Chapter 175 (1/2)

Chapter 175: The First Confrontation with the Demon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Link and Eleanor did not rush out of the capital city the moment Eleanor’s wound had been treated. Instead, they stayed in the Blue Hermit Inn and rested there for another day.

In the meantime, they both discussed matters of magic with each other. Eleanor’s profound insights in secret spells helped Link gain new knowledge and perspective, while Link’s own expertise and creativity in his use of elemental spells surprised Eleanor as well.

Then, on the second day, with the help of the holy water, the cut wound on Eleanor’s neck had basically closed, while Link’s own Mana had recovered to its fullest state. At the same time, he’d also refined and created three more pounds of Sacred Silver, albeit using ordinary silver instead of Mithril this time. This kind of Sacred Silver might not be as good as those made of Mithril, but it was still effective enough against the power of demons.

Once everything was ready, Link found them a carriage and off they went out of Springs City.

Then, on their way in the carriage, Eleanor suddenly thought of something.

“They called that young woman in the village Lisa,” she said, “but that’s not the woman’s real name. I think the demon called her Elena.”

“What did you say?!” asked Link, startled by this revelation.

“Well, it sounded something like that, though the demon’s voice wasn’t clear,” said Eleanor. “It could be Lena or Aina…I was too far away anyway, so I couldn’t hear them well enough.”

Link sunk into silence for a while, apparently brooding over the newly gained information.

“Do you remember the exact dates of the day you noticed the soul, Ellie?” asked Link.

“Of course I do! My memory isn’t so bad despite my age!” answered Eleanor. “It was about…28 days ago, so it must be January…14th.” Unbeknownst to her, Eleanor had just mentioned the date that sent a cold shiver down Link’s spine.

January 14 was the day when he accidentally killed Elena.

“Do you remember the exact time you noticed it?” Link asked more eagerly now.

“Was it in the morning or the afternoon? What time was it?”

“It must’ve been about three in the afternoon,” answered Eleanor.

Link took a deep breath then let out a long sigh after hearing Eleanor’s answer. It was just as he expected now. He had destroyed Elena’s body that day, but her soul had survived and escaped, then found a new body and was reborn again. And now that she was reborn she even managed to contact a demon. By the looks of it, although Link wasn’t sure exactly how she did it, he knew that Elena must’ve taken the detailed plans of the inner layout of the Mage Towers in the East Cove Magic Academy with her.

The puzzle pieces had formed into a complete picture now. The nagging suspicion Link had felt all along was also confirmed.

“What a sly, devious and malicious woman!” cursed Link before taking in another deep breath. He had gone through the massacre in Gladstone, he’d killed countless robbers and even some Dark Elves with his own hands, yet he still shuddered at the thought of facing such a crafty opponent as Elena.

He felt the most sympathy for his friend Eliard right now. He had been used and manipulated by the woman. Not only was his heart and spirits broken, he’d even thought of giving up magic because of her!

By then, the carriage had already reached the gates of the capital city and was about to leave its safety. Link and Eleanor then got out of the carriage, paid for the fare and continued their journey on foot.

There were still many people passing by on the King’s Lane since they were still so near to the capital city gates, so the demon hadn’t appeared yet even though Eleanor had begun to feel its presence now.

“I’d faced it directly before, so I know the scent of its soul,” said Eleanor. “He’s definitely lurking behind the trees of the forest near us, staring, waiting for the right time to pounce on me.” Eleanor then looked out into the forest beside the road and could distinctly feel a sharp sense of danger. The memory of the confrontation three days earlier was still fresh in her mind and it filled her whole being with fear.

Link nodded at Eleanor’s words, but he felt no real threat from this demon at all, and the reason was simple—if Eleanor could injure him even by using the weakened version of the Flame Blast in the Phoenix bracelet, then this demon was simply no match for him.

They both walked on for another couple of miles along King’s Lane. It was then ten in the morning. It’s a pity that on that day the sun was blocked by a sky of thick clouds, so it was impossible for Link to use the sunlight to weaken the demon’s power.

By then, even Link could feel the anomalous aura in the surrounding. It felt distinct, as if a pair of eyes in the darkness were following him around fixedly.

