The Hundred Eyes Beast left the room as quick he could came back carrying a book. Thomas barely caught sight of it and was able to discern the words in it's cover thanks to the system's translation.
[Thousand Beasts Compendium]
Cas, the hundred eyes beast turned the pages one after another before stopping at one point.
"Right, it seems to be it.... Ries, isn't it. Everything is okay, Mooak already told me the details. You're here to find someone whose looks are similar to you isn't it?"
"Er, yes. I need to find him."
"I'll be honest. The Battle Heart Tribe may be more powerful, but we, the Hundred Eyes Beast existed for much longer and we know many things others don't. Your blood is mixed with a lot of things including a beast's aura, one very faint and almost inexistent but it's still there. Does the word "Daemon" mean anything to you?"
Cas moved to the back of the room it's hands moved and a transpired layer of light and runes covered the interior of the room. A protective formation to not let any information leave the room. Once deployed, the beast held onto the book as it continued. "This book was written by one of my ancestors that lived in the mainland twenty thousand years ago and has been passed in sacred from generation to generation. This is a register of the many types of beasts my ancestor and his descended has seen in his travels. What I found of interesting is that this book has a whole chapter dedicated to a branch of the beasts that called themselves Daemons."
"While the book is called Ten Thousand Beasts Compendium, my ancestor was sure Daemons aren't beasts, or least had ceased to be a one point. There is no much info about them, only that most if not all of them could access the power of the elements is something very few beasts possess. Know that the Earthly Core Tribe's earth affinity or the Water Lion's affinity are only possible due to their ancestry."
"The book describes Daemons as bloodthirsty monsters with large horns, slim body that stands on two legs. In terms of battle efficiency, daemons were twice as strong as beasts at the same level. This is due to the fact that beasts are not able to store large amounts of energy in their bodies, as most of their ability is purely physical strength."
"And you? I heard from the earthly core lions you are Human?"
Thomas hesitated and then nodded. "Yes, I am human. We are species that to your eyes may be similar to the demons in terms of looks but most of us are powerless beings. We depend on our minds instead of our bodies, well, some do depend on their bodies for a living though. I am different from my own other humans as I assimilated the powers of a demon, the enemies of my kind."
"I don't know if it's the ones I know of, but the one I'm looking for belongs to one of the Ten Thousand Demon Clans. His main affinity is with the gold and fire element. In terms of prowess, he should stronger than the average 7-star beast."
Thomas didn't reveal more than needed. At the same time, he felt he was getting closer to find the about the demon's origin.
Suddenly, the recalled that the Sage has been here for far longer than him and realized he most certainly knew about it all along otherwise he wouldn't be so chill, for a demon. The connection between demons and the beasts truly fascinated him.
One example would be he and Lulu exchanging blood. Every since that day his instincts got more sensible and precise. His demon transformation even evolved as well and make his demonic physique grow faster as well, it even reached the limit of the second level.
After his conversation with the Hundred Eyes Beast, he left the building. Lulu and the others didn't leave yet so he left a message.
Initially he was going back to his room in the Earthly Core Tribe, but Thomas suddenly changed his course and went out of the city instead. Heading to the spot he's been using to train in secret.
Whoosh!
"He's not much far away. It's best not to alarm him. Let's handle this as quietly as possible" Said a shadow standing a top a stone tower in the same street at the building Thomas had been in some time ago. This particular shadow had very slim body and in with humanoid arms, he held a long bone spear.
At that moment, multiple shadows all split away. No one within the streets had even noticed their presence.
The Shadows climbed the city walls from within the city and headed straight to the mountain, it was the very same path Thomas had taken. The group immediately entered into jumped from tree to tree unnoticed, using an incredible agility technique, which made them look like ghosts walking through the crowd.
Those shadows all carried some kind of weapon, some weapon similar to a bow and made of bones. It was clear the material for these bows was extraordinary as bones would exude a certain aura of their own.
About nine shadows, five in the front and four behind all leaped off the trees and moved to surround Thomas. All which wore black and blue cloth covering their bodies, but couldn't hide their scent as it clearly belonged to a lion type beast.
Outside the city, Thomas headed a bit father away before freezing in the spot.
'Six 5-stars, two at 6-stars and another two at peak 6-stars, huh..' Memorizing the approximate strength of every single one of the nine.
"Why don't you show yourself?" Thomas whose eyes went cold as arctic ice as his voice echoed in the distance.
Cleaning the dust off his boots, Thomas raised his guard while his eyes observed the nine beasts.
6-star beasts were on the same level as a peak Elite Adept, Thomas guessed that even if he could beat them, it would be hard keeping them alive. In case his demonic instincts flare up...
*Pssshhh Psssshhh*
The sounds of the arrows piercing through wind swiftly approached and an cold air flowed down his spine as he didn't detect anything at all before it was too late. These arrows were so powerful that cut through the nearby trees like butter and in a instant, Thomas only saw a blur before a finger-sized hole opened on his forearm.
Blood spluttered all around and before soon more arrows approached Thomas, the scent of fresh blood flowed like the sweetest wine reached nose and his whole mind shook.