Devil's Rise 18 The Freeloader

Capturing was out of the question. James was not strong enough to capture this massive animal. Our devil hero was fighting with his life on the line!

James' had not empowered his resentment weapon with any resentment yet. It was like your grandpa before he took out that little blue pill. It couldn't get it up! It was merely a simple dagger, forged with quality Tier 1 metals.

~I hope my weapons strong enough to pierce this snakes hide!~

"Ahh!" screamed James.

James stabbed at the belly of the snake repeatedly, opening hole after hole. He could not allow the anaconda to wrap around him and constrict him.

The anaconda finally dislodged its teeth from James after being stabbed a few times and noticing it no longer had the upper hand. It now was in flight mode, it had to escape!

As soon as James noticed the jaws dislodged he quickly placed his hand around the back of the anacondas head. James now had proper control of the situation.

The fight continued for about a minute with the anaconda demon beast flailing around wildly attempting to escape. The anaconda muscled James to the bottom of the mudhole with its strength.

James fought valiantly underwater with the anaconda. Strike after strike landed true. Our devil hero finally landing a killing blow with his dagger into its head.

James quickly took out his soul orb and absorbed the departing demon beast soul. The serpent soul had much resentment from its death. James could see a faint trace of red around the demon beast soul as he stored it into the soul orb. ~Perfect, this is the soul I needed to practice the [Lumiid Serpesco Scripture]! This young master will soon have a soul servant!~

Climbing out of the mudhole with the anaconda corpse in tow, he looked over his wounds. An Esquire level anaconda would not have evolved venom, so the wounds were only skin deep. James took out some Tier 1 salve to cover the bite marks. The salve would help the wounds heal and insure there was no scarring.

James had lassoed the capybara to a tree. It could not escape while James battled the anaconda. James was unconcerned with it for now.

He needed to skin and process this large anaconda corpse before heading back. The corpse was much too large for him to fit in his storage bag. James spent the next few hours skinning the snake.

He flipped the snake over and cut all the way down the belly. Then pulled the skin off and took the guts out. He also cut off the head and removed the fangs. He had to check if the anaconda had developed venom.

The fangs and skin were the most important parts of an anaconda corpse at the Esquire level. After he stored the skin and fangs, he made himself a barbecue with the snake guts.

This was a rare delicacy. James considered himself a barbecue master. He didn't have any spices with him but he would make a feast before heading back to Hazel Canopy camp.

James was a spoiled young master but barbecuing was one of his favorite past times. He used his Soulfire qi to cook the snake meat, controlling the temperature perfectly.

Soon James had several nicely seared barbecued pieces of snake meat skewered in front of him. He left them and went to take a piss, planning to come back to an amazing feast.

~Looks like he barbecued. He made plenty for me too!~ An enormous cat, with six legs and a long thick tail, suddenly appeared beside the barbecued snake meat. He quickly started devouring the snake meat with no regard for James. The fat cat was enjoying his second piece when he heard a noise interrupt him.

"Theft! Stop right there!" James was loud hoping to scare the large fat cat away. He was not interested in fighting another demon beast, and he did not understand what kind of demon beast this six legged cat was.

The cat ignored him and continued to munch on his snake meat, paying him no mind. ~Who dared stop the great Jurrath from taking what he wants to take?~

"You!" James was livid. He cooked plenty though, and it was more than he could eat alone. He was too tired to fight now, so he let it slide. James and the cat both silently ate their meals, enjoying the tender barbecued snake meat. The capybara passed out after noticing the cat.

Demon beasts could usually gage the strength of other demon beasts from their demonic auras. Even though the fat cat had apparently concealed himself, it wasn't enough to stop the poor little capybara from being scared witless.

"Meow. You will be my personal chef from now on." stated the cat. He quickly shrunk himself and took a nap on James' shoulder, paying no more mind to him.

It stunned James. A demon beast that could converse with humanoids had to at least be on the Viscount level.

