Chapter 460: The Murloc Slayer

Helag’s gaze remained fixed on the thick white fog.

Though he couldn’t see clearly, his environmental scan had already revealed something.

It was a group of short humanoid creatures, armed with weapons, charging toward the town.

“Murlocs?” Helag squinted, finally recognizing them.

These creatures had fish-like heads but human-like limbs, wielding weapons such as swords and tridents.

“They’re coming from the direction of the lake,” Helag noted, guessing that the murlocs had crawled out of the lake nearby.

Something felt off. The town seemed completely unprepared, as if they had never expected an attack from murlocs.

In the past few days, Helag had spoken with others about the town, and no one had mentioned the possibility of a murloc attack.

If these murlocs had always been in the lake, there should have been some prior warning or rumors.

The thick fog was undoubtedly the work of the murlocs, and most of the townspeople had already fallen into a deep sleep.

With the murlocs now invading, the townspeople were like lambs to the slaughter.

Helag grabbed his long sword, adjusted his armor, and headed out.

Individually, the murlocs weren’t particularly strong. To Helag, they were easy targets, each one offering demonic aura that he couldn’t afford to pass up.

As Helag left the inn, he noticed others stepping out as well—likely exorcists.

“I’d better hurry,” Helag thought. If he didn’t move quickly, others might claim the demonic aura before he could.

Drawing his sword, Helag moved swiftly, leaping several times until he was outside the town, where he immediately encountered a murloc.

This murloc was less than a meter tall, with a fat fish head and a short sword in its hand.

Upon seeing Helag, the murloc let out a guttural growl and charged at him, swinging its short sword.

In the murloc’s hands, the short sword looked more like a long sword.

Due to its height, the murloc could only aim for Helag’s knees.

But Helag wasn’t about to let it get that close. With a quick sidestep, he easily dodged the slow attack.

With a flash of his sword, the murloc’s fish head flew off, and its headless body collapsed to the ground.

A wisp of black mist rose from the corpse, and Helag immediately absorbed it.

“Strength +0.2, Agility +0.3, Constitution +0.1.”

Helag glanced at his status panel. The increase wasn’t much, but it was expected.

The murlocs were too weak individually. Their only advantage was their speed, which was enough to overwhelm ordinary people or weaker adventurers.

But to Helag, they were far too slow.

After absorbing the murloc’s demonic aura, Helag looked into the distance. More murlocs were emerging from the fog, heading toward the town.

He glanced back at the others who were now joining the fight and then disappeared into the fog.

Each time Helag swung his sword, a murloc fell, and a wisp of black mist was absorbed into his body.

Jim, carrying his long sword, arrived at the town’s entrance and saw the bodies of murlocs scattered on the ground. He looked into the fog and followed after Helag.

Jim was skilled with a bow, but the thick fog limited his effectiveness, forcing him to rely on his sword.

Three other exorcists joined him, and they exchanged glances.

“Let’s work together.”

“Agreed.”

“These murlocs aren’t strong individually, but working together will reduce the chances of getting hurt.”

The exorcists weren’t afraid of the murlocs, but the thick fog made it difficult to see, and there was always the risk of a hidden murloc launching a surprise attack.

By working together, they could reduce the chances of being caught off guard.

***

Helag had already ventured deep into the fog, reaching a forest filled with murloc corpses.

He noticed that not every murloc had demonic aura. On average, only one in three murlocs possessed it.

The murlocs with demonic aura were noticeably stronger, likely the elites of their kind.

But to Helag, it didn’t matter whether they were elites or not—they all fell the same.

He targeted the elites, as they were the ones with demonic aura.

Looking around, Helag saw that the forest was now littered with murloc bodies, and the area had become a dead zone.

He had lost count of how many murlocs he had killed, but a quick glance at his status panel showed the results.

“Strength +3.5, Agility +4.2, Constitution +3.1.”

Just from killing a group of weak murlocs, Helag had gained a significant boost in his attributes.

For the first time, Helag truly appreciated the benefits of demonic aura and gained a newfound respect for this plane.

He hadn’t been here long, and the amount of demonic aura he had absorbed wasn’t much.

Helag wondered what kind of strength a native of this plane would have after accumulating demonic aura for years.

However, he suspected that there was likely a limit to how much demonic aura could enhance one’s attributes. It probably wasn’t possible to increase endlessly.

Most likely, as more demonic aura was absorbed, the gains would diminish.

In other words, what used to increase his strength by one point might eventually require ten times the amount of demonic aura to achieve the same result.

But Helag didn’t have enough data to confirm this theory yet.

For now, it wasn’t something he needed to worry about. At least for the time being, the attribute boosts from absorbing demonic aura hadn’t changed.

Helag scanned the area, searching for more murlocs.

Earlier, they had been everywhere, but now, after his slaughter, none were in sight.

If there were a title for killing murlocs, Helag would have surely earned the title of “Murloc Slayer” by now.

Suddenly, Helag turned around and saw a man with a longbow and sword approaching.

It was Jim from the caravan.

Jim hadn’t seen Helag at first due to the thick fog, but as he got closer, he finally spotted him. Helag’s intense gaze startled him.

That look made Jim feel as though he might be mistaken for a murloc and killed on the spot.

Sensing the aura Helag was giving off, Jim realized he had misjudged him earlier.

This man wasn’t an apprentice exorcist at all—he was a full-fledged exorcist with exceptional control over his aura, and his strength was formidable.

When Jim had arrived and seen the sheer number of dead murlocs, he had wondered who could have done it.

Now, after meeting Helag, he understood.

“You… you’re here too?” Jim said awkwardly, unsure of what else to say.

He kept a respectful distance, not daring to get too close to Helag.

Helag smiled and replied, “I couldn’t sleep, so I came out for a walk. Didn’t expect to run into so many murlocs.”