God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain stood over the corpses of the fallen devils with a pondering expression.

'It works.'

The magic signals the devils sent out upon death could still be considered spells or skills. {Seal} is a spell capable of cutting off the flow of mana for low-level spells and skills completely. Hence, Cain was able to stop the devils from sending the magic death signals out.

Cain looked down at the new devils of which he had never seen before, the {Sentinel Drones} he had personally laid to waste. They looked even more unique than the other devils he had seen previously. They had dark shadowy eyes with red centers covering their entire body structure as well as thin tendrils of fleshy material dangling from underneath them.

'From the looks of it, they served as the sentries of the devils. The only question here is, what exactly do these devils need sentries for?'

"You could have saved some for me, you know?" Jenny walked up to Cain with a slightly annoyed expression on her face. The frown on her face only served to boost her already insane beauty and seductiveness even further. However, as Cain was only focused on the matter at hand, he couldn't acknowledge the fullness of the beauty standing before him.

"Sorry... I will try to leave some for you next time." Cain apologized.

Jenny rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively, "It's okay. They are only normal-tier devils anyway. There isn't much to be gained from them."

Apart from dropping a single bottle of HP regen potion, the {Sentinel Drones} failed to provide anything else. The {Blade Devils} on the other hand managed to drop a few more things than the {Sentinel Drones}.

A single {Mark of Bestial Strength} rune as well as an HP and MP regen potion were the only loots available apart from their devil cores.

"The spoils are mine," Evangeline said as she moved out from the shadows, grabbing all the fallen loot as well as carving out all the devil cores in one breath, before disappearing back into the shadows.

'So stingy...' Cain couldn't believe his eyes.

"What's her deal?" Jenny said with a huff.

"You mean Evangeline?" Cain asked.

"That's her name, huh..."

"Yeah. To be honest, I don't know much about her or anyone else in the group. We were all strangers before the apocalypse. But as victims of circumstance, we are now forced to fight together." Cain said, looking deeply at Jenny.

"I see..." Jenny said nothing more.

"Alright. Enough of that, let's go..." With that, Cain activated his {Dark Cloak} on both Ruby and himself, rushing deeper into the forest.

'Seems like my suspicions were correct. They aren't a solid team, and will be easily broken apart at the slightest prodding.' A dangerous light flashed within Jenny's beautiful eyes as she followed after Cain, activating her {Cloak} spell.

***

'System, I need a list of all the devils present within this forest...'

{Replying to host: Request processing...}

{Request Affirmed...}

{Replying to host: Most of the devils within this forest cannot be classified as true devils. There are only three true devils within this forest. A {Flame Devil}, which is the huge devil the host had seen previously, a {Phantasma} or {Soul Devil}, which is the devil that attacked the host previously, and a {Broodmother}, which is also called a {Mother Devil}...

{The Mother Devils are mid to high-level devils that birth the specie of devils known as sub-devils. The {Miasma Devils}, {Devil Fighters}, {Blade Devils}, {Bladeless Devil Imps}, and so on, are prime examples of spawn devils. These devils are just low-level offspring of the {Mother Devil} that have a low chance of evolving into full-fledged devils once they are given enough time and resources}.

{There are numerous types of devils, but for now, those are the only three present within this entire stretch of forest. Their levels are currently indeterminable...

{It is important for the host to note that the spawn devils are just fodder that have a small chance of evolving into something more terrifying}.

'Hmm...' Cain's eyes narrowed as he realized just how important this piece of information was. He had just figured out what that huge devil from earlier was.

'So the devils I've been fighting so far aren't even real devils, but watered-down versions? Fodder?'

{Replying to host: Affirmative...}

Cain: "..."

'What of the spawn devils? Just how many types exist within this forest, and what can each one do?'

{Replying to host: Even amongst spawn devils, there exists a hierarchy. This hierarchy is built upon the tier and level structure...}

Cain watched as a new pop-up hologram appeared before his eyes. Focusing on it, it opened up to reveal the information he had requested.

***

{Burrower Devil}: Normal-tier, level 1 spawn devils. The base form of numerous spawn devils. Characterized by their small sizes, and exceptional burrowing capabilities. Responsible for the creation of devil nests.

Skills: Burrow, Incubate.

Intelligence: Very low.

{Bladed Devil Imps}: Normal tier spawn devils with levels ranging from levels 1 to 10. Characterized by their oily black skin and sharp claws and canines for attacks.

Skills: Nil.

Intelligence: Moderately Low.

{Sentinel Drones}: Normal tier spawn devils with levels ranging from levels 1 to 10. Characterized by their omnidirectional sight abilities, perfect for their jobs as scouts and sentries.

