Ch 9- Diablo's painful strategy

Diablo, after half a day of continuous climbing, finally emerged from the trench outside the top of the mountain, from where No. 25 had thrown him down.

The first thing he did after climbing the entire trench was to check the changes his body had undergone after consuming the 'condensed life essence.' 

The first thing he noticed was that his skin was now a lot smoother than before, just like a baby's skin. 

The second thing he noticed was that he no longer felt the weight of the bracer on his body. It felt like just a chunk of metal present there without hindering any of his movements. 

He also felt full of energy, something his previous self had never experienced after coming to the cave of the latent demon.

After ensuring there was no one around, Diablo reached his right hand toward his left and broke his left hand by applying massive force with his right. 

"Hm..." Diablo suppressed his screams. 

He repeated the same process and broke his left leg. He did this to have an excuse for being late in his return to the cave of the latent demon. If he returned to the cave with a perfectly healthy body, not only would his legs and hands be broken, but much more would be harmed, and it would be 100 times more painful than now. 

Diablo had seen many children try to escape the cave of latent demons due to its hellish rules and strict regime. However, there was only one outcome for such kids, something he didn't even want to think about. That outcome was far worse than death. 

The kids were tortured by the instructor every day, leading them to either have mental breakdowns or commit suicide. 

After Diablo completed everything he could do, he started limping back toward the cave of the latent demon.

---

Asmodeus, the chief instructor of the Cave of Latent Demons, was sitting in the hall listening to the instructor's report on the current training regime.

"Sir, numbers 39 and 16 were seriously injured. They will not be able to do anything in the future."

Asmodeus looked coldly at the instructor and said, "You know what to do."

"Yes, sir," the instructor replied.

"Sir, No. 24 is still missing," the instructor spoke with a quivering tone.

"Find him, no matter what. Whether he is alive or dead, find his body. He was specially sent by the great lord Baal. I don't know how angry he will be if he finds out about him."

"Yes, sir," the instructor exited the room.

Looking at the empty room, Asmodeus thought, *Sigh, when will I get to retire?*

Suddenly, the instructor who had previously exited the room came hurrying back.

"Sir, No. 24 is back!"

Asmodeus stood up from his chair. "Bring him here immediately."

---

Diablo, who had just arrived at the cave of the latent demon, was noticed by one of the instructors who was coming out of the entrance door. Upon noticing him, the instructor ran back from where he had come as if he had seen a ghost.

Diablo, for a moment, doubted whether his handsome look had suddenly turned bad after consuming the life gem, that even the hell's instructor ran away from him. 

However, his doubt was soon resolved by the instructor, who had run away from him and now hurriedly came toward him as if he wanted to kill Diablo. 

Diablo tensed his body, but with one hand and one leg broken, he was not perfectly prepared. The instructor came as fast as a jet, grabbed Diablo's broken hand, and hurried inside again.

"Agh," Diablo suppressed his scream.

Soon, he was inside the hall of the instructors, and everyone was looking at him.

Asmodeus, sitting on the chair of the chief instructor, spoke in a cold tone, "Where were you till now?"

Although he noticed Diablo's injured state, he completely ignored it.

Diablo responded, "During the training, I was hit by a poisonous plant and fell unconscious, which resulted in my hand and leg being broken. After I woke up, I hurried back to the cave."

Asmodeus looked at the instructor who brought Diablo to the hall and spoke in a deep, cold tone, "Didn't you say you searched the entire poisonous forest?"

"Sorry, sir. It seems I made a mistake."

As soon as he said that, one of the instructor's hands was cut off.

"I don't want people who make mistakes. Let this be your last, or next time what goes down will not be your hand, but your head."

"Yes, sir," the instructor said.

Diablo felt a twinge of pity for the instructor who took the blame for him. 

There were many reasons why Diablo didn't tell the truth. If he told the truth, he doubted his body would not be dissected by a group of instructors for research purposes. Another reason was that there was no place for the weak in hell. If they found out that he was pushed by No. 25, they would think of him as weak and try to eliminate him as soon as possible to not let the resources they were investing go to waste.

After that, Asmodeus turned toward Diablo. "Your punishment for coming last in the trial is that the weight on your entire body will be doubled. Your new weight will be delivered tomorrow morning."

Diablo showed a look of depression on his face, but inside he was very happy. *Was this punishment? If he were his previous self, it would definitely be torture, but now his body felt like the weight he was wearing was just a chunk of metal.*

If he had asked the instructor to increase his weight previously, they would get suspicious. So, he thought not to ask them for at least half a year. 

But suddenly, he was awarded extra weight, allowing him to get stronger faster. It was clearly not a punishment but a reward.

However, on the outside, he still showed a look of extreme pain to avoid raising any suspicions.

"Alright, you can go to the medic first, and then you can return to your room. Know that people who become waste are only used as fertilizer in hell," Asmodeus said to Diablo.

Unknown to Diablo, the instructor whose hand was cut off because of him had developed an extreme grudge against him.

Soon, Diablo was taken to the medic.

The medics in the cave of the latent demon were experts in their art. They had been treating the young demon children for as long as they could remember.

Diablo's broken hand and leg were fixed by this group of medics.

Now relaxed, Diablo started to think about what to do next. The revelation given to him by the exorcist was too much. *His soul was not demon, but human.* He had to find out why he was like this.

Another thing Diablo thought about was his technique, "Abyss Soul and Hell Body." Now he had a lifespan of 560 years, so he could continue to practice this exercise.

At first, when he gained a long lifespan, he thought he could continue to perform this technique even after nine years. But when he asked the doctors and medics who healed him about the technique, they said no one would practice this technique after ten years as the body becomes resistant to its continuous effect.

If a person continued to use the technique even after ten years, they would only lose their lifespan without getting any benefit.

So, he still had the same amount of time as before to take as much benefit as he could in ten years from the technique.