All five of them immediately became vigilant and wary upon seeing these two demons come out of nowhere. It was obvious that their squadmate was killed by these two demons. And the fact that they did it so efficiently and silently made them realize these two weren't some weak demons.
"Hellbringer and Shadow Maid," Rachel mumbled as she pointed her spear at them and added, "I haven't heard of you two, but after we are done with you two, nobody else will," She said with a fierce look as battle intent shone in her eyes, though her eyes had a hint of worry after trying to gauge the strength of this man.
Asher had told Merina to change her alias from 'Merina' to 'Shadow Maid' since who uses their real name as their alias?
However, looking at this pretty blue-haired woman who had her name as 'Rachel', his eyes froze as he felt blood rushing to his ears.
The reason he suddenly became out of it was that he could recognize who she was…Rachel Sterling. She was the daughter of Derek Sterling, his so-called 'best friend' who betrayed him and one of the people whom he resented with every bone in his body.
This man pretended to be like his brother all these years by inviting him to his home frequently to eat and chill like family while supporting him in every quest before betraying him in the end.
Derek came from a long lineage of powerful hunters. Only someone like him with such a fancy background would proudly use their own name as their alias. Their name itself was their pride and everything, and surely enough, he taught his daughter to do the same thing.
He can't believe such a golden opportunity fell on his lap. He felt that this quest wasn't really useless anymore.
Rachel was Derek's most precious possession. He didn't even let her take much quests, which was the main reason why she was still at level 10 despite having a powerful bloodline. He didn't want to risk anything happening to her.
She was also his student for a short while, and from that, he learned that she had quite a heroic attitude.
And now his eyes were visibly shaking as he stared at Rachel intensely. Derek's blood ran through her veins, and just thinking about it made his heart race.
"What are you looking at, creep?" Rachel asked with a wrinkled nose, clearly feeling uncomfortable from this demon's stare.
"Rachel Sterling...It seems like you are from one of the Elite families. It's a surprise someone like you teamed up with these commoners," Asher said with a chuckle, making the expressions of the ones standing behind Rachel quite ugly. He already noticed how all of them were from the Hunter Academy…a place he was once a student of just like them.
However, Asher was indeed a bit surprised since usually those from Elite families would never team up with common hunters, even if they happened to be in the same class, unless these commoners were geniuses or she was being too kind by helping them out.
Rachel furrowed her brows, wondering how he knew about her background. She had never even seen him before.
"Fuck off, you pointy-eared asshole. Let's see you talk after I put you under my feet," Kara said with a sharp snort. Even though this demon looked quite very tall and charming, she wouldn't stand the insult of being called a commoner before Rachel. She also had the looks of an elite, or she believed.
"Oh yeah, that's my girl! You two are so fucked. As you said, we have an Elite who is about to become a C Rank Hunter once she levels up. And then the rest of us all are seasoned D Rank Hunters. There's no way you two stand any chance, hahaha!" David let out a burst of laughter, feeling confident. Based on the quest's difficulty, it could only mean that even if some demons arrive to fight them, they wouldn't be that strong. Bolo only died because he never saw them coming.
"You two, shut up. Why would you tell our enemies about our strength level?" Jack reprimanded them with curled lips.
"It doesn't matter…he knows. All of you don't lower your guard. He isn't weak. I can't see through him at all," Rachel whispered to them, making all of their eyes widen. Was he really stronger than Rachel?
"No, he can't be stronger than Rachel. Maybe his Intelligence must be really high. That is why we can't see through his mana circuit. Otherwise, the quest difficulty will be really bad. Don't lose heart, guys. I am almost done!" Sarah told them through her comms while trying to quickly figure out the pattern in the gazebo.
"A demon specializing in Intelligence…that could only mean his other stats are weaker. The demon woman beside him is a level 7, so we are good," Jack said, no longer feeling as tense as before.
Asher could clearly gauge their levels since his INT was higher than every single one of them.
But he could see why this quest had an 'Insane' difficulty.
Rachel was the strongest at level 10, at the peak of the D Rank, and would soon become a C Rank. The one named 'Jack the Survivor' was a level 9 and seemed to be their leader.
The two idiots standing behind were level 7 and level 6, and as for the woman in the gazebo, she was a level 7.
