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Chapter 302
The Foxes Have Come, Let’s Catch Them All
The sky, which was twilight just a moment ago, directly skipped to night without any transition—as if it happened when no one was paying attention.
A crescent moon hung in the sky without any warning.
The moment Eivass saw the moon, he was slightly stunned.
Judging by the lunar phase, the New Moon Ritual should be held tomorrow night.
But…
…Was it that soon?
Eivass clearly remembered that there should have been five or six days left until the new moon when they arrived. Could the flow of time here be chaotic not just daily, but even between days?
He suddenly felt a bit uneasy—he hoped they wouldn’t skip his New Moon Ritual.
Eagle Cape Village was a bit strange. Eivass wasn’t even sure what day it was today.
Just then, Eivass suddenly felt the floor getting cold.
He reached out to Sherlock, like a lead surgeon asking for a scalpel, “Candle.”
Sherlock obediently took out a candle from his portable material bag.
A flame emerged from Eivass’s fingertips, lighting it.
The moment the light appeared, the chilling aura beneath his feet vanished without a trace.
—The Wild Hunt would not attack a house with light inside.
Now they couldn’t feel the cold, nor could they hear the shouts and laughter of the Night Walker Knights. Therefore, they had no idea how the battle outside was going.
“Go and put out the fires in the room, and remember to bring Mr. Priest down.”
Eivass said calmly, “I’ll treat him first—he was probably knocked unconscious by the shock. I hope he’s alright. But all the firepower is on my side, so it should be fine.”
“What exactly happened?”
Haina couldn’t help but ask.
Eivass patted her back, “Go do what I said.”
Seeing Haina dutifully going upstairs to carry someone down, Sherlock pouted, waved his hand, and drew all the flames in the room into his hand, concentrating them. Then, he casually dispersed them.
He whispered, “What’s going on? The commotion is so big?”
Sherlock had rarely seen Eivass so disheveled.
Judging by the extent of the damage to his clothes, he was probably severely injured by the explosion.
“Noble Red has arrived, bringing Giants with them,”
Eivass said calmly, “They didn’t even push the door open, just started bombarding civilian houses from afar. Fortunately, it was me here… otherwise, it would have been trouble.”
With Noble Red’s firepower, it was highly possible to silence them instantly.
They had arrived at dusk when they entered the village. The villagers, to avoid Helchin and his followers, were hiding in their homes at this time—if they went out just as it got dark, they might not have been able to return. Even if they felt uneasy, they probably wouldn’t go out to look at this time.
In that case, Noble Red and his group’s actions would likely go completely unopposed until nightfall. God knows how many people would have died at their hands inexplicably.
“But why would they attack Eagle Cape Village?”
Sherlock frowned, somewhat puzzled, “There must be a reason for this.”
“I don’t quite understand either. But they are from Noble Red, perhaps they just lacked materials.”
“That’s also true.”
Sherlock nodded solemnly, “They are currently being hunted by the Grand Guardian. It’s possible this group was separated and came here to massacre the village for materials.”
Unlike Eivass, who had only skimmed the newspaper, Sherlock had done specific research.
This was also the reason why he had such strong resentment and disdain for Demon Scholars.
Because their evil deeds were a gradual, self-perpetuating cycle.
Demons occasionally wanted to devour human souls, and Demon Scholars, to appease their demons, satisfy their desires, or achieve their own goals, might kill people. After all, they didn’t know how to do anything else; the Mystical Arts they mastered were used for killing.
If they didn’t intend to kill, why not switch professions to Ritual Mages? Since they had learned Demonology and summoned their own demons, it indicated they already had the inclination.
Now that people had already been killed, and their souls had been extracted by the demons… then the corpses had to be dealt with to hide their crimes, right?
Since the corpses had to be hidden, why not take some ritual materials from them while they were at it?
And when Demon Scholars discovered that human materials were far more effective than animal materials—not only could they unleash unique spells with much greater power, but human materials could also be used as a superior substitute for what animal materials could do; however, there were things that only human materials could do, and animal materials could not.
Under such circumstances, purchasing a large quantity of animal materials could arouse suspicion and lead to reports, attracting the attention of the Inspection Bureau or the Supervisory Court. Thus, human materials, with their more discreet acquisition methods, were naturally more suitable for use.
Avalon had too many missing persons every year. Unless it was a big city like Glass Island, the general Inspection Bureau couldn’t manage—because they simply didn’t have the manpower to investigate. They could only escort people back if they happened to find them; they couldn’t actively search.
—Under these circumstances, how could there be innocent Demon Scholars?
This was Sherlock’s professional prejudice.
