[You killed a Gorran (Exiled) – E+2]

  This was the fourth demon monkey Rey had killed, and he still hadn't seen himself rank up. He didn't remember ranking up to be so difficult at the lower Tiers. He remembered it took a long time because of the lack of dungeons, but he figured he would've hit Rank 3 by now. It took nothing to Rank Up these lower Tiers, or maybe he was remembering things wrong. But that couldn't be, given his immaculate memory.

  He growled. Literally, a day ago, I held almost god-like powers, and now I am reduced to giving these smelly fucks unsolicited acupuncture.

  "Hey, I've ranked up," Ajay said to rub salt on his injury.

  "You have got to be shitting me!" Rey raged.

  Ajay looked over, confused. "You, okay?"

  "No, I'm not fucking okay," Rey snapped and followed it up with a whimpering sigh. "I want to rank up too."

  Ajay patted his shoulder. "I'm sure it'll happen for you soon."

  He sighed again. "Thanks, man. I'm fine."

  "Say, what do you think I should invest my Talent point in?" Ajay asked.

  Shove it up your butt. As it turned out, Rey was not entirely fine. He was salty about not ranking up. He drew a deep breath and shook his head. He was being unreasonable. He would rank up soon enough.

  He and Ajay used to have extensive chats about their builds. Like Rey, he was an avid gamer. They spent many hours trying to figure out the best way to spend stat and Talent points. Looking back, they still wasted so much time and so many points on shit that could've been spent elsewhere.

  Good thing I can skip all that busy stuff.

  "You have enough firepower," Rey said. "Pick up some defensive buffs. Pick up the Admantine Will skill. It's in the Core section. You're not entirely agile. A lifetime of sitting on your ass and playing video games will do that to you. So, if you can't move fast enough—"

  "Be strong enough to tank your enemies' hits." Ajay finished, just like he had last time.

  However, last time, the poor lad almost lost his arm before he came to this realization. Only quick thinking by Filomena had saved his arm. Still, even this skill was not strong enough to save his leg. Rey had a different idea to combat that problem.

  "Take the Fiery Armor skill when it opens up," Rey said. "Until then, Adamantine Will should keep you safe…somewhat. As long as you don't put your foot into a jaw wide enough to swallow your hopes and dreams and munch on your leg as if it's butter chicken."

  Ajay's frown deepened. "Honestly, half the things you say never make any sense."

  "Good. That way, I can cry madness when the time comes." Rey grinned at an even more confused Ajay. "And do what you will with your stat point. However, I would focus on Magic Power or Magic Affinity. Either one should work for you."

  Ajay stared at him for a whole minute. "I'm not even going to ask how you know so much?"

  Rey widened his eyes and pretended to look upwards. "I can see into the…future."

  Or past, but that's just semantics since that past is now their future.

  Rey moved along but wondered if any part of the dead monkey demon could be harvested to make weapons or other equipment. It was a question for another time, as he couldn't haul their bodies out of the dungeon and didn't know which body part to harvest. He never bothered to attain the skill last time and just paid the blacksmith for new swords. He also hardly bothered with weapon upgrades, favoring newer, stronger weapons.

  He couldn't help but ponder how much he could've saved if he had picked a few blacksmith or alchemy skills. As a lot of the two were interconnected.

  Well, something to change this time.

  Besides, there was something else that was cooking in his mind. He had met a B Tier demon or Blightlord who had done something almost unheard of with his weapons. Rey felt he was using Runic Skills, but that was a thought for another day. Right now, he had to kill as many demons as he could before making his way to the sex fiend, and he couldn't wait.

  They came across a pair of demons who were deformed as fuck. One was purplish in color, like a plum. It had three arms, which ended in razor-sharp blades, and one thick leg. It hopped around on one leg, dodging the other, which looked like a deformed, featherless chicken.

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  When Rey used Identify on them, they both came up as the same.

  [Demon (Exiled) – E+1]

  "Holy mother of flaming dumpster fires!" Rey sighed. "Whatever. Let's just kill those ugly fucks,"

  "Rey, were they humans once…like Latoria?" Ajay asked, eyes glued to the warring demons.

  Rey nodded. "Yep. Well, it could be human or something else."

  "Else?"

  "Didn't you hear our lovely kidnapper? Zalathar, dick-muncher supreme, said when a world is given over to Hell…" he paused, letting that sink in. "Earth wasn't the first, and it sure as Hell wouldn't be the last. So, it could be human or something else entirely. What difference does it make? Let's go kill those assholes, even if they give us shite experience."

  Ajay frowned. "Meaning?"

  "Meaning, the demon who designed the system is a bag of dicks. He made it so that you can only gain real experience when you kill someone with a higher rank than you. Since we're Tier E Rank 2, we'll only earn experience if we shank something with our Rank or higher."

  "That's…"

  "An asshole move of epic proportion," Rey finished for him.

  "But why?"

  "Because he only wants the strong to survive in his empire. In order to prove yourself, you always need to punch higher or be finished." Rey shook his head. "Oh, I can't wait to shove my stick up his ass, and I don't just mean my scythe."

