The subliminal taste of too many potions downed at once trailed a path of discomfort down Aiden’s throat. If you’d ever tasted a proper mana potion you would always think of them with a frown and a smile. The frown was on account of the taste and the smile on account of the sensation.

  A well-made mana potion, one not customized to the user, tasted almost like Hennessy diluted heavily with water, perhaps three parts water to one part Henessey—for those who had tasted the drink—then, as if in hopes of sweetening, someone had added a pinch or two of salt.

  Aiden hated the taste of Henessey. He’d stolen a bottle of the drink from his father’s bar after his breakup with Tasha in an attempt to get irreparably drunk. He’d heard somewhere that it helped.

  Three sips of the alcoholic drink had been quick to let him know that he was not a man for Hennessey. Determined, however, to lose his mind to the sweet oblivion of alcohol, he had thought to dilute the drink with water. The outcome to him had been gravely worse than just having the actual drink.

  In the end, while the spirit had been willing to be drunk, the flesh had been weak. His taste buds could not suffer under any more than a collection of five sips before he had given up. Aiden had gone the rest of the night with a very clear mind, perhaps even clearer from how shocking the taste of the drink had left him.

  As for the analogy of a pinch or two of salt, it was not a far-fetched thought. He'd had diluted Hennessey, and he had had salt. It was not a difficult thing to put the two together.

  As for the feeling that came with mana potions, it was something warm. Like stepping out of the winter cold and into a heated room. The warmth just filled you up and loosened your muscles in a manner.

  Then health potions, as always, tasted like grass.

  Aiden did his conscious best to ignore the after taste in his mouth as he strolled through the forest, taking note of trees and making sure he continued to head south of the forest where the cave that had the demon was said to be.

  Under the influence of a [Weave of Lesser Perception] sounds flitted to his ear in gentle waves. He watched the darkness with keen eyes and picked out branches and leaves. Overgrown roots that poked out from the ground and blades of grass that thought to stand out a little too much.

  They kept him company as he weaved his way around trees, ducking where he should and overstepping where he should. As he moved, Aiden thought of Torat. There was an itch in the back of his mind. It told him that the [Dragon Knight] was not done hunting him.

  The discarding of Valdan’s clothes, however, should’ve bought them time. Maybe a day or two.

  Unless he marked his skin or his sword.

  Aiden shook his paranoia. Everyone in the Order that used a marking enchantment knew better than to have more than three on hand at the same time. Everyone also knew, however, that three was a limit only imposed on those who feared taking risks. Risk takers liked to alternate how many they used.

  But that was actually not his top worry. Valdan being marked mattered very little. The real issue was that Torat was after him. With the Order’s extensive possession of spies in all parts of Nastild, it inadvertently meant that all eyes would be looking for him.

  In his past life, Aiden had risen to a position that allowed him… no, demanded that he know all the spies that the Order had in operation. Sadly, that knowledge couldn’t serve him to the best of its capability in this life. Why? The answer was simple. His knowledge was quite literally ahead of its time.

  He was only aware of the Order’s network of spies from seven years ahead of his current time. While some of the pieces of information he had would overlap because of spies that had spent a very long time being spies, he doubted that it would be much.

  The Order knew about him now. And if the entire Order didn’t know about him, then the master of the Order knew. There was nothing that Torat knew that the man did not.

  If he’s even a man, Aiden thought, an old standing joke common within the Order among those of specific standing.

  Anytime the master of the Order was referred to as a man or human, there was very often someone around to drop that comment. It was a mantra at some point. A mantra apparently older than Aiden.

  Even with his mind plagued with thoughts of the Order and what he would do, Aiden’s eyes caught onto something. He paused, halting his steps, and moved in its direction.

  It was a tree, tall and fat, if fat could be used to describe a tree. At least it was wide. Wider than four men standing side by side. It was where you would hide if you were avoiding attacks from a ranged opponent.

  Aiden placed a gentle hand on it. Taking a moment to look around, he confirmed that there was nothing immediately threatening in his vicinity. Once that was confirmed, he looked at the tree.

  Just as he had suspected, right there, beneath his hand, was a long gash.

  Fresh, he noted. At least within the last hour.

  A thoughtful frown touched his lips as he took note of the length of the slash. It was probably from a sword, very likely. A sword was the easiest weapon to make a slash as deep as the one he was looking at and as long as the one he was looking at in one strike.