In his opinion, perhaps when they first switched professions, they hadn’t killed anyone yet and hadn’t used human materials for rituals. But with time, they would eventually fall. Their bottom line would drop step by step.
Therefore, from the very beginning, even before Sherlock knew that Noble Red had taken money from the Star Antimony people, he had already harbored hostility towards Noble Red and the Demon Scholars.
At this moment, Haina had already carried the Priest down.
He had indeed fainted. As age increased, the body became fragile. But fortunately, his life was not in danger… Eivass checked and found that even without his treatment, the Priest would wake up on his own soon.
“In any case, let’s put him in the light, otherwise the Wild Hunt’s aura might freeze him and make him sick.”
Eivass said, and had the Priest lie down by the table. Haina felt it wasn’t right to have the Priest lying on the floor, after all, he had watched her grow up… So she went upstairs again to move a few chairs.
Haina had a good constitution, and the cold of the Wild Hunt didn’t affect her much. She hadn’t felt anything unusual even when attacked head-on before… not to mention they were now safely hidden inside the house.
Fortunately, Sherlock arrived in time and repaired the house.
Otherwise, if Eivass were to be frozen by the Wild Hunt again, he would be finished if attacked by a Punisher Demon at this time.
If he moved, he would be beaten by the Wild Hunt; if he didn’t move, he would be beaten by the Punisher Demon.
The self-detonation of the Butterfly of Blazing Flames earlier had not managed to kill that Punisher Demon. However, it had killed all the Demon Scholars—Eivass’s experience points already indicated this fact.
—A full thirty-two Third Tier individuals had directly maxed out Eivass’s experience points.
Eivass’s experience points had now officially exceeded five thousand. He was very confident about studying in the Church.
No matter how difficult a Mystical Art was, as long as enough experience was spent, he could learn it instantly…
“Have those enemies been dealt with?”
Sherlock asked cautiously, “I saw a big pit… that was made by you, wasn’t it? Shall I go out and check again?”
“Don’t bother.”
Eivass stopped him and also chided Haina, who was eager to try, “You too.
“The survivor outside is a Fifth Tier Demon Avatar—I’ve forced him to reveal his true demonic form. It’s a Punisher Demon… Never mind, you wouldn’t understand. In short, it’s extremely dangerous right now, let the King of the Wild Hunt handle it.”
“…Fifth Tier?”
Sherlock’s heart tightened, “The one who attacked the Inspection Bureau before?”
“Yes. It’s the shorter Giant standing with the Prince of Giants.”
Eivass nodded seriously, “He should be Noble Red’s strongest Demon Scholar… I had to use all my means just to barely survive.”
“Did you use the Red-Hilted Sword?”
Sherlock immediately thought of this.
“Not yet.”
Eivass patted the key hanging at his waist and said in a deep voice, “I plan to use it at a critical moment.”
This was his strongest trump card currently, and also a one-time-use trump card.
The Little Butterfly’s self-detonation could be used once a day—and now, it seemed best not to use it carelessly. Or at least, not to stack it with Dawn Fire.
The power was quite strong; it had stunned the Punisher Demon, who was Fourth Tier, into immobility. If it could reach Fifth Tier, it might have killed it directly.
The only problem was that Eivass might have been killed too.
Because the damage radius of this thing was a bit far… farther than Eivass’s normal projection radius.
Fortunately, Eivass had considered this situation and taken precautions, otherwise, he would have been almost killed by friendly fire.
“But you still need to be careful…”
Eivass said, and then explained the Punisher Demon’s characteristics and skills to the other three.
Of course, he said this mainly to scare them—especially Haina—to prevent her from rushing out impulsively.
After all, this was her hometown.
It was normal to feel nervous when hearing that such a monster had entered the village.
After all, a Punisher Demon was a legitimate Upper Demon, and also an Upper Phantom Demon. In terms of status alone, its rank was even higher than a Shadow Demon. It was the creator of the Demon race, a gendarme specifically used to punish other demons, and one of the demons closest to the Fallen Heavenly Envoys.
A Punisher Demon at its peak development was usually a Level 69, i.e., a Peak Seventh Tier gold-named elite monster—Eivass recalled there were no BOSS-class Punisher Demons.
But this was just a newly born Punisher Demon. Its level was not high enough, and it was not familiar with its innate abilities.
The current World Tier cap was Level 50.
And that Punisher Demon was definitely below Level 50—a Demon Avatar turning into a demon wouldn’t gain levels; it was originally Fifth Tier, so its demonic form would also be Fifth Tier.
