CHAPTER 317: DEMON LAIR (4/)

Both fellows strolled for about an hour without challenge in the demon lair. The malevolent space seemed to have no end as they walked down its path. The red sun in the sky bathed them in its warm, crimson light, illuminating the bloody structure of the demon lair—a thing of horror and gore.

"Weird," D’andre said, breaking the awkward silence that had settled between them. "This demon lair should be filled with demons, especially one of this difficulty level. Even walking ten minutes without a demon popping up to kill you is considered lucky, but we’ve been walking for more than an hour now."

"Hmm, I thought as much," Rowan replied. "Nevertheless, this is my first demon lair adventure, and I lack information about others’ experiences."

"Understandable. Sometimes I forget you’re actually the lord of a village in the middle of nowhere."

"Are you mocking me?"

D’andre laughed and responded, "Hahaha, no, it’s more of a compliment. You’re the head of a village, yet you have strength comparable to dukes and kings, even emperors, and your evolution points far surpass others." He turned to Rowan. "By the way, you should be in the novice rankings, right? What is your current rank?"

’Novice ranking... I almost forgot that even existed,’ Rowan thought. He opened his character status and navigated to the novice rankings.

____

[ NOVICE RANKING ]

Total positions - 9028

Your position - 97

Current recurring rewards:

10 Million evolution points weekly (Total received: 20 Million evolution points)

Random D-rank skill monthly (Total received: 0)

_____

’97, that’s higher than I expected. The evolution points are a lot for those without my 100x skill, but ignorable for me. The D-rank skill is the only thing I really look forward to,’ he thought. He shut the window and casually relayed his rank to D’andre.

D’andre did not take it casually. He leapt in front of Rowan. "What did you just say? 97! How is that possible?" he asked, as if doubting Rowan’s response.

"Is 97 too small?" Rowan asked.

"What do you mean, ’is 97 too small’?" D’andre’s voice heightened as he spoke. "Most city lords aren’t even in the top one hundred, and guess what? They’re super excited about even being in the top five hundred. And you’re treating such a high ranking so casually."

"I guess I’m just different then," Rowan simply shrugged.

The benefits of his current rank weren’t even enough to put a smile on his face, yet according to D’andre, people would kill to get such a rank. The only explanation for his reaction compared to theirs was simple: he was simply built differently.

Of course, when he said it out loud, it sounded more like pompous bragging. But who was D’andre to condemn others for doing what he did every single hour of the day? He simply heaved a long sigh and kept quiet. His mind constantly revisited the issue, and no matter how he thought about it, Rowan was indeed different.

About ten minutes after their discussion, they were strolling casually within the demon lair when they came across another pool of blood with Ogramon corpses inside.

The two of them halted in front of the large amount of blood and gore, confused expressions on their faces.

Judging by the wounds and perfectly cut body parts, their deaths were the result of a sharp weapon, something along the lines of a sword.

Also, based on the blood’s color and the state of the corpses, they deduced that it hadn’t been up to twenty-four hours since these Ogramon were killed.

But by who? they wondered. They were supposed to be the only ones inside the demon lair, so who could have killed these Ogramon?

"We’re not alone," Rowan said with a frown.

"Yeah," D’andre nodded. "The other parties have also figured out a way to kill the Ogramons, and from the perfectly sliced body parts, you can tell they’re no newbies when it comes to swinging a sword."

Rowan agreed. It might even be possible that the individual or group of individuals who slew these Ogramon had a higher level of mastery over the blade than he did.

"Let’s just hope they are not foes," he muttered. He didn’t really care about getting resources within the demon lair. All he wanted was to clear it, and if these strangers helped to hasten his mission, he would be very happy.

D’andre only nodded. Unlike Rowan, his reason for stepping into the demon lair was to hone his skills and see if luck would grant him a unique skill. Thus, unlike Rowan, he was bothered. He urged Rowan to move faster to catch up with the other parties.

Rowan was confused as to why D’andre had suddenly become so worked up, but he didn’t complain. He burst into a full sprint while D’andre activated a flight spell. Both of them moved with unbeatable speed within the demon lair, covering a long distance in a very short amount of time.

As they ran, they spotted two more heaps of corpses with the same nature of wounds. These corpses were even fresher. When they arrived at the fourth pile of demon corpses, the frown on D’andre’s face deepened. Why the heck did someone have to be in the demon lair at this time? he thought, frustrated.

"But wait, if there were others in the demon lair before us with this much strength, how did they avoid the first wave of Ogramon?" D’andre asked.

"I never thought of that," Rowan said, his eyes furrowed.

They had faced a small group of Ogramon barely five minutes after stepping into the demon lair. If there was indeed another group that entered before them, they would have met demon corpses at the entrance and wouldn’t have had to face the first wave themselves.

"It could either mean those demons were slain by their fellow demons, or the individuals before us possess some type of invisibility skill that helped them avoid the first wave," D’andre speculated.

Rowan agreed and shared the same speculation as D’andre. But he was skeptical about the second option—unless the invisibility skill in question was above A-rank, it would be impossible to get past the Ogramon without drawing their attention.

"But in the case that they actually possess such a high-rank skill, then they are no easy target," Rowan muttered to himself.