Chapter 173 - 9: Hunting Operation

Chapter 173: Chapter 9: Hunting Operation

The Little Demon simply couldn’t believe its ears.

’What does she mean, kill them all?’

’Is that something a newly born Demon should be saying?!’

Of course, it knew Lilia was a High-level Species, possessing greater potential than any of them.

But potential was just potential; it didn’t represent her current strength.

Even the greatest talent needed time to become effective.

In just two days, how could she possibly have grown strong enough to take on an entire Demon clan?

She had been in mortal danger fighting just one Low-level Demon before!

The Little Demon felt like it was going to have a breakdown.

Its strength was limited, its size wasn’t an advantage among Demons, and its only real asset was an intelligence far surpassing that of an ordinary Low-level Species.

Because of this, it had always relied on latching onto various other Demons to survive.

But before, it had always been in a parasitic state. Those brainless Low-level Species couldn’t possibly understand the concept of mutual benefit, so it could only hide its existence and sneakily leech a bit of Demonic Qi after they killed an enemy.

Only Lilia.

Only Lilia could understand it and was willing to form a temporary partnership.

It had thought things were finally looking up, that it had managed to find a collaborator who seemed at least somewhat reliable...

’I can’t believe this one has a screw loose!’

The Little Demon was tempted to turn and flee, lest it be dragged into a suicide mission with Lilia in two days and get slapped to death by those brutes from the north.

But...

It was all ready to sneak away, but it stopped at the last second.

’Two days.’

’Anyway, there are still two days.’

’For now, I’ll stick with Lilia and leech some Demonic Qi. It won’t be too late to run when the fighting actually starts.’

’Yeah.’

’That’s the plan!’

’I’m so brilliant...’

Just as the Little Demon was reveling in its own cleverness, it suddenly noticed Lilia had stopped walking.

Looking up, it saw they had arrived at the Red River.

The Little Demon was the one who had told Lilia the name "Red River." The name had come from the west, and it was said to be the only place in this entire region where Demons were born.

Many Demons liked to roam the area.

Newly born Demons were weak and easy to deal with, making them completely risk-free prey.

Though the returns were smaller, the key was that it was safe.

Of course, Lilia’s targets weren’t the newborns.

For one, she couldn’t be bothered to bully newborns; for another, she was short on time.

To raise her strength as quickly as possible within two days, she naturally had to pick tough opponents.

Lilia came to a stop by the riverbank and scanned her surroundings.

A black fog hung in the air.

Visibility was low; even with a Demon’s superior vision, she could only see twenty or thirty meters ahead.

An utter silence pressed in on her ears, as if she were the only one in the entire area.

Lilia didn’t act rashly. Instead, she looked at the Little Demon beside her. "You’ve lived around here for so long, you must have a way to find ones that are alone."

The Little Demon snapped back to its senses and quickly replied, "Of course!"

"My senses are very sharp! No movement within a few hundred meters can escape my perception!"

Lilia nodded lightly.

’Not bad.’

’Finally, something useful. Now I won’t have to waste Magic Power on reconnaissance Magic.’

She stretched her limbs and commanded, "Alright then, pick out a straggler. I could use a warmup."

...

The Little Demon had watched the entirety of Lilia’s fight with the previous two Demons, so it was very familiar with her strength.

She wasn’t weak, but she definitely wasn’t strong either.

Among Low-level Species, she would rank as upper-middle tier.

Not only were the Little Demon’s senses sharp, but it could also judge a Demon’s approximate strength by the concentration of Demonic Qi in the area.

To avoid a total disaster that would get it killed alongside her, it carefully selected an opponent for Lilia.

This opponent was close in strength to the Demon Lilia had devoured earlier. It judged that Lilia should be able to win.

With its help, that is.

But who would have thought.

After the battle broke out, it discovered that its judgment had been completely and utterly wrong.

Lilia didn’t need its help at all. The moment she engaged the Demon, she knocked it down from a distance with Magic, then closed in and killed it with a single blow.

The entire fight lasted no more than ten seconds. It was an absolutely crushing victory!

The Little Demon watched from the side, completely dumbfounded.

It almost forgot to flap its wings, dropping a short distance through the air before it snapped out of its daze as if waking from a dream.

Without a shred of hesitation, before Lilia could even step forward, it flapped its wings, flew over, and dug out the Demon’s Demon Core with lightning speed, presenting it to Lilia with an almost sycophantic gesture.

Lilia paid little mind to its attitude. She washed the Demon Core in the river, wiped it clean, and tossed it into her mouth.

Her talent immediately went to work, absorbing the power within the Demon Core.

Two or three minutes later, Lilia stood up.

Led by the Little Demon, she moved on to the next target.

The speed of the hunt exceeded the Little Demon’s expectations.

No, it wasn’t just the speed...

Everything that had happened today was far beyond its imagination!

First, and what shocked it the most, was the speed of Lilia’s growth. It was so fast it was terrifying to demon-kind.

At first, it only dared to find opponents with strength similar to the previous Demons.

But it soon noticed that those creatures were no match for Lilia; there was an overwhelming difference in their strength.

So, after getting Lilia’s approval, it began to search for stronger Demons.

Victory.

Victory...

And still, victory!

By the end, the Little Demon had grown numb from all the winning.

’Maybe I should just lead Lilia to raid a Demon’s lair,’ it even thought. ’In one-on-one fights, I doubt anyone is her match anymore. A one-versus-many fight might at least hold some suspense.’

Besides her strength, the other thing the Little Demon couldn’t comprehend was Lilia’s efficiency at absorbing Demonic Qi.

Depending on their talent, every Demon has a different daily limit on how much Demonic Qi they can absorb.

Take itself for example: by the time they killed the fifth Demon, it was already completely saturated. If it tried to absorb any more, the only result would be bursting from the excess.

But Lilia... this monster seemed to have no limit at all!

It had personally witnessed her swallow countless Demon Cores, but her body was like a bottomless pit, devouring everything that was thrown into it.

’If the absorption limit is related to talent... just how terrifying is her talent?’

Compared to these two worldview-shattering facts, Lilia knowing Magic seemed like a trivial matter.

’So what if she knows Magic?’

’I’ve heard that among High-level Demons, Magic is a standard combat tool.’

’Only by mastering Magic can one be considered to have officially crossed the threshold to becoming a High-level Demon.’

’Even some Mid-tier Demons with better talents can grasp a spell or two, though it’s mostly passive talents that can’t be actively triggered.’

’As for why Lilia, a newly born Demon, was so proficient with Magic...’

The Little Demon no longer had the brain capacity to think about it.