There, hanging on the wall was a black furred animal, resembling a fox but it was twice as much bigger than an ordinary fox.
Moreover, the moment he laid his eyes on it, chills ran down his spine and he froze.
Just then, the beast that was busy looking around as if to see whether it was noticed suddenly raised its head and looked toward the window.
Rowan snapped back to his senses and quickly stepped to the side before tightly gripping the sword hilt with both his hands.
While there was no moonlight on the window, he wasn't stupid enough to think that he wasn't noticed.
'It has intelligence.' From its behavior, he knew it was intelligent and this made him more wary.
Clack!
Shatter!
Suddenly, a clacking noise sounded and unlike the previous noises, it was far louder. Rowan knew it was rushing up disregarding the vigilance. Just a second later, a furry claw shattered the window.
Rowan focused his gaze and began waiting for the fox's head to enter because only by cutting off its head could he kill it before it killed him. He had thought the beast, given its intelligence, would take its time entering after finding out it was noticed but contrary to his expectation, just a split second after it shattered the window, it jumped into the room.
Shua!
Rowan's heart constricted and his feet seemed rooted to the floor as he stared at this beast. He knew it wasn't fear which had frozen him but something else.
However, he now had no time to think what it was because the beast was already sweeping its gaze across the room.
'Move damn it!' He roared in his mind, furious. His black pupils glimmered with a red glow and immediately, the suppression vanished without a trace. Without wasting any time, he took a heavy step forward and slashed the sword at its neck with all his might.
Arrgh!
The beast let out a pained grunt as the sword cut through half its neck easily.
Rowan's pupils, however, constricted because after reaching halfway, the sword stuck its bone and failed to slice through it.
Swoosh!
Instantly, he pulled the sword back, his gaze fixing on its large eyes and before the fox could react, he stabbed it into one of them.
Pak!
The sharp tip of the sword easily pierced through its eyeball and back by Rowan's complete physical strength, slid inside, piercing its brain.
The fox stiffened and stared at Rowan in disbelief with its remaining eye. Its mouth opened slightly as if it wanted to… speak but before it could utter any word, the light vanished from its eye and with a thud, it collapsed on the floor.
Ha!
Rowan exhaled deeply, suddenly feeling utterly drained but an exhilarated glint was flashing in his eyes.
"Damn. This felt even better than sex." He muttered, savouring the feeling. Then, he shifted his attention to the panel in front of him.
[You have slain a corrupted lesser demon, Midnight Fox. Proceed to extract Essence Qi?]
"Do it."
Rowan nodded and as he watched, the corpse of midnight fox started shrieking until it vanished completely. Even the blood on the floor and stains left of his sword blade vanished.
If not for the broken window and sweat drenched and out of breath Rowan standing there holding a sword, no one would believe anything had happened in the room at all.
"Where is the extracted essence qi?" He muttered in confusion before he noticed the change in panel.
[Essence Qi: 0.1 Units]
"Just this?" He couldn't help but frown.
Even though he managed to kill the fox without getting injured, he knew if he hadn't noticed it earlier, was ready or had given it even a few more seconds to adjust and spot him, he would have been done for.
So, given how dangerous the situation was, the reward he got wasn't satisfactory.
Suddenly his pupils constricted before relaxing. For a moment, he was worried that the commotion might have disturbed that pig bastard below but seeing he still hadn't come up, he was most likely unconscious after drinking too much.
…
A while later, he finished cleaning up the pieces of glass on the floor and took a shower to cleanse his sweat drenched body.
Sitting on the bed and looking at the panel, he asked, "What is this essence qi?"
He waited but there was no answer.
Tsk!
Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he brought the Essence Qi out of the panel with a thought. He had a feeling he could do it and as expected he succeeded in doing so which lessened some of his irritation.
Hovering in front of him was a faint wisp of red. Looking at it, he felt a deep desire to absorb it well up in his heart and before he knew it, he had opened his mouth and sucked it in.
The taste wasn't repulsive nor palatable but a strange sense of satisfaction washed over him. But it barely lasted for a moment before it was replaced by desire to consume more.
Closing his eyes, he tried to sense the change it might have made in him but failed to sense any difference after trying for several times. It was as if the wisp of Essence Qi was just a drop in a long parched ocean—it vanished the moment it landed on its surface.
Opening his eyes, he unwrapped the handkerchief from one of forearms and his eyes immediately shone—the cuts had vanished without a trace.
"So, it was used up in healing my injuries?" He muttered before shaking his head. There was no need to think too much. Since it wasn't enough, what he needed to do now was to improve his combat abilities and kill more beasts to extract more and use that to improve himself.
Of course, he knew finding more beasts wasn't going to be easy but he didn't mind. Lying in the bed, he closed his eyes and soon fell asleep, a small content smile playing on the corner of his lips.
Just a short later, along with a gust of wind, a figure dressed in black appeared in the room and looked around.
"Hm?"