’Seems like I just found myself a place to settle for the anti,’ Liam thought as he kept his eyes fixed on the underwater cave entrance.
The more he stared at it from across the river, the more appealing the place beca in his mind. Having a shelter like that carried far more advantages than disadvantages. A cave whose entrance rested directly beneath the river and was barely noticeable even at close range ant very few things would ever find him easily. Unless soone already knew it was there, they would most likely pass by without ever noticing it existed.
And beyond simple concealnt, the cave could serve as a proper storage point for food and supplies. Wildlife would have a much harder ti sniffing out anything hidden there, especially with the river masking scents and movent. Compared to sleeping in hollow trees or exposed ruins, the cave offered sothing Liam would be lacking for days... security.
The only irritating part was the thod of getting there. He would have to swim through the river every single ti, and worse, swim against the current to reach the subrged entrance. Even for soone with his stamina, repeatedly forcing himself through rushing water was going to be exhausting.
But that annoyance was insignificant compared to the real problem.
The river itself.
A river this deep and this isolated had a high chance of already belonging to sothing. And if a demon lurked beneath those waters, then entering the cave would an stepping directly into its territory.
Which ant Liam only had two real options. Either he prepared himself to kill whatever lived in the river and claim the territory as its new ruler... or he figured out a way to reach the cave without provoking a fight in the first place.
Unfortunately, the second option sounded far easier in theory than in practice.
His encounter with the evolved Gravecoil back in the swamp had already left a lingering impression in his mind. Even now, the mory of that creature’s unnatural movents and terrifying presence still crawled beneath his skin. It wasn’t enough to truly shake him ntally, but it had definitely planted caution deep into his instincts.
Because of that, Liam already found himself imagining sothing massive lurking beneath the river despite not sensing anything unusual at all.
’Don’t know why, but I feel a strong urge to make that cave mine,’ Liam thought as he continued staring at the dark opening beneath the water.
The feeling was strangely persistent. Almost instinctive. Like every survival instinct in his body was telling him the cave was worth the risk.
’But I can’t let myself get desperate,’ he reminded himself. ’That would basically be playing right into the Headmaster’s hands. And desperation is exactly the kind of thing that forces people into making decisions that’ll screw them over later.’
Liam remained still at the riverbank, quietly studying the flow of the water and the distant cave entrance while his thoughts continued turning over possibilities in his head.
Then suddenly, he felt Smoke tense beside him.
The shadow beast lowered its body slightly near the riverbank, its muscles tightening as a low growl rumbled from deep within its throat. All four glowing eyes locked onto sothing floating atop the water.
Liam’s gaze shifted toward it.
At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a partially subrged log drifting with the current.
But Smoke wasn’t the type to react to ordinary things.
Liam narrowed his eyes slightly, watching the object more carefully. For a few seconds, nothing seed wrong. Then he noticed it.
The so-called log was moving against the current.
Imdiately, Liam’s expression hardened.
A faint ripple disturbed the water around the object as it slowly adjusted direction, no longer drifting naturally with the river. Instead, it began moving diagonally toward his side of the bank.
At that sa mont, Liam’s nose finally caught onto a scent he sohow hadn’t noticed since arriving near the river.
It was faint.
Wet, rotten, and distinctly demonic.
The instant he realized that, the floating log subtly shifted again.
Without hesitating for even a second, Liam grabbed Smoke by instinct and both of them darted several ters away from the riverbank. Their movents were fast and silent as they slipped into thicker shadows deeper within the trees.
Branches barely rustled as Liam crouched low behind a cluster of roots and dark foliage, his crimson eyes remaining locked toward the river through the gaps.
"Stay quiet no matter what," Liam muttered softly to Smoke while keeping his attention fixed on the approaching figure moving through the water.
For several long seconds, the creature continued drifting silently through the water toward the riverbank.
Then slowly, its body erged further from beneath the surface.
What Liam had initially mistaken for a floating log was revealed to be sothing far worse.
Brown coloured river water poured off an enormous crocodilian-like body as the creature neared the edge of the bank. Its hide resembled soaked bark stretched tightly over layers of dense muscle, with tangled roots and strands of dead vegetation hanging from across its back and limbs. Pale fungal growths protruded from portions of its spine, faintly glowing beneath the dim light like clusters of swamp flowers blooming from a corpse.
