Even in the absence of the sun, the atmosphere had become extremely hot. A few moments ago, the streets were clogged with people, but they were now starting to get empty. It was getting a little creepy.

The paved path was illuminated in a blood-red hue. During this time, two people were walking down the street, masked and disguised.

"I can't take it anymore. It's very hot and exhausting," Eliza said, gasping for air. She was completely drenched in sweat and could hardly walk.

"You were the one who wanted to hurry up, and now you're like this," Karen grumbled. She, on the other hand, was barely perspiring and appeared to have walked only a few steps.

"How can it be my fault? You never warned me that it would get this hot here," Eliza retorted.

Karen defended herself by saying, "I had no idea there was a small 'Dark Power Spot' here."

"What exactly is that?" Eliza was becoming irritated by the number of new things she had to remember every day.

"As you know, the concentration of demonic energy increases as we get closer to the center, but there are a few spots throughout hell where the demonic energy is more concentrated than its surroundings. These are known as 'Dark Power Spots.' But they are extremely rare, so the idea that this city was built around one never occurred to me," Karen explained as simply as she could.

"It explains why I've been feeling a little heavy since I arrived in this city. But why are the other monsters being affected while you are so full of energy?"

"It emits a very pure demonic energy that slowly disperses throughout the surrounding area, turning it saturated with demonic energy," Karen responded. This energy can only be absorbed by demonic races, while it makes the surroundings heavier for other races. Furthermore, humans have the least compatibility with demonic energy, which causes you to become exhausted more quickly. And because I have a noble bloodline of hell, I have the strongest affinity with it, so I'm just absorbing some from my surroundings and recovering myself."

"And here I was thinking your endurance was off the charts," Eliza said, with a light smile and a slightly disappointed tone.

"At the very least, it's a lot better than yours." Karen, on the other hand, did not back down and responded with a smirk.

Eliza wanted to respond, but the exhaustion made it nearly impossible for her to speak while walking. She gave Karen a brief glare before continuing on her way, glancing around.

The view in front of their eyes was changing all the time. The structural improvements were visible to the naked eye. The shops and buildings began to exude a wealthy aura. This proved that they were getting close to their destination.

Karen rested one hand on Eliza's shoulder. "A few of our friends are following us"

"Let us greet them," Eliza said, nodding her head. Because of her sensitivity to mana, she had sensed that they were being pursued as soon as they left the guild house.

'Let's take them out in a deserted alley,' Karen forwarded the message to Eliza.

The paved road they were walking on had several alleyways running alongside it. Eliza spread her senses quickly through the alleyways they were ignoring. She soon came across one that was empty. She quickly grabbed Karen's hand and dashed into the alleyway.

Their pursuers began to close in on them as well. The five pursuers were all dressed in black cloaks to conceal their identities. As they rushed inside the alleyway, they did not see what they were expecting. Eliza and Karen were both standing in front of them, facing them.

They were both unarmed, but there was no fear on their faces. This perplexed the pursuers who stood facing them. They kept facing each other, neither of them making the first move.

Eliza opened her mouth after a few moments, saying, "We already know who you are, so there's no need for you to keep wearing that disguise any longer."

The pursuers were startled when they heard this, but they did not remove their disguise. "I think you didn't hear me clearly, Dij," Eliza said, irritated.

The pursuers' reaction this time was far more serious than before. They took an unintentional step back. The person in the middle then came forward, removing his cloak and revealing his face.

"How did you figure out it was me?" Dij inquired. His eyes were filled with unease.

Eliza replied innocently, "Hmm, just a wild guess." Karen, who was standing next to her, quickly covered her mouth with her hands, but some laughter still leaked out.

Dij was also well aware that Eliza was not telling the truth. "Did you hear it from the Lamia?"

“By Lamia, do you mean Mystis? If so, then I will have to disappoint you. She would like to see me beaten up than help me” Eliza replied nonchalantly. “You should also ask your buddies from the guild to take down their disguise. They must be suffocating from running around in this heat while wearing those cloaks”

When Dij saw that their cover had been completely blown, he signaled his companions to remove their cloaks. They were the same cat people Dij had been seeing at the guild house. They were all armed with metal swords and daggers.

