CHAPTER 135.

Amber shook her head, it really was a disappointing outcome. She had wanted to explore the whole contract thing a lot more, but unfortunately she hadn’t been able to. Not without putting innocent lives at stake.

A sigh left her as she stared at the notifications.

[You have defeated a [Demon of Brutality. Lvl. 253].]

For defeating an enemy 50 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!

It was disappointingly weak, but ignoring that, the experience received was actually abysmal.

[You have reached level 204. 15 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

That was it. A single level up. Sure, the battle hadn’t been too difficult for her. Maybe a bit painful, but the thing was that; she had killed an enemy 50 levels above her and still gotten a single level. Which meant…

Leveling is really only going to get increasingly difficult, huh?

The last stretch to level 500 was most likely going to be a massive pain, but that was something she would figure out later. Amber stared at the puddle that had once been a very alive demon and couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed with it all.

At least I got to try curse versions of my Essence skills. Of course, they were quite rough and acted more like prototypes, but she felt that once she truly figured them out they’d be a viable tool instead of Essence. She felt happy about that.

“Y-You… how did y-you…?”

Amber blinked and turned only to see a man. He looked emaciated and he had a long beard, and his level was…

[Smith. Lvl. 145]

He was a really high level smith it seemed.

Though that was secondary to his wide eyes and agape mouth.

“Who are you?” he finally asked.

“Amber,” she answered smiling. “More importantly, are those the only demons or…?”

She had killed every single demon on the way here, and admittedly, there was a disappointing amount of threats to her life. So much for being not enough. The smith however blinked at his question.

“The leaders,” he finally said, surprise passing through his voice as he turned to face her. “You have to run, if they find out you have killed one of them they’ll spare no effort in killing you!”

His warning rang hollow for Amber as she found herself interested. “Oh, there is more than one level 250 demon, where are they?”

The smith was surprised, before he gnashed his teeth in anger. “Did you not hear what I said?!”

Amber shook her head. Getting information out of the man was going to be like pulling teeth, unfortunately he seemed to be held down by his preconceived world views. So, instead she turned around and looked for someone disoriented.

Though before she could quite do that, people were already sending praises her way.

“S-She killed the demon!”

“So strong!”

“B-But how, she’s much lower level!”

Amber found herself hearing people praise her left and right but she didn’t care about that, instead she continued looking, and finally, she found a man crawling out of some tarp.

She used Quick Step and found herself before a burly man. A Tinkerer, also high level. He jumped from his spot as Amber spoke, uncaring for whatever was going through his head.

“Where are the other demon leaders or whatever?”

“The demon leaders?” the man paused. “Wait⁠— you’re the girl that killed the demon⁠—”

“Enough of that, where are these demon leaders?” Amber asked, not wanting to waste any more time.

“Wait, they haven’t attacked yet?” he asked, shocked.

“No?”

At that, the man stood up and blinked, looking around at the now cheerful camp. The people around were looking at her with admiration, though some were looking around, wary of demons even though there were none to be seen. And a frown quickly settled on his face, one of worry.

“Did you not encounter them entering the camp?”

“No?” Amber was now more confused than ever, mainly because something seemed abnormal.

The man frowned. “Then that must mean they’re out dealing with something, but what could that possibly mean?” He seemed to think before turning to her. “Where did you come from?”

“Uh, the nearest village or whatever, why?” Amber didn’t remember the town’s name at all.

However, the tinkerer’s frown deepened at that. “Are you part of the reinforcements?”

“Not at all, but they did send some. I think I might’ve passed them on the way here, not sure,” she said simply.

And at that, the tinkerer paused, before immediately growing pale

“If the demons aren’t here and reinforcements are on the way, then that must mean…”

“What?”

At that, the man simply froze.

“Oh no…”

Amber raised her brow as he turned to her with a ghastly gaze.

“Then that must mean they’re being ambushed by the leaders…”

“Oh.”

* * *

Kornelius had been tasked to lead this expedition, while he wasn’t a native to the village of Froststone he had long become one of them. He had fought life or death battles along with them and made friends there, and while the mercenary forces present in the village didn’t compare to the big cities there were still some notorious individuals.

