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Chapter 331: - Demon Miners

"Isn\'t it easy to tell players and NPCs apart?" Broken asked, voicing his curiosity. After all, names hovered above their heads, distinctly marked by different colors.

"Demons just don\'t know much about us players," Marlene responded. "So they don\'t really pay attention to things like that," she added, mentioning the floating names above their heads.

They had to pose as regular travelers, lugging their belongings the old-fashioned way without the convenience of dimensional storage. Broken strapped on a harness and secured a pickaxe to his back. It was just a normal pickaxe, the same one Gia had given him. Showing off a legendary-grade pickaxe in front of others wasn\'t something he wanted to risk-it would only draw unwanted attention.

He then pulled out the cloth bag Ella had given him and slung it over his shoulder.

Even Marlene and the shadow wolves, which Broken assumed had close ties to the demons, had to put in the extra effort to avoid any unnecessary trouble. Still, the fact that they could move in and out of Hell so freely gave them a huge advantage.

If the resources and monsters in this alternate world could be harvested while so few players had access, he thought, it would be an absolute goldmine for people like them.

Broken glanced at the others, taking in their high-level armor and weapons. "Wouldn\'t this still draw unwanted attention?" he asked.

"The demons are pretty dumb," Marlene replied, almost dismissively. "At least, most of them. They don\'t really care what we\'re wearing. They only get suspicious if they see someone who isn\'t a demon."

"So, as long as you\'ve got horns on your head, they\'ll just ignore you?" Broken asked, still a bit skeptical.

"It\'s ironic, but yeah, that\'s basically how it works," Marlene confirmed with a shrug.

Broken frowned. Are demons really that oblivious? he wondered. Or maybe this only applied to the low-class ones, as Marlene had suggested.

Still, he knew he had to be cautious; this was his first time stepping into a world entirely unknown to him. But despite his caution, curiosity tugged at him. There are Named Demons here with incredible power, right? Even Flauros, a Named Demon ranked in the 60s, had been absurdly strong. What would it be like to face one ranked even higher?

The humanoid creatures they had seen in the distance were now drawing closer, around a dozen in total. They were dressed in ragged clothes, stained with dark, oily splotches. One thing stood out about them-the pickaxes they carried and the heavy carts they dragged behind them. These were demon miners.

Their appearances were strikingly diverse. Some had blue or red skin, while others sported a single eye. Almost all of them had horns-some with a single horn in the center of their forehead, others with two intact, and a few with broken stubs where horns once had been.

These were the low-level, low-intelligence demons Marlene had warned them about. When the demons reached them, Marlene halted, as did the rest of the group-and Broken followed suit.

"Look what we have here, ke-ke-ke," one of the demons cackled as they drew closer.

"Travelers passing through? What do you want here, huh? Ha ha ha," one of the demons sneered.

"They look rich. How about sharing some of that gold with us?" another chimed in.

"Yes... I\'m so poor. I had to rob someone I randomly ran into yesterday, haha!" one demon boasted, laughing cruelly.

"Wait, you robbed someone? Damn it, why didn\'t you share the loot with us?" another demon growled, smacking his companion on the head.

"Hey, you know how hard it is for me to survive, right? I used the money to gamble," one of the demons complained.

"You win?" his friend asked.

"Nope, which is why I need more money."

They continued their crude banter while Broken subtly inspected their status. Most of them only displayed a single stat value, like Strength at 200. It was clear they were all low-level demons.

One of the miners wandered over and stopped in front of Marlene, eyeing her suspiciously. "Hey, look at this one. What\'s with that weird skin color?" he said, pointing at her. "And what\'s up with her chest? Looks strange, doesn\'t it?"

Another miner joined in. "Yeah, this woman\'s pretty odd."

"Where did you all come from?" another demanded. "Give me money."

Subaru, standing at Marlene\'s right, leaned in and whispered quietly, "Marlene?"