~How was a Viscount level demon beast just walking around this area? And who's he to denote this young master to chef? This young master does the denoting of duties!~

James placed the sleeping small cat on the ground and tried to leave with the passed out capybara. However, as soon as he looked around, he would notice the cat back on his shoulder.

He tried multiple times to sneak away to no avail. ~I guess I can't get rid of this freeloader for now.~

James ignored the cat, seeing as he couldn't get rid of him. He made it back to the Hazel Canopy Knight camp and turned in the capybara. James received his merits for completing the surveillance task and was now free until his next assignment.

James headed to his hut and read over the [Lummid Serpesco Scripture] it detailed how to turn the serpent demon beast soul into a soul servant. He would first have to temper the soul with his Soulflame qi removing all the resentment making it docile enough to do his bidding.

He would then bind the demon beast soul to the snake fangs with his Soul qi making it his own bound demon beast soul.

This process would require him to carve Soul and Fire formations on the snake fangs. After he tempered the snake fangs, the fire serpent soul would be born. This fire serpent soul had abilities tied to the user's devilry level.

When summoned, it would use the snake soul as a catalyst fueled by his Soulflame qi to battle. The natural instincts of the anaconda demon beast soul would allow it to fight independently of James, he only needed to provide it Soulflame qi.

James could have one of these soul servants summoned at a time from the description. He would have to improve his Soul Dao and temper another soul to summon another one. James spent a week tempering the anaconda soul with his Soulflame qi to burn away all the resentment. He captured it in the dagger, making it a resentment fueled resentment weapon now.

The dagger now had a serpent mark on the blade, when James attacked with it enemies would feel the fury of the resentful part of the serpent soul bound to the blade. James named the blade Lokkar since it was finally complete. He would continually temper this resentment weapon along his journey down the Soul Dao.

While James was busy, the cat had finally taken up a comfortable spot in his room. James created a nice bed for the cat. Since the bed was comfortable, he would not follow James unless he left the house. The cat was still asleep, but somehow it did not want to separate from James.

A day after James had finally finished creating his fire serpent soul, the cat finally woke up and disappeared. James thought his troubles were over with the cat leaving suddenly, but when it came dinner time, the cat was back.

"Meow. Here chef, cook me another meal," said the cat as he brought some fresh meat in front of James.

"Sir cat, this young master is not a chef," James said indignantly. He refused to be a chef.

"Meow. I said you're a chef so you're a chef. If I said you were a dog you'd be a dog."

"But…" James reproached.

The cat quickly transformed James into a dog.

"Meow. So do you want to be a dog or a chef?" questioned the cat.

"Bark bark bark."

~This young master is not a dog!~

"Meow. Good, now cook me a delightful meal."

It turned James back into his former form. He never had seen a technique like that before. With a simple slip of the tongue, the cat had turned him into a dog. I could not provoke this cat!

James was swift to cook a delightful meal with his Soulflame qi. That was the only thing the cat wanted, if James didn't cook the meat with Soulflame qi he wouldn't eat it.

"Since I am your chef now you should be giving me some compensation right?"

"Meow, your compensation is not being a dog." the cat was arrogant and unruly.

"This is unfair, you are bullying me and I don't even know your name. How does a wise and strong demon beast bully the younger generation?"

"Meow, this cat Jurrath has elevated you to be a prestigious chef. You were only a dog before. How am I bullying you?"

James felt he had found someone unreasonable, but at least he knew who he was dealing with now.

~I will tell my mother that this demon Jurrath is bullying me. Humph, she should be able to handle this stupid demon beasts.~

"Meow. Your mother would be glad you are this cat's chef!"

James back drenched with cold sweat. He had never met someone who could read his mind when he was speaking to him. This demon beast was definitely dangerous. He would have to plot while it was asleep.

The cat took naps from time to time and came and went as he pleased. Most of the time he would sleep on James' shoulder, denoting him as his personal property.

Chapter end