21. Strong Foe. [3]

After scanning my surroundings I noticed many things and it made me completely excited.

'Nine humans, a lot of low demons, a few greater demons, and four strong demons, around second circle peak and mid-third circle.'

"Danger."

Muttering to myself I assessed the situation.

My stats were high, however, the only problem was that I had not yet broken through the first circle.

There is a large disparity in the prowess between every circle.

I was at par with a baron demon, even if I was yet to break through, was what I thought.

As you can proceed to the next circle by only increasing any three of the stats, anyone can achieve a speed breakthrough. That's how I assessed my opponents.

Was I naïve? No.

I was prepared.

When two countries are at war, any third country can reap the rewards from both sides and that was what I planned to do.

I was well aware of the concept of a demon 'stronghold'. And looking at the group approaching the stronghold I prepared a plan to reap my rewards.

I continued to observe my surroundings while approaching the center of the forest.

...

An eerie feeling kept building inside as I kept moving closer to the stronghold.

If any demon from another clan joined as a spy, they get detected because of the 'scent' of that demon.

To my surprise, the clan on this stronghold was none other than the clan which excommunicated the previous 'me'.

'It's revenge time.'

Using [The Maskman] I changed myself into a bird, removing every shred of demonic energy as well as removing all the affinities I flew high in the sky.

This was the reason [The Maskman] was a great ability. There was no cooldown to it and the only disadvantage was the lingering demonic energy around me.

However, wasn't it normal for birds to prey on the beasts and corpses? Yes, it was.

The bird was like a mutant crow, it was a normal forest black clawed crow.

As the demonic energy was gone, my stats turned half which helped me to merge with my surroundings.

The two suns were drowning and evening light spread all across the dense forest.

It was my first time shrinking my body and changing its structure to this point.

'It's like a shapeshifter, rather than [The Maskman].'

I flapped my wings to fly and to be honest, it was fun.

I tried a lot of things to act like a bird and did pretty well. Flying and sitting on a giant tree I looked around. Kept my guard against the other natural predators.

I first observed the demon stronghold from afar.

The threads which I was previously able to see were now nowhere to be seen.

'So that's how they recognize their brethren huh?'

I was expecting it to be a function of the [Eyes of Incubus] but it wasn't or so I thought.

A lot of demons turned their attention to me, a crow, who was looking at them while tilting its neck. But soon ignored me as my existence was negligible.

Changing my spots from time to time, I mapped the whole area.

In the middle of the dense forest, there was a small cave.

'Maybe a tier one dungeon or not?'

I raised my eyebrows as it was difficult to understand the rank of the dungeon because of the demonic energy in the surroundings.

Around the entrance of that cave, many low-level demons were preparing food and cooking the beasts they'd captured.

Demons are also mortals and so they require food, not to survive but to fill their hunger.

Some greater demons were also there, guarding the area and stopping anyone who tried to enter the cave. So it was clear that there was something important inside the cave.

Low and greater demons were mere flies for me, the [God of War], but they had a huge numerical advantage.

And I am someone who does not fight a losing war, so when I am prepared completely then only I will strike.

Information about your enemy turns the table in the war, so it was natural for me to gather information about both sides of the board.

It took me three hours to put the whole area under my surveillance. I took some more time to make sure about the reinforcement demons had there or if any portal to call for.

But as expected of the arrogant demons, they were overconfident in their strength.

'That artifact.'

I laughed inwardly when I remembered the artifact I found in the loot of the dead bodies.

It was the perfect time to use it.

As my intelligence was very high, taking note of everything in the vicinity and conforming to my scheme from this end, I moved to the next stage of my plan.

I flew back to where I sensed nine presence and sat on a tree away from them.

It was time to appraise the other enemy.

'Jin, Thomas, Lisa, and Anna, initial third circle huh?'

Using the [Eyes of Incubus] I looked at the team.

There were four more girls, who were at the peak of the second circle.

'My precious Evil points.'

Those six women were important to me.

But those were not the only important there. There was a strong individual following these eight and I wanted him to clean the dungeon for me instead.

'Adelio Rollen, peak third circle and good stats huh?'

This guy was my queen on the board in this plan. [Eyes of incubus] were not in their complete form so I didn't get his in detail information, however, from the looks of it the man's agility was low, is what I thought.

The reason? He was not keeping up with the eight students when they were walking. Adelio looked like a scientist more than that a fighter to me much less a guardian of these students.

But still, the risk of life was not an option for me.

I took my time to observe him more and also waited for nightfall.

And sure enough, I saw Adelio chugging a few potions.

Using my appraisal I found those to be energy potions and stamina potions.

The party was still far away from the demon stronghold and was taking a lot of time in their journey.

'When it's a finger it gets crushed and when it's a fist it crushes.'

I needed to separate them all, especially Adelio from the group.

'A justice-driven man must save the people first and then fight the villain.'

Thinking of the typical movie plot I went further in my plan.

Changing back to my true appearance as a demon, I went near the eight humans to lure them.

I did not release the demonic energy yet, as I planned something different from the very beginning.

A girl named Lisa was the priestess or the healer in the group.

The brown-haired woman was shouting and annoying the whole group and she was the weakest in the group.

Anna was a tank and the strongest girl in the group. The pink-haired girl was calm and observant.

The other four were commoners and were humiliated again and again by Lisa.

'So that's my target~'

Licking my lips I endured my lust for the time being.

And soon, the opportunity I was waiting for arrived.

***

[A/N: The support for our novel is increasing every day and I am working hard, managing with college and all, so it surely satisfies when you guys comment some feedback and thank me for the chapter. A warm feeling indeed.

I will appreciate it if you guys can vote for the novel and help us to reach the top.

Your votes and feedback really matter a lot to me.

About this chapter,

1) Logan is a cautious MC and works on every possibility that can ruin his plans.

2) Also planning on stockpiling chapters, so sorry for a single chapter a day! :(

Hope you all are enjoying it, I am a little sleepy so yeah!

see ya~]