Incubus Living In A World Of Superpower Users
Chapter 185: The Third Day

Chapter 185: The Third Day

He didn’t stay long. After another drink of water and a quick scan of the area, he moved on again.

This time, the pressure in his chest wasn’t just a warning; it was a sign of something more serious.

It felt more like anticipation, like something was just ahead, just beyond the trees, but he didn’t rush toward it.

He kept his pace steady, eyes open, body ready.

And as the light started to fade again, showing that the end of the second day was coming, and the forest shifted once more, he knew one thing for sure.

He was getting close.

By the time Ethan made it out of the basin, the blue moss behind him was already fading into shadow.

The terrain sloped upward now, not steep, but steady, and the trees became spaced just enough to let in patches of dying light.

He walked without noise. Not because he was trying to hide, but because his body moved in rhythm with the ground.

He passed an outcropping of smooth stone. A piece of bark was lodged in one of the cracks, claw-shaped and fresh. He glanced at it, but didn’t stop.

Whatever lived here was starting to stir. And he could feel it in the tension running through the air.

Still, he walked calmly.

Then the scent changed again. It wasn’t just earth and moss now, as he could also smell a bit of iron in it, faint, distant, but sharp.

Blood.

Ethan turned slightly, angling toward the breeze. He didn’t speed up. Just adjusted.

The trees curved with him. Almost like a natural corridor was guiding his path. Eventually, he came to a wide clearing surrounded by sloped roots.

A quiet, circular space where the trees bent inward and the sky peeked through just enough to cast orange light across the grass.

At the far edge, a corpse lay still—some kind of four-legged predator, long dead, its chest caved in by something larger.

Ethan stepped close, crouched, and scanned the area. The ground was torn up in places. Drag marks. A scuffle. Signs of something bigger passing through here.

He stood again and kept walking.

But just as he crossed the clearing, the system pinged quietly.

[Bronze Rank Progression – 97%]

He didn’t smile. He didn’t celebrate. He just breathed once, slow and quiet.

Then he heard something.

Not a loud roar, or a growl. Just a low rumble beneath the ground. A vibration that spread through the soles of his boots.

He dropped into a low stance automatically, eyes scanning.

The rumble faded.

Then nothing.

Ethan stayed like that for another minute. Then, it slowly eased up.

Whatever it was, it hadn’t come for him.

Not yet.

He moved on again.

And while he did, the forest behind him seemed to thicken. Not just in trees, but in pressure.

The feeling in his chest hadn’t gone away—it had shifted. Like whatever was ahead was watching him too.

He didn’t mind.

He just kept walking.

By the time the trees thinned again and he saw a soft ridge rising ahead, the sun had vanished. The second day was officially done.

He didn’t rest yet.

He climbed the ridge, eyes focused on the tree line. At the top, he found a patch of flattened grass—likely left behind by a group of students who had camped here earlier and then left in a hurry.

There were torn snack wrappers, a half-buried camp marker, and faint boot prints that hadn’t been fully blown over yet.

He sat down and pulled out a protein bar. Ate it quietly while watching the far tree line.

No beasts came.

No students either.

It was peaceful.

But the peace didn’t last long.

The third day arrived with cold wind and gray mist—thicker than the days before. It rolled through the lower valleys and wrapped itself around trunks, moving like smoke from a fire that never ended.

Ethan was already walking again.

He moved through the mist like it didn’t matter. His steps were smooth. His breathing controlled.

And deep inside, the system stirred again.

[Bronze Rank Progression – 98%]

But this time, he sensed something different.

Far ahead, a short burst of light. Then silence.

Not a trap or something similar.

However, it appears to be a fight.

Ethan adjusted the course, but didn’t rush.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the zone, the tension had begun to spread.

Sera Valcrest crouched behind a broken rock ledge, her eyes focused on a fresh trail of crushed leaves. She pressed two fingers to the dirt and examined the pressure marks left behind.

Not students. Beasts. Heavy ones. Large paws. Two dozen at least.

She looked up toward the slope above her. The sound of clashing metal echoed faintly.

Sera didn’t hesitate.

Her spear was already in hand as she darted up the hill, her movements silent, refined. She wasn’t guessing. She was already calculating.

At the top, she found a student, bloodied but alive, fending off a bulky, armored beast. The student’s blade was chipped, his footwork sloppy.

Sera didn’t speak.

She dashed forward and slammed her spear straight through the side of the beast’s head, bypassing the bone with practiced precision. The beast collapsed.

The student looked up, startled, but Sera was already gone.

Deeper in the zone, near a patch of split trees, Mei Ren crouched with her back to a boulder, her eyes closed, blade across her knees.

The forest ahead was quiet, but she could feel the shift.

Beasts were changing patterns.

Where once they avoided groups, now they circled them. Watched. Waited.

She stood and slid her blade into its sheath.

A rustle behind her.

She turned, caught a glimpse of movement, and hurled a throwing knife into the tree.

It sank deep into the wood, just below the head of a small snakebeast that had been creeping closer.

Mei didn’t flinch. She simply walked over, retrieved her blade, and continued forward.

In another corner of the forest, Evelyn crouched on a tree branch again, her eyes scanning a clearing.

This time, it wasn’t just beasts.

It was students, four of them, surrounded on all sides by thin, wiry creatures with bone-white claws. Feral, quiet, and coordinated.