Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer-Novel

Imps are probably one of the most common types of Demons out there...

Though they are small in stature, make no mistake because these creatures are mean.

According to how his Professors described them to the class, Imps are swift and extremely cunning. Their skin are as though as metal and those pitchforks they have are poisoned.

If you get hit by the poison, then all kind of healing you get, be it naturally or from a spell, will be cut in half. This is what makes Imps a pain the ass for Cultivators.

Plus, they always move in packs. Never, and this is repeatedly stressed by the Professors, Never assumed that an Imp is alone, for all you know, you might be walking on a trap that they specifically arranged just for you.

'Ash! Seriously you gotta move! Please! You can't deal with that! Come on, listen to me!'

Aria's panicked voice returned Ashton to the present. He took a shallow breath and slowly ducked in order to hide himself.

The sight of the pack didn't really give him much to work with. If anything, it just stressed him out.

Who would've thought that the very first thing that he'd ever see in the Outside World is an Adult Imp? What are the odds right?

Much to his dismay, Aria was right. There's no way he can even think about confronting those things. He's outnumbered, plus he had no experience in dealing with them. If he wants to survive, he has to be extremely careful and avoid this pack for now.

Ashton retreated slowly so as to not alert the pack. Thankfully, the buffs he put on himself were still active. The pack hasn't seen him yet, thank god, so he could walk out of here scot-free.

'Ash, you can get inside the Library now.' Aria reminded him. Well, she's more like imploring him to do so.

Ashton sighed and replied: 'Yes, yes I know. I'll get in there once I see more, don't worry.'

'Ash, don't be stubborn! You're going to get yourself killed!'

'Everything I do out here is going to get me killed!' Ashton spat back. He sighed harshly and said: 'I'm sorry for the outburst but you should know that I value my life just as you value yours.'

'I'm not doing this because I'm suicidal. I'm doing this because it needs to be done, I need to know more so that I can understand where the hell are we and how the hell do we get back home.'

'Trust me, had I got a different option, I wouldn't have picked this. You've seen my memories so you should know that.'

'...'

Aria pursed her lips in frustration as she was unable to refute that. She inwardly berated herself for being so useless and a burden. Her panicking causes distress to the one who's actually going to stake his life out there, she should've know better to be honest.

Ashton was correct. If he was presented with another choice, he wouldn't have picked this. He didn't want to be here but fate didn't ask for his nor Aria's input.

Someone has to do it. Aria couldn't so it could only be him. It's that simple.

The situation isn't fair since he's vastly weaker compared to Aria but life isn't fair. All they could do is to just solve the problem as they appear. Again, it's that simple.

Ashton felt bad for raising his voice to Aria. Just like her, he's panicking too, the difference is that she's safe in there while he's not. The situation isn't fair for him yet he has to be the one who would do it because she can't.

He'd really appreciate it if Aria could just stay silent if she's nothing to contribute to their goal. She likes the girl but honestly, she is not helping right now.

Ashton continued to lay-low and survey his surroundings. He's always making sure that he has cover for when he moves so that he wouldn't risk himself getting spotted.

He had seen another pack of imps here and there. He could hear their gibberish from his hiding spots. He couldn't understand their language but that's fine for now. He doesn't plan on doing anything big today anyway.

In the middle of his observation, he suddenly felt a sickening presence nearby.

The sheer foulness of that presence almost made him puke. All the hairs om his body stood on their ends as he felt the presence coming closer to his vicinity.

Ashton looked around in alarm and then, he saw something that would surely haunt him in his dreams.

The demon was around 8 foot tall. It has deep crimson skin and eyes, very muscular physique, covered in tribal tattoos. It took a humanoid form, and every step it took not only shook the ground it was one but also left a disgusting pool of black goo.

Pitch black chains were wrapped on its wrist all the way to its shoulders, one end was connected to a sickle while the other end has a lantern that shone with a ghastly green light.

White mist escaped through it's fanged-mouth. And the most notable part of its gait were the three pairs of enormous horns on its head, curling onto itself.

'Haha, Nope.'

Is what Ashton thought the moment he realized what he's looking at. He wasted no time and immediately entered the Grand Library to keep himself safe.

He really didn't feel like being in the presence of an adult Tormentor, nope.

Nuh-uh! No, sir! Thank you very much.

The moment he popped inside the library, he saw Aria looking at him with wide-eyes, clearly panicked and distraught.

"What the hell? A Tormentor? Which god did you offend for you to have this much bad luck in life."

"Shit, I don't know!? You ask me but who the hell do I ask?"

Their panic is understandable. Had there been other people here, even Professors for that matter, they'd be panicking as well.

Tormentors. They are a breed of demons that are said to be a myth.

They're like a modern day boogeyman actually. The thing that parents use to scare their kids so that they will follow orders?

Only...this kind of boogeyman was real. And you know what they say, to see is to believe. Well, Ashton encountered it and saw it with his own eyes. So it's pretty freaking real.

Tormentors are considered as myths because many people (cultivators) said that they saw it and felt primal fear overtaking their bodies. What made stories about them real scary is the fact that those who wanted to know more, never lived to tell the tale.

This made people believe that seeing Tormentors is a bad omen. And to make things worst, nothing much is known about them save their appearance.

Nobody saw how they attack, how they kill, what their abilities are, what do they do...nothing. Everything Ashton and Aria knew about Tormentors are just rumors so far.

In fact, even the name given to them - Tormentors, was based on the rumors themselves.

Some claimed that they could reap souls with their sickles and place them in that lantern, inside said lantern is a personal hell of eternal suffering.

Others claim that Tormentors loves to eat human flesh and suck the marrows out. Their favorite drink is blood and their favorite desert is human souls.

Again, most of these are just rumors since nobody was able to gather enough knowledge about them.

Then again, from what Ashton felt so far, those rumors seem to have their merits. He had never been so freaked out in his life. Likewise, he had never encountered anything that made him flee this fast out of fear.

It took a couple of minutes for Ashton to completely calm down alongside Aria. They stayed silent for the most part since that was certainly cutting it close.

Once he's more or less recovered, he stood-up and grabbed several books to reference the information he gathered so far.

With a pile of books on his left, a rough sketch of the map in front of him and more pile of books on his right, he started guessing where they currently are.

On his hand, a book named: Demonic Sightings were open. He flipped through the pages and found the records about sightings on Tormentors.

Using pins, he tried locating the rough spots where the sightings were located. Aria was helping him on the side.

Once they were done with referencing, they looked at the map and saw that majority of the pins where concentrated on a certain area of the map.

It had to be known that this map is just a rough sketch of the Outside World. Nobody really managed to map out the entire world as they know it so far.

Once they located the area, Ashton's eyes then moved from where the Last Bastion is and felt his heart sinking.

"Shit, if this is accurate, then we're thrown pretty far huh?" He murmured but it was heard by Aria, who nodded despondently beside him.

​ And as if mocking him for making this discovery, he heard a loud ping inside his head followed by the System's mechanical voice telling him:

[Objective Cleared: Discover where you are.]

• Reward: System Function - [Simulation Zone] unlocked!