The Insider System

Chapter 277: A Demon

Having been left behind slightly, Lake watched as the Temple Head moved in for an attack almost exactly like the last time they had caught up with the person who was carrying Tiffany. Seeing the Temple Head had failed to actually get her hand on Tiffany once again Lake ran harder to get there before they got away.

With the both of them coming to a stop after a short exchange of hands Lake was able to get close enough to join the battle but it seemed the person they were after didn't think they would be able to handle both of them and they tried to start running again. They didn't get far though with the Temple Head right next to them.

With them being forced into another exchange Lake had plenty of time to try and grab Tiffany from them. Lake had held back a lot so that he would have time to pull back if they used Tiffany as a shield again so before his hand was even close Tiffany had been pulled away from his hand and with a spin the person's heel was headed for his face.

Lake could tell from the speed that it was a dangerous attack and that was without even knowing if they had enchanted it with any skills so he didn't want to let it just hit him in the face. Moving out of the way, Lake knew this was also a chance for him to land the first attack of the fight without having to worry about Tiffany getting in the way.

Using Fast Hands, Lake swung at the leg that he was dodging and like he had hoped his attack landed before anyone even had time to process that he had made one. Seeing the leg turn to mist in the place he had hit and the person fall to the ground Lake got away slightly more on the off chance the person had one of those things that activated when they were about to die.

The Temple Head didn't miss this opportunity to grab Tiffany and had backed away with her in her arms. Lake didn't know if it would be safe to finish the person off or if it was even a good idea so he fell back as well. While keeping his eye on the person that was holding their bleeding stump on the ground, Lake turned to the Temple Head and asked. "What do you want to do with them?"

"Well if you were right and they're under the effects of the loyalty curse we won't be able to get them to talk so the only source of information will be what they look like and they don't need to be alive for that. It was you who took them down so you can finish them off if you would like."

Hearing the Temple Head was fine with killing them, Lake wasn't on board. The last time he had fought someone who had tried to kidnap Tiffany he had almost been killed when he had thought he had won before he had actually beaten the other person. "Do you think it's safe to go near them?"

"You don't need to go anywhere near them to finish them off. Use your bow or something." Hearing the Temple Head's words, Lake guessed she was right but he really didn't want to show off magic arrow if he didn't have to.

He didn't think she had seen it when he had used it earlier since she had been in a fight and it hadn't been obvious he could make an arrow do whatever he wanted when he had used it like a compass with there being so many different ways he could have been spinning it using magic. Taking out his bow and firing an arrow like normal without using any skills or spells Lake realized as soon as the arrow in the air that it wouldn't be doing anything to the person he was trying to kill.

Seeing the arrow harmlessly bounce off of the person's armor, Lake guessed he couldn't hold back that much and actually hope to kill them with the bow he was using. All his current equipment was really cheap stuff he had grabbed while he had been in the Alchemist guild since it had been available on such short notice so he would need to add something extra like a skill to his next attack to get it to actually be lethal.

"What was that?" Looking at the Temple Head who almost seemed annoyed at his last attack Lake asked. "What?" It had been slightly pitiful but it was crazy to think everything he did would be perfect so there was no reason for her to get mad just yet and he felt like it probably had more to do with him having her carry him than what had just happened.

"You could make it less obvious that you're holding back. I already know you're at least close to my level if we're just talking about stats." Lake wasn't surprised that the Temple Head could see through his actions but he really wished she had just kept her mouth shut.

Actually it was probably a good thing that he knew that she knew and It actually made her more trustworthy than if she had just kept the fact she had seen through him to herself. Seeing as it didn't really matter anymore since the Temple Head would always know there was something weird about him, Lake called the arrow he had just shot back to his hand and putting his bow away used the combination of Magic Arrow and Crunch to send a more lethal attack at the person on the ground.

Lake hadn't wanted to disfigure the body too much or destroy the face any so he went for an attack on the heart and left out Imbue Fire. Seeing the arrow pass through the person's chest with nothing crazy happening like he had been expecting, Lake turned to the Temple Head as he felt the Exp and said. "They're dead."

"No wonder you were so bad at using that bow. With a skill like that I don't even know why you carry it." The speed the arrow had gone without the bow had been so much higher than when he had used it so he wasn't surprised that the Temple Head had said this but he didn't want to linger much longer so he said. "What now?"

"Get their armor off and let me get a good look at their face." Going to do what the Temple Head had told him to, Lake noticed as soon as the helmet was off of the body that it wasn't a normal person. Lake had no idea what they were though so he turned the things face at the Temple Head. "A demon. That means we're probably dealing with the Coliseum."

Lake wasn't sure what to ask about first and with it not being the first time he had heard the word demon in this world asked. "What's the Coliseum?" He could kind of guess from the name what it might entail but he was really asking what their relationships were. "It's an organization that used to belong to the God of Fire but these days they are considered to be almost the same as the Assassins guild."

"Are they one of the dark guilds?" He really didn't even need to ask since she had compared them to the Assassins guild but he just wanted to be sure. "Yes, but I have no idea why they would be the ones to take Tiff. They were on the lower end of my list of who it could be."

"Are you that sure it's them just based on the fact that this person is a demon?" He didn't really understand why this one detail would make her so sure and he felt this question would make her explain the reason. "I'll tell you as we head back. The story of the Coliseum and demons is really long."

Backing away from the corpse of the demon, Lake looked at Tiffany and asked. "Can you wake her up?" Tiffany had been back in their hands for around 10 minutes already so the fact that she was still asleep made him think the Temple Head didn't know what was wrong with her. "It's for the best If we let the people back at the Temple who know more about sleep poisons do it. There's no way for me to know which antidote to give her without knowing what they used and I don't know enough about the process to make an educated guess."

Lake knew he could probably figure it out with his skill that told him everything about whatever he used it on but he decided to just stop showing off for the day. He had finished this little mission the Insider had given him so there wasn't a reason for him to do anything more.

Following behind the Temple Head, it didn't take long for her to start talking. "To explain the Coliseum I need to start at the creation of this world." Lake hadn't been expecting her to say anything like this but he was even more interested knowing he was about to hear something about how a world was made.