“Water Slash!”

Viers’ water-clad claymore hit the charging bull in the flank.

“Mm?”

The bull was undaunted. Its eyes were mad red. Saliva spewed out as it bellowed.

“Slip Sleet!” Viers slapped the ground, stylishly.

The ground near Viers was covered by water and ice. The bovine demon slipped and gouged a boulder instead of Viers.

“Water Chains! Azure Edge!”

Viers stopped its movement and stabbed his claymore into its skull.

“CAAAW!!”

From behind, four mutated birds as big as Steller's sea eagles dived at Viers.

“Entangle!”

Dia manipulated plant roots and branches to catch the birds but she missed one.

“Ah! Kin!”

Viers’ hand let go of his claymore that was still embedded in the bull’s head, and using his Victa-coated bare hand, karate chopped the demonic bird mid-flight.

Arte - Cut the Crap!

This time he didn't say the name of his first self-created Arte out loud. Fast, simple and clean Arte to cleave his enemies in two. Contrary to his presumption, the bird didn't get cut into two, only swatted down to the ground.

“Impertinent!”

Viers stomped the bird with the force of an elephant. It still didn't die so he gave it two more helpings. The Rank 1 avian monster was finally dead. Viers pulled his straight sword from his storage item and glanced at Dia who was choking the life out of the three birds. The roots’ sharp ends punctured the demons’ skin. Certain she had them handled, he dashed at the nearby Conn who was about to be encircled.

“Water Sword Rain!”

Thirty water swords were conjured by Viers and flew forward. They stabbed the demons in various places, softening them before Viers arrived.

“Thank you! Zaaah!!” Conn punched a scorpion-tailed tiger and a few of its teeth fell off.

“Just concentrate!” Viers replied as he stabbed another tiger in the eye. With his other hand, he Force Pull-ed the claymore he previously left behind.

Viers joined the battlefield where the Silver Legion contained the demons. This was his first time fighting demons for real and they indeed were troublesome. For instance, the bull and bird earlier. Viers knew those two species. Before demonification, the bird would have died from his karate chop. After demonification, Viers had to give it additional hits.

That was just a Rank 1 demonic monster. Viers was a Level 3.

“Incredible…”

“This is the Silver Legion…”

Other than Rose and friends, there were other combatants. Mostly city guards. They were in awe looking at the Silver Legionaries' battle prowess. Although Viers and Max weren't one, they fought at the same level as those silver-clad paragons. It made outsiders think they were one of them.

Hm… Max has improved considerably.

Of course, Viers did not use all of his strength. He did just enough to match the level of Bryan and the others. The reason was to save his Victa. As he expected, fighting demons was truly a Victa-burner.

“Viers!” Rose shouted. Her rapier was slick with demon blood. “With me! We’re going to break the group on our right.”

“Roger that! Dia!”

The mini dryad’s hands turned into vines and she extended them, latching onto Viers before retracting. The three of them went to face another enemy group.

Viers had a break from the continuous fighting an hour later.

“Good work,” Ciel clasped his shoulder after the gang arrived at the back camp. “We’ll take it from here.”

“Send them to Hell,” Viers said while feigning tiredness. He was tired but not as much.

“On it,” Wendy replied.

The Legion took shifts. They wouldn't last otherwise. Ciel, Wendy, Rachel, and June would cover the hole that Viers and the others left behind.

Mita and a couple of Level 4s were at a deeper area, attempting to seal the Biome where the demons came from.

Supposedly, true demons made in Hell are even stronger. Wow…

“Here,” June offered Viers an energy drink brew which he accepted with gratitude. Not as delicious as modern sports drinks but he would take what he could get.

“Thanks Viers, you really helped us out,” Rose smiled brightly despite looking worn out.

“You did,” Max grudgingly acknowledged. “Why can't you use that power for good?”

“Aren't I?” Viers gave his signature confident daredevil smile.

His tenants knew Viers had a hidden agenda for coming to the demon-infested area.

