Chapter 55: Rescue Mission
"You need my help?" Nox asked with a puzzled expression. After all, the demons were all high-level Awakened, much stronger than him, and should be capable of handling any problem on their own.
How could he, who was clearly weaker than them, help them with their problem?
'Is this a setup? Or is it because of my fake identity?' Nox wondered. But now that he thought about it, why would this group of low-level demons set him up? It didn't make sense. He was at level 100, thanks to the mask, and in this world's power scale, a level 100 Awakened could easily handle hundreds of lower-level Awakened.
'Four certainly wouldn't pose a threat. Wait, four? Weren't there supposed to be four? Why are there only three?' Nox narrowed his eyes, noticing that the rocky ball demon named Gorgart was missing from the group.
The only people he could see were Jogo, Viper, and Snakey.
"I know you must've noticed. The reason we're asking for your help is because our party member Gorgath is in danger," Snakey said nervously, playing with her long fingers. She then jabbed the others with her elbow, prompting them to speak.
Nox, while eating his cooked bunny, listened to their story for a while before asking, "Why should I help you? What can a bunch of low-level demons offer me? From what you're asking of me, it seems I'll be risking my life. I'm not a saint."
"Senior, if you help us with this, we promise to give you all of our beast cores," Viper spoke this time.
Nox fell into deep thought. When he first arrived in this world, he didn't know the value of the shiny blue crystals called beast cores. But now, he understood their importance: they could be used to increase his pets' progress and could be sold for gold coins.
Not only that, if he could get all their beast cores, he could climb higher in the Legacy Demon ranking. But Nox didn't want to participate in this ranking, even if it would be beneficial to him. The top ranker had over a million points; one beast core was equivalent to one point.
Which meant that the top ranker had over a million beast cores.
'Except I want to spend years here, there would be no way I'll reach that amount.'
Despite the enticing rewards, Nox had to be realistic. He decided to stick with his initial plan: level up, gather as many beast cores as possible, and then return. Attracting too much attention would only bring trouble.
"Okay, I've decided." Nox stood up and dusted himself off. "I'll help you with this rescue mission, but I want the payment upfront."
"Yes, of course!"
Quickly, they all brought out beast cores from their inventory, pouring them before Nox. From Nox's perspective, those beast cores were over 200.
The army of ants was just over a hundred, and it had managed to aid both Fluffington and Thirteen to level up... With this amount of beast cores, Nox was certain that one or two could level up again.
Reining in his thoughts, Nox placed all the beast cores into his inventory. With this many beast cores, Nox wanted to activate the Dimensional Key and run away, but because he had morals and still had some things to do in this dimension, like sorting out the ant colony matters, he didn't dwell on these thoughts too much and ordered the three demons to take him to the place.
While Nox was looking away, Snakey and the other demons subconsciously sighed in relief and exchanged looks before nodding at each other.
They thought nobody had seen their actions, but the white cat had noticed everything. Despite his laziness and love for sleep, Fluffington was the most attentive to his surroundings.
He narrowed his eyes on the two demons, and a suspicious glint momentarily passed through his eyes.
[Be careful with the demons, Brat,] he communicated to Nox telepathically.
'Of course. I'd be a fool to trust my life with demons,' Nox replied. 'They're demons, after all. Why do you think I'm walking in front of them and have you and Thirteen walking behind them? If they act suspiciously, we'll deal with them.'
[Hahaha, it seems my brilliance is rubbing off on you, little by little,] Fluffington commented like a good teacher who was proud of his students.
'You wish, hmph!' Nox sneered back.
Thirteen could also listen in on the conversation, but he didn't really understand what they were saying, so he could only move his gaze between his father and his brother... from another mother.
Meanwhile, the Ant Scourge Queen remained quiet, her gaze fixed on Snakey's back. After hearing Fluffington's warning, she gripped her red spear tightly, ready to thrust it into the snake humanoid's head at the first sign of suspicious behavior.
Snakey sensed danger behind her. She turned around, and her gaze met the Ant Queen's beautiful but intimidating pair. Unable to hold back her curiosity, she asked the question all the three demons had been thinking all this while.
"The panda, the cat, and the Ant Queen? Aren't they magical beasts? Why aren't they attacking us?"
"I'm not obliged to answer that question. All you need to know is that they won't attack you unless you do something suspicious."
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!
The three gulped collectively. They felt the higher demon was even more mysterious. Not only was he a level 100 Awakened, but also had beasts who were natural enemies of intelligent beings as his subordinates.
They subconsciously hoped they were doing the right thing by bringing him to this place. If things go wrong, they might as well sign their death warrant.
'How did we even get caught in this mess?' Snakey thought. 'What's worse, we couldn't even pick any side as both of them are all level 100.'
***
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