“It doesn’t even bother to hide its own scent!” exclaimed Eleanor. “I wonder if that’s out of arrogance or ignorance?” Eleanor turned to Link for his opinion. If he knew how to use the Sacred Silver to cure her wound, then he must know more about demons than she did.

Eleanor wasn’t disappointed then, when Link answered her confidently.

“It’s neither arrogance nor ignorance,” he said. “It just thought that there was no need for it.”

“What does that mean?” asked Eleanor, slightly confused.

“The abyss where the demons come from is a jungle world where you either kill or get killed. To survive there, you must bare your fangs and show off your strength as much as possible to intimidate other people and discourage them from attacking you. This demon must’ve thought that everyone here was weaker than it, so it felt no need to hide its presence. My guess is that it thought it was the king in this jungle.”

“Oh, so they’re just like wild beasts!” Eleanor finally found a suitable metaphor to describe the demons.

Link nodded in agreement. There was more about the demons that he hadn’t told Eleanor, of course. For example, he knew that demons were divided into two categories—the high-level demons and the low-level demons.

The low-level demons have lower intelligence, their nature was closer to a wild beast—their combat tactics were more instinctive rather than rational and strategic, and their strengths overall weren’t all that terrifying. As for high-level demons, well… to put it simply, 99% of the horrifying demons in the legends told from generations to generations in Firuman were high-level demons!

Judging from the current situation, the demon in the Girvent Forest seemed to be a low-level demon. Although it would be foolish to underestimate its strength, Link felt that he didn’t have much to fear from this beast. An average professional fighter might not be able to defeat it, but if it was a joint attack by three fighters and above then the demon would surely not be able to survive.

For one thing, though, the demon still showed some restraint as it did not attack them when they were still in broad daylight and in the midst of a crowd on the King’s Lane earlier. This meant that it was afraid of being discovered for some reason, causing him to stalk them in the darkness all this while without making any moves to attack them.

Finally, Link and Eleanor reached a place isolated enough that no one was around or likely to pass by.

“Let’s go into the forest,” said Link. There was no point in circling around avoiding the demon forever. Their best chance was to deal with the demon head-on.

“Understood,” answered Eleanor with a nod. She moved instinctively closer to Link as they entered the forest as it somehow made her feel safer.

They both plodded through the Girvent Forest for another quarter of a mile before they heard the sound of footsteps and snapped branches. Then a mighty beast sprung towards them out of the blue at an unimaginably high speed.

They were facing a demon after all, so Link didn’t dare to take its attacks lightly. He rushed forward to a spot where the vegetation was relatively sparse and shouted to Eleanor, “Activate the Guarding Barrier!”

As soon as he finished the sentence Link’s body was shrouded in the Crimson Edelweiss, while Eleanor had also activated her dragon bracelet. Thus, they were now both enveloped in a translucent bubble that glowed faintly in red.

Just then, a tall black figure burst out towards them from the dark forest. This figure was humanoid, although it was about seven feet tall and its skin was as black as ink.

At this moment, a tall black figure burst out in the forest.

This figure was humanoid and taller than seven feet. The surface of its body was dark with no pores. There were countless strange dark green runes on its skin, while on the outside of its arms there was a knife-like protrusion that seemed to be shrouded in a cold aura.

As soon as it rushed towards them, its red eyes shifted between Link and Eleanor, then it seemed to have recognized Eleanor and identified her as its target. Eleanor immediately stretched out her wrist and pointed it at the demon.

“Flame Blast!” she shouted.

This was the only spell she knew that had an effect on the demon. With a loud boom, a fan-shaped high-temperature flame then surged forward towards the demon.

However, this demon seemed to have remembered this trick by Eleanor, so the moment Eleanor raised her arms, it immediately dodged to the side at a phenomenal speed and escaped from the attack.

“Did you think I’d fall for that twice?” said the demon in a strange, unclear voice. Even as it spoke, its speed had not slowed down one bit. It then jerked its legs and shot towards Eleanor, at the same time stretching the blade-like protrusion on its arm towards her.