  As for how he knew it was done in a single strike, it was in the lack of hesitation marks. The gash was one long quick slash. Someone with a spear could do it but they would need greater mastery of the spear than a person would of the sword to execute the move.

  Then again, Aiden could be wrong, and it would be the mark of a very skilled knife master.

  But if he was right, and it truly was a mark made by a sword, it begged a few more questions. Was it a mark made by Valdan or not? If it was, then why was the knight marking trees?

  Had he found something and was marking the path to it?

  Aiden took his hand from the tree and looked farther to the south.

  Was he coming or going?

  He looked back in the direction he’d come from, contemplating. With a conclusive decision, he moved further south. He kept his eyes on the trees as he walked, splitting his attention from his general surroundings and offering some of it to the trees around him.

  After a few minutes of walking, he spotted the second marking. He frowned as he moved to it.

  It was a similar mark to the first. One clean stroke, masterful in its own way. This one was on a tree that led generally south-east. Aiden’s frown deepened. The mark seemed to be leading him away from the south. It was still in the general direction he was going, but what would he do if it finally went astray.

  It might not even be Valdan.

  But it might be. That was where the problem was. Was he willing to risk it?

  Aiden looked down at himself. The smell of blood was no longer as strong, but it was there. He had, in a manner, bathed in it, after all.

  With a deep sigh, rimmed with a touch of annoyance, he followed the mark. This better be Valdan, he grumbled as he moved.

  It was a few trees before he found another mark. Following it like a hunter following the tracks of a prey, he moved quietly. As he feared, the marks veered from heading south and started heading east.

  Aiden followed them. At a point, he stopped. Using [Enchanted Weave] he almost weaved himself into silence before thinking better of it. In the end, he activated [Stealth]. [Weave of Lesser Silence] was a better option than the skill since it did a better job of masking his sound, but it didn’t mask his scent.

  Regardless, his choice of [Stealth] was designed to give the skill as much use as possible. There was no harm in raising its mastery.

  It was almost fifteen minutes of silent walking when something new happened. In the silent forest where life made no sound, eerie but not unexpected if there was a demon around, Aiden heard movement.

  He stopped, drawing the blade of his sword an inch free of its scabbard. The quiet almost nonexistent hiss was loud to his ears in the forest’s silence.

  Then he waited, standing in place, facing the direction of the sound. He saw the source of it before the source saw him and his frown lessened into an almost empty expression.

  A man dashed out from a shrubbery. He cradled one of his hands in the other, running like a man in a panic with wide eyes that looked scared and vengeful at the same time.

  Aiden gauged the distance between him and the man as the man continued to run. In the darkness, the man almost didn’t see him. But he did. Once his eyes settled on Aiden, he ran straight for him.

  Wondering how long it would take the man to realize that he was currently using the [Stealth] skill, Aiden waited in place. He did not stop calculating the distance.

  “Thank the gods!” the man exclaimed as he approached him. “Did the chief send you?”

  Aiden said nothing. Lowering his eyes to the man’s cradled hand, he found that the man was not, in fact, cradling his hand. He was cradling a wrist where a hand had once been. Someone had taken his hand from him in a clean strike.

  “Some fool did it,” the man snapped as he drew closer. “We have to tell the chief that another knight has come. A [Knight of the Crown] this time.”

  The man was almost within reach now.

  A step or two more was all he needed to be in reach when he stopped and frowned. He looked at Aiden with a touch of confusion.

  “What’s wrong with your eyes?” he asked, his frown deepening. “And what’s that on you? Is that blood?”

  Aiden raised his free hand to his face but didn’t touch his eyes. “My eyes?”

  He watched the man frown, take a half-step back, change his mind, shake his head.

  “Yes, your eyes,” he said. “Why are they a bright blue? Why are they so bright? Are you using an enchantment right now?”

  That was a reasonable question. There were enchantments that had subtle effects like changing the color of one’s eyes. They were mostly perception based enchantments. But Aiden doubted the [Weave of Lesser Perception] he was under was the reason. He’d used it a few times around people, and no one had pointed any difference out.

  Aiden nodded in response to the man. “A perception enchantment,” he said. “The chief gave me. He said I should come and tell you that—”

  The man silenced him with a dismissive gesture. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve got to go.” He moved forward. Three steps carried him towards Aiden. “We need to tell the boss that—”

  There was a flash of steel in the dark night as Aiden drew his sword. It was followed by the splatter of blood and the soft gurgling sound of a person drowning.