Enough to not be underestimated. In fact, it could be argued that Froststone had military strength that rivaled some cities, given it was the place where mercenaries went to retire, there were plenty of seasoned individuals with high levels such as Thorn the mage. But he wasn’t Thorn, nor was he as strong as Thorn.

Kornelius was a mere level 220 warrior, but even then they weren’t relying on his sole strength, but the strength of everyone. He looked around at the assembled of over thirty individuals, with all of them being an average level of 200, the level 250 demons didn’t stand a chance. It was time to put an end to their leveling scheme once and for all.

And with that motivation they carried on and rushed towards the place where their people were waiting to be rescued.

While they were initially projected to arrive at dusk, now they were going to arrive much sooner than that.

“We’ll be there soon!” Kornelius called as the people fisted with a small war cry.

Such a commotion would normally be an issue, but they had one of the best stealth mages inside the entire republic with them, meaning they would arrive completely undetected.

Kornelius resolved himself.

A fierce battle awaited them, and while casualties were most likely to happen, they wouldn’t falter. The demons had made a mess out of the republic, it was time to show them that their actions had consequences.

“And it all begins with killing these fuckers that kidnapped my brothers and sisters…” he gritted his teeth.

And a moment later he paused as his danger skill went off, he immediately raised his staff ⁠— as did many ⁠— and cast a barrier.

Then a moment later, a large explosion went off as the barrier conjured by all their mages shook and cracked.

“Ambush!” the scout called.

And he simply gritted his teeth as he looked ahead and saw a large burly demon and a lanky demon with a wood staff.

[Demon of Brutality. Lvl. 256]

[Demon of Brutality. Lvl. 255]

Two of the three reported leaders were here.

So they were expecting us.

“Well, well, well, aren’t you pesky humans set on putting up a fight?” the lanky demon said mockingly as he raised his staff. “Unfortunately, it is futile.”

With those words, his staff shone and hundreds of demons began to get summoned in their surroundings, the demon laughed and attacks were flung towards them but the burly one blocked them before charging forward.

And Kornelius cursed.

“Let’s kill these bastards once and for all!”

“Kill them!”

* * *

“That sounds bad,” Amber said. “I heard this force is much bigger, though, so they should be fine. More importantly⁠—”

“They won’t be fine,” the burly man interrupted with a grim expression. “All three demons are hiding something.”

Amber raised her brow. “And what is that?”

The man frowned. “I don’t know, I just know that they are all called Demon of Brutality for a reason. And considering they hardly leave each other’s side it can’t be good.”

Hearing that she felt more than just interested. If they got a power up from being together she was all for it. If she had a corpse to take from the demon she had just killed, she most certainly would’ve taken it already. This was exciting.

“Then, I better be going to rescue them,” she said, turning around.

“No, you can’t, even for you it’s too much,” the tinkerer said, his tone wary.

However, before Amber could tell him off for being annoying and to stop underestimating her, a woman cut through her thoughts.

“She’s more than strong enough. Let her go.”

Amber turned to see a woman with dirty blonde hair. A hunter. And she seemed resolute.

“More importantly, I have a request to make of you, hero,” she said, meeting Amber’s gaze.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“What is it?”

At that, the woman strode forward and⁠— bowed.

“Please, take me with you! I can't bear to see my people die!”

Amber blinked and then watched as the woman looked up with a hopeful look. It was certainly not a particularly big request given she could just carry her without problem, so Amber knew her answer almost instantly, which she relayed.

“No.”

The huntress blinked. “Wait, why?”

“Because aren’t these demons super dangerous and stuff? I’ll just take you to your death.”

“They may be dangerous, but I wish to battle alongside my people. I have to say, I don’t know if you’re strong enough to deal with two at once, but I wish to believe,” she argued.

“Listen to the warrior,” the smith said, arriving into their conversation. “She’s already going on a death mission, taking both demons when they are hiding something is nothing but getting yourself killed!”

“That’s right, Linsen, don’t throw your life away,” the tinkerer said. “We don’t know what the demons are hiding!”

