After a short rest, the small group set off from the Grand Fortress, while some civilians tried to plead Amber to stay ?— having become some sort of hero over the past few days ?— but she still remained firm on her decision. She did hope that the Grand Fortress would remain fine, especially after Mercoth’s full reports. He also reported seeing the Demon of Chaos heading towards the Sacred Forest and made sure to narrate how he was killing their members with Glam the Executioner dying at his hands.

  This report mainly served to, in some way, make the members of the Arcane Council be less wary, at least that’s what they hoped to achieve. As for Amber, she didn’t care too much, because she had two goals in mind, one was to journey east, towards the Demon of Genesis, and the other was growing stronger.

  “If you keep heading north, you should find a relatively strong demon,” the Demon of Chaos said from her shoulder. “Based on your System, probably around Level 330…”

  That’s right, shoulder. There was a simple miniaturized version of him perched on it, or rather it was just him but smaller. Given he was a projection, his size could be changed at will, and they had decided it was the most convenient way to actively receive his guidance. If he needed to communicate something private ?— such as things related to the secrets of the gods ?— he could very easily do so with a much smaller barrier.

  Amber turned to Frei. “In that direction, is there some town or village?”

  The elf’s expression twisted in an odd manner as she nodded. “There is… or was now, probably.”

  Amber nodded, not pointing out the oddity. Even though Frei acted normal, it was clear she was slightly shocked about the state of the Republic, especially after they passed by a destroyed town. In spite of her claims of not considering this place her home, Amber could see she wasn’t as detached as she pretended to be.

  The others also took note of this, so they didn’t pester her. In fact Aveline struck up a conversation with her, sharing her experiences as a noble in Cytel in an attempt to distract her.

  To be honest, Amber wasn’t sure if bringing Aveline, or even Mercoth for that matter, was a good idea, after all it was very likely the two of them would get in the way. This even applied to Frei, but she figured that the chances were much lower, and if they were resolute on helping them, there was no reason as to why she should turn them down.

  Soon they reached a cliff over a large ravine, but the Demon of Chaos simply pointed forward.

  “While there are monsters down there, they are not strong enough. Continue north.”

  Amber pondered for a moment, there were indeed monsters and amongst their group there was a huge level disparity between Aveline and everyone, which made her want to take this opportunity.

  “Actually, we should?—”

  And she felt the Ring of the Obsidian Rose vibrate, she had almost forgotten about it. A piece of paper quickly manifested into the air as she grabbed hold of it.

  “Hmph, interesting communication method from you humans,” the Demon of Chaos commented, but she ignored him.

  Instead, she turned to read the contents. After all, she didn’t remember the last time she spoke with Remmel at this point.

  Dargon is now in the Republic of Mercenaries, I’m not aware of his whereabouts yet. Also I just learned that the Arcane Council wants you dead, so there’s that too. Be careful Amber.

  ?— Remmel.

  That was everything the note said, in all honesty it was slightly odd to her. After all, would someone like Remmel really take that long to figure out that the Arcane Council wanted her dead? Well the news was only a day or two late so maybe it wasn’t that odd.

  “So, Dargon is in the Republic, huh…”

  Hearing him, both Frei and Mercoth seemed to raise their brow in surprise.

  “Dargon has finally moved?”

  Frei nodded. “We have to be careful, he’s pretty dangerous.”

  That reminded Amber of something that she had heard from Val’leri a while ago, although it was probably outdated information at this point.

  “Is he still injured, by the way?” She looked towards Mercoth.

  Mercoth frowned in confusion. “Now that you mentioned it, he’s been limping for over a year. Rumors of his condition have been circulating even as of a month ago. Do you know what caused it?”

  “He thought it was a good idea to try to kill a Primordial Spirit,” Amber said and instead focused on the information she had just learned.

  So he’s most likely still weakened, just not as much as he was back when Val’leri told me, she updated that fact in her mind before nodding.

  It was no stretch to say that he was probably personally cooperating with the Demon of Genesis, so she had to prepare for the eventual situation in which she had to face him. Even if he actually wasn’t cooperating, it was important for Amber to be prepared.

  “Are the monsters at least Level 200?”

  Hearing her, the Demon of Chaos frowned: “It won’t help you grow at all.”

  “I know.”

  The Demon of Chaos ruminated for a moment before nodding. “Those monsters do have the life strength to be Level 200 as defined by your puny System.”

  Hearing that, Amber nodded and took out Cursewelder and channeled her Essence. Then she thrusted it into the ground, making a ball of darkness explode downward. She was using the Curse of Disintegration to shape the earth.

