Chapter 44: Caught By The Demons

In the unknown dimension, Nox had fled into a nearby bush, keeping a watchful eye on the strange demonic-looking beings. There were many of them, each possessing a monstrous appearance. Some had multiple eyes, while others had multiple limbs.

From any angle, they were clearly not human, yet they weren't mere beasts either. They communicated with each other just like humans, and they were killing monsters and collecting their beast cores, which were then counted by smaller, demonic-looking creatures.

"They even wield weapons…are they demons?" Nox wondered. He kept his emotions in check and decided to observe them further. Jumping out could mean getting hacked to death, so gathering information from the shadows was his safest bet.

For the past 30 minutes, Nox silently observed. He realized that this was a forest-type dimensional rift—a place that appeared to be both dying and alive simultaneously.

Despite being a forest, though, he noticed a couple of large, square-shaped buildings that seemed to serve as bases for the demonic-looking creatures.

Currently, Nox was hiding atop a tree in a clearing, watching a party of four demons battle about twenty hyena-type magical beasts.

"Analyze!"

After glancing over the monsters' statuses, Nox tried to analyze the demonic beings. However, no useful information appeared, only the basic details shown when viewing other Awakened classes.

[Jogo - Level 20]

[HP: 100%/100%]

[MP: 100%/100%]

'This isn't really helpful. It only differentiates a magical beast from a human. Still, at least now I know these guys aren't monsters.'

"Hahahahaha!" A humanoid demon with the body of a cheetah and elongated horns laughed, its red eyes gleaming with mirth as it hacked at the hyenas with a double axe.

The demon viciously slammed its axe into the hyenas' heads, its barbaric smile widening with each passing second until the heads exploded into bloody fragments.

As the heads exploded, the demon opened its mouth, and a long tongue stretched out, wrapping around the blue-colored beast cores that were about to fly off with the bloody fragments.

'Such speed… is this the strength of a Level 20 Awakened?' Nox thought, trying to devise ways he could defeat this demon if necessary. 'So, he's the Jogo, huh?'

"Hahahahaha, a hundred beast cores in just 60 minutes since the hunt began... At this rate, I might get into the top 200 today!"

"Dammit, I'm still short of 50 beast cores to enter the top 100." Another demon, dark and resembling a large rocky ball with a single red eye and drill-like hands, commented in disappointment. It had no mouth, but somehow everyone could hear it speak.

[Gorgart—Lv 18]

[HP: 100%/100%]

[MP: 100%/100%]

The third was a slender humanoid figure with a serpent-like body and the head of a cobra. It appeared to be a girl; she swiftly wove through the horde of hyenas, spitting potent poisonous acid that incinerated the creatures instantly, leaving only ashes and shiny beast cores in its wake.

'Snakey—Level 21.'

"Hmm, 140 beast cores..." She smiled, moving from corpse to corpse, picking up the beast cores and storing them in what Nox assumed to be her inventory.

All Awakened had one, after all.

"140 only? Watch as this daddy surpasses you." The last of the party, a short, sturdy humanoid creature with a crystalline red body filled with thousands of piercing spikes, said. Everyone instinctively distanced themselves from him, wary of the spikes that could mistakenly impale them. The spikes were nearly as long as an adult human.

'Viper—Level 17? He's the weakest.' Nox, watching from the tree, wondered how the creature could fight with such a body. However, what it did next made him swallow his words.

"Oh no! He's about to do it again!" Jogo shouted, alarming everyone as he fled into the bush. Gorgart quickly followed, folding himself like a wrecking ball and rolling away from the clearing.

When Nox blinked, Snakey had disappeared too.

When all its comrades were out of sight, something strange happened!

All the spikes jutting out of the creature's body shot out in all directions, moving with terrifying speed, comparable to arrows fired from a bow.

With such fierce speed, the remaining hyenas were impaled, the spikes bursting out of the other side of their bodies.

Nox hurriedly summoned his shield just in time to deflect a spike coming his way. It slammed into the shield with powerful force, but he held his ground.

"200 beast cores." Viper grinned as he went to retrieve the beast cores from the dead monsters.

'Damnit, how do they pair with someone like that?' Nox muttered under his breath as he put away his shield. 'He's clearly a double-edged sword.'

This was the true definition of a double-edged sword!

"Viper, you need to always warn us when you're about to do your thing," Snakey said, annoyed, as everyone slowly returned from their hiding places.

While they chatted among themselves, Nox thought. From their words and actions, he could tell they were participating in some kind of hunting event.

'Judging from the way they act, it must be very important, but that's not my business. I'm here to level up, after all, not to draw attention.' seaʀᴄh thё Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

'But what if they spot me? It's not like I have a map that can show me which area is most populated by these creatures to avoid…hmmm. Although the mask can hide my level, I still look very much like a human, and none of these people look like humans. They're all hideous and scary.'

'Ha, who would have thought I'd want to look hideous to blend in?' With that thought, Nox decided to find somewhere safe to level up. However, when he turned around, he saw a humanoid creature staring at him, her forked tongue revealed.

'H-how did she get here so fast?' Nox's eyes widened behind the mask.

"I never thought I'd see one of your kind here," Snakey said. "What a big surprise."

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