I have become Legion - Zetro Translation

Really pretty.

Well, elves are meant to be pretty.

Didn’t Tolkien make them so?

Well, to be honest, I don’t know. I never even read the Silmarillion.

Anyway, a beautiful elf appeared in front of me. She’s got a languid aura about her. Fancy words right. Well, I wouldn’t actually say that. I’m just repeating her description from the game. Silver hair, slim and tall. Well, it’s just an elf, isn’t it?

The setting only has like seven hundred or so elves, so of course I knew this one.

Ieshelia!

I really wanted to shout it out, but I probably shouldn’t. No, I absolutely shouldn’t shout out the name of somebody I just met. Especially not if that person is aiming a dangerous spell at you.

Anyway, let’s get this straight. Ieshelia is one of the origin characters in Quest. Meaning I know a lot about her. But do I know why she’s prepping to turn me to minced meat? No fucking clue. Maybe she realized that I can navigate the misty forest. Which I can probably bullshit myself out of. Maybe her druidic powers realized that I’m theoretically an undead. But that’s probably not it. My stat sheet still says Human. At least, it does right now. So ugh… I have no clue.

“Um… Hello. I am Antir Bright.”

Yeah, honestly, I’m pretty bad at introductions. I spent many years living as a recluse, so that’s obvious. And especially if I have to introduce myself to a pretty girl who I just happen to have seen all the story arcs for.

“You are a danger.”

Uhh, I guess? What the hell are you talking about? I’m just your friendly neighbour hood human calamity. Not to be confused with the actual human calamity. He’ll be used to fight Baal.

“I’m frail though.”

Honestly, I have no clue how to talk to her.

“You are?”

She seems to examine me further. Yeah, look at my frail body. Oh wait, it’s not so frail anymore. I look like a human now, instead of a walking mummy.

“You are.”

Ouch. I thought I was at least decent.

“But I was pretty sure you were the archenemy.“

Wait! Wait! Wait! What?!

The Archenemy?!

Actually… What’s that again?

Oh right. That was the elven term for the calamities.

Well, it’s not so wrong.

And well, she could actually spot one of those fuckers. Since she’s got the blessing of an Augur. It’s one of her Traits. A shitty grade variant, though, it’s more of a curse rather than a blessing. Keeps getting her into trouble, and causes all kinds of misunderstandings.

“I’m here to kill a demon.”

Yeah let’s go! Let’s create ourselves a common enemy. Isn’t that how people work together?

“There’s a demon in our forest?”

Seems she’s taken the bait.

“Yeah. Cowardly fucker, he got rich in the south, and now has a treasure horde here.“

I tap my gladius.

“So this guy here is gonna cut his neck and repurpose his wealth for more noble goals.“

Oh damn! Why is she glaring at me?

“Don’t you need a guide to find your way through the forest.”

Hmm…

I probably shouldn’t tell an elf that I managed to figure out how to bypass their security measures by counting special trees. Oh shit. Did I accidentally spoil it too early? Yes, the madlad who discovered the misty forest paths was actually me.

“Wait, a second. How are you going to defeat a demon? Is it injured? Even then, it’s suicidal. Only a hero can kill a demon.“

“Hahahahahaha.”

Could I lose?

“There’s no way.”

Yeah, how the hell is a demon going to kill an immortal.

“I’ll never lose.”

There’s nothing in this world that can win against me.

Though proving that, it’s gonna take a while. Since wars of attrition are my preferred tactic.

“Ah anyway. I have to get going. It’s unlikely that demon suddenly became suicidal.”

I begin my run again. Completely ignoring the fact that she’s still pointing a really dangerous magic at me. Yeah, confidence is key. And even if she shoots, it’s just gonna hurt for a bit. Then I’ll be dead. Ignore the small part where I’m gonna come back to life right after.

Twenty-four.

Yeah, that’s the twenty-fourth purple tree, I think.

So I should soon teleport to the right place.

“You know. It feels like you’ve gotten more insane since you cleared that fort.”

The shadow demon finally spoke!

“I can hear your thoughts.”

Oh, you can?

“Yes…”

That’s cool, cool. Why do you think I became more insane? I’d say I just returned to normal. I was just really tired from the curses. And now I’m resistant to them.

“Really?”

Yeah, absolutely. I’m normally like this.

It’s more fun to make fun of everything.

Mossy exterior and a creepy feeling. The hideout of this demon was built underground, beneath a big tree. Not a special tree, just a big one. And yeah, demonic energy. It was described as being creepy in the game, but this is something else. I feel like a big monster is licking me all over.

