When she saw the village that the Demon of Flames had wrecked, she had never expected for someone to still be alive, let alone a capable fighter. Well, her definition of capable had certainly changed compared to a year ago, but he would still be considered an incredibly strong individual to the masses, and yet in front of her he was…

  Apologizing.

  Repeatedly.

  “I’m sorry, I truly thought you were a demon. I’m so glad you weren’t hurt?— No, what I’m saying. I’m sorry for attacking you.”

  According to him, her presence was truly akin to a demon’s, and in all honesty she didn’t fully blame the young man. After all, her Skill, Divine Demonic Avatar, made her part demon, so her scent or presence changing wasn’t surprising. Which is why she put a stop to the man.

  “Nevermind that, are there survivors other than you?”

  Considering she had only sensed him when he moved, it was faster to ask him. However, contrary to her expectations, the Demon of Chaos at her shoulder replied in his stead.

  “There are no more survivors.”

  The man finally caught sight of the small demon and jumped in fright ever so slightly, his expression changed as he looked at Amber in fear.

  “If you’re going to use me as demon summoning material, you should know that m-my body and blood is undesirable to?—”

  “I’m not a demon summoner,” Amber answered in a deadpan manner. “This is just a demon I defeated and contracted.”

  The man pulled back with a skeptical look, his thoughts evidently changing various times a second, before he finally nodded.

  “If you were going to use me as summoning material then you would’ve killed me as soon as your contracted demon informed you there were no other survivors,” he said simply. Then he nodded, his expression softening and twisting. “Yes it is as he said, everyone else is dead…”

  “So, you hid to save your life? Humans and their hypocrisy,” the Demon of Chaos didn’t miss the chance to attack him.

  The man’s mouth twisted before he nodded, his head lowered. “That’s right, but what else could I do? I was just passing by the village to collect some things for my mentor when it attacked. I was not its rival, so all I could do was stay alive…”

  “That’s perfectly normal, don’t blame yourself too much,” Amber reassured.

  “Normal? Yes, for scu?—”

  “Shut it.”

  She gave a glare to the Demon of Chaos causing him to stop mid-sentence. It seemed that he already knew his fate if he continued on being annoying, which was good at least. Finally, Amber turned her thoughts towards the Shadow Assassin.

  Collecting some things for his mentor? That was surprising. At level 202, he has a mentor?

  “Wait, so your… mentor’s home survived this whole apocalypse?”

  The man scoffed, looking indignant. “Of course it did, why wouldn’t it? Under his protection, our town is?—”

  “What’s taking ya so long?— wait, who is this?” Frei interrupted, having just teleported over.

  She peered over Amber and looked at the young assassin with a frown, looking him up and down as she rubbed her chin in thought.

  “How odd, sensing you is particularly difficult.”

  The man said nothing and instead observed the peach-fuzz colored hair for a moment, before his eyes widened in shock.

  “Y-You’re the Dark Reaper!”

  Frei frowned. “I don’t recall my wanted notices being widespread enough to be recognized by random mercenaries.”

  “My mentor told me about you!” He pointed at her. “Y-You are the most wanted mage from the Republic of Mercenaries.”

  Frei paused. “Wait, am I?”

  “Yes and y-you are? also?—”

  Amber looked between the two individuals, before coughing, catching both of their attention before turning back to the assassin. It was important she’d interrupt before he turned uncooperative.

  “You said your town is protected by your mentor? Is he famous?”

  The young man eyed her warily. “Of course, he’s the Dark Blade.”

  Although, it seemed like she was a bit too late judging by the change in his demeanor.

  “Eh, didn’t he retire a good century ago, though?” Frei asked, confused.

  He snorted. “Retired or not he’s my mentor, and he’s planning on acting soon. He just tasked me to gather some resources for his journey.”

  Then he looked at Amber and Frei seriously, his eyes narrowing in a threatening manner.

  “So even if you two are from the Arcane Council, you should know that killing me will have terrible consequences.”

  “Who said anything about killing you?” Frei tilted her head. “The only reason we’d have is if you were also a member of the Council.”

  Hearing her, the assassin blinked in shock.