"Alectrona, it would be preferable if you would tell us how you knew we were following you," Dij said as he drew his daggers. His voice had taken on a more menacing tone this time. He gradually began to approach Eliza.

“Wait. Wait. I'll tell you how I know," Eliza said, a scared expression on her face. "The truth is that I have heightened perception as a result of my ability to control mana, so I easily noticed how you began to follow us as soon as we left the guild."

Dij appeared relieved after hearing this response. 'So it was like that,' he summarized. Looking at Eliza and Karen, he said, "Quickly surrender all your belongings and leave."

Looking at Eliza and Karen, he said, "Quickly surrender all your belongings and leave." Eliza was taken aback. "Are you robbing us? What about all that talk about bonding and coming together? Not to mention the part about being brave mercenaries," she asked quietly.

"It was all a ruse to attract fools and then rob them. Outsiders who believe anyone here have already been robbed several times. Now hurry up and quickly remove all your belongings," Dij replied haughtily. As time passed, his confidence started growing.

"What if we don't?" Karen, who was quietly observing the entire situation, asked.

"Don't what?" Dij was taken aback. He hadn't expected the silent Selene to ask him such a question.

"Don't listen to anything you say," Karen said flatly.

Dij laughed involuntarily while brandishing his daggers. "There were those who resisted us, but their bodies are still cold in some slum."

"Then there appears to be no redemption for you all," Karen sighed. 'Don't let a single one escape,' she said to Eliza.

"Wait a minute, what did you just say? Do you think the two of you can take on all five of us, Selene? Nearly half of our stats are in E rank," Dij pointed out to the cat girls standing behind him. One of them, wielding a dagger, charged at Karen.

Dij had expected the girl to easily decapitate Karen, but what happened in front of his eyes shocked him.

Karen, too, had dashed towards the girl. The girl swung a dagger at Karen's throat as she got closer, but it was easily deflected by the bone spear. The cat girl thought she had missed Karen by mistake and vowed to kill her the next time. But the next opportunity, which she had hoped for, never came. Karen deflected the dagger, but the spear reversed direction and pierced the girl's heart, its head protruding from her back.

This all happened so fast that no one was able to warn the girl. Nobody expected Karen to even scratch the girl, let alone kill her so quickly. They'd finally messed with someone they couldn't handle.

Karen, the main culprit in this incident, gently removed the spear from the cat girl's body. "Who's next?" she asked, looking at Dij and his group.

"She must have been lucky this time," Dij said to his companions, gulping. " We all saw their stats on the measuring device. They are weaker than us, and if we attack together, we can easily kill them." The others nodded in agreement. They drew their weapons and advanced on Karen.

Eliza stood off to the side, watching the fight. She was watching to see if anyone would use underhanded tactics and to prevent anyone from fleeing.

Underneath her disguise, Karen smiled as she looked at the four people approaching her. She hadn't fought so many people at once in a long time.

Karen easily avoided the first three people and deflected the sword of the fourth boy. This created an opening, and the boy was murdered in the same manner as the girl before him. Karen was about to turn around when she felt a sword approaching her abdomen from behind. She dodged the blade with a hair's breadth, demonstrating her insane battle instincts. The girl swinging the sword lost her balance, and before she could regain her foothold, the spear pierced her neck, killing her instantly.

Karen then threw her spear at Dij and the other boy as they were quickly approached Eliza, easily impaling the boy.

Dij had reached Eliza by this point. He was considering kidnapping her and fleeing from here. However, the closer he got to Eliza, the more he felt something was off.

Eliza simply swung her hand in his direction, and he felt his head spin and his headless body appear before his eyes. Before he could comprehend what was happening, his decapitated head's eyes went completely dark.

Eliza suddenly realized something while looking around at the dead bodies. “Karen! We're in a lot of trouble. In the heat of the moment, we killed our guildmates."