Eldritch Creature's Guide-Chapter 117 Demon City And The Guild
Several Day Later, the 8th Floor of the Tower, Demon Continent, Outskirts, Unknown Road.
A couple of people were walking beside each other along the road that led to a certain city on the Demon Continent. This time, after Samiel had left the farmer's house with Yvraine, he decided to put on different clothes since they would now be entering the territory of the Demon Tribes.
It was doubtful that the Demon Tribes, especially the Golden Horned Demon Tribe, would not be aware of who he was, so he decided to change his outfit and used some artifacts which were required to conceal his identity from them.
Fortunately, his close relationship with the Yvriane was known only to the Nesser Dynasty and the Hall of Kadath, and nobody else, even though the Underdark was already suspicious of something, based on the information they gathered about him on the 3rd Floor of the Tower.
Though he seriously doubted that Underdark would agree to sell this information to other factions easily. Mainly because he was the current Holy Son of Hall of Kadath, and on top of that, there were already rumors spreading across the Cosmos that he also became an inheritor of the current Hall Master, Menuhyutt Faulhaber.
So, even if the Underdark would be selling some information about him, they would be asking an outrageous price that nobody would be willing to pay at the start. Plainly speaking, Underdark would be trying to rip everyone off, while others would be trying to wait and see.
Besides his armor, Samiel also wore a black leather tricorn made from the leather of a black dragon, a gray duster coat that was also made from the leather of a black dragon, leather boots of the same color, and a reddish bandana covering his face as part of his ensemble. As a result of the collar of his coat covering a large part of his face, he used it in conjunction with his hat to hide his vibrant red-colored long hair that was striking to sight.
After all, he must admit that he looked even more badass, and when combined with Rao's Vengeance's intimidating armor, his intimidation level had risen to another level. This time, even Yvraine had to admit that he looked more handsome than ever. Fortunately, she had weird tastes as well; if not, then Samiel's creepy appearance, which came out of one of the Lovecraftian Novels, would surely deter most of the women.
In spite of the fact that he was wearing armor, the Rao's Vengence was very flexible because of its nature. It didn't interfere with his movements at all, not even in the slightest. What's more, it was almost as light as a feather in weight.
"How far are we from Goldtooth?"
Samiel questioned his companion as they were on their way to the Goldtooth, which was one of the largest Fortress Cities on the Demon Continent. Also, that was the place where the branch of The Guild was located.
Samiel planned to register within the Guild together with Yvraine. She, too, wanted to register within The Guild because it was a good way to gather money and at the same time she would get to fight strong enemies, which would be considered as part of the training.
Goldtooth, aside from being one of the largest and strongest Fortress Cities on the entire Demon Continent, was also directly controlled and built by the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and served as the bastion against the forces of the Human Brotherhood on the 8th Floor for countless centuries.
Because of that, the Goldtooth was the largest city and served as the headquarters for the entire Demon Continent. Initially, they planned to go to the nearest city, which in truth wasn't the Goldtooth, but Samiel wanted to go there because of the branch of The Guild.
"At least we could have encountered some more bandits or anything during our journey... it has been two days and I have not killed anything."
Samiel complained considerably loudly, only for Yvraine to frown at this. She thought that only he would be sad, that they weren't ambushed by bandits, rogues or deserters or maybe hopefully some detachments of the Human Brotherhood.
Yvraine didn't really understand that this stemmed from the Earth's culture of Isekai, and for him to be ambushed by bandits or rogues was practically a wish-fulfillment because it reminded him of the countless Isekai novels he read when he was still living in his homeworld.
As they walked for about ten hours, they finally reached a point where they could see the walls of the Goldtooth Fortress City after spending several days on the road. Many Demon guards and soldiers were patrolling the perimeter of the Fortress City, which reminded him of the architecture of the Underdark, as they were encircled by high pitch-black walls that would send shivers down through the spines of more weak-willed people.
On the average level, the Tier of the guards was around peak Steel-Tier to early Bronze-Tier. Samiel could see that the average Tier of the 8th Floor was way higher than it should be, and was on the same level as, for example the 2nd Floor, and that was due to the ongoing conflict between the Human Brotherhood and Demon Tribes.
