Only three of us returned from this treasure hunt, yet remarkably, we suffered no casualties in battle. The ease of our endeavor surpassed all expectations; the greatest anticipated threat, the Winged Demon Ape, never even made an appearance. Aside from marveling at our extraordinary luck, I could not conjure a more satisfactory explanation. As I stowed the helicopter, the Wolf King remarked, "Wang Lin, I believe it would be best for us not to separate from this point onward." I cast a glance at Maki Shinpu and, without much deliberation, agreed with the Wolf King.
The hunting mission had a deadline of ten days, and despite the drastic reduction in our numbers, our collective strength had actually improved. Maki Shinpu obtained the Demon Blade, "Mizukagami," while the Wolf King injected a gene serum and acquired a wish fruit. Although he had not disclosed the wish he made, it was anticipated that his combat prowess would increase. Our trio was now far more adept at hunting the Swamp Dragon than we had been previously, and as for the twenty stormbirds, we had already amassed sufficient achievements on the nameless island. My achievement card recorded the elimination of one hundred twenty stormbirds, far exceeding the training camp's criteria.
By the final two days, only five small demons remained for each of us to hunt. I had often contemplated consuming the other wish fruit and leaving this place, but each time I thought of the minimum auction price for this rainbow-grade wish fruit at the Demon Island marketplace—two billion demon coins—I found myself unable to swallow it. Two billion! This amount is equivalent to the GDP of some underdeveloped nations and could even purchase numerous renowned multinational corporations. Investing two billion in the stock market could trigger a global economic crisis.
As for my other aspiration, the abilities conferred by the title of Time-Space Sentinel remained elusive. Currently, the only skill I had mastered was a strong premonition whenever any creature harbored hostility or intended to attack me, allowing me to discern the method of their assault and the magnitude of the threat. I was still far from achieving the ability to open a portal to return to the real world as I had envisioned. After consulting with Julière, I received only a vague explanation: the powers associated with this title would not manifest all at once, yet she had no answers on how to fully unlock them. Thus, I placed my hopes of returning home on the third possibility: accumulating ten billion demon coins to purchase a lower-tier wish fruit.
For a high school student who had just arrived on Demon Island, this goal would seem mythical; however, for me now, it was not particularly daunting. The magical wings I crafted using the Eternal Wing Technique could easily fetch tens of millions at the Demon Island auction. Even the summoning stones for the demon hounds, which were of little use to me, sold for hundreds of thousands each. As long as I remained on Demon Island for a while longer, returning home would not pose a significant issue, which was why I continued to train with the Wolf King and Maki Shinpu.
The small demons we were to hunt were far superior to any monsters we had encountered before; they possessed intelligence comparable to that of humans. On Demon Island, they were classified differently from the other beasts, similar to Julière, and were categorized as lesser demons. However, the attack power of these small demons far surpassed that of Julière, who only knew a few limited supportive spells. They were purely combat-oriented lesser demons.
Before embarking on this final task, the three of us devised a meticulous plan. The Wolf King, possessing the highest military acumen among us, primarily formulated our combat strategy. Maki Shinpu, whenever he had free time, studied the monsters inhabiting Demon Island, thus his role was to provide us with crucial information, while I was somewhat lacking in that regard, relegated to leading the charge in battle.
For this ambush on the small demons, I made a significant investment, purchasing three psionic sniper rifles—Seven Kills Polaris. It was said that these rifles had a range of up to two kilometers, and each specially designed psionic annihilation round cost a staggering one hundred fifty thousand demon coins. Given the dire financial situations of the Wolf King and Maki Shinpu, I covered the costs for both the Seven Kills Polaris and the psionic annihilation rounds, drastically altering the highest figure in my Demon Island bank account.
The small demons were exceptionally perceptive, highly agile, and adept at concealing themselves. If we attempted to locate them using the Red Spider helicopter, we might not catch even a glimpse of their shadows; thus, we would have to rely on our own legs for this task. Although small demons were distributed widely across the island, their true lairs lay hidden within the dense forests. Fortunately, we had grown somewhat familiar with Demon Island, and the occasional monsters we encountered posed little threat to us. As long as we avoided densely populated monster areas, we could navigate the island with ease.
After a morning of searching, my achievement card recorded over thirty different types of monsters, while the Wolf King and Maki Shinpu also had their share of success. However, to my dismay, we had yet to spot a single small demon. This left me feeling quite disheartened. When we found a sheltered spot to take a brief lunch, I murmured, "If we can't locate any small demons in the next two days, this mission will end in failure. It's truly disheartening."
The Wolf King chuckled and replied, "This mercenary qualification is hardly a remarkable accolade; if we fail, so be it. With our skills, we could thrive on Demon Island without needing to join that Demon Hunter Mercenary Corps." Maki Shinpu wholeheartedly agreed with the Wolf King, stuffing his mouth with sausage as he remarked, "It's no big deal if we can't complete the Demon Hunter Mercenary Corps' mission. We've already tackled the most challenging parts, and having invested such significant resources, it would be a shame to let it all go to waste. Wang Lin must also feel dissatisfied with this mission."
"What do you mean by 'dissatisfied'?" I felt a surge of annoyance at Maki Shinpu's double entendre. True, Snoke's departure was one thing, but taking Lilith with him left me feeling quite lonely these past few days. Moreover, I had initially considered returning with them, but Jack had thrown everything into chaos.