Just like any other cliché reincarnation novel or manga that I had read back when I was living on Earth, Gaia—the planet I had reincarnated into—had its own fair share of global problems. One large and pending issue that needed to be solved as soon as possible, rather than allowing it to fester, was the planetary invasion it was experiencing.
In short, the world was enduring a casual, absolutely clichéd, and stereotypical demon king invasion. But in this particular situation, the invasion was one caused by the mere presence of Yddra herself.
Yes, that's how bad and annoyed I felt once I came to realize who she was and the magnitude of her choice. Her decision to split her consciousness in order to meet me as early as possible, for whatever reason, had far-reaching consequences.
One of those consequences was attracting the attention of forces—or a particular group of beings—who would be considered her enemies due to her very nature. And such beings had one explicit thing in common: they were all from the "other side."
This "other side" consisted of the lower realms, starting from the Dark-Plane, a dimension that served as the starting point for the dead; then Tartarus, a vast and massive dimensional plane similar to the afterlife known by many names depending on one's perspective; and finally the Abyss, the realm of final nothingness. If the higher realms embodied the concepts of light, goodness, and all that positivity represented, the Abyss was darker, malevolent, evil—essentially your good ol' cup of bad tea in all its nastiness.
Currently, these enemies originated only from Tartarus and, to be more specific, consisted of a group of demon gods who had detected Yggdrasil's fragment, Yddra, when she had entered this universe. Due to her method of entry, fueled by immense life force among other energies, the demon gods who noticed it were quite joyous that a catalyst or being of an opposing nature, powerful enough for even them to perceive through the planar and dimensional walls, had descended. For what purpose? They did not know.
What they did know was that it had landed in the mortal plane, thus initiating a race to spread their subordinates across the planet to pinpoint exactly where Yddra had established herself.
And thus Gaia found itself infested by the subordinates of demon gods—beings equivalent to immortals of the immortal plane in an environment where the strongest native entities were mere demigods. To the demons and their kind, this should have been an easy search and conquer mission, but for those even slightly stronger than a peak Class-5 demigod, the planar passage enacted a nerf beyond imagination.
Sure, they could enter, but the risk-to-reward ratio provided insufficient incentive for them to do so. Thus, to the demon gods' dismay, they had to rely on even lower-ranked immortals who could still maintain an edge, and mostly on demigods as well.
Currently on Gaia alone, the war against demonkind had been raging for more than 2,000 years, dating from when they had first breached the planet's defenses. The strongest on the demons' side was a group of Class-5 peak demon kings—yes, kings plural, not king singular.
According to the hierarchy of demonkind, they followed a nobility system based on several factors, with bloodline and strength being the primary two. The highest demonkind under a demon god was an emperor, below them kings, and so on down the line.
As such, demon emperors were actually beings comparable to tiered immortals. From a certain viewpoint, it felt somewhat skewed when discussing ranks, but that's where the inherent nature of demonkind came into play. Just as the human imagination back on Earth had speculated, demons of any species or bloodline of any rank possessed baseline strength and abilities that put them one or two ranks above a normal person. For example, one couldn't compare a demon baron to a normal D-ranked being; at most, you might compare a weak baron to a normal C-rank.
However, such a blessing came with its own limitations, where without proper care, a normal demon would struggle to even rank up. For them, advancement represented a gulf requiring tremendous—almost double or even higher—resources compared to what a being of another race might need.
With all that knowledge in mind, Shion and I were currently heading toward the northwest of the forest to hunt down intruders who were coming dangerously close to discovering traces of life force greater than what should be detectable in a normal forested area. In short, with the help of the demon gods who had sent these forces, they possessed a reference point for what said gods had sensed during Yddra's arrival.
When I was laying out the protective formation earlier, I had discovered their outpost. And now? Now was the time to cleanly and silently wipe it out.
"Ryan... we're here," Shion whispered, her voice barely audible—a far cry from when she had been shouting my name to the high heavens while searching for me earlier.
Before us, partially concealed by ancient, gnarled trees and dense undergrowth, lay an outpost of the Dark-Walkers—sentries of the actual demon army who specialized in gathering intelligence. According to Shion, who had been informing me about them during our approach, these particular beings had been prowling around the area for the last couple of hundred years after noticing a sudden spike in mana across the whole region. To that, I could only think "oops," considering it might have been caused by my presence and likely Yddra's attempts to better conceal my location.
The Dark-Walkers were nightmare-fuel made manifest. Standing between seven and eight feet tall, their bodies appeared as if sculpted from living shadow—not simply dark-skinned but composed of a substance that seemed to absorb light rather than merely reflect none. Their forms were vaguely humanoid but with proportions that defied natural anatomy; limbs too long and jointed in places no human joints existed, torsos unnaturally thin yet suggesting coiled strength, necks that could rotate beyond natural limitations.
Where their flesh—if it could be called such—met with their internal energy systems, fracture-like patterns emerged across their bodies. These cracks revealed what lay beneath their shadow-skin: networks of pulsing veins that glowed with sickly violet and corrupted amber energies, creating a roadmap of tainted power across their forms. These luminous fissures followed no biological logic, instead forming runic patterns that enhanced their innate abilities while marking their allegiance to specific demon lords.
