Kill The Old Ones!

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Ren went out solo today...

He allowed Lily to join Diana’s team to clear monsters near the camp and earn merit points. As much as he’d like to, he can’t always attach his girlfriend to his hip. She needs her agency and freedom. Besides, it was Lily who wanted to join Diana, and he couldn’t really say no to her.

That left him by himself. And sure, he could’ve formed a team on his own, but he’s used to doing things solo. He’s got no patience waiting for others to keep up with him, except Lily, of course.

His journey was to the west of the camp. Yes, he’s going to get a closer look at that creepy and foggy area.

Ren had plans on stepping inside that area. He’s not stupid enough to go in there blindly. He will only stay near enough to see it with his own eyes. He doesn’t plan on getting nearer unless he’s sure that he can leave if he wants to.

The reason why Ren was so guarded about this place was because of his canon knowledge.

Although he tells everybody that he has no idea what lies beyond this fog and what exactly was causing it. The truth is, he knows. He knows exactly what it is.

And in the canon story, it was the most challenging and most immediate source of danger for the participants.

It’s a Nightmare Fog Demon...

Nightmare Fog Demons are among the strongest monsters on the 1st floor. Even in there, they rarely make an appearance, and when they do, they always come with that signature nightmare fog of theirs.

This fog was extraordinary; else it wouldn’t be called a ’Nightmare Fog’ and wouldn’t be attached to the name of the demon itself.

It could cause hallucinations of one’s Heart Demon—their deepest insecurities, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses, the very things that they run away from...the moment this fog touches them, all those visions will immediately flood their consciousness.

The only defense against this was one’s willpower. Not martial realm, not chakra volume or quality, not skill or martial technique—willpower alone. And it could only be resisted.

This fog latches to its targets, and when it does, that’s the moment the demon begins draining them of their spirit, their soul, and later, their body. The longer one stays within the fog, the more intense the visions get.

Again, it doesn’t matter whether the practitioner was way stronger than the demon physically. This fog attacks one’s mind and could only be resisted by willpower alone. Even those beyond the Inhuman Realm could fall into this if their willpower was proven to be weak.

This fog cannot be scattered by the wind; even techniques carrying the profound charm of Wind Laws could hardly disperse this fog. It’s a domain formed around the demon itself, and the only way to truly get rid of it was to kill the source.

The good news is that, with Ren’s knowledge, he knows that the demon was imprisoned—it’s stuck in this place and cannot move, hence why the fog doesn’t creep forward or onwards either.

In reality, this demon had been here for a long time.

It appeared during the last appearance of this secret realm and was bound here by the collaborative efforts of the past participants. None of them were strong enough to kill it, so they could only bind it to this place.

Despite being trapped here for more than 100 years, the demon was still alive. It’s greatly weakened, yes, but it’s still here. It managed to sustain its life by preying on smaller and stupid monsters who mistakenly wander within its domain. It siphons their vitality to keep itself alive while occasionally attempting to shatter the cage that trapped it for so long.

Had it not been for Ren’s vigilance and initiative, some people would’ve already wandered into this area. And the more they do, the more nourishment they provide to the demon. Eventually, it will recover enough strength to break out of its cage, and a true nightmare will descend to this trial.

The thing is, the world system will not interfere. It will only observe indifferently and record the information; that’s it. It will not eliminate or expel the demon from this realm even though it’s making it disrupt the fairness and balance of the trial.

Hell, it wouldn’t even interfere if it managed to accidentally follow the teams too, either to the first floor or back to the basement floor. The world system will only watch.

If one Nightmare Fog Demon is enough to trample the human race into nothingness, then that’s their fate. It will not interfere with that. It will only remark that the humans were surprisingly disappointing and weak.

That didn’t happen in the canon, by the way...

In the canon, the Nightmare Fog Demon had, indeed, regained its freedom and caused massive grief to contestants. It was Sieg, with the help of Aria, Lily, and Diana, who repelled it.

Actually, no. It wasn’t Sieg. It’s his master.

Sensing that Sieg was in grave danger and that the Nightmare Demon Fog was attempting to corrupt him and take over his body, the old man made a move that severely injured the demon.

They managed to cripple the demon but not kill it. It fled to where it came from, returning to the depths of the 1st Floor. Sieg will encounter it again later for a revenge plot.

The old man, on the other hand, will fall into deep slumber and will not recover until Sieg is about ready to enter the 2nd floor.

Well, Ren’s appearance had caused some plot divergence here because it was him who’s also responsible for the old man falling into slumber early. As for how long it’d take for him to recover, even Ren doesn’t know, and frankly, he doesn’t care.

Ren’s main concern is this demon. He wants to kill it to prevent a tragedy and a catastrophe.

This demon wasn’t just going to be a problem in this secret realm and for Sieg in the canon future. It will, somehow, manage to preserve a little bit of its essence and fall into the Basement Floor and make matters worse there.

Ren doesn’t have to be afraid of that since, because of his interference, the human civilization, as a whole, was stable. The Cult of the Lost Lambs had no teeth and were reduced to mere rats hiding in the sewers. The monarchs and the emperor were still standing strong and capable.

If a weakened Nightmare Fog Demon falls and tries to infiltrate there, it will surely be sensed and will immediately die. Especially since the Martial Gods are currently very alert.

But of course, if Ren could help it, why bother them?

’Yep, it’s malnourished, alright.’

That’s what he confirmed once he scanned deeper.

Since he’s closer to the demon’s domain, his control over his sensory network has become better. This allowed him to see into the fog better without alerting the demon. And from what he had seen, it was, indeed, in a very vulnerable state.

It looked like a dried crop of an alien. It’s curled like a fetus inside a cage, surrounding by a thick swirl of its nightmare fog. The cage around it was still shimmering with a faint light; the inscriptions on it were still active but had been massively weakened. It’s being constantly eroded by the demon’s powers and being damaged from within.

Its self-repair functions had been damaged so much that it’s barely working or keeping up. The demon was smart enough to aim its attacks there to plan its own escape. The fact that this cage was still here even after more than a hundred years, imprisoning this creature for so long without breaking, was already incredible impressive.

The demon hasn’t sensed him—or it might have, but it’s too weak to do anything, or it’s just acting like it didn’t to lure him in, whatever it was; it cannot be denied that it’s far from its prime. And it’s using whatever’s left of its vitality to keep the fog domain active, for it’s its last life support.

"That thing needs to die," Ren muttered to himself. "Preferrably, before this week ends."

He then swung a punch to the side, blowing up a monster that was about to wander into the fog. He didn’t want to provide another meal for the demon. He wants to starve it.

Ren checked the shop list for a bit and clicked his tongue when he saw that what he wanted wasn’t available there.

"Well, it’s not much, but if it helps to weaken this thing even more, then it’s more than enough."

Ren took out some dried feces from his bag of holding. One of those he harvested from his hunts a couple of days ago.

He then ran around the outskirts of the fog, scattering dried feces and leaving scratches on the environment along with fake energy signals.

Ren was forming a barricade around the fog, a deterrance line that sends a message to other monsters that this territory was occupied by an extremely strong and territorial monster; that way, the weaker beasts will stay away from here and won’t get into the fog—essentially starving the demon and weakening it even further.

"I doubt that this will be enough to completely kill it, but this will do, for now. I’ll return here once I’m confident that I could really kill it."