A Demon's Journey

It had been nearly a week or so since Lennox Rees had left the Sinyalian Kingdom.

Currently, Azaroth was readying some supplies and a horse to go on a journey.

The servants had informed him of how Kloras Town was going to suffer a beast raid. He was on his way to Kloras Town.

Since it came under the Rhodes Family's influence, there shouldn't be an issue with his appearance there. By the time he reaches the town, the beast raid would just be a day or two away.

The servants only found out that the Merchant Union supplied the necessary equipment to the Kloras Town to prepare them for this Beast Raid.

As for their history, it had been written in the Rhodes Family's records that nearly thousands of beasts attack the town. Most of them were 1 Star or 2 Star Beasts. And there was also the presence of a Beast Lord, meaning a 5 Star Beast.

However, the Kloras Town had no 5 Star Warrior to protect them from this beast lord. Until now, they depended on various traps, explosives, and equipment to rip apart the beast lord.

Azaroth was curious about which beast would lead the attack on Kloras Town.

'As long as it's not a 6 Star or higher ranked Beast, it's only good news for me.' Azaroth thought with a small smile on his face.

Even though Azaroth could be considered quite strong for a 4 Star Warrior, he knew that his Triquetra Ardor was not strong enough to give him an edge against a 5 Star Beast and win just yet.

The only chance he did have was using whatever trick the town lord of Kloras town had and tire out that beast. Then deal with it.

Azaroth soon departed from the mansion.

It was a 3 days ride to Kloras Town on his horse. Azaroth had stored enough supplies for himself, so he would be more or less okay until he reached Kloras Town.

Even on horseback, Azaroth began to use his meditation exercise while keeping note of his balance and surroundings. He didn't want to miss it a single day as there were only a few days left until it would become an automatic exercise of his body.

2 and half days later, just when he was about to reach Kloras Town, he noticed that the road ahead was blocked.

Moreover, it was blocked by some beasts. Azaroth also observed the humans who were fighting against these beasts.

The Titanic Deer, the Crazed Blaze Viper, the Onyx Bane Ape were the ones who were blocking the route.

Azaroth found that as soon as his horse's vision fell over these three beasts, it stopped, and its legs started trembling with fear.

It was very typical for the horse to stop and tremble with fear because these beasts were all at the 4 Star Rank.

'How strange… Why did the Beast Lord let 4 Star Rank beasts come here and block the route? Does he want them to die? Typically, all the higher-ranked beasts would vanish before a Beast Raid. Is there no Beast Lord here?'

As Azaroth came to that conclusion, he was slightly disappointed. However, he soon let out a sigh and jumped down from his horse. All his things were in his Spatial Rings, so he had nothing left on the horse.

Now that Azaroth was going closer, he saw over 7 or so people were fighting against these 4 Star Rank Beasts.

Only a single one of them was a 4 Star Rank, while the rest were at the 3 Star Rank. He didn't understand just why they came to hunt 4 Star Rank Beasts with such a vulnerable group in terms of power levels.

In fact, now that he saw clearly, the 4 Star Rank guy wasn't even fighting. He was watching the other 6 fight from a distance.

Each beast was occupied by at least two youths.

The 4 Star Rank Warrior seemed to be a middle-aged man and was standing some meters away from the fight.

'Is this training for these children?'

Azaroth was somewhat surprised. This sort of training reminded him of his time in Purgatory. The time when he had to place his life on the line during every fight.

The funny thing was that the beasts were actually pushed back by these children.

Each pair was attacking the beasts in some sort of rhythm. When one attacked, the other was charging up for a big move. And once the other person was ready, the first one would retreat and let the beast be hit by that big move. After some rest, he would once again engage his opponent in a fierce close combat fighting.

Only the fight against the Crazed Blaze Viper was different. In it, a girl was fighting at a mid-ranged distance and basically occupying the viper for as long as she could, and at an appropriate time, she would switch with her partner.

The only reason that these 3 Star Warriors could more or less gain the upper hand against these beasts was because of their rhythm. They just didn't give the beasts any opportunity to attack. It was clear that as long as the beast's attack hit them, they would be heavily wounded or even killed.

Even though Azaroth's steps were soundless, the beasts had smelled Azaroth.

The Crazed Blaze Viper turned around and snarled as it saw Azaroth. It had been somewhat angry at how it had been pushed back by those little humans. Now that it saw Azaroth approaching, it immediately thought of taking some revenge against the humans.

The middle-aged man saw how the Crazed Blaze Viper had changed its direction, "Oh no! Run! The beast is coming at you!" He looked quite worried and immediately ran in Azaroth's direction.

His speed was quite impressive, but even then, the Crazed Blaze Viper was closer to Azaroth's location. Even his remarkable speed couldn't catch up to the viper in a short interval.

Meanwhile, Azaroth remained on his spot and questioned, "Run? From this snake? How insulting."

