Chapter 37: Chapter 037

“This certainly looks promising,” Henry muttered as he arrived before the entrance of the sewers under the overpass. The steel bars were bent and spread apart as if something huge had forced its way through. While he was dashing towards here, he had used his Murux Sense and already felt an incredible amount of mystical and ominous energy emanating from here.

“Well, I’ll be damned. For once, information from the net was helpful,” Chloe said, who had followed Henry all the way here as she said she would. “But it’s strange though. How can no one notice this? Sure, it’s under the overpass and out of everyone’s sight. Still, no one discovered this at all?”

Henry sniffed at the air, frowned with a grimace, and covered his nose and mouth. “From afar, it probably didn’t look like much and how often do people come to places like this? Everyone's just staring at their phones while walking the streets, that certainly didn’t help.”

“Fair point,” Chloe mumbled. “Are you actually going in there?”

Henry gave his answer through his actions by treading into the dark smelly pit of waste and refuse despite the pungent odour that he had to endure.

Chloe groaned with a sigh and followed closely behind him. “Smells like shit, literally.”

“If you are planning to follow me, be quiet. I don’t want to rattle whatever lurks within.”

Chloe shrugged and morphed her casual clothing back into her bodysuit armour. “I need a long and hot shower after this.”

“Quiet,” he whispered, still covering his nose and mouth.

“It’s dark in here,” Chloe muttered silently as she looked around and saw only darkness. “Do you have a flashlight?”

“I don’t.”

“What? Then how do you propose we navigate our way through this sewer without any light?”

“I can see in the dark.”

Chloe scoffed in disbelief and also wonderment. She took out her phone and switched on the flashlight function but Henry clasped a hand on her phone.

“No lights,” he said. “You will only expose us to the enemies.”

“Night vision is not one of my powers. I can barely see anything in here.”

“Then you should turn back now before it gets too dark for you to see anything.”

“I am not leaving until I have my answers.”

Henry drew in a deep breath and turned around abruptly.

“Whoa. Why are you suddenly—”

“Enough of this,” Henry growled as quietly as he could.

Chloe shuddered and unconsciously retreated a few steps away from him as he stepped forward.

“I have no time to babysit or entertain you. If you want to follow me, you will be doing so at my discretion and conditions. Your complaints and whining are jeopardising my mission. If you want answers, you will wait or you can go back to where you came from right this instance. Don’t make me knock you out cold and leave you here, understand?”

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Chloe nodded as if she was trembling from Henry’s words, which she was. And she couldn’t believe it. Not even the Demon Rat, the most grotesque creature she had ever known, instilled this much fear into her heart.

Satisfied with her answer, Henry turned around and continued walking deeper into the sewer. He never wanted her to follow him but he couldn’t exactly stop her without using force. And if he used force, he would have to at least partially transform, which he wasn't sure he could hold back enough to not wound her too badly. Though only at twenty percent of his full strength and still being stronger than her, she was much faster and more agile. Moreover, his skin was as frail as the skin of any other human in this form. He could only pray that Chloe would be an advantage instead of a deadweight.

“So… seeing as how you are in such a hurry to hunt these monsters down, I’m guessing they are very bad news?”

“Any wound will become bad news if you let it fester and I have already seen the festering of this wound before.”

“That bad, huh… H-how do I kill it? Do I have to eat the heart too? That was its heart that you ate, right?”

“Yes, that was its heart. And no, you can’t eat its heart. Only I can.”

“It’s one of your superpowers?”

Henry neither nodded nor shrugged.

“Wow… you’re strong and fast. You can sense... things. You have quick healing.” Her eyes fell on his shoulder left which was now devoid of any wounds or scars. “You have night vision. You can eat a monster’s heart without getting sick and shit. Just how many superpowers do you have?”

Henry stopped all of a sudden.

Chloe bumped into him, nose-first. “Ouch. What the fuck? Why did you stop suddenly?”

“There’s a huge drop in front.”

Before them was a cross junction with a deep and vast drop in the centre. The stench coming from the pit was even stronger.

