What followed was a two-week blur of constant fighting and killing. By the end of it, Hyde and Fike were sick to death of dealing with Shrike.

Since they had been joined by their elemental partners, their hunting speed increased drastically.

During the first week, they focused on killing warriors, workers and generals. By the end of the week, they could deal with a general rank Shrike with general ease.

However, when it came to begin their second week of crazed hunting, Hyde proposed they head far deeper into the forest. It was becoming harder and harder to find Shrikes within 100 miles of the desert.

Almost all the Shrikes that remained within 100 miles of the desert had been purged by the rabid hordes. By now, it was rare to even see a Shrike beneath Warrior rank. None of the worker ranked Shrikes had survived.

Fike and Hyde's control over their respective elements had increased drastically as well. This was thanks to the constant battles and absorbing of many damned souls.

It was on the 10th day of the hunt, that, after a gruelling battle that lasted an hour, the group of 4 had finally managed to kill a Lord ranked Shrike and entered into the top 100.

It wouldn't have been possible without the help from Sol and Locus. They had both constantly harassed and delayed the enormous monster, leaving Hyde and Fike time to Strike.

Even after killing a Lord ranked SHrike, they only barely managed to enter into the top 100, their rank was settled in the low 90s. That was just how fierce the competition to reach the top 10s was.

After all, the other demons were trying just as hard as Hyde and Fike were. They weren't just going to sit around and do nothing, allowing Hyde to surpass them in ranking.

However, now that they had reached the top 100, they had gotten a better idea of just how ridiculous the top 3 were.

While Wisp and the Drunken sword were certainly impressive. having more than 5000 points each, it was Titan, the demon in the first place that defied logic entirely. He had surpassed 10000 points a few days ago and was on track to reach 20000 by the end of the second week since the announcement. What was really scary was that his speed of gathering points kept increasing.

Much to the exasperation of the second and third-placed demons, Titan wasn't showing signs of slowing down any time soon. In fact, neither of them could actually figure out where Titan was. So far, they had both ventured almost 1000 miles into the forest and were unable to find any signs of the crazy demon.

Titan was similarly exasperated, but for different reasons. He tossed aside the corpse of a lord ranked Shrike that was three times larger than they should have been in disgust. For 100s of miles in every direction, the forest had been completely flattened into a crater.

He drummed his fingers against his leg and grumbled angrily, "Just where is this Progenitor? I've searched the entire southern hemisphere and found no sign of it. How am I supposed to prove myself to uncle if I can't even find a fucking tree?"

Right now, if you were to look at the planet from space, You would see a jarring sight compared to when the demons first arrived.

In the north, there was a desert that covered the top of the planet. Surrounding the desert was a scorched band of destruction that stretched around the planet like a scar.

However, the biggest changes were in the south pole. Where a thick jungle had once blanketed the entire planet, massive craters 100s of miles wide appeared all over the south. It looked like the forest had been struck by a meteor shower.

In between these two poles, a thick band of forest ringed the planet around the equator. Here the forest was a deeper green and not even an inch of ground could be seen. Only the tops of trees and plants.

At the moment, Titan, along with every other demon on this planet was initiating a pincer attack on the equator. Titan from the south, all the other demons from the north. All except one that is.

...

In the very north of the planet, within the towering walls of the last remaining bastion of humanity, the only demon not to have gained a single point yet was sitting in a library reading a book. Beside him, lying on a sofa, the librarian was similarly reading a book. Apparently unperturbed by the presence of a demon.

Finally, Solomon placed down the book in his hands and looked annoyed. He walked up to the librarian and knocked the book she was reading out of her hands.

"What do you mean you want to go to hell, Sophia?" Asked Solomon angrily.

The librarian, Sophia raised her head up looking aggrieved. "Why did you know over my book?"

"Answer my question." Said Solomon grimly.

"Answer mine first," Sophia replied matter of factly.

"Hoh, do you really plan on making a deal with the devil? Ok, very well. I knocked your book over because it was boring, I already read that one and it sucks."

"Hmm, It did kinda suck, Ok. I want to go to hell because I don't like this planet very much. It's desolate and boring. And then, you show up with superpowers and all. That is decidedly unboring." Sophia said stubbornly.

"What do you think Hell is, Daycare? Every day is a struggle to live. I've basically been fighting for my life since I got there."

"So you're saying that it is exactly like here." Sophia retorted.

"Huh? No... well, a bit. But when you reincarnate in hell, you might end up as some weird species of demon or a damned. What if you ended up getting tentacles or something?"

Sophia grinned at this, "I've already thought about that, and I think it should be fine. From the way you have described it, your demonic race has a lot to do with your past life. So mine should be related to books... oh imagine if I became a type of demon with a lot of eyes. I could read so many books at once then..." Sophia shuddered a little when she thought of this

Solomon looked at this weirdo in disbelief. He couldn't follow her thought process. At first, when he had broken into the library that night two weeks ago and met her, she had seemed very timid and reserved. Only brightening up and becoming chatty whenever it had something to do with history or books.

