Levi's Night Demon Owl might only be at the level of a third-tier spell, but in his judgment, with its current configuration, it could even solo-kill some weaker First-Ring Wizards.
Under the cover of night, he flapped his wings soundlessly as he flew above the forest. His enhanced low-light vision allowed him to perceive everything clearly.
Although in the Night Demon Owl state, Levi was unable to use spells like Detection, even without that ability, it only took him a bit of effort to locate a camped squad at the southwestern edge of the Moonshadow Forest.
This squad numbered around twenty people.
By the largest central campfire sat a man built like a bear. He had removed his scarred breastplate, revealing a worn but clean chain shirt beneath. His rough hands slowly wiped down a broad-bladed longsword.
The firelight flickered across his sharply defined face. The old scar running diagonally from brow to jaw seemed to twitch faintly with the flames.
He sat there in silence like a rock, as if even the wind had slowed in deference.
Levi recognized him.
Back when he served in the palace of the Magic Mirror Queen, he had seen this man before—one of her most loyal followers.
A Great Knight: Reynard Corey.
Around him, five warriors sat in a wider circle. They had not fully removed their armor, only loosening their vambraces and greaves, exposing sweat-soaked leather beneath.
From Levi's perspective, every one of them possessed knight-level strength—far superior to his coachman, Yalina.
Among them, some quietly sharpened blades. Others checked hidden compartments beneath their saddles. Two men shared a piece of rock-hard military rations.
Despite their fatigue, their eyes remained sharp as hawks, constantly scanning the dark forest edge. Clearly, they were elite.
The remaining dozen or so men were weaker than the knights and the Great Knight, but still far stronger than ordinary people—at least at the level of knight attendants. They were busy at work.
Three men set up simple sharpened stake defenses, surrounding the camp with pointed pine stakes. Four archers rotated shifts on a nearby rocky outcrop, longbows resting across their knees, arrows planted in the dirt at their feet, their arrowheads glinting coldly.
Another man used the dying embers to boil a medicinal broth—its bitter aroma mixing with pine resin in the night air.
At the edge of the camp, several warhorses quietly chewed their feed. Occasionally, their hooves scraped the ground with dull thuds.
Suddenly—
The horses grew restless.
Reynard raised his head, his expression turning grave. Though he lacked the instincts of a beast, he could sense something was wrong.
But he couldn't pinpoint what.
That uncertainty stirred unease in his heart.
He scanned the surroundings.
The darkness had grown unnaturally thick. Even the sound of insects had vanished.
"Light two more fires," he said after a brief silence, his voice tightening every spine in the camp. "Add one more to the watch. Tonight… something's not right."
The moment his words fell, the camp shifted into a combat-ready rhythm.
The firelight dimmed. Shadows moved soundlessly. The faint clinks of metal were deliberately suppressed to the lowest possible level.
Only the central bonfire continued burning, illuminating Reynard's iron-like profile—and in his eyes, a trace of solemn vigilance toward the unknown lurking in the depths of the night.
From above, Levi watched coldly, shaking his head inwardly.
Then—
With a beat of his wings, he vanished like a bolt of lightning into the darkness.
Shadow Envelopment!
With a faint, nearly inaudible cry, Levi activated the Night Demon Owl's spell-like ability.
At once, thick, almost tangible shadows surged in from all directions, swallowing the entire squad's vision.
The once-bright fire flickered weakly within the black mist, as though an invisible hand had seized its throat.
Light was devoured by some eerie force.
The world plunged into absolute darkness and deathly silence.
Yet—
The squad led by Great Knight Reynard Corey did not fall into chaos.
"Defensive formation!"
At his roar, the sound of blades being drawn rang out one after another. Every member moved with practiced precision, taking up defensive positions in a seamless flow—proof of their elite discipline.
But it was useless.
Under the effect of the shadow spell, their senses were drastically dulled.
And fear—
Inevitably began to creep into their hearts.
Just then, Levi cut down through the air.
Silent Reaper's Scythe!
His five-meter wingspan spread wide, and the void-forged scythe blades formed from his wing bones carved two arcs of death through the darkness.
