Whoosh-
The Shadow Ghoul quickly traversed between the bushes.
Perhaps because its body was pitch black.
Moving at night, the Shadow Ghoul was so stealthy that it was difficult to identify with the naked eye of an ordinary person.
'I've arrived.'
Upon reaching the mountain range, Axiom looked up at what was ahead.
A huge wall that appeared to be about 10m high.
The fortress of the Barret Viscounty stood long, confronting the boundary of the mountain range.
Axiom observed his internal state.
'Remaining magic power.. about 30%.'
The connection with the Shadow Ghoul was gradually weakening as it moved farther from the mansion.
That's why Axiom had been forcibly maintaining the connection by consuming magic power until now.
'Let's hurry before the connection breaks.'
The target was monsters.
He needed to find monsters to confirm his 'Demon God Palace' trait.
It was when the Shadow Ghoul approached the wall.
'Hmm?'
Several presences were felt from above the wall.
'Soldiers.'
This is a boundary where battles with monsters frequently occur.
Perhaps because of that, there were quite a few soldiers patrolling the wall even in the middle of the night.
"Hey, it's time for the shift change."
"Tsk. You're early."
"What took you so long?"
"This friend here said he needed to go urgently, so..."
"I'm sorry. It's my fault we're late, so I'll treat you to a meal later. Cheer up."
Was this an outpost?
Along with grumbling sounds, soldiers who had finished patrolling were changing shifts with soldiers guarding the outpost.
"By the way, have you heard about the outlying villages?"
"Yes, I have. I heard there's chaos with monsters on the outside."
Axiom momentarily paused at the conversation during the shift change.
"The attacked outlying villages have exceeded twenty already. It's probably the work of a monster horde?"
"Corpses of those creatures were found all over the villages, so it's probably right."
"Damn it.. They're truly loathsome creatures."
Axiom quietly listened to their conversation from the darkness.
Hearing that story reminded him of when he first opened his eyes here three months ago.
'When I passed out and regained consciousness, I was in a carriage, so I didn't know exactly where that place was. So it was indeed an outlying village of the viscounty. By the way, attacked by monsters? This is quite different from what I remember.'
What attacked the village wasn't monsters but fellow humans.
It seemed that the "main force" those guys had mentioned had manipulated the evidence.
'They seemed to be acting under someone's direction.'
He clearly remembered the conversation content that 'They were just moving as instructed.'
At first, he thought the Barret Viscount family might be the culprit.
However, after living in the mansion for the past two months, he concluded it wasn't the viscount family.
'I don't know for what purpose they're going around eliminating villages, but they're incredibly bold. Especially near the viscount's domain.'
Or was there something bigger?
'... Maybe because I experienced it firsthand, it concerns me more.'
Axiom soon shook off the thought and moved the Shadow Ghoul.
Anyway, immediate speculation wouldn't change anything.
Rustle.
"...? Hmm?"
One of the soldiers who had finished changing shifts and was leaving the outpost stared at the outside of the wall.
"What's wrong?"
".. Maybe it's just a feeling? I thought something went outside the wall."
The other soldiers looked down at the bottom of the wall at the words of the soldier who seemed somewhat uncertain and tilted his head.
"..."
But in their eyes, only the quiet forest was visible, and no movement was seen.
"This friend must be very tired. Seeing things."
".. Maybe so. Well. There have been a lot of incidents lately, so there were many sentries. I'm going to collapse as soon as I get in today."
"I'm sorry. I'll make sure not to be late next time."
After the conversation ended, the presence of the soldiers moved away.
'Now I can move without restrictions. Let's go find monsters.'
Axiom immediately moved the Shadow Ghoul hidden in the tree's shadow.
Screech-
The Shadow Ghoul began to traverse the forest at a faster speed than before.
'Hmm..'
Axiom groaned.
The magic power consumption increased as the distance grew, and now only about 20% of magic power remained.
'If I do more, I'll experience magic depletion symptoms like before.'
If that happened, he would lose consciousness again due to the consumed vitality.
So it was better for him to finish before that if possible.
It was when about 15% of magic power remained.
Something was captured in the Shadow Ghoul's vision.
Growl.