Then, when he had snuck into the city the second time, left with nowhere else to go, Solomon had crawled to the library.

At first, Sophia had seemed wary of his presence. But, Solomon hadn't bothered her and just rested upstairs in the library. In the end, she had become curious and went upstairs to chat with him.

Their conversations had been rather scattered and random. Mostly about each other's strange lives, their daily struggles and various other things they hadn't had the chance to talk about with others.

Solomon had learned from Sophia that she lived on her own in this library. When she was young, her mother, who was a member of a desert recon unit went missing. As a result, she had grown up taking care of the library that her father had owned. Until one day a few years ago, her father had left the city in search of her mother. He never returned.

Left alone to take care of the library by herself. Sophia had sunk into the world of books. Distracting herself from the loneliness that pervaded her life with mystical stories of heroes and villains. Perhaps that was why she had such a romantic opinion of Hell. In her mind, demons were like the heroes from stories of old. Fighting back against the Shrike and winning.

Likewise, Solomon told her about his worries about his past life. He was grateful when she didn't seem fearful or disgusted with him.

Time had passed as time often does and every night, Solomon would head out into the desert to hunt down the scorpions. When the sun would begin to rise, he would head back to the city and rest during the day. allowing his wounds to recover.

Sadly, his horn showed no signs of recovering. It remained broken, a constant reminder to him of his overconfidence and the need for self-control. He didn't want to experience that kind of pain again.

Solomon never heard the war gods announcement, he had already passed out from the pain in his horn. That was why he was still hunting scorpions and acting casual two weeks later. Frankly, it was a miracle that he hadn't died yet. He was literally the most likely of any demon to be chosen.

But, all good things must come to an end. Yesterday, he had killed the scorpion king and today his final fight with the queen would begin. After that, he would say goodbye to his new friend Sophia and head to the front lines and join the fight.

That was why he was so desperately trying to dissuade her from her plans to become a demon. But, she seemed to have her heart set on it.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go to Hell," Sophia asked stubbornly.

"If you fail a 'Penance' you will die,"

"Same thing as being alive normally then."

"Hell is full of scary demons."

"Didn't you tell me that they are all really nice,"

"You will lose all your memories."

"But I can get them back eventually right?"

For every complaint Solomon raised, she had a reply ready. In fact, he was almost being convinced that Hell wasn't that bad himself. 'Why did I even think Hell was so bad?' He wondered and then, he was reminded of his own situation.

"Ah ha! But, if you have karmic flames like me and fail a 'Penance' Your soul will be incinerated." Solomon proclaimed triumphantly.

Sophia looked at him like he was an idiot, "So... I just don't do anything that bad then. Didn't you say that karmic flames were really rare?"

Solomon nodded in defeat. He did, in fact, say such a thing.

"Bah! Whatever. Go to Hell. See if I care," Swore Solomon

Then, he spun on his heels and turned to the door. "I'm off to kill the scorpion queen, see you later." He shouted as he slammed the door behind him.

Since he had been sneaking in and out of the city for weeks now, he knew the shortest and safest routes. Carefully slipping past the patrolling soldiers, He climbed up and over the wall, jumping from the top and landing softly on the sands below.

Perhaps his most improved trait of the past two weeks was his landing abilities. Now, no matter what height he fell from, he could minimise the impact.

Striding off into the desert, Solomon made a beeline towards where he had previously killed the Scorpion king. He had managed to spot the Scorpions nest while flying on the vulture and had been constantly picking them off throughout the weeks.

Finally, yesterday, He had killed the Scorpion King and fled back into the desert before the Queen could emerge from her layer and seek revenge.

Tonight, after healing his wounds from the battle with the King and absorbing the King's strength properly, Solomon was confident in his ability to battle the Queen. His venom had become incredibly potent and could even melt holes in the city walls. He knew this because he had tested it out on the city walls, much to the terror of the soldiers who found a gaping crater burned into the top of the wall the next morning.

Beneath the glowing light of the moonlight, Solomon arrived outside the nest. As if she had been expecting him, the scorpion queen was already outside of the ruined nest.

The Scorpion queens carapace glowed a vibrant purple beneath the moonlight. Behind her enormous body, three vicious tails stood upright, poised to strike at any moment. Venom dripped from the curved hooks at their ends, landing on the sand and sizzling and smoking.

Taking the initiative, Solomon made his move. He burst into a run towards the queen, Far faster than he was able to run two weeks ago.

...

But, Solomon wasn't the only thing making a move that night. On the other side of the world, Within the forests that ringed the crater, A man was standing at the entrance to a tunnel he had just finished digging.

If Solomon was here, he might recognise this man as being the one the wrote the book he had read on Shrikes. The man who had created the first Shrike, and... died 1000s of years ago.

With a gesture of the man's hand, a Shrike detached itself from the undergrowth and shuffled down the tunnel. After travelling down for a few hundred metres, the Shrike arrived at the mouth of an underground river. A river that had long been buried by past wars.

The Styx.