Amber nodded. “I agree with all of them. I don’t want to deal with the guilt of having you die or something.”

With those words, she turned.

“I’ll go now, I think I know where they are.”

“No.”

Following her words, Amber found herself being quite literally hugged by the hunter, which well⁠— she couldn’t be assed to deal with this right now.

“I won’t let go unless you take me with you,” she said.

And Amber sighed. “Fine.”

“So you agree?” The hunter was surprised.

Amber said nothing as she stepped forward, the woman still clinging onto her, and finally, she spoke, or rather warned.

“Don’t let go no matter what, else you’ll die.”

The woman blinked, and a moment later, Amber dashed at full speed as the woman screamed.

* * *

Stein closed his eyes. Just like that, they had left. And Linsen had chosen to throw her life away, something that infuriated him. Even if the woman had disposed of the Demon of Brutality here without trouble, that didn’t mean it was as simple as that. He was certain of it.

The demons had runes in their bodies, runes he had never seen before, and as a tinkerer he knew that they were meant for a purpose. Something that the demons hid from all of them, and it made him quite sure of something.

That woman is going to die, and so is Linsen.

He gritted his teeth and finally resolved himself as he turned towards Lennard, the village’s smith.

“Gather everyone to the north of the camp, my teleportation circle is there. We are leaving,” he said gravely. “We must make haste before the demons return.”

At that, Lennard turned serious and nodded. “Will do.”

With those words, the smith set off and Stein took a breath. In the end, they couldn’t defy the might of the beings they didn’t understand. So all they could do was focus on surviving, and prevent any more mercenaries from being killed for the sake of power.

As for the warrior and Linsen?

Both of them would die to the demon’s trump cards.

* * *

Kornelius cursed his ineptitude as he blasted a weak demon away. He should have known the journey had been all too smooth, he should have known he was walking right into an ambush laid by the demons. But he didn’t, and now they were all paying the price.

He gritted his teeth as he blasted yet another demon, so far they were holding on but not for long⁠—

And the frontline exploded as the burly demon charged right through.

“Repulse!” he screamed.

The demon was pushed a mere few feet away and he grinned, raising his finger and speaking back⁠—

“Repulse.”

The entire group behind him was blasted as his eyes widened. That was possible? Kornelius however, didn’t let that affect him and he spun his staff as the demon teleported to kill him. He channeled his mana, and just before the demon could swing upon him, he fired.

“Thrash!”

A large iceberg hit the demon, blasting him away. It had consumed more mana than he would’ve liked but it was a clear hit. His attack tore part of his adversary, which should slow him down considerably, but still the situation was dire.

He grunted as he sent an icicle towards a demon that was pouncing upon him. The sounds of battle continued to echo in his surroundings as the other Demon of Brutality continued to summon lesser demons.

If I don’t do something about it we’ll surely lose.

Kornelius resolved himself as he commanded.

“Focus our efforts in killing the summoner!”

At that, a battle cry came in response and he grinned.

“Not so fast⁠—” The burly demon appeared in front of him, his joined fists looming over him as his eyes widened.

Kornelius cast a barrier of ice, and it immediately got smashed with a loud boom as he was sent flying. It seemed that he had underestimated the recovery time of the demon, once more he had been incompetent.

He looked towards the summoner which was using stray demons to protect himself.

I have to do more. Kornelius resolved himself. As the leader of this expedition I have to do more.

Once more he channeled his mana, but this time he prepared for something more. He began to draw runes in the air, waiting for the large demon to appear. Given he was the leader he was being targeted.

And so, he was prepared for that⁠—

Screams resounded as he turned, and saw the burly demon split a warrior in half. His eyes widened as more people were torn, and stomped right through. A warrior was punched and his sword was split in half, he went flying as numerous bones were broken.

Kornelius immediately stopped his spell and fired a barrage of icicles that were sent towards the demon, but the horde of red beings blocked them as they fell dead.

The summoning demon snickered.

“You don’t understand do you? You’re too weak.”

