Bermond Gauguin

## [source]

**Bermond Gaugin** is a Demon Lord of the Abyss, a ruler of his own layer of the abyss. However, he seemed to be quite small compared to the rest of his kind. However, his menacing aura still sped up one’s heart, and the contortion of laws all around him made it clear that a single misstep could turn a legendary being into ash.

He was the first archlord Richard had encountered on his expedition to Arbidis. Moreover, he was the easiest to encounter due to his quite lacking speed at his level. Sharon noted that one only needed to 'gaude' him and speed away.

## First

Moments later, the roar of a demon lord shook every corner of one of the levels of the abyss. All sorts of demons were left sprawled over the ground, not daring to move in fear of incurring their lord’s wrath.

A powerful demon was floating in mid-air above a lake of lava, with indescribable power. His powerful aura formed countless mysterious demonic characters that fluttered around him in the air. Across him was a magnificent ball of blue light, with a small lady floating within.

“SHARON! How dare you appear in front of me? Do you think there is no way for my fury to reach Norland?”

The legendary mage stuck out her tongue, chuckling, “Bermond Gauguin, I only came because I know you are already prepared to invade Norland. Come on, don’t be angry, you know it won’t help at all. You’re not chasing me away! Imagine how crushed your dignity would be if another fight like that broke out. The lords of the other levels would be talking about it for millennia!”

## Description

Richard suddenly stopped mid-flight, moving back to dodge a pillar of magma that burst out from the ground. The earth started shaking furiously as a terrifying figure that was a hundred metres tall bounded over in the blink of an eye, every step forming a crater beneath.

## Plot

There was no lack of historic examples of powerful figures that had been crushed by an archlord’s shout alone, but this demon recoiled in pain as his attack failed. His eyes went wide in surprise, “What is another archlord doing in my territory?”

Even though Richard looked like a human, that momentary contact had left the demon lord with the same aftershocks as having attacked any other archlord. Although the tiny being seemed no bigger than one’s finger, the aura was what mattered the most. Of course, not all archlords were made equal. Whenever two met, the usual practice was to fight before any discussion could take place.

On the other hand, Richard smiled for a brief moment as he determined his opponent’s name from the contact— Bermond Gauguin. Unlike humans, most demon lords had minute-long truenames of which they could reveal a small part. This part was a unique identifier that couldn’t be faked.

The demon’s voice suddenly grew significantly louder, “You cannot just pass through my lands like that! I consider this an invasion, prepare yourself for battle!”

Richard’s expression turned even stranger as he sized up the demon lord in front of him. There were records in the Deepblue about him, and Sharon had also gloated about many things in the past. Just as Bermond was about to erupt, he suddenly responded, “I can accept a duel. Do you dare to give me half an hour of preparation?”

“Dare? The mighty Bermond is never afraid! I can give you a year!”

"What? You MAGGOT! STOP THERE!” An earth-shattering roar rang out from behind as the demon lord tried to lock space, but the two quickly grew far apart. He tried hard to give chase, but he could only watch as Richard disappeared into the passage a full minute before he would. The angered demon almost ran straight in anyway, but his instincts screamed that it would be suicide and he held back. These passages normally couldn’t hold an archlord, and even if he managed to get out the other side he would anger the archlord of the other layer. If things devolved to a three-way fight, capturing the human wouldn’t be a priority.

“YOU DESPICABLE INSECTS! YOU’RE ALL THE SAME, WHY DOESN’T ANYONE DARE TO FIGHT ME?!” Bermond yelled repeatedly, a bit of resignation in his voice. Even though he was confident in his own power, he didn’t want to fight other archlords in their home grounds. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time his lack of prowess in long-range attacks left him unable to deal with anyone who could move quickly.

“What happened?” Greyhawk asked as Richard flew through the portal. Even knowing that he was in the presence of the strongest human alive, he couldn’t believe that an archlord was defeated so easily.

Richard laughed, “Bermond? He’s easy to deal with, just run faster than he can chase. Honestly, not a big bar; you could do it too.” Knowing what he did about Bermond’s personality, Richard understood that the demon lord would risk everything and cross through multiple layers if he learnt of this evaluation.

Richard would end up remembering the encounter with Bermond Gauguin as a pleasant interlude. As he followed the elven path to Arbidis, his stress levels skyrocketed with every layer he passed. He ended up having to fight through enormous armies and even stall some archlords to allow his army to pass through the next seven to eight layers, and these ones were much more difficult to fool. Anyone could tell that something was amiss.

## References

1. ↑ Book 2, Chapter 112
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Book 9, Chapter 106