Chloe gulped as she glanced at the pit, dreading it. Though it was dark, she could still see a little if she strained her eyes as her sight had become accustomed to the darkness. “Please don’t tell me—”

“It’s coming from down there.” Henry shattered her hope.

“Do we really have to go down there?”

“I have to. As for you, that’s up to you.”

Chloe sighed, holding in a groan. “Do you see any stairs or ladder we could use to climb down?”

“There’s a ladder to your right.”

“Okay then. I go first or you—”

Before Chloe could finish, Henry had leapt into the pit.

“Fucking unbelievable,” she scoffed and fumbled her way to the ladder in the dark that she could barely see anything in.

Henry reached the bottom which was quite some ways down. He landed on a platform on the edge of the sewage pool. He partially transformed his legs at the last moment just before landing. Despite landing on his feet without stumbling, it didn’t go well for his upper body as the momentum was transferred upwards.

“Fuck this useless body…” he groaned. He wanted to just revert into his Dragon form and bulldoze through this mission of his, but he calmed himself down before he actually did it. He thought it was extremely ironic that something that once was a comfort was now a trial. He straightened himself and focused his mind on the important matter at hand. He gazed at the middle of the pit, where the space appeared to be wrinkled and cracked. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s a hell portal,” said a mellow voice inside his head.

“....”

“Yes, it’s me, Nadea.”

“Fuck you.”

“What? What did I do?”

“You scared the shit out of me! Thank god I have yet to accustom myself to this body or I’ would have responded spontaneously.”

“My apologies. It wasn’t my intention.”

“Yeah, whatever. Say, you never left, did you?”

“Of course, I never left. You don’t really think I would just leave a first-timer on his own now, did you?”

“I suppose you wouldn’t. So… what am I looking at?”

“A portal to the Demonic Dimension. Hell, for short. It’s closed but not properly. Someone had opened it but did not close it properly.”

“So the portal didn’t appear naturally?”

“If it did, it would close properly by itself. Only an artificially opened hell portal would show such signs. Someone’s been dabbling in the Demonic Arts, much like the feeble old man you fought. That’s a crime against the Divines. This person has to be hunted down and neutralised. Let us hope there's only a single person involved.”

Henry sighed. “I’m guessing you have been watching me since I was still in the egg?”

“I am obligated to. What kind of guardian would I be if I did not watch over you?”

“Guardian?”

“Am I not your guardian?”

Henry shrugged. “I suppose you are. So, what’s next? Do we close the portal properly?”

“Yes, that will always be the first priority.”

“Well, I’m your slave. Just tell me what to do and let’s get this over with.”

Nadea chuckled. “Very well, slave. Put your hands forward and imagine you are squeezing a door shut.

Henry did as he was told. He shook in surprise at the feeling in his hands, as if he was actually trying to squeeze a door close. “Whoa, this is trippy.” The closer his hands got together, the fewer cracks and wrinkles remained on the space.

“Impressive. You learn quickly.”

When he finally clasped his hands together, the space became clear and smooth once again like a fabric that had been ironed.

“That was easy,” Henry muttered.

“Thanks to my power. What you did just now is only possible because of my divinity. And well, you aren’t wrong. Closing the portal is the easy part. Finding the culprit is the challenge.”

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“What’s our suspect’s motive anyway in opening a hell portal?”

“The promise of easy power will be the most common motivve. The dark arts have always been seen as the shortcut to power since time immemorial. What worries me is that in a world where existences like magic and sorcery are not commonplace or not even openly acknowledged, there’s a person who is able to open a hell portal. We must find this person quickly.”

“How do we find this person?”

“I do not know. I can't sense our perpetrator. They probably don't have much magic or any sort of energy left considering they opened a hell portal. In a world of Murux like this, it will take weeks, months, or even years for them to recuperate the amount he lost from opening a hell portal. With his energy depleted, we can’t track them through Murux Sense. But we can track the Demonic energy residues on our perpetrator. It won’t be easy, however. Unless we are around fifty metres away from this person, we won’t be able to sense them. ”

“It’s a huge city alright... but this is the twenty-first century. It will be easy to find someone if you know where to look.”

