Dominion Bond System: The Only Man Left Has A Yandere Girlfriend

Chapter 82: They’ve Been Hiding

The sound of the system continued echoing inside Reiji’s mind.

Ding!

[Host has killed a C-Rank Serpent Worm!]

[+43 EXP]

Ding!

[Host has killed a C-Rank Serpent Worm!]

[+43 EXP]

Ding!

[Host has killed a C-Rank Serpent Worm!]

[+43 EXP]

...

The notifications continued one after another as the battlefield gradually fell silent.

Reiji slowly lowered the bone sword.

The scorching desert was no longer golden.

Dark green blood had soaked into the sand, while countless pieces of the Serpent Worms lay scattered across the battlefield. Several of their massive bodies twitched one final time before becoming completely motionless.

Reiji swung the bone sword once, shaking off the remaining blood before resting it over his shoulder.

"Not bad..."

Although none of the worms had posed much of a threat individually, they had been surprisingly coordinated.

If an ordinary C-Rank Awakened had entered this Gate, they would’ve probably been overwhelmed the moment they were surrounded.

Unfortunately for them... their opponent was Reiji.

The last corpse slowly dissolved into countless blue particles before disappearing into the air.

The desert became quiet once again. Only the endless heat remained.

Reiji continued forward.

The blazing sun still hung motionless above his head as if time itself refused to move inside this Gate.

Nearly twenty minutes later he stopped.

"...An oasis?"

A beautiful lake appeared in the middle of the endless desert. Crystal-clear water reflected the sunlight like a mirror.

Several palm trees surrounded the lake, their green leaves providing the only shade Reiji had seen since entering this place.

"Finally..."

His eyes suddenly narrowed. Nothing inside a Gate was ever that simple.

Detect Presence activated automatically. A powerful aura entered his perception.

Much stronger than the Serpent Worms.

Reiji quietly shifted his gaze toward the opposite side of the oasis.

There lying beneath one of the palm trees was a gigantic lion.

Its body alone measured nearly five meters long.

Instead of fur, brilliant crimson flames danced across its body without consuming it. Every breath released waves of scorching heat that distorted the surrounding air.

Even while sleeping its presence dominated the entire oasis.

A translucent screen floated above its head.

[Desert Inferno Lion (C+)]

"...Yeah..."

"I’m not fighting that."

Reiji wasn’t afraid. But he wasn’t stupid either.

Fire inside a desert...

That combination alone sounded troublesome.

The name ’Inferno’ suggested flames far hotter than ordinary fire.

Fighting it here, where the environment itself favored the monster, would only put him at a disadvantage. Even though there was an oasis.

"There are plenty of other monsters."

He quietly circled around the oasis, making sure to remain outside the lion’s detection range.

The massive beast never opened its eyes.

Only after putting several hundred meters between himself and the oasis did Reiji finally relax.

There was no reason to force unnecessary battles.

His objective wasn’t proving he could defeat every monster he encountered.

It was surviving.

As he continued walking, the terrain gradually began changing.

The endless dunes became flatter.

Large patches of solid ground emerged from beneath the sand.

Then a cactus.

At first there were only one or two. Soon dozens appeared. Then hundreds.

Before long, Reiji found himself standing before what looked like an entire forest of towering cacti.

Some stood over six meters tall. Others branched outward like ancient trees.

The amount of sand here had noticeably decreased, exposing cracked brown earth beneath his feet.

"...Interesting." He slowly entered.

Unlike the open desert, the towering cacti blocked much of the sunlight, making the temperature slightly more bearable.

Everything remained silent. Too silent.

*Crunch!*

*Crunch!*

His footsteps echoed softly as he moved deeper into the strange forest.

Then something caught his eye.

"...Hm?"

One of the cacti moved. Only slightly. Just enough for him to notice.

Reiji frowned.

"No... It couldn’t have..."

He activated Detect Presence again.

Nothing. Not a single aura. Not even the slightest trace of mana.

"...Am I imagining things?"

The heat must’ve been getting to him. He continued walking.

A few seconds later...

*SWOOSH!!*

Several sharp spikes suddenly shot toward him.

Reiji’s pupils contracted.

*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*

His bone sword flashed three times.

Every spike split cleanly in half before hitting the ground.

"...What?"

He immediately looked around. Nothing. Only countless ordinary cacti surrounded him.

"... Something is definitely not right."

He walked toward the nearest one.

Without hesitation...

*SHING!!*

The bone sword sliced it cleanly in half. The cactus crashed onto the ground.

Nothing happened. No blood. No movement. No notification.

"...Just an ordinary cactus."

Reiji frowned.

He cut down another, then another but still nothing.

Each one looked completely normal.

"...Then where did those spikes come from?"

For several moments, he simply stood there thinking.

Then a smile slowly appeared on his face.

"...I see."

Without another word, Reiji turned around and began walking away as though he had completely given up.

Just as he expected...

*SWOOSH!* *SWOOSH!* *SWOOSH!!*

Dozens of spikes shot toward his back simultaneously.

Reiji stopped, a smirk appearing across his face. "Got you."

[Shadow Step.]

His figure instantly vanished. The spikes struck nothing but empty air.

A fraction of a second later... Reiji appeared beside one particular cactus.

Unlike the others its shadow had shifted. Barely.

But it had moved.

*SHING!!*

The bone sword swept horizontally. The cactus split cleanly apart. Dark green blood exploded from the trunk instead of water.

The severed halves crashed heavily onto the ground before violently twitching.

Ding!

[Host has killed a C-Rank Poisonous Cactus!]

Reiji looked toward the surrounding cactus forest.

A slow grin spread across his face.

"So... They’ve been hiding among the real ones."

His gaze slowly swept across the towering cacti surrounding him.

Now that he knew what to look for, the differences became increasingly obvious.

Most of the ordinary cacti remained completely motionless, rooted firmly in the cracked earth as though they had stood there for centuries.

The monsters, however...

Every so often one would make the slightest movement.

A branch would tilt ever so slightly.

Its shadow would shift by a fraction.

The spikes covering its body seemed just a little too symmetrical compared to the real cacti. It was an almost imperceptible difference, one that would easily escape the notice of an ordinary Awakened.

Almost.

"They’re relying on people assuming everything here is part of the environment."

It was a surprisingly effective strategy.

Inside a place like this, no one would waste time attacking every cactus they passed. Most Awakened would focus on detecting mana, trusting their senses more than their eyes.

Unfortunately for these monsters, that approach only worked against people who relied on mana.

Because they possessed no detectable aura, Reiji had been forced to rely entirely on observation. Once he discovered their trick, the disguise had lost nearly all of its effectiveness.

He slowly rested the bone sword over his shoulder.

His eyes wandered across the seemingly endless cactus forest stretching far into the distance.

There had to be hundreds of them.

Maybe even thousands.

A normal person would’ve probably chosen to leave.

Reiji merely smiled.

If every disguised cactus was another C-Rank monster...

Then this wasn’t a forest.

It was an enormous field of EXP.

The moment those words left his mouth, the entire cactus forest began to rustle.

"I’ll just hack them all down."