When Karen reopened her eyes, she found herself leaning against a tree. Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks as she felt her throat boil. She also had a slight ache in her chest. It appeared as if she had forgotten something very crucial. Despite her best efforts, she was unable to determine what it was.

The words "you must get stronger" were still echoing in her mind. When she tried to recall where she had heard them, her head became engulfed in excruciating pain again, so she tried to ignore them.

Karen's attention was suddenly drawn to something she had previously overlooked. Eliza was nowhere to be found. The only situation when Eliza would leave her on her own in this situation would be when she was experiencing something much direr. Karen had a bad feeling about the whole thing. She quickly leapt to her feet and began to search her surroundings.

A long distance away from Karen's location. Eliza was standing alone in the face of the hulking Hellhound. Never in her wildest dreams would she have ever expected that something like this would happen.

Eliza had grown highly anxious after Karen had passed out until she noticed that Karen was still breathing. She had no idea what had transpired, but she felt reassured for the time being. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she carried Karen deep into the forest to their planned resting area. However, she became aware of a powerful thing approaching from behind about halfway through. Karen was unconscious at the time, so they couldn't even flee. She propped Karen up against a tree and decided to lure the beast away by rushing in a different direction.

After running for quite some time, Eliza decided to confront the beast. She realized that she had made the biggest mistake of her life the moment she saw it. The monster resembled every other Hellhound and was only slightly larger. Its hair was a little bluish in color, as opposed to the other black Hellhounds she'd seen.

He emitted a lot of bloodlust, but unlike other Hellhounds, he didn't just blindly charge at his prey. Instead, he carefully examined it with his cunning eyes. Eliza was skeptical at first, so she decided to look into his status.

[Identification Skill Level Up]

‘No! No! No! No! No!’ Eliza cried in her mind. If the skill leveled up, it indicated that the monster in front of her was more powerful than the ones she had previously encountered. If he turned out to be more powerful than she had thought, then she was doomed.

The status window for the Hellhound appeared in front of her eyes.

Species: Hellhound (Mutated)

Stats:

Vitality - 27

Strength - 28

Endurance - 27

Agility - 28

Mana - 20

Intelligence - 15

Skills:

Stare - Inflicts fear on enemies with weaker minds.

Enhancement - Able to use a tiny bit of mana to enhance its physical prowess for a very short duration.

'How come it's so powerful?' Eliza had seen mutant monsters before, but this one took her breath away. A monster becomes mutated when it kills and eats numerous other monsters of its kind. The increase in physical prowess is proportional to the number of kin murdered. To become this fearsome, the Hellhound in front of her should have slaughtered countless packs of other Hellhounds.

Eliza had put most of her stat points towards intelligence to help Karen from behind because her physical abilities were currently lacking. She was, nevertheless, able to hold her ground in close combat due to her command of mana manipulation. It helped her to encase small objects in mana and enhanced her physical abilities a bit. She prodded the hellhound with her spearhead, but it didn't fall for her brazen provocation.

After observing each other for a few seconds, they both moved simultaneously. As the hellhound charged at her, Eliza jumped sideways to avoid him. She managed to avoid the onslaught just by a hair's breadth.

She quickly sprang to her feet, after her narrow escape, and turned to face the Hellhound, who now wore a sneer on his face. He had realized that Eliza was not as strong as she appeared to be. Eliza jumped sideways once again as the Hellhound launched another strike, his speed incomparable to before. However, this time she was not able to escape unscathed. Her left arm had been severely slashed, and blood was dripping profusely from the wound.

She ripped one of her leggings and wrapped it around the cut as quickly as she could. The Hellhound didn't give her much time to rest as he came at her quickly. This time, Eliza thrust her spear forward at him, which he easily avoided. However, it did not expect the spearhead to be encased in mana, which scratched its face slightly.

He swiftly drew some distance between them and was on the lookout for Eliza, who was aware that she wouldn't be able to launch another such attack. After feeling secure, the Hellhound continued his onslaught.

The struggle dragged on like this for a long time. Eliza was tired, and the Hellhound could also see it. Slowly, it began to torment her for fun. Eliza was soon covered with bruises and cuts. Blood was flowing out of various wounds on her body. She hated being humiliated in this way, but she was powerless to stop it.

Eliza collapsed after enduring some more, during which she had lost a great deal of blood. The Hellhound, being as cautious as he was, didn't approach her right away, thinking it was one of her tricks. It turned out to be correct. Eliza was waiting for it to get closer before launching her final strike. However, after some more time had passed, she sensed that someone was approaching their location.

She knew the individual approaching her wasn't Karen, yet she didn't feel threatened by him. She had a gut feeling that the stranger would not abandon her. Finally, she succumbed to tiredness and passed out.

