The Author's POV
chapter-816

[Pillar of Sloth]

Swoosh!

'Four demons...'

Jin muttered, emerging behind a couple of trees, his daggers at the ready.

"I found him!"

"He's over here!"

The demons surrounding him snarled and bared their teeth, their eyes glowing with malevolence.

Jin had followed these demons for quite a bit, and knowing that the world he was in was infested with demons, he lured them to one of the more deserted islands that were floating in the sky.

The sky around him was black, and the nebulae of all colors filled the sky.

He could see several planets in the distance, some even larger than the sun back on Earth. It was a world, unlike anything he had ever seen before.

The demon's charged at him, and Jin held onto his daggers more tightly.

With a cold expression on his face, he charged at the closest demon, his daggers glinting under the colorful nebulae in the sky.

"Uerk!"

The demon snarled and lunged at him, but Jin was too quick. He dodged the attack and plunged his daggers into the demon's chest.

Spurt―!

"Argghhh!"

The demon howled in pain before disappearing into a cloud of black smoke.

Jin's dagger had plunged perfectly at its core, killing it in an instant. But Jin had no time to celebrate.

"I've got him!"

The other demons were closing in on him, their claws and teeth glinting in the darkness.

Clank―!

Jin spun around, his daggers flashing through the air as he parried and countered the demons' attacks.

He moved with fluid grace, his movements precise and deadly.

Clank! Clank!

Despite their superior numbers, the demons were no match for Jin's skills. Despite being on the same rank, they were simply no match for him, and one by one, they fell to his daggers, disappearing in a puff of smoke as their bodies disintegrated.

Thump!

"Uakh!"

Finally, the last demon lay dead at Jin's feet.

"Huuu..."

He breathed a sigh of relief, his heart racing with adrenaline.

It wasn't a hard fight, but it was definitely a tiring one. Nonetheless, he had won, and that was all that mattered.

With a satisfied smile, he sheathed his daggers and walked toward the edge of the floating island.

Gazing down at it and seeing the thousands of islands that littered the world he was in, Jin touched his forehead and muttered.

"What am I supposed to do?"

Thrust into this unknown world, the only thing he knew was that he was in something called the 'Pillar of Sloth.'

He wasn't quite sure what he was, but as he blinked his eyes a couple of times, he found himself rather sleepy.

It was good that he was trained in keeping himself awake in situations such as these.

Pinching the gap between his thumb and index finger, he flinched a little but he felt refreshed.

'I guess all that training paid off.'

The feeling of sleepiness and tiredness he was currently experiencing wasn't something he was unaccustomed to.

There'd be times he'd force himself to train under such a state, and he had grown used to it over the years of sleepless training.

He was by no means comfortable, but he could bear it.

Placing his hand in his pants, he fiddled with a small box before he took out a cigarette and placed it in between his lips.

Touching the tip of it, the cigarette lit up and he took a small drag.

"Now then… Where should I g―"

Swoosh―!

Right then, a figure flew from beneath the floating island and landed a few hundred meters away from him. Jin's head snapped back, and he instantly became alert.

But just as he was about to take his daggers out, a familiar voice echoed in his ears, and Jin's entire complexion changed.

"I found you!"

It was a flock of pink hair that gave it away, and his face paled at the sight.

'Oh, no '

It was the arrogant demoness.

"What are you doing here?"

While he tried, he did his best to hide his cigarette behind his back, but it proved to be a futile attempt on his end as Priscilla's eyes followed his hands.

"You think I can't see what you're doing?"

Priscilla's gaze frosted not so far from him.

"I know you can see what I did, but I thought you'd take the hint."

"Give it here."

"Why should I?"

"Where do you think you are?"

"Fine."

Jin was rather quick to give up.

Thinking about the situation he was in, he could only give up. Rummaging through his dimensional space, he handed her a pack of cigarettes and sighed.

"Here."

"That's a good boy."

Priscilla took the pack with a smile on her face. Opening it, she quickly lit up one of the cigarettes and took a small drag.

*Puff*

Smoke bloomed in the air as her face relaxed and a smile blossomed on her face.

Her smile stunned Jin, and he thought to himself, 'What a deceiving smile.' If only she looked as beautiful on the inside as she did on the outside.

