Chapter 35: The Shapeshifter

  The next day, about three hundred adepts gathered at the entrance to the interior of Greedius's mountain. "The rules of the competition are simple," the deep voice of the mountain's ruler boomed. "Hidden within the tunnels are two magical symbols representing our beloved home. You just need to find them—each one qualifies you for the grand prize!"

  Murmurs of approval spread through the crowd of adepts. The fact that Greedius was—for once—speaking while wearing a shirt instead of exposing his brawny shoulders added to his gravitas.

  Two large portals led into the mountain's interior, and assignments to them were determined by drawing colored metal tokens.

  "What if someone finds both?!"

  The voice from the crowd belonged to some skinny adept at the third level of Ki Gathering. The ruler of the mountain looked at him with an indulgent smile.

  "That is not possible. The portals lead to different tunnels."

  "And what is the prize?"

  This time, someone else asked—a purple-haired she-devil with four levels.

  "And what about the smaller rewards?!"

  Many devils wore indecisive expressions. The competition involved risk, and the Mountain of Envy and Conflagration was known for its brutality. Not everyone wanted to put their life on the line just to be background decoration for the great talents.

  Greedius looked upon them all with amusement in his eyes.

  "In both parts of the mountain, you can find over a hundred treasures. I won't reveal what they are, but you can trust that they will aid you in your demonic cultivation."

  "And the grand prize?" the she-devil from before pressed, not letting herself be brushed off.

  The mountain ruler's eyes swept across the crowd; everyone was awaiting his answer. Perhaps the chances of winning the prize were slim, but who could forbid the damned from dreaming?

  The devil remained silent for a moment, building the tension, before finally, slowly, uttering the words that made the crowd go wild.

  "One month of training under my tutelage. All questions permitted."

  Many adepts drew a sharp breath in unison, disbelieving what they had heard. They turned to their friends to confirm if their ears weren't playing tricks on them.

  "Training with the mountain ruler... that's something that can change one's talent!"

  "That's the same kind of treatment Felix gets!"

  "I heard Greedius managed to build his constitution on the legendary cultivation of demonic virtue!"

  The atmosphere instantly became explosive—for such a chance, these devils would let themselves be hacked to pieces. Even Justinian, standing in the crowd, was moved.

  True, his constitution had little to do with demonic traits, but the prospect of training with the mountain ruler sounded incredibly tempting.

  'I wonder who is stronger, Greedius or Rudnicki...'

  His ponderings were interrupted by Belisara.

  "What color did you draw? I have red."

  The boy looked at the token of the same color in his hand and was about to answer when Aldona cut in.

  "Justinian has blue," she declared, swapping her token with his.

  Sparks still flew between the women, of course, and they were often close to clawing each other's eyes out, but he didn't have the mind to deal with it now. So he ignored the swap and simply shrugged at the whole situation.

  A bit further in the crowd, Felix Faustus also had a blue token. The greatest share of the audience's attention was focused on him. He had long been a known representative adept, said to have the greatest talent for cultivation in the 66th hellish dimension.

  The fear of him was amplified by the fact that his rival, the representative adept from Greedius's mountain, had disappeared a few months ago under mysterious circumstances.

  Justinian also noticed that Septima was participating in the competition. She had already reached the fourth level of Ki Gathering, one below him.

  "And so, my dear adepts! Let us begin, and may the best one win!" Greedius finally announced, after which everyone rushed towards the portals.

  The young man opened his eyes in a dark tunnel carved out of rock. As it turned out, each portal teleported the participants to a random location within their previously assigned area.

  This way, Justinian knew he couldn't end up competing with Aldona and Belisara, yet he remained vigilant about threats from other devils.

  'Felix is probably the most dangerous,' he thought as he delved deeper into the gloomy corridors carved into the mountain.

  He still remembered how he had been effortlessly defeated on the mountain of research and development, while his opponent hadn't even broken a sweat. Pondering his next move, the boy considered the problem for a moment.

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  'Why do I constantly feel like he's hostile towards me?'

  So far, it hadn't physically escalated on his part, but it was an additional factor he had to consider in these dark tunnels. This time, the test wasn't a journey of the soul, so any injuries sustained inside the mountain were real. The adepts were truly risking their lives here.

  Ultimately, however, a flash of determination appeared in his eye.

  'If I'm to grow, I must face the best.'

  The boy clenched his fists and, venturing deeper down the dark path, decided... to seek out Felix Faustus as a rival!

  In another area of the mountain, the Shapeshifter sat calmly on the floor. Unlike the other adepts, he wasn't at all excited by the prospect of the grand prize. He even considered it useless.

  Yet his heart was beating at an accelerated rhythm, and only through sheer willpower was he not yet smiling from ear to ear. It was all because of the image he saw when he closed his eyes.

  'You are already within my reach, Belisara.'

  The small, bright flame he saw was a sign that his target was nearby. No more than two kilometers away. It was the effect of an artifact he had planted on her. What's more... every change in her position was perfectly visible to him!

  'Only two kilometers...' he sighed, feeling a sense of joy building in his chest.

  Of particular importance was the fact that two other points were equally bright, though they glowed with a different color.

  'Sagittarius's servants are a little closer. That's a good sign.'

