CHAPTER 42: THE FIEND (1)

"Improving stats to ten seems to unlock traits. What will I get when I push strength and stamina to ten?" Ray couldn’t wait to find out, but he would have to level up multiple times if he wanted to see that happen.

He returned to the place where he had killed the Mutated Monstrous Mosquito, collecting its core.

Its corpse had been reduced to such a sorry state it wasn’t worth collecting; most of its body had melted into an indescribable mess, the pieces of its flesh burnt beyond recognition. Who could eat them?

Although the Dark Age had pushed humans to eat things they once found too disgusting to even consider in the era before it, some things were simply impossible to eat.

"Hmm? What’s this?"

A sweet fragrance suddenly filled Ray’s nostrils.

His mouth watered uncontrollably the instant he picked up on it, and an intense, primal greed surged through his body.

Every fiber of his being screamed at him to seize the source of that smell, no matter the cost.

"Where is it coming from?" Ray muttered, his instincts telling him he would never react so strongly to a scent unless its source carried tremendous benefits.

He decided to look for it.

He crouched, then leapt to the top of a tree like a ninja, his eyes scanning the surroundings with anticipation and hope.

And then he saw it.

Not far away.

Nestled among the weeds was a golden stalk of grass, its thin blades shimmering faintly like polished metal. A faint, golden mist rose from it, spreading the intoxicating sweetness far and wide.

Celestial Grass.

It was a Heaven and Earth Treasure capable of refining a person’s physique and strengthening their Niwan Palace.

Simply consuming it could enhance his stats and vastly expand his magic power capacity!

"I suspected as much... now it’s confirmed," Ray muttered under his breath. "The territory of the Monstrous Mosquito has the ability to give birth to Heaven and Earth treasures. No wonder a Mutated Monstrous Mosquito appeared in its boundaries."

What were Heaven and Earth Treasures?

Most people could not answer that question properly, but Ray could—thanks to Selena.

The books she gifted him contained not only historical records but also in-depth explanations of the changes earth had undergone after he died in his previous life.

The Celestial Grass was one of the heaven and Earth Treasure explained in the Treatise on Magic Herbs and Demonic Creatures.

When the dimensional rifts appeared, dimensional energy escaped into the atmosphere, mutating planet Earth, and it began to give birth to miraculous creations termed Heaven and Earth treasures.

They came in countless shapes.

Hherbs, fruits, flowers, ores, even crystals.

All of them held unimaginable benefits for both humans and demonic creatures.

The Mutated Monstrous Mosquito he had just slain was living proof of their power. It must have consumed one of these treasures to mutate so drastically it broke past its natural limits and reached the advanced stage of the bronze rank. That was how terrifying their effects were.

Heaven and Earth treasures were ranked from one to nine. Rank nine was the weakest, rank one the pinnacle.

The Celestial Grass before Ray was a rank nine treasure, yet even something this "low-level" could push an ordinary human to match the strength of an iron-ranked beast.

Ray, of course, was far beyond ordinary, so he wasn’t sure how much benefit it would give him, but it was worth obtaining as it could bring him some improvement.

He approached it cautiously.

Why cautious?

Because Heaven and Earth treasures were never easy to acquire. They were always surrounded by danger, often guarded by powerful creatures, or marked by some sort of trial.

He didn’t want to fall victim to his greed and die.

As Ray drew closer, a chill ran down his spine. Danger assaulted him so sharply it was like a knife pressed to his throat.

His vision tinged red as his instincts screamed.

Without hesitation, he leapt to the side.

Whoosh!

A crimson beam tore through the air where he had been standing a heartbeat earlier.

It struck a tree.

The tree vanished. Not burned, not destroyed—erased. Gone without leaving so much as a splinter behind.

Ray’s blood ran cold. Whoever had attacked him wielded reality-bending power, on par with Tristan’s.

"Just my luck," Ray groaned inwardly, despairing. "How long has it been since I fought a cheat-like existence? Ten minutes? And now I’m facing another one! Counting Tristan, this is the third cheat-like existence I am facing in a single day?"

Ray wanted to cry but shed no tears, but it was understandable why he had faced so much danger, if the towns and cities could be counted as safe zones, then he was now in a danger zone. He was bound to encounter trouble.

From ahead, a smooth yet cold voice rang out, carrying arrogance and killing intent in equal measure.

"To dodge my death beam... you must be quite the rare human genius."

Ray looked over and saw a young man with skin white as snow, jewel-like eyes, and two small bumps on his forehead resembling horns. His long crimson hair flowed down his back like a waterfall of blood.

"Fiend!" Ray’s pupils shrank. This wasn’t a man. But a demonic creature that resembled one!

Demonic creatures were divided into many types and four categories.The four categories were:

Beasts. For example, Demonized Wolves, Drakes, Dragons.

Monsters, like goblins, ogres, and trolls, and so on.

Spirits, like Red and the Deep River Lord.

And finally, Fiends, like the one in front of Ray.

Fiends were by far the most terrifying as they shared the characteristics of humans, living in societies, giving birth to various civilizations.

Furthermore, unlike other demonic beings, they had intelligence on par with or even exceeding humans.

They emerged sometimes in the Dark Age.

No one knew the cause of their birth, as that period of time was a blank in history, but it was popular belief that Fiends didn’t come from the other side, they didn’t come from beyond the dimensional rifts—rather, they were birthed on this very planet.

It was just a theory with nothing to back it up, however.

Their birth was shrouded in mystery.

"Killing you will deliver a heavy blow to humanity," the young fiend declared, his finger glowing ominously as he prepared to fire another death beam.

"Like hell I’ll let ya!" Ray shouted, unleashing all his strength from the very start.

Against fiends, holding back was suicide. Not only were they cunning, but this one possessed the terrifying ability to erase anything from existence. Ray had already witnessed what that beam did to the tree—if it touched him, he would simply cease to exist.

A sword shot out from his interspatial ring, streaking toward the fiend’s head.

At the same time, fiery orbs roared through the air alongside sharp wind blades, all attacking the fiends from multiple angles.

"Cheap tricks!" The fiend snorted with disdain.

A crimson beam lanced from his finger, erasing Ray’s flying sword in an instant. Then, a wave of red energy burst outward from him. It washed over the fireballs and wind blades, erasing them as well.

"Hmph. He ran." The fiend’s jewel-like eyes narrowed, realizing that Ray’s furious barrage was nothing but a feint—a distraction to cover his escape. A small smirk tugged at his lips. "Not a bad decision. Looks like there will be something exciting to look forward to when we wage war against the humans in the future."