Chapter 66: Demons

"...alright, this shouldn't be too bad for a little hidey-hole." Ashton murmured to himself.

'Could be better.' He heard Aria snort from their link.

"Definitely could." Ashton readily agreed, "But beggars can't be choosers. I never knew I'd have to do this one day so I didn't bother learning it, yet here we are."

Ashton's little shelter is built underground. Thanks to the Spells - Dig and Force Push he was able to hasten the process of building the underground shelter.

He sealed the entrance completely shut because he didn't want the infection to seep through his shelter. He also placed a Talisman Seal on the entrance as well as the corners of the shelter which should prevent that from happening either. Also, the talismans helps in keeping his aura within the shelter, this way, the demons would roam the city wouldn't be able to sense him.

Because the entrance was the only way out, air wouldn't flow inside the shelter. This would've been a problem but Ashton has a remedy for this.

He had a tool which converts Mana into Air, it's a small item which fits in the palm of his hands. He only need to inject it with Mana Crystals and it would do it's job. This item is called a Mana-Air Converter. It's a niche item and certainly does it's job.

Also, it doesn't count as Humanity's technology since Ashton received it from the System so it's working out here.

By the time he was done sealing himself away, he's aware that the outside has gone completely dark at this point.

Even with the Talisman Seals around him, Ashton could feel the foreboding danger flooding him at all sides. He's tensed and he's aware of it. Even though he had done everything he could to make sure that he'd be safe for the time being, it didn't comfort him at all.

Somehow, he still feel like he's in danger.

Aria could feel his distress and reassured him that he'd be fine. She said that what feels is just normal since he's never been in a situation like this before.

Ashton had to acquiesce to that, after all she makes a good point.

Carving out this shelter took some of his energy and mana away. Ashton decided to eat something for now and meditate afterwards to replenish his energy cause god knows he'll be needing it.

As he cooked his food using the portable stove he has, Ashton could feel several presence above him, causing him to wince.

Those presence were foul. It disgusts him to his very core. This is one of those times when his increased sensitivity to mana backfires, really.

He could hear them from here. Garbled sounds comes out of their jaws, they sound like a rabid dog for the most part, just make it deeper and creepier,

From what he can tell, there's hordes of them out there. He could feel the vibrations around him as a result of their march. If his guess was correct, then the Black Fog must be right on top of where he was right now.

As his food cooks, he slowly stood up and tip-toed to the entrance. He checked it's state and to his relief, it seems like it was holding up just fine. Not a trace of infection was visible yet.

And just to make sure he's being thorough, he glanced around the room to check if he can spot any infections. Once again, he was relieved to not find any.

That allowed him to relax even for just a bit. Once his food was done, he ate and meditated.

His meditation lead him to another discovery. Apparently, it is way more difficult to enter a meditative state within the Outside World.

He could feel a strong dissociation whenever he tries to. It's as if someone or something was preventing him doing so.

Ashton's a little freaked-out because of that. He even felt as if someone was staring directly at him which caused him to freeze. Thankfully, that's just his imagination. He managed to enter the meditative state using the basic method taught to kids.

Now, he just have to get used to it or work his way up again. And considering that he'll be out here a long time, this wouldn't be a problem in the long run.

Once he replenished his mana, Ashton tried to get some shut-eye. Unfortunately, because of the tense atmosphere and him being a nervous wreck in general, he wasn't able to sleep.

His mind was awfully active, feeding him negative thoughts that kept him up. He tried to regulate his breathing and other methods to hopefully get some sleep but none worked so he gave-up eventually.

Instead, he chose to replace sleep with meditation instead. Meditation works since it calms him down and kept his energy topped-up.

Eventually, hours passed in his meditation and before he knew it, the time has come for him to get out.

He checked his smartwatch and saw that it's about 4:30 in the morning, while it's still dark, the early rays of dawn should be visible at this point.

He cleaned-up his stuff and walked towards the entrance. He took out his staff and applied the Spell - Silent Cowl on himself.

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[Silent Cowl - Lv. 9]

• Minimizes the sounds of footsteps.

• Reduces the spell caster's aura and presence.

• Lasts for 1 hour.

• Shroud breaks upon contact with the enemy.

Once the Spell was on, Ashton slowly peeled off the talisman seal from the entrance. Then, he did his best to silently move the rubble away so as to not alert any demons nearby.

Not even out of his little shelter just yet, he could already see the patches of Tormented Soil.

If he wasn't conserving Mana, he'd already used Purify on this place yet he didn't. Instead, he casted Cleansing Shroud on himself and moved-on.

[Cleansing Shroud]

• Channel a shroud that prevents vile infections and keeps the spell caster pure.

• Last for as long as mana is supplied.

This Spell should allow him to walk on tormented soil unharmed. It wouldn't remove the infection, it will only prevent it from infecting him but that's fine. Using Purify around here will just leave tracks which Demons could use to follow him, he doesn't want that to happen so this works for him.

'Okay, time to see what we're dealing with.' Ashton murmured to himself.

He kept his posture low as he surveyed his surroundings. Just as he expected, it's still dim outside but that's fine. There's enough light around for him to see things clearly, plus his eyesight is good thanks to his increased sensitivity.

Ashton spotted several shadows lurking around. He found a spot to hide and observe them from afar. He squinted a bit to see what he's looking at and saw several features from the demons...

The one glaring thing about demons is their Horns as it represents how strong their are. Each demon has a pair at the very base, which meant that they're lowest level for their kind. The more pairs of horns they have, the older and stronger a demon is.

Right off the bat, Ashton saw four pairs of Horns...

It took all of his might to not just 'nope' his way out of here to be completely honest.

'Oh, joy. And adult demon right of the bat. Are you freaking kidding me!?'

Unlike humans, demons don't cultivate. Neither does their counterpart at the other side of the map. Cultivation is something humans only know how to do.

But, instead of cultivation, Demons gets stronger the older they get. By 'older' it doesn't necessarily meant that they're alive for a very long time. Their growth speed depends on what kind of Demon they are, the purity of their bloodline and their overall potential.

Some demons grow faster than others which in turn, makes them stronger. That's how it works for them.

That being said, Ashton is in grave danger right now for he's within the presence of an Adult Demon. He doesn't really need to know what kind of demon this is to know that he's in a perilous situation since according to what he learned, even Arch Mages had to run at the sight of any Adult Demons.

If it wasn't for the fact that he has the Silent Cowl on him, this demon would've already sensed him and killed him.

Ashton froze in fear. He could hear Aria urging him to move and enter the Grand Library but honestly, he's so freaked out right now that he's totally frozen on the spot.

He noticed the other features of the demon though.

Aside from four pairs of horns, he could see a pair of bat-like wings behind it's back. It was shorter than him, around 3-3.5 foot tall. It held a some sort of pitchfork and had an alcoholic's belly. It had a deep maroon skin-tone and the lower half of its body looked like it belonged to a horse.

Surrounding it, were other smaller demons who looked just like the adult one. The others had a pair of horns, or at least two of them from what he observed so far.

At this point, Ashton finally had a name that matched the features he observed so far.

'Shit! It's a pack of Imps!'

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