The Crazed Blaze Viper's body was soon on fire. Azaroth raised his arm and thought 'Wind Cutter.'

A sharp blade of wind was released from his palm, and it immediately struck the burning viper's body.

Although Azaroth's attack didn't pierce its body, it did push him back a bit.

"Looks like that fire cloak is good for something. It protected you from being cut into two." Azaroth casually spoke to the viper.

Suddenly, he spoke with a look of disdain, "Oh right. Why am I bothering to talk to you? Unlike a Beast Lord, you are a beast without any spiritual intelligence."

As if the viper could understand his words, its eyes turned red with anger, and it opened its mouth wide enough to spew out the flames.

This was the fire breath of the Crazed Blaze Viper.

When the middle-aged man saw this Fire Breath, he forcefully increased his speed since he knew it was hazardous.

After the fire breath was released from the Crazed Blaze Viper's mouth, it continued to get wider and occupied quite a lot of area.

Azaroth's entire body was covered by this Viper's flames.

The two beasts and the youths who were fighting them had temporarily stopped their fight. This was because they sensed a massive amount of Ardor being used.

The young warriors, a little younger than Azaroth in terms of age, clenched their fists in anger as they blamed themselves for not being able to save that man.

However, the beasts were the ones who were trembling with fear. It was their instincts that were screaming at them to run away now.

Even the beasts didn't understand just why that was the case, but the Titanic Deer and Onyx Bane Ape didn't hesitate to run away.

Meanwhile, since the fire breath was being used, the Crazed Blaze Viper remained there and continued to empower its attack.

Just as the middle-aged man was about to reach the Crazed Blaze Viper and behead it with one strike of his sword, three wind blades, rather similar to the first one, appeared.

Even though the temperature was relatively high because of this fire breath skill, it failed to stop the wind blades that continued to pierce through the flames.

Moreover, as the flames were pierced, the other humans could now see Azaroth's body, completely fine as he continued walking forward.

There was a thin barrier of wind around his body that had kept him safe from the flames.

The three wind blades struck the Crazed Blaze Viper and sliced off its head, abdomen, and tail.

A bright reddish-colored beast core of the Crazed Blaze Viper could be seen in his abdomen.

Azaroth coolly went and picked up the Crazed Blaze Viper's beast core.

Just when Azaroth was about to place this beast core in his spatial ring, he heard someone shout, "Hey! Why are you taking the beast core without even asking us?!"

It was the voice of a teenager, a few years younger than Azaroth. He was one of the two youths fighting against the Crazed Blaze Viper.

The girl near him also had a small frown, but she didn't speak anything.

Azaroth calmly placed the beast core within his Spatial Ring and spoke, "Don't shout as if I stole something. I killed the beast, so I looted the spoils. I don't see anything wrong with this."

Well, even if he did see anything wrong with this, Azaroth would have still done it to benefit himself.

He couldn't be bothered with those morals or other bullshit. He just did whatever benefited him. And for now, he figured that this explanation would be beneficial to him.

"You… You only killed it so easily because we were the ones who exhausted it. You can't just take its beast core without even asking us!" The teenager pointed at himself and the girl near him.

Before Azaroth could reply, the middle-aged man, who seemed like their teacher, gave that guy a glare and spoke, "Stop it, Jaden. This man is right. He is the one who killed the beast, so he gets to keep the core. No more argument over this topic!"

"B-but…" The guy named Jaden didn't seem convinced, but he quickly dropped the matter as the glare from his teacher sharpened.

Once he had calmed down his student, the middle-aged man turned his head to look in Azaroth's direction, "Forgive my student. Jaden is a little hyper, but he doesn't mean any harm. And also, thank you for dealing with that beast."

Azaroth quietly nodded and replied, "No worries. I don't take such matters to heart."

"My name is Aidan. What should I call you?"

"I am Edwin." He decided to use the name Edwin since the town lord of the Kloras Town knew this name. And since Azaroth hadn't given away his family name, they shouldn't relate him to the Rhodes Family at all. For now, they should be thinking of him as a Rogue.

"Alright, Edwin. If I may be bold enough to ask… Just what are you doing on this route?" Such a question was quite natural since Kloras town was near the border of the Sinyalian Kingdom.

Kloras Town lay near the forest that was between the Sinyalian Kingdom and Lamhilhan Theocracy. For this reason, it was one of the towns which periodically experienced beast raids.

"I am going to Kloras Town. I heard that it's about to suffer from a beast raid, so I thought of assisting the people here and also gain some combat experience." Azaroth's answer relieved Aidan.

"Looks like we have the same destination then. We are staying in Kloras Town. Since we have more or less dealt with the beasts who blocked this route, we can return now. Do you want to join us?" Aidan gave an offer to Azaroth.

Without much thought, Azaroth decided to accept it, "Sure."

He gauged that he could kill all these people if they became hostile to him.