On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

Layland flicked his hand to get the blood of the unlucky Light Elf whose head he had destroyed off his hand. He stared at the frowning Centaur before him with utter nonchalance.

It was a shocking scene to behold for everyone there. Stavros Arc was one of the Nine Mentors. Even amongst his fellow Mentors, he was in the top three. It was ridiculous to see someone who was not a Demon King’s General could stop his spear with his barehand.

“I didn’t know the Demon King had another General,” Stavros Arc, the Centaur with long brown hair commented.

“You are severely misinformed if you think Demon King’s Generals and the Demon King are the only strong individuals in our Kingdom,” Layland retorted with a small yet irritating smile.

“I didn’t expect to see one here. It is very rare for the Demon King to waste his resources after all.”

“Confident, aren’t you?”

“That should be my word, Demon.”

Stavros took out another spear and drove it to Layland’s heart at an alarming speed. Haletha’s breath hitched at the scene. She hastily prepared an Elven Secret Art to aid Layland but stopped the moment she noticed something. As her heart beat faster because of the adrenaline, the world moved slower. She could see the smirk that gradually grew bigger on Layland’s face.

Boom!

Haletha widened her eyes as the air exploded. Instead of seeing Layland getting impaled by the spear, she found Stavros pushed a few feet away from Layland. Layland hit the Centaur’s chest faster than he could drive his spear into Layland’s chest. It was mindboggling how Layland managed to do it despite the distance between them.

Having his horse body part hit, the Centaur held back a grimace. He usually wouldn’t wince, but Layland’s punch was exceptional. His trained horse body part couldn’t withstand the punch. Fortunately, Layland didn’t use Mana to enhance his punch. Though, it wasn’t such good news since that meant Layland was terrifying with Mana.

“I have never seen you before. I know that you are the rumoured Right Hand, but I can’t recall us ever meeting on the battlefield before,” Stavros stated. “It makes your existence more mind-boggling since you have the most explosive growth among the Demon.”

“Is that a compliment?” Layland asked offhandedly as he watched the cut on the hand that he had used to hold Stavros’ spear heal. “I don’t know how I should react, to be honest.”

Returning his gaze to the Centaur, his eyes sharpened. The staredown between the two was so intense that the people in the surroundings didn’t dare to move.

“Ku-Ha-Ha! This Demon is my prey. Don’t stand in my way! I will enjoy every second I spend tearing this bastard’s flesh.”

One of the Beastman Generals who participated in the war broke the silence. Much to Stavros’ horror, he rushed straight at Layland, uncaring of the danger that might await him. Layland merely quirked his eyebrow and stomped the ground. The said Beastman expected earth spikes to poke out of the ground, so he jumped. His grin stayed on his face until his expectation betrayed him.

A gigantic stake made out of one of the toughest metals in this world, Infragilium, fell from above, striking the fifteen feet tall Beastman right in his chest. Blood came out of his tiger mouth as he was pinned to the ground. He growled in frustration and indignation. He didn’t think he would end up like this.

He tried to stand up but to no avail. He exerted his Mana; but the more he did it, the faster the stake absorbed it. Cursing in utter annoyance, he turned his head around. He wondered what his allies were doing during his struggle. The Demon hadn’t made his move. Why didn’t they come to save him?

“Zuberi, you are not salvageable.”

The Beastman General’s breath hitched as he heard those words but he did his best to appear unfazed. “Tell me you are joking, Stavros. All you need to do is to pull this stake out of my body and I will get back on my feet. I have suffered worse. Do you think a hole in my chest will kill me?”

“The stake is the problem, Zuberi,” countered the long-haired Centaur. “Shall I pull it out, it will explode and kill many of our men.”

“Are you saying my life is worth less than theirs? I can kill more than a thousand of them combined can!”

“No. Your life is not worth less than theirs. However, if I pull it out, it will kill our men and you. That is not a loss we can afford, so I have to make a choice.”

For the first time, the Beastman General froze. He stopped looking at Stavros and lowered his gaze. Staring at the ground as his blood dripped down his mouth, an empty chuckle escaped. He raised his hand, stopping Stavros’ spear just a few inches from his neck.

“Stay away from me. I will end my life in my way.”

“I thank you for your sacrifice, Zuberi.”