The high-speed strikes made no sound. Like slicing butter, the five elite knight-level warriors—whose physical abilities far surpassed ordinary men—didn't even have time to react. They only felt a chill at their necks before their heads were already rolling across the ground.
The heavy steel armor they wore was as fragile as rotting grass before those scythe blades, split open effortlessly. Only screams remained, crashing down like heavy hammers upon the rest of the squad.
Great Knight Reynard Corey was especially frantic.
He couldn't understand how such a terrifying monster could appear in a place like this.
He desperately tried to locate it.
But the darkness was like a curtain, robbing him of all sense of direction.
Meanwhile, Levi—transformed into the Night Demon Owl—moved within it like a fish in water.
Levi's second wave of attacks followed immediately.
Behind the bone mask on his face, his dark, flame-lit eyes flared to life. Two bursts of Netherflame shot into the crowd hidden in the darkness.
The knight attendants and archers struck by it froze instantly, their skin blackening. They collapsed dead before even a scream could escape their throats.
The flames brought a brief flicker of light, allowing the remaining survivors to catch a glimpse of his shadow.
Arrows flew.
Greatswords slashed.
But all struck empty air.
As the light faded, the area plunged back into darkness.
Levi attacked again. His claw—covered in shadow-scaled feathers and gleaming like obsidian—came crashing down. Stone shattered beneath it. He struck a knight attendant who had raised his shield to defend; both man and shield were crushed into a mass of flesh, the refined iron shield crumpling like paper.
In just a few breaths, the squad of over twenty men had already lost more than half its number. Only the Great Knight and a handful of trembling survivors remained.
Great Knight Reynard had already realized something was wrong.
At the moment Levi struck, he heard Levi's position.
Relying on instinct, he pushed his life-energy seed to its limit and unleashed a savage slash toward that location.
The sword strike was broad and forceful, tearing through the air with a piercing sound.
Levi faced the Great Knight's strongest attack head-on.
In his Night Demon Owl form, he instinctively let out a sharp screech, his wings snapping inward to shield his torso.
Clang!
A thunderous impact rang out, sparks flying in all directions.
Though the Great Knight's strike was powerful, it failed to pierce the layer of living shadow-scale feathers—neither quite fur nor scale—leaving only a shallow, bleeding wound that did nothing to diminish Levi's combat power.
At that moment, the gap in strength was laid bare.
Borrowing the force, Levi launched himself upward, then dove down again. The three-segmented bone whip at his tail lashed out like a venomous serpent.
Hearing the sound, Reynard reacted on instinct, raising his sword to block—but the sheer force split the webbing of his hand, driving him backward again and again.
In that brief instant of contact, the barbed poison sting at the tip of the tail silently brushed across his arm.
A numbing sensation spread through his entire body at once.
The Night Demon Owl's venom couldn't paralyze a Great Knight for even a full second.
But that instant—
Was the distance between life and death.
Great Knight Reynard watched helplessly as his body lost control, fear finally appearing in his eyes.
Because he knew—
This time, he was truly going to die.
He watched those dark, flame-burning eyes draw near.
He watched the twin void scythe blades expand endlessly within his vision.
Slash.
Not only Reynard—the remaining few survivors were also dealt with by Levi.
Everything fell into silence.
Levi folded his wings and stood amidst the field of corpses. Shadows flowed slowly around him, gradually dissipating, as though digesting this utterly one-sided victory.
Moonlight fell once more, illuminating the ancient runes flowing across his entire body, making him appear eerily cold and otherworldly.
And all of this—
Had taken only a few minutes.
The Night Demon Owl's Shadow Envelopment could only last for such a short duration.
But it had been more than enough.
Levi cast a detached glance over the battlefield, then beat his wings and vanished into the night sky.
Not long after—
The scent of blood drew the predators of the Moonshadow Forest.
They feasted greedily, enjoying this meal that had fallen from the sky.
As for Levi, the instigator—
He had already reverted back into a nightingale.
After reaching Level 3, Levi's Polymorph: Night Demon Owl not only allowed him to transform into the Night Demon Owl, but also into a nightingale or a Night Raptor.
As long as he wished.
The Night Demon Owl's body was too large and inconvenient, so he reverted to a nightingale, slipped back into the alchemical carriage, and returned to human form.
