I escaped my home that night after I made sure that everyone was sleeping. Using Acrobatics helped me move swiftly, jumping out of the second floor in my home through the window wasn't hard at all. I was even able to use the basic Technique "Slow Fall" to make my falling speed slow down, something that consumed a bit of Qi and could make it easier for people to travel swiftly.
Eleanora was already at my side, as she looked over the forest that my father had come back from on the verge of death… we had explored this place yesterday and more, but we have barely hunted much as the population of monsters had been decreasing.
It wasn't only because of me overhunting it, the forest was enormous, there was no way I alone did it all… there was simply a greater predator now lurking through the other Layers of the forest hunting the weaker beasts.
Of course, and my assumption were the demons.
From everything I've investigated by speaking with the many people around the village, I've discovered that demons do exist outside the Demonic Tower. They're a secondary group of "monsters" but they're often rare and a minority.
They are often exterminated by the Kingdom and Church's soldiers as they're often more malicious and intelligent than wild beast who act by instincts and often don't go out of their way to kill people as long as they're not around their territories.
But demons are different, and I know them way more than the people of this world. After all, I've been fighting them for hundreds of years. The reason why demons are is not just "because", their very existences thrive in the agony and suffering they can take from their prey.
They possess what's called Demonic Cores inside their bodies, which absorb negative energy from their prey and nourish them. The more they absorb, the stronger they can grow and the more demonic energy they'll produce.
Think of plants that absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, it's the same here, they absorb negative energy and then they produce negative energy.
But the way to get this negative energy is by… committing evil acts, simply any action of "malice" against another living creature is enough. Making them suffer, torturing them, and more, all of it produces negative emotions from prey, which turn into a black smoke.
This black smoke that is often invisible to most eyes can be seen by demons, and they thrive on it. Absorbing it and devouring it. Of course, they also require eating, so they often eat their prey after exhausting them of their negative energies.
Of course, nobody seems to know this truth, and they simply see demons as evil because they're just made evil, and not because of their very natures forcing them to be to thrive and survive, as negative energies seem to be an important part of their diet.
Back in Hell, I remember seeing demons torturing the souls of mortals that fell there, the most sinful were attracted to the Dimension of Hell as if it were a magnet, and then would be caught in enormous schools of thousands or even millions. Being tortured in masse for the mass production of negative energy.
In this dimension, demons are more civilized, and had even formed societies, but of course, those that come here are the more barbarian castes of demons, similar to Goblins or Orcs.
"Here we are…" said Eleanora, looking into the forest.
"Let's get in, we'll rush to the Second Layer while ignoring the First Layer, it is mostly empty by just checking it anyways." I said.
"Understood. Let's hunt some demons…" said Eleanora.
Although the Giant Wild Boars were from the Third Layer, there have been recent cases of young Adventurers going missing in the village. I have mostly ignored this aside from learning this information, but it had been said that these Adventurers, often of the lower ranks, had gone to the Second Layer as the First Layer just doesn't have monsters anymore, or they're extremely rare.
If this is true, then… Demons might not only be thriving in the Third Layer but could have begun to move to the Second Layer in search for food. If this happens and they end up reaching the First Layer, there isn't anything stopping them from discovering the village and one day attacking it.
If that happens… I don't know if I will be prepared enough to fight against such a big threat. Therefore, I must work hard from this point onward, and try to gather as many clues as possible about the demons in the Grand Forest surrounding our village and the Duchy.
After all, not only the village would be affected, but perhaps the smaller villages surrounding us, and even the Duchy itself… if I can gather enough information, perhaps sharing it with the Duchy so they could prepare extermination forces against the demons could be a possibility. Although I would very much like to get rid of them all by myself to get the most EXP, that seems highly unrealistic.
I cannot go throwing my life away now, there is no guarantee I will have a third chance at life, so I cannot simply recklessly charge into complete danger.
This very expedition will be done stealthily, although my intention is very much to hunt demons, if I am faced with too many of them that the challenge is greater than what I can properly handle, escaping is a valid tactic that only the fool would call cowardly.
I look into the distance as I travel across the forest at a fast speed, reaching the confines of the First Layer, which is usually marked by markings done by hunters, and several sticks stuck in the ground all around, making a small "barrier" that of course can be easily passed by just jumping.
As I jumped over the fence made of spiky wooden spears, I rise my spear, which I had taken from my father, as I look in front of me.
It seems that the demons' sulfuric scent had already contaminated this place…