Is this really a Game?!

"Phew, they left," Shadow said suddenly before lying down on the ground.

He and the others had used up pretty much everything they had except their marks and boosts, and yet they were barely able to pressure the demons who were clearly not going all out.

If the demons had gone all out, then the situation would have turned dire as they only had their marks that could be used currently, as all of their boosts were still on cooldown.

Reign nodded at Shadow before they all headed and sat at a nearby rock.

They weren't even at their top form at this moment as they were woken up in the middle of the night.

First, they needed to go and explain what had happened to the players before going back to their building.

They doubted that the demons would show up again as their fight had made it clear that Reign and the others weren't pushovers and that even with the power they had shown, they could inflict serious damage and perhaps even kill some of the Tier II demons that had appeared.

As for the demons, they had actually gone back to their base. Not the one on the first mountain, but the base from where they came.

Upon arriving at the center of the base thanks to using the gem, the demons glanced around the area before making their way up to their master.

The five all had the same master, as did Arash who was once a part of the group.

Upon being punished and sent to the base on the first mountain, Arash had naturally fallen behind the rest of the group since he was unable to level up on the first mountain.

He mostly spent his time meditating and using other means of leveling up, which was the basic method of drawing mana to oneself and letting it course through the whole body and strengthen it.

The method worked and Arash did become stronger during his time on the first mountain, but only for a little bit since the method was much slower compared to simply hunting other beings and leveling up.

The demons arrived at their master's residence and respectfully kneeled down before the door opened and a demon wearing a suit glanced at them.

"The master is expecting you." The demon said as the five stood up and came to the door.

All five of them nodded gracefully at the butler before entering the mansion and headed toward the main room where their master was probably waiting for them.

Upon entering, all five once again kneeled down and stared at the floor, simply waiting for their master to speak.

"Has it been done?"

"No, we have failed, master." The tall demon spoke.

"Oh, you have failed?" The master spoke in an intrigued voice, "Explain."

"The humans and the ogre that was responsible for Arash's death were all Tier II, they had recently evolved, but their strength was beyond our expectations, upon fighting them, we realized that and came back, fearing that there might be more Tier II beings nearby that might attack us together with them."

The demon that possessed the blood lightning spoke this time, making the master raise an eyebrow.

"Oh, all seven are Tier II, and they were powerful enough to contend against you?"

"Yes, we didn't use everything we had, but they were suppressing us, I also suspect they didn't go all out either, but I can't say to what extent their powers were."

"I see, then you have made the correct choice, we will send a larger party and destroy them."

"Umm, I don't know if we will be able to do that, master." The demon with the blood lightning said.

"Why not?"

"It seems like that wasn't their main base, also, there was something the humans said as we were leaving after using the shroud gem."

"They said that they would be paying us a visit in order to return our hospitality."

"Hahahahahahahahah!" The whole mansion started shaking from the laughter of the master.

The five were all visibly shaken as well as their master was releasing his aura together with his laughter.

The mansion was protected by a powerful array, and as such, no sound or aura leaked outside.

"They will return our hospitality, that truly humors me, some lowly humans that had only recently entered Tier II would dare say such a thing, I do want to meet them, perhaps crush their skulls with my own bare hands, but I will let you do that." The master suddenly spoke.

"Alright, then let them come, as for you five, you shall continue with your training, I do wish to see just how powerful these arrogant humans are before crushing them." The master said as he smiled dangerously, his bloodthirst made the five who were kneeling down shudder a bit before excusing themselves.

The truth was, although the five demons were talented, there were multiple groups of demons that were just as talented and powerful as they were and many more that were above them.

The truth was that the mountain range wasn't an area where the monsters were Tier I, II, and III, but Tier IV as well.

The master that the demons had visited was such a demon.

He was one of the most powerful demons in the enormous mountain range and he had many squads that were directly under his command.

The squad that was sent to Reign and the others was merely one of many, they were not special in any way for the master who simply picked them since Arash, one of his men was a part of the squad.

As for the threat that Reign and the others possessed?

He had seen multiple demons who were as powerful as the five before him when they just evolved, it didn't make him think they were anything special at all.

The threat they possessed was still there, but it was abysmally low for the old demon.

Reign and the others had managed to calm the players down and had explained everything to them.

They didn't lie to the players or tried to cover things up but simply told them the truth about what had happened.

They also told them that they didn't know if the demons would return, which meant that for the following couple of days, the players were banned from entering the mountain as the threat of encountering Tier II demons was still present.

After doing so, the party all went back to their rooms and went to sleep.

It wasn't easy to fall asleep after fighting against the five demons as many thoughts were present in their heads, but they knew that they would be facing off against the more powerful beings of the mountain range sooner or later and had to deal with them.

In the worst-case scenario, if more powerful demons arrived on the mountain, then they would simply find a new place that they would use for leveling up before becoming more powerful and returning.

The system had made it incredibly easy for all the players to level up, and they would of course use that to their advantage as long as it was there.

The following four days passed uneventfully.

Reign and the others were the only ones that would go to the mountain before traveling to the other ones that were nearby.

They had come across some demons, but they were mostly Tier I demons that belonged to some smaller bases nearby and weren't a threat at all.

No powerful demon had appeared on the first mountain, and as such, Reign and the others had deemed it safe for the other players to use once again.

The other players were at first a bit skeptical but soon started appearing on the mountain.

After knowing that Tier II demons had appeared on the mountain, even without Reign and the others barring them entry, most of the players would have stopped going there.

But after a full 4 days had passed, there was no need for them to continue doing so, and had returned.

The players had actually managed to find other places where Tier I monsters and higher appeared, but the mountain was the only place where they had a portal and a safe zone.

The other places were simply too inconvenient to visit since they needed to travel for a long time in order to get to them.

Some players had even formed large squads and camped out in those areas, usually staying for 2 – 3 days before returning.

Everything was slowly coming into place.

As time passed the players became stronger and stronger, and after a couple of weeks, Tier II players started appearing.

Their territory was getting more people as well since the players that went out to explore managed to find other safe zones, villages, and even small towns.

Reign and the others built relationships with the other territories, they made portals that connected their territory with theirs and there were even those that abandoned their territory and joined them.

More challenges appeared and Reign and the others took part, always taking first place while the Ice Angels would be second.

There were no more hidden tasks to be done, which made the rewards not that great for Reign and the others, but considering that barely any time would pass outside, they would always do them.

And just like that, 3 months passed.