  * * *

  So, apparently the young man was an apprentice of the so-called retired legendary mercenary, ‘Dark Blade’. And he had thought that they were members of the Arcane Council because of Frei’s presence. Honestly, Amber had sort of seen it coming as soon as he reacted to her presence, but thankfully they managed to sort of earn his trust after a long back and forth conversation that may have involved truth magic. It was worth noting that the Demon of Chaos had been unsummoned due to his snippy comments not long after the conversation started.

  As for why go to such lengths to earn such trust? Well, the answer was simple. If Pacey’s mentor ?— that was the name of the assassin ?— was a truly legendary mercenary and incredibly strong, then perhaps it was worth enlisting his help with the whole impending doom the Demon of Genesis was trying to bring. At least, that's what Amber believed.

  During this conversation, they also learned that Dark Blade intended to hunt down a specific member of the Arcane Council, but no other important information was gathered. Which wasn’t unexpected. The fact that Pacey was even willing to share that information was mere goodwill from killing the Demon of Flames.

  As for meeting Dark Blade? Well…

  “If you want you can come along, the journey should only be a couple of hours at max speed,” he said casually. “It’s the town of Venzor, you must’ve heard of it.”

  Frei grew troubled before turning to Amber. “It’s to the west, in the opposite direction of where we’re heading.”

  Amber frowned, there wasn’t all that much time to spare?, every moment counted. So if she spent her time going back and didn’t make it in time to stop the Demon of Genesis, that would be catastrophic. Even now she struggled with the idea of taking small detours to kill demons, like they had with the Demon of Flames.

  Even if it’s just a few hours, she inwardly added.

  “You people are heading east?” Pacey asked in shock. “You do realize that it’s no man’s land at this point right?”

  Frei’s expression took a hit from that but she said nothing, however Amber just nodded. “Even then, I wish to grow stronger.”

  The assassin looked over at her with a dubious look. “You’re plenty strong already, you know?”

  She shook her head. “Not strong enough to stop the Demon of Genesis, or what they plan to do in the Republic.”

  “What do they plan to do?” The man was confused.

  Frei simply handed him a black card in reply. “If your mentor is curious he can come find us, but I don’t think that’s information you should know.”

  He got a dubious look. “But if it’s not something I can know or should know, then what should I even tell him?”

  Frei seemed at a loss for words, but Amber already had an answer:

  “Tell him that the Demon of Genesis is working to summon something much more terrifying than itself, he should probably understand that.”

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  Pacey nodded slightly.

  “So, both of you will just continue on your journey?”

  Amber nodded. Of course, Frei had informed Mercoth and Aveline of the situation via her shadow magic, but neither of them were present in the conversation, and maybe it was for the best. Earning this much trust from the assassin had already been difficult enough.

  “Alright, then I guess… I’ll pass this message to my mentor and tell him what happened.” He pursed his lips. “But both of you should know that he prefers to judge things himself.”

  Frei frowned, but Amber just accepted it. From the looks of it, it looked to be a potentially troublesome thing, but she didn’t feel like it was a huge deal.

  “That’s fine.”

  “Then, best of luck.”

  The assassin took a step back, and a moment later he vanished like a slithering shadow at high speed. But the movement just got a snort from Frei.

  “So, he’s amazing at erasing his presence except when he’s moving.”

  “Perhaps he picked it up from his mentor, the Dark Blade,” Amber suggested simply. “Whom, I still barely have any clue about who he is.”

  With those words, the two of them began to head back to the group.

  Frei shrugged. “When I was growing up I heard tales of him, but now you’d be hard-pressed to even know about him. That’s just how fame in the Republic works. Some legends fade and new ones are born.”

  Amber pondered before sighing. “I do suppose I know nothing about famous mercenaries. I barely even know there was a Mercenary King.”

  Frei looked over at her. “Where did you even hear that?”

  “Class Advancement vision.” Amber shrugged.

  “That is an ancient myth, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t even related to the Republic of Mercenaries but had to do with a legend from the main continent,” Frei said simply. “Not like I’d know.”

  “Huh I see.”

  Shortly after that, they reunited with Aveline and Mercoth and resumed their journey towards the next demon to hunt. The village that had been burned down, and unfortunately had nothing of interest. As for where the next demon was? Well, according to the Demon of Chaos it was a day away to the east.

  And so making haste, they went on their way.