  Both had been previously equipped with a similar artifact that told them the Shapeshifter's location. Even though they were only at the third level, with such a numerical advantage, they couldn't lose.

  The devil shook his head, assessing the situation.

  'For months, it has been clear that of the two of us, I am the more talented one. You've only survived this long by hiding without a shred of dignity.' It seemed, however, that this time was over.

  'Ever since that kid arrived on the mountain, you've become careless. Did you really think your grotto was safe just because Felix lives with you?!'

  The Shapeshifter felt the urge to laugh. If his plan succeeded, Felix Faustus would be next on his list of victims.

  For now, however, he sat back and awaited the arrival of his reinforcements.

  In Justinian's area...

  Felix wandered through successive chambers. Various traps would sometimes trigger around him, but just as it had been his entire life, this time too, he was lucky. While other devils died, struck by strange bolts of lightning or falling into pits of poisonous tar dug into the floor, he didn't even have to sweat to narrowly avoid danger.

  'Looks like the symbol should be around here somewhere,' he thought, yawning.

  He reached the chamber where it was located in record time and, after a dozen seconds, figured out how it was hidden.

  'What a boring game...'

  As he began to walk towards it with a confident stride, he felt someone else enter the room.

  It was a she-devil at the fourth mark of Ki Gathering, who looked at him with an indifferent gaze. She, too, had noticed where the symbol was and looked as though she intended to claim it despite Felix's presence.

  The young devil smiled widely at this sight and turned towards his rival—the representative adept, Septima, from Mountain of Darkness.

  Some time later...

  The Shapeshifter was traversing the corridors with two of Sagittarius's underlings, who were in the second area of the tunnels.

  "We are getting closer," he informed the minions.

  They nodded, confirming their readiness. They knew their mission for the day and had no scruples about it. Their goal was simple: to secure this exceptional devil while he settled his scores.

  'Is this it?' he thought after a few more minutes, when one of the corridors led him to a fork from which two more levels below were visible.

  The echo of energy he felt was solid and constant, and the sounds of impacts could be heard from around the corner to the right. He gave the two cronies a serious look, signaling them to move ahead.

  'I'll have to get rid of whoever she's fighting...' the Shapeshifter noted, preparing his attack.

  His blade slowly began to coat itself with a magical layer of poison, the effect of an ability he had acquired earlier from one of the missing adepts. Within seconds, the process was nearing completion when he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

  "Hmm?"

  Something had landed on the floor next to his feet.

  "Dam—" he didn't even have time to curse before an explosion engulfed his entire figure. His accompanying devils immediately rushed to help, but the blast of fire was so strong it prevented them from covering the needed distance.

  And that was just the beginning, for out of nowhere, several more of the same bombs appeared on the floor!

  Amid the thunder of subsequent explosions, he could only shield himself, desperately observing the fragments of his surroundings that weren't consumed by fire. It became clear that he had fallen into Belisara's trap, not the other way around!

  'Though these bombs won't do much to her...' he thought, gritting his teeth.

  Like smoke balls, bombs were often used by the adepts on Greedius's mountain, but they lacked great power. With his four-level cultivation, the Shapeshifter could wait them out.

  "Watch out!" he shouted to his servants, who were separated by the fire, his voice drowned out by the explosions.

  'If she attacks them while I'm cut off...' that scenario could become unpleasant.

  It was then, despite the terrible noise around him, that he saw movement nearby. The she-devil Belisara, under the cover of the explosions, leaped from a rock ledge above where she had been hiding—from a completely different spot than the artifact had indicated!

  Timing the next explosions, she jumped at him and, with a swift dagger strike, tried to pierce his neck! The fate of her attack was decided in fractions of a second, when it turned out that... it wasn't enough!

  The Shapeshifter quickly overcame his surprise and, with a powerful blow—he had a one-level advantage over her—counterattacked with his poisoned weapon!

  His strike was faster and cut her with great force, ensuring the fight ended in his victory!

  Or so it seemed to him, when the space around Belisara distorted as if cracking, and the she-devil herself, using a strange phantom cut, put everything on the line!

  "Just get off me already!" she screamed as her blade made contact with her opponent's skin.

  The reason she had withstood his earlier attack was due to an artifact she had received from Seweryn the Sarmatian after the mission with Justinian. At this moment, it was meant to give her the decisive advantage that would grant her continued life and her enemy death.

  Unfortunately, the Shapeshifter also had an ace up his sleeve. The moment his opponent's weapon began to dig into his stomach... the devil suddenly became transparent, and the blade passed through him as if through air!

  Desperation appeared in Belisara's eyes. Her ambush had failed, and she knew she had no other options.

  "You gave me quite a scare, you failure!" the devil laughed loudly, preparing for another strike.

  There was no doubt that all the cards were now in his hand. More explosions tore through the air as their exchange ended and the outcome of the battle was known.

  They both shielded themselves from the engulfing fire, but the she-devil was in a terrible situation. When the blast ended, the Shapeshifter reached for her, when suddenly the air was pierced by the sound of shattering glass.

  Belisara frowned, feeling her artifact, after absorbing the previous blows, begin to tremble all over and practically pulsate with a strange force.

  "Damn it!" the devil shouted as that force was unleashed when artifact broke, throwing him high into the air and then down into one of the lower tunnels!