Other than gaining my first experience of fighting demons, the field tests of my new Arte were excellent!

During the battle, there was a time when he and Mita were in close vicinity.

Arte - Subtle Soul Gravity!

Collecting souls was frowned upon. At the swamp, Mita chastised Viers for trying to take a monster’s soul. Even before, Viers usually only collected souls if there were no people nearby. He didn't want to take risks at some random Level 4 or 5 realizing he was a soul Pathseeker.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

But with this new Arte, which Viers developed after analyzing the arrangement that the Foulfae Swamp’s undead created, Viers could absorb souls very stealthily.

Souls gravitate towards me as if I were a natural force of nature. Mita and the other Silver Legionaries didn't realize anything. What they don't know, won't hurt them. Kishishishi!

It was partly because Mita didn't think Viers would be crazy enough to collect demonic souls but Viers was all about expanding his Horizon.

Hmn, even the soul is polluted after becoming a demon. It emits corruption… Thoughtless use will be harmful to me. Demons really do corrupt everything.

Viers treated the seventy plus demonic monster souls he harvested like radioactive material and quarantined them in a separate soul space under strict surveillance. He would find ways to turn them into something useful. Out of the seventy, twenty were Rank 3 monsters and two Rank 4 monsters.

They were not human souls so Viers couldn't use Myriad Souls in One Arte on them but it was still a good haul.

To return to my Grand Soul state, I’ll need a lot of human souls. This Arte will be useful for gathering them… Oh, if only there was a war breaking out nearby. I could simply stay at the periphery and reap benefits without losing anything.

After resting, Viers continued contributing to the war effort until nightfall and the area was sealed with a barrier that thirty people created and maintained.

After a hard day’s work, the Legionaries were on their way back to the abbey. Teleporting was expensive so unless it was an emergency, they used a normal method of traveling.

“Alright folks. I need to take care of private matters so I’ll separate here. Bye~” Viers said his goodbyes.

“Are you up to no good?” Ciel half-jokingly asked. Because of her gift, she didn't think Viers was a truly bad guy.

“You wound me,” Viers said with an exaggerated hurtful face, hand on his chest.

When have I not?

“Hehe, that’s a joke. I trust you. Stay safe~”

Ciel sent him off with a wave and a smile. Ignorance is bliss.

***

Not too far from where Viers fought the demons, there was the remnant of a town. Most of it had been covered by dirt as if decades or centuries ago it had been showered by landslides. What used to be a town of the Coriz Empire was in the process of returning to the earth.

The site resembled a mine and although sparse, there were people. All were members of House Chevry or on their payroll. Viers sneaked in uninvited, going through one of several guarded entrances to the underground. The cover of the night was great for Fade in Shadow Arte. Similarly, the dark subterranean caves provided plenty of darkness for Viers to take refuge from unfriendly attention.

According to Skinny Dog, a great ancestor of the Chevry left a great inheritance for his descendant. Only, it seemed that the ancestor set the bar too high. And so, for hundreds of years, it slumbered. Waiting for the worthy to emerge.

The current matriarch of House Chevry was nearing the end of her life. The Level 4 was so old, vitality boosting items no longer had any effect because she’d eaten so much. Once she was dead, the situation would turn from bad to worse. The family had no other Level 4 and was already on the decline.

Thus, House Chevry put the retrieval of the inheritance high on their priority list. According to the records that the ancestor left behind, besides the main inheritance, there were other valuable assets. They'd hoped the inheritance could give the family a boost of strength. Candice was the most promising among the young generation to reach Level 4.

Viers sneaked into the ruins intending to get that inheritance. If he could not, the ruin was underground. They hid it but there was a mana crystal mine vein discovered nearby by a stroke of luck two and a half years ago. It gave them an absurd amount of wealth.

Viers planned to gobble that money as much as he could.

Before Viers reached the true inheritance ground he had to first traverse a long and winding man-made tunnel.

