God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"I still think this is a bad idea." He grumbled.

Evangeline shrugged, "It's too late to turn back now. We are almost there."

Indeed, Cain and Evangeline had left the Evil Mountains to hunt down the creature that had sent shivers down her spine.

The entire Island was quite large. The Marsh Plains and the Garden of Self-Reflection were on one side, the Evil Mountains were situated at the center, with the Valley of Death cutting through it to the other side of the Island.

On the other side, there was a great depression in the ground for a few kilometers before a totally new terrain opened up.

"What traits does the creature have?" Cain asked as they raced down the slope.

"There are numerous beasts here, but the true hegemons of this area are the {Steel Spine Gorrilas}. They are a bunch of nasty bastards, I'll tell you that..." Evangeline said, her face frowning as though she remembered a bad memory.

Cain raised a brow, "How so?"

"The most annoying thing about them is their defenses. They are also quite agile, and strong. The only real advantage we have over them is that they have terrible eyesight. Some of them are even blind. They can sense tremors through the ground, though..."

Cain fell into thought, 'So they have a special ability like the {Chaos Trolls}, huh...'

Now even looking at him, Evangeline continued, "I'd advise you not to clash head on with them. These creatures are very strong. The monster we are going to be going after is like the weaker ones, but on steroids..."

Cain didn't know whether to laugh or cry,

"Yeah... This definitely isn't a good idea."

Evangeline rolled her eyes, "Relax, would you? They may have strong resistance to physical damage, but their magic resistance is quite poor."

Cain's mind spun, "That's quite the opposite of the Chaos creatures. Those little buggers have disgusting magic defense, but their physical defense is just slightly above average.

Cain had long since realized that using magical attacks on the {Chaos Goblins} and {Chaos Trolls} was grossly inefficient. Hence, he had opted to use only physical attacks that were boosted by Ki or devil essence against them.

"Either way do be careful. Once this mission is over, I can guarantee we won't leave here without a few benefits." Evangeline said with a smile.

Cain immediately became suspicious, "You aren't telling me something..."

"Why would you ever think that?"

"You are acting suspicious..."

"That is just unreasonable slander..."

"You..."

Massaging his head, Cain eventually gave up. He knew she had no plans to backstab him because there was no need to. They would benefit most by genuinely working together after all. That was the smart way to go about it.

Soon, the sloping ground began leveling out. Looking around, Cain saw all sorts of builders all around him as well as in the distance.

Before he could say anything, Evangeline gave him a signal. He understood immediately. Following her through the maze of rocks, they eventually came around a rather huge boulder after a while. There, Cain could see a small contingent of rather large primates. These creatures looked ferocious. The most prominent feature about them was the steel spikes protruding out of their spines.

Their bodies were covered in black matted fur, and their long canines tore through their lower lips. Their eyes, on the other hand, were hidden behind folds of flesh on their head.

'So this is why she said they are blind.

Cain had no idea why or how a creature had gotten to this stage during its evolution. It was then Cain noticed something quite odd.

Then he smelt it...

The strong, metallic scent of blood.

'W-what is this?!' Cain was stupefied.

The {Steel spine Gorrilas} all stood around a rather deep pit. At the center of this pit was a rather tall tree. Hanging on this tree were numerous purple fruits that resembled very large grapes.

Cain turned to Evangeline who had a look of pure greed in her eyes...

'This...' Cain finally understood.

"You... This is why you came here?!"

"Hm? What?" Evangeline looked at him as though she didn't understand what he was trying to say.

A frown appeared on his face, "This is why you tried convincing me to come here, right?"

A strange look appeared on Evangeline's face,

"That's part of it, but the main goal is still to kill that big guy over there," Evangeline said whilst pointing at the largest gorilla in the vicinity. This one was not only bigger than the rest, but the color of the spikes on its back was pure gold.

Cain was slightly upset at this point,

Sensing his mood change, Evangeline tried explaining herself,

"Those things won't benefit you in the slightest. You knowing about them makes no difference at all."

"It doesn't matter. You should have said something." Cain said coldly. He couldn't deny that he was a bit upset.

"Erh..." The stoic expression on Evangeline's face faltered.

Cain shook his head, "Save it. I'm not interested. Let's just get this over with..."