  Almost in an instant, she had carved out a large hole and Amber looked back at the very shocked Aveline as she smiled.

  “Come.”

  Aveline nodded hesitantly.

  * * *

  Aveline didn’t fully understand why Amber wanted her to come with her, but perhaps it had to do with her offer of leveling her up. That was at least the most logical thing, but it also made Aveline feel… bad.

  After all, she didn’t deserve such treatment from Amber. She had been the noble that had pushed for her exile simply because she was “barbaric” or whatever argument she had used back then. Now the same person she had ostracized back then was willingly helping her like this?

  It had already been overwhelming to be accepted by her, but even now she didn’t really see herself as a friend of Amber or anything of the sort. In fact, her desire to follow her wasn’t out of loyalty but willfulness. While she did want to see what Amber did, a much bigger drive was to simply figure out her place in the world now. She felt like following Amber would help her realize what her place was.

  Yet, because she had selfishly chosen that path, Amber was helping her? It was… hard to swallow.

  “You don’t have to do this…” Aveline said hesitantly.

  “Do what?” Amber glanced behind as they made their way down a broken tunnel.

  “Help me level.”

  Her words hung in the air for a moment, before Amber shook her head.

  “If you died following me, I at least want to tell myself that I helped you be safe in some way,” she said simply. “That’s why I’m doing it.”

  “Even though I’m selfishly sticking along?” Aveline asked, unsure.

  “Yes, even in spite of that.”

  After her words, Aveline heard a snort come from the demon on Amber’s shoulder.

  “Being a human sure looks burdensome.”

  “I’m not doing this because I’m a human, but because I am me,” Amber answered simply.

  Aveline nodded even if the words weren’t meant for her. She supposed they were slightly touching so she kept them in mind.

  Finally, after a few more minutes of walking, they arrived at a cavity where sunlight was barely entering from the gap in the ceiling. And there, Aveline saw? a whole nest of insects. Everywhere her eye could see, she saw various monsters that confused her.

  [Juvenile Earthen Chlipod. Lvl. 82]

  [Great Earthen Chlipod. Lvl. 180]

  [Earthen Chlipod. Lvl. 132]

  …

  There’s just so many…

  Aveline turned to Amber in shock, even if she was receiving help there was simply no way she could kill this many monsters. Even if she was higher level than some of these, there was simply no way she could just destroy the entire colony. After all, her class wasn’t exactly meant for combat to begin with.

  “Amber I?—”

  “Burn.”

  The Cursed Berserker swung her sword before she could say anything. Blue and black flames exploded in all directions, engulfing the colony, as dying shrieks began to resound in her ears.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  One by one, monsters fell twitching and half alive. In a mere instant, over a hundred of the monsters had fallen. And that’s when Amber turned to her.

  “Go and finish them off.”

  Aveline opened her mouth in shock for a moment before closing it and nodding.

  * * *

  It took a few minutes, but eventually Aveline finished all of the monsters off, gaining a few levels. Unfortunately, due to the shared experience, she didn’t get that much, but for the effort it took Amber was quite satisfied. She had the small goal of geting Aveline to her Level 200 Advancement, mainly because she didn’t think Level 250 was feasible in the time they had, but 200 was still a great boost for many individuals.

  With that, she would hopefully survive whatever came after this.

  The group once more departed in the direction that the Demon of Chaos had pointed them to, using some of Frei’s guidance for faster traveling. After all, they couldn’t exactly just pass through a mountain.

  During this time, Amber took the opportunity to give the Demon of Chaos the potion she had obtained from Alyssa and asked for him to appraise it. But not even five minutes later, the demon scowled, almost throwing away the bottle.

  “What is this accursed thing?! It’s useless!”

  Amber glanced at him. “Is it just liquid or what?”

  “No, but it might as well be!” he said in annoyance. “Any liquid that stays within it for a year will gain the effects of Visualized Teleportation, allowing whoever consumes it to teleport to a place they desire within a certain range.”

  “So it’s about what I expected,” Amber commented.

  The demon scowled. “You expected something so useless and had me use my valuable time to still check it out? Ridiculous.”

  She ignored his anger and instead asked a rather important question in her mind. “Can the Visualized Teleportation teleport me anywhere I want with no restrictions whatsoever?”

  “As a divine artifact, it should be able to do at least that much. So yes,” he said, annoyed.

  “Do I have to drink the entire bottle, or just a gulp?”

