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"Is this really okay? Isn't it better to just walk back home for now? You seem a bit tired."
Eleanora spoke to me through telepathy, concerned about me.
"Don't worry, after leveling up, not only I recovered all my health, but my exhaustion also faded away, this only lasts until Level 10, but it is a good incentive to keep leveling up until that point… For now, I want to find anything we can kill to get more EXP out of the card I used."
I told this to Eleanora as her eyes shone brightly, realizing what was everything about. I had not just accepted this without any reason, I had already decided I wanted to grow stronger by defeating more monsters and gain more EXP, it was a thing I was going to do because I felt like I would be wasting the card if I didn't.
"I understand now… so that was why I had suddenly leveled up as well, that card… how much does it multiply EXP?" she asked.
"Ten times… This is why I don't want to waste it." I said.
"Oh! I see… So that's why I leveled up so fast… I feel like my strength had increased a lot from Level 1, each Level increases our power a lot, doesn't it?" she asked.
"Effectively. I had yet to use the wolves I had in my shadows yet, but those are better as Stat Increasers for now, each one increases my AGI and DEX by one point, five of them is +5 to both stats, that's enough to give me a small advantage. However, whenever we are in a dire situation, I will bring them out for some diversion or bait, they're not strong enough for anything else…" I said.
"That's true… Although if you were to use your spear more, you would had been able to deal better with the Imps… But I understand that you can't as the Hunters are trying to protect you a lot…" said Eleanora.
"Well, even as strong as I got at Level 1, I am still fairly weak, fighting against five Imps at the same time, especially as strong as they were now out of nowhere would had probably forced me to retreat at the end, they could had killed me… the Hunters served well their purpose as supporters and meat shields." I said to her.
"Ohoho, so that was your thinking, my lord! I had originally thought you were doing this purely out of goodwill, but my lord is always a step ahead! There is nothing you do without a big reason where you benefit from it, isn't it?" she asked.
"…Well, I am not as evil as you think, but yes, there is a lot to benefit from this party of hunters, with them distracting the Imps, it was an easy job, although a bit arduous, to kill them off one by one, way easier than when we fought against the Imps before." I said.
"Hm… But talking about the Imps… What is exactly going on in here? Is the camp where the Imps are increasing their numbers somehow? I am fairly sure Imps cannot increase in numbers this fast, they're not goblins after all!" said Eleanora.
"You're right, I would say the same as well, they're not goblins, how is it possible for them to multiply this fast? Demons have cycles of reproduction unlike goblins, so they shouldn't be able to be so many unless… It can't be…" I said.
Suddenly, a thought emerged in my mind, if this is true, then things are way worse than I had imagined.
"You mean…?" asked Eleanora in disbelief.
"What if the Imps are coming from… A Demon Gate?" I asked.
"D-Demon Gate?! In this low-level world?!" she asked.
"There is nothing really confirming this hypothesis but… perhaps Lucifer had already begun a full-scale invasion in this world, and he put me in here just to see me struggle to survive what's to come… If there is really a Demon Gate spawning demons directly from Hell or the Demonic Towers here… Then that means that the Imps might not even stop coming until we find the Gates and destroy them… This is already just beyond earning EXP, I cannot let this go on for too long, or the entire village would be threatened… Even if we risk in losing a potential EXP spot, it is better to secure the safety of the village…" I said.
"But my lord, how can we even do that? We don't even possess enough power to get into the center of the hive and get to destroy the gate…" she said.
"This is why we need reinforcements, soldiers, knights, adventures… If we can manage to convince the Duke that there is a Demon Gate here or that the invasion of Imps is too large for us to handle… but would that greedy old man even invest money in this small village to be saved? Hmm…" I sighed.
"Y-You shouldn't put all of the responsibility in your shoulders." She said.
"I know… The villagers are strong in some areas, but not near as enough to kill all the Imps and other Demon types that might be lurking around… Unless we use the power of money…" I said.
"Money…" said Eleanora.
"Hm… For now, this is more of a long-term plan, I doubt we'll ever find the Gate here, this large forest has Five Layers, and we are still in the Second Layer, this means that the Gate is most likely spawning Demons in the Fifth Layer while the demons slowly descend into the other layers as they hunt down any living being there. But the closer we get to there, the more common the demons become…" I said.
"Wild Boars are powerful monsters, perhaps they might still be alive, struggling, but still alive." Said Elenora.
"That's my hope, but it seems that even before leaving the second layer, we got some company, red-skinned company…" I said.
Suddenly, a group of three Imp Scouts showed up right before the line that closes the second layer with the third one.
And there was another, different demon commanding them.
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