"Hahh. Hahh. Hahh. Hahh."
The sound of heavy panting traveled softly inside a room of one of the untouched buildings of the Duskfang Tribe.
Lyssa quickly covered her mouth when she realized that her breathing was too loud.
Shadows moved beneath the open space of the door, and the sounds of rapid footsteps outside the house resounded in her ears.
Her eyes were wide open in fear, and she could not help but look at Simon, who was still unconscious.
She had been lucky to escape their house without getting caught, but she knew that it was just a matter of time before somebody decided to enter the house and look for the Blood Essence.
This house was once owned by a hero of the Duskfang Tribe.
There was a time in the past when dozens of demon beasts attacked their Tribe, and a single hunter of theirs was the demon who commanded the guards, hunters, and even normal civilians to band together to kill the demon beasts and protect their village.
The hunter died while fighting against three of the demon beasts. He won, but his injuries were far too severe for him to survive.
His sacrifice, leadership, and skill were what helped the Duskfang Tribe to persevere on that dreadful day, and because of that, the Tribal Chief announced that his house, his family, and all his properties should remain untouched by anyone.
The hunter was a hero and legend of the Duskfang Tribe, and everybody respected him to this day.
It was also the reason why none had taken a step inside his decrepit house, but Lyssa knew that it would not remain that way.
Who would choose to respect a dead person over a ridiculous amount of money?
Ten low grade Infernal Crystals and the possibility of getting fifteen or twenty low grade Infernal Crystals.
Billions of peak grade bone coins.
That was more than enough for one to live comfortably in a clan.
Sure, they might not be rich in a clan, but they would not suffer.
Who wouldn't chase such an opportunity after suffering so much in the dying Duskfang Tribe?
Lyssa closed her eyes and released a soft sigh. She looked at Simon and affectionately stroked his hair with a light smile.
⸻
Meanwhile, Zaglur sat on an elegant and expensive-looking wooden chair in front of Varkamon's house.
It was completely burnt, along with the corpses in it. It was a sorry sight to see.
Zaglur had his head resting on his right fist. In his left hand was a book, and he would calmly turn the pages after a few seconds with an indifferent expression.
Screams, laughter, battles, and the sounds of buildings and dozens of demons burning flowed into his ears, but his expression was completely indifferent.
Flip
If one was observant enough, they would realize that the sound of Zaglur turning the pages was subtly and slightly louder than the chaos that was occurring in front of him.
He was about to flip open another page, but he stopped and slowly looked in front of him with a raised brow.
"Now, what do we have here?"
Zaglur closed the book and chuckled softly with a light smile as he looked at the approaching figures.
⸻
As all of these were going on, Simon was going through several random dreams and visions.
Some of these dreams and visions were about his past life.
Scenes of how he and his friends defeated powerful demons and even humans that wanted to stand in their way.
Scenes of all of them laughing and having fun. Scenes of him falling in love with several women in his teens and early twenties, then falling out of love, going through a breakup, being cheated on, and so on and so forth.
Scenes of him training, breaking through his limits, defeating demons and humans that were stronger than him.
He also saw many scenes of his past life, and these scenes were like flashes in his mind.
He did not only see memories of his past life**, but** he also saw strange memories he did not recognize.
These memories were strange, horrifying, broken, and even distorted.
They were scenes of demonic beasts devouring each other, scenes of a humanoid demon facing armies with his own army, scenes of a colossal demon beast sleeping, scenes of a humanoid demon sleeping on a throne.
Many of these scenes were chaotic, incomprehensible, and even incomplete.
Simon understood none of them, and he could not even see a lot of these scenes because they were moving so fast.
However, Simon understood that these visions were because of the Devourer's blood essence he consumed.
He just couldn't make sense of any of them.
An unknown amount of time later, the dreams and visions stopped, and Simon's eyes fluttered open.
It took him a few seconds for his senses to come back to him, and when he did, he slowly looked around.
He saw that he was looking at the floor, and it looked unfamiliar to him. It was not the floor of his home.
He slowly and groggily looked to the left, and he saw a scene that instantly wiped away all the grogginess in him.
Fire, bodies, and blood.
Buildings were on fire around him, and corpses with broken heads, stabbed stomachs and hearts, and split necks were to his left.
'What's going on?'
Simon looked to his right and tried to stand, but he couldn't.
He instantly looked at his body, and his brows shot up.
He saw that he was in chains.
"What?"
Simon was confused, and then a soft chuckle drifted into his ears.
He looked up, and he blinked in confusion for a second before his eyes slowly widened in disbelief.
In front of him was the familiar smiling face of Zaglur, and beside Zaglur was another familiar face.
So familiar that it shook him to the core.
His mother.
And in her hands was a pouch, and on her face was a guilty expression.
"Mother?" Simon called out in confusion and disbelief.