  He was silent for a few moments before speaking. “A gulp.”

  “Cool.”

  With that she put it in her storage, deciding that it would be one of her trump cards, just maybe a different kind of trump card. Plus the fact that the contents could be replenished was a bit of a small win, even if it took an entire year.

  They continued walking as Amber’s mind wandered, before she remembered something rather important.

  “That reminds me, you should also check out where this book leads to?—”

  Unfortunately, she was interrupted by the Demon of Chaos raising his head in alertness.

  “The demon is not far from here.”

  “Funny you say that, because there also happens to be a village just a minute from herem,” Frei said with no playfulness in her tone.

  Hearing them, Amber nodded seriously and began preparing her sword. Off in the distance she saw columns of smoke, meaning there had been recent activity.

  Looks like it was time to gain the few levels she could during this limited time she had.

  * * *

  The Demon of Flames was unstoppable, having already long made plans for when it was summoned, all it had to do was execute, and execute it did. With a loophole in his contract, he had pretended to listen to his summoners before making his escape when the time was right. They had summoned thousands of demons at once, it only made sense that he wouldn’t receive all the nurturing that was needed to wreck havoc across this world. Instead, he was more likely to be used as a disposable pawn, which is why he had left.

  On his own, he attacked weak looking settlements and used them to fuel his growth and get more access to his strength. After all, as this was a mere avatar of his true self, if it remained weak he’d never be able to fully manifest his capabilities here. Which is why he took his time to do things, and now?— it was finally paying off.

  He let out a low chuckle as he walked through the ruined village, multi-colored flames burning on the buildings, seemingly dancing in his presence. This was what made him the Demon of Flames, there was no flame he couldn’t control. Once he ascended to godhood not even primordials would be his rival.

  He looked like a draconic human, he had scales but had a mostly human anatomy. He did have a beautiful snout and large black horns that paired beautifully with his shimmering red scales. As a master of flames, it was natural his own body would be fireproof.

  “This is just great…” he licked his lips as he twisted the head of a puny human.

  With a satisfying crunch it came off, the screams of agony that had come for a moment were quite nice to his ears. Like a predator killing prey, the action filled him with joy.

  As a demon, he desired nothing but ruination on this place, and finally having an opportunity to bring it filled him with a special kind of fulfillment. Right now, he had reached Level 340 under the System, which meant that the strength he could unleash was already on the upper echelons of this world. Of course, just because he had a level, it didn’t mean he was integrated into the yucky System, all it did was loosen the restrictions on his strength.

  Once he went higher, the idea of conquering this world wasn’t even out of the question, not with what the Demon Gods were planning. Well he’d be contributing to world conquest, not doing it alone, but it was still something he looked forward to.

  The Demon of Flames grinned, when he sensed something. A powerful presence had just entered his range, moving its way forward slowly.

  Another mercenary has come? His grin became even wider. What a nice surprise.

  He turned in the direction where he saw an armored woman slowly making their way towards him off in the distance. Based on his senses she was…

  Huh…? Why did her life energy, strength and presence all felt so different? Each of them had much different values. Her life energy wasn’t particularly high, neither was her presence, but her strength was off the charts.

  “Is this some kind of intimidation tactic?” It could very well be.

  There was also something oddly familiar about her presence, but he couldn’t quite put a finger on it. Either way it wasn’t like it mattered. Because he would kill her anyway.

  With a wicked grin, he dashed in her direction, crossing a great distance as the flames in the surroundings flowed towards him, gathering at his fist.

  “Human! I’ll make you regret crossing my path!”

  He punched and the woman raised her sword to block.

  Almost instantly, the attack hit as a fiery wave of hell engulfed her. The iridescent fire pushed forward, turning the soil into ash. The weeds themselves evaporated and even the air was burned away by the blazing magical heat that quickly turned white.

  Like a miniature sun, everything in front of his fist was burnt to nothingness. This was his power as the Demon of Flames, and his advantage.

  He grinned, waiting for the System to loosen the restrictions on the strength he could unleash once more, but instead he heard a rustle in front of him.

  “Is that all?” the woman asked.

  An oddly familiar voice followed up. “The Demon of Flames was never considered particularly powerful, you’re expecting too much.”

  Hearing that, he felt a vein pop on his forehead as he roared.

  “Die heathen!”

  The flames gathered at his fist once again and then exploded outwards in a burst of white, charring everything they came into contact with and lighting everything in the vicinity on fire for eternity. This was his Essence in effect, burning the world itself. Even though the move was slightly straining for his avatar, it was certainly effective.