The demon’s body was massive.
Even while mostly subrged, Liam could already tell the thing was easily over forty feet long. Its forelimbs alone looked thick enough to crush a man’s torso with a single strike, ending in elongated claws blackened with mud and rotting plant matter.
And its face...
Liam’s eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the creature’s head more carefully.
It had no eyes.
Where eyes should have existed were only layers of hardened flesh covered in tiny sensory pits and twitching root-like tendrils. Thin slits along the sides of its skull expanded and contracted slowly as it raised part of its head above the water.
The creature remained motionless near the riverbank for several seconds.
Then Liam noticed the surrounding air shifting slightly around it.
The demon was slling the air.
No...
Not exactly slling.
The twitching tendrils near its face quivered faintly while the slits across its skull widened further. It was sensing movent, vibrations, scent, heat—everything around it at once. The river itself almost seed connected to the creature’s awareness.
The realization imdiately put Liam on edge.
’Now that’s gonna be a problem...’ Liam thought quietly while remaining perfectly still behind the roots.
Even Smoke had gone completely silent beside him now, its glowing eyes fixed entirely on the creature.
After several more seconds of sensing its surroundings, the demon finally began moving again.
The massive creature slowly dragged itself further onto the muddy riverbank. Its movents on land were noticeably different compared to how smoothly it traveled underwater. Its limbs jerked unnaturally at tis, almost as if its own body disliked existing outside the river for too long.
Wet mud dragged beneath its claws as it moved toward the cluster of plants near the river’s edge he had noticed earlier.
Then, to Liam’s complete surprise, the demon lowered its enormous head toward the plants and began feeding.
The sound of wet crunching echoed faintly through the quiet forest.
Liam blinked once, his expression shifting ever so slightly.
The demon was eating the plants.
Not tearing apart flesh, actually feeding on vegetation.
For a brief mont, Liam genuinely thought he was seeing things wrong.
’Demons can be herbivores?’ Liam questioned inwardly.
Every demon he had encountered until now possessed overwhelming aggression toward living creatures. Even weaker demonic beasts hunted constantly for flesh. Yet this thing was calmly feeding on swamp vegetation like so oversized reptilian beast.
Still, despite what he was seeing, Liam’s instincts refused to lower their guard around the creature.
Because even while feeding, the demon’s presence remained deeply unpleasant.
The air around it felt wrong.
Heavy and rotten.
Like standing too close to sothing ancient that should not exist.
As the creature continued devouring the dark reeds near the riverbank, several Ravons suddenly descended from above the trees.
Their screeching cries echoed through the forest as the large demonic birds landed near the sa patch of vegetation, seemingly attracted by the plants themselves.
The mont they approached, the crocodilian demon stopped moving.
Everything beca still.
Then suddenly, it’s s massive maw snapped open with terrifying speed.
CRUNCH!
Before the Ravons could even react properly, one disappeared entirely between the creature’s jaws. Blood exploded outward across the muddy bank while shattered black feathers scattered through the air.
The remaining Ravons shrieked violently and tried to take flight.
But the demon moved again.
Its enormous forelimb slamd downward with frightening force, crushing one of the birds directly into the mud before its jaws lunged forward once more and clamped around another mid-flight.
Another sickening crunch echoed through the riverbank.
The entire attack had lasted barely seconds.
Then just like that, the creature resud feeding calmly.
Except now, alongside the river plants, chunks of Ravon flesh and black feathers disappeared between its teeth as well.
Liam’s expression hardened slightly as he watched from the shadows.
The speed of that attack alone was enough to imdiately erase any thought of underestimating the creature.
And more importantly...
The Ravons hadn’t sensed danger until it was already too late.
That realization alone spoke volus.
’That’s a real Advanced Horror-class demon...’ Liam concluded inwardly while keeping his breathing controlled.
The evolved Gravecoil he encountered back in the swamp had already been dangerous enough to force caution into him.
But this thing...
This demon’s presence was far worse.
Far heavier and far more oppressive.
Even from a distance, Liam could already tell the creature standing near the riverbank was on an entirely different level compared to the evolved Gravecoil.
And the worst part was the fact it wasn’t mindlessly violent.
The creature fed calmly.
Patiently.
Like a predator perfectly adapted to its territory.
Which sohow made it feel even more dangerous.
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