Because a Level 50 Punisher Demon, considering the suppression of an Upper Phantom Demon, could instantly obliterate a fragile Little Butterfly in two moves. There was no need to restrain her and unleash a large-scale attack.
Even if Eivass conceded that the Punisher Demon was indeed Level 50 at full strength and in perfect condition… it could at most fight Helchin to a 4-6 split in a one-on-one battle.
Helchin’s side was at least a 6.
After all, Helchin was a Heroic Spirit. Before becoming the King of the Wild Hunt, he was a legitimate anti-Giant hero. He didn’t have any Marks of Sin on him, so he didn’t suffer the special attack of the Punisher Demon—without its special attack against “sin,” a Punisher Demon was just an ordinary Upper Demon.
And Helchin, as the King of the Wild Hunt, had the aura unique to the King of the Wild Hunt.
—Not to mention, Helchin would never fight it alone. As a commander-level monster, if it fought, it would surely be a group fighting one Punisher Demon.
“So don’t worry,” Eivass said confidently, “Even if the Punisher Demon isn’t dead, it will be severely wounded after facing the Wild Hunt’s full onslaught. Helchin and his followers can easily drive it far away, and it won’t be easy for it to find its way back again.”
Rather, it was fortunate that it had become a demon.
If it were still a Giant, it would probably be relentlessly hunted by Helchin and his followers with red eyes until the end of time.
Initially, Eivass wanted to deal with the opponent as soon as possible. But seeing that this newly born Punisher Demon was a bit weak, he started to have some ulterior motives.
—That was a Punisher Demon! Extremely rare!
Although it was a bit weak as a Beast of Sin… it relied entirely on its special attack. Taking up a slot and only being able to attack demons was too wasteful.
However, this was a rare demon, and Eivass didn’t want to miss it.
Even if it couldn’t be captured as a Beast of Sin, its power had already met the minimum requirements.
It could be used to craft cards.
Just like Eivass extracted the power of the Shadow Demon to create [Spell Card: Shadow Cloak]—although it was impossible for it to actively hand over its power for Eivass to extract, Eivass could forcibly extract its power when he killed it and refine it into a Spell Card or Equipment Card.
Five points of Wind attribute Mana and five points of Dark attribute Mana could refine it into [Equipment Card: Halberd of Thunder].
Ten points of Wind attribute Mana and five points of Dark attribute Mana could refine it into [Spell Card: Cruel Binding].
Fifteen points of Wind attribute Mana could refine it into [Field Card: Thunderstorm].
In the long run, the best choice was that [Halberd of Thunder].
Because the Red-Hilted Sword most likely hid a Knight-type Light attribute Upper Phantom Demon, and Helchin was also a Knight-type Upper Phantom Demon. No matter which one Eivass captured, he could summon the [Halberd of Thunder] to strengthen them.
A Holy Weapon with a special attack against demons, and it could summon lightning—wow, how cool was that?
If he wanted to form combat power immediately, Eivass could also refine it into [Cruel Binding]. That was the spell it used to control the Little Butterfly, where thorny iron chains bound people from a distance and electrocuted them. Although it was a control skill, it could be used as a single-target high-damage skill.
The Field Card wasn’t very useful, but it was quite cool. Mainly, it could be used to cosplay Zhang Jiao and shout, “Thunder God, help me!”
Now, Eivass actually hoped that the Punisher Demon would not be directly chased and killed by Helchin—being crippled would be enough.
He needed to quickly find some Wind attribute Mana. Eivass had the materials for forging cards; as soon as he obtained the Mana Pool, he could start crafting.
If Eivass couldn’t obtain a Wind attribute Mana Pool during his next advancement, he would have to forcibly take on the profession of a Mage. Even with the experience penalty, he didn’t want to miss the Punisher Demon.
—Ordinary people wouldn’t drop equipment when they killed demons, but Great Sin Scholars were different.
Once Eivass made the sealing card, he could at least skin it a few times. It was even possible to extract it into an Illusion Egg.
At that time, the Little Butterfly would be resurrected, along with Eivass and Lily, who had completed their advancement—
Oh, right. Eivass remembered. Haina would also participate in this advancement.
Once she completed her advancement, she would be Fourth Tier.
—Coupled with Eivass’s Red-Hilted Sword, dealing with that half-crippled Punisher Demon should not be a problem by then.
However, just in case…
Eivass thought for a moment and decided to capture the Earthbound Spirit in the inn first to supplement his strength.
She should be in a nearby inn.
Although she couldn’t be made into an Illusion Card, making a Spell Card should be fine.
Chapter Two, with over 4,000 words. Today’s update is close to 7,000 words!
