Wolf of the Blood Moon: A Blood Magic - Book 4: Chapter 2: A Search for Prey

Scarlet

After a period of time completely unknown to me, since it felt both like just seconds pass but also as if entire days passed both at the same time, I find myself reappearing on a cliff with some sort of strange red ground beneath us, feeling very disoriented. To the point of stumbling out of Gramps’ arms and vomiting on the ground.

“Fucking hell, please, let’s not do that again…” I mutter, only to realize what I just said and look back up, “not that I’m not appreciative of your help.”

Gramps just laughs while waving away my words, “I would’ve been surprised if you didn’t react like that.”

I narrow my eyes on the man for a moment, only to act like he didn’t just say he expected me to vomit as I look around our new surroundings.

The terrain here is very much what I remember seeing when I was flying through the air before over the central continent, but unlike then, I find us on top of a large cliff overlooking a wasteland. One filled with, in simple terms, nothing but chaos.

Everywhere I look, all I can find are demons fighting each other. Some intelligent, some not. All of them are Class III or Class IV, with the Class IVs closer to the center and the Class IIIs at the very edges.

The majority of the demons are Class IV though.

And they’re of all different kinds. Literally just thousands and thousands of different species all battling it out here.

“This is the Battlefield of Blood and Ruin,” Gramps says in explanation as he steps up to the edge of the cliff, bringing my attention back to the ground beneath us as I hear splashing sounds. And the ground itself is covered in puddles of blood with dead black soil stained in red all over it. “It’s a place where demons go to either die or grow stronger.” He glances at me. “The only people who come here are those who are aware that they may very well die in this place yet come anyways in the search of power.”

“I’ve never heard of this place before,” I tell him honestly as I step up to the edge of the cliff as well.

Gramps snorts before looking back out over the battlefield and saying, “Of course you haven’t. All of the information the human world has on Tartarus came from those irritating Knights, and there was no way they would ever come anywhere near the central continent.”

I blink at that, only to realize that he’s right.

“The only reason I wasn’t able to track them when they first arrived here was because of those damned Purple and Black Knights hiding their presence from me and my seers,” he continues, sounding rather irked by the Knights in general. “And right before I found a solution to find their locations, they retreated back to Earth.”

Huh. Was wondering why he let them run around through Tartarus killing his people.

Turns out he didn’t.

Anyways, I transform back into my beast form, bringing his gaze to me for a moment until he looks out over the battlefield again and says, “My dear pup, please keep in mind that the demons down there are stronger than any of the other demons at the same level than you’ve faced thus far. They’re also perfectly willing to die out there in their hunt for more powerful achievements.” His voice grows slightly darker. “So do not let your guard down. And if I see you going after something too powerful, I will not hesitate. I will pull you out of there myself before erasing the one you try to fight personally in order to clear the slight.”

While his words do surprise me a little, I’m far too focused on searching the battlefield below for a target to care about his warning.

I don’t need something that high a level to bring me up an extra nine levels.

Just something… maybe about a hundred levels above me?

“Remember that they’re Class IV, so they’ll have the multiplier of one,” Tar warns me. “These are also more powerful demon species as well. Ones with higher capabilities in general.”

I nod my head at that, deciding to lower the bar a bit to seventy levels above me this time.

Strictly because I don’t need to kill something as high a level above me as I’ve done before just for nine levels.

So instead of searching deeper into the battlefields, I look to the outer edges of it for Class IVs. And after searching for several minutes, identifying one demon after another after another, I eventually manage to find a Class IV demon at about level five hundred and sixty. Which will probably give me enough EXP to reach level 500 myself.

“He’ll do,” I mutter, bringing Gramps’ attention to where I’m looking. And as soon as he nods, giving me the go-ahead, I immediately burst into action, jumping straight off of the cliff and soaring through the air towards the demon I am targeting.

A revenant, which is a type of demon that uses spectral magic. One that lets them go in and out of the physical world and into the ethereal world where ghosts and phantoms live.

But a revenant, unlike ghosts and phantoms, can only stay fully on one side of the ethereal barrier, not being able to fully traverse it at will and only when they’re outside of combat. With the exception of its ability to partially traverse, making a hand or claw partially ethereal.

Which makes it the perfect target for me as while they are powerful, they’re also weak to blood magic.

All stuff I learned from my time at the kitsune’s castle. A rather unpleasant time, to say the least. If for no other reason than the kitsune in general, not to mention their leader.

I push that out of my mind as I continue flying through the air straight towards the demon in question.

Time to hunt.