After who knows how long, I slowly came to, opening my eyes, though I saw nothing, my vision entirely blocked by the mountain of debris atop me. 'F-Fucking hell.' inwardly cursing, I poured mana into my body and lifted the debris, requiring a lot of strength since, through the use of [Heroes Gaze], it wasn't just debris pressed down on me, but also the earth above it.
Pushing the debris aside, I slowly rose to my feet and checked my body, but I was fine; aside from the blackened marks on my armor from the intense heat, it was still perfectly intact.
'I-If I hadn't managed to use [Lightning Cloak] in time, I probably would've lost this armor.' Just as the explosion occurred, I instinctively used one of my strongest and only defensive skill; given how violent that explosion was, if I hadn't reacted quickly enough, let alone my armor, I probably would've lost a limb or two.
"Fuck, that was pretty close. I really like this armor." Having gathered my bearings, I observed my surroundings, quickly realizing it wasn't just the office that had exploded; the entire bunker was enveloped within the explosion. 'Dammit.' Any information I could've used had been burned to nothing in that explosion.
'How long was I out for?' 'Not long, Master; less than 10 minutes.' Nodding at Trina, I used [Teleport] to appear on the edge of the forest, where I plopped onto the ground and rubbed my face. "Goodness; where the hell did that explosion come from? I didn't see any magic circles or devices. Nothing. It's like it appeared from thin air."
Leaning my head against the tree, I stared into the night sky, heaving a sigh of frustration and confusion, only to eventually stand up while shifting my gaze to the town, which was now a large sinkhole, causing me to sigh once more.
'It's one thing after another.' Grabbing the bridge of my nose, I scanned the city, where the civilians were already in the process of evacuating, and from what I could see, there weren't any serious injuries. Most Demons were far sturdier than humans, so it would take a bit more for them to be injured, which was good for me; having caused this, I couldn't just leave if they'd been hurt.
They hadn't seemed to realize I was missing, but it didn't matter; they'd probably still blame it on me even if I had nothing to do with this. 'I can't just leave after destroying their home.' Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed about ten gold coins, which were probably more than what this town cost, but better safe than sorry.
Teleporting behind the village chief, who was gathering everyone, I quickly stuffed the gold into his pocket before returning to my spot. 'Hope that helps even a little.' Sighing once more with guilt, I shot the townspeople one last look before leaving; staying here any longer was pointless.
Reaching into my pouch, I unfurled the map. "So, any other places, Zartha?" "The Everglades; it's a forest teeming with monsters, but during the Great War, the vampires had controlled the entire forest. The vampires had a teleportation array deep within it; it's how they moved stealthily between continents."
"So, if a Human or Elf happened to use it, they'd be torn apart by the monsters? That's pretty ruthless." "The whole demon race was at stake." "Yeah, yeah, I know. All's fair in love and war. One of the many reasons why I dislike wars."
Folding the map, I stuffed it away in my pouch and pressed on, dashing through the forest faster than before, as I'm sure the crusher corps would notice my actions, and I wanted to put as much distance between them and me. "Zartha, do you think the demons were alerted by my actions? An explosion like that seemed premeditated; as if to prevent any leakage."
"I've no clue. The war has ended for years; they could've very well forgotten about these bases, bunkers, and outposts." Nodding faintly at Zartha, I descended into silence, moving through the forest barely making a sound as I traveled West, heading deeper into Daemon.
___
___
A Week Later
I'd arrived at the Everglades a little bit ago, and currently I was traveling atop the treetops, jumping from branch to branch as I did my best to avoid fighting with the countless monsters chasing me from below.
"You said there was a base here, right!?" "I said there's a good chance. I do not know for sure; our wielder of that time never visited the Everglades." Clicking my tongue, I jumped to the next tree, just in time for the one I'd been standing on to fall to the ground from the horde of monsters below.
'Hmm, why aren't you fighting, Master?' "Trying not to give away too much information about my strength; these monsters are decently strong, probably from a Rare rank dungeon. Fighting off against a horde of such monsters would give a lot away regarding my strength." "Oh, I see. You're pretty smart, Master."
