When the demons found the hill of bodies, a huge uproar spread across their forces. How had they missed something like this? And how did the culprit hide it for so long?
Of course, both questions had a simple answer; there were no survivors. Everyone who entered the vicinity died before they could warn anyone. It was a dreadful realization since none of them had the confidence to accomplish something like this. How could they when they were more accustomed to frontal battles?
In fact, to them, this was something that exceeded their imaginations and understanding. It was the work of a devil, a butcher who had become accustomed to killing, a being who wouldn't hesitate to massacre an entire world if they opposed him. In a way, they weren't wrong since that was something Genji would do, or at least try.
This uneasy atmosphere grew like cancer until an important general was forced to step in and boost morale. "Don't be too bothered by it. Our opponent is still mortal. He can bleed like the rest of us. Don't falter now. Regroup and quickly hunt him down. Since he's such a deadly foe, we shouldn't let him recover."
The lower-ranked demons stabilized their mentality with this speech, latching onto these words as their last hope. They needed to believe in this because they would otherwise lose the courage to continue.
"Our opponent is a tough one," a general commented as they returned to their meeting tents.
"That's a given. He is the first person in forever to find his way into our world. It wouldn't make sense if he's weak."
"I know, but isn't he too strong? How did he kill so many of them before we found out?"
"That might not be the case. He could be someone with strong assassination abilities rather than frontal combat abilities. As long as we surround him and draw him into the open, it's our win."
The other generals nodded in agreement since that was the only reasonable explanation. If he had the power to fight head-on, why would he sneak around so much? To the muscle-headed demons, only cowardly weaklings fought like this.
"Mazakel's right. There's no way he can keep this up. We have numbers on our side. All we need to do is stall him out, and we can easily capture him."
"Yes. He might be strong, but that will only make our infiltration that much easier."
"So we all in agreement? No more scouting parties, and we're going all out?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Fine by me."
"Then let's lock down that area. We can't have him running away after everything, or he might die from starvation before we find him."
----------------------------------------
Genji finished his third core refinement and got accustomed to his increased strength. After clenching and relaxing his fist, he stood up and exited his hiding spot.
"There are a lot more of them now," he commented, sensing the approaching wave of demons. "I guess it's time for round two."
Genji activated his stealth and followed the source of the commotion, eventually encountering a large squad of two hundred demons. They marched in disorganized steps, slowly closing in on him.
A few presences stood out from the group, emitting a sense of danger that tingled against his senses. Genji pulled out [Eye of Horus] and decided to test this equipment.
[Special stat comparison. Your stat greatly surpasses the target's. You will receive 100% of their information.]
[Demon Captain]
Health: 12,500/12,500
Energy: 100/100
Con: 33
Str: 28
Dex: 22
Int: 10
Spc: 2
Skills:
- Mini-Boss(Passive): +6,000 health
- Demon Physique (Passive): +3000 health
- Tenacious Body(Passive): +12 defense, +15 recovery speed
- Nether Flames(Active): Summon green flames to burn the target for true damage.
- Arm Smash(Active): Slam down with all your force, dealing 200% damage
- Demon Rallying(Passive): +4 group morale when leading a group of 10, +6 when 50, +10 when 100
- Force of a Thousand(Active): Deal 200% damage to a single target. For every demon commander fighting alongside you, this attack gains a 10% damage boost. +1% for every 10 normal demons. Stackable up to 1000 demons.
Compared to insight, this information was far more detailed and cost 100 energy. This was a worthwhile trade-off since Genji knew his opponent's trump card before the battle. Just that piece of information was enough to drastically increase his chances of survival, especially when there were 8 Demon Captains in sight.
Genji evaluated the risks and decided to engage. A group of mini-bosses was troublesome, but it was possible. A silent mist drifted over the marching demons, enshrouding them with undetectable poison. Genji waited for the effects to kick in before activating Berserk and charging at the group.
Two streaks of flames carved through the crowd, revealing his position and silhouette to everyone. Recognizing the abnormality, the nearby demons rushed to surround him, but their bodies reacted slower than they expected. Genji easily dashed past them and zipped toward a nearby captain.
The demon captain readied his stance to confront him, but before he could strike, an irresistible mental impact halted his motion. Genji slipped through his defenses and brandished his dagger. In one smooth swing, he lopped off the demon captain's head, leaving an arc of shadow flames following his movement.
The demons gaped in shock, astounded by his audacity in charging into their midst. Yet what dumbfounded them the most wasn't just that, but the fact that Genji had succeeded under these circumstances. It was this very boldness that cemented Genji's position as a devil in their hearts. After all, was this something a normal person would do?
Suddenly, Genji kicked off the ground and stomped on the shoulders of a nearby demon. Using these enemies as a foothold, Genji dashed at another captain.
The demons below him swiftly reacted and reached upward to grab him, but they only caught his afterimage. Genji was simply too dexterous for these brutes and took an unhindered path toward his target. As he jumped down, a heavy fist coated in green flames catapulted at his head.
