Chapter 6: My Damn Crow Mouth.

Humming a cheerful tune, Suna carefully inspected the small, dark green pyramid inscribed with runes and eye patterns.

She wiped the dust from its surface with a cloth.

“Once the interference barrier is lifted, the human empire will come sniffing around soon.

When they pick up Skoll, I can collect my bonus and enjoy a well-earned paid vacation.”

After placing the delicate pyramid in her backpack, Suna prepared to dismantle the small perception magic arrays she’d set up around Korez Town and clear out her temporary bases.

But as she headed to the first base, her perception barrier, formed by those arrays, detected a group of strange visitors.

Forced to pause her cleanup, Suna shifted her focus to these newcomers.

Hiding quietly atop an abandoned tower, Suna enhanced her vision to observe a scene two kilometers away.

At the checkpoint outside Korez Town’s low northern wall, three visitors, dressed unlike ordinary travelers, presented their credentials to the guards.

Seated in an open-top magic jeep, they wore black leather cloaks, hunter tricorn hats, and masks covering their mouths and noses.

Their hands were gloved, and their laced boots were designed for agility.

Their equipment wasn’t standard issue but specialized—enchanted weapons and small gadgets concealed within their coats.

“Hm? These must be members of the human empire’s Demon Hunter Guild.

Their attire suggests they’re from… some major faction.”

Suna furrowed her brow, struggling to recall the specific name.

As demon hunters, their primary duty—beyond clearing low-intelligence, high-threat magical beasts—was to track dangerous demons, ancient cultists, and their creations within the empire.

In short, they were Suna’s “natural enemies,” as a shapeshifting beast clearly fell within their purview.

“Tch, with these guys here, I need to erase my traces and get out fast.

But the empire’s Knight Patrol, here to collect the hero candidate, hasn’t arrived yet.

This place is too remote—they’ll take longer to get here!”

Suna’s concern stemmed from Korez Town’s isolation.

During the last Iron Wall War, the town’s southern edge was blasted into a crescent-shaped canyon, kilometers long and hundreds of meters wide, cutting off all major south-to-north roads.

Reaching this former northern battlefield logistics hub now required a long detour through other frontline towns.

“I can’t just abandon Skoll… ugh, trouble.”

Mid-sentence, Suna noticed one of the demon hunters—a woman—staring directly at her position, eyes narrowing as if locking onto a target.

Before the guard could clear their vehicle, the woman leaped from the jeep and sprinted toward Suna.

“Damn, I stared too long and got noticed.”

Muttering, Suna flipped off the ten-meter-high tower without hesitation.

As she landed without cushioning, bird cries echoed above.

Five black ravens dove toward her.

Though tense, Suna waved a hand in their direction.

“Corrosive Mist Spike.”

Her fingertips split, spilling blood that swelled into scarlet spiked orbs floating in the air.

As the ravens tried to dodge, the orbs exploded.

A rain of spikes shredded three ravens instantly.

The survivors, crashing through the scarlet mist left by the explosion, had their feathers and flesh corroded in moments.

As the ravens died, their bodies vanished, leaving only a single damaged feather drifting in the air.

“Now I remember—they’re from the Raven Faction!”

Recognizing the magic, Suna darted into a maze of alleys.

As she ran, she shrank her body.

At a corner, she slipped behind a wall, fully suppressing her aura and halting.

In the next moment, she overloaded all her perception arrays across Korez Town.

With the town blanketed in uniform magical signatures mimicking her own, Suna peeked from the corner, raised her right hand, and pointed her index and middle fingers at two black dots in the sky.

“Corrosive Blood Melt.”

An invisible curse shot out.

Without waiting to confirm the hit, Suna moved on with her shrunken legs, grabbing a tattered cloth from alley debris to use as a cloak.

She slowed her pace, blending into the slum’s crowd.

Though the hunters’ aerial familiars fell as melted flesh, Suna, in full disguise, still sensed the hunters locking onto her general location.

Their perception magic swept the area like a lighthouse beam.

But Suna remained calm.

The strongest among them was no higher than her own golden-tier rank.

She was confident unless they were within meters or touched her for long.

“Hmph, slipping away under their noses will probably drive them mad.”

Pleased with her escape, Suna froze as the female hunter, cloaked in a feathered black cape like a raven, appeared on her path ahead.

[My damn big mouth.]

Cursing herself, Suna mimicked the other slum dwellers, dodging the hunter as if avoiding a predator.