The trio was startled by the appearance of a large creature. A Silverdusk Bear emerged from the entrance of a small cave, woken up from the commotion caused by Percy and the brothers.

“I will attract its attention!” Tarlek shouted, brandishing his broadsword. He activated the runic enchantment, which released a mana pulse into his surroundings.

Erik’s smile was replaced with a more serious expression and he summoned two bloody war axes again while Percy brandished the Silvron Sword.

Maybe we shouldn’t have played around like fools in a forest full of powerful monsters. That ‘might’ have been an mistake.

Percy groaned inwardly but watched the Silverdusk Bear intently as it charged Tarlek.

The Silverdusk Bear was a massive creature that reached up to three meters once it stood on its hind legs. It had tough silverish-brown spotted fur that was tougher than most metals. The Silverdusk Bear was among the strongest Elite Monsters in the kingdom.

Tarlek’s body was coated in a silver sheen, which exploded right before the Silverdusk Bear’s paw smashed down. Tarek’s momentum reached a new high as he moved. He evaded the incoming attack and altered the paw’s trajectory with his broadsword. He blocked the attack by angling the broadsword blade perfectly, creating a minuscule opening, which Erik and Percy grasped.

Erik moved instinctively after fighting with his older brother for years. Their teamwork was seamless. On the other hand, Percy had to rely on [Hawk Eyes] to make up for his lack of seamless teamwork. But it worked out just fine. Erik’s bloody war axes expanded as he cleaved down, ready to sever the Silverdusk Bear’s paw. The war axes impacted, but the expected fountain of blood never came. The Silverdusk Bear’s fur stiffened around the area of impact and hardened, drastically decreasing the damage inflicted by Erik.

Even though his attack was executed with every bit of strength, Erik barely scratched the Silverdusk Bear. Only a few droplets of blood trickled from the injury before the monster’s rapid regeneration jumped into effect, stopping the bleeding.

Still, Erik smiled. The injury might not seem like a lot, but [Bloodweaver] actively absorbed the monster’s blood. The droplets merged with Erik’s war axe, enhancing the blade. Next time, Erik’s cleave would inflict more damage!

Percy didn’t even try cutting through the Silverdusk Bear’s fur. He let Erik attract the monster’s attention while using [Frostbite] to form an icicle in his hands.

His control of the Augmentation was still lackluster, and it drained far more mana than necessary, but Percy’s mana control allowed him to create what he wanted. It also aided his wish to replicate one of Melissa’s simple attacks. Percy inched closer to the Silverdusk Bear until he was beside the creature and released the icicle, once fully formed, with a burst of mana.

The attack wasn’t perfect, but his accuracy was high enough. The icicle hit one of the monster’s eyes with enough precision but pierced only a little into the eyeball before the Silverdusk Bear closed its eyelids, severing the icicle. But that was enough. The icicle shattered, releasing all properties of [Frostbite] into the surroundings. The icicle, no longer forced into an unfamiliar shape, transformed into a freezing mist, which spread through the Silverdusk Bear’s eye and eyelid.

The creature roared in pain and surprise and spun to Percy, who had already retreated. He summoned the Blueflame Hawk and sent it into the air while retreating further. Tarlek jumped before Percy while Erik shot forward with a roar. His chest was covered in a bloody armor made of his blood, but that wasn’t as useful as expected. The Silverdusk Bear struck Erik with a swift block of the back of its paw.

Erik was flung through the air and disappeared into a shrub, where a loud noise indicated his heavy impact on the ground. A tinge of worry blossomed in Percy’s heart, but Tarlek remained calm. His body glimmered more vibrantly in the familiar silver tone as he made his move. He pushed forward and charged that charging beast. Tarlek raised his weapon and attacked. However, instead of attacking alone, many things happened at once.

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A massive tree appeared next to Tarlek. No, it wasn’t a tree. It was a sentient monster—a Treant. The Treant lifted what Percy presumed to be its arms—the creature looked grotesque, with features indicating a human appearance but other features showing its lack of understanding—and released large roots to restrain the Silverdusk Bear or slow it down if restraining didn’t work.

