Chapter 174 - 10: Making a Move

Chapter 174: Chapter 10: Making a Move

Hunting.

Hunting.

Endless hunting.

For two whole days, Lilia had slaughtered nearly every lone Demon around the Red River.

She had no interest in the newborns that had just crawled out of the river. Her only targets were the would-be predators who lay in wait.

As a result, many clueless newborn Demons had appeared around the Red River over the past two days. During Lilia’s brief rests, they would watch her curiously from a distance.

In the world of Demons, weakness is the original sin.

Demons possess no sense of Morality or responsibility to protect the weak. Before this, no one had ever pitied these newborns who faced crisis the moment they were born.

The moment they crawled out of the river, they had to face vicious predators.

Only by surviving the predators’ clutches and learning how to avoid danger and defeat enemies could they survive in this cruel world.

But...

Now, everything was different.

They were surprised to find that because of that one Demon’s existence, their world had suddenly become... safe.

She would kill those who tried to hunt them.

She protected them from the clutches of those hunters.

She would even leave them food...

BOOM!

Another Demon’s mangled corpse fell from the sky.

After confirming its death, the Little Demon flew over with practiced ease. He dug out the Demon Core, washed it clean, and delivered it to Lilia, the entire sequence of actions performed with extreme fluidity.

The Little Demon didn’t bother to absorb the remaining Demonic Qi; he was already stuffed.

When he used to wander with those big oafs, he was always starving. Now, following Lilia, his only regret was that his stomach was too small to eat nine meals a day.

Lilia and the Little Demon walked away from the corpse. A few newborn Demons timidly approached, beginning their first lesson as Demons.

The Little Demon glanced back at them.

’If this were the old me, I’d probably find these food-snatching runts annoying.’

’But now... I can’t finish it all anyway. I’ll just think of it as feeding some pets.’

In the sky, the Moon was bright and clear.

The Spirit Realm had no alternating sun and moon, but one could tell the time of day by the shape of the Moon.

’Counting the time, there are only a few hours left until the two-day deadline those guys mentioned.’

Demons weren’t like humans, who needed a full eight hours of sleep each day. Even so, two straight days of nonstop hunting had exhausted Lilia’s stamina.

She decided to go back and rest for a while to get her body into peak condition.

The Little Demon, of course, agreed.

The experiences of the past two days had completely reshaped his understanding of the world.

At this moment, he was no longer worried about the coming battle. He was even a little excited.

’It’s time to show those arrogant bastards what a true prodigy can do!’

He followed Lilia for a while, then suddenly sensed something and glanced back.

Those little ones who had been gathered around the corpse earlier were now following them.

They were clearly nervous, unsure if following would anger this powerful member of their kind. They trailed from a distance of over ten meters, seemingly ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.

’A bunch of runts with no combat intuition, just as I thought.’

It wasn’t as if they hadn’t seen Lilia execute other Demons. A mere ten meters was no distance at all for Magic.

The Little Demon watched them for a moment, then turned and asked, "My lady, there are a few guys following us."

"Mm," Lilia replied. Of course she had noticed.

She didn’t plan to do anything about it.

She wouldn’t hunt these newborn runts, but she wouldn’t protect them either.

Lilia had chosen the area around the Red River as her hunting ground because it had the most prey, not because she wanted to protect anyone.

For a Demon, too much protection was not a good thing.

"My lady, aren’t you going to subjugate them?" the Little Demon asked curiously.

A group of newborn Demons spontaneously following a powerful member of their own kind was a very rare occurrence.

In the Little Demon’s opinion, since Lilia was so powerful, she couldn’t keep doing everything herself like she was now.

’It would be good to get a few underlings.’

’That way, I might even get to be a leader...’

His daydream was cut short.

Lilia refused succinctly. "No."

The Little Demon’s train of thought almost derailed. "Why?"

"They’re too weak."

"..."

The Little Demon nodded in profound agreement.

’That’s true.’

’They really are too weak.’

’They can’t even beat me, so they’d be useless as underlings.’

’Having underlings like that would just be embarrassing.’

The Little Demon stopped paying attention to the weaklings trailing behind them and followed Lilia into the forest.

This place was far from the Red River. While the number of Demons was indeed smaller, that didn’t mean there was no danger.

On the contrary, the nearby Demons were generally powerful, and to the north, there was a tyrannical clan that lorded over the area.

If these little ones were discovered, their fate would be little better than being eaten.

What’s more, they were completely oblivious to these potential dangers.

Lilia didn’t stop or slow down. The forest’s complex terrain hindered the followers’ pace, causing them to be left far behind.

Lilia still didn’t look back.

She returned to the small wooden cabin and rested for a good while.

The increase in her power also brought an enhancement of her five senses.

The white Moon in the sky gradually changed its shape, the perfect circle slowly beginning to cave inward.

The "daytime" of the Spirit Realm had arrived.

In the distance, the CRACK of snapped branches, the clear cries of startled birds, and a chaotic jumble of footsteps all flooded into Lilia’s ears.

The Demons were here.

About half a minute later, a banging sound came from the door.

Lilia got up and opened the door. The Little Demon’s voice immediately rang out, "My lady! Those guys are here!"

’Just as I expected.’

Lilia gave a slight nod.

Seeing her waiting calmly, the Little Demon felt reassured, but also couldn’t help being a little curious.

"Don’t you need to prepare?"

"Prepare for what?" Lilia asked.

"You know... traps, or hiding for a sneak attack, or something..."

Lilia paused. "Not necessary,"

she replied softly.

’I don’t need traps to deal with them.’

Soon, the Demons she had met two days ago appeared before her.

They noticed at a glance that this little one before them seemed a bit different than before.

She was a little taller, and looked a little more mature...

...though she was still very small.

However, their brains, not much bigger than walnuts, made them completely ignore these dangerous changes.

"Today’s the day for tribute, little one," the lead Demon said, stepping forward. "Twenty humans."

It glanced at the wooden cabin behind Lilia and gave a cruel smile. "I hope you have them ready. Otherwise, we wouldn’t mind smashing that pretty face of yours to a pulp and using your corpse to fill the quota."

Lilia was silent for a moment, then let out a long sigh.

"Are all Low-level Demons as stupid as you? Can’t even string a sentence together properly?"

The lead Demon froze for a second.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand, but that he never expected Lilia to talk back. "...What did you say?"

"I said..."

Lilia stepped forward. "The things you say are, as always... really pissing me off."

The words had barely left her mouth.

Lilia struck without any warning.