CHAPTER 43: EASY COMPLETION OF THE TEST

Demons weren’t easy to track—everyone knew that. But the weaker ones, the low-ranking demons, were usually more foolish and therefore unable to cover all their tracks.

That was what Damian was counting on to track them in that forest. Without his demon eye active, he had to rely on normal tracking methods.

According to what he’d heard from others, the forest surrounding the hunter academy was full of demons. Forests often had them, but the mana from the hunters in the academy actually drew in even more.

So, it didn’t take long for Damian to find his first clue: a footprint—one that didn’t belong to any animal or human.

He knew that because it didn’t match any tracks he recognized.

"I found something," Damian said as he kneeled beside the mark.

Curt and Mitra joined him.

"This belongs to a demon. Looks like one that walks on two legs," Damian said.

There were more footprints nearby, and judging by their pattern, Damian concluded the demon walked upright the entire time.

That didn’t narrow things down much. The number of demon species was massive—it could belong to almost anything.

"Let’s keep following the track," Damian said. "Are you two feeling tired? We should get some water."

Mark hadn’t given the recruits any supplies. He wanted to see if they could gather resources from the forest themselves. Damian could. With his keen hearing, he quickly located a nearby river with clear water safe enough to drink.

Randal, who was following them, frowned at the sight.

"Did he hear the river, or did he already know it was there? If he heard it... then his hearing is quite impressive..." Randal thought.

Even he—a powerful teacher—could barely hear the river from that distance. Yet Damian had found it without trouble. That was something not even all the academy’s teachers could do, and Damian was just a new recruit.

Damian and his friends drank their fill before pressing on, following the demon tracks.

They trailed them for about three minutes... until the prints suddenly vanished. There was nothing else in the area where the tracks ended.

"What happened?" Curt asked. "Did the demon fly away? Turn invisible? What the hell?"

He had no idea how it had simply disappeared. Damian glanced upward, staring at the trees.

"Maybe it climbed?" he said. "What do you think?"

He searched for claw marks that might indicate something had climbed the trunk, but the bark looked untouched.

Walking closer to the tree, he noticed something strange. The dirt beneath his feet felt... softer.

It wasn’t like that in the rest of the forest. Looking down, the ground appeared normal—but there was definitely something off about it.

Damian dropped to his knees and began digging with his hands. Curt and Mitra exchanged puzzled glances, unsure what he was doing, but he didn’t bother explaining.

After scooping away some dirt, he saw it—a tunnel, freshly dug by something.

"A tunnel!" Mitra exclaimed. "How did you even know?"

Feeling a flicker of pride, Damian said, "The ground was softer here, so I took a chance. The demon we’re tracking is the one that made it."

"Should we go after it?" Curt asked.

The tunnel wasn’t exactly inviting—dark, cramped, and leading to who-knew-where. But if they wanted to find a demon, this was their best shot.

"We can either leave and try to track another one, wasting more time," Damian said, "or take our chances with this one. What do you two think?"

They were a team, so their input mattered. Curt and Mitra chose to press on—they didn’t want to waste precious hours searching for another lead.

Damian went first, with Mitra and Curt right behind him. The darkness swallowed them almost instantly, but their enhanced vision—better than a normal human’s—gave them just enough sight to navigate and watch for movement.

It wasn’t much, though, and the oppressive atmosphere gnawed at them. The air was heavy, the walls closing in with every step.

Mitra and Curt were breathing hard, trying to stay calm. Even Damian, more experienced in these kinds of hunts, felt the claustrophobic weight of the tunnels pressing down on him.

They moved in single file through the narrow passage, every sound magnified, every step echoing in their ears. Minutes stretched into what felt like hours.

After nearly twenty minutes of tense, stifling progress, they finally spotted light ahead—the way out.

The tunnel angled upward. Damian tilted his head, peering into the darkness above.

"It looks like a cave up there," he said. "Maybe that’s the demon’s lair."

Compared to Damian, both Mitra and Curt were far weaker physically. Climbing that steep, narrow shaft on their own was out of the question.