Rumors are that the Chevry ancestor asked his friend, a fellow Level 5 earth Pathseeker, to construct all of this. Man, Level 5 is something else… Time is short. Let’s get this side quest finished in one night!

More than two centuries had passed. Earthquakes, cave-ins, subterranean monster migrations, and many more made the tunnels pretty dangerous. Only recently was the effort to push to the center resumed. Before, the mana crystal mine was the only thing of importance in this place.

As he roamed the equivalent of four floors of an underground shopping mall, he caught sight of many monsters. The monsters came from deeper underground. He regularly passed by monsters who were in the middle of fighting the patrols tasked with keeping the passages safe.

According to the info, the top powerhouse in this mine is a Chevry elder with Level 3 peak cultivation. But even though the house is declining, it was once a great house. He must have magical means and abilities. I should not let my guard down.

And yet, his Fade in Shadow Arte was bolstered by more than 450 percent. A Level 3, no matter how strong, couldn't see through his stealth.

Viers was careful of booby traps or other detection magical items. That was where his Euryale Sight came into play, sensing traps before he tripped them. Then Viers went one step further.

A couple of Level 2 Pathseekers were on patrol. Suddenly, from a dark corner, a hand covered the mouth of one and the other simply dropped down as if his soul had left his body. There was no sound, no trace. Something similar was repeated many times all over the place.

He soul searched the weak patrols and guards without remorse. The time needed varied depending on the person but the longest was two minutes. After the soul search, they continued their activities like normal, unaware that Viers had hacked their brains.

Viers ended up knowing more traps, sensors, notable individuals, and the topography with every victim that fell into his hand.

Ooo, now this is thieving at its greatest! The thrill of the crime!

Before Viers went deeper into the main prize, he took the scenic path. The vista of a massive quarry with hundreds of miserable slaves mining mana crystals was certainly something he didn't see every day. Foremen with whips and tongues no less abusive cracked at various men -a few women- of multiple races. Robust-bodied beastfolks, ogres, and humans broke stones, gathered the precious crystals, and put them into carts which were then carried elsewhere.

A hero would save the slaves. Unfortunately for them, it was a villain who came.

Viers had first thought of getting down there and directly mining the many-colored mana crystals himself, but he thought of a better idea.

“Move your legs, you trash!”

A fat man with a round, oily face shouted at the poor slaves that pushed and pulled the heavy carts full of crystals. They poured the crystals at a depot. There the crystals would be sorted based on their quality and put into crates.

The fat man was Busdin Chevry, a Level 3 low who was responsible for the mine. He became Level 3 despite having no talent and drive in cultivation thanks to expensive medicines and supplements. The times the forty-year-old man had been in a life and death battle could be counted on one hand. Why the man landed on an important post such as this was because of his parents.

After the slaves were gone and while Busdin was embezzling the crystals per usual, he suddenly saw a stranger beside him picking high-quality mana crystals and stuffing them in his pocket like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“What the fuck do you-”

Viers waved his hand in front of Busdin’s face.

“It’s okay for me to take the crystals.”

There was a faint hum in the air. The anger on Busdin’s face quickly disappeared, along with his cognitive ability.

“It’s okay… for you to take the crystals…”

Viers opened his Thousand Treasures Casket and put all the crystals he could find inside it. Dia, Faiya, Futon, and his tenants were also helping with the clean-up.

Viers’ eyes had dollar signs in them.

After the storeroom was nice and clean, Viers turned to Busdin.

“You’ll stay in this room and think of a happy vacation.”

“I’ll stay in this room, and think of a happy vacation…” Busdin started to look like a man on drugs.

“If anybody asks about the crystals, you’ll tell them a candy dragon ate them.”

“A candy dragon ate them…”

Viers erased his existence from the man’s mind and erased the security recordings. Lastly, he stripped Busdin of all of his valuables.

Because Viers had a generous heart, he let the man keep his underwear before leaving the daydreaming man in an empty storeroom.