  * * *

  During the journey, the group encountered various destroyed settlements and no living beings aside from some stray weak demons. Even though Amber had used the word apocalypse lightly earlier, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that it looked like a doomsday scenario in her eyes. Everywhere she looked around the settlements there were traces of battle and corpses in various states of decay strewn about, it was a depressing sight.

  However, the most affected one was clearly Frei, who had grown within the Republic. The more time that passed, the more melancholic she seemed, but there also seemed to be a brewing hatred for demons considering she quickly eliminated the weaker ones that dared to attack them.

  It seemed that their quest of finding strong demons was a lot more difficult than Amber expected. But with the directions of the Demon of Chaos, they did eventually meet their target a day later. Albeit in a rather anti-climactic way.

  Amber looked off in the distance where she saw a hound as large as a house sleeping peacefully amidst some ruins.

  [Demon of Hunting. Lvl. ???]

  According to the Demon of Chaos this one should have been around Level 350, but from the looks of it it didn’t seem all that strong. Otherwise, it would have sensed them already considering it was the Demon of Hunting and they weren’t too far away. Sure, it was basically a speck in the distance, but it was well within Amber’s detection range, and even Mercoth’s. And considering Amber’s bond with the Demon of Chaos, it wouldn’t have even been surprising if it sensed them even sooner.

  But from the looks of it, it was sleeping peacefully.

  “I can sense your disappointment. But you should keep in mind most demons are far from extraordinary. Even though their strength far exceeds Vir’s standards, they still remain at the bottom of the food-chain.” The Demon of Chaos shrugged.

  Amber nodded listening to him, it honestly made sense. Just because an insect in Ill’hine could destroy an entire empire in Vir, it didn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t a, well… insect. It was simply because the environment was different that their strength was comparatively higher. In practice, they were just two different ecosystems.

  “So I guess I should put it out of its misery, huh.”

  Amber took a deep breath, she wasn’t too keen on wasting time. So, she channeled the Divine Demonic Avatar skill, this time in front of her companions.

  Almost in an instant, a red aura rippled from her feet and Frei and the others took a step back in shock. Horns grew atop of her head as a tail of energy was formed behind her, and then, without hesitation Amber took out Arkara’s Staff.

  She held it forward and channeled her Essence into it, making a bow that she quickly infused her signature skills into, Primordial Blazing Bolt, and Primordial Disintegration Bolt. But she didn’t stop there as she also added the Demon of Chaos’ distorting powers into it.

  Finally, taking a deep breath, she shot the arrow adding some wind on top of it.

  In a blink, the arrow blurred and like a shooting star it hit its target and exploded. A massive and rippling distortion occurred in the horizon as blue and black fire engulfed the immediate vicinity, causing some of the surrounding area to break apart into particles or to bloom flora.

  It only took a single attack for the environment to become unrecognizable and for the demon to perish.

  [You have defeated a [Demon of Hunting. Lvl. 348].]

  For defeating an enemy 60 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!

  [You have reached level 286. 15 stat points awarded.]

  +5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

  …

  [You have reached level 290. 15 stat points awarded.]

  +5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

  And just like that, she had gained five additional levels. Maybe if she had faced this demon just after exiting the Shattered Tower it would’ve stood a better chance. Well, better chance at being a punching bag at least. But as things stood, it was just meat on a chopping block.

  Amber dispelled her demonic form, and couldn’t help but let out a long breath. If she compared her state before entering the Primordial Spirit tower in the Republic to now, the changes were… earth-shattering. Of course, she wasn’t a huge fan of completely abusing Essence and not using System Skills, since the two were meant to work together. But right now, she was just trying to catch up in terms of levels.

  These fights weren’t something that actually mattered to her.

  Shaking her head, Aveline meekly approached her.

  “Amber, are you… a demon now?” she asked, almost scared.

  Amber was confused for a moment, before she saw Mercoth looking at her in the same way. Though it made sense, considering neither of them had seen her use that Skill. As for Frei, she continued to take anything Amber did in stride.

  “I’m not a demon, that skill just makes me… part demon I suppose,” she explained simply. “And only while I’m using it.”

  “That doesn’t sound much better.” Mercoth scratched his chin.