Skills: Sentry level 1, Magic Pulse.

Intelligence: Low.

{Blade Devils}: Elite-tier spawn devils, with levels ranging from levels 5 to 10. Characterized by their bladed forearms, and body-strengthening skills.

Skills: Body Strengthening level 1.

Intelligence: low-Mid.

{Devil Fighters}: Elite-tier spawn devils, with levels ranging from levels 10 to 15. Similarly to the {Bladed Devils}, they are characterized by their bladed forearms, as well as strong body strengthening skills.

Skills: Body Strengthening level 2, Instant acceleration level 1

Intelligence: Mid.

{Miasma Devils}: Special-tier spawn devils, with levels ranging from levels 15 to 20. The primary method of attack is with tentacles and poison. Can turn creatures uninfluenced by Mana into zombies.

Skills: Tentacle barrage, Infection, Poison cloud.

Intelligence: High-Mid.

{Hulking Behemoth}: Deadly tier spawn devils, with levels ranging from levels 30 to 50. Direct guards of the {Broodmother}. Very strong with a wide range of abilities.

Skills: Unknown???

Intelligence: Unknown???

{Appendages}: Deadly tier spawn devils, with levels ranging from levels 20 to 30. Connected directly to the {Broodmother}, and are used to mutate and gather nutrients and resources from surrounding plant life, as well as transport said nutrients from the {Broodmother} to other devils and vice versa.

They are also used to absorb god ash from the atmosphere to feed and increase the growth of the {Broodmother}.

Skills: Mutation, Mana drain.

Intelligence: Same as Broodmother's.

***

Cain stared at the pop-up for a while before closing it.

'So there are eight types of spawn devils. If I had to guess, then those {Appendages} should be those grotesque-looking tree membranes that just appeared out of nowhere.' Cain suddenly understood why the system referred to them as a part of the forest.

The {Appendages} were connected to the {Broodmother}, and as a result, was a part of it. But they were also a part of the forest because one of their aims was to mutate a certain part of the forest and essentially turn it into a body part of both the {Broodmother} and the forest.

It could stretch from the {Broodmother} into the ground, travel as far as it could into the roots of trees before corrupting them until it had completely taken over and turned them into a disgustingly perverse 'creature'. However, as it was still a part of the broodmother, it wasn't an individual creature, but more of a body part.

'So far, I have come across most of these devils. With the power I currently possess, I will be able to handle most of them. The only problem here is if I should encounter 3 to 5 of those {Hulking Behemoth Devils} at once, I'm as good as dead.

Although Cain was confident, he wasn't as arrogant as he was during the first days of the apocalypse. His arrogance had reached an all-time low thanks to the experiences he had gathered during a very short span of five days.

He knew what he was and wasn't capable of.

The strongest creature he had faced, the {Devil-eyed White Primate} was a deadly-tier mutant beast with all sorts of deadly skills. It had been a hard fight, but he had come up on top. He had also gained a lot more power since then.

However, he couldn't help but seriously doubt whether he had what it took to take five similar creatures down at once. And the fact remained that they would most likely be of a higher level than the {Devil-eyed White Primate}. Not only that, but devils were inherently more powerful than mutant beasts by nature.

***

A few minutes had passed before Cain, Jenny, and Evangeline stumbled across their first checkpoint.

{Appendage}, but this time, it was bigger and plumper than the one Cain had Evangeline taken down previously.

Unlike the other one, this one was also covered with spawn devils of all shapes and sizes attached all around it. There were a few {Sentinel Drones} circulating the area as well. Whenever a mutant beast that was trying to hide or escape was spotted, the {Sentinel Drones} would send a {Magic Pulse} to the other devils.

Once this happened, either of two things could follow.

One, the creature was captured and strangulated to death by the {Appendage}, its bones crushed into powder, and its eyes filled with agony as its soul left its body.

Or two, it was caught by a few spawn devils and torn to shreds in an instant...

Cain watched as either of these two things happened, his disgust becoming visible with each passing second. Cain didn't know why, but he had a natural sense of disgust toward the devils that refused to go away regardless of how hard he tried to ignore them.

All he wanted to do was to go out there and rain bloody murder on the vile creatures, but he fought against the feeling hard and turned around to face Ruby, Jenny, and Evangeline who had just deactivated their stealth.

In a very low whisper, he said, "We need to destroy that {Appendage}, but to do that, we will need to make sure none of the devils are around, and the ones who stay would need to be killed instantly, just like before."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Jenny couldn't help but ask.

Cain turned to Ruby with a perverted smile on his face, "Bait... We will need bait."

It took a moment for it to sink into the poor bear, but once it got the idea, its ears dropped down dejectedly,

"Not again..."