Although Trina sounded genuine, it somehow sounded demeaning coming from her; anyway, I shook my head, focusing on the task at hand as I glanced at the monsters below me. 'Not to mention the sheer number I can sense; there might be multiple dungeons in this forest.'
The sheer number I sensed through the forest dwarfed the horde Katrina sent after me, though only a fraction was currently chasing me. 'If I find this base, what do I do about the monsters chasing me?' Wryly smiling, I shrugged my shoulders, figuring I'd come up with the solution when I found it.
Since I only knew there was a teleportation array and possibly a base in this forest, I spent a good chunk of the day aimlessly traversing through the forest while doing my best to stay out of arm's reach of the monsters, which didn't always pan out. However, eventually, after hours, I finally found something.
"Ho, I think I've discovered the teleportation array… It's crazy massive." With my enhanced eyes, I was able to make out the magic circle embedded into the ground, and as I drew closer, I was able to view its actual size, which was probably only a little smaller than my estate.
Whistling in awe, I circled the magic circle, doing my best to engrave it into my memory while trying to find anything else, but there was nothing. "If there was a base here, how would the vampire know which way to go?" Frowning, I rubbed my chin while continuing to avoid the monsters, though while doing so, I spotted the three moons in the sky, causing my eyes to widen.
"What if they did it in one of the directions of the moons?" While feeling like a genius for a moment, I decided to follow the moons, Azul, Midori, and Coccineum.
Unfortunately, my genius was short-lived: after two wasted hours, I found nothing, and I spent another hour returning to the magic circle while heading in the opposite direction. As if to mock me, after about thirty minutes, I found a small, blood-red magic circle hidden in an inconspicuous spot behind a pair of boulders.
'So just slap me in the face, huh? Couldn't have at least made it hard to find?' As I complained to whoever designed this, I landed on the magic circle while using the skill, [Wind Barrier], creating a dome of wind around me, preventing any of the monsters from getting closer; it was a skill spell I made to imitate the protective dome around Cassandra.
Squatting, I inspected the magic circle, which needed a catalyst to activate, prompting me to spill some of my blood on it, and surprise, surprise, it activated. "Heh, if you ask me, I'm a bit of a genius." Proudly flicking my hair, I tossed a [Fireball] onto the magic circle, burning my blood just before being teleported.
"Ugh, this place smells even worse than the bunker; what's up with vampires' smell!? Do they like the scent of shit and vomit or something!?" Scrunching my face in disgust, I inspected my surroundings, only to freeze when three different creatures appeared before me.
One was a massive rat with greenish saliva dripping from its mouth. Another was an utterly massive worm with a mouth of seemingly endless razor-sharp knives for teeth, and the last one was a floating, shadowy figure with very long nails.
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Species: Acid Mega Rat
Age: 7,694
Tier: 5
Level: 1,088
Experience: [6%]
Class: Elite-Monster
Lifeforce: [100%]
Mana: 20,980/20,980
Vigor: 4,304
Endurance: 6,092
Agility: 5,054
Dexterity: 6,980
Intelligence: 2,098
Perception: 2,990
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Species: Death Worm
Age: 7,698
Tier: 5
Level: 1,099
Experience: [64%]
Class: Elite-Monster
Lifeforce: [100%]
Mana: 14,050/14,050
Vigor: 10,394
Endurance: 9,302
Agility: 3,403
Dexterity: 2,094
Intelligence: 1,405
Perception: 3,560
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Species: Specter
Age: 7,701
Tier: 5
Level: 1,156
Experience: [98%]
Class: Elite-Monster
Lifeforce: [100%]
Mana: 63,040/63,040
Vigor: 2,304
Endurance: 1,092
Agility: 7,203
Dexterity: 7,300
Intelligence: 6,304
Perception: 7,904
////////////////////
As I scanned the stats of each monster, I folded my arms and nodded to myself. "I take back what I said about being a genius… Clearly, I'm a fucking dumbass."