Shocks!

It feels like shocks are going up my spine.

Oh wait, that wasn’t actually the demonic energy. I just stepped on a trap.

Yeah, this place had a lot of traps.

I do have them memorized. But I’m thinking it’s a better idea to train my [Pain Conquest] trait like this. Just get hit by the traps.

“Death Seeking Swordmanship is the swordmanship of the suicidal.”

I have no clue how a progenitor evolves their skills, so I’m trying my best. Just run into the traps while practicing my swordmanship. Cutting phantoms of the mind.

“There is no way you are in a sane state of mind.”

Oh right, he’s still here. I was getting worried since the Shadow Demon had been quiet for an hour. Yeah, this place is massive. Just walking through the endless maze, jumping into any and all traps. Right, he said something, didn’t he? And it kinda sounded like an insult. But well, it isn’t.

“Yeah…”

Yeah, there’s no way I’m normally like this. I got kidnapped from my home to a world doomed to destruction. I’m panicking, but I have to stay calm. So this is my only plan. Treat all things as meaning nothing.

While yeah, I love to be cheerful. I also have my downtimes. But I can’t be brooding now. I need to prepare myself. I have no clue what date it is. The Magic Academy begins in Sylva, and I need to get there before that. I also need the money to apply. And I need to prove myself…

Yeah, I’m stumped for time.

Decapitated. Walking through a corridor, a massive blade cuts off my head. It was held to the wall by a thing string, so when I stepped on that string. Well it cut off my head. It’s a strange sensation. Not exactly pain, as it’s an instant death. More like floating in the air for a brief moment.

Burned alive. Stepping on a pressure plate a dragon statue spits fire on me. Don’t you know? Death by burning is one of the worst ways to go. Because it hurts like hell. It’s both quick and slow. Your mind pumps out adrenaline to try and come up with a way to survive. But there isn’t one. It just makes you feel the pain more and more, slower so longer. It’s a terrible way to go. And I had to feel that.

A spear through the chest. While walking through a long corridor, from the end of it a massive spear shoots out and pierces through my chest. It hurts like hell to have a hole through your body. The problem with it isn’t the instant of pain. It is your body growing colder and colder as you die out. But for me it gets very cold, and then it stays like that. I am not allowed to die. Instead I just have to wait it out, till I regenerate the hole through my body.

A bear trap. I saw it, yeah. Still I stepped in it. It was more pain. It held me down. And so I had to cut off my own leg. Two pains for the price of one. Isn’t that fun? It felt like something was biting down at my foot, and well the visuals of the situation weren’t fun either. Worst one though was the conscious thought of injuring myself. There’s something in the human mind that tries to prevent that, isn’t there?

Poisoned. A single poisoned dart is enough to cause this suffering. Slow and insidious, it takes a long time for it to kill you. The world grows darker and darker. As you take one step after the other. Your senses play tricks on you. Till eventually you collapse to the ground.

Death. I died from these traps multiple times. Different variations yet similar in nature. Horrible injury or a killing condition. Those are the main mechanism of the demon’s traps. And there were hundreds of them. But well… I still went through all of it.

Since.

All these traps make me at least a little stronger. So why shouldn’t I take these free experience points? So what if it hurts like hell? I don’t have time to live in luxury; I have to drudge through hell’s deepest.

And I don’t even know what date it is.

Thankfully, I know it’s at least 1 month before Sylva.

Oh right, and this world has a system where each week has 6 days, each month has 6 weeks, and there’s 10 months. Pretty interesting, right? And then there’s 5 or 6 holidays that aren’t part of any month.

While it might seem like I’m lost in the maze. I’m actually not. I know this maze from memory. Instead, I’ve plotted out a route in my mind that will have me get hit by all the traps. Almost done even.

This dungeon is fun since it’s only got traps. No monsters to kill. And traps have the good part that once I get hit, well, it’s over. I don’t need to beat them up for 10 minutes.

So now you might ask. I’ve been here for a while, right? Running from trap to trap. So when am I gonna go fight the demon. Well, that’s a trick question. Since I’m already here.

Falling down from a trap door, I spot the demon.

He’s a scaled humanoid with six horns. Red skin and golden wings. Appraising a golden sword, he’s not going to know what hit him. This is both a sneak attack and a drop attack!

Unfortunately for me. Just in time, the fucker looks up. He stares straight through my soul. And blocks my attack.