Genji's hood swayed wildly in the face of this strike, testifying to its skull-crushing powers. However, before it could connect, he activated Like A Feather and curled his legs upward. The burst of flames sailed underneath him before he lowered his legs to land on the outstretched arm.
Next, he pushed off the tips of his toes, leaning forward and diving head-first at the demon's face. [Curse Bearer] manifested and blew apart the side of the head before he followed with a decisive cut. The captain, who was too occupied by the sudden shift, was unable to respond in time. By the time he registered everything, his head had slid apart, spilling pinkish-grey brain matter everywhere.
Genji caught himself on the tilting shoulders and restored his balance with a handstand. Then he sprang off, dodging the wave of nether flames targeting him.
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Performing a strange twist, Genji redirected his falling trajectory and trampled on a head to flashstep. The head beneath him jolted backward from the repulse and snapped the neck. Fortunately or unfortunately for the demon, his vitality was strong enough to survive this injury, though he was left paralyzed.
When Genji reappeared, he was before another captain with a dreadful strike. The captain realized that this attack was unavoidable and charged his nether flames for a counterattack. To buy time, he brought up his arm as a substitute for his neck. If this worked, then he would repel this ghostly attacker.
Of course, the key word was "if," because as Genji's dagger curved toward it, he gave his wrist a small flick. Because of this change, his slash twirled into a stab, burying [Lethal] into the skull. One harsh jerk later, the dagger exited the top of the head, bisecting the brain.
Suddenly, the body erupted in a stream of nether flames as it acted on the demon's final intentions. This explosion engulfed all nearby units, scorching their bodies into black char. However, this friendly fire didn't upset the survivors since it had blanketed their fearsome opponent.
To them, this was a worthwhile price for ending this battle. They weren't advocates of wasting lives like this, but the alternative was far worse. As for the casualties, they could only blame their bad luck for their position.
But before they could rejoice, the flames burst aside as a silhouette rushed out. Genji capitalized on their lowered guard and flashstepped again, instantly finishing another captain. All the demons gazed at him in stupefaction, taken aback by how he survived such a fierce explosion unscathed.
The remaining captains gave him a wary stare and caught glimpses of an energy barrier before it faded. Understanding Genji's deadliness, they took a guarded stance, ready to respond to the slightest movement and disregarding the troops between them.
Genji had proven more than once that these troops hindered them more than they helped, so relying on them for defense was like playing Russian roulette, a game of luck. They didn't want to die like this, so they prepared to struggle with everything they had, hoping that was enough to temporarily repel him.
Each of them flared their auras wildly, trying to appear as threatening as possible to discourage Genji from targeting them. Like this, the tense battlefield became a competition in which captains could waste more energy.
Genji enjoyed the show for some time before the captains realized his intentions and reeled back their auras. Upon their restraint, Genji hurled a demon off and dashed at the closest captain.
With each step, the shoulders of the demons beneath him shattered into bits, their physiques unable to withstand the increased force Genji used to push off them.
Hisses of pain sounded behind him, providing cover for him to drop a bottle of poison. The captains didn't know when he did this, but it was evident that purple smoke had covered their ranks and hidden Genji's figure.
This put all of them on edge and redoubled their caution, shifting from relief to crisis. However, this caution was warranted since Genji had switched targets under the cover, manifesting before the farthest captain.
Unlike the captains before him, this one immediately gave up all attempts at offense and focused solely on defense. He had seen what the result was for the former, and he didn't want to follow that path.
Multiple deadly strikes chipped at the arms, but the demon protected his head with utmost priority. He even disregarded the strikes to his chest, knowing he wasn't fast enough to block everything. In a matter of seconds, his entire body became a mangled mess, but a savage grin was apparent on his face.
'I survived. Now you're surrounded with no way out.'
But his triumphant joy was cut short when Genji suddenly disappeared from his position, replaced by a shadow silhouette. As he processed what had happened, he felt the other captains' presence fade into nothingness. His head whipped in their direction and saw their decapitated corpses, all tilting over.
And standing beside one of them was Genji, who had suddenly teleported. Genji glanced at the demon and swiped his thumb across his throat. It was a threatening gesture that spooked the demon to its bones, but Genji had no intentions of following through with it. The distance between them was too far and filled with a wall of elites, making it very dangerous to traverse.
Additionally, Dance of Death drained most of his energy when he used it under the poison. With these conditions, Genji would have to use Legacy Liberation if he wanted to kill the last captain. This was a terrible trade, so Genji retreated under their distressed stares.
[You have slain: 7 Demon Captains, 21 normal demons]
[Your maximum energy has increased by 196 points]
[You have obtained: unnamed equipment (rare) x7]
15:7:03
That was his remaining time. Genji had noticed the increased number of demons in the area and decided to wait it out in hiding. His normal trump cards had been used up, and he wasn't going to risk any more battles. Also, his potions might keep him in peak shape, but they were costly, and he preferred to save them when possible.
At least that was what he thought until his time ran out, and he remained in the cave. With a deep sigh, he asked EverRealm, "What's the reason this time?" Genji was no stranger to delayed returns and was barely fazed by the outcome.
[Your current spatial coordinates have been obscured. Extra time is required to find your location.]
