TEOCH 16

The temperature in the demon realm changes abruptly. At night, it’s so cold it feels like you might freeze, but during the day, a ferocious heatwave rolls in as if the chill never existed. Though as capricious as a desert, the demon realm’s climate is even more brutal due to its humid, oppressive atmosphere, like the heart of a jungle.

As the sun rose, I took Tristan to the center of the safe zone. The sun of the human world was preferable to that of the demon realm. Tristan and I sat on the ground, staring blankly at the human world’s sunlight filtering through the wounds in the sky.

When the surroundings became bright enough, Tristan moved to wake the others, but I thought it unnecessary. We basked in the sunlight a bit longer, and after about thirty minutes, our sweat-drenched comrades scrambled out of the sweltering tent. Damian had to endure wary glances for a while, even after deactivating his heating spell. The three wiped their streaming sweat and ate a late breakfast.

Waiting until they finished, I decided it was time to head out for scouting. Yesterday’s scouting to the west hadn’t been very successful. The mantis was bad enough, but what bothered me most was the ant colony.

‘It seems the ant colony is in the west this playthrough. Last time, it was in the south…’

Without proper equipment, we lacked the strength to face swarms of ants. If the west was their territory, searching in another direction was the wiser choice.

“We’ll head south for now. Your Majesty and Sir Rikiel, please rest well for tomorrow. Rehas and Damian, come with me.”

“Anything specific we need to bring?”

“Just food for lunch and a bottle of holy water. Nothing else is necessary. It’s best to travel as lightly as possible. We need to collect useful items, and also…”

“Also?”

“It’s easier to escape that way.”

I smiled, but Rikiel and Tristan’s faces stiffened. Rehas and Damian tried to force awkward smiles, but seeing the other two’s expressions, they lowered their heads. Without adding more, I silently began walking. The second scouting mission had begun.

Embarrassingly, after scaring the two, the scouting mission with Damian and Rehas was incomparably smoother than yesterday’s. The main reason was Damian’s detection spell. Though it could only be used every thirty minutes and overusing it strained his stamina, it allowed us to hide from demonic beasts several times.

Of course, the spell wasn’t foolproof, and even with Damian, we had to flee twice. Once was due to a worm suddenly erupting from the ground, and another time was because of a moth that clung motionlessly to a rock before charging at us. Its color blended so well with the rock that we didn’t realize it was a beast until we got close.

Still, we steadily explored the area. I asked Rehas to watch for anything moving on the ground, and true to my request, he spotted a wriggling white parasite within a few hours.

When I picked it up, both men looked at each other with ashen faces, and when I rolled it up and stuffed it into my bag, they avoided coming near me. Damian was slightly better than Rehas. Bravely(?), he approached and spoke cautiously.

“Uh, what was that?”

“I don’t know yet. You can’t tell what magic a parasite holds just by looking at it. We’d need to feed it to equipment to know for sure…”

“No, that’s not what I mean. Is it the same kind as the one in your stomach, Mr. Rohan?”

“Well, yes. Similar, I suppose.”

Now even Damian seemed determined to keep his distance. They trailed behind, hesitating, keeping nearly ten meters away. Instead of nagging, I let out a long sigh and continued walking. Twenty minutes later, they rushed to me, gasping for breath and complaining of headaches. After infusing them with purifying energy, I finally spoke.

“It won’t enter your bodies.”

“S, sorry. But…”

“No, I get it. It can be scary. I understand. But these things don’t enter healthy bodies. Unless you’re seriously injured, you don’t need to worry about this parasite attacking you.”

Only then did they sigh in relief. As we headed south, Rehas found two more parasites, and I marveled at his keen eyesight while stuffing them into my bag.

As a hunter, his vision was truly sharp. It was a bit disappointing that all three were unidentified items, but since finding properly identified items in the demon realm was a stroke of luck, I wasn’t too discouraged.

By the way, I needed to find equipment besides parasites now. While thinking this, I spotted the corpse of a large stag beetle. Likely killed in a fight with another insect, its hard shell was scratched all over, and its head was completely crushed.

