On the north side of the forest where the large trees started to end, there was a makeshift campsite that had been built. It was mostly made of the hard dark red rock surface.
It looked like brickwork, only darker in colour, and was a little less organised and symmetrical than humans would build stuff. But it was large in size and there were several different buildings in the camp.
"Open the gate!" One of the demons shouted at the top of his voice. He was walking, dragging a large heavy bag along the ground. The end of it was soaked in a dark colour.
As the doors opened, he entered the base and jumped to where one of the demons at a type of desk was.
"Add them to my tally!" The red crystal demon said, as he swung the sack and slammed it on the table. The top of the sack opened up and round objects started to roll out from the bag.
"Oh, you got quite the catch I see. I'm surprised that there is still this many." The demon behind the counter said, as he lifted up the round object and looked at it directly in its eyes.
What was in the bag were heads, and all of them had the same look of the skull part being at the top. They were all the heads of Skullys.
As the demon behind the counter started to count them, he threw the heads behind him and they landed in a large pile. It was a pit of Skully heads, along with creatures and more. It was practically a tower of the dead in the camp itself.
It reached an incredible height that made it look like a small hill, even though it was made with only the small parts of the creatures and Skullys they had killed.
When the demon finished counting, he waved his hand, and a red system-like display appeared in front of him.
"Zexer, that is a total of 24 points, you are doing well, and have moved up to 8th place."
"Only 8th!" The demon shouted in anger. "I worked so hard, are there still so many Skullys left out there?"
The demon didn't seem to care about Zexer's anger, that was until something strange had occurred. The ranking of Zexer on the system screen… suddenly he had gone from 8th place to 7th.
"That's strange?" Zexer said. "Your ranking list just changed."
"You mean, someone just handed in more than me? Wait, that's impossible, there's no one even behind me." Zexer said.
"No, your ranking has moved up… and the only way for that to happen, is if the demon who had more points than you died."
The demon behind the counter wasn't just any demon, in fact he was a demon general of the Durum type race. His body was more crystallised with the hard red crystals compared to the others.
On his back, they extended out further as well, and it was hard to imagine how one would be able to stand up with so much weight on his back. Due to his sheer strength though, he could move about like it was weightless to him.
The general, who went by the name Lexor, was in charge of this hunting ground and had been in charge of it for a long time now. The occurrence he had seen now, was a rare one.
It was common for the rankings to disappear at the bottom end of the spectrum. That was where the weaker demons, or the stupider ones, would get fooled by the Skullys working together and die.
However, those that had large amounts of points were skilled, and were some of the best of the Durums. So it was rare to see the top of the ranking change. Looking at the scoreboard even closer, that's when he started to notice something.
The rankings hadn't just changed at that moment, they were constantly changing. Not just at the top, but all over the place, Lexor was seeing rankings change and names just disappear.
"What is going on!" Lexor stood up from his seat.
Running to the front, he could see a few Durums that would help around the base running toward him.
"Sir… we are getting reports that our demons are dying left and right in the hunting grounds… We haven't been able to gather much information, only one has survived so far, and wasn't able to see much of anything.
"However, our systems are showing that multiple Durums are dying."
It was a strange occurrence, one that had never happened before. Making Lexor wonder if one of the champions had betrayed them, or perhaps one had escaped. Bringing up his system again, he was checking to see if there was any information, but there was no word from the demon king, the king of the Durums.
"Tell everyone that the hunt is suspended immediately. Send out Kilbog in the meantime, and tell him to take care of anything he sees that is not a Durum. That should be enough to deal with the situation, if it's not, in the meantime, we need to gather everyone."
Zexer, who was standing by the side and seeing the reaction the general had, knew this was a big deal.
"Wait, you're sending out Kilbog, and cancelling the hunt? You've never done this before. Do you really think it's such a big issue if a couple of us are killed." Zexer said.
From behind, he could feel the ground shaking. It was one after the other, the sound of large heavy footsteps. When turning his head, he could see it, a Yak. It was another demon race.
One of the giant types, it was larger than the wall gate with its head towering over it. Black skin covered its body, and its head was large in size, nearly as big as its body. It had two large tusks, like that of an elephant, coming out from the side of its mouth.
"Kilbog, get out and deal with the situation."
Hearing the order, the large Yak demon started to run, and when it reached the gate it bent its knees down, jumping over it in one go. It continued to run, pushing the tree branches and stomping on the giant vines, crushing them as it entered the forest.
"If Kilbog can't handle the situation, then we have real trouble on our hands." Lexor said.
——-
Quinn and the others had exited out of the large tree. He still had next to no direction of where to go. Since the clones had yet to come out of the forest.
'It seems like there are a lot more demons in this hunting game than I thought.' Quinn thought. 'I wonder when their attention will be caught, and if it's enough to bring that demon king over to me.'
Looking up ahead, they all could hear something coming towards them, the heavy footsteps.
"What is that?" Anon said, looking around.
Tuni decided to run forward climbing through the trees ahead of everyone, and a second later he came back swinging with horror on his face.
"Bad news, they sent a Yak demon out! This is the first time they've done something like this in the hunting games, right?" Tuni shouted.
Quinn was wondering what type of demon this was, to cause this type of reaction, but with his eyesight he could soon see why Tuni was so afraid. Hurling through the forest straight at them was the large figure, breaking away everything in its path.
It ran right through a tree trunk, leaving a large hole in its centre as it bulldozed its way toward them, and it was fast on its feet as well.
'Is that… the demon king?' Quinn thought. 'Let's take a look.'
Getting in a low stance, Quinn placed his fist by his hip, he coated it in blood aura, enhanced his body with the first stage of Qi, then added an outer shell of the third stage.
Next, using the god slayer equipment, he was forming the blood forest punch. If it was the demon king, then a good surprise attack like this would allow him to get the upper hand at least.
"Arghh!" Quinn grunted, as he threw his fist out with all his strength, not holding back. The blood forest fist went flying out, and suddenly the Yak demon fell to the floor, no longer with its head.
In front of Anon and the others, they could see a large hole through the tree branches in a straight path, right where the Yak's head was before. Now, there was no head, and only the dead Yak on the ground.
*****
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