Before anything else could escalate, two glowing magic circles suddenly materialized on the ground behind the miners. Within moments, two massive black wolves emerged from the circles-Marlene\'s Demon Beasts.

The miners barely had a second to realize what was happening. One of them turned just as a low growl rumbled through the air, but it was too late. The wolves lunged forward with terrifying speed, teeth bared, and claws outstretched.

The first miner let out a guttural cry of agony as one wolf sank its fangs into his shoulder, tearing flesh and bone effortlessly.

"No-!" he choked out, his voice swallowed by the ferocious snarling as blood splattered across the ground.

Another miner tried to run, only to be knocked down by the second wolf, its jaws closing around his throat with a sickening crunch. He gurgled a desperate scream, but the sound was cut short as life drained from his body.

The other miners barely had time to react. Panic flickered in their eyes as they scrambled for their pickaxes, but the wolves were relentless. Each pounced on its target with deadly precision, silencing its prey before it could even raise a weapon.

The demons\' cries of pain echoed briefly through the desolate landscape before being drowned out by the brutal sounds of flesh being ripped apart.

Within seconds, it was over.

She killed them? Broken wondered as he watched the pickaxes, carts, and various loots hit the

ground.

"Secure the items," Marlene ordered, and a few members quickly gathered the loot and

stored it in their inventories.

They continued their journey.

"Why did you kill them?" Broken asked, unable to shake his curiosity. "Weren\'t we supposed

to avoid drawing attention?"

"That\'s how you do it," Marlene replied coolly. "Take care of them quickly, and you avoid a

bigger problem."

Really? he thought, still unsure about her reasoning.

After some time walking, they finally spotted what Marlene had referred to as a small town.

Its wall, though similar to the fortifications of a typical city in Yunatea, was far less impressive—just a row of wooden stakes driven into the ground, offering only minimal

protection.

As the group neared the gate, they saw two demons standing guard. Clad in armor and gripping spears, they resembled knights or something close to it, their posture suggesting they took their role seriously despite the town\'s crude defenses.

Broken quickly checked their statuses. Their strength stats were impressive-likely indicating their levels were around 180 or possibly even higher.

One of the demons had dark skin and was missing an eye, a deep scar running jagged across his face. The other had bright red skin and his long, claw-like nails. Both of them snapped to

attention as Marlene and the group approached.

"Identity?" one of them demanded.

Marlene wordlessly flashed a metal badge in her hand, adorned with a strange symbol.

Without further questions, the two demon guards nodded in acknowledgment.

"Form a line and tell us your profile," one of the guards ordered.

Subaru quickly fell in behind Marlene, with Broken right behind him, and the others followed.

Marlene passed through easily, but the guards stopped Subaru.

"Magic caster," he stammered, and after a brief pause, they allowed him to pass.

Broken stepped forward next, making sure to emphasize the pickaxe slung across his back.

"I\'m a miner with this group," he stated.

The two guards scrutinized him from head to toe, lingering on the pickaxe. After what felt liken/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

a tense moment, they moved their spears aside and let him through. "Was disguising myself as a miner a mistake?" Broken wondered. "But I am a miner!"

After all, he held the Unique-grade miner class.

After all the members passed the inspection, the guards signaled to their comrades inside the gate. Moments later, the gate creaked open. For the first time, Broken was about to see what a

city populated entirely by demons looked like.

***

Author\'s Note (this doesn\'t increase the chapter price)

I\'ve always wanted to publish four chapters per day!

But, I spend a lot of time even writing one chapter. Trust me, from the moment I wake up to

when I go to bed, I dedicate myself to this work. If I\'m not writing, I\'m thinking about the

plot, preparing documents, etc.

I\'m not a native speaker, and considering how complex the system, stats, skills, and everything else are, I put in a real effort.

Backaches, and sometimes even fevers from exhaustion, but I keep pushing myself because I

love this work!

Sometimes I can only manage to release two chapters, but you should know that I truly enjoy

creating this.

But yeah, thanks for the support!