[Your health has reached 0]

[You have di…]

[Legion activates – You cannot die]

I get up from the ground. My bones are making all kinds of ugly noises as they reattach themselves.

“Hello there. I came to take your treasures!”

The demon, Valac, just sighs at me.

“What in the infernal realms.”

He throws aside the golden sword, and a golden spear flies from his nearby treasure pile. That’s his favored weapon. It’s got nice range, so I’ll have to get close.

“How did you find this place?”

“Who are you?”

“What are you?”

“I have a lot of questions.”

“But I’ll ask none of them.”

“I’ll just pry those answers from your corpse.”

His expression twists as his face morphs into a mask of absolute malice. Well, I did just threaten to take the horde of the treasure demon.

“Oh, but I’m not done yet.”

A wide grin appears on my face.

Demons care about their lives. So if I start a war of attrition now, he’d just run away. But I can’t have that happening. I want his head.

“Valac.”

“I, Antir Bright, challenge you to a duel to the death.”

Demons have something called true names. When you speak those true names, you can place certain conditions on them. A challenge to the death is one such condition. So now, this guy is fucked. Neither he nor I can leave this place till we end this fight.

And like a flash of lightning, his spear takes my heart.

I can see it still takes one last beat while it’s impaled at the tip of his spear.

“I win.”

The demon declares.

But the wound in my chest closes.

“Hahahahahahahaha.”

My body burns with energy as I activate Limit Break. It is to push myself beyond my physical limits, to break my limits. A pain courses through my mind, not a powerful one, more a kin to a slight shock. But that slight shock persists. Instead of being instant, it constantly snaps my mind to attention, and it burns my skin.

Still, I take a step. A step forward will lead me to my victory.

Faster than my vision can follow, my chest is sliced open twice by a cross slash of Valac’s spear. Again. I have died. My heart fell out of my chest, cut out through a precise attack. Valac is that kind of demon. One to insult his enemies by repeating the same injury again and again. So yeah, I’ll be in pain during this fight.

“It’s your loss, you know.”

My chest and heart are instantly reformed. For a body cannot live without its heart. But it’s not the end of my pain. Steps take me forward, but like flashes of light, faster than anything I can see, Valac’s spear gives me hundreds of cuts all across my body. At this point, they feel no different from paper cuts. Thousands of paper cuts. Everywhere.

“Because.”

In the end, I will kill you.

“I’ll never lose.”

I will save the world. A second legion will be born in my body, a Legion of One. And the Legion never loses… So since this battle is already over. Let’s have some fun.

“Honestly, you’re kinda short. Did they leave the mediocre bodies for the low-ranking demons?”

With the undead, since we couldn’t communicate, I couldn’t mess with them. But this guy is a perfect target. Very prideful, but amongst the demons, he’s of a low rank, even though he has high combat ability. So yeah, it should be fun to troll this guy.

“Shut up.”

He got mad. I could tell it from his voice. And the way he got more aggressive with his spear.

Oh, and his spear is called the Twin Dragon Spear. The reason for that name was quite evident. And well, I could feel it too. He pierced through my stomach till the shaft was inside, and then spun it. It’s a strange pain when a hole is growing in your stomach, ripping it apart. You see, that Twin Dragon Spear is like two snakes coiling around the central shaft and uniting at the end with the spear tip. And these snakes have sharp scales all along them. Almost like shark teeth as he spins the spear in my stomach. It grabs my insides and drags them along with it. Then, with a final sharp movement after twisting apart my insides, Valac slashes open my upper chest with the spear tip. The tip itself is more like a small sword, perfectly good for slashing as it is for thrusting.

And yeah, I died again. How the hell could I survive from all that. There was a massive hole in my stomach. My internal organs were messed up. And the fucker made cut open my chest as well.

“You’re quite romantic, always trying to take my heart.”

“Just die.”

But I just laughed at his feeble attempts at killing me. No matter the death or pain he’d give me, I’d survive.

Another step, I kept getting closer.

Valac.

Your death was getting closer.

“But I’m not interested in little kids.”

“I’m not a kid.”

He cut open my neck as his face contorted with rage. Yeah, Valac looked like a little kid. Maybe 14 or 15 years old. And he’s quite self conscious about that fact. But now I was in range. His last attack was done with a half spearing technique.

Though, just because I’m in range doesn’t mean it’s over. Rather, it doesn’t mean much.

My gladius burns with a purple light as I try to strike at Valac, but he just dodges it like a flash of lightning. In that same breath, both my hands are cut off. My attack failed.