Unfortunately for them, even when they were walking for more than ten hours or so, they weren't ambushed and Samiel was already thirsting for some blood because he was in some battle mood, which was not fulfilled. So for Samiel, this was certainly an unfortunate result of their long journey.
Then, they made their way to the nearest gate, which led to the city, where there were several giant demons guarding the gate clad in plated armor. Samiel didn't know to which Demon Tribe or subspecies they belonged, but he could sense their Silver-Tier power and bloodthirsty aura, as they were very powerful.
Evidently, they were responsible for collecting the entrance fees from people who weren't residents of the city or didn't have any other documents that would allow them access to the Goldtooth for free. And obviously, the gatekeepers were powerful for a reason, which was the security which was taken not lightly, as it seemed.
Samiel paid the toll, which was only a few Mana Crystals, basically a not big deal. From the amount of fee, Samiel knew that it was more like a formality, not to mention he was still rich for paying a few Steel-Tier Mana Crystals.
The entire city was filled with countless Demonkin, and the overall population should be around several hundreds of thousands. From the point of view of the Demonkin as whole species, this city wasn't particularly large, but it was no less important than bigger cities across the Demon Continent.
Most of the people inhabiting the Goldtooth City were actually soldiers, warriors, adventurers, and mercenaries who were participating in the struggle against the Human Brotherhood. For the past decades, as the tensions were increasing and everyone realized that an inevitable clash in the final war would come, the population was skyrocketing.
When it came to the city itself, the entire area gave Samiel a feeling of a typical European ambiance fantasy setting; with the architecture of the city itself, just the irregularity of some house's size was something that was eye-striking.
Probably due to Demons of various sizes, because the Demons were in various shapes and sizes, it all depended on the original primogenitor of their lineage, the first Daemon of their kind, and his appearance.
Though those with strong lineages could take a more compact humanoid form and sometimes be indistinguishable from average humans, minus some features such as horns and so on. Yet, Samiel didn't see a single of such Demons, but that was because, right now, he was only in some kind of residential district, though he was sure that he would soon see one of those.
Especially in the Guild's branch because many powerful and mighty Demonkin would spend their time there. Right now, Samiel was releasing his bloodlust to keep everyone away from him and Yvraine because even though there were guards everywhere, Samiel could see at least 4 street brawls ongoing.
"We should be going to the Guild's branch to register ourselves."
Samiel stated as Yvriane nodded as they went through the busy streets of the Goldtooth Fortress City directly to the Branch of The Guild. Across the city, they saw several more street brawls, some of which ended in the death of one or both participators.
Clearly, fighting on the streets over some petty manner was pretty common, but that was just the culture of the Demons. They were a very bloodthirsty race where fights were the most commonly used methods how to decide anything.
Even the banalest things were decided by life and death matches, and the Demons, despite this, Demon Tribes in the material plane thrived and were stronger than ever. Really a mystery of the Cosmos, but Samiel didn't really dwell on it for long, as he proceeded to walk forward.
After half an hour, they arrived in front of the building, which acted as the branch of The Guild. Interestingly, it was a rather modest stone wooden building without any significant decorations anything, and if Samiel should use some word to describe its outer appearance, it would be the word "plain".
When they entered the building, the only thing they saw was a small empty room with a single counter where the receptionist was waiting for any incoming guests. She was, by all appearance member of the Blood Races, though from some more inferior lineage just judging on her eye and hair color.
Also, the fact she was a receptionist and not a Manager or some sort of Senior Staff spoke volumes about itself already.
"How may The Guild help you today?"
The receptionist greeted both of them with a fake smile. When she looked at Samiel and his tattered clothing, there was clear disdain in her eyes because he looked like some vagabond and Yvraine who was using concealment artifact, didn't look any better to the other people.
It would be relatively bad if Demon Tribes saw a member of the Nesser Imperial Family running here and there, many would have some nefarious thoughts and that could lead to troubles and problems.
Problems they didn't really want.
"We wish to speak with the Manager."
Samiel stated neutrally, while Yvriane remained silent, just observant, as the receptionist behind the counter frowned at him, looking at Samiel like he was an idiot.
"The Manager isn't available for the vagabonds and alike..."