Asher wasn't worried about these level 6 and 7 people. He also knew the level 9 guy won't be a threat as well. The only one he had to be slightly careful against was obviously Rachel. She had the potential to really deal serious damage to him, but…only if he never had the experiences from his previous life.
He looked at Merina and tilted his head as her eyes glowed with a dark light, and the next moment a mist of unnatural darkness began to spread out from her hands.
"Stick together!" Jack shouted upon seeing this eerie mist surrounding them.
"Crap, I can't see them anymore!" David shouted as he got scared, not expecting her to suddenly blind them with such a mist.
"Keep waving your weapons in front of you! Don't let them attack you by surprise," Kara shouted out as she began to spam mana bullets in the space in front of her. She realized this must be how Bolo died after getting taken by surprise. But too bad for these foolish demons, she had guns that would hold them at bay.
But her eyes widened when she suddenly felt an intense scorching sensation along the back of her spine before getting blasted off to the front by a few meters.
"Kara!" Rachel shouted with widened eyes upon seeing Kara being sent flying, her back scorched and bleeding.
She didn't waste any more time and raised her spear high before striking it heavily down on the ground, releasing a wave of bright blue light that dispersed the unnatural dark mist that had surrounded them.
"AH!" Merina was caught unawares as Rachel's pure light affected her the most since she was weaker and the one who released the mist of darkness.
Light and Darkness would never mix, just like fire and ice. They were completely opposite in nature and will be dangerously effective against the other depending on who had the higher strength.
And since Rachel was way stronger than Merina, her darkness succumbed to Rachel's light, making her stumble back and cough out blood.
Seeing how they finally regained their upper hand, Jack glanced at the barely conscious Kara and looked at Rachel, "Rachel, go and stabilize her wounds. I will hold them until then," He said in a frantic tone, though Rachel had already rushed towards Kara before he finished.
"Uhh…I…I can't feel my legs…H-Help…" Kara incoherently mumbled as she continued to lie on the ground, face down, her back severely scorched and still bleeding, making her health plummet drastically.
If Asher didn't use his 'Resentful Slash' she wouldn't be bleeding this badly.
Rachel saw that Kara was going to bleed to death any second," Hold on, Kara. I won't let you die. Drink this potion first while I try to heal you," Rachel helped her drink a health potion, restoring some of her health.
But she frowned, seeing that it wasn't much effective since she lost almost her entire health, and it was still decreasing since her injuries were too severe for a potion of this level and grade to fix it.
Seeing no other choice, she decided to heal her using her own abilities. She placed her hand on her back, and bright blue energy began to encompass her body.
"Drink up your health potion and get rid of him. I will take care of these two," Asher said as he looked at Jack, who was looking at him with killing intent.
Merina took out a health potion and quickly gulped it down as she got up.
David lustfully sized her up, especially her big, round melons, which were hidden within her armor, before looking at her, "In my time as a Hunter, this is the first time I am seeing such a sexy demon like you. Too bad you happened to be a demon, otherwise—"
"Grrrrr!"
"Holy shit!" David's eyes widened when the Shadow Maid suddenly lunged toward him like a frenzied beast.
But he curled his lips as he shouted, "Fire Shield!"
Merina frowned when a shield of fire surrounded David, blocking her claws even though his feet were pushed back by a foot. However, it didn't end there as the shield absorbed the power behind her attack, and he counterattacked at the same time with a blast of flames, making her fall to the ground with a groan.
"Haha, even if you are a level stronger than me, I doubt you can keep up with my spells. I specialized in 'Intelligence' just for it, and a wild beast like you won't stand a chance, especially after getting weakened by Rachel's holy power," David said with a smug smile as his eyes gleamed.
Merina's eyes glowed with a wary glint, especially since her health was at 302 out of a total of 605. She had yet to fully recover from Rachel's attack, which also temporarily decreased her defenses by 20%. The health potion she drank had limited effects as well due to Rachel's attack.
This made the counterattack from someone weaker than her take away a good portion of her health as well.
On the other side, Jack wielded his two-handed axe as he looked at Asher with a seething expression and said, "Your bloodthirst will stop here demon. You are going to pay for what you did to Bolo and Kara."
"Don't be too hasty. You have yet to see what I am going to do to the rest of you, or maybe you won't," Asher said with an ominous glint in his eyes.
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