Just as the Mutated Hellhound thought it was safe to approach Eliza, he sensed a huge threat approaching him. This attack terrified him, and he attempted to flee. However, he was unable to save his life. His neck had already been separated from the rest of his body just as he had leaped into the air. The eyes of the severed head were completely filled with fear.

Almost instantly, a man, or more precisely, a humanoid Demon like Karen, appeared near the corpse. He was dressed entirely in black, with a mask covering a portion of his upper face. Two black horns protruded from his forehead.

"What an interesting human," he said as he stared at the unconscious Eliza. "She knew I wouldn't let her die, so she easily passed out. Furthermore, based on her appearance, she seems to have been here for quite some time."

As he bent down to pick up the girl, he sensed someone approaching them steadily. He got to his feet and turned to face the new party.

Karen immediately began searching for Eliza as soon as she became aware of her absence. She put her newly acquired skill to the test, but there were no noticeable results. It only had a minor effect on her vision and magnified everything she saw.

While searching, she noticed someone using mana a short distance away. She ran towards it in a hurry. When she arrived at the scene, she found Eliza lying comatose on the ground. A masked demon stood next to her body.

Karen stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't detect anything from the demon. It only happened when the person in front of her was significantly weaker, or when he was so powerful that she had no way of estimating his strength and felt nothing. The demon in front of her didn't appear to be weak in the least.

She quickly used her Identification skill, but the result was unprecedented.

[The level of Skill is low]

In this situation, she decided to play her final card. Her Bloodline Suppression ability was activated. Her bloodline was still a royal bloodline, no matter how weak she was now. As one might expect, the demon's eyes were wide with astonishment.

Having seen this kind of blood pressure before, he was extremely familiar with it. It reminded him of his arch-enemy, who was also a member of a royal family. He suddenly realized, 'If a young royal is here, her protector must be nearby.'

Karen eventually asked in a chilly tone, "Are you sure you want to point that sword at me?" after they had been staring at each other for a long time. The friendly demeanor she had displayed in front of Eliza was nowhere to be found.

"If you venture into the Dead Forest, you should be prepared for anything," the Demon responded.

"Do you think you'll be able to bear the consequences of turning me into an enemy?" Karen kept speaking in the same icy tone.

"I'm not sure," the demon said. "We'll probably find out in a few moments when your protector arrives."

"Let me rephrase the question," Karen said, her gaze fixed on the demon. "Do you dare to use your blade against Gulzack's lineage?"

The expression on the demon’s face froze. Then he suddenly started laughing, “Do you think that I will believe any of your lies?”

“So what if I prove it?” Karen stated confidently.

"I'll withdraw," the demon said.

"All right, then," Eliza said, slashing her palm with her bone knife. "We will use the ancient method." A small stream of blood began to emerge from her wound. The demon followed her example and slashed his hand as well, and blood began to flow.

Karen couldn't use mana in a fight, but she was able to easily lift her blood into the air and send it towards the demon using it. The demon followed suit, sending his blood towards Karen's. The two blood droplets collided in their middle. The demon's blood droplet began to dissipate quickly. After a few moments, there was no trace of it.

The demon locked eyes with Karen as he lowered his uplifted hand. This was sufficient proof for him. Since ancient times, all of Hell's royal bloodlines have had varying reactions when they come into contact with other bloodlines. However, only Gulzack possessed the blood that could wipe away all other bloodlines without leaving a trace. His descendants would, of course, share the same blood.

Karen wore a big grin on her face. She wasn't sure if this would work now that she was younger, but her bloodline was still unchanged.

"I'll take my leave," the demon stated as he began to pick up Eliza's body.

From behind him, Eliza ordered, "Leave the girl behind."

"Our pact was only about me leaving quietly, not about this human girl," the demon coldly said.

Karen appeared enraged as she said, "I'm having some work with that human girl."

After some thought, the demon stated, "Instead of merely handing you the girl, I'd want to negotiate a bargain."

After some thought, the demon stated, "Instead of merely handing you the girl, I'd want to negotiate a bargain."

"What bargain!" Although Karen's interest was piqued, she didn't let it show on her face. "And what's in it for me?"

The demon stated, "Help me kill someone, and I shall pledge you my lifelong loyalty."

The black wounds caught Karen off guard. They had to be the result of powerful black magic. And in order to withstand such magic, the demon in front must be at least on the level of a Greater Demon. Possibly even stronger.

"How can I refuse a free servant?" She sounded impressed.

"I'll look for you when the time comes. By the way, the name is Asterope." With that, the demon vanished. Nobody was aware of what was going on inside his head.

Karen soon felt Asteropes' presence fade away. Although he didn't teleport, he moved at a pace her eyes couldn't keep up with.

She let out a long sigh, letting go of the breath she'd been holding. It was hard pretending to be protected by a protector. She remembered the unconscious Eliza right away and dashed over to her.