Calmly, I lifted up the gladius from the floor. It didn’t take fuck all for my hands to heal. And while I did that, that demon cut off my head. But that didn’t even phase me at all. Death had become meaningless to me, both in reality and in my mind. That still didn’t mean that I didn’t feel the pain. Rather, it was much worse than anything I had felt before. A change in my mind. That’s how I’d describe it. I don’t believe there’s a way to prevent the pain, so I’ve accepted it as just a fact of life. Something that happens, a constant. Much more constant than death and taxes, since I’ve already surpassed one of those.

“You’re a funny little kid.”

“I said I’m not!”

Comedy is a good way to deal with the pain. Especially so when the enemy gets genuinely enraged by your banter.

Now you might think that this fight is going nowhere. A bunch of hits, but I haven’t gotten a single hit in. But that’s not it. He can probably tell already, since I’ve got a proper grin on my face. He’s fast, yeah, but unlike those undead, he’s not got any armor on. So even a slight scratch will cause a cut. And those cuts will add up, till he dies from blood loss.

So this is a matter of time. He’s already lost. Since I’ll never lose.

And again he made a deep attack through my body. But I’m not letting go of you, my prey. Grabbing onto the spear as he pulls it back. His demonic strength pulls me along towards him, and with a quick thrust at his face.

And…

It missed.

Yeah, the fucker is fast as fuck.

He might not have defensive ability. But he can dodge basically anything. He’s got killer instincts after all. Unfortunately though, he doesn’t have supernatural regeneration, meaning he’d eventually die. Some demons have that as a trait, it’s called demonic regeneration, but it’s not something all of them have. On that note, demons are really special, each one of them. There’s very few things I can say about all of them. Like they can make and morph bodies yeah, but the amount depends on the demon. They tend to be stronger than humans, but not all of them are. They’re all ageless, though the ones sent as scouting troops are the demon nobility, who are at least ten thousand years old. Oh and all of the demon nobility have their own individual trait. But that’s about it. They’re not especially strong, just some of them can get much stronger than humans.

So anyway. The fight continued like that. Valac gave me a bunch of injuries, and I came up with a trick to get close to him. Tried to slash at him, and it didn’t work. He beheaded me multiple times. Each time, it felt incredibly cold. I don’t think there’s a single part of my body that hasn’t been destroyed by now. And honestly, this is all becoming a blur. I guess my mind is going dark again. So here I’m about to enter a trance again, but my body is split in two and for a brief moment I think I see red, not my own red, but the red of his. I might’ve cut him. But it all went black afterwards.

===

A force of nature with a slight resemblance to a human.

The shadow demon had seen this scene before. The human fought and fought. His actions slowly become more mechanical, till he became a god of death. A reaper that reaps both itself and the enemy. Taking an injury to deliver one.

But now the Shadow Demon understood more of what was beyond that being.

It was a human.

A weak and feeble human.

One that could not take a step forward.

Yet still pushed on.

Someone who was scared.

Someone who dreamt quite a large dream.

To save the world.

The Shadow Demon didn’t understand such a wish. He was created to serve the demons. Created to torment Antir Bright. But the Shadow Demon understood one thing. Tormenting Antir Bright would not be possible. One does not carve out a mountain with a spoon.

No.

Only one being could do that.

‘Legion of One.’

That was the last thought of the playful Antir before he went into combat mode.

Such a being could indeed carve out a mountain with a spoon.

The Shadow Demon was feeling an emotion it could not understand. It was an emotion he had only felt for his masters before. Reverence? Piety? Servitude? Those words all resonated with the emotion, but they were not it. And that emotion was felt towards that Legion fighting.

“He died.”

The last of Antir Bright’s thoughts became quiet.

Even the dead have regrets.

But the Legion has none.

It is quiet now.

Decapitated.

Valac decapitated Antir Bright. His head was sent flying. But the body still moved. The brain had sent delayed signals. So that the body would not delay for even the brief moment of resurrection. But the attack was dodged by the demon’s lightning fast reflexes.

It dealt nothing.

Crushed.

Valac collapsed a part of the roof to crush the Legion underneath rubble. And so Antir Bright took his last breath. But as if time was rewound, the stones moved upwards. And the Legion rose from death. Its eyes were empty. It had not a single thought.

It was futile.

Battle perfected.

The Shadow Demon was not an expert at combat, but he could tell that the Demon Valac had perfected the spear arts. But simply put, the way of fighting assumes that the enemy fears death. But this was not the case. The Legion knows no death.

