A few dayster...
After killing the two previous demons, Liam devoured the boar''s body somewhere far away from the corpses of the two creatures he left behind. Having rested and regained his strength post-banquet, having eaten over 3 kilos of meat in a single day, and saved another 10 for the next days, he moved on with his journey.
After going through his Spirit Awakening and everything he had faced so far, Liam was certain that Demon Gate''s aim in leaving them there was to awaken their spirits and help them make Spirit Pacts with the ind''s demons.
Demon Gate was known as a force of Spirit Masters who cultivated demons. Connecting the dots, it wasn''t hard to see what the real purpose of the three-month challenge on the Eternal Doom Ind was.
Now that he had be a Spirit Master with the demon incubus as his first spirit, Liam could not weaken.
There were creatures and people on the ind who could risk his life. If he wasn''t able to endure the three months until the members of the Demon Gate returned to take them away, there would be no point in the challenges he had ovee so far.
To make it to the end of the 3 months alive, he had a few goals in mind: to get stronger, to avoid fellow humans and especially demons!
...
On the 32nd day on the Eternal Doom Ind, Liam was cautiously following the trail of a beast he had spotted minutes ago.
As well as meditating daily to suppress the mana consumption of the incubus, Liam had another essential need: food.
A first realm Spirit Master like him was not so different from an ordinary human when it came to food. He could get hungry for a day or two, but it wasn''t interesting to go longer than that without eating, or he could be weak.
Liam had found a medium-sized area on the ind, neither too close to the coast nor too close to the ind''s core, where he was slowly living and exploring. He believed there were other ces just like the previous hot spring on the ind and was looking for such ces with caution.
Seeing a beast a little weaker than him, of the non-poisonous type, on its way to collect water in a stream this morning, he slowly followed it, using his hunting skills to get closer to his target.
He had already been doing this for 18 minutes, following his target''s tracks to where he believed the boar had stopped.
Boars seemed to inhabit this ind inrge numbers. Since the first wild boar that Liam had tasted a few days ago, he had already hunted another and spotted at least a dozen.
Fortunately, he has seen no demons these days, having only hunted once since settling in this area.
Starving from not having eaten for three days, Liam stepped forward, going under a bush, while he had a makeshift spear in his hands, ready to attack.
As he positioned himself, preparing to attack his target, who had probably stopped to rest ahead, he paused when he heard something.
"The ce we''re looking for must be nearby. Look at that. That stone is shaped like a dagger, just like the one Levi told us about."
A man''s voice sounded from the spot in front of Liam, making the young man stop and narrow his eyes, recognizing the voice of one of the men who had thrown the hostage into Violent Lake to test the theories about it.
From the tone of that voice, Liam sensed the dagger-shaped stone must be a good thing, probably a sign of the proximity of an area like the one he had explored in the incubus'' cave.
After the initial scare, his hunger subsided as his heart calmed down, adrenaline taking over his body.
''Maybe I should observe them before deciding what to do.''
The human, rational part of him made him peek through the bush in front of him, moving slowly so as not to attract the attention of the two Spirit Masters he could sense ahead.
One of them seemed to be a 2-Star Spirit Apprentice, while the other must be a 3-Star Spirit Apprentice Spirit Master.
Liam had learned to differentiate between the levels of powers of mystical beings in the first realm of cultivation by observing many creatures over the past few days.
But when he advanced far enough to see the ravine in front of that bush, Liam couldn''t help but change his expression when he saw a man and a woman standing there.
The man was sitting in front of a small, unlit fire, looking south towards the dagger-shaped stone. Meanwhile, the woman was standing side by side with the man, with one of her sides visible to Liam.
The ck-haired woman, of medium height, with broad shoulders and a body that was unattractive to a young man like Liam, was even more repulsive to him because of their history.
''Day!''
Liam identified the woman who had almost killed him twice since he arrived in this world.
His fingers gripped the spear tighter in his hands as his face darkened, his gaze narrowed, like that of a snake about to strike.
''I should kill her here and now!''
His hands trembled subtly as he lifted one of his feet, preparing to step forward to take action.
However, just as he was about to move, he heard that woman''s voice.
"Let''s move on. From what Levi said before I killed him, that rock was only a few minutes away from the ce he was forced to flee. If there are no other demons there, this could be our chance to advance quickly."
"Hehe, boss, you did well to seduce that guy before he died."
"Let''s go."
She started forward, while ncing at herpanion, thinking about what to do next.
''Let''s see if today is your lucky day, dear Rufus. Yourpany is excellent, but only if you''re useful.''
As the two started walking south, Liam began chasing after them, temporarily changing his mind about taking swift revenge on Day in that ce.
Killing her would be pleasant, of course it would. But more pleasurable than eliminating an enemy was the possibility of bing stronger.
''If there are demons ahead, I can use these two to my advantage!''
...
Minutester, Day and Rufus stopped in front of a small waterfall in this mountainous area of the Eternal Doom Ind.
In that rocky area, there was a 4-meter high waterfall, which poured water into a smallke, funneled down to flow under the mountain.
The shore of the smallke was made of stones, whilerge trees in the surrounding area provided plenty of shade.
Hiding behind the trunk of one of therge trees near Day and Rufus, Liam spotted the site they were looking for before the pair even realized it.
''I see... This is no ordinary waterfall. There must be something behind the water wall that makes this ce special for cultivation and tempering the body.''
Liam opened his eyes in interest, not believing he hadn''t found this ce before, even though he had spent thest few days wandering around nearby.
''Looks like I''ll have to move.''
Seeing there were no demons around, he walked slowly, taking steps forward ording to the sound of the waterfall and the swaying of the trees.
Meanwhile, Day had already understood the value of the area described by Levi, noticing the demons who had made Levi flee were no longer there.
She clenched one of her fists and slowly took a step back, reaching into her bag for a dagger, ''if I cultivate in this ce, I''ll be able to reach the next level quickly. By then, I won''t need someone like you anymore!''
She moved as Rufus grasped the space behind the waterfall, noting its value to him and Day.
"The ce—"
But just as he opened his mouth to say something, he felt an arm circling his body and pinning down both his arms, while a hand with a dagger covered in darkness approached his left chest.
"You''ve yed your part, my friend. This ce can''t be shared between two, so this is goodbye!" Day said aloud, her words echoing with the shadows of her heart.
"Aaaagh!"
The man had no chance to defend himself or beg for mercy. As Day''s malicious words left her poisonous mouth, her dagger pierced Rufus'' heart, poisoning him with her corrosive shadows.
As she held Rufus tightly, smiling as she reached her goal, her expression froze as she saw the tip of a spear appear from inside Rufus'' right chest.
"Cough!"
She coughed up blood as her whole body went numb. She and Rufus lurching forward, both mortally wounded!