  The man stared at Aiden with wide eyes as his one hand grasped at the line Aiden’s sword had torn in his neck. His other hand tried to help, but with no hand, it was futile. Although, it would not have made a difference.

  It wasn’t long before the man dropped to his knee, then fell to the side. Aiden watched the single indicator hovering over the man’s head. It had been in amber. It read simply: [Prey].

  It was another few seconds before Aiden got the awaited notification.

  [You have dealt Jaderd a Fatal Blow!]

  [Congratulations! You have slain Jaderd Lvl 49!]

  …

  [You have slain one with the title Cannibal]

  [You have slain an unnatural predator of your kind.]

  Stepping over him, Aiden continued on his way. He hadn’t needed the indicator to tell him or the notifications either. He had pointed out the man for Valdan to follow earlier in the night. Even then, he could not forget the face of the adventurer, Jaderd.

  The man had either escaped Valdan, or for some reason Valdan had let him live. Aiden could see the latter happening.

  For a knight he’s such a softie, Aiden thought as he continued forward, leaving Jaderd to bleed out all over the green grass.

  It wasn’t long before he heard his second sign of life. It was loud and uncaring of silence. A piercing hiss filled the air, sharp and solid. It was like the sound of a fire extinguisher.

  From where he was, it wasn’t the loudest thing, but it was loud enough that he knew that he wasn’t far. Aiden picked up the pace, abandoning silence for speed. He cut through the trees, heading in its general direction.

  A flash of light filled the air, yellow and bright. It peeked through the sea of trees to catch Aiden’s attention. The flash of light was followed by a different kind of hiss. This one denoted pain.

  Then there was a rumbling, a shaking of the ground like an earthquake. But it wasn’t strong, not enough to actually make a person falter or stumble.

  Aiden drew closer to the flash. When he did, he smelled something in the air. A moment after, he saw gas. It was a deep, blackish green, the color of rot.

  He placed a hand over his nose and unsheathed his sword, but he was too slow and his interface let him know.

  [You have been afflicted with skill Living Rot.]

  …

  [You possess skill Willpower.]

  [Living Rot does not take effect]

  Well, that’s a good thing, he thought, removing his hand from over his nose.

  Valdan’s voice came a moment later.

  “It’s going to take more than that to kill me, you brute.”

  It was a challenge, but he didn’t raise his voice. He was either respecting the silence of the night or actively trying to draw no more attention to what was happening than he already was.

  Aiden peered around the tree in front of him. The sight he was welcome to was an annoying one. Valdan stood in what was now a large patch of grass. The scenery would tell anyone who cared to look and had the ability to tell a man from a woman in the dark night that it had not always been a patch of barren land.

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  Fallen trees littered the grounds around. Some looked aged, desiccated. Others looked ravaged as if by vengeful termites. Blades of grass that once stood tall and proud, as high as a man’s ankle, fell flat, bowing in subservience to death. They were—Aiden couldn’t be certain even with his enhanced perception—brown, dried.

  A green mist enveloped the space Valdan stood within. His shirt and pants were torn in odd places. Each torn place was stained in blood telling a tale of the injury beneath them. He looked tired but not yet out of the fight. His breathing was slightly labored but not strained. There was still a steady cadence to it, a rhythm that told anyone who knew anything about a fight that his mind was still clear and ready.

  Valdan swung his sword in an arc. A blast of yellow mana crackled through the air, shooting across the distance. It illuminated the environment, proving Aiden’s conception of the grass being brown to be true.

  Aiden placed a gentle hand on the tree beside him as he watched Valdan’s skill cut through the air. The tree gave under the weight of his hand, surprising him. The spot where he’d placed his hand crumbled.

  Whatever skill had afflicted him worked very quickly on things like trees and grass… maybe even simple animals. That would explain the absence of life in the forest.

  A painful hiss wracked the air once more. It told Aiden that Valdan’s attack had hit its mark. He turned his attention to the other side of the patch of land and a frown line creased his brows.

  Valdan was fighting against a basilisk. Maybe thirty feet long, its girth was easily six feet wide. The creature had scales of deep green that stood out even in the darkness, reflecting the lacking light of the stars and crescent moon. But its existence as a basilisk wasn’t what caught Aiden’s eyes. It was the ten arachnid legs that spanned each side of it.

