Chapter 219 - Baals Gift (1/2)

Zero's gift made quite the ripple throughout Hell. Every Demon Lord felt the heavy shackles on their souls lighten drastically. Mammon shuddered in his chair, Coux felt her wings twitch and Lucifer's wings starting shedding heavily to reveal a new grey undercoat.

Baal felt less sleepy and breathed a little easier. He knew that the other Demon Lords were probably experiencing something too at this moment. The pillar of light pulsed steadily for a good ten minutes or so and helped the sanctuary transform into a field with grass and growing saplings. Robo Mike started planting lotus seeds into a nearby pond that was starting to fill up again under the gentle shower.

Ruth took a look at the gravestones and wondered if fate had planned everything out for him from the massacre of his clan to his meeting with the young genius. It seemed some sick sort of plan that he had to lose his family before he could meet Zero. Still, the vampire could not find it in himself to hate his saviour. Ruth wouldn't say it was worth the pain of having to lose his clan but as a weak and powerless creature of this universe, he was thankful for the second chance to be happy again. Zero had given him new reasons to fight and will to live.

Baal took the time to marvel at Zero's newly created dungeon and asked if he was able to create a connecting portal in it to Half Moon Village.

”Ruth will be in Half Moon Village most the time, it would be easier for him to travel to and from the abyss. Also, someone needs to monitor the progress of your farm. Coux and I are a little too far from this dungeon. We'll have to travel to the Spring the normal way.”

Zero wasn't a town building expert. He didn't consider many things before creating the dungeon. What surprised him more was the vast knowledge about such things Baal possessed. For the laziest demon lord who cared nought about his people's welfare, he was throwing a lot of useful advice.

”Ruth, what do you think?” the young doctor eventually redirected the heated attention onto his forcefully appointed dungeon manager.

Baal stared at the vampire with a slight disdain on his face. Zero didn't catch that but Ruth felt his skin prickle. For a Demon Lord to need the permission of a commoner was something unheard of. If it weren't for Zero's influence, Ruth was very certain he would've been sent to join his clan.

”Yes Ruth, what do you say?” Baal smiled fakely.

The vampire involuntarily stiffened and simply agreed to everything Baal suggested. Zero merely shrugged. If Ruth was alright with it, he didn't see why not. Besides, building the various teleportation gateways in one area sounded great. What better way to honour the fallen Roths than to build the teleportation station around the graves?

In the next ten minutes, with Ruth's 'permission', Baal created a total of nine unique gates in the area. Zero wondered why there needed to be so many and Baal simply explained it as a necessity. Truth be told, it was only because he had the ability to do so and it would be very convenient for him to simply walk through gates sustained by the mana produced from the dungeon itself. He hated taking time to travel and long-distance jumps weren't his favourite methods of travelling. Even if Wiser improved the taste of mana recovery potions, Baal didn't want to spend more energy than required. Why not create gateways that he could easily access by walking?

”So there is a gateway to each of the seven other domains in Hell, one to Half Moon Village for Ruth and one for the angels. There are ten gates here and I doubt this number will be increasing any time soon in the next millennium so shall we give it a name? I vote for 'Ten-Path Crossway'.”

Ruth thought that Baal's naming sense was sloppy but quickly agreed to it when Zero started getting excited about naming it.

”I know! We should call it the ”Vampire Tomb Station”! Or how about ”Roth Garden Elevator”... maybe even ”Ten Ways to Hell Station”?”

The Demon Lord wasn't exactly surprised with Zero's lack of naming sense. For someone who named the powerful Eternal Dragon Bobbinskrier, this was considered an improvement.

”Tacky but no. Ruth gets the final word. What do you think, Dungeon Manager?”

The vampire knew that razor-sharp look in Baal's eyes daring him to disagree and this time, Zero caught on. He cuffed the smaller Demon Lord at the back of his head and chided his best friend for a good two minutes about bullying the vampire.

”Friends should be nice to each other!”

Baal wanted to point out that although the brunet was friends with the last Roth Survivor, he wasn't. Still, he held his tongue knowing that it will only open a new can of worms with Zero if he said that.

”Got it, I apologise. Now can we continue? There isn't anything much left to do in Hell and there are people who have been waiting for you since a few hours ago.”

Alarmed, Zero quickly agreed and hustled Ruth through the portal before grabbing Baal's hand and jumping through it. The vampire didn't have time to protest before he was shoved through the shabbily prepared gateway to Half Moon Village. How could Zero be so sure that the coordinates of this gateway created by Baal would be accurate? Most times, teleportation gateways without properly drawn magic circles can kill a person who exits in the wrong area. One could find themselves half stuck in a quagmire or lose a limb from a gateway curiously places between slate rock cliff formations. For those who didn't have the ability to respire underwater, it would be a real killjoy.

The vampire landed gracefully on the ground and immediately felt his skin blister. Before he could find his bearings, someone dumped a large cloth over him and Ruth struggled but was held down by gravity magic.

”It's a good thing Lord Baal informed us beforehand... imagine if we didn't come with thick fur blankets for the poor child!”

Hua Tuo chuckled and cast some healing magic. Ruth must be very confused at the moment but it wasn't Hua Tuo's job to explain anything. The small welcome party waited for Zero and Baal to arrive with some small chatter and a general sense of harmony.

Zero and Baal arrived in no time. Joy reflected on Zero's face when he saw his teacher. The young doctor quickly took notice of the vampire who was still struggling. Beside Grandma Moppo was another familiar face.

”Lovina!”

”Hello kiddo, did you enjoy yourself?” the witch chuckled.

Zero smiled. ”I did, thank you. Everyone loved your pancakes, I think Beelzebub is your biggest fan. Oh, it's ok now. Did you bring it?”

Grandma Moppo gave Zero a wink and pulled out a small handcrafted wooden container. ”It's the salve you proposed. Hua Tuo and Cleo put in a lot of effort perfecting the formula but it isn't very stable. You'll have to reapply it every two hours.”

Zero accepted the precious cream with thanks as Lovina eased up on the gravity magic. Hua Tuo also eased up on the healing magic now that the blisters were gone. Zero's approach to magic and medicine was very unique. Most people simply accepted that vampires only drink blood for sustenance, were weak to silver and sunlight as part of their bloodline traits. Zero took it a step further by considering that as a possibility of some genetic defect. The problem with the blistering under the sun was thought to be an allergic reaction so Zero devised a cream that could help block out the sun rays. Hua Tuo wasn't sure if it would work but did his best to perfect the formula anyway.

”Ruth, don't come out of that blanket just yet. The sun could still hurt you. With my teacher's help, we managed to develop a salve to help block out the harmful rays of the sun that are causing the allergic reaction with your skin. There's just a slight problem... we've never tested it on a vampire before...”

Ruth stilled under the thick fur cover. Leave it to Zero to create solutions without assurance. ”Of course... why would you test it on a vampire when you can just try it out on me?”

”It's not like that...”

”It's fine. Bring it here. I just need to apply it evenly on any exposed skin right?”