Their feet ended not in toes but in three long, backward-jointed claws that left distinctive three-pronged tracks in soft earth, allowing them to move with unnatural silence and grip surfaces that should have been impossible to traverse. Their arms terminated in hands with only three digits—each ending in talons easily as long as my forearm and curved like scythes, capable of shearing through armor and flesh with equal ease.
Most distinctive were the chitinous, bone-like protrusions that extended from what would be elbows on a human but were actually auxiliary joints on these creatures. These extensions, reminiscent of insectoid exoskeletons, served both as natural weapons and anchoring points for the dimensional manipulation techniques they employed for short-range teleportation.
Their faces were perhaps the most disturbing aspect of their appearance. No proper head sat atop their shoulders, but rather a bulbous, asymmetrical growth that housed not one but three compound eyes—each composed of thousands of faceted surfaces that constantly shifted and realigned, allowing them to perceive spectrums of light and energy invisible to most beings. These eyes glowed with the same sickly colors as their veins, perpetually scanning their surroundings with calculating intelligence far removed from bestial cunning.
Where a mouth should be, they possessed no lips or jaw but a vertical slit that occasionally parted to reveal row upon row of needle-like teeth arranged in concentric circles, designed not for chewing but for draining both physical and spiritual essence from their prey. No nose was visible, but sensory pits similar to those found on certain reptiles lined what passed for their face, tasting the air for the chemical signatures of fear, power, and life force.
They communicated not through sound but through a combination of telepathic impulses and the modulation of the energies flowing through their veined networks, allowing silent coordination that made them perfect for reconnaissance and ambush tactics. The air around them seemed perpetually colder, as if they absorbed not just light but heat as well, creating micro-climates of dread wherever they gathered in numbers.
In short, they embodied everything a nightmare scout force should be—able to hide, teleport, and hit with devastating force like any other demonkind. Thus making them an overall green-ranked enemy on my personal threat assessment, but an absolute terror to anyone else.
According to my soul sense, which I had deployed to survey the entire ancient cave system they had claimed as their outpost—located about 200 meters ahead of our current position—the place was crawling with around 20 or so of these beings. In essence, a small but elite squad tasked with penetrating deeper into the Groove Canopy to gather intelligence. Why elite? Simple: the weakest among them was an S-rank, and the strongest was a Class-1 demigod.
In my humblest opinion, this seemed like overkill for a reconnaissance squad sent merely to gather information.
"So, here's the plan... the strongest is a Class-1 demigod, and the weakest is S-rank," I said as I faced Shion, being completely straightforward about the enemies before us. "Like we agreed, you're staying..." I raised my hand to silence her when she opened her mouth to protest. "I know you want to fight and learn alongside me, but that's not happening, not in a million years, princess. Besides, you're an S-rank currently in a mess with your mana and abilities, so having you next to me would be more of a liability than a help."
I continued without giving her time to interject. "Whatever worries you have about me, quell them. If I am capable of healing you from the brink of death and madness—a feat that even your goddess would have difficulty performing—I can certainly handle a mere demigod, let alone EX and S-ranks." My tone was final, making it clear I had no interest in her thoughts or feelings on the matter.
Without waiting for a response, I began moving forward, hands already weaving the first preparatory spells. From my open palms, I cast a wide-area silencing and concealment formation, followed by a temporal and spatial lock. The circular formations filled with the necessary runes powered up and deployed around the Dark-Walkers' position.
Time was of the essence if I was to take out this team silently and quickly before they could alert whichever camp they reported to. The last thing the Groove Canopy needed was increased demonic attention. While Yddra's presence was what had drawn them here originally, I couldn't help feeling partially responsible for the current situation. My awakening had likely sent ripples through the local mana environment that these scouts had detected.
The formations expanded outward, the runic patterns glowing briefly before fading into invisibility—still active but undetectable to conventional magical senses. The first formation would ensure that no sound escaped a radius of approximately 300 meters, while simultaneously bending light around the area to make any unusual flashes or movements imperceptible from outside. The second, more complex formation locked the area in a temporal bubble where time inside would flow slightly faster than outside, while also preventing any spatial manipulation techniques—effectively blocking the Dark-Walkers' teleportation abilities.
With these preparations complete, I glanced back once at Shion, whose expression betrayed a mixture of frustration and reluctant acceptance. Her antlers glowed faintly with suppressed emotion, but she maintained her position as instructed.
Satisfied that she would stay put, I turned back toward the outpost, my body already beginning to shimmer with accumulated power. This wouldn't be a prolonged engagement—just a quick, surgical elimination of a threat to the forest and, by extension, to Yddra's recovery.
Besides, after days of dealing with Shion's persistent presence, I welcomed the opportunity to release some pent-up aggression. These demons had the misfortune of becoming convenient targets for my accumulated frustration.
As I approached the outer perimeter of their base, I felt a cold smile form on my lips. These creatures had no idea what was about to hit them—no concept of the power levels I operated at. They were used to being the apex predators on this planet, faced only with demigods who, while powerful by local standards, were nothing compared to what I had become.
I reached the edge of their detection range and paused, gathering my power for the assault. Time to introduce these interlopers to a force they hadn't accounted for in their invasion plans.
The hunt had begun in earnest.