Demon?

"Is this Nasen Forest?" Achill's moon-white robe fluttered gently in the wind. Ignoring his black hair, which had been blown into disarray, he stared thoughtfully at the dark, unfathomable forest before him. Under the cover of night, the entire forest looked exceedingly eerie.

"Mm, it seems something really is here. It wasn't this gloomy when I came last time." Muttering to himself for a moment, Achill then headed deeper into the forest. The instant he entered Nasen Forest, a pair of reddish eyes watched him silently from the darkness.

After traveling all afternoon, he had finally arrived in the territory of Nasen Forest, where the demon had appeared. Of course, the main reason it had taken him so long, aside from the distance, was because this guy had gotten lost along the way...

Don't laugh at him. He had only been here once before, and that had been over four months ago, purely by coincidence. Asking why he had come here back then? Oh, it was nothing. Just like this time, he had gotten lost while doing a mission and had ended up wandering into this place by accident~ Ahem, so it really had just been a coincidence.

"Nasen Fragrant Herb, Nasen Fragrant Herb..." After wandering aimlessly through the forest for ages, Achill finally lost his temper. "Damn it! Every blade of grass here looks the same to me!! Which damn one is the Nasen Fragrant Herb?!" Achill scratched his head furiously, turning his already messy hair into a bird's nest.

The truth was, he had no idea what the so-called Nasen Fragrant Herb looked like. He had merely heard of it and knew it existed; he had never seen it in person.

The commission notice had only listed the mission requirements and reward. It had not mentioned a single word about what the Nasen Fragrant Herb looked like or what traits it had! Forget about having a picture for reference! Thus, this utterly frustrating situation had come about...

But in the end, he could only blame himself. Who told him to rush out to take the mission without giving it any thought? Now he was stumped, wasn't he~

In fact, even President Abudu had not thought of this at the time. Seeing Achill run off in such a hurry, he had assumed Achill knew what a century-old Nasen Fragrant Herb looked like! So he had not thought much of it. Otherwise, he definitely would have stuffed a picture into Achill's hands before he left...

But it was too late now. He could not exactly run back and ask someone what the Nasen Fragrant Herb looked like, could he? That would be far too embarrassing. For the sake of his pride, no matter what, Achill could only grit his teeth and keep searching.

Sigh, how wonderful would it be if there were someone in here? He could ask what that thing looked like! But that was clearly impossible now. Thinking of this, Achill shook his head helplessly. Since rumors had spread that a demon existed here, surely no one would dare come again. At least, nobody would likely return before that demon was eliminated.

Hm? Demon? Suddenly, Achill's mind lit up. He slapped his forehead and cursed himself for being stupid. How could I forget that? Isn't there supposed to be a demon here? If I just drag that so-called demon out and ask it what the Nasen Fragrant Herb looks like, wouldn't that solve everything?!

No sooner said than done. Achill immediately cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hey!!! Demon!!! Come out already!!! Your mom's calling you home for dinner—"

"Thud—" The owner of those eyes in the darkness nearly fell flat on the ground. After recovering, he glared venomously at that foul-mouthed brat and prepared to turn away. But the moment he looked behind him, his pupils abruptly shrank from the size of beans to pinpoints! He stared in disbelief at the person who had suddenly appeared before him!

"Yo~ Why did you stop watching me? At first, I thought..." Achill examined the stranger's terrified face with an amused expression and could not help teasing, "...you planned to kill me once I let my guard down. But apparently that isn't it. Tell me honestly, what is your purpose...?"

That was right. The person who had suddenly appeared behind the man in black was Achill! In truth, from the moment he entered Nasen Forest, he had already known—someone was spying on him from the shadows! His senses were no joke. Although the other party's concealment skills seemed quite impressive, they had still failed to escape his perception!

However, because he did not know the other party's true intentions, he had not exposed him. Instead, he had silently observed the person hiding in the dark, because he wanted to know why he was being watched! I don't think I've offended anyone lately, have I? Achill thought gloomily.

