Caleb huffed and puffed as he took a moment to wipe the sweat from his furry head with a paw. It was exhausting running around and making sure the baby demon rats didn't somehow get themselves killed, but they had finally done it. They had successfully built a new nest. Of course, it wasn't as great as his previous lair, but it was slightly better than how the baby demon rats were living.At least it wasn't a hole in the ground that was only covered with bushes and leaves. The baby demon rats certainly seemed proud of themselves, seeing how they were squeaking happily at the sight of it. He didn't see a reason why he should burst their balloon, and he allowed them to have their happy little dance around it. The corners of his mouth twitched at the sight."Good job," he finally said before nudging them towards it. "Now get inside."The baby demon rats swarmed into the makeshift nest and made themselves comfortable. Once they were settled inside, he decided to join them and test how com
Unbeknownst to Caleb, who had fallen asleep after the baby demon rats did, they had actually been pretending to be sleeping. The moment they were certain he wouldn't wake up, all their eyes snapped open at once. They stared at him with their beady eyes before turning their attention to each other. They knew very well that he was a deep sleeper, so he wouldn't easily wake up.That didn't mean they would start shouting, as one whispered, "King doesn't see anything.""Must keep it that way. Can't trouble king," another said. "King did a lot for us weaklings. No adult form, but king cares for us. Can't let down.""What can do? King is better," said one of the baby demon rats with distress in its voice."Grow stronger," said a different baby demon rat."How ?" another asked. "King help, but we still weak.""Human mother helped. Find human mother and grow stronger," someone chimed in.However, the idea was immediately shut down. "Bad humans near human mother? They kill us. She weak."All of
Caleb decided to hold off on dealing with the corpse so he could check on the baby demon rats. They might have woken up and seen what had happened. Approaching the nest, he glanced over at the sleeping baby demon rats. He frowned at the sight. The fact that they were still asleep meant that whatever happened had occurred either without a sound or much noise, or they were just deep sleepers.Well, it was time to wake them up anyway, and he nudged each of them awake. Pushing them to leave the nest, he watched as they stopped to stare at the corpse. They must think he brought it back for them to eat, so he needed to make sure they didn't try to eat it. He didn't want to think about what would happen if they took a bite out of it and it was poisoned or diseased."You will help me move it away from the nest and bury it," he said once he had them all lined up in front of him.The baby demon rats stared at him for a moment before glancing at each other. They didn't say a single word, but it
Caleb wanted to demand a refund. Why did the baby demon rats have [Poison Resistance]? More importantly, when had they gotten it? He didn't remember seeing it when he first checked their information. Had they gotten it while they had been separated? How? What had happened while they were with Grace? Did they test poison on them?He could imagine the rest of the hero party purposely feeding the baby demon rats posioned cheese, but there was no way Grace would do that. She could obviously tell how hostile they were, so there was no way she would leave them unsupervised. That still didn't explain the new skill. If it was just one of them, he could wave it off as it being some random chance. However, every single one of them had it."How did they get [Poison Restiance]?" he muttered to himself.While he was distracted, the baby demon rats glanced at each other. They were confused by his confusion. Was there something wrong with having [Poison Resistance]? It was a skill they had obtained
Caleb found himself really considering the idea. If they threw the poisoned deer meat in, then they would be able to poison the water supply. Well, at least one of them. If they really wanted to make sure they poisoned everyone, they had to poison all the water sources. Now that he had the baby demon rats with him, it might actually be possible to pull it off.However, he had to worry about the timing as well as a few other details. He wasn't sure how long it would take the poisoned deer meat to poison the water. Caleb also wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let the baby demon rats go on their own. It would be more efficient and increase the chances of a successful poisoning, but they had already gotten into trouble before when not supervised.There were also the heroes. They would undoubtedly be given a quest to deal with the poison and find the culprit. It was like putting a target on their backs and telling them to come after them. As he struggled to come to a decision, the baby
