Rowan felt the Soul Harvester vibrate with an immense amount of power after slaying his first Ogramon. The vibration was more intense than any Rowan had felt since acquiring the weapon, a clear indication that the Ogramon were his strongest opponents thus far.
And right now, more of these formidable opponents were charging toward him furiously. Their inhuman growls tore through the very fabric of the malevolent space, and their steps made the ground quake. The sheer sight of their approach was a horror capable of invoking fear in the heart of an ordinary human for decades.
"Taking on more of them would be extremely difficult," Rowan thought. "But I've got this."
Having discovered the tactic for slaying a single Ogramon, even though he now faced many at once, a successful strategy made the task less difficult than fighting without one. Without a second thought, Rowan propelled himself toward the nearest Ogramon.
At the same time, D'andre had also successfully taken down an Ogramon, and just like his companion, more Ogramon stormed toward him.
The battle within the demon lair quickly grew in intensity. The sound of spells weaving and shooting, the clang of swords slashing and stabbing, the growls of demons, and the heavy breaths of humans soon filled the space.
After thirty minutes had passed, Rowan and D'andre together had taken down a total of nine Ogramon out of the initial fifteen. The remaining six Ogramon attacked them both at the same time.
D'andre cast plenty of offensive spells at one opponent and defended himself from the others. By focusing his attack solely on one target, which reduced its regeneration, he had a higher success rate than if he attacked randomly. From time to time, Rowan would assist him by blocking the attacks of an Ogramon, giving him enough time to focus on his target.
Rowan had billions of evolution points in his inventory, so he wasn't particularly interested in acquiring more. If he wanted evolution points, he would have risked it all and entered the demon lair alone.
Although it would have been difficult, with the skills in his arsenal, he was confident he would have survived. His goal, however, was to get rid of the demon lair so he could move his people here to finalize his territory's evolution, unlock the resulting rewards, and continue on his territory development path.
With Rowan's support and D'andre's offensive spells, they managed to take down the last six Ogramon in twenty minutes.
A large pool of blood sprawled around them. The corpses of the Ogramon, sliced and mangled into numerous pieces, swam in the bloody pool—a revolting yet fulfilling scene for the two of them.
However, they were unfazed and began searching for demon cores among the corpses. Strangely enough, they found no demon core in any of the corpses.
Nevertheless, Rowan and D'andre didn't complain; even in the game, obtaining demon cores was very rare, about twenty times more difficult than obtaining monster cores.
Setting the issue aside, D'andre quickly retrieved a mana potion from his inventory and consumed it. He then pulled out another one and waved it at Rowan with a cunning smile, fitting for his merchant profession. "Need one? I can sell it to you at a 30% discount."
Rowan scoffed and rejected the offer. Why would he need a mana potion when he basically had an unlimited supply of it?
"We should relax before proceeding," D'andre suggested.
"We've only been in the demon lair for barely two hours. Don't tell me you're tired already," Rowan said, his gaze fixed on D'andre.
"Hey, hey, muscle brain, I'm a merchant, not a fighter. Fighting isn't my forte. Also, don't you know casting spells is exhausting to the brain, soul, and body? If I continue casting spells non-stop, I might go insane," D'andre complained.
"Go insane? You've been sane all this while? That's strange," Rowan said sarcastically, with a furrowed brow.
D'andre simply chuckled. "Come on, how can a handsome and charismatic gentleman like me be insane? I am what all men out there wish to be."
"You think too highly of yourself," Rowan scoffed. "Get your mind out of the gutter; we need to get going ASAP."
The two of them had a little more banter for a minute or two before D'andre finally resigned and strolled with his buddy deeper into the demon lair.
D'andre, being a chronic talker as usual, did not stop speaking on their way. He bragged about most of his achievements, his past relationships with gorgeous female transmigrators and beautiful queens, and his fame among big territories like Wishiros.
He quickly switched to the battle with the cult of Ember Justice. He spoke about his battle with the two Dark Blood brothers, how intense it was, and how he felt those two would be a danger to society if he hadn't killed one of them. He also vented his frustration that he did not get to kill the other one.
"And then there's that mysterious bastard," D'andre said, his face twisting with anger and hatred. It was the angriest Rowan had ever seen him.
He shared his frustration—how upset he was that Alister was rescued and how frustrated he became after feeling the pressure from the 'mysterious bastard.'
"We're all lucky he only came to that battle to pick up the corpses of those two. If he had come to take us out, I'm sure none of us would be alive now.
All our combined strength would not have been enough to take care of him. Since that last battle, I have forced myself to enter many high-level dungeons to kill monsters and hone my skills. I have cultivated far longer than I would naturally.
Normally, I would decline offers to team up for things like these, but the moment I saw your request, I knew I had to join in. Demon lairs are rare, especially one of this level. If we're lucky, we might be able to obtain rare skill books that would boost our chances of surviving if that bastard ever shows up again."
Rowan simply nodded. He was secretly happy that both of them shared the same motivation, even though their reasons were different.