I Shall Devour Everything

Suddenly, the green mud beneath them rumbled as a creature with pale red skin, four long limbs, and a harrowing-looking face with no eyes tore open the ground as it came out.

It had many needle-like teeth that looked hideous and sharp as well. Even by seeing from afar, one could easily tell that its teeth could shred a human being to a million pieces within just seconds.

It was standing on all fours and had quite a long body and would probably be about more than two meters tall if it stood on its hind legs.

As it let out grunts, spittles were coming out of its mouth, and even though it was blind as a bat, it made rough sniffing sounds as it faced in the direction of the four.

But Arion was shocked how its spittle that fell on the ground was making a sizzling sound as if it was burning the ground.

"A Baneteeth! I guess it must have come out after Old Zi left. Its friends should also be nearby," Yaro commented as her eyes wandered over.

And just as she said, Arion saw the ground being torn open from many spots by sharp claws and long skinny limbs emerging from it.

The other Baneteeth's slowly continued to circle the group of four humans as its companions began to emerge one by one until a dozen of them surrounded Arion and the others.

Arion reacted fast and quickly took out his bow and an arrow from his quiver before aiming at one of them, ready to fire.

However, Mei and Yaro didn't seem to take any weapons out, and instead, they were looking quite calm.

"Arion, be careful and shoot from afar. Their saliva can burn like acid. Don't let them get near. But don't worry. Aunt Yaro and I can take care of them all," Mei said in a reassuring tone.

"Creeeee*

The Baneteeth's let out an abrasive screech as they dashed towards Arion and the others.

Mei and Yaro came in front of Arion and Shun while Arion tried his best to keep himself calm in the face of danger as he pulled the string of his bow to aim at one of the Baneteeth, who was quite agile in their movements.

Since he had already faced Dreadlings before and even fought with them at close quarters, this time, he wasn't that intimidated and fired off his arrow just before it could get near him.

The arrow left his bow and headed straight for its head and found its mark as it punctured its head cleanly, making it collapse on the ground instantly.

Arion felt quite elated that he landed his first kill perfectly and realized how his current Defity was so powerful compared to his previous disabled self.

But he knew there were others and didn't bask in his accomplishment for long, and he also knew that he was able to land the shot without missing only because the Baneteeth was close to him.

However, when he turned around to ready another arrow to fire, he was surprised to see many dead Baneteeth lying on the ground and Mei releasing a ball of white light towards one of the Baneteeth, burning its face including its bones, till there was nothing left.

There was only one Baneteeth left, and Yaro simply pushed out her hand as an ethereal blade manifested out from her hands and shot towards the last Baneteeth, skewering through its body and left behind a large bloody hole as it dropped dead to the ground.

He saw how Shun was relaxing behind these two powerful women and then realized maybe Mei and Yaro didn't need his assistance after all. Even if he didn't kill the Baneteeth that was approaching him, he was sure Mei would have killed it for him, considering how quickly these two killed all the other Baneteeth's.

But at the same time, he was quite impressed at how Mei and Yaro took care of such flesh-eating monsters so quickly. He was sure that if he was alone and had to face the same dozen of Baneteeth, he would have gotten torn to pieces since, unlike the situation when he fought against the Jawfiends in the cave, here it was open ground, and he could get attacked from all sides.

Even if he wasn't strong enough, if he had enough training to fight multiple Dreadlings at the same time, then he could still do something. 

And even the reason he was able to fire an arrow with composure and calm was not only because this was the first time he was facing a Dreadling but also because of his confidence in Mei and Yaro protecting him.

"Fiuhh, as expected, only these Wild Dreadlings show up in these hills. But I wonder how Old Zi didn't come upon them….so strange…" Yaro said as she looked around.

"No...I don't think it's over yet…something more powerful is causing disturbances in the air...be careful!" Mei said with furrowed brows.

Yaro saw the serious expression on Mei and stretched out her hand as a long grey spear manifested out from her chest and appeared in her hand.

The blade of the spear had a silver outline with an elongated shape and looked quite intimidating, which was quite contrary to her personality.

However, Mei didn't take out her bow but was instead surveying her surroundings.

Arion felt that the weird smell he sensed earlier was becoming more obvious as seconds passed, and suddenly he felt that the surroundings no longer looked peaceful but instead, an ominous air seemed to seep in while the hills appeared to look darker.

The winds were making wild hissing sounds as they brushed past Arion and the others as if warning them that something bad was about to happen.

Suddenly a dark yet bright smoke of flames manifested before them to form a vague disfigured shape of a monster with long sharp fangs. 

Arion was shocked to see a ghost-like monster suddenly appearing out of nowhere and gulped, seeing how terrifying and ugly its face looked.

But the dread he was feeling from its aura and immense pressure made him forget to breathe. Just taking one look at its horrendous face was enough to make one have nightmares for an entire lifetime.

'Why is this world so dangerous??' Arion couldn't help but inwardly ask himself. And even though this ghost-like monster was floating in mid-air a few meters away, he still could feel the heat emanating from it, making his skin feel like it might melt under its scorching heat.

He wanted to raise his bow and fire at this monster, but his body wasn't listening to him.

"It's the Hell Wraith! Arion and Shun, stand behind us!" Mei shouted in a tense voice as she pulled back the petrified Arion.

However, Shun had already slipped back behind Yaro while keeping a keen eye on what was ahead.

"What's a Dreadling this powerful doing here??" Yaro asked with a grave expression since she clearly didn't expect a monster this powerful to appear before them out of the blue.

*SCREEECH!*

The Hell Wraith opened its horrendous looking mouth and let out an ear-bleeding screech.

But contrary to his expectations, Arion didn't feel frightened by its screech but instead felt a wave of willpower flooding his mind, calming down his heart.

It was as if its screech only made him braver instead of making him feel fear. Suddenly, he felt as if this Hell Wraith, despite looking so powerful and frightening, wasn't worth a glance from him.

Arion was confused by his own emotions and wondered if he suffered some kind of brain damage to not at all have a sense of fear towards this monster. It was as if he was unconsciously looking down upon this monster.

After all, if he didn't possess a sense of fear towards a monster way more powerful than him, wouldn't he be prone to making careless decisions or acting recklessly?

Isn't that why fear was a great tool for one's survival?

It was no different than how a man would feel fear when a lion appears before him, and his fear would make him think of different ways to escape from the lion's assault or maybe even fight back if he had a weapon.

However, now Arion's eyes were clear and were filled with pure confidence as he stood tall with his back straight, looking at the Hell Wraith without batting an eyelid.

'It's just a weak apparition with flames...no different than a worm you could easily step on and extinguish to oblivion...' Arion involuntarily murmured these words in his mind and even put a foot forward as if he was ready to take on this monster easily.

The Hell Wraith felt the contempt and killing intent in Arion's eyes and became enraged that someone so weak was disregarding its whole existence.

It opened its wide mouth as dark orange flames burst out of its mouth and headed towards Arion.