God Class Awakening: Ascension of the Demon Hunter-Chapter 33: Antics of the Forsaken

Vale’s mind was blank as he watched the couple disappear on their mounts, they were kind people, but Vale wasn’t thinking of that now. The only thing going through his mind was the fact that he had somehow ended up in the prison realm.

Everyone knew what the prison realm was: a legendary pyramid-like structure where people who broke the heavenly laws were sent.

According to legend, there were six levels, with each level situated above the last.

According to the old lady, they were at the lowest level, and most of the people here weren’t even sinners found guilty by the heavens, they were just their descendants.

Most of the descendants had been unable to manage the chaos on the higher level and had to climb down to survive. Even then, the prison realm was known as a forbidden place, and it didn’t matter if they were at the first or sixth level, their chances of escape were abysmally low.

In his past life, he hadn’t come in contact with the realm apart from the folklore that everyone knew.

If he wanted to escape then there was only one person who could possibly have enough information to make that happen. His eyes shifted to the girl who was sleeping soundly on his back. He had managed to get her off his chest, but now she was on his back.

Since she was responsible for the rift that sent them back, she should surely be able to open another one that could send them back.

In Vale’s hand was a pouch full of small green crystals. According to the lady, they were the currency used in the prison realm. They were mana crystals, albeit very impure ones.

She had also advised them to start moving when they recovered, saying something about the annual beast surge coming earlier than expected.

Vale hadn’t really paid her any attention as his mind was on his next step. What could he do—what could he possibly do in this place? The answer was very obvious: get stronger.

With the pouch in hand and a girl on his back, he decided to check out the town.

His main goals now were to gather information, who knows, maybe someone who knew how to return to the real world would show up.

He also had to do some research about the annual beast surge the lady was talking about.

The town in front of him wasn’t the liveliest: perhaps it was the fact that it was located in a desert, or maybe the lack of people. Something just made it feel off.

There was a gate at the entrance, and multiple sharpened sticks were used to form a fence around the town.

Aside from the right to claim they had a wall, the fence served no other purpose. If one weren’t careful, they could accidentally topple a section of the barricade.

At the top of the open gate, a sign hung loosely; the words were covered in dust, and Vale couldn’t make them out.

Not that he cared what they said.

As he walked towards the town, he realised the heat was quite severe, especially for a place that shouldn’t have a sun.

But lo and behold, when he looked up, the glaring ball of fire was right there.

An illusion perhaps. Or maybe something else.

The town was as empty as it looked from the outside. The houses were widely spaced and most of them looked abandoned.

There were a few places that looked inhabited, but no one could be seen.

As Vale continued to wonder why the people around seemed afraid of the outside, he heard a voice coming from an alley that he hadn’t even noticed.

"Hey kid, don’t be in such a hurry."

A short middle-aged man walked out of the shadow of a building, moving with a prissy speed that was the exclusive domain of all stout men.

He had two guns, tied to his waist, and this surprised Vale.

Back on earth, guns were common, but since they could hardly damage demons, he hadn’t bothered to learn how to use them. So seeing someone carry a gun was nostalgic.

Since the prison realm accepted people from different worlds, it wasn’t far-fetched to assume that an earthling who had been sent here created the guns. While Vale would be happy to encounter anyone from his previous world, that was beside his current goal.

"What?" Vale spat at the man who had stopped him.

The man shrugged and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "You ain’t paid your tax yet."

His hand was on his belt and he didn’t seem like an official. Vale didn’t know if this was just an extortion method or if he really needed to pay taxes to leave here.

There was a stretch of silence between the two for a while.

"And what if I don’t?" Vale finally broke the mute.

The moment those words left his mouth, the sound of multiple guns cocking at the same time came from multiple buildings.

The sound immediately made Vale’s heart sink as his hair stood on end. There were numerous people taking aim at him right now.

He wasn’t powerful enough to shrug off a bullet, and with a girl on his back, the odds were stacked against him. He also couldn’t reach for his dagger fast enough.

Why am I always carrying a girl at the worst possible time, Vale thought as his eyes twitched.

The short man then raised his hand, "Calm down, boys, he’s new here. He just needs to be... educated on how things work around here."

The man then walked to Vale with a certain ease that made Vale uncomfortable.

When he was close enough, he took out a pipe and lit it. Vale then watched him take a big whiff of the smoke and blow it towards him.

The smoke made Vale cough a bit and he even felt Roxy get stirred a little as he dispersed the smoke with his hand.

"Nice sister you got there, kid," the man said.

Vale didn’t bother to correct him and just nodded at his statement.

"You see," the man said, stepping forward and Vale could feel his breath. He tried to back off, but that just made the man lean even closer. "If you come to my town you gotta drop a little something. And don’t act like you got nothing, I can smell the money on you."

The man then took a big sniff of Vale with an exhilarated expression. He then stretched out an open palm, prompting Vale to drop something in it.

As Vale scanned around he was able to count over 20 barrels aimed at him from the shadows of the surrounding buildings. In the end, fighting didn’t seem worth it.

"Who’s the idiot smoking shit?"

In an instant, everyone’s attention shifted to the girl on Vale’s back who had just woken up.

[Small Infinity—20 power stones and I’ll post the next Chapter today]