At this time, Yalina and Miss Nightingale Odelle were chatting happily, completely unaware that Levi had briefly left.
A faint smile curled at Levi's lips.
He glanced at his arm.
A clear streak of blood remained—
A greeting gift from Great Knight Reynard Corey.
However, with his non-human physique, the wound was already healing rapidly. It likely wouldn't even take a full night to recover completely.
So after a single glance, Levi paid it no further attention. He closed his eyes and began meditating.
...
The next day.
After a full night of rest, Yalina guided the alchemical carriage, preparing to enter the Moonshadow Forest.
The Moonshadow Forest stretched across the central region of the Kingdom of Amtyr, vast to the point of despair. Rolling mountain ranges isolated it from the civilized world, while ancient towering trees blotted out the sky. Even at noon, the forest remained shrouded in a dusk-like gloom.
Once, it had been a paradise for lumberjacks and hunters. But as the tide of magic surged, human activity had been forced back to outlying watch posts.
Deep within the forest lay the domain of ferocious beasts and magical creatures. Apart from true warriors, few dared to traverse the forest in its entirety.
Rumor had it that deep within, the air would grow thick and cloyingly sweet.
The silence there was not peace—but the oppressive presence of countless unseen eyes hidden within the shadows.
Low-tier goblins and gnomes had established massive tribes throughout the forest. Cunning and cruel, they dug intricate tunnel networks beneath rotting roots, moving like ant colonies, always waiting for an opportunity.
Their reproductive capacity was terrifying. Goblins, in particular, had the instinct to abduct females of other races to propagate their own kind.
The people of the Kingdom of Amtyr suffered greatly because of them.
Thus, every year, the Kingdom spent vast sums hiring adventurers to clear out the monsters within the forest.
As a result, small towns centered around adventurers had sprung up along the edges of the Moonshadow Forest.
This place—
Was a paradise for adventurers.
And also their graveyard.
Because deeper within the forest, there were not only low-tier monsters like goblins and gnomes.
Even more powerful creatures lurked in the depths.
Every year, countless adventurers died without a trace.
And yet, more and more continued to flood in, one after another.
Because this place was a paradise of wealth.
A single high-tier monster represented not only a massive bounty—
But also fame.
And so adventurers never grew tired of it.
It was said that deep within the forest, there was also a mysterious place.
Towering gingerbread walls inlaid with hard candy gemstones that shimmered with eerie light. A roof of chocolate from which a never-solidifying syrup waterfall flowed. The air thick with a sickeningly sweet fragrance.
Inside this Candy House lay enough gold and silver treasure to last a lifetime.
Find it—
And you could become rich overnight.
But such information only circulated among certain circles.
Not every adventurer knew of it.
To this day, no one had ever heard of any adventurer discovering this mysterious Candy House.
This—was the information Yalina had gathered over the past few days while purchasing supplies in Jeff Adventurer Town.
One thing worth mentioning—
Prices in that damned adventurer town were outrageously high. Roughly double those elsewhere, which left Yalina deeply frustrated.
She hadn't brought much wealth when she left her hometown. Levi didn't pay wages either—though all supply purchases were paid for with Levi's gold coins.
Levi, however, was wealthy.
He had several pouches of gold coins.
Given to him by Rudolf and his brothers.
After Levi helped them recover their treasure, how could Rudolf and the others be stingy over a few bags of gold?
As long as that donkey that ate leaves and excreted gold remained—they could have as many gold coins as they wanted.
The only condition was that their magic power could sustain it. Otherwise, it would begin consuming their life force.
Everything came at a price.
But that was another matter.
Returning to the present—
With his Gathering Technique, many resources could be obtained directly from nature. In truth, there wasn't much he needed to acquire from human society.
Originally, Levi had planned to purchase a batch of flour from Yalina's father's mill. But due to the Robber Bridegroom incident, he had obtained a batch of flour as spoils, so there was no longer any need to buy from her father.
Thus, Levi's gold consumption remained very slow.
Even if prices in the adventurer town were double—or even triple or quadruple—Levi could still afford it with ease.
It was only the buyer, Yalina, who felt dissatisfied.
As for Levi—he didn't care at all.