He gritted his teeth and turned towards the summoner as he began to cast runes in the air as the demon just stared at him. He was casting faster than ever before, the lives of his comrades depending on him.

“I’m going to make you regret this,” he snarled

At that the demon simply grinned.

“You really don’t get it.”

But Kornelius didn’t pay it any mind, as he finished casting his spell. It was his greatest creation and it was almost tier 3 ice magic. With this, the tides of battles would turn once and for all. His mana flared and he swung his staff towards the demon.

“Temperature Break!”

At that moment the spot where the demon stood chilled, before the air distorted and⁠— ruptured. Shards of ice flew in all directions as he grinned. A direct hit⁠⁠—

And projectile burst from the explosion, hitting him and sending him flying as his barrier was blown into pieces.

What⁠—

Kornelius landed unsteadily as he watched the demon laugh in his spot, completely unharmed.

“It really is futile! Kill him!”

Before he could react, he was tackled by the burly demon, all of the bones in his body breaking as he landed in the middle of the crowd. And to his surprise, all of the party were on their knees, too injured to fight.

How…?

He couldn’t believe it. And when he turned and saw the burly demon healing from his injuries, he understood one thing. Maybe if they had the element of surprise on their side they could’ve won, but they didn’t. In the end, they didn’t stand a chance against the tactics of the two demons.

He despaired and a moment later he sensed danger above. He looked upwards only to see a meteorite the size of a mountain falling towards them, covered in purple flames. They all did, as the entire group paled.

“You humans are inferior beings, the fact that the First chooses on continuing your protection from us disgusts me,” the demon said. “But no matter, now we’re here, in this forsaken land. Now, we can put an end to all of this. Now, we can finally have our retribution.”

The words of the red being rang hollow as he simply stared upwards at the falling piece of rock. The difference between the two groups was so vast, so large that he simply didn’t understand it.

“Now die⁠—”

And a blue streak hit the meteor before it⁠— exploded. A large blue pillar of flames engulfed the sky as rock went flying, the shockwave sending tremors down the earth as everyone covered their eyes.

“What?!” the demon screamed.

Then, following the demon’s shock, Kornelius saw the burly demon dash to the side. He followed that and saw a warrior walking forward, blue flames disappearing from her hands.

[Warrior. Lvl. 204]

No, she’s too weak. He didn’t know who had destroyed the meteor, but reinforcements were here. He felt relief though he prepared to see the woman warrior lose the encounter.

“Why can you use that power?!” the burly demon called, cocking his fist as he ran towards her.

The woman grinned, preparing to answer in kind. “Because I’m pretty damn awesome, that’s why⁠—”

And she punched.

Kornelius winced expecting the woman to go flying, but instead⁠— the burly demon went flying his arm was broken as he let out a gasp of shock. However, before he could react the woman appeared above him and swung both of her arms on a fist down⁠—

The demon was hit and the earth⁠— exploded. Everyone was blasted away, and Kornelius was no exception. He went flying and landed, rolling not too far away from the site. That strength was⁠—

And he paused seeing a blonde woman next to him with foam coming out of her mouth. For a moment he didn’t recognize her, but it soon clicked.

Linsen⁠—

“You bitch!”

The demon bellowed and Kornelius turned only to see the burly demon try to fight back, only to be kneed in the stomach as blood exploded in all directions.

“I heard y’all are meant to be stronger together or something,” she said, landing another punch onto the demon as he staggered. “The other demon leader didn’t put up much of a fight.”

“Lies!” The burly demon teleported behind her and tried to grab her but she simply ducked and kicked the enemy away.

Kornelius couldn’t believe it. She was utterly dominating the close quarters demon as if it was nothing, but⁠—

“Die!”

A spell hit her.

It was two against one. None of them were in any condition to fight. So Kornelius could only watch as the woman began to get slaughtered.

The burly demon burst into the curtain of smoke and⁠— was blasted away into the summoning demon. Then, slowly the woman walked out, her armor slightly damaged but aside from that she looked completely unharmed. Something that made the still conscious mercenaries gasp.

“But how?”

“No matter how rare her class is, that doesn’t make sense.”

