Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

Two days later, in a wide underground mineral vein.

Bang! The large beast has been shot. The ambush timing was perfect, the leg of the mole whose crystalline hide consists of biominerals had been blown off, it could no longer move easily with only three legs. 

“HISS!!!” This rank 2 mole is a large-class metal-path lifeform, it consumes ores and purifies them within its body. The impurities from the minerals would accumulate onto its back, creating the illusion as if it is a moving hilly rock formation.

However, a railgun is a specialized tool for killing, its offensive power is not something to scoff at. Since it was a sneak attack at a critical spot, the mole could not defend properly. 

“Go!” Paimon, who had shot the leg of the beast, gave a telepathic command towards his soldiers.

His soldiers are actually not soldiers, but Shadow Stalkers. Nine emerged from the shadows to gouge their bladed limbs at the mole’s weakest point. Clank! The defensive power of a metal-path beast was nothing to scoff at. The stalker’s blades barely made a scratch onto the beast’s skin, but the poisons on their blade were effective in slowly wearing down the beast’s lifeforce. Even if the poison cannot enter the beast’s bloodstream, it was sufficient.

After all, it was Mordred, a former Sovereign of refinement-path who refined those poisons. 

Sshhhhhh, the poison was like sulfuric acid sprayed upon flesh. The biominerals are starting to rot at a rate visible to the eye. It also contains an ectoplasmic substance which was poison to the soul, the mole is being attacked not only from his physical body, but his sea of consciousness and truesoul. 

The mole shrieked once more, summoning its kin. The silent scream cannot be heard by the typical life forms but Mordred warned Paimon about the incoming predicament.

“Weren’t the dimensional storage disconnected from the world? How the fuck is he using soul link to warn me about their attacks?” Paimon wondered, but did not think too much. There’s no way the dimensional storage ring that Mordred refined would be normal in the first place.

“All forces, standby for counter-ambush.” Paimon sent forth a telepathic command towards his Shadow Stalkers while he used the railgun to wear down the rank 2 mole. The artifact in his hands is the only weapon that could damage the beast. Mordred has granted him sufficient supermagnetic rounds and energy clips to hunt them, but the beast is smart, it wouldn’t expose weak spots easily. Merely gunning the mole down wouldn’t work as even supermagnetic rounds would ricochet if it hit the wrong spot. 

With a continuous rumble, mineral moles who have the size of a car are popping left and right. Paimon’s 24 Shadow Stalkers made an appearance to ambush them, each knifed the moles in their weakest part. 

Some of them received a counterattack, while the rest managed to take a step back before they got hit. The Shadow Stalkers who got hit simply got splattered, but they reconstituted themselves as if they were a liquid lifeform. The Shadow Stalkers might be half-corporeal, half-elemental and immune to critical hits, but they are not immortals. The ones who got wounded have their movement speed and offensive power lowered significantly. 

Since they became a burden, Paimon recalled them to rest and recover in the Soul Phylactery. Before they inhabit a mortal shell, these shadow stalkers are greatly suppressed in the material world. Perhaps, they could only showcase 50% of their power. Even if their specialty is maximized through the use of poison and ambush, they are still very weak if used against defense-specialized beasts.

“17 shadow stalkers left, while the beast is protected by 31 medium-class moles… This is better than I thought.” Paimon put the sniper-type heavy railgun away as he took out eight sword-like objects from the dimensional storage.

“Mordred told me to test this autonomous weapon system, but… moving them together is harder than it looks…” Paimon established a telepathic link with these eight swords as they floated freely under his command. These black swords have no handles but in exchange, they have an electric jet stream propulsion system, allowing them to reach top speed in a blink of an eye.

Swoosh! One of the floating swords stabbed itself into the nearby mole who's back contained nearly 7 tons of minerals. The black sword is not only durable, it also has a vibrating function. The sharpness from the vibrating blade allows the sword to completely decimate the said mole’s brain. 

However, due to Paimon’s lack of technique, the blade has been chipped. It couldn’t be helped since Paimon has low sword-path attainment and the mole’s skeleton is made out of the purest mineral that they consumed.   

As if sensing his toys had been broken by unskilful handling by Paimon, Mordred sent a telepathic message through the soul link. 

Basically, Paimon was getting scolded.

“Fuck.” Paimon cursed. He felt like a child being reprimanded by his parents, but Mordred’s specialty really shone when he took the role of support-cum-logistician. Though, it couldn’t be helped that Paimon would make mistakes here and there as direct combat is not her specialty.  

The floating swords slowly circled around Paimon, they were like eight moons orbiting a celestial body. “Rank 1 command-path killer move, [Sword Formation: Celestial Grinder]!”

Killer Move is the combination of techniques, it is typically used as an ultimate move. Therefore, combining a soul art with the usage of an artifact could be considered as a killer move. 

