With his Origin sight serving as guide, Konrad had no issue locating the surrounding Monstrous Beasts. He spotted a Two-Headed Rhinoceros three kilometers away from where he currently stood and decided to make it his prey.
Nils who stayed close behind was starting to wonder if he possessed a tracking method when his voice echoed.
"Three kilometers north-east. Don't fall behind."
He then turned into a purple beam and shot toward the destination.
"That's my line! Let's see who gets there first."
Carried by a hurricane, she rushed after him.
Their short race led them to the Two-Headed Rhinoceros, a demonic beast of pitch-black skin and two heads each possessing a pair of crimson eyes and adorned with a thirty-five centimeters long horn.
"Wow, you were actually right. Could you be an Origin Sight wielder?"
To be able to spot the beast's position from several kilometers away was not something someone of the Grand Rank could pull off. Only those born with Origin Sight could achieve such a thing.
However, Origin Sight was an exceedingly rare ability whose users were often brought into the church at a young age. Finding one outside of the church was nigh impossible.
Yet, it seemed one currently stood by her side.
"Shush."
Konrad ignored her question by silencing her with his index while keeping his eyes locked on the beast's every move.
"Tch, it's just a low-grade Monstrous Beast. What is there to be afraid of."
In a whirlwind, Nils summoned her energy sword and shot toward the demonic beast.
She gave it no warning, swinging her sword at its neck in a swift, clean move that left no room for waste or excesses.
*Clang*
As if protected by a metallic shell, her sword rebounded against the beast's neck in a clang. She spun backward, landing back on her feet, but now, it was alarmed.
The Two-Headed Rhinoceros bellowed, stomped its feet, and hurled itself at Nils.
With a sword in hand, her previous immaturity was replaced by sharp, focused eyes that scanned her foe for all openings.
Wind and lightning swirled around her form, merged with her sword, and empowered it with the wind and lightning attributes. The wind sharpened its edge while the lightning made sure that every blow would carry explosive, devastating force.
Sidestepping, she let the beast move past her then cut it from below in an upward cleave.
Its blood gushed forth, and its scream pierced the air.
Nils then leaped above the Two-Headed Rhinoceros and locked her eyes on the intersection between its two heads. She slashed at that point, her sword effortlessly splitting the beast in two from the spot between its two heads all the way down to its tail.
It couldn't even release another grunt before its blood drenched the ground and life left it.
With a somersault, Nils landed back on her feet and turned to face Konrad with a winning smile.
"How was it? Impressed?"
But as she said those words, she saw Konrad's eyes widen.
"Careful!"
In a flash, he appeared by her side, seized her waist and turned into light particles that reappeared a few steps away.
Two horns had just passed by the spot Nils was previously standing in and impaled themselves in the tree ahead.
Had Konrad not acted with haste, she would have probably gotten skewered.
"That creature possessed the ability to automatically fire its horns at its opponent upon its death. Had I not been there, the Monstrous Beasts of the third level would now have a Nils' brochette on the menu. How could you be so careless?"
He admonished with a disapproving glance.
"Humph, had you not been there, I would not have been so careless."
She wouldn't repent!
"Oh? Does that mean my presence snatches all your attention? I didn't think I possessed such mesmerizing charms. Thank you for the compliment."
"Shameless!"
It seemed she was more preoccupied with calling out his shamelessness than asking him to let go of her. But as they bickered, dark-green fog spread within the previously clear sky, covering everything across several miles.
Konrad let go of Nils, and together they shifted their attention toward this unexpected phenomenon.
"Sorry, it was too fast. By the time it entered my detection range, it was already here."
The system's voice echoed within Konrad's mind, confirming his fears that a terrifying enemy had reared its head. And if that wasn't enough, an enormous pressure comparable to the Transcendent Rank descended from the dark-green sky and crushed both Konrad and Nils beneath its might.
"What the hell is going on?"
…
The Monstrous Beasts of the third level upon feeling that pressure all began scattering toward distant directions, running as far and as quickly as they could. As for the few noble teams within the third level, they were all alarmed by the sudden appearance of this formidable power and believing the reason to be their slaughter of the demonic beasts, they all rushed back to inferior levels!
All except one.
The von Jurgen team had been looking for Nils for some time but to no avail. Now, with the sudden appearance of this force, even they couldn't afford to spend more time within the third level. However, Holger's orders didn't change. On the contrary, his tone carried more urgency.
"Keep looking! Nils must be in the surroundings. Before we leave, we must first find him! I will execute anyone that attempts to sneak to safety before my little brother is found!"
…
Meanwhile, from the dark-green fog bloating the sky, a shadow descended. It was a strange looking brown owl with large green eyes, a fifty centimeters long body standing on a pair of two 1.5 meters long legs.
Those large green orbs that served as its eyes locked on Konrad and shone with greed.
"A demonic beast descending from house Stolas."
Not all demonic beasts could trace their lineage back to a demon god and his noble house. Those linked to the nobility of the infernal realm usually stood above the rest with powerful physiques, abilities and higher cultivation speed than their peers.
However, like all demonic beasts, they faced the same problem: Bloodline.
Unlike humans who greatly depended on their physique and bloodline level until the Arch Rank, then relied on their comprehension skills, the progress of demonic beast hinged on their bloodline level from the lowest to the highest rank.
Without a sufficiently powerful bloodline, they couldn't go beyond certain ranks. This demonic beast of the Accursed Rank had exhausted its bloodline potential and, in this lifetime, had no hope to reach the Decadent Beast Rank and above.
Unless of course, it committed Demonic Restoration.
Demonic Restoration was the act of lower level demons devouring higher level demons to swallow their bloodline in order to improve their own.
It was a well-known practice among the demonic beasts above the Accursed Rank but was rarely put to use as those of higher bloodlines were usually a lot more powerful.
Unless of course they'd yet to mature.
And as it laid its eyes on Konrad, the Stolas Accursed Beast realized this was one such case.
"A young and feeble pureblooded demon. Jackpot! I've hit the jackpot!"
The Stolas Accursed Beast thought as it descended from the sky.
As for Konrad, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
From the very beginning, this creature only had eyes for him. Clearly, it came for him.
"Can you explain what's going on?"
"House Stolas is well known for its sensory abilities. This Accursed Beast must have sensed your demonic energy when you signed the contract with that serpent waste and smelled opportunity."
"This is good. It is time to release the energy you've stored from Zamira in a massive breakthrough. In another location, I'd recommend taming, but since we can't bring it back to the outside anyway, just butcher it!"
"With a breakthrough and your lineage weapon, this shouldn't be too difficult. I will teach you how to refine it into a totem to absorb its physique and innate abilities."
However, Konrad was annoyed.
With Nils right by his side, how could he summon Man-Breaker? The only thing he could do now was to knock her out to prevent her from discovering his demonic powers.
However, before he could act on his thoughts, Nils stood in front of him.
"I will try to buy you some time!
You saved my life before, now it is my turn to pay you back.
Run!"
As soon as she said those words, vast silver light erupted from her body alongside heavy grey fog. Her long silver hairs erratically fluttered at her back while her skin glowed like a full moon within the dark sky and a formidable force emerged from her body.
Her cultivation skyrocketed, going from the ninth step Grand Knight and Grand Priest to the third step Arch-Knight and Arch Priest.
"Oh? A Pureblooded True Spirit?"