“You have an idea?”

“I do and—”

“Why are you just staring blankly ahead?” Chloe called out as she finally finished her descent down the ladder and trotted up to Henry. “Were you talking to yourself? Don’t you have things to do?” Since it was dark, she wasn’t able to see Henry until she was just a few feet from the ground and she had missed all of his hand motions. It would have been faster if she just slid down the ladder but as it was dark, she didn’t want to risk it lest there was a gap in the ladder.

“I had.”

“Had?”

“My work here is finished,” he said and walked past her, heading for the ladder.

“Are you kidding me?!” she shouted. She stomped up to him and swung him around by his shoulder. “Are you fucking with me? Do you think this is funny? You led me all the way here for nothing?”

“I did not lead you anywhere. You were the one who followed me on your own accord.”

“...Yes, I was. You said that you would tell me what I wanted to know after you have finished with your work. Now that you have, tell me.”

“Here? Now?”

“Yes. Here and now. I have classes tomorrow morning and it’s already—” She fished her phone out of her pocket and looked at the clock on the bright screen. “—eleven fucking pm. I should be in bed by now. So—”

Henry dove toward her without a warning and she didn’t need one as her instinct had also picked up the imminent threat. She tossed herself backwards the moment she sensed it. Something emerged from the pool of sewage and lunged at them from the depths.

Henry pushed himself to his feet after dodging the monster’s ambush. “Get out of here now!”

“I can help. I can’t see well but I can feel its presence.”

“Doesn’t matter. You are not its match.”

“Watch me,” Chloe said and charged straight at the monster, which appeared to be a slightly humanoid alligator with purplish tendrils crawling all over its body. She flipped over its swipe and slammed her foot into its face, which barely fazed the Demon Alligator. It retaliated with a grab but she slid under it, through the opening between its legs. She stuck a blade into both of its feet she slid through.

The Demon Alligator howled in pain and turned around to smash its fist onto Chloe. She once again flipped over its attack and launched another kick at its head but it dodged the kick this time.

“Shit,” Chloe cursed as the Demon Alligator grabbed her foot and swung her around. “Fuck!! Henry, help!!”

“Told you to run!” Henry screamed at her as he rammed the Demon Alligator with his shoulder and sent it flying back into the sewage pool.

Chloe was nearly dragged into the pool but she pried her foot away just in time and landed on her feet. “T-thank you. That was my bad.”

“At least you know about remorse.”

Chloe clenched her fists to stave off her anger. “Are all these monsters tough as shit?”

“To you, they are.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “You are such an asshole.” She looked around and saw only the darkness. “Well, how do we kill this damn thing?”

Henry did not answer and simply kept a vigilant gaze on their surroundings. He did not think the Demon Alligator would just run away. If he was the Demon Alligator, he would go for a different approach. He would attack from a different angle.

But where? I didn’t hear the sound of the water’s surface breaking. It’s still in the water.

Henry closed his eyes and cast his senses into the water with Murux Sense.

Underneath?

The platform underneath him began to shake. The sudden shaking briefly broke his balance but he recovered it just in time for him to dive off the platform before it sank into the water.

“Henry!” Chloe cried. “Are you alright?”

“It’s going for the platforms. Climb up the ladder and get out of here now!”

“But what about you?”

“Forget about me, just save yourself first!” Losing his patience, he lunged at her, grabbed her by the arm, and threw her towards the ladder.

Though she was greatly surprised by his abrupt action, she managed to swiftly gather her bearings and caught the ladder before her face could smash into it. “What the hell!? My face could have been smashed!”

Henry did not even spare her a glance and dedicated his entire focus to his foe, the Demon Alligator. When the platform under his feet began to rattle, he hopped to the next nearest platform just as the one he had been standing on sunk into the pool. He glimpsed briefly at Chloe. She was climbing up the ladder rapidly without looking his way.

