There was a head poking out of the water. Noel could only see a small portion of its face and a pair of eyes.
'Hmm?' Noel hurriedly hid behind the tree and tried to observe this demon. However, the demon didn't come out of the water immediately. Instead, it remained underwater for quite some time before it submerged again.
The waiting game continued as he couldn't find the demon for a while after that. In the end, Noel could only remain in that position while taking out a dried jerky since he hadn't have any breakfast yet.
One hour became two. Two hours became four. The demon finally returned to the water. But this time, the demon didn't come from the water, but the ground.
"!!!" Noel widened his eyes in shock. 'It's not a demon living in the water?'
He hurriedly observed the demon carefully while muttering inwardly, 'Hmm, the demon has a large body, the height alone is around one meter but the length is about three meters. The color is black and it has a tail that looks like a paddle. Its body is far bigger than me, so its weight should be a few times than me. Still, there are two huge front teeth… I'm afraid it can rip apart something solid.
'From the looks of it, this demon can be categorized as Mid Level Demon. But the problem is that…' Noel suddenly fell silent because before the demon entered the water, it spotted a small crack on the dam, causing the water to flow a bit.
It immediately moved toward the flowing water and inspected it. After a while, it returned to the surface and approached a tree.
The demon started biting the tree, devouring it from one side.
'Now that I think about it… the small demons are infecting the animals, causing them to become a big demon. So, the original body is that of a normal animal… If I ignore its size as well as color, the living pattern is like…' Noel recounted the information about animals that Shale had taught everyone in the class. '…A beaver.'
Noel finally grasped the demon's real body. However, he was stunned when he heard a cracking sound coming from the distance.
Suddenly, the tree swayed left and right before the trunk snapped, causing the tree to fall down to the ground.
Since the forest was quite wet, there was no dust to be kicked up. However, it was still surprising to see a ten meters high tree fall down. The loud sound startled even him.
But this beaver demon immediately ripped apart one of the branches and started moving to the flowing water, carrying that branch. It then started placing one branch after another before grabbing some mud to hold the water flow. Thanked to the branches, the mud managed to hold the water completely.
'This is…' Noel was impressed by this natural phenomenon. Still, he also found another problem due to this action. 'I see. So, that's how it is. The beaver demon is repairing the dam that fast. I can destroy it with my power, but the beaver will just build another dam whether in this place.
It will cause a huge problem to the humans in this area.
'I need to kill this beaver… And because it's living in the land, I don't know how many beaver demons are nearby. If I want to solve this problem completely, I need to kill all the beaver demons.' Noel thought for a moment and realized there was a plan to deal with the beaver. "Ah, I can do that too!"
Noel grinned, believing this was the only plan to solve the problem from the roots.
He continued observing this area until the night had arrived. Before it was too dark for him to go back, Noel finally returned to the village and found them all staying in their own houses.
'It seems that they manage to gain enough energy to restore the basic live in the village. He glanced at the empty gallon and knocked the village chief's door.
"Ah! You've returned." The village chief was surprised to see Noel but hurriedly asked him to come in.
Noel nodded and found the other gallon to be half empty. If it was , the water could still last for another half day. It seemed that the village chief had done a splendid job.
"Do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Do you know anything about beavers?"
"Yes, they're the one causing this problem."
"We do know about beavers, but they're just a small and cute animals. Although they do build dams, but we can handle them easily."
"It seems that the beavers have become a demon. And now the demonified beaver is stronger and faster, creating this type of problem."
"I see… When our people tried to look for the water, they didn't realize it was a beaver."
"The appearance indeed change that much, but the way of living was still the same. So, I have a plan for tomorrow." Noel looked down with a grim expression.
"Is there something wrong?"
"The demons are categorized as Mid Level Demons, so it's going to be dangerous. And it's only like I can destroy the dam easily. At best, I can restore it to the way it's before in two days because I need to kill all the demons to make sure this problem doesn't occur again, but…"
"The water supply huh…" The village chief thought for a moment, troubled.
"Yes. I do have some confidence in killing the demons, but I can't defeat them in one go since you know how the beavers live, right?"
"Indeed. But we have no other water than the one you gave us."
"That's the problem that I want to consult you. I'd like to have two of your bravest men to get the water from the dam. I'll be with them and fend the demons, but I can't guarantee their lives because these demons are stronger than I originally expected." Noel explained.
The village chief didn't know what to say since it was the same as sending two people to their death. But he still looked at Noel and said with a stern tone. "I'll assemble the villagers tomorrow."