  He grinned at the fiery hell he had created, and waited for the screams of pain from the mercenary. Unfortunately, the screams never came and a sinister aura descended.

  Almost in an instant, he shivered from an instinctual fear, and that’s when he saw her. The same woman, with horns and covered in a twisted and chaotic red aura.

  T-This is?—

  She pointed at him. “Ripper Storm.”

  That’s when he finally recognized where the familiarity came from and grew pale. A storm of bright red swords engulfed him, cutting him apart as he screamed.

  * * *

  Amber blinked as she saw the demon quite literally explode into pieces, honestly it was rather anti-climactic. After all she had been a victim of this attack herself, and was able to parry it no problem, yet this demon had been hit by every single one of the slashes.

  “And here I thought I’d get to test this form out a bit.”

  “Ah yes, because a lowly demon is worthy of fighting such power,” the Demon of Chaos rolled his eyes.

  “Well I thought you were a lowly demon, and yet you turned out to be a big shot. Isn’t it normal that I expect every demon by the roadside to secretly be a terrifying being?” She glanced over at him.

  In response, all the Demon of Chaos did was snort.

  But just before she could continue to bully her new companion, or well subordinate in this case, they both heard a groan.

  She turned and saw the demon slowly regenerating, his mangled body barely starting to connect together and stopping him from falling apart once more. But rather than the conceited expression he wore before, he now looked at her in disbelief.

  “Why did you… become a lowly human, Chaos?”

  The Demon of Chaos disappeared from her shoulder and re-appeared in his full form in front of the Demon of Flames, his expression twisted in rage.

  “I did not become a human, she is simply my new master.”

  The dragon-like demon laughed. “So you fell that far… I wonder what the other demons will think of you once they learn of your failure.”

  Contrary to Amber’s expectations, instead of getting angry once more, the Demon of Chaos simply chuckled. “They had already considered me a failure before, it makes no difference. Just know that I’ll have the last laugh.”

  With that, he vanished and returned to her shoulder, speaking to Amber.

  “Kill him whenever you want, I’m done talking.”

  His words were heard by the other demon and he shouted in indignation. “You think this is the end? Even if it hurts me, I can send more power and incinerate you?—”

  Wind Cleave, Fulminating Slash?— Ripper.

  Instantly, Amber used a combination of three Essence Skills, hitting the demon and splitting him into six parts with the three different slashes.

  Blood exploded and his presence dissipated. Unfortunately, she wasn’t going to let him power up in front of her face, at least she was not in the mood for that anymore.

  So with that, the Demon of Flames had died and left behind some shiny experience for her to grab.

  [You have defeated a [Demon of Flames. Lvl. 343].]

  For defeating an enemy 65 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!

  [You have reached level 279. 15 stat points awarded.]

  +5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

  …

  [You have reached level 285. 15 stat points awarded.]

  +5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

  Unfortunately, just like in the past, leveling remained a pain in the ass, but Amber felt that at least with the Demon of Chaos acting as a form of radar, it would be a lot faster. And judging by the start, it was most likely a good conjecture.

  As Amber stood there, she heard Frei’s voice come from her ear.

  “Is it safe now?” it belonged to none other than Frei.

  “Yeah, you can bring the group now.”

  With her permission, a shadow emerged from a building, twisting in unnaturally as it became darker and began to gain mass. Ballooning up greatly, before it exploded and vanished, leaving Aveline, Mercoth and Frei standing there.

  The former two, stared at the surroundings in confusion, whereas the latter twitched as she saw the corpses in the vicinity. It made Amber feel a bit bad, but at least the demon that had done these things was now dead.

  “I don’t think there will even be supplies here,” Aveline said quietly.

  Frei nodded. “Probably not.”

  Their main reason for coming along was to try to scavenge for things, but as Aveline said the entire place was in ruins. But just as Amber was about to shake her head and suggest they get going for the next demon, she noticed movement inside of the houses.

  With a frown she teleported over, and broke through some debris when?—

  She saw a dagger coming right at her neck. Reacting just in time, she caught it with her armored hand and the blade even failed to penetrate her skin. Her eyes widened in surprise, because attacking her was no demon, but a man.

  [Shadow Assassin Lvl. 202]

  He was dressed in what could be described as a poorly made ghillie suit mainly made out of twigs and blood-stained bandages. And as they met gazes, his eyes widened in shock as he pulled back.

  “I-I’m sorry.”

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