Those thoughts crossed him for only a short moment before he made them disappear from his body.

He didn't have a death wish.

Taking a look at her from the side, Jin similarly took a drag before asking.

"How did you find me?"

Logically speaking, it shouldn't have been easy.

He had moved around the world for a bit and it was littered with floating islands, some larger than others.

The world was vast, and while he did know that this was the Pillar of Sloth, it still didn't make sense to him how she was able to find him.

Was she some sort of stalker?

"Remember the time back in Mankhut?"

Priscilla suddenly spoke, and Jin nodded his head.

"Yeah."

How could he forget? It was only a little while ago that it happened. It also brought a lot of unpleasant memories.

"Well, remember how I was able to find you back there?"

"Oh."

Jin came to a sudden understanding.

"So you used the same method as back then? I thought it had something to do with the location being in your own area."

"Yeah, that's true."

Priscilla nodded her head, and turning her head she took out a small box from the air. With a smile on her face, she showed it to Jin.

"One of the perks of the artifact is that I can find anyone so long as I have something that used to belong to them… Do you remember this?"

"…"

Jin took his eyes away from her hand, or more specifically the box. He of course remembered what the box was, and his expression twitched.

How could he forget?

"I see, so that's how you were able to find me."

Arrogant stalking demon.

"You got that right."

Priscilla smiled, squeezing the box in her hand very tightly.

"I hope you don't think ill of me because of what I did."

"I do though."

She squeezed the box even more tightly, but Jin's expression didn't change.

"You better take care of those. I'm not going to give you any more."

"Oh, shit!"

Priscilla's face drastically changed when she realized what she had done, and she immediately loosened her grip on the box.

"Ah... you fuck. This is all your fault!"

"Uh?"

Jin was stunned.

"Of course, it's your fault! You're the one who pushed my buttons when I clearly came here with good intentions!"

"Do you expect me to think better of you for stalking me?"

"Stalking you?"

The box had practically disintegrated at this point.

"Bold of you to assume that. I'm only here for the sticks, not you."

"Oh."

Jin nodded. He had already figured from the moment her eyes fell on his cigarette the moment she had arrived.

"Like I said, I'm not giving you any more."

"What ar... ah!????"

Priscilla screeched loudly as she looked at her hands. Numerous curses flew from out of her mouth and she glared at Jin.

"Yo―

"Here."

Jin handed her a new pack before she blew her top off. He realized he'd rather sacrifice his pack instead of listening to her rants.

"Well... I guess I can forgive you."

Priscilla was quick to change the topic, flicking her cigarette away and replacing it with a new one. Jin's mouth twitched at the sight, but he remained silent.

"I'm not going to lie, another reason why I came to find you is because you're attracting quite a lot of attention."

She eyed him with her eyes.

"…You've gotten considerably stronger ever since the last time that I met you "

"I've done my fair share of training."

Jin casually replied, flicking his cigarette away.

He hadn't spent his five years in Immorra for nothing. He had trained relentlessly every day and managed to improve himself in every single aspect in that time.

It was only recently that it happened, but he had managed to breakthrough to <SS-> rank and was now able to deal with almost every single demon that came his way.

The only ones that he couldn't handle were the Prince ranked demons, but they weren't something he planned on fighting against.

Frowning, he looked at Priscilla.

"You didn't come here just to tell me that, did you?"

"No."

Priscilla shook her head.

Turning her head left and right, she moved closer to Jin and waved her hand in the air. The air around the two of them started to twist and the scenery in front of them changed.

Before Jin knew it, he was standing on a large patch of land that seemed to expand over thousands of kilometers.

Boom―!

Almost immediately after they arrived, the sound of an explosion rang in the air, and when Jin turned his attention in the direction of where the sound came from, he was shocked to see a large scale war taking place.

The land was torn, and the air was twisted with mana and demonic energy.

He could see corpses everywhere, and the magical residue of the attacks still lingered in the air.

He turned to look at Priscilla.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"I need something from you."

Priscilla answered truthfully. Taking out another cigarette and taking a quick drag, her voice turned softer.

"We may not exactly be on the same side, but that doesn't mean that we can't use each other to achieve the same goal."

She slowly turned her head to look at Jin and their eyes met.

"Help me kill the Pillar Master."