Hoping to harvest some protein, I examined the body, but it had been left too long and gave off a faint rotting smell. Giving up, I picked up one of the beetle’s pincers scattered on the ground.

“This looks pretty good, though.”

“That thing? It just looks like an ordinary pincer.”

“Yes, but if it’s this hard and sharp, it can be used as a weapon. Plus…”

I selected one of the parasites and wrapped it around the pincer’s tip. The parasite, nearly dead from lack of nutrients, wriggled as if revived, quickly burrowed a hole into the pincer, and seeped inside.

Rehas and Damian looked stunned, but I watched the pincer’s transformation without blinking. The parasite-infused pincer began to writhe like a living creature, changing shape. It thinned, shrank, and the split ends of the pincer twitched repeatedly before finally fusing together.

The final form of the pincer resembled a human sword. Information about the newly formed sword appeared before my eyes. Checking its stats, I smiled with satisfaction upon seeing the name “Sword of Regression (II).”

‘Not bad.’

The description, ‘Reduces the target beast’s recovery and defense by 22% on successful attack,’ lifted my mood further. Given that demonic beasts recover from any attack unless infused with purifying energy, the regression ability was highly useful.

Though less necessary for me or Tristan, who wielded purifying powers, it would be quite valuable for other comrades. I swung the sword a few times. It was decent but too long and heavy for me, so it would suit Rikiel well.

“Pretty cool, right? A parasite that can’t enter a living beast’s body transforms into a kind of cocoon. If you soak this sword in enough beast blood, it’ll grow stronger and eventually evolve into another form. A growing sword, so it’ll be useful going forward.”

“If I had to say, your head’s the weirder thing.”

Rehas muttered, sounding exasperated, but I brushed it off since it was a familiar reaction. I felt the same way when I first learned about parasite equipment, so I couldn’t blame him.

I picked up the stag beetle’s shell and infested it with another parasite, resulting in the “Iron Wall Shield (III).” I clicked my tongue lightly.

‘Tch, I was hoping for armor, but it’s a shield… This won’t do.’

When making equipment with parasites, you don’t always get what you want. You can’t undo or remake it if you’re dissatisfied, and this shield was no exception.

I examined the shield a few times before setting it down. Since Rikiel uses a two-handed sword, this would suit Tristan, but without proper training, such a large shield could be more of a burden. I’d take it in case it proved useful later.

Summoning a translucent map, I marked our current location with a small circle to indicate items. Leaving the sword and shield behind without hesitation, I turned to move on, and Damian and Rehas looked at me curiously.

“You’re leaving them?”

“No, just setting them aside. They’re too bulky to carry now, so I’ll come back with Sir Rikiel tomorrow to retrieve them. They won’t rot, and other beasts won’t bother taking them.”

They nodded silently. I decided to follow the standard攻略 route. One day, I’d scout with Damian to find useful materials, and the next, I’d go with Rikiel to collect what we found the previous day.

Though slow, it was the safest method I’d discovered. Above all, it minimized the risk of ambushes.

‘So, I’ve found one sword. I need more parasites for armor, a magic-enhancing gem for Damian, arrows for Rehas, and ideally, a parasite for my right arm. Enhancing my body will make future progress easier.’

I mentally calculated the materials we needed to gather. The real reason this place was called the “tutorial stage” was that most of the basic equipment needed for the demon realm could be obtained here.

Only in the tutorial stage could you find three parasites just by scouring the ground. In other stages, you’d need to face enhanced demonic beasts like yesterday or sneak into colonies of intelligent beasts that used parasites to steal them. Neither was a sane undertaking.

Equipment from here could last until at least the mid-game. To defeat the Demon King, you’d need to replace all equipment by the mid-to-late second stage, but even then, you’d likely keep one or two high-quality items from this stage. Compared to later stages, where you’d struggle with scarce equipment and food, this was practically a giveaway.