Paimon’s soul art guided the eight swords so that it follows a certain set of patterns. Moreover, Mordred’s artifacts were never normal in the first place. These artifacts have resonance abilities that would have their offensive power increase with the presence of each other. The vibration of the blades resonates with each other, producing a near-inaudible sound that would disrupt the opponent's souls. In other words, they are also a type of musical instrument.

These swords are… Resonance Blades! Each of them are an extension of Mordred and Paimon’s power! 

“A miniature Electric Jet Stream Propulsion System, vibroblades and a musical instrument combined together… Mordred, you truly are fearsome!” Paimon might not be an expert in the usage of swords, but the lethality of Resonance Blades compensate for his weakness. Every moment they flew in the air, the blades produced a sharp sound similar to the [Finger Whistle] that Mordred uses.

“I would be branded as a retard if Mordred’s support didn’t bring the expected result.” Paimon approached the groups of moles with the sword formation circling around him. With a thought, the swords launched itself towards the beast’s weakness, either crippling or killing them in one hit. 

The remaining Shadow Stalkers that fought in the field are merely used as a distraction so that Paimon could slowly whittle their numbers. 

Stab! The remote properties of the swords allows him to freely choose targets at his own discretion. As someone who held great strategic depth in the overall situation, he decided to maximize the amount of kills as each of them are precious resources to fuel for the machine of war known as Mordred.

The rank 2 mole whose size is as big as a 3 storey building could not bear to see its children die under Paimon’s swords. It rushed at him despite one of its legs completely crippled. 

Don’t be mistaken, despite its large size, being a rank 2 lifeform means it has the strength and agility league ahead of rank 1 lifeforms. Just like the chicken year beast that Mordred fought, being clunky and heavy does not affect its overall agility. Yet, it wasn’t like Paimon wasn’t under the effect of speed-augmentations. 

Mordred was the best support that Paimon could have, after all. Currently, he is under multiple accelerations such as [Nightcore] and a few others to catch up with the beast’s movement. 

Still, Paimon could not match its brute strength nor pierce its defenses easily even with the Resonance Blades, so he focused on avoiding its attack while killing its children. This tactic has proved to be effective in enraging the mole as it attacked in greater fervor. Each time the mole attacked with either its claws or radiation, there would be a localized earthquake, but the mineral veins held on due to the existence of ores serving as pillars.  

Swoosh! Another batch of rank 1 moles are dead, their souls are quickly attracted to the Soul Phylactery. 

“HISSSS!” The mole screamed in a weird frequency. Paimon wouldn’t mind a new wave of moles, but it seems like luck isn’t on his side today. Not only medium-class and large-class insects are approaching, there’s also another rank 2 lifeform that made its presence.

“Retreat?” Paimon frowned at the telepathic message that he received from Mordred. It seems like he was always watching Paimon’s performance. If he had some more time, the rank 2 mole would be killed eventually, but forcing it with brute force would warrant a heavy loss. Even now, the Shadow Stalkers that could fight in the field have lowered into single digits.

“All forces, retreat!” Paimon makes the decision quickly. The shadow stalkers immediately retreated into the Soul Phylactery while Paimon took the corpses away. The retreat procedure was extremely swift and trained since Paimon had drilled multiple tactics into his devil subordinates.

“So this is how he feels at that time… Truly aggravating.” Paimon takes a last look at the rank 2 mole beast before activating a stealth method to hide from sight.

 

…

   

Three days later. 

Paimon is wearing a bodysuit which had black hexagonal metal plates on them, each of these 4-centimeter diameter plates are a miniature artifact that produces a stealth field. Theoretically, he is completely invisible from most rank 1 detections. The armor wasn't a magic machinery one, but not too far from it. Periodically, he has to replace the energy cells, but the stealthsuit is an artifact made for both stealth and combat. In a pinch, it could produce an AT-Field powered by Paimon’s truesoul.

It was truly a wondrous piece of armor that combines soul technology with machines.

“My king, what should we do? The objective is dead…” Paimon reported while he made a frown looking at a pile of shit. Amongst the feces, there is a desecrated skeleton whose flesh had been completely gone.

That’s right, the dark elf Valerie is dead.

Mordred came out of the dimensional storage, his appearance completely mirrors Paimon with the exception of his left iris which gleamed in gold. Quickly, he used the power of the magic eye that he refined from the chicken year beast’s corpse. 

“The moment the elemental wave occurs, she knew something wasn’t right. She immediately left the little hole that I made, even though it was safe. But then again, nowhere is truly safe when a living catastrophe is roaming nearby. It’s too bad we can’t get her soul, I really need a high-quality intellectual soul to refine a good secondary intelligence for handling menial calculations. Perhaps I should split my soul?” Mordred shook his head in disappointment. “Nah, I still have Paimon for now.”