  Ajay looked at him oddly. "So, if we kill something of lower rank, then we don't get any experience at all?"

  "We do, but it's so minuscule that it might as well not even be there. Say, we need to kill ten Rank 2 demons to rank up to Rank 3, but if we stuck to killing Rank 1 demons, it would probably take us a hundred or maybe a thousand, if not more, to rank up."

  "But—"

  "No more talking. Only killing useless demons."

  Rey whistled loudly to draw the demons' attention. They stopped fighting mid-way, turned to Rey, and charged, shrieking and hollering.

  Rey hurled his scythe, and it swung horizontally and pierced the chicken demon through the throat, and it fell dead on the spot. Without even bothering to look at the other demon, Rey walked to the chicken to retrieve his weapon.

  The one-legged demon jumped for Rey, but a column of fire fried it before its shadow even landed on Rey. He had to admit that the pair of them had become a killing machine, and he hadn't even started using his gravity skills yet.

  They moved on, going ever deeper into the forest. They took care of more demons—most of which were Rank 1, with only one or two Rank 2 demons. Rey had forgotten what a powerhouse his friend was, considering it had been a few years since he had seen him last. He couldn't help but smile at seeing him whole. The best part was that he wasn't mad at Rey for not noticing the shadow demon that gobbled up his leg.

  Rey peeked around a tree, and melodious singing drifted through the trees. Rey couldn't help but be drawn to the sound. It was like the sirens' song pulling sailors to their deaths. Besides, he wasn't the only one. Ajay was just as mesmerized. He practically floated to the sound of the singing woman.

  They soon found the cause of the singing. It was the beautiful woman they had seen. She smiled mid-song as she noticed them and beckoned them forward. Her lustrous raven locks fell about her and covered her breasts, which was even worse than finding one Rank 1 demon after another.

  [Succubus (Exiled) – ?]

  Rey knew her song was messing with his head, but he couldn't help but think she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. These prostitutes of Hell were good at their craft, but maybe he was such a low-tier that her voice was playing with his head.

  "Damn, you can sing," Rey commented.

  She finished her song and smiled. "Why, thank you. You are the first to reach me. I was hoping it would be you. The rest lack your special…" She looked at Rey's crotch. "Talent."

  "Dick," Rey clarified for his friend. "She means dick."

  She stood, and the silky cloth covering her legs fell, and even Rey's breath caught in his throat. The succubus was totally naked, and by all the Sovereigns in Hell, she was breathtaking.

  Man, it's been a long time since I've been with one of these things.

  She caressed Ajay's cheek. "I'm Nimae. What is your name, my dusky friend?"

  "A-Ajay." He barely got the word out.

  "How much you cost anyway?" Rey asked abruptly.

  The succubus raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? You clearly lack the manners to talk to a lady."

  "I'll tell you upfront, we don't have any Hell money," Rey replied.

  She snorted lightly. "This one is on the house. A reward for making it through the horde of demons. So, who's first, boys?"

  Rey gave Ajay a light push. "She's all yours."

  "W-What?" He flushed.

  The lad was clearly flustered. He was in his early twenties and must've been with a woman by now, so Rey didn't know why he looked so...

  Rey paused. "Wait, you've popped your cherry, right?"

  "Y-Yes, of course."

  "Oh man, you're in trouble." Rey chuckled. "You've watched porn. You know where everything goes. Think of it as practice so you won't explode immediately when you finally do the deed with your Sicilian bombshell."

  Rey had rolled over laughing when Ajay had told him about when he had finally 'conquered Rome'. The battle was very short-lived, as his cannon had erupted too quickly.

  "But you said…" He looked to the succubus, lowering his voice, and leaned towards Rey. "You said that if you ejaculate when you're having sex with them, they steal your soul."

  "Then don't. Think of something hideous when you're close, like Zalathar's minion. Think of getting a lecture on philosophy from him. I usually think about Pokémon, but whatever floats your boat." Rey snapped his finger. "Let's use a safe word. Just say Charizard's about to unleash his flamethrower, and I'll come in banging."

  "You cannot be serious?" Ajay said, giving an awkward smile to the succubus.

  Rey gripped his collar and brought him close. "Listen to me and listen closely. Not everyone gets this chance, and if I were in your place, I would go bragging to everyone who breathes that my first time was with a succubus."

  "He's right," the succubus said. "We're that good."

  "Hey Nimae, very little foreplay and take him straight to the main show. I want him to experience the full deal before he blows his load."

  She tilted her head. "As you command." She took Ajay by the hand and took him over to the little carpet.

  "Don't worry, Ajay. Learn as much as you can. Oh, and pull her hair. They usually like that."

  "If I die, I'm going to kill you."

  "Oh, you won't die, lover boy," Nimae said as she kissed his neck, which sent a shiver through his body.

  Rey laughed, waved, and turned around to give his friend some privacy.

  I give him two minutes tops.

  Demon Rey laughed. Two minutes? She's going to suck the soul out of him before he can even get the safe word out.

  Rey couldn't help but chuckle and see which side of him was right.