An Adventure With an Immortal Mosquito

Chapter 19: Irregularity

'... Fxck, I just raised a flag, didn't I?'

Realizing that he has just put a problem in front of him, Ichor starts to chant any mantra or quote that is related to luck or safety in his mind at an impressive speed.

It only takes a minute for him to chant the mantras of 4 religions that he knows of, at least 20 quotes, and a bunch of 'luck borrowing' from his future self just in case he needs it down the line.

'Hope I never had to use the last one... Why did I even do that to myself instead of someone else?'

Sighing to himself, Ichor continues following the group. While at it, he also tries to check out the area with <Mana Vision> to see if he can find anything interesting around him.

The group walked for a while before a paladin in front made a sign that forced the rest to stop in place.

"Here's where we found the track."

The paladin points at a certain location on the ground near him, which everyone else follows.

There's nothing on the ground for the naked eye. But if one can sense mana like the rest of the people here or can see mana itself like Ichor, they would see a blood-like trail of mana leading to the east of the forest.

Ichor looks at the trail too, and his feeling of disgust and something else starts to appear from the depth of his heart.

"This feels weird..."

Ichor's sudden remark caused everyone here to look at him. After that, Sam decides to talk with him.

"What is it?"

"I feel like this track seemed to be comprised of more than one aura, overlapping with each other."

In Ichor's vision, a mix of black and glass-like mana can be seen around the same place. These mana seemed to come from different beings, with the grass-like mana being stronger than the black one.

Moreover, while the black mana has a constant trail leading to its destination, the glass-like mana seems to be shifting somehow. With the mana either being a trail like normal or suddenly jumping by a few steps or even leaping by a few meters, leaving no trail between the leaped area.

It was like the being that has the glass-like mana is existing within a different space, only occasionally popping out now and then. It would certainly explain the sudden and random trail leaps Ichor's seeing here.

Explaining to the group, Ichor can see the rest contemplating the information as if it is something serious.

"Everyone, please be on guard. Most likely, we are dealing with more than one demon this time."

Lumi's words are directed at the knights and paladins, who seem to emit a feeling of looking at soldiers who are ready to die at any time. It was fascinating for Ichor to see right now.

With that, the group continues to follow the trail like before. But with the fighters in front being way more cautious and Ichor continuing to update on anything that he sees as off regarding the trail.

This doesn't last for long though, as it was only an hour later that they had found a clearly artificial clearing with something they had been looking for.

'That's a demon, huh?'

The demon has a tall and muscular humanoid body with ashen skin and black mists emitting out of its body. Despite that, one can still see the pure white irises and the sharp claws that it has along with the danger that it poses to them through that mist.

The demon is currently hunched down like an ape, its claws scratching the ground as it's looking at the group in suspicion.

What's more interesting, however, is the crude stone structure that resembled a throne with a featureless being sitting on it. Based on the way the being is sitting and the crown resting on its head, Ichor guessed that it's supposed to resemble a ruler of some kind for the demon.