She said arrogantly when she noticed that the woman was only the initial Bronze-Tier, and even though she couldn't sense the man, she didn't think a lot about it because she herself was a peak Silver-Tier Vampire.
And being stationed on one of the lowest Floors of the Tower was already pretty humiliating for someone of her strength, not to mention most of the people here were pretty weak, not worth her attention.
"H' ephaingnah fahf agl ephaiturn ph'nglui soth."
Samiel then answered in R'Lyehian or the so-called Eldritch Speech, as the Vampire receptionist behind the counter immediately felt crushing cold pressure on her very own soul as she fell onto the ground gasping for air. f𝗿𝗲e𝒘e𝚋ｎ૦𝘃𝙚𝑙.com
After spending some time on the 5th Floor and under the effect of the enlightenment, he realized that the R'Lyehian could be used on people with weak souls to directly killed them in agonizing and torturous pain by targeting their very own souls. It was a specific way of torturing someone with just speaking a few words, but it was very effective because R'Lyehian was called a Power Language.
Power Languages were languages where every single word has power, spoken they are not lightly, and there were not many of them.
Not even several seconds later, Samiel could see a handsome middle ages man appearing from the shadows. With a single look, he could tell that he was very close to reaching Legendary Level, as right now, the man was at peak Gold-Tier.
He had red eyes and long pale white hair and was wearing a traditional aristocratic outfit typical for the Kindreds, so he was someone with certain status within the Blood Species. With a closer look, Samiel was able to distinguish the man as Kindreds.
Blood Races had several sub-species; practically, they were ranked from strongest to weakest such as follows. On the top of the pyramid were the Pale Blood; they had the strongest and most powerful bloodlines and tremendous evolutionary potential; for example, Cardinal Karliana was Pale Blood.
Below the Pale Bloods, were the Kindreds, the so-called Lords of Blood and extremely powerful Bloodkins, with tremendous abilities in magical and physical aspects. They were very rare and practically were elite of the Bloodkins.
Below the Kindreds were the Noble Vampire and then there were Vampires.
In terms of racial categorization, the Pale Bloods were ranked as Superior Species, Kindreds as Greater Species, Noble Vampires belonged to Elder Races and Vampires were ranked among the normal Races.
That was because Vampires were prone to many weaknesses like that to the sun and they had plenty of restrictions on them, which the higher-ranked sub-species of the Bloodkin didn't have. Even ordinary Vampire was very strong and had many racial advantages over other species that were categorized as the Normal Races.
When the Kindred man appeared, he didn't even bother to look at the Vampire receptionist, who was still technically dying from the extensive torture of her soul. Instead, he looked at the Samiel, who spoke R'Lyehian.
After several seconds, Samiel took down his reddish bandana and showed the Manager his earring with the two engraved words "Kadath" and "Holy" as the Manager widened his eyes in surprise before he slightly bowed his head and signaled both of them to follow after him.
As they were passing around the grasping Vampire receptionist, who pleaded for help from the Manager, he lifted her up by her neck as he tore apart her body in two parts, leaving the once beautiful woman in a puddle of gore and flesh.
Samiel didn't even bat an eye at that, as that was an internal matter of the Guild, how they dealt with their discipline. In truth, he didn't want to kill her, only torture her a bit, but he couldn't say that he was dissatisfied with the result.
As they walked through the stairs, they arrived at the Branch Manager's office, which looked like an exact copy of some high-ranking noble aristocrat's study, just more gloomier because this was the dwelling of the Bloodkin.
"Allow me to introduce myself; I am the Branch Manager of this Branch of The Guild, Krasimir Holdermann. It is an utmost honor to host the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath."
The Kindred man, Branch Manager Krasimir Holdermann introduced himself formally, as Samiel decided to do the same. As a Kindred, it was clear that he was from some prestigious lineage of the Blood Races and Samiel remembered that the Holdermann was one of the Aristocratic Houses of the Blood Races among their Congregation.
"Samiel Zentuar, Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath."
"Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon, the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty and the Silvermoon Race."
Even Yvriane dispelled the device and introduced herself. The Guild was absolutely neutral and rarely took any stance on any matter; actually, that was the official position of not only The Guild but also the Vaultbank and lately, even the Hall of Kadath was detaching itself more and more from every day strives.
