Under the cover of night, Anderson led the group to an inconspicuous manhole cover.
“Once we’re in the sewers, try not to talk. There’s a lot of foot traffic down there these days, and I’m worried your enemies might recognize your voices.”
After going over the precautions, the four of them took turns jumping into the sewer and followed Anderson through a maze of twists and turns.
And just like he said, there really were a lot of people down here lately…
Every few corners, they would run into another group also being led by a guide.
Everyone had their faces covered and minded their own business.
Occasionally, when two groups ended up on the same path, one would raise a hand to signal, “You go first.”
Truth actually thought it was kind of fun, but Norton was clearly nervous. He whispered to Anderson:
“Why are there so many people?”
“Rush hour. A lot of folks are trying to get out. But don’t worry, no one else knows my route. And even if you do run into an enemy, no need to panic— I brought a priest and a bruiser, didn’t I?”
Anderson continued leading the way, winding through several more turns until the number of other travelers began to dwindle rapidly. Only then did Norton start to relax. Eventually, the four of them arrived at an abandoned construction site.
“This is the end of a disused sewer segment. There’s a smuggling tunnel that leads outside the city wall.”
As he spoke, Anderson moved aside some crumbling bricks in front of him, revealing a tunnel barely large enough for an adult to squeeze through.
“You can rest easy, Mr. N. The guy who dug this tunnel got his head chopped off last year. I’m the only one who knows about this pla— hmm?”
Suddenly, Anderson caught sight of a patch of disturbed dust out of the corner of his eye.
“What is it?” Reg asked.
“Someone’s been here recently!”
Anderson replied in a low voice, tracing the marks until he reached a cracked section of wall. It seemed like something was hidden inside.
Then, a pair of deep, piercing eyes opened in the cracks, startling Anderson into stumbling back several steps.
At the same time, the sound of walls breaking echoed around them as at least four soldiers in silver-white light armor burst through the walls, surrounding Reg and the others.
Boom!
The cracked wall in front of Anderson collapsed with a thunderous crash, and a burly man in the same silver-white light armor stepped through. He stretched his limbs and grinned.
“My sensing talisman picked up demonic energy. Would one of you mind telling me which of you is the demon?”
Demon hunters!
They had been lying in ambush here for a while.
As long-time enemies of demons, they understood one thing very well: to beat a demon, you had to be even sneakier than one.
And sneakiness was their trademark. When they first arrived in Deya City, they had mapped out nearly all the underground passages and just lay in wait for the demons to come to them.
Today alone, they’d already used this method to capture four low-level demons.
“Run!”
Anderson shouted— then got dropped with a single punch.
Reg didn’t fare much better; he didn’t even manage to draw his sword before being slammed to the ground.
The two sides weren’t even close in terms of power.
These demon hunters were all at least Tier 2!
Now, three of them were circling around Norton, approaching cautiously. They had identified that the demonic aura was coming from him. That’s when Reg noticed something…
Where was Truth?
Above, on the surface, Truth stood quietly, lost in thought.
She had teleported topside the moment the hunters detected Reg and the others.
Anderson really had a knack for this stuff— he said there might be trouble, and here it was.
But from the look on his face, it seemed more like dumb luck than a calculated prediction.
This was definitely a serious fight, but the power gap was too wide. Truth, as a priest, wasn’t even getting a chance to act.
Might as well help out a little. After all, both Anderson and Reg were still useful to her. And maybe she could stir things up enough to create a few injuries.
One was a seemingly model student who actually hung around the black market all the time.
The other was a laid-back swordsman who acted like nothing ever fazed him.
Anderson probably had a lot of shady connections and backdoor tricks— could be handy for solving all kinds of problems.
As for Reg, he had already sensed a sliver of her power and was now terrified of her. He’d be good for running errands or whatever.
Oh, and Norton… Truth was curious about that demonic aura on him. So she lifted her right foot and lightly tapped the ground with her toe.
In the next second, the ground trembled violently! A devastating force shattered the sewer floor, launching Reg, Norton, and the five demon hunters up through the ground and into the open air.
Everyone was suspended in midair, completely dumbfounded, until one of the hunters shouted:
“It’s that demon! It’s trying to escape! Don’t let it get away!”
It wasn’t me! Norton panicked. He no longer tried to hide himself. His face was now marked with grotesque, writhing flesh, and black veins of demonic blood spread across his entire body.
Oh~ so this guy’s possessed by a demon, huh? Truth nodded thoughtfully.
The pressure from the demon hunters must’ve gotten so intense that a lot of low-level demons in Deya City were now trying to flee.
And Norton, despite being possessed, was still acting like a normal person.
Must’ve made a relatively fair contract with his demon— both sides wanted out of the city.
The demon hunt resumed, and the sounds of battle echoed through the night-shrouded Deya City.
Gotta say, the demon inside Norton was pretty strong— not taken down on the first clash and even managed to injure a couple of the hunters.
Probably around Tier 3 in power. And the techniques it used… Truth had never seen anything like them before. A new breed that showed up in the past five centuries, maybe?
Meanwhile, Reg and Anderson used the distraction to quietly slip into a nearby alley. Reg even gave Truth a quick salute on his way out.
“Thanks, boss,” Truth guessed that was what he meant.
The demon hunters had also noticed Truth.
The burly leader immediately pointed his right hand at her, and the wind-element bracer on his wrist released a gust of wind that blew back her hood.
Not an ally of the demon— just a passing priest? After confirming she wasn’t a threat, the man jumped back into the fight but still shouted toward her:
“Hey, little priest, how about tossing us some healing?”
No point wasting a healer just standing there, right?
Truth was happy to oblige. She’d originally planned to wait until Norton got killed before stepping in with a few heals, but since they were asking so nicely, she could hardly refuse:
“Sure thing.”
With a flourish of her wand, Truth cast her spell, and a cool, gray mist began to spread outward, enveloping everyone— including Norton.
[Skill Activated: Mist of Healing]
“Where’s this fog coming from?!”
Both Norton and the demon hunters had their vision cut down to just a couple meters.
Everything beyond that was cloaked in green-threaded mist— but they soon realized the fog was actively healing their injuries.
A healing spell? The burly man quickly realized what was happening and tried to shout for Truth to stop, but it was too late.
By the time the mist dissipated, Norton was already gone…
Thanks for the window to escape, little priest.
Truth was a bit surprised too— the density of the mist had increased a lot since her proficiency improved!
As she was thinking about that, the demon hunter leader stomped over to her, silver longsword in hand.
“Uh… hi there?”
Truth took a step back, tilting her head with an innocent look on her face.
The man looked like he wanted to say something but finally just sighed:
“This was my mistake. I should’ve asked what your skill did before letting you heal us.”
“It’s no big deal.”
“You think you’re in any position to say that…?”
“Ehehe.”
Tftc!