  Aveline also wasn’t too sure what to say, but all Amber could do was shrug in response. Just because she was using demon powers it didn’t exactly make her an actual demon, it’s not like she was selling her soul to the Demon Gods or anything. Now, if she were doing that, then she had no reason to doubt that Sid’fril himself would descend upon her and give her a good beating, but that wasn’t what was happening.

  So in short, she truly saw no problem with her actions.

  Amber saw no reason to justify herself, so instead they resumed the leveling journey. The other demon was thankfully much closer.

  * * *

  On the way to the next demon, Amber made sure to look for the occasional monster to help Aveline level up, albeit there weren’t too many to find. Turns out that mass summoning demons was bad for the ecosystem, shocking. It was truly bad luck, but there wasn’t much they could do, at least not right now.

  However, just when they were about to reach their destination, something rather surprising happened. The Demon of Chaos jerked.

  “I suddenly sense a lot of demons… how odd.” He tilted his head. “They were deliberately hiding their presence, but if so many at once are doing it then, isn’t this the work of a summoner doing it for them?”

  The whole group paused hearing him, and finally Mercoth spoke what was on everyone’s mind.

  “And how far away are these demons?”

  “Two days away,” the Demon of Chaos said simply.

  That caused a small silence in the group, after all while everyone knew his detection range was incredibly large ?— as shown by how he had hunted Amber ?— he usually only indicated nearby demons, so this situation felt rather unexpected.

  “Do you think we should avoid them?” Amber finally asked.

  “At this distance it’s impossible to tell, but if it’s too dangerous I don’t think the rocks you have for brains would allow you to turn a blind eye,” he said, shaking his head.

  Amber frowned at the insult, but perhaps he was right. “Just give me updates as you get them I guess. But you know, Demon of Chaos, it does feel like you’ve been getting more comfortable lately.”

  She glanced at the demon who seemed to stiffen slightly.

  “If you don’t want me to start unsummoning you again, I suggest you hold your comments back a little.”

  In response, he gave a shallow nod.

  When Amber made the contract with him, she didn’t know what to expect. After all, it was hard to imagine the Demon of Chaos suddenly being respectful, but what she didn’t expect was that he’d be just as nasty and only insult her slightly less. At first it was amusing, but admittedly it was starting to get annoying.

  Well, I can just keep on unsummoning him.

  Telling herself that, they made their journey towards the next demon. Or well, the location of the next demon because…

  “So, he’s underground or what?” Frei looked ahead in confusion.

  … they were standing before a deep cave.

  “The demon is inside.”

  Nodding, Amber stepped forward.

  Considering the track record of the Demon of Chaos so far, there was no reason to doubt him. But there wasn’t a reason to doubt him before considering he was literally contracted to her. However, considering the location, the group chose to just camp at the entrance of the cave.

  Almost two days had passed since they had departed from the fortress.

  Thanks to Frei and Mercoth’s magic it wasn’t too difficult to maintain a relatively fast travel speed even for Aveline to keep up pace with her running at a relatively fast speed, which for Amber’s goals was great. Otherwise, she would’ve had to re-think her whole journey.

  Now inside the cave, Amber made her way down the winding path. The inside was damp and cold, but aside from that it was eerily clean. There were no traces of blood, or even anything living. No moss nor insects. At least, that’s what she could see with the open flame on her hand.

  Continuing deeper revealed the same problems, aside from the natural rock formations within the cave there was truly nothing to see, not even dripping water. The setting was more eerie than anything.

  Amber wanted to question the Demon of Chaos, when the flame on her hand was extinguished. Instantly, she was plunged into darkness and a long breath echoed.

  “To think, we’d meet again, Amber.”

  She didn’t recognize that hoarse voice at all. With a frown, she tried to light a flame in her hand but was unable to. She then used her Essence to ignite a flame through whatever effect was trying to prevent it

  Blue light burst into the surroundings, and that’s when she saw him.

  It was a tall, black demon with spindly limbs and a crooked grin, its head wasn’t that much different to a human’s except for the serrated teeth and horns. Its yellow eyes were piercing and filled with excitement at the recognition of an acquaintance.

  And Amber, too recognized it.

  [Demon of Darkness. Lvl. ???]

  It was the same demon she had killed in the Shattered Tower.

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