From what I could tell, the entire island was almost endless. Within the range that I could detect, the shore behind us extended from horizon to horizon as if it were a long island with no end.
From just what I could sense, within a hundred-kilometer radius before us, more than ten thousand demons were lurking. They were killing their presence and probably waiting for unsuspecting prey to jump within their range.
As I took a step forward, planning to forge ahead to where the gun is, I felt a hand tugging at the hem of my shirt.
"My Lord..."
Igni had an anxious gaze as she subtly yanked me back.
"What? Are you afraid?"
I walked closer to her and tried to pat her and reassure her... But the halo on top of her head was still spinning rapidly. It made me hesitate to touch her head, thinking that it would injure my hand.
"..."
As I hesitated, Igni pulled my arm to her head. My hand touched the halo and passed through.
'The hell? It isn't a physical object?'
I thought so in surprise.
After all, it just suddenly appeared on top of her head when she evolved. It seemingly spun around whenever she was sharpening her senses, but that's the extent of it. In the end, it was basically just a design thing, then? I was completely fooled.
"My Lord..."
Igni, while still enjoying the light pat, asked with a downtrodden expression.
"Are we really going in there? With just the two of us, I mean…?"
Her words trailed off, as if she didn't want to say the rest. I basically get what she was worried about, though. And that was, with just us two, we'd be easily surrounded by the 7th stage and up demons and get killed.
To this, I just smiled and lifted my hand.
"Don't worry. I'm more powerful than before now. Mere 9th stage can't even faze me."
I tried to reassure her of our safety, even hiding the true emotions that I was feeling at the moment. The situation was actually pretty severe. With how my good karma was used up, I can't even use the Flame of Evolution as a power source anymore.
I looked into the forest again, and although I had a fearless smile on my face, I was basically shaking in my boots right now.
'All I can do right now is use all the concealment techniques I can as we head on. If we're discovered by even one of them...'
Chills ran down my spine just thinking about it.
"Igni, I'll repeat it, but from hereon, we'll absolutely avoid fighting at all costs. Just follow behind me quietly."
I held her hand tightly and used the combination of Fang's [Presence Concealment Veil] and Judy's [Invisibility] and a new skill that Death and Mr. Invincible taught me, the [Soundproof Barrier] and the [Scent Removal].
Although it should be hard to juggle all four skills at the same time, with how I was basically trained to manage using twenty skills simultaneously, this much is child's play to me. Seeing me apply four skills simultaneously without a time lag, Igni wowed in surprise as she looked around.
"..."
However, as she tried to speak, no voice came out.
The [Soundproof Barrier] completely stops all vibrations above a certain level in the air, making it impossible for sound to propagate within the barrier. This not only prevents the minute sounds of our breathing or heartbeat from being heard, but it can also prevent other sounds, like our footsteps and the sound of us weaving through the air.
Honestly, it's a bit hard to get used to, especially for the first time. That's why I held Igni's hand before using it.
Through our connected palms, we could hear each other's regular heartbeat sounds. As the vibration was passed through direct contact and not through the air, it would still register as sound to her ears, making her not feel like she suddenly became deaf and mute.
With the active options of the taming system all currently inaccessible, we can't even communicate telepathically. I tightened my grip on her hands and spoke with a deep voice, making it reverberate in my body as much as possible, to get it passed to her directly.
"Let's just use gestures from now on."
Although we can still barely hear each other since we are in physical contact, it would be hard to speak as we usually do. Noticing this, Igni nodded her head deeply in accord.
I likely nodded my head and pointed forward. Igni then sent an "OK" sign before we entered the forest slowly.
Just after passing through the first couple of trees, we already found a demon that was hiding nearby. It was a large snake-like demon that had dark-colored scales. It was curled up and ready to pounce on anyone who passed nearby.
"..."
I nodded to Igni as we slightly turned to avoid passing in front of it. Although we already have all sorts of concealment applied, if this snake was able to use thermography or the like, then we'd be found instantly.
As we detoured behind the snake, we kept our sights locked on it. Even after passing through, we didn't let our guard down until we were a long distance away.
Although we're now safe from the first one, it wasn't the only demon around. It was like every hundred or so meters, another demon would be lurking in the shadows of the bushes or on top of the trees. Without being careful, we'd probably bump into one without realizing it, as some even had camouflage abilities applied.
Igni's hands were trembling hard when we passed in between four demons that were closely packed. We couldn't even detour, as doing so would just make us fall into a worse situation.
What we were doing was nerve-wracking and emotionally tiring. Even I was starting to hyperventilate as I worried about when we would accidentally get found by them.
Slowly, but surely, we crossed the forest and came nearer and nearer to where the gun was. I just hope that whatever the demon near it was, they would not pay the gun any heed.
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