Herag's gaze was fixed on the depths of the white mist.

Although he couldn't see, he had already detected something through environmental sensing.

There were short humanoid creatures, holding weapons, charging over.

"Are these... mermaids?" After a moment of recognition, Herag realized.

These mermaids had fish heads and human limbs, wielding weapons like knives, swords, and tridents.

"That direction is towards the lake."

Herag looked at where the mermaids were coming from and guessed they had crawled out of the lake.

He found it strange that the town seemed completely unprepared, never expecting an attack from mermaids.

Moreover, he had discussed this town with others in recent days, and no one mentioned the possibility of a mermaid demon attack.

If these mermaids had originally been in that lake, there should have been some related news.

This thick white mist was undoubtedly the work of these mermaids, and most of the people in the town had already fallen into a deep sleep.

At this moment, when the mermaids charged in, these people became lambs waiting for slaughter.

Herag picked up his longsword, adjusted his armor, and headed out.

The individual mermaids were not strong; to Herag, they were a free source of demon aura, not to be missed.

After leaving the inn, Herag noticed others were also stepping out. They seemed to be exorcists.

"I have to hurry." Herag felt the need to speed up, or else the demon aura would be taken by others.

He drew his longsword, and with agile leaps, left the town, immediately encountering a mermaid.

This mermaid was less than a meter tall, with a fat-headed fish head, holding a short blade.

Seeing Herag, it let out a low growl and charged, waving the short blade at Herag.

The short blade appeared more like a long blade in the mermaid's hands.

Due to its height, the mermaid could only reach Herag's knees.

Herag wouldn't give it a chance to hit him, dodging swiftly out of the way of the slow attack.

With a flash of the longsword, the mermaid's fat fish head flew off, its headless body collapsing to the ground.

A wisp of black qi floated out, and Herag immediately absorbed it into his body.

"Power +0.2, agility +0.3, constitution +0.1."

Herag glanced at the data panel; not much was gained, but it was expected.

The individual strength of the mermaids was too weak; their only advantage was speed, enough against ordinary people or weaker adventurers.

But to Herag, this speed was too slow.

After absorbing the demon aura from the mermaid, Herag looked into the distance, where more mermaids continued to emerge from the fog.

He glanced at the others rushing from behind and then turned to vanish into the thick mist.

With every swing of the longsword, a mermaid fell, its black qi absorbed by Herag.

When Jim, wielding a longsword, reached the town entrance, he saw the mermaid corpses on the ground and glanced into the mist before following in.

He was skilled with a longbow, but it was inconvenient in the mist, limiting his performance.

Three more people stepped out alongside, exchanging glances with each other.

"Shall we work together?"

"No problem."

"The individual strength of these mermaids isn't high. Together, we can reduce the chances of getting injured."

These were some powerful exorcists, naturally unafraid of the mermaids.

The only worry was the thick fog, where hidden mermaids might ambush with an arrow.

With more people, the risk of getting hit by an arrow was reduced.

...

By this time, Herag was deep into the white fog, in a forest surrounded by mermaid corpses.

He discovered that not every mermaid had demon aura; about one in three did.

The mermaids with demon aura were slightly stronger, belonging to the elite among mermaids.

But to Herag, it didn't matter whether they were elite or not.

He specialized in killing elites, for only elites had demon aura.

Herag scanned the area, seeing the forest littered with mermaid bodies, turning the surroundings into a vacuum.

He had lost count of how many mermaids he had slain and just glanced at the data panel.

So far, slaying mermaids had provided him a significant attribute boost.

"Power +3.5, agility +4.2, constitution +3.1."

By killing a bunch of weakling mermaids, he gained such a substantial attribute enhancement.

Herag truly felt the benefits of demon aura and became more in awe of this plane.

He hadn't been here long and hadn't gathered much demon aura.

Herag considered what kind of strength a strong person from this plane, having accumulated aura for years, would possess.

However, he sensed that the amplification of demon aura probably had limits, not allowing endless growth.

Most likely, after absorbing a lot of aura, the increase in physical attributes would gradually decrease.

In other words, where one unit of demon aura previously increased power, later on, it might require ten units to achieve the same.

Due to the small sample size, Herag could not verify his hypothesis.

For now, the issue didn't need consideration, as the attribute boost from absorbing demon aura hadn't changed yet.

Herag glanced around, searching for traces of mermaids.

Initially, they were everywhere, needing no search; now, Herag had slain them all, leaving none visible.

If there were a title for killing mermaids, Herag would have earned 'Mermaid Vanquisher' by now.

Herag suddenly turned around, spotting a man with a longbow on his back and a longsword approaching.

Upon closer inspection, it was Jim from the caravan; he had entered too.

Jim hadn't seen Herag initially, as the white mist obstructed his view.

Close up, he finally saw Herag, whose gaze gave him a fright.

The look in Herag's eyes made Jim feel as if he might be dispatched like a mermaid at any moment.

Jim sensed the aura emanating from Herag and realized he had misjudged earlier.

This was not an exorcist apprentice at all, but a highly skilled official exorcist, very powerful.

When Jim arrived, he was puzzled about who had slain so many mermaids with such ferocity.

Meeting Herag, he finally understood.

"You... you're here too." Jim said awkwardly, unsure what to say.

He kept his distance, not daring to get close to Herag.

Herag chuckled and said, "Couldn't sleep at night, just roaming around and unexpectedly encountered so many mermaids."

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