It was beyond.

Violence.

Valac was violent. He was a demon, after all. He severed an arm. Created a gaping wound through his chest. Slashes, stabs, and blunt attacks. To cause only injury and pain. But none of that mattered. For the legion placed his gladius to his own neck. Death and Rebirth. “47%” the monster had spoken. It had spoken percentages for a while. Each a countdown to the death of the demon.

It was dreadful.

How would you fight a force of nature?

It was a meaningless question.

One might carve out a mountain with a spoon.

One might create a kingdom eternal.

One might form an army infernal.

But that means nothing.

For before their 62nd.

Was Death itself.

The Shadow Demon made a promise. Its blood sought to serve whatever was most infernal and terrifying. The king of all demons had lost this title. He was the lesser of the two.

The reaper’s hunt was not over.

Valac’s destiny was wrought by mortal hands.

And delivered by an immortal.

===

The demon looked at the monster before him. A giant gaping wound through his chest, one of his arms was severed cleanly off. He was quite certain that he had even cut off his head before, but that bastard had somehow reformed it.

Valac was afraid.

He was truly afraid of the monstrosity before him.

“47% left”

It spoke with a voice as cold as iron. Its eyes did not contain any malice or hatred, even when Valac had destroyed his body over a hundred times. That thing before him felt nothing.

If only Valac had not agreed to the duel.

If only Valac had let the monster plunder all his treasures.

If only Valac had decided to be lenient.

However, those what ifs could never come true. The monster before him slashed his own neck off, and just like that, his entire body regenerated. The arm missing was suddenly in place again, and the gaping hole through his stomach was closed off.

Before Valac was a monster that did not know death.

Only one name could come to Valac’s mind after seeing it.

Legion.

===

His eyes were empty.

Yeah.

When I woke up, his eyes were empty.

Like a certain legendary figure, that demon was forcing himself to stay up even though he was either dead or dying. Not a single critical wound. None of that on his body. Just a bunch of minor scratches. Yet those added up. Because he was a mortal.

The battle went as I thought. I died a lot. It hurt a lot. But I eventually won.

[You have recovered 100% of your humanity. The state of mindless undeath has been lifted.]

The system confirmed that I had returned properly.

“You’re back.”

“Umbra.”

The shadow demon seemed confused.

“Maybe Nox?”

Actually wait, what? Since when could I recognize this guy’s emotions?

“What are you talking about?“

“You don’t have a name, do you? So let’s get you one. It’s gonna be annoying to just call you Shadow Demon all the time.”

I grinned at my shadow. Yeah, how about that? This guy is so cute. Actually, this time it was slightly different when Legion took over me. I felt like I was in a haze. But I heard this guy’s thoughts. So yeah.

“Don’t worry.”

I won’t kick you out.

“We’ll be good friends.”

The Shadow Demon became quiet. I knew he was embarrassed.

So let’s see here.

“Oh, nice a level up.”

My stats had also gotten up.

I stretched above the demon’s corpse.

“Valac.”

And I spoke out his true name.

I hope it works.

And well… It actually did.

So yeah, in Quest if you speak the true name of a demon to their corpse, you get their primary trait or ability. But in Quest to get their true names, you need to get through some annoying quests. But since I’ve got their names memorized, I was hoping that I’d just be able to do it like that.

And it worked.

Danger Sense — Demon Trait [C-1]

—You gain a sixth sense that warns you about danger.

It’s a minor thing.

In the game, it gives you some additional information about random encounters and such stuff. But since this is my life now, it might be more useful.

Oh right.

Now that I think about it, I should’ve stopped being excommunicated.

Faith: Pending

Divine Power: Pending

Huh?

Oh right, I have to choose a faith.

[God of Light]

[God of War]

….

[Demon King]

[Calamitous Powers]

Well, there’s only one that makes sense for me.

Vorkhan, the God of Murder, Blood, Carnage, Violence, and Cruelty.

His priests gain their divine power from being fighting a lot. And they get given powers related to fighting. That sounds right about what I’m gonna need to do.

But…

Ugh…

Why?

[Vorkhan has rejected your faith.]

Like literally why?

I’m your perfect follower. An immortal who can’t die and is destined to go kill a fuckton.

So what if our moral values are opposed? I’m still perfect for the role.

Then who can I choose?

Is there some option I can select to show only those who I can choose.

Oh, there is.

Let’s see…

[Calamitous Powers]