Night Demons were the true rulers of Senegal. On this Black Soil, humans occupied only a tiny portion of the land, and only Magicians could stand against them.
The first step to becoming a Magician was obtaining a Potion formula, something the Imperial Knights had always kept firmly under their control.
With Alisa offering a Potion formula as her bargaining chip, Joey was sorely tempted. This was a risk worth taking. He gathered his equipment, preparing to take his chances, but Old Tony stopped him.
In Old Tony's eyes, a Potion formula was not that important, and becoming a Magician was not necessarily a good thing. Besides, this involved a Great Noble.
Joey hesitated. He only wanted to become a Magician so he could protect himself, but this might drag him into even greater danger.
Old Tony was avoiding risks, while he was weighing the pros and cons.
Without a Foundation Stone to support them, something would go wrong sooner or later. He might as well take a chance. Perhaps he could even get into the Inner City and give himself and Old Tony a better life.
"Dad, I'll be careful!"
In the end, Joey still chose to help Alisa.
It took him some time to find the crashed Aircraft. He had not held out much hope, since he had heard beasts roaring when he left earlier.
By now, the beasts might well have devoured everyone. To his surprise, beast corpses littered the ground around the crashed Aircraft.
With every step closer, the hairs on his body bristled a little more. It was a sense of danger rising from the depths of his soul.
The Aircraft was still spewing black smoke and crackling, its red flames standing out against the gray sky.
The pilot's seat was empty. The protective glass had shattered, and a long trail of blood led out from the seat. Clearly, the pilot had escaped immediately.
"Could someone have killed all those beasts?"
He was already having second thoughts. Joey knew all too well that danger lurked everywhere in this world. Only by being cautious could he live long.
"Roar!"
Before he could even react, he was sent flying backward.
A hideously ugly, ferocious monster charged at him with a roar. It resembled a dog with two heads. One had a human face, while the other looked like a monstrosity pieced together from countless writhing caterpillars.
"What the hell is that?"
Joey turned and ran. A sharp pain shot through his body, and only then did he realize that a long, deep gash had been cut across his back at some point.
Every stride tugged at the wound. Enduring the agony, he ran seven or eight meters, only to discover that the monster had not followed him.
Looking back, he saw the monster greedily lapping up the blood on the ground, chewing up mouthfuls of turf along with it.
"Roar!"
Another roar rang out. In the blink of an eye, the monster darted in front of Joey. Its hind paws pushed off the ground, its forepaws rose high, and both heads opened their mouths with a howl. He could even smell the reek of rotten blood. If that bite landed, it would probably tear him apart.
He rolled backward on the spot, barely dodging it. The rush of air from its claws swept past his ears, scattering black soil and leaving two deep claw marks in the ground.
Before the monster, Joey was like a little lamb, able to do nothing but flee. The gap in strength was obvious. After several exchanges, he was already panting, and numerous small wounds covered his body, scratches from branches as he dodged.
His thin shirt had become blood-soaked rags. He simply tore it off and tossed it aside. The monster charged straight at it, buying him a few seconds.
Joey ran flat out, his mind racing to find a way to deal with it.
After those exchanges, he had finally figured out what the monster was.
This was probably what Old Tony meant when he spoke of Transcendents losing control. When divinity overpowered humanity, they entered an out-of-control state. The head with the human face might belong to the Magician himself.
He could never escape just by running. How could two legs outrun four?
Its lack of reason was the Out-of-Control's only weakness. Only by exploiting that weakness would he have a chance to escape.
Since it liked his blood so much, perhaps he could use that.
Joey had not come looking for the Aircraft unprepared. Before coming, he had already planned an escape route, precisely in case something went wrong.
What he needed to do now was lure the monster into the traps he had prepared. Their town was so remote that it did not even have a garrison. Even if a Magician appeared here, their Sequence could hardly be very high.
He reckoned the Magician who had lost control might only be Sequence 9. Many Sequence 9s were not even as capable in combat as physically strong ordinary people.
Take Udir, for instance. He was a Sequence 9 Dust Veil Master, but in an actual fight, he might not even be a match for Joey.
When a Sequence 9 Transcendent lost control, the resulting mythical creature could only be something low-level. With proper preparation, killing it was not impossible.
Thanks to more than half a year of training in the wilderness, Joey had developed a decent physique. Though the situation was perilous, he was fortunately getting closer and closer to the place where he had set his traps.
During his half year or so with Old Tony, Joey had been unable to study magic, so he could only train his body.
A rush of air struck from behind. Joey leaped up into a tree, deftly wrapping both hands around a branch. Unable to stop in time, the monster fell into his trap.
The concealing turf flipped away, revealing rows of sharp Steel Spikes pointing upward.
Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!
The Steel Spikes pierced its body, and agonized howls immediately rang out. The monster rolled over several times, its body covered in Steel Spikes.
Blood gushed out in streams as though it cost nothing, spilling all over the ground.
Having landed his first blow, Joey pressed his advantage. He reached out and untied a rope fastened to a branch, triggering another trap. A net woven with iron barbs dropped abruptly, enveloping the entire monster.
The more it struggled, the tighter the net became. The poison he had soaked the net in beforehand quickly took effect, paralyzing it. Only then did Joey have a chance to catch his breath.
He checked his injuries. Most were superficial wounds and would not pose a problem.
Looking at the monster, which could no longer resist, he cautiously approached.
"So this is a Transcendent who's lost control?"
"It doesn't seem much different from a Night Demon!"
Suddenly, Joey's expression froze as a terrifying thought quietly surfaced.
Could Night Demons be Transcendents who've lost control?
This was his first close encounter with a Transcendent who had lost control. As for Night Demons, he only knew roughly what they were from his dad's descriptions. He had never actually seen one.
Though the town was desolate, it was fortunately still within the Safe Zone. Only ordinary beasts and some low-level magical beasts roamed the area. On the whole, it was fairly safe.
Once that thought appeared, he could not stop himself from pursuing it. If all Night Demons were Transcendents, that would be horrifying. Senegal would be less an empire than a cage in which they were kept.
They had very little room to move. Beyond it lay endless darkness, the territory of the Night Demons. All of Senegal was shrouded in dark mist. There was no way out, no escape.
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