“I sense a time-path undulation, was that you, my king?” Paimon asked. The senses of a former rank 6 was too keen.

“Yes. This one held the power of [Psychometry].” Mordred answered honestly while pointing to his golden iris. “Do you want one? I still have one more eye from the chicken year beast, I can refine you an eye that can see the future, [Clairvoyance].”

“Maybe later.” Paimon rejected instantly, he has no interest in replacing his eye just yet, his deduction capability is enough to achieve the same effect. “What’s next? Our luck is getting worse, I suggest we lay low for a while to disperse our karma. With our rate of accumulation, it’s getting more difficult to hunt soul provisions for my troops.”

“No, we press on. Keep collecting the materials that I listed, I need them to refine more weapons. Also, it’s our¹Communism intensifies troops.” Mordred denied Paimon’s advice as he entered the dimensional storage once more.

Paimon frowned, but did not reply. He made some hand signals to the soldiers hiding in the shadows. Soon, the troops move out.

 

…

 

Two weeks later, roughly 50 kilometers away from the surface world.    

“This is an unexpected find… So what’s the mission objective?” Paimon asked, an assault rifle in his hand. Only this time, it wasn't a railgun, but a gunpowder-based one. Railguns are powerful, but have a high expenditure rate. Without an industrial-grade power reactor to generate their energy clips, Mordred could not easily replenish them. On the other hand, materials to refine rank 1 gunpowder is relatively easy to find in the underground passage.

Furthermore, since he had automated the ammunition refinement process, bullets have become cheap consumables. 

“Fetch me their soul, 10-20% harvest rate is enough. They are not beasts, we must not raise suspicion with the divines but I also need you to collect every mana pool present in this colony.” A reply came from behind him. It was Mordred who had the exact same appearance, even his weapons are completely similar to Paimon.

“Acknowledged.” Paimon grinned at the pair of ratman that’s playing in front of him. He was so close in patting the 1-meter tall ratman children, but they could not see the two due to the stealth field.

Just as the surface world is filled with minor races, the underground world too, is filled with them. Ratman is known for their relatively low intellect and rapid reproduction ability, they are more rat than man in terms of physiology, but both Paimon and Mordred did not discredit their power as a race. They are far more superior than goblins and kobolds. They even have their own racial god protecting them from above the heavens. Ratman civilization is only slightly more backward compared to human’s as they have their own inheritances and secret techniques passed down from their ancestors. 

But, a village containing a couple thousand ratman with merely 100 rank 1 cultivators protecting it wouldn’t hold a candle to Paimon’s forces.  

With a jolt of telepathic command from Paimon, his soldiers began the assault. 

Boom! An explosive shell fired from a grenade launcher exploded, engulfing a group of unsuspecting ratman. The assault has begun. 

Paimon’s 24 soldiers are equipped with the same bodysuit like himself, they were made for stealth and combat. 

However, due to not being specialized into one aspect, their defensive power is not top tier. At best, it would be able to effortlessly defend against attack from mid-stage rank 1 cultivators. Higher than that, their AT-Field would break.

The underground passage is filled with dangerous beasts, then weak races simply could not survive. The fact that ratman could rally a colony means they have sufficient power to not only survive, but also thrive in this environment. 

Just as expected, the ratman cultivators responded quickly to the attack. Most of the defenders are martial artists. The primary tactic was utilizing numbers over quality since ratman grow relatively quick compared to other races. 

There are some who are buffed and mutated enough to have 2.5 meter tall bodies, having flesh as tough as steel, but there are also ratman assassins and other professions. In all, this colony was able to survive in the darkness of the underground passage, they are in no means weak.

The scattered 90 or so rank 1 warriors immediately swarmed towards Paimon’s 24 soldiers who calmly marched with their assault rifles, shotgun, sniper rifles, or grenade launchers, shooting down any hostile advancing on their position. The equipment difference made sure that the ratman warriors could not get close to the modern soldiers. 

These primitives wore leather armor of beasts and held swords, spears and bows whereas Paimon’s soldiers were ‘Living Armors’, which were humanoid puppets that confined the semi-corporeal devils known as Shadow Stalkers. The living armors had gunpowder weapons and AT-Field on their arsenals, even if rank 1 warriors have bulletproof skin, a concentrated barrage at critical spots would be enough to kill them. 

Furthermore, Paimon was in charge of the strategy. The troops' arrangement, the target of their focus fire, and the advance and retreat of each living armor are personally being handled by Paimon.

“Would you be okay?” Mordred asked while the two casually seized the ratman children.     

“Micromanaging them is a bit taxing…” Paimon replied honestly. “But it should be okay. Sometimes, I’ve forgotten that I am no longer using my old demon king body, this body is too amazing. Even now, the brain cells are adapting to accommodate my usage.” He tapped his chest, he has multiple brains.