In my first playthrough, I’d gather all necessary equipment in ten days, level up for five, then defeat the area’s guardian. With the safe zone’s duration now reduced, the ideal strategy would be “seven days to gather materials, three to level up, then defeat the guardian,” but I wasn’t sure if that was feasible. Even when the difficulty was lower, shortening the timeline that much was tough.

‘Well, I didn’t learn the fortification skill for nothing… Even without a safe zone, we can hold out for a few days.’

As I thought this, Damian suddenly tapped my shoulder. There was only one reason he’d call me in this situation, so I turned around immediately. As expected, Damian looked anxious, and the tip of his staff glowed ominously, signaling danger.

“Mr. Rohan, we need to leave now. A horde of beasts is approaching.”

“How many?”

“Too many to count. We’ll be in big trouble if we get caught. It’s an enormous number.”

I nodded and started to stand but paused. Wait, an enormous horde of beasts? I had a hunch about their identity and asked Damian for confirmation.

“Damian, can you identify those beasts? Are they spiders?”

“What? I can’t tell that much, but… Spiders? Not ants? Do spiders even move in such large groups? There must be thousands at least.”

I nodded silently without replying further. If thousands of beasts were moving together, it had to be that event. It was a notoriously hard-to-trigger event, yet I’d stumbled upon it so easily. Feeling as if yesterday’s hardships were being rewarded, I quickly scanned the area.

Fortunately, there were plenty of hiding spots. Spotting a rock with a hollowed-out base perfect for hiding, I urged Damian.

“Damian, check again for any pursuing monsters nearby. Let’s hide for now.”

“What? We’re not escaping?”

“We need to at least confirm where those spiders are headed. They’re returning to their nest now. Ideally, we’d track them to pinpoint the nest’s location, but if that’s not possible, we need to know at least the direction of the nest…”

I led Damian and Rehas to hide under the large rock. Honestly, I wanted to follow the spiders right away to find their exact base, but with the increased difficulty and unknown dangers lurking, I was reluctant to take such a risk.

To the two, even my current actions seemed like a huge gamble, as they watched me nervously, their unease palpable. Rehas spoke cautiously, his voice tinged with confusion.

“Rohan.”

“Yes?”

“I think you skipped some explanation… Why do we need to find the nest of those spiders or whatever they are?”

Just as I was about to answer Rehas’s question, a low groan escaped Damian, who was crouched beside us. Rehas and I looked up to assess the situation. Rehas’s jaw dropped, and he forgot his earlier question, staring blankly at the scene before us.

Beyond the vast wasteland, from the edge of the horizon, a black wave began to overflow. It wasn’t actual water, of course. The wave-like appearance came from hundreds, thousands of black spiders, each the size of a child, gathered together.

The procession of countless spiders moved with terrifying momentum, like a flooding river. They were coming from the south and would likely pass us, heading north. The orderly march of the spiders looked like a single living organism.

At the center, an enormous spider, unimaginable in the human world, leisurely moved its legs. Easily five times larger than the mantis I saw yesterday, it lifted its furry legs slowly, walking with a deceptive calm. Despite its size, its eight legs moved with impressive speed.

The spider’s claws were as sharp as honed blades, and its eight glowing red eyes exuded an overwhelming aura that could intimidate with a mere glance. The insect-type beasts I’d seen in the demon realm so far were large and imposing, but none felt as terrifying or surreal as this spider.

No one could find such a creature approachable, but to me, it was quite familiar. Naturally so, since to progress past this stage, I had to kill that spider one way or another.

I spoke slowly, answering the question Rehas had already forgotten.

“That spider is the guardian of this area. To reach the Demon King’s castle, we must pass through its nest.”

Rehas and Damian’s faces turned pale. Ignoring them, I opened the map and, considering our current location and the spiders’ direction, drew a line northward. At the top of the map, where the line ended, I drew a large circle with a star in the center.

The northernmost point of the map, with a five-kilometer margin of error. This was the ultimate destination we needed to reach in the tutorial area.