Good. Just keep climbing and don’t look over here.

Though he said that, he knew she would eventually turn around and steal a glimpse since she was a meddlesome person, given his impression of her so far. But he couldn’t afford to hold back any longer or it would be his demise. His whole body began to shudder as it underwent a drastic transformation. The clothes on his body melted into his skin as scales sprouted from it. His hands turned into claws and so did his feet. His face contorted and morphed into a reptilian appearance. His head turned elongated along with his mouth and jaws.

Much better.

Henry gasped in his heart delightfully. He had transformed but only by half. Now, he looked just like the Demon Alligator, a humanoid reptile. A humanoid Dragon, to be precise. Reverting completely would be detrimental as there was too little space for him to move around and his weight would sink the platform without needing the Demon Alligator to do anything.

He grasped the Demon Alligator’s location with his Murux Sense and unleashed his Jetstream Breath into the water. Going by the screech he heard, his Jetstream Breath had hit the Demon Alligator but it lived. Pools of dark blood began surfacing, making the location of the Demon Alligator incredibly obvious. Sensing this plight of its, the Demon Alligator swam straight at Henry in a rush.

Henry smirked in response and bombarded the Demon Alligator with Jetstream Breaths. With the water being its home ground, it dodged all of Henry’s attacks but he wasn’t worried or perturbed. Instead, his grin only widened when the Demon Alligator approached him by its own intention.

The moment the Demon Alligator sprang out of the water, Henry aimed a Jetstream Breath at its tail and hind legs. That way, even if it fell back into the water, it wouldn’t be able to swim away. And the Demon Alligator did fall back into the pool but Henry quickly pulled it out and tossed it on the platform. It had lost all of its vigour which was odd.

It can still feel pain and exhaustion… Perhaps this alligator can be saved?

“Cast away such naive thoughts, Henry. It can no longer be saved.”

Henry jumped. “Stop doing that, damn it. Can’t you at least give some prior notification like a phone call or something?”

Nadea giggled. “Well, sorry. I’ll give you a heads-up next time.”

“... Is it true? There’s nothing you could do?”

“There’s plenty I can do but not without meddling directly, which I can’t do.”

“What about me? Is there truly nothing I can do?”

“Nothing at this point but who knows, maybe you will acquire a way to in the future, and that’s a huge maybe. But for now, there’s nothing you can do but end its misery.”

Henry pressed his heart and doubts and ended the Demon Alligator’s misery by plunging his hand into its chest cavity and ripping out its Murux Heart. It was much smaller than the previous one he ate. This one was only twice the size of his thumb. Nevertheless, he ate it without any hesitation.

“Say, is there any other way to destroy a Demon for good besides consuming their Murux Heart?” Henry asked as he swallowed the Murux Heart.

“Using the power of a Divine is the easiest but also the hardest to come by. There are other means too but they are very inefficient. They require a lot of Murux or magic, such as disintegrating a Murux Heart with a supercharged offensive spell.”

“My Fire Breath can’t even char it.”

“Exactly my point. That's how much power you need.”

That is indeed very inefficient.

Henry assumed back his human form and gave the place another once over with his Murux Sense. Aside from Chloe, rodents, and creepy crawlers, there was no any other living being in the vicinity. The energy that led him had also faded with the hell portal properly closed.

He expelled his breath of exhaustion and climbed up the ladder, where a stunned Chloe was staring at him.

“Y-you turned into a monster…” she stammered.

Henry raised an eyebrow. “You saw?”

“Only your silhouette but I saw how your silhouette turned into something… monstrous.”

Great… How do I explain this?

“Is that your superpower? You can turn into a monster? Even in your human form, you retain some of your strength as a monster, is that it?”

Henry sighed in relief in his heart. “Sort of.”

“Sort of?” She stepped forward and gripped his shoulders tight. “You gotta tell me everything about you, like how you get your powers.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. But first things first.” He sniffed at himself. “If it’s not too much trouble, may I use your shower?”

Chloe stared, blinking.

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