"Honestly, I'm not surprised anymore."
Genji got up from his hiding spot and changed his location. The demons were doing a thorough search of everything, and he had no intentions of engaging. Now, his goal was to hide until EverRealm transported him back.
Like this, days of hide and seek ensued. The demons slowly narrowed the encirclement around Genji until he realized what was going on. It wasn't hard to figure out once he saw the wall of demons in every direction.
With no certainty of when his return would be, he took matters into his own hands and broke out. Poison and shadow flames covered the battlefield, alerting the generals of his presence, but they were too far away to do anything. At best, they glared at Genji with annoyance, bothered by how slippery he was.
When Genji was a safe distance away, he summoned Bruce and left the demons in the dust. The gnashing of teeth was heard, but the generals eventually accepted the outcome and regrouped.
"He's stalling," a general commented. "I just don't understand why. Isn't he running low on food and water after all that fighting?"
"Doesn't that mean he's at the end of his ropes?"
"I guess, but it feels more than that."
"Then let's change our plans. If he wants to run so much, then we will just have to track him down."
With that, they brought the detection pearl to a reclusive area. This was where they carried out many of their important operations with the assistance of specialized shamans.
Shamans were demons who had given up on honing their bodies in pursuit of mystical arts. They were far in between and weak in combat, but their help was crucial in shaping their history.
However, most demons looked down on these feeble members since they measured respect proportionally to a member's body strength. On the other hand, the shamans respected knowledge and wisdom over brute strength. These differences in belief clashed multiple times and almost caused internal strife.
Both groups were adamant that their definition of strength was correct and tension continued. This eventually got so bad that they had to separate the groups to prevent further conflicts. That was 200 years ago and they rarely interfered with each other since.
Under normal circumstances, the generals would have never bothered these shamans, but this situation was far from normal. If their target insisted on hiding so much, then they had no way of finding him. That was why they needed unconventional means to find him.
"So let me get this straight. You want us to track down someone who can be anywhere in the world," a shaman asked with a disbelieving stare. After the general nodded, he burst out with, "Get out of here. Who do you think we are? We're shamans, not miracle workers!"
"Bring me to Ezekiel," the general responded without care for the outburst. At the mention of this name, a serious look appeared in the shaman's eyes. There was only one Ezekiel among the shamans, and that had been the case since their founding.
"Ancestor is busy right now. I can't just bring you to him."
"Don't question me. You don't have the authority for that."
A huge pressure weighed down on the shaman, but he refused to budge. He couldn't allow such interruptions because those were the ancestor's orders. Due to this, tension rose in the atmosphere and the general considered entering by force.
Then a voice sounded from the back and calmed this situation. "Let him in." At the order, the shaman stepped aside and released a sigh of reassurance. Since the ancestor said so, then it wouldn't be his fault anymore.
The general walked past the demon and brushed aside the tanned leather separating the two rooms. As he walked in, he spotted a demon with a bone staff and parchment cloak. This was Ezekiel, the general who didn't belong.
Back then, he was considered the youngest demon general, achieving such a level in 60 years. This was half the time of the previous record and it cemented his position as the most monstrous genius in demon history.
He was the hope for going past the Demon General level and pushing their powers to new heights, but at the peak of his training, he shifted his attention elsewhere.
At the time, many generals felt that it was quite a shame and that he was wasting his talents by pursuing mystic arts. However, he later disproved that idea when he created the method of whispering to mortals.
Following that, he devised the summoning magic that demons used to enter the other world. That was how Ezekiel single-handedly initiated the demon invasion.
Following these successes, some admirers of Ezekiel sought out his teachings and converted to shamans. It was a popular trend at the time, but no major discoveries were made afterward. Eventually, this perceived uselessness became the defining trait of shamans, and they lost the respect of the younger generation.
But while normal shamans were considered useless, Ezekiel was far from it. He was the pioneer of this art and was more knowledgeable than anyone. There was no way someone like that could be so useless, especially when he was the leading figure back then.
The general also had some doubts about the separation. A part of him believed that Ezekiel had purposely shown such mediocre results so he had a reason to leave the ranks of generals. Without that title tying him down, he could experiment without interruptions. He wouldn't put it past Ezekiel to do something like that.
The general stopped before Ezekiel, who opened his eyes and asked, "Hendal. What brings you here?"
"To get help."
"I know that. You generals never come otherwise. What's the big issue this time?"
"I need you to track someone," the general responded and handed over the glowing orb.
"Ah yes. The detection orb from back then. So a human finally entered our world."
"He's hiding very well, and there's nothing we can do."
"So you came here to see if I have a way."
"Yes. Do you?"
"I can't track him directly, but I can modify it so that it can tell his general vicinity."
"Then do it."
"Before I start, I have to warn you. This will be done by narrowing the range of this orb. That way, you can tell if he's within a certain radius, but this modification is irreversible. At least I don't know how. Are you sure you want to ruin it like that?"
"Do it," the general answered decisively. They had come too far to give up now.
"Come back in 3 hours. I'll have it ready by then."
The general nodded in response and walked out to send a message for preparation. A message for the biggest chase in demon history.