  Three were missing on the side facing Aiden and the creature ducked away just in time to avoid Valdan’s slash. Where the arc of mana should’ve taken one of the creature’s limbs, it tore a gash against the beast’s side.

  Green blood spilled from its side as the creature hissed in pain. Opposite it, Valdan was already preparing himself for something more. It was in his stance, the way he held his sword to the side, legs crouched. He had plans of closing the distance between him and the beast.

  Aiden wanted to step in but chose to wait. Valdan had crossed the level fifty threshold. It meant that unlike Aiden, killing monsters on his own was beneficial to his growth. If he jumped in and interfered, it would reduce how much Valdan would gain from the victory as whatever gain would lead to an increase in level would be shared between them.

  It would be a waste on Aiden, and he knew it. Remembering it, he found himself wondering just how many levels he would’ve gained from the massacre he had just perpetrated before coming here if he was not at the threshold.

  He was still thinking about things when the mist that had surrounded him suddenly pulled away from the environment. The tree next to him decayed faster until it crumbled and was nothing but a pile of a dead thing.

  Aiden turned his head, followed the withdrawing mist. It led him back to the demon Valdan was fighting. It had its head pulled back almost as high as the trees in the forest. Inhaling deeply, it pulled all the mist into its mouth.

  A frown twisted Aiden’s lips as he slipped behind another tree and watched the gash Valdan’s attack had inflicted upon the creature begin to close up. Whatever it was doing was healing it. Nobody liked a fight against an opponent capable of healing itself during combat.

  “I told you,” Valdan roared at it. “That won’t work a second time.”

  He closed the distance between them with a speed so fast, Aiden’s eyes would’ve had a difficult time tracking it without his perception enhancement. [Dash] always remained the melee fighter’s favorite foundational skill.

  Moving passed the creature, Valdan separated one of its remaining legs from its body with a swing of his sword. The creature hissed in pain once more, then tried to roll away from the knight.

  The mist stopped being pulled to it as it threw itself to the side, raising a ruckus and shaking the ground. Aiden took note of it, wondering if that was what had shaken the ground when he’d been on his way here.

  The creature bounced through the space, tumbling over the ground of broken trees and dead grass. When it came to a stop, it raised its head once more and began drawing in the mist. Valdan’s stance changed again and he blitzed through the distance.

  Again, the creature threw itself to the side, abandoning the mist.

  It was like watching someone who had mastered the moves of a boss monster in a video game, counter it each time.

  Not being allowed to heal itself, the creature’s injury continued to leak. Green blood poured down its scale. When it came to a stop again, it hissed at Valdan in annoyance instead of trying to draw in the mist.

  In response, Valdan threw a sword slash at it. The mana arced through the distance, striking the beast in the side. It seemed as if the creature’s size did a lot in hindering its speed as it failed to dodge and Valdan’s attack tore a gash in its underbelly.

  When it hissed again, Valdan changed his stance again. This time, he took on something defensive. Aiden’s eyes narrowed at that.

  A new move set? He wondered, thinking about the demon not the knight.

  He was right.

  One of the creature’s limbs shot through the distance like a fired bullet. Valdan reacted quickly, moving a fraction of a second after the limb left the creature. He stepped to the side, maintaining his position, and the limb drove completely into the ground. With that piercing power, one blast would go right through the night.

  That he’d chosen to dodge the way he did was a very dangerous choice. The skill explained the injuries that Valdan had. It left Aiden wondering how many close calls Valdan had experienced to be riddled with all the injuries and learn to anticipate the creature’s attacks.

  Maybe I should help, Aiden thought but didn’t step out.

  A different thought held him in place. He’s not some helpless Order student in training. He can take care of himself.

  But could he?

  Aiden understood the need to allow Valdan reap the complete rewards for winning this fight, but at what cost? A single perfect blast of that creature’s limb would kill him. All it would take was one mistake.

  He loved to think that Valdan would not make the mistake, but that was optimism. A realist was what Aiden liked to think of himself as. In the brighter light of the truth, he would say he leaned towards pessimism.

  You’ve got to help him, somehow, he thought as Valdan slipped to the side again, evading another limb, this one coming faster than the last.

  For each limb the creature fired, a new limb replaced it. However, for the limbs it seemed like Valdan had severed, there was no replacement.