But after observing for a while, the person in hiding had made no other moves. He had merely continued watching him! This left Achill deeply puzzled. Seeing that the other party seemed ready to leave, Achill could no longer hold back and finally stepped out himself, using Flash Step to appear behind him.

"Hmph—" His shock lasted only an instant. The man quickly recovered, snorted coldly, and, without another word, hurled a flame spell straight at Achill's head!

Boom— With a deafening explosion, a crimson fireball the size of a watermelon burst apart directly in front of Achill! Sparks flew everywhere, and smoke filled the air—

Seeing this, a smug smile crept onto the black-clad man's lips. But before it could fully spread, it froze completely! He stared in utter disbelief at the figure that reappeared before him.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough! Damn it! Are you trying to choke me to death?!" Coughing desperately while brushing nonexistent dust from his clothes, Achill rushed forward and grabbed the black-clad man by the collar. Ignoring his shocked expression, Achill roared furiously, "Or do you just want to die?!! If that's the case, I don't mind killing you right now!!!"

"Then kill me! Kill me! You'd better kill me right now!!" The black-clad man froze slightly, then seemed to snap as he began struggling madly. As he struggled, he roared hoarsely, "You're just like them! You're the same as those people! You just want to laugh at me for being bald, don't you?! Come on! Keep laughing! If you don't kill me today, then from now on, I'll burn everyone I see bald! And not even their toe hair will be spared!!!"

"Damn it!!!" Achill cursed, then threw the man in black to the ground with a look of disgust. He rubbed his hands hard against his clothes, his face dark as water as he stared at him coldly. "So after all this, you're the so-called 'demon'? Damn it! You're not a demon at all—you're a damn pervert!! You actually enjoy shaving people bald? Hell, do you think you're some enlightened monk or something?!" As he spoke, he glanced at the other man's head. Damn it, he really was bald!~

"Why?! Why didn't my magic burn off your hair?! I wanted you to experience the pain of being mocked!!" Provoked by Achill's barrage of insults, the black-clad man became agitated once more and struggled to rise from the ground to fight him.

"Shut up!" Achill mercilessly kicked him back down and threatened viciously, "I'm feeling generous today, so I'll give you a chance to turn over a new leaf!! Where is the Nasen Fragrant Herb? As long as you hand over twelve Nasen Fragrant Herbs that are over a hundred years old, I'll spare your life today!!" When it came to perverts with twisted hobbies, he had never been softhearted!

But now that he had finally caught someone who could still breathe, how could he not squeeze out every last bit of value? He was still troubled over the mission to find the Nasen Fragrant Herb...

"I—" The black-clad man was about to say something, but at that moment, a sudden change occurred...

"Pfft—" The sound of flesh tearing and blood spraying rang out. A massive stone spike suddenly erupted from the ground and pierced straight through the black-clad man's chest!

"Gurgle—" His reddish eyes widened as the black-clad man opened his mouth in disbelief, as though he wanted to say something. Yet only gurgling sounds came out. Blood surged up, clogging his throat before slowly spilling from his mouth. Impaled upon the sharp, three-meter-long stone spike, the black-clad man stared fixedly at Achill in the distance with shock and unwillingness on his face, then gradually stopped struggling.

"Ahahahaha! A Wraith! What a wonderful Wraith!! Only those who die with intense resentment can produce such an incomparably pure Wraith!!! Ahahahaha—"

"Who is it?!!" He exploded! Listening to the spine-chilling, grating laughter echoing continuously around him, Achill completely erupted! Ever since losing his memories, he had never been as angry as he was now! Yes, angry! Someone had actually killed a person right in front of him?! He might have hated that twisted bastard too, but that was his prey! Only he had the right to decide what happened to his prey! Fine, very fine! Someone actually dared to kill his prey without permission! You really are— At that thought, Achill's eyes slowly turned icy. As his robe fluttered in the wind, faint strands of magic power gradually spread from his body.

Tired of living!!!