"This place gives me the creeps. Are you sure it's safe?" one man asked as he shuddered."Why do you think we're going in such a large group?" the leader asked dryly.The group muttered to themselves. He had a point. Last time, two people had been sent to investigate, but they never returned. They had been last seen over a week ago. It shouldn't have taken more than a day to reach the place and return back. The place wasn't that far from the road or the two places. However, it didn't change the fact that they were missing.Eventually, the people got fed up and got together to discuss their next move. The heroes were still busy elsewhere, and the two missing people just made the people more anxious. If they couldn't rely on the heroes, they would have to handle it themselves. However, that was easier said than done. No one wanted to go considering they lost two people.To remedy the issue, it was decided that a large group would go. Even if it meant they were slowed down, they would st
Helen grinned when she sensed the humans moving in her direction. If they were so eager to be eaten, she would gladly devour them. Drool dripped down her mouth at the thought. After eating the human from last time, she was hungry for more human flesh. She hadn't had something so tasty before. However, her happy mood was spoiled by Matthew."Do not think about it. Have you forgotten what our king said?" Matthew said as he nudged.She grumbled. "I didn't forget. I don't understand why the king said to let them be for now. Why can't we just eat them?"Matthew narrowed his eyes. "You dare question our king.""Of course not," she snapped. "I would never, but I don't see what's the point of letting the humans live."He huffed. "That's because your head is full of food."Their conversation was interrupted as they heard the humans shouting about something. The humans were still a good distance away, but they would certainly feel the duo if they moved. Either the humans would change directions
"I'm really not cut out to be the leader," Caleb muttered to himself.Caleb thought that his experience playing video games and his time leading the previous group meant he was a capable leader. Granted, none of the games required him to lead an army or were about army building, but he thought for sure he wouldn't have any issues. However, the evidence in front of him proved otherwise.Somehow his orders for the demon rats currently monitoring the humans to report back had changed into them playing with the humans. The worst part was that he only figured it out after a lot of staring at the map and sending out demon rats to get the whole picture. Why was it so hard to lead an army? The game made it seem so easy for the demon king to control all the demons.[The user shouldn't fret, as everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.]It was strange to see the system trying to comfort him. On one hand, it was nice to have support. On the other hand, Caleb had to remind it that he liter
"Run!" a man screamed as the trio of goblins chased after them.A few of them looked back to see the bloodthirsty demons chasing after them. The goblins were clearly eager to get their hands on some human meat. None of them were equipped to actually fight demons. The group had assumed that they would just investigate and escape before they were spotted by the demons. They never expected to run into some goblins."Where's the exit?" someone cried as they protected their face from the leaves falling on them.Unfortunately, no one had an answer. They had completely lost their way after traversing the forest for so long. None of them knew whether the way out was left, right, or straight. Even if they did know, they were unable to think straight from sheer terror at the sight of the demons. This was the first time they had seen demons, and they were truly as terrifying as they had heard.Suddenly, someone tripped. Some stopped to look back and help, while others just kept running without l
Caleb sighed. He supposed he should count his blessings that things didn't turn out worse, though he wasn't sure how it could have been worse. Realizing where his thoughts were heading, he immediately shook his head, much to the confusion of everyone else. This wasn't the time to be thinking about the worst that could happen. It had already passed, and he should focus on the present.Scanning the humans again, he grimaced, as a few of them would probably not survive if they were still alive. It was unfortunate, as he had intended to use his [Brainwashing] skill on them. The idea had suddenly come to him earlier, and he wanted to try and see if it would work. He had yet to use the skill on anything else besides demon rats. The skill had leveled up quite a bit, so it should be possible."Bring the humans closer," Caleb ordered.His followers didn't hesitate to drag them toward him. The ones still conscious and completely aware of what was going on screamed as they struggled to get away.
What Caleb meant by dealing with the rest was determining if it was worth letting them live a little while longer or being eaten by his followers. It was a bit concerning how many of them have started craving human meat. He had already known about their human eating habits, but it didn't make it any less disturbing to see how excited they were at the prospect of eating a human.Obviously, there was no point in prolonging the suffering of those with fatal injuries. It was unrealistic to expect them to return back alive to get their injuries treated. Even with magic, there were some things that couldn't be healed. It would be a mercy to let them be killed right now, though being eaten alive couldn't be called a mercy. Maybe he should kill them first before letting his followers devour them.Since the ones left were in no condition to pay attention to their surroundings, none of them were aware of the danger they were in. If they had, they would undoubtedly be begging for their lives or
Out of the twelve humans that had been captured, three had been taken away, five had been poisoned, and the final four were untouched. Well, as untouched as they could be given their circumstances. Caleb signaled for the demon rats currently nearby to approach. As if sensing what he was about to order them, they eagerly approached the humans.Caleb watched them, thinking that perhaps he shouldn't have asked Joyce to poison the humans. None of the other demon rats except his main followers had poison resistance. That meant they couldn't eat the poisoned humans. Thinking it over a bit, he decided that this would be another test to see if it was possible for the other demon rats to obtain poisoned resistance. It should be fine, right?"Eat," he ordered with a nod, and they dove in eagerly.He seriously overestimated them, or perhaps it was because he missed a crucial detail regarding posion resistance. Obtaining the skill was only possible if the poison was weak enough not to immediately
Time seemed to move quickly and slowly at the same time. Before Caleb knew it, several months had passed without incident, and it almost felt unreal. Caleb had been so sure that heroes would come for them, but it didn't happen. In fact, the humans ended up leaving them alone to grow stronger in peace. He wasn't sure how that happened.Caleb had brainwashed the surviving humans to spin a story that wouldn't implicate them at all. However, it would be impossible to ignore how most of the men who had gone into the forest hadn't returned. He would have thought they would do something about it, like the last place did. Instead, days passed without any signs of any more humans.In the beginning, he had been walking on eggshells, thinking that the humans or heroes would show up any day now. However, now that so much time had passed, it no longer kept him up late at night. That didn't mean it didn't still bug him. Caleb refused to let his guard down and made sure to have his followers keep an
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