  When Valdan dodged a third, feet still moving through what Aiden realized were sword stances designed for evasion, he was forced to move his sword. The weapon cut through the air, striking the fired limb and nudging the limb to the side. When it struck the ground, it only went halfway in.

  The third limb had been significantly faster than the second.

  The poisoned mist from the creature still filled the environment since the demon was yet to suck it back in. Judging from how nothing else was dying, Aiden concluded that it was only potent for a period of time.

  Ignoring the [Prey] indicator hovering over the beast’s head, brown in color, Aiden found an idea coming to mind.

  Valdan turned a fifth strike aside with his sword. The sound it made when the steel of his blade met the limb was jarring, like striking a sword against stone.

  The fifth limb turned aside, Valdan changed his stance once more to an attacking one.

  Aiden saw the [Dash] coming from a mile away and decided that he would teach the knight how to use the skill without telegraphing it so much. Then again, it was possible that he was only telegraphing it so readily because his opponent was not another human being.

  That was a rookie mistake.

  Aiden watched the demon tense up for a moment before Valdan attacked. The knight would cross the distance and the creature would react. It would then be a case of who was faster.

  Aiden acted at the same time. All three fighters, one being a spectator more than a fighter, moved at the same time.

  [You have used skill Detect]

  Every living thing felt the effect of the [Detect] skill in some way, no matter how powerful or weak.

  Valdan reached the creature just in time. But where the creature had been prepared to attack as well—or maybe defend—it stiffened slightly turning its head at the last second in Aiden’s general direction.

  Aiden stood in place looking it in the eye. Valdan’s sword pierced a straight path into the creature’s underbelly, and it wailed in pain. There was no hiss, no control. Only an ear shattering wail. Any living creature around would not mistake the sound.

  Valdan paused for a moment, hesitated. It was clear that he’d not expected his blow to land so cleanly. His hesitation, however, only lasted a moment. Then he drew his sword up, trailing a line of blood up the creature’s underbelly.

  Blood sprayed as if from a geyser when Valdan pulled his blade free. He jumped away, avoiding the spray of blood and Aiden’s eyes widened when he saw the information [Detect] granted him.

  [Basiliker Lvl 75 (Prey)]

  A level seventy-five to Valdan’s newly attained level fifty. It was no wonder Valdan was going through a lot.

  The creature’s raised head was still thrown back in pain and the mist began pulling to it once more. It was sucking in the mist, attempting to heal itself.

  Like we’re going to let you, Aiden thought, pulling out one of the stones he’d converted into a makeshift enchanted item with [Unarmed Enchant]. But even as he did, Valdan was already using an attack of his own.

  He swung his blade once more, firing an arc of yellow mana at the [Basiliker]. Instead of stopping what it was doing to evade, one of the creature’s limbs perked up and shot forward. In the blink of an eye, it shattered the yellow arc and went straight for Valdan.

  Valdan barely turned in time to avoid the strike. A pained grunt escaped his lips, almost as loud as a cry as the creature’s limb tore a gash in his thigh before embedding itself in the ground. Luckily for him, it didn’t pierce the thigh.

  As for Aiden, despite his momentary worry for Valdan, he had completed his task with the engraved stone. Placing a finger at one end of on the engraved enchantment on the stone, he activated the skill he needed, hoping it would work.

  He felt the flow of mana even if the engraving did not change.

  [You have used Class skill Modify Engrave]

  …

  [You have used class skill Modify Engrave on Enchantment of Lesser Force]

  …

  [Enchantment of Lesser Force is now Enchantment of Lesser Absorption]

  Gladdened to see that it worked, Aiden threw the stone at the [Basiliker]. The stone dropped right in front of the creature, distracting both the [Basiliker] and Valdan. Their eyes went to the ground a moment before it activated.

  [You have used Enchantment of Lesser Absorption]

  The stone did not burst into pieces, instead it began to swell like a sponge filling up with water. Then the enchantment took effect, drawing everything around it into the stone. First was the lightest thing present; the air.

  The [Basiliker] paused in another moment of being startled as the mist it was sucking in suddenly changed direction and started heading towards the stone. Valdan seemed equally taken aback.

  His head twitched to the side, but he was an experienced fighter. He knew better than to take his complete attention from his opponent.

  Another of the [Basiliker]'s limb perked up and fired straight for Valdan. As it did, the creature sucked the mist towards it with more gusto. In the blink of an eye, the mist changed directions once more, abandoning the stone for the creature as Valdan barely survived another attack.