Layland, who had been killing the soldiers of the Luxibrae Army with [Senbonzakura] while Stavros and Zuberi were chatting, quirked his eyebrow at the Beastman General. Zuberi who had given up trying to stand was trying to stand up again. He watched as Zuberi gritted his teeth and pushed his body up. Blood came out of Zuberi’s chest and mouth like a waterfall.

Knowing what Zuberi wanted to do, Layland flickered out of existence before appearing in front of the Beastman General. Even though Zuberi couldn’t sense any bad intentions from Layland, his body froze. He looked up at Layland and paled as he saw Layland’s ghastly smile. At that moment, he knew he would end unpleasantly.

“Yo! Want me to help you?”

“You bastard!”

Bam!

With a smile, Layland kicked Zuberi. His kick was powerful enough to pull the stake out of the ground and launch Zuberi who was still impaled by it at Stavros and the others. Zuberi’s eyes were bloodshot as he glared at Layland. They were planted on the irritating smile plastered on his face. Zuberi regretted mindlessly charging head-on. He wanted to kill the Demon badly.

His eyes drooped as the stake’s Mana absorption rate suddenly shot up. He didn’t need to know advanced Magic theory to tell his Mana was going to be used as the explosion fuel. The stake was a wickedly dangerous trap. It didn’t only bring his friends down with him but also used his power to do it.

BOOM!

A silverish light illuminated the dark forest of Amizanima. Everyone could temporarily see the surroundings, but no one used it as a chance to revel in the beauty of the forest that had always been covered in darkness. The Dark Elf focused on the back of the Demon who caused the chaos meanwhile the soldiers of the Luxibrae Army tried to get away from the explosion.

The light died down five seconds later, bringing an end to the explosion. It left a crater on the ground where it occurred, which was deep enough to become a pond when the rainwater filled it. The shrapnel of the stake was scattered everywhere. Some of them hit the tree trunks and some of them hit the unlucky soldiers of the Luxibrae Army.

“You weren’t afraid your action would backfire, were you?” Stavros remarked from afar, hair fluttering graciously in the air. “I commend you for your confidence, but I have to warn you that it will come back at you later.”

“I think things through, Mr Centaur. You don’t need to warn me.”

Stavros clicked his tongue in exasperation as he watched the chuckling Layland. His frustration caught the attention of his fellow Nine Mentors. The said fellow put his hand on Stavros’ shoulder, pulling him out of his thought. Turning his head sideways, Stavros met his fellow’s smiling face.

“We should do this together.”

“Hovarc…” Stavros stared silently at the other Centaur before eventually sighing. “Let’s do this. Let’s entrust the Dark Elf Queen to the Light Elf Princess and the other Beastman General.”

“Yes. This Demon orchestrates the war. He needs to be stopped immediately. The longer he lives, the more men we lose.”

Swoosh!

As soon as the two Centaurs got into consensus, Layland appeared before them. His daggers were ready to slash their human neck. Fortunately for them, they managed to dodge the daggers. Still, their blood ran cold at how agile the Demon was.

Stavros immediately countered Layland’s attack by thrusting his spear at Layland. The Demon dodged the attack flawlessly, letting its shaft harmlessly graze his clothes. When Stavros retracted his spear, Layland was ready to slash the Centaur’s neck. Fortunately for Stavros, Hovarc’s sword was ready to block Layland’s dagger.

Clank!𝒐𝒱𝗅xt.𝚌𝚘𝓂

Layland was left awkwardly suspended in the air with no space for him to move his body without risking getting injured by the two Centaurs. Of course, it was not a problem for him since he could use Wind Magic. Using it, he pushed his body away from the two Centaurs. When he landed, he was greeted by their attacks, but he was more than ready to counter them.

The air exploded each time their weapons clashed. The Dark Elf warriors remained unaffected by their clash, but Luxibrae soldiers kept dying, much to the two Centaurs’ ire. Layland was actively killing the soldiers with [Senbonzakura] while fighting the Centaurs. It was the most respectful thing that one could do to the two of the strongest Centaurs.

“Enough playing! We will send you to the underworld!” Stavros roared.

As their Mana pressure exploded, Layland grinned ecstatically. Along with them, he unleashed the Mana he had been holding. The air instantly exploded as their Mana clashed. Everyone was left astounded as they swore Layland’s Mana resembled that of a Dragon.