The Paladin in the Abyss

"Dingke surrenders! Dingke has surrendered!"

"No one should expect the peacekeeping standards here," Lancelot said to Bruto. "However, I'm quite curious as to what would happen if we handed him over to the guards."

"No! Don't! Dingke has treasure! For you! All for you! Don't hand Dingke over to the big toad, the big toad will tear Dingke to pieces, and you'll get nothing!"

"Oh, that's possible," Bruto said, rubbing his hands together, "For instance, we could witness a scene where a Quasimodo Demon is ripped in half, and maybe that Berserk Demon will even throw the corpse straight into its mouth. Such spectacles are not easily seen."

"No! You can't do this!" the captured Quasimodo Demon screamed.

Suddenly, Lancelot saw the image of the Quasimodo Demon before him contort in a terrifying manner; its eyes emitted a horrifying glow as it opened its mouth full of fine teeth, saying:

"Mortal, release me at once!"

Its voice became eerie and hoarse, like an existence that absolutely must not be defied.

However, Lancelot was not frightened at all, viewing the poor performance of this green demon with an amused spectator's attitude, but Bruto seemed to have been influenced slightly, retreating several steps with a look of terror.

"Hey!" shouted Lancelot at the Dwarf, his voice slightly laced with True Qi.

Bruto immediately came to his senses, realizing he had been cowed by the little trick of the Quasimodo Demon, which made him fuming with anger. He rolled up his sleeves, preparing to hit the detestable creature.

Lancelot found the behavior of the little demon quite amusing and decided to use its own methods against it.

Nature's spiritual energy from the Abyssal Plane flowed from his Dantian, filling the meridians throughout his body and gathering in his eyes. He stared fixedly at the Quasimodo Demon and said in a voice that startled even himself:

"How dare you!"

The intimidation had a very good effect, in fact, it might have been a bit too effective.

The demon named Dingke's eyes bulged, and its body went limp, collapsing on the ground. Its gray-green skin oozed a dark brown, foul-smelling mucus, but thankfully, Lancelot had released his hold before it hit the ground.

"Uh, what did you do to it?"

Bruto was also utterly bewildered by the situation.

"Nothing much, just gave it a bit of a scare too," Lancelot replied, though deep inside he had another guess. Demons were said to be born directly from the energies of the Abyssal Plane, and he didn't believe the nature's spiritual energy he absorbed had no connection with the essence of demons.

"Waaah!!!"

A shocking sight dawned upon both Lancelot and Bruto, as the Quasimodo Demon actually started crying.

Although no one had ever seen a demon cry, they could easily identify the act from the liquid flowing from the eyes, body convulsing, and the sounds coming from its mouth, confirming that the demon before them was indeed frightened to tears.

"Wuu wuu... Mama... Don't kill Dingke... Wuu wuu... Dingke doesn't want to die..."

"Hey!" Bruto couldn't take it anymore and kicked it. "Alright, alright, stop the wailing; we won't kill you. But any demon passing by might take a swing because you're acting so disgracefully for a demon."

Dingke, however, just stared straight at Lancelot. As if having a sudden realization, it gathered beams of red light from within its body, eventually forming a blood-red orb above its head. The green demon knelt fearfully before Lancelot, holding out the red orb with both hands.

"Dingke's essence, please take it, Master! Once you take it, Dingke becomes your servant! Take it and don't kill Dingke!"

Lancelot curiously observed the red orb; his Spirit Perception told him it was harmless, but he cautiously did not immediately accept it. He asked:

"What use do I have for your essence? More importantly, what use do I have for you?"

Dingke, as if seeing some hope, answered very quickly:

"Holding Dingke's essence, Dingke's life is in the master's hands! The master can see what Dingke sees, hear what Dingke thinks, Dingke knows this place, Dingke can guide the master, scout information for the master, Dingke is useful, very useful!"

This gray-green demon was almost shrieking by the end.

Lancelot nodded and took the small red orb.

As he grasped the orb, a very mysterious bond was established. He felt as if he had gained another pair of eyes, eyes that were staring at a pair of familiar steel boots, trembling slightly with fear.

Besides, he also felt an intense joy as if seeing a transparent Quasimodo Demon muttering to itself:

"Dingke is to become a slave, but Dingke won't die now, Dingke smashed into mother's envoy, Dingke was supposed to be dead for sure, but the master accepted Dingke's essence, Dingke really is lucky! Dingke, Dingke!"

This additional visual and auditory experience had a strange sense of detachment and did not affect Lancelot's own thinking in any way.

Moreover, he was acutely aware that if he destroyed this small orb, the demon in front of him would immediately scream and dissolve into a pool of blood, completely vanishing from this world.

It seems this Quasimodo Demon mistook him for some formidable being, and the way it thought of 'mother' was also intriguing, but that could be researched later. Pretending to be stern, Lancelot said to it:

"Stand up, Dingke, I accept your loyalty."

The Quasimodo Demon named Dingke immediately stood up, eagerly asking:

"Master, what do you need Dingke to do?"

Bruto, who was standing nearby, watched all this with his eyes wide and mouth agape. He turned to Lancelot, confused:

"You've just taken on a demon as a minion?"

Lancelot shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile:

"It must have been subdued by the murderous aura on me. After all, we did kill quite a few Berserk Demons before, which it fears the most."

"Makes sense, but I've also killed plenty, why isn't it afraid of me?"

"Who made you freeze up because of it just now?" Lancelot rolled his eyes.

Everything that had happened was actually over in an instant, and Barrend and the other Dwarves had also gathered around by now, all looking curiously at the small demon who was less than half their height, with sharp horns on its head. Some Dwarves complained indignantly:

"Quasimodo Demons, they've often caused trouble when we were working, hiding the ore we painstakingly mined, just to see us whipped!"

The demon being scrutinized covered its head and shouted in its defense:

"Dingke didn't! Dingke never did! It wasn't Dingke's doing!"

"Alright, alright, this Quasimodo Demon has already been subdued by me." Lancelot took out the red orb. "See, it willingly gave me its demon essence."

"I've heard of this thing, very few demons are willing to hand over their essence, they'd rather howl and fight to the death, except for the Quasimodo Demons." Barrend frowned as he looked at the item in Lancelot's hand, "They're too weak, so they often serve more powerful beings in exchange for a chance to survive. How did you get it?"

"It stuck its claw into my pocket and I caught it on the spot, then I simply showed it a bit of my power, and so it was." Lancelot sensed Dingke's intense distress due to the onlookers, so he turned and said to it: "Aren't you familiar with this town? Introduce us to it, lead the way."