“It should be. You’ve inherited our daughter’s body, she was genetically designed to overcome your demon king self.” Mordred simply gouged the ratman child’s eye and broke all of its four limbs. The ratman child screamed in agony, but everyone else was too busy occupied by Paimon’s squad of living armors. Mordred waited for Paimon who’s planting stakes at the other ratman child’s four limbs after slitting its stomach wide open.

Both did not blink to the atrocities they committed as both wanted to harvest tormented souls from this colony. After leaving the two ratman children dying but still healthy enough to survive for a few hours, Paimon led Mordred towards where the ratman mages are located. 

“Is she still mad at me?” Mordred asked while casually crippling some ratman mortals by breaking their legs.

“If she was a pure devil like we planned to, she’ll live her whole life for nothing but vengeance against you.” Paimon frowned. “But since half of her lineage came from a human and you did not soul engineered her to be a pure human, I am no longer sure what to make of it.”

“So the last time you saw her was at her ‘rebellious stage’?” Mordred made some hand seals as they encroached a group of ratman mages. 

“Yes.” Paimon sighed as he replied back while waiting for Mordred’s Area Silence methods to activate. The ratman mages are casting their spells, Mordred waits so that he deals the maximum amount of damage. “Why didn’t you just kill her back then? It would’ve been so much simpler.” Paimon added.

“Why would I?” Mordred smirked. “Since the first time I saw you, my memories are gradually coming back. It seems like I wasn't the first Armored Soul Tribe. I’m sure she’ll be a great asset in Lemegeton. I wondered what kind of inheritance my previous self left for her… I wouldn’t be surprised if she refined a demon-possessed living armor legion!” 

‘Actually, she already did that…’ such words appeared on the tip of Paimon’s lips, but for some reason, he could not say it. “Why are you obsessed with leaving chess pieces everywhere? This is why our luck is bad, your karmic links are too messy!”

The time Paimon spent on hesitating tickled by as the ratman mages tried to activate their spells. Just as they were on the brink of success, Mordred’s [Last Word] which was amplified by [Quadruple Widen: Deafening Horizon] sprung to life. 

The 10 or so mages coughed blood as their sea of consciousness and truesoul got hit hard. It would be impossible for them to activate any more spells to attack, nevertheless protect themselves.

“Hah!” Mordred scoffed. “To subjugate a Great World, even 600 years of scheming is not enough! Let’s focus on the task at hand.” Mordred pulled Paimon’s attention towards the present. Both of them decloak and start gunning down the helpless ratman mages with the intention to cripple and create the most amount of suffering before death. Even the rank 2 ratman lord was helpless in the face of Paimon and Mordred’s twin assault.

Of course, the ratman lord was forced to witness the scene of its kin being tortured before dying under the hand of two devils.

 

…

 

Two weeks later, 20 meters away from the surface, the sunlight of the surface world could practically be seen from this distance.

“The dimensional storage has a severe lack of fresh air due to the nonexistence of air circulation systems, they are not only unpleasant but also lethal to biologicals due to the toxic fumes accumulated from my refinements. But, our death squad has no need for breathing in the first place.” Mordred explained as the 24 ‘living armors’ which were cybernetic mortal shells for the Shadow Stalkers are entering the dimensional storage in an orderly manner.

“Even if that reduces our numbers into just the two of us, we still need a temporary identity… We cannot roam freely without one. My king, you’ve never told me that Lord Erebus is an Inquisitor!!!” Paimon complained.

“Isn’t that where the fun lies?” Mordred chuckled. “Also, stop with that ‘my king’ bullshit, you’re starting to get on my nerves.” He took out several identity cards. “How’s your fire-path attainment?”

“No. I’ll pass. You’re going to impose heavy restrictions on my demonic flame or devil fire.” Paimon immediately rejects. “I’d prefer ice and snow-path.”

“Great, you’re in luck. Do you like chainsaws? You can be a hunter-priestess under the banner of a minor deity from the Seas of Eternal Winter, the Goddess of the Shallow Waters, ‘Sister Larissa Agatha’.”

“A priestess?” Paimon touches his chin as he snatched Larissa’s identity card which contains information regarding her. “Lazareva Larissa Agatha… Her bloodline is… I see, interesting. Are you confident in my faith-path attainment, or was all of this going according to your arrangements?”

“You’re asking too much crap. Though, I need a day for alterations on Lupusrazor depending on your answer.” 

“Let’s go with her.” Paimon smiled as she gazed at Mordred with lustful intention. “If I recall correctly, you’re also into that kind of play, aren't you? That’s one of the reasons why you didn’t object when you were crowned as the Devil King even though you possessed one of the purest human bloodlines in Morgen World…”

Mordred did not say anything as he entered the dimensional storage.