"I can get you both up," Damian offered. "At the same time."

"If you two hold on to me, I can climb. Think you can manage that?"

Mitra and Curt nodded in unison. They just wanted to get the hell out of the stifling tunnel, so they were willing to try anything—no matter how reckless it sounded.

They each hooked their arms around Damian’s back, gripping him with desperate strength. Without hesitation, he launched himself upward, muscles rippling as he ascended with swift, powerful movements.

The climb was over almost as soon as it began. In less than five seconds, they had reached the top.

They knew Damian possessed the body-enhancing affinity, but he hadn’t cast a single strengthening spell—and yet he moved with inhuman speed and control. It was... extraordinary. Almost unsettling.

Damian looked around. Just like he’d thought, it was a cave. He could feel the demon’s presence here, heavy in the air, so the first thing he did was search for it.

And there it was.

A mole, but walking on two legs like a human.

It looked way more twisted than any normal mole. Four eyes stared at him, and its huge, sharp teeth were shaped like triangles. Its skin was a dull brown, and its claws were massive—easily sixty centimeters long.

It was a decent demon. Not weak compared to most in this area, but not that strong either. Damian knew he could take it down without much trouble.

Mitra and Curt got into a fighting stance.

"What do we do now?" Curt asked. "T-this demon looks way bigger than I thought."

Randal was still watching from a distance. For a moment, he thought about stepping in to save the students—the demon did have some power—but he held back.

Something told him everything would work out, that Damian still had more to show.

He stayed alert, ready to jump in if anything truly dangerous happened to the recruits.

Damian took the lead. "I’ll take the mole head-on," he said. "You two stay back and use your skills from a distance. Remember—close combat is my job, not yours."

Out of the three, he was the only one who could survive a melee fight with a demon. If Mitra or Curt tried, they’d be dead in seconds.

Damian knew the professors were watching, but if he didn’t show at least some of his strength here, the others could get hurt.

So, he moved.

He didn’t use his demon skills—no demon eye, no beast claws. Instead, he relied purely on the power of his body, without enhancing it through any magic or ability.

Against a demon like this mole? His raw strength alone was more than enough to take it down.

In seconds, Damian was right in front of the mole, catching the demon completely off guard. He clenched his fist and drove it hard into the creature’s stomach.

Randal, Mitra, and Curt watched the scene unfold, all thinking the same thing—Damian had to be out of his mind.

That thought vanished the moment the mole went flying across the cave, slamming into the far wall.

The impact made the entire cave tremble. Dust and small rocks rained down from the ceiling, making the recruits tense for a moment—but in the end, the ceiling held.

"Thank God..." Curt muttered with a shaky sigh.

The mole staggered back to its feet after Damian’s punch, but its ferocity was gone. After feeling Damian’s strength up close, the creature clearly wanted to run.

It started clawing at the ground, trying to dig a tunnel to escape—but Damian charged in before it could get far, wrapping his arms around the demon in a crushing bear hug.

"You’re not leaving this place," he growled.

Meanwhile, Mitra activated one of the skills she had learned. Thick vines burst from the ground, snaking toward the mole to lock it in place—a trap meant to hold it still.

Damian saw Mitra using her mana to cast the spell, so he held the mole tight until she was ready.

But to his surprise, Mitra failed. She couldn’t finish the spell—it was too much for her, since she had just started learning it.

When she realized the mole wasn’t trapped, panic flashed in her eyes. "Damian, be careful!"

But Damian wasn’t worried at all. He decided to end the fight quickly.

He climbed up the mole, reaching its neck. Then, using all his strength, he twisted it hard—breaking the demon’s neck with a sickening snap.

The demon died just like that.

While no one was looking, Damian ripped out one of its sharp teeth. He wanted to absorb its power later.

Mitra and Curt stood there, stunned by what they’d just seen.

"How did you kill it so easily?" Mitra asked. "I didn’t know you were this strong."

Even Randal was shocked to see it.