  Oh no you don’t, Aiden thought, using [Modify Engrave] on another item from his soldier belt. Then he threw it.

  [You have used Enchantment of Lesser Absorption]

  …

  [Dimensional mana detected]

  …

  [Enchantment of Lesser Absorption is now Enchantment of Lesser Void Absorption]

  When the enchantment took effect this time, the mist didn’t just pool to the stone, the ground beneath the stone cratered slightly, sand and grass wrapping tightly around the item. Then, as if gravity increased, the [Basiliker] fell to the ground in a massive thud.

  Aiden had expected the enchantment to be stronger than the last, but he hadn’t expected it to be that much stronger.

  Shaking its head, the [Basiliker] pulled against the enchantment. While its ability to absorb the mist was unable to outmatch the two active enchantments, it had more than enough strength to pull itself away from them.

  But Valdan had seen his chance and capitalized on it. An arc of yellow mana exploded right against the creature’s face as it raised its head. The force threw its head back leaving a trail of blood as it wailed in pain from the impact.

  When the creature’s head came back into view, one half of its face was covered in green blood and a deep injury ran down one of its eyes. As long as it could not heal, it was blinded in one eye.

  Valdan charged forward immediately, not using [Dash] for some reason. His feet against the ground was silent as he ran, engulfed by the painful sound the demon was still making.

  Quick as a knight could be, Valdan rounded his approach, cutting an arc in his run towards the creature. He came at it from its new blindspot. A limb shot out at him, but he was gone before it landed, outpacing it by at least two steps.

  The green mist was now nothing but two balls of compressed air. One was as large as a basketball while the other was half its size.

  Another limb blasted towards Valdan, missing him by a wide margin moments before he got to the creature. When he did, the knight showed no mercy. His first strike took another of the creature’s limbs. In response to his action, the [Basiliker] swung its massive tail at him.

  Valdan did not dodge it. In fact, he reacted like a man who had been hoping for it. Bracing for impact, he thrust his sword into the incoming tail. The tail slammed straight into him, and Valdan sheathed the weapon in the demon’s skin.

  Another howl of pain filled the air as Valdan was thrown to the side. He landed on his feet, sword in hand. Its blade was stained green through its entire length and one of Valdan’s arms hung limp at his side. It was likely broken.

  But Valdan had a feral grin on his face now. Like a feral animal, he had smelled blood and wanted more.

  With a single hand, he swung his sword. An arc of yellow mana slammed straight into the creature’s underbelly, gouging out more of its flesh.

  Howling and hissing, it threw itself chaotically at him. Its entire body went flying through the air and Valdan stood his ground. A massive apparition of a sword appeared in front of him. A translucent yellow, it was almost as tall as the creature and as wide.

  Despite its diminished size in comparison, it did its duty. The [Basiliker] slammed into the apparition and writhed on the ground against it. The action as it turned and tossed and tumbled in a single spot shook the ground.

  Looking at it, Aiden could tell that it was something of an attack. Maybe even a skill.

  As it turned and tossed, Valdan jumped back, tossing another sword slash. The sword apparition that served as a shield shattered under the weight of the creature. In its place, the sword slash drew blood.

  Another howl pierced the night air.

  Slowly, the tumbling stopped, and the creature simply lay on the ground. Terrible cuts riddled its body, and one side of its face remained covered in its own blood. As if in an attempt it knew to be futile, the creature opened its mouth, but nothing happened.

  It was probably trying to suck in the mist in one last attempt to heal itself. When nothing happened, it closed its mouth once more.

  Valdan waited a little longer, watching the creature from a distance.

  He threw another sword slash. This time, it tore through the ground as it made a path to the [Basiliker].

  Can he just spam the skill without pause? Aiden asked himself, knowing that there were skills on Nastild that could be spammed until the user was out of mana. His class skills being one of them.

  When the sword slash slammed into the demon, there was no sound except the quiet explosion of mana. The [Basiliker] gave no oral confirmation of its pain.

  Valdan did not strike anymore. He simply stood there, waited. After a while, his attention settled on the space between him and the creature. Then he turned in Aiden’s general direction.

  “Declare yourself,” he commanded. There was a touch of humility in the voice that made it almost seem like a request. But still high on the adrenaline of his fight and very alert, his voice sounded more like a threat.