“Forget that, even an extremely rare Legacy Branch wouldn’t allow that⁠—”

But the disbelief meant nothing to the woman as she cracked her knuckles.

“So, are you all going to step it up, or?” the woman asked, almost mockingly.

The burly demon gritted his teeth before turning to his companion. “Summon the third, there is no way he’s dead.”

The summoner demon immediately nodded and cast a spell, one that went uninterrupted by the woman. A bad move in everyone’s gaze. Yet, they never expected to see chunks of flesh start to rain next to the demons. There was nothing but body parts, as everyone paused, including the demons.

“Oh yeah, he refused to do a contract and almost killed a bunch of people, so that’s how he ended up,” the warrior explained.

And that seemed to bring more rage into the burly demon than ever before as he rushed at her without words. His body exploded into silver flames, as he appeared behind the woman and swung. She blocked with her arms and went flying, before the burly demon appeared and followed up again.

In no time, she was caught in a flurry of non-stop hits. Pieces of her armor flew around as blood splattered, and at that moment, the hope they had vanished. It’s unstoppable.

“I’m not letting you get away with this!”

The demon stomped, the environment breaking.

“I’ll beat you to pulp!”

The woman was punched, being sent flying.

“Then, I’ll tear your body limb to limb⁠—”

And a slash tore through the environment, an invisible one. The demon’s arm went flying as his eyes widened, and before he could react. The woman stabbed with her own hand, she pierced into the demon’s heart and took it out still beating as he fell down.

“I only need one of you to test my skill,” she said coldly before throwing the heart away.

The last remaining demon, the one that had been summoning all the demons, took a step back, his eyes trembling with fear.

“W-Who are you?”

The woman cracked her neck and smiled. “Your new master. Let’s do a contract shall we?”

Contract? Nobody understood what she actually meant, but the demon took a step back as his eyes widened.

“That’s not possible. You shouldn’t be able to do that.”

The woman simply strode forward and⁠—

A hand perforated her body. She blinked as the burly demon held her heart out of her body, she was impaled through his arm as she spat a mouthful of blood.

“Thought you killed me?”

And the lanky demon laughed. “We got her.”

Kornelius’ heart stopped as the woman was thrown away like a sack. She hit the ground in a bloodied mess as her heart landed even further.

She was dead.

He gulped as the demons turned towards them, the burly demon grinning.

“Now⁠—”

And the woman reappeared, her hand raised.

“Battery⁠—”

The demon exploded into thousands of pieces as he was blasted away. Everyone paused as the woman cracked her neck, before finally she turned towards the lanky demon whose eyes were staring at the puddle of blood.

“So, are you more inclined to make a contract now?” she asked, her voice carrying a hint of excitement this time.

The demon took a step back. He was the last surviving one. All was against him, as he gritted his teeth and raised his staff warily.

“I…”

He hesitated, raising his staff even further away. Then, he stabbed it through his chest as blood exploded in all directions.

“As if!”

All the chunks of the other demons began to float, and then they all flew into his body as his voice dropped into a booming one that sent reverberations throughout the land.

“I never thought you would get me, the Demon of Brutality, to this state,” he said.

The demon began to grow in size as it turned into a blob of shifting flesh, and Kornelius couldn’t help but swallow from what he was feeling.

Doom.

The demon was growing stronger by the second, his body increasing in size along with it.

“Stop it!”

“Kill it!”

The mercenaries fired the little magic they had towards the demon but it was all blocked by a barrier.

“It’s futile. But it seems that I underestimated one amongst you,” the blob turned towards the warrior as it slowly took shape. “So, I shall fight you in my complete form, mortal.”

“Great!” At that, the woman laughed. “Finally, a worthy opponent.”

Was she… excited…? Kornelius didn’t understand, but a moment later the demon finished forming. The mass exploded with a burst of black blood, and a large demon emerged, one with long horns and a muscular body as well as a staff, his skin a jet black with pulsing red lines.

“Now you shall know true terror.”

[Demon of Brutality. Lvl. ???]

At that everyone paled, because the demon was…

Above level 300.