A painful look appeared in her eyes as she nodded slowly. Turning his attention back to the group of creatures, the frown on his face deepened,

"So how are we going to approach this?"

"When I first tried fighting the big guy, I couldn't even get one hit before I was forced to flee," Evangeline said bitterly.

Cain was shocked, "How is that possible?"

"This creature has an overwhelming affinity to the metal element, and its skills are quite difficult for someone with my skill set to deal with." She said.

Cain still wasn't convinced, "So what are we going to do now?"

Evangeline pointed a finger at him, "That's, where you come in."

His shock deepened, , "Me? How the hell am-"

Cain fell silent...

Seeing this, Evangeline nodded, "I'll leave it in your hand. All you need to do is to provide me with the necessary support while I take the big guy down."

Cain was a bit reluctant, but he eventually agreed. They quickly formed a general plan of action; Cain would fight against the {Steel Spine Gorillas}, while Evangeline would take care of the {Golden Spine Gorilla} with Cain providing timely help once in a while. What this meant was that a majority of the burden of the battle fell on him.

However, he needed her help in dealing with the Chaos creatures. For the plan to work, he had to be prepared to outperform himself.

Luckily, the spells in his possession were not any regular spells. The {Celestial Infernal Arts} were quite reliable after all...

"Be careful of the hole in the center. I have no idea what it is."

Earlier, they had seen a few {Steel Spone Gorrilas} throwing more than a few corpses into the hole. They had no idea why they were doing so. However, it was quite obvious the hole surrounding the tree didn't lead anywhere good. Cain even felt a slightly strange and off-putting feeling from the tree itself.

It wasn't very obvious, but Evangeline seemed quite oblivious to it. The aura of the tree was not only strange, it also felt evil in a way. Evil in the sense that associating with it wouldn't bring them any good.

'It's probably just my nerves...' Still, Cain decided to push those thoughts away and push forward with the plan.

Taking a deep breath, Cain made the first move. He began by chanting a few spells,

"Vampiric Star..."

"Imploding Star..."

"Flame of Darkness..."

His mana pool churned as a vast amount of energy was sucked away from it. He activated three spells simultaneously. This feat was quite difficult to achieve as it it incredible strain on the mind and soul.

However, Cain's mind was incredibly strong. This much barely took any effort. However, Evangeline noticed this anomaly right away. Her eyes narrowed, She began chanting a few spells of her own.

"Blood Moon..."

"Shadows of the Depths..."

Her hands moved through the air as a magic circle expanded and covered the entirety of the area. Dark shadows poured out from within the magic circle and quickly enveloped the entire place and everything within its bounds.

Much to his surprise, Cain realized that he was completely blind within this world of darkness. Then, a blood-red moon suddenly appeared overhead, dying the world around them crimson.

With the light radiating from it, Cain could see Evangeline clearly. Her body was covered in thin lines that converged into a beautiful bloody pattern on her face. The symbols made overlook beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

Cain watched as she stretched her hand out, her middle and index fingers extending beyond the rest of her hand.

A red orb appeared floating in front of other fingers. Her eyelids that were closed slowly opened to reveal her eyes. One had become completely blood red, while the other was filled with boundless shadows.

A second orb appeared beside the red orb. This orb was filled with what he identified to be thick liquid shadows. The surrounding darkness bleed into the shadow orb until all the darkness was gone.

"Blood and Shadow Manipulation: Causality Curse."

The two orbs shot at the {Golden Spine Gorilla}...

"Now!"

Hearing Evangeline's exclamation as she dashed forward, Cain didn't hesitate at all,

"Implode..."

The Dark Sun floating above his head flew like a missile and landed dead in the center of the group of {Steel Spine Gorillas}.

There was a loud explosion, followed by a cacophony of yells and howls...

{Congratulations to the host... You have slain a...}

Cain took a deep breath as dashed forward, magic circles materializing all around him.

'One, two... Twenty?! Twenty-five?!'

Cain counted the number of Aether beasts still left and could he couldn't help by be startled...

He had expected the creatures to be reduced by at least half, with the majority of them having heavy injuries. Thus, much to his dismay, only about ten of the creatures were killed with the initial last with only five suffering major injuries. The rest only suffered from varying degrees of burns.

'Crap! I thought she said their magic defenses were weak?!'

Cain gulped as he watched the infuriated creatures throw him glances filled with anger and malice...