Despite thinking this, Caleb felt a twinge of sadness. He really thought of them as his own kids. Even though he was too young to have any, he had cared for them as if he were their father. Of course he could excuse it as needing demons that would serve him, but he wasn't completely blind to the truth. That's why it hit him so hard to know that they were taking advantage of him.Unbeknownst to him, the trio were thinking about how the king would be happy with their hard work. They had already done their job by throwing the deer meat in. None of them could quite understand why he wanted them to do it, but they figured it had to be a great plan. They had considered throwing the rabbit they killed when they arrived into the water too. However, it seemed like a waste.Instead, they should bring it to the king as an offering. He hadn't touched the deer and even said to throw it away. Their king must not like deer meat. Perhaps he would like deer meat. Unfortunately, even a rabbit was diffi
Caleb stared in disbelief. They thought of him as their king. Out of all the things he expected for them to say, king was one of the last things he expected for them to say. Obviously, some of the words he thought they would use to describe him were a joke or a useful tool. If he were more optimistic and really thought they were really on his side, they would call him father.He honestly wasn't sure what to think about being called a king. There was only one being among the demons that was called a king. The demon king was the only one who could get away with being called a king. Even if a demon managed to secure a following, they would never call themselves a king or ruler. At best, they could call themselves a leader. However, that was just asking for trouble.With his mind filled with confusion, he asked, "System, did they just call me king?"[The user has heard correctly. They called you king.]"Why would they call me that?" he asked, still unable to wrap his mind around it.[They
The baby demon rats immediately lined up the moment they saw Caleb and the trio come into view. Now that he knew that they saw him as their king, he couldn't see it as an act of children excited to see their father. It was more like an army greeting their commander, or in this case, their king. He wondered when they started thinking of him as their king.Caleb supposed it didn't really matter when. What mattered was that he should stop seeing them as babies and more as his army, as he intended from the beginning. Maybe if he had done it sooner, then he wouldn't have wasted so much time. The trio with him joined their companions to stare at him. After studying each and every one of them, he went over the plan that was in progress.They wouldn't know how soon the poison would take effect or if it would be enough for the system to decide that he had completed the quest. While he would like to think that poisoning the townspeople would count as revenge, he didn't want to blindly assume. T
Hello, I just wanted to inform everyone here who had been following Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race that I'm going to be rewriting/editing it for eBook, paperback, etc.I figured that since this work was never marked complete when it was supposd to back in January, I might as well post another author's note here.I will try to keep everyone up to date on when the first book will be released here on my currently updating stories and on F******k.If anyone's interested in beta reading for me, please contact me through F******k since I have no idea how to contact anyone on here.I'm also thinking about redoing the covers again.
Hello everyone. I just want to thank all my readers who have been following along for so long. Caleb's story has ended, which means I currently don't have any stories being written on the platform at this moment.I feel like my writing style has changed since I first started writing on Meganovel, and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. We shall see how much more it changes.Anyway, there are several things that I want to let you know.I'm a bit sad that Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race didn't get as much love as my other stories, but there could be many factors that could have contributed to it. Maybe in the future I'll do a rewrite or remake of it since I still like the idea.If I do go through with this idea, then I'll just immediately go to eBook and paperback, and it would be very different from the one here. We will have to see, and I'll let everyone know.As for a new story, I'm still debating on what story I want to do. My plan is to have at least one ex
"Have you heard? They say a new demon king has appeared," someone whispered in the streets."How can that be? Wasn't the demon king killed before they could become the demon king?" another whispered."Well, the demons are acting differently compared to after the previous demon kings died," a person said.Caleb pulled down his hood even more as he passed by the gossiping crowd. He had only stepped away from the castle to catch his breath. It had been months since he had returned to this world, and he had so much work to catch up on that it wasn't even a joke. So much had happened that it felt surreal. There were still plenty of demons defying him.They still couldn't believe he was the new demon king. Caleb could understand why. He hadn't become the demon king the proper way, so it was natural that they were suspicious of his claims despite all the support he received. Even with support, there were some who simply didn't care. Bringing the demons together was a difficult job.He didn't