Simultaneously, the Crimson Wolf of Erik emerged from the shrubs alongside Erik, whose expression was worse than before. He didn’t look happy at all. His face was filled with uncontrollable anger and a trace of…concern?

Percy was already on the move, his Silvron Sword shining after he’d activated [Sharpness]. He was about to activate [Frostbite] to augment the Silvron Sword further when his Ego reacted. Erik, cursing under his breath, looked at his brother and Percy.

“There is a human body in the undergrowth!” Erik shouted angrily while still charging the Silverdusk Bear, “It doesn’t look like the Silverdusk Bear did it though…”

Tarlek barely heard his brother because he was about to collide with the Silverdusk Bear and had to focus on the fight ahead, but the concern in Erik’s voice got to him. Something was very wrong here.

Tarlek’s senses heightened to their limits. Time around him seemed to slow down, and his eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

“Shit.” He mumbled, less than a meter separating him from the Silverdusk Bear. However, the Silverdusk Bear was no longer a problem.

“We are not alone!” Tarlek roared, diving to the side without regard for his safety instead of facing the Silverdusk Bear head-on like he’d intended.

Something is wrong here. Why is the forest so silent all of a sudden? And a corpse? What is a human corpse doing here? Nobody should have ventured this deep into the Moonlight Forest. We are probably the only ones…But wh–...

Percy’s train of thought was interrupted when the Silverdusk Bear charged past Tarlek, its paw sweep nearly cutting him open, and a familiar noise resounding through the small clearing and the surrounding forest.

A cacophony of giggles reached Percy’s ears. The sound had already been imprinted into his mind from his past experiences, and hearing it again caused his hair to stand up to its end. He swallowed hard.

Percy froze for a quarter of a second, but his mind rattled wildly, forcing him to get moving quickly.

“Run!!” Percy roared at the top of his lungs, “There are Demons in the Moonlight Forest!”

Why in the seven hells are there demons in this forest?! Didn’t the Baron check the Moonlight Forests for demons before the Imperial training?? Ah, fuck!!

A massive shadow crashed into the ground in front of Percy. It didn’t smash into him, but the thought of it happening caused him to shudder. Percy’s heart sank a bit when he saw the familiar stretchy purplish hide of the Archyeas before him, but the presence of the Lesser Demon wasn’t as oppressive as it used to be. Percy wasn’t what he used to be.

The surroundings were a mess. Percy lost sight of the brothers and the Silverdusk Bear. Instead, [Hawk Eyes] showed him a few dozen shadows emerging seemingly out of nowhere. At least two dozen Archyeas appeared in the clearing, and from the cacophony of giggles, Percy could indicate that there were still more.

A screech from the Blueflame Hawk reached Percy’s ears as a large icicle made of [Frostbite] smashed into the Archyeas standing before him. It didn’t kill the Archyeas, but the freezing properties and the impact didn’t go unnoticed. Percy gained courage from his summoned Monster’s attack, clutched his Sword Artifact tightly, and circulated mana through his body.

I am stronger than I used to be. Dealing with an Archyeas, maybe even multiple Lesser Demons, shouldn’t be a problem anymore!

Percy kicked the ground hard, gaining momentum quickly as he pushed forward. He accelerated, brandished his Sword Artifact activated both [Sharpness] and [Frostbite] to enhance the upcoming attack and swung his blade.

It was only at this moment that Percy realized that he was faster than the Archyeas. Until now, Percy had had a few nightmares of their encounter with the Archyeas and the Pleacis. The encounter was terrifying, but in the nightmares, it was even worse because he would have to deal with the Infernal Lair alone.

That was even more reason to be afraid now that he encountered them again. Yet, instead of picking the flight modi, Percy beheaded the Archyeas before him with a single slash.

The Archyeas died, and an interface popped up, but Percy’s attention was pulled to the brothers—or it would have if not for a massive black creature tearing apart the Silverdusk Bear.

A creature at the top of the food chain in the Moonlight Forest, a mighty Lord…was torn apart as easily as some tear apart a piece of bread.

Oh, shit. An Elite Demon again. Really!?