Scarlet
A loud hissing sound fills the cavern as I stand opposite the two-dozen-meter-long snake, watching as it hatefully glares at me while covered in wounds. Meanwhile all of my own wounds quickly regenerate, Blood Regeneration having climbed all the way to level nineteen over the past few months I’ve spent training here.
I growl back at the basilisk, flexing my claws a little as the tips of my fingers, which had been scraped raw after my last clash with the serpent’s scales, finally finish regrowing.
The basilisk itself is only level four hundred and sixty, an entire thirty-one levels beneath me. But it has skills that put a lot of the other demons here to shame, along with an incredibly durable set of scales over its body. Scales strong enough that even my Metallicized Blood barely cuts through them, and that’s only while damaging both my claws and fingers in the process.
A rather terrifying defense for something that much lower level than me.
It’s to be expected though, considering that the basilisks are the strongest demons in the Ashen Mountains hunting grounds belonging to the kitsune.
Unfortunately there aren’t really any Class IV hunting grounds, with the exception of the Demon King’s continent at the center of the world. Or the oceans themselves. The rest are all just for Class IIs and IIIs.
The basilisk lets out another loud hiss, prompting me to rush forwards while covered in black, red, and blue electricity from Crimson Overdrive as I drive my spread out claws straight into the wounded creature’s head. My hand drills into its eye now that it’s too wounded to cover its head or move fast enough to dodge it, following which I dig my other hand in and begin wrenching its eye apart in two directions. Then, as the creature lets out a very loud screeching hiss, I finish ripping its eye in two and dig my way straight inside of its head to find its brain.
But the thing dies before I can.
{Level 460 Basilisk defeated. A massive EXP penalty has been extracted for killing a creature thirty or more levels below your level.}
“Damnit,” I swear before scowling at its corpse and walking away, finally having learned how to speak from Leonidas while in my Beast Form about a month ago.
I need to find something else to hunt. Something stronger.
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“Scarlet…” Tar mutters, but I ignore him as I start to sprint through the tunnels of the cave system, searching with very little success for something close to my own level.
Damnit! Where are the highest level Class IIIs?!
“Scarlet,” Tar says louder as I continue running faster and faster, ignoring all of the weaker demons in the area without even giving them a second glance after identifying them.
I have to reach Class IV before the end of the night, Tar. You know very well why I have to do that!
“I understand you want to reach Class IV before you turn twenty, but you’re not going to find anything high enough in level here to do that,” Tar says slowly and carefully, as if I were a time bomb waiting to explode. “It might be best to ask your grandfather to take you to the central continent”
That has me gritting my teeth, but I do consider his suggestion.
I’ve always hated asking for help with a passion. But this time… this time I might not have a choice.
Not if I really want to make that deadline. To reach Class IV before I turn twenty.
I continue running through the cave for another five minutes, only to finally give up on finding anything close to high enough level to give me the EXP I need.
So I ask out loud, “Gramps! I need your help!”
And not even a second later, a swirl of blood appears in front of me, following which Gramps appears in his usual royal-looking black, red, and gold armor with his long black hair streaked with red highlights flowing down behind him as if fluttering on a breeze. He has a warm smile on his face and is… holding a head? Holding a severed head.
“Why are you holding a head?” I ask, utterly stunned by that fact for a moment.
Apparently he didn’t realize he was holding one as he quickly engulfs it in black blood that completely corrodes the head into nothing but a red and black ash that falls to he ground. Then he says, “I was dealing with a bratty Noble. Nothing you need to worry about.”
I look at the pile of ashes for a few seconds before deciding that I don’t have the time to question it as I meet his eyes and ask, “Can you bring me somewhere that has Class IV demons for me to fight? I want to reach Class IV by the time the sun rises.”
He blinks at that in surprise, only to frown.
That isn’t a good sign.
“Even if you do reach level five hundred today, you won’t be able to get all of the Catalysts needed to reach Class IV by the time the sun rises,” he plainly states, making my eyes go wide in shock at the realization that he’s probably right. “I can still bring you there if you want, but don’t get your hopes up if that’s the goal you’re shooting for.”
“Please take me,” I ask him, sincerely asking someone for help for the first time in my life.
“Wait, this is the first time?” Tar asks, sounding incredulous about that fact.
Yes. It is.
Every other time I’ve gotten help it was never due to me asking for it. It was from someone else giving it to me without me asking, either doing it just to help me of their own accord or doing it as a favor that I would return later on.
I’ve never personally asked someone for help before.
“Wow…” Tar mutters, meanwhile Gramps scratches his chin for a moment before shrugging.
“Alright,” he says, picking me up into a princess carry seconds later as my transformation suddenly reverses. Likely his own doing. He then looks down at me with a smile and says, “Let’s go.”
Everything turns red.