Caleb didn't like the sound of that. Why was the fake laughing? It was obviously at the end of its rope. There was no way it could stand a chance against all of them. Something wasn't right. As the smoke cleared, his face curled in disgust at the sight, and he wasn't the only one. He could feel Grace lean towards him as if trying to hide from the sight.The fake could barely be called alive. Its body was fraying at the seams, and the skin was peeling off. The fact that it was still standing was unreal. It was really a gruesome sight that would have made him sick if it had been the him from before he showed up in this world. He was a bit unnerved and worried about what the fake would do next."It looks like it's my loss. I had really hoped to get rid of you, but it looks like I'll just have to wait for another opportunity to arise. You got lucky," the fake said.Just as those words left the fake's deformed mouth, bats swarmed around it. None of them could see what was happening, but th
"Do you think the human will really return with our new demon king?" Lisa asked as she leaned back against the wall. "He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it before.""Who can say?" Takisha said as she brushed her hair back. "We can only wait for the results.""It's not like he would make a good demon king anyway," Ruth said with a huff."Are you going to try to kill him if he returns?" Mildred asked."Of course not," she snapped before she muttered the next part to herself. "It's not like you'll let me.""Shouldn't you be more honest with yourself? He actually grew on you," Lisa said with a smirk.Ruth hissed. "You're one to talk. You think the same."Lisa scowled, but she didn't argue against it. She wasn't the only one feeling some attachment. Well, it wasn't exactly an attachment. Takisha and Mildred barely knew much about him. They had only known each other briefly. However, that didn't diminish their interest in him. It was the only reason why they weren't eager to kill him off
Caleb's body moved to shield her. He grunted as he felt the bullet strike his side. Fortunately, it didn't hit anything vital, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Grace was screaming his name and rushing to his side as the fake waved the gun around with a bored expression on its face. Caleb pressed a hand to the injury and felt blood coat his hand."I guess that didn't work out. Let's try again," the fake said as they raised their gun again.Suddenly, the duo found themselves falling through the air before hitting the ground hard. Caleb wheezed as he landed on his injured side. He rolled onto his back to relieve the pressure and catch his breath. Grace was quickly at his side, casting her healing magic on him again. He could feel the telltale signs of her magic working before it stopped."What? Oh, no," Grace muttered as she cast again.This time, the effect was even shorter. Caleb could still feel his injury bleeding out. For some reason, her healing magic wasn't working properly
It was silent as Caleb and the fake Grace stared at each other. The real Grace glanced between the two of them, wondering what she was supposed to do. This was beyond anything she had expected when the system assigned the quest. She had thought it was a strangely easy task at first, but she quickly realized it wasn't as simple as she first thought.At first, she couldn't go herself. When she saw the restriction, she had thought she had misread it. However, the words didn't change, no matter how much she looked at them. The system had really told her that she couldn't go personally, even though it said she had to find him and convince him to come back. Luckily, she was able to convince the four demon women to go.Grace had been worried that they wouldn't listen, but they strangely went along with her request. When she had asked why, they all gave a different response. In the end, they all wanted the same thing, which was to have him back. That was good enough for her. With their help,
Caleb grunted as they reappeared in a different location and crashed into the ground. Apparently, Grace had teleported them away from the danger. Unfortunately, she hadn't done a good job at it, which was why he was currently in pain. Ignoring the pain and getting to his feet, he took a look at their surroundings. He didn't recognize where they were.Looking back at Grace, he said, "I have so many questions that I have no idea where to begin.""You asked how I got here, well, I got a little help from the system," she said.He frowned. "The system helped you?""It assigned me a quest to find you and convince you to return," Grace said."I see," he said.Even though the system did say it would help him return home, it didn't say it wouldn't get someone
As they sat in the car, Caleb couldn't stop feeling uneasy about the whole thing. This was probably the first time he had ever gotten in the car without someone who wasn't family. It felt odd, and he didn't know what to do about the atmosphere. Caleb wanted to break the silence, but he didn't know what to talk about. He obviously couldn't bring up the other world.There were several reasons why that simply wouldn't work. One was that this fake Grace wouldn't know about it. At least he didn't think she did. She would just think he was crazy, which led to the second reason. Even if she did know about it, they weren't alone in the car. Talking about the other world in front of others was just not the smart thing to do.Caleb kept glancing at Grace out of the corner of his eye, but she didn't even look in his direction. Her eyes were focused straight ahead, with a blank expression on her fac