Along with the cry of a beast, a pair of eyes appeared from the darkness.
Something with a quadrupedal silhouette revealed itself from the darkness.
Growl..
A wolf's appearance.
However, unlike an ordinary wolf, it had a sharp cone protruding from its forehead.
'A Horn Wolf.'
The Horn Wolf is one of the monsters that appear in the early stages of 'Ethereal Odyssey'.
Unlike other wolf monsters, it was a monster that used its horn to charge and ram its prey.
Hunting Horn Wolves wasn't difficult.
'Since its specs are no different from low-level monsters, they're actually easier compared to when I faced those three assailants last time.'
'However, they were troublesome just because they were 'wolves'.'
Awoo-
Sure enough.
As soon as the Horn Wolf saw the Shadow Ghoul, it let out a howl.
'I knew it.'
Horn Wolves, due to their species characteristic as wolves, never moved alone.
Growl.
Eventually, one by one, Horn Wolves appeared around.
Arf-!
Did they become braver as their numbers increased?
They let out strange cries and rushed in all at once.
'Here they come.'
Axiom commanded the Shadow Ghoul.
'Start with the one charging in front.'
Argh-
At that moment, the horn of the Horn Wolf charging at the front aimed for the Shadow Ghoul's brow.
The moment the sharp tip of the horn was about to pierce the Shadow Ghoul.
Whoosh.
The Shadow Ghoul moved diagonally with agility.
After evading the Horn Wolf's horn, the Shadow Ghoul swung its hand.
Splash-
Dark red blood gushed out.
The waist of the charging Horn Wolf was cut in two.
'Got it.'
Axiom's eyes lit up.
With this, the goal of hunting a monster was fulfilled.
However, there was no particular sign.
'There's no reaction just from hunting. Is there really another method?'
It was then.
Screech..
Axiom felt the Shadow Ghoul's gaze directed at one place.
The corpse of the Horn Wolf fallen on the ground.
The Shadow Ghoul was drooling while looking at the corpse.
Axiom clicked his tongue inwardly.
'.. Was this it?.. Well. Come to think of it, the name itself is Shadow Ghoul, so maybe I was overthinking it.'
Woof! Woof woof!
Just then, the Horn Wolves that rushed in next pounced on the Shadow Ghoul.
'Retreat for now.'
At Axiom's command, the Shadow Ghoul quickly backed away.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The flying cones sharply swept through the spot where the Shadow Ghoul had retreated from.
'Now that I've found the method, I need to clean these up first.'
Screech!
The Shadow Ghoul rushed between the Horn Wolves that had lost their target.
Slash-
A dark hand blade swung fiercely.
Slash- Slash-
The necks and waists of the Horn Wolves being separated.
Then, bright red meat pieces flew into the air.
Screech-!
Was it because it had tasted blood?
The Shadow Ghoul ferociously burst out energy and rushed towards the remaining Horn Wolves.
The massacre that began soon after.
The Shadow Ghoul, with beast-like rough movements, tore apart the Horn Wolves one by one.
Simultaneously, Axiom's magic power drained and became 6%.
Axiom clicked his tongue.
'It's really gone wild.'
It was still following commands, but perhaps because of its demonic nature, it was instinctively enjoying the carnage.
[You have leveled up.]
At that moment, a level up notification appeared in Axiom's view.
It was the first level up since entering the Barret Viscount family months ago.
'So it takes about seven of them to reach level 4. The required experience has indeed increased a lot.'
Screech. Yelp!
The few remaining Horn Wolves, overwhelmed by the Shadow Ghoul's energy, lowered their tails and fled.
'I can't let that happen.'
Monsters with group tendencies can be quite troublesome if even one is let go.
'Unless there's an overwhelming difference in power, they would bring in more groups from around to seek revenge. I already don't have much magic power, so I need to clean this up neatly.'
Axiom immediately invested his additional stat points into magic power.
As a result, his magic power, which had been reduced to 2%, rapidly increased.
'Take care of all of them.'
Screech!
At Axiom's command, the Shadow Ghoul howled ferociously and pursued them.
Crunch. Splash-
Streams of blood began to spray along with the sounds of carnage into the dark forest.