  Aiden was more than happy to step out into the open with hands raised.

  “Do you talk to all your friends like that, Valdan?” he said with a teasing tone. “That’s not very nice of you.”

  Letting out a sigh, Valdan sheathed his sword and sat on the ground in exhaustion. “Why am I not surprised?” he muttered to himself.

  Aiden gestured at the demon, ignoring Valdan’s question. “Is it dead?”

  Valdan nodded.

  Aiden made a face as if the answer was expected. “How many levels did it give you?”

  “Three.”

  Aiden nodded as he drew closer to the creature. “Doesn’t seem like much for a level seventy-five creature,” he commented. Then again, leveling up became harder the higher your level got. At least that was how it was for the indigenes of Nastild.

  He watched Valdan’s head perk up in shock.

  “It was level seventy-five?” he asked in sudden terror.

  Aiden paused to look at him. “You didn’t check its level?”

  “It just…” Valdan made a vague gesture with his one good arm as if he couldn’t find the words he was looking for. “It came out of nowhere,” he said, in the end. “Ambushed me.”

  “Don’t you have the [Inevitable] title,” Aiden gestured vaguely. “Didn’t you get a notification when you were fighting it?”

  “The title only lets me know when my opponent is stronger than me not how strong.” He lifted the hand of his broken arm with his other hand. The air above it cracked. “It doesn’t tell me exactly how much stronger.”

  From the crack in the air, a health and stamina potion appeared, falling to the grass at his feet.

  With his good arm, Valdan picked up the health potion and drank it. He let out a sigh when he was done.

  “Be careful around that thing,” he warned Aiden who was now standing right next to it. “It has poisonous attacks.”

  Aiden ignored the warning. “If you didn’t have the [Inevitable] title and the [Giant Slayer] title, this would’ve gotten you the latter.”

  “Not really,” Valdan replied. “You helped so it wouldn’t have counted. To get those titles, the victory has to be yours and yours alone.”

  Aiden thought about it for a moment but wasn’t sure he could agree with it. He hadn’t used any attack on the creature and the demon hadn’t intentionally attacked him. An argument could be made that Valdan had killed the creature on his own, taking its life from start to finish.

  The rules surrounding how ending a life gave a person levels would favor him in this argument.

  But Aiden left the argument alone as he looked down at the [Basiliker].

  As Valdan healed from his injuries, Aiden was left with only two questions.

  Did his interface consider all demons as [Prey] to him now because of his title [Unnatural Hunter] or was it just the [Basiliker]?

  The second question was more personal than the first.

  In his past life, Ted had possessed his favored familiars, using them as trump cards in his time before becoming the demon king when he couldn’t see any other way of winning a fight. Amongst them, he had two similar creatures. One had looked just like the [Basiliker] in front of him but it had been smaller. The second looked exactly like this one.

  In his past life, they had not known of any demon in the town of cannibals, and he had died never hearing of one. And they certainly hadn’t fought against anyone either.

  So is this the same creature Ted was summoning or is it just something similar?

  Aiden found that he really did not like the question because it meant that depending on the answer, Ted had probably been keeping a lot of secrets from him from the very beginning in his past life.

  He didn’t like the question. He didn’t like the question at all.

  Still, another question popped up in his mind, superseding the second. Aiden turned to Valdan.

  “Did it speak to you at any point?” he asked.

  Valdan gave him a confused look. “What?”

  “The creature,” Aiden clarified. “Did it speak to you at any point?”

  Valdan shook his head. “It’s a monster. I don’t think it had the ability to.”

  Aiden’s jaw tightened in a frown as a new problem arose. Norlam had said that the demon had promised him demonic mana. Promised him.

  For that to have happened, the demon needed to have communicated with him somehow. The [Basiliker] was not a creature that communicated.

  His reaction towards the realization must have shown on his face because Valdan got to his feet quickly and asked, “What?”

  “We’ve got a problem.” It was all Aiden could say.

  The [Basiliker] was a demon.

  But it was not the demon.

  …

  If there was one thing that coming to Nastild had taught Drax, it was that he hated going out as a group only for someone to go astray and do their own thing.

  He hated finding out that people were missing when they should not be.

  Annoyed, he turned to Sir Thompfer. And even though he was looking at the knight, the question he asked was directed at nobody in particular.

  “Where the hell did Ted go?”