"There is no way I am allowing the man— who threatened to r*pe me— to touch me."
"Why do I feel like you are going to comment on that whenever I try to get close to you?"
"Because I will."
After walking for a few more minutes, Zach shot a quick glance at Asmodeus and curiously asked, "How did you know the emperor of shit was watching us? I couldn't sense or see him at all, but you were aware of it."
"I wasn't. I didn't know it was the emperor of the mist. I just know it was one of the generals."
"And I am asking how you know it?"
"The sound, I guess?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked with a confused look on his face. "I am not trying to brag, but my senses are pretty keen, and I still couldn't sense anything wrong."
"The spirit… told me…" Asmodeus muttered.
"What?"
SIGH!
Asmodeus let out a weary sigh and showed her sword to Zach.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Uhh… are you…. trying to challenge me for a sword fight…?"
"No, you idiot! This sword has a spirit sealed inside of it!"
"How am I supposed to figure that out?" Zach groaned. "Anyway, what type of spirit? Is it one of those elemental spirits?" he asked curiously.
"No… it's…" Asmodeus caressed the sword with a gentle smile on her face. "It's the spirit of my friend."
"Umm… okay."
Asmodeus raised her brow and asked, "I was expecting you to ask more questions."
"Oh, I want to. But this seems like a sensitive topic to you, and I don't want to trigger your trauma or something."
"It's nothing like that. This sword itself is a spirit. It was a spiritual sword forged by our father for my mother. This sword is the only thing I have of him…"
"Your mother allowed you to take it with you?"
"She doesn't need it anymore, so I use it. The sword has been with me ever since I was a kid. It knows all my secrets. Whenever I was sad or happy, I talked with the sword. I even sleep with the sword beside me. And I…"
Asmodeus stopped when she realized she had revealed more information than needed.
She composed herself and continued, "Anyway, I have heard a legend that if you kill the demon lord with a spiritual sword, the sword can manifest a human form. And who would be the best target for it?"
"The demon lord of the first hell, also the weakest compared to all demon lords," Zach answered.
"Indeed. And that's one of my reasons to kill him."
"So there are other reasons, too, huh?" Zach asked with a grin.
After walking for about an hour, they eventually left the forest and reached the gates of the next city.
"Do we need to go to this city? We can just skip it and proceed to the next one," Zach asked Asmodeus.
"I don't know about you, but I am starving. I need food and water, so yes! We have to go to this city!"