"I think the demons made some kind of hidden base inside the mountain."
"It certainly looks like it." Tony agreed with Kevin's assumption. "So... We can't just ignore this, can we?"
Kevin squinted his eyes as he looked at the indentation on the side of the mountain.
"Well, we definitely have to find out what they are doing inside the mountain. Besides, I'm pretty sure that this thing actually prompted the ogre to stop causing a landslide. Maybe destroying this base will help us greatly in the future."
"Not if one of us dies while fighting the enemies, but honestly I do think leaving them alone is a terrible idea. When are we going to attack?" Tony let out a deep sigh and sat down on the ground.
"What if we just attack the mountain and make the entrance and whatever is behind it collapse?"
Leo and Alesha also sat on the ground beside Tony.
"I don't think that's a good idea, Leo. If the structure inside the mountain is strong enough to withstand the attack, then we lose the element of surprise. There is also a chance that there are humans trapped inside."
"We can keep observing the entrance for another hour or so and make a decision after that." Kevin said while attentively watching the hole in the mountain.
****
(Iris Ernestyn)
We were supposed to observe the entrance and make a plan, but I couldn't concentrate on the objective at all.
My eyes kept wandering to Kevin's back. I'm sure he already noticed my gaze, but he didn't take his eyes off the opening.
It wasn't like we used to have a deep, strong sibling bond like normal siblings. Nevertheless, we still had a friendly relationship.
But lately, Kevin has been changing a lot. He became a bit more forceful and aggressive around the time he assassinated our father, the king, but after we met up on Earth, he suddenly changed again.
Although he looks more cheerful and happy on the surface, it feels weird to me. He became more unpredictable... Perhaps even uncanny.
I don't think I can even recall his true personality anymore. I thought I could get used to this new Kevin, but what frightens me is the possibility that everything is an act. That chance lays in the back of my mind and always pops up every time I think about accepting the current Kevin.
Just staying in this group is already becoming harder and harder for me, and making conversations even more.
'Just what are you thinking?'
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I turned my head and looked towards the other anomaly in our group.
That anomaly being Bryan.
'He just makes no sense. He is way stronger than any other earthling that we have seen, but he doesn't use his power to help us fight. His motive for joining is also strange.'
I stopped myself from thinking about the unsettling people in our group and blankly stared at the entrance of the mountain for the rest of the hour.
****
(Bryan Gale)
We spent around an hour looking at the opening in the mountain while racking our brains, but in the end we couldn't come up with some genius plan.
That said, it wasn't like we completely wasted our time. The rest of the group is now fully re-energized and our mindset is a lot calmer than before.
"So we will just battle."
"Yeah, that's the plan. You'll come with us this time, right? If something happens outside while we are inside the mountain, then we can't communicate with each other." Kevin flashed a fearless smile, before returning to a serious face.
"Understood. I was already planning on going with you guys this time."
"Alright, then everything is ready. Let's go! Team Kevin charge!"
We started sprinting towards the entrance, before Leo abruptly stopped moving.
"Hey, wait! Since when did this group become your group?!"
"Haha, I make most of the decisions anyway, so I'm basically the leader of this group! It's fine, right? I'll think things through, so your jobs will get easier." Kevin grinned mischievously while continuing to run forward.
"We'll have to discuss this when we clear this mountain! Don't think that I'll forget about this!" Leo grumbled to Kevin before sprinting after us.
I quickly scanned over everyone's face to see how they reacted.
Tony had an annoyed expression and put his hand over his forehead.
Alesha looked slightly disoriented, but quickly shook her head and focussed on the mission again.
Iris had the strangest appearance. A series of conflicting emotions showed on her face, from bewilderment to uneasiness, and she visibly increased her grip on her spear.
'Well, their feelings aren't important to me, and I can probably get out of any situation unscratched, so who the leader is doesn't matter that much.'
"Uhmm, how do you fight, Bryan? We have seen you run before, but we haven't seen you battle with anyone yet." Alesha ran next to me and asked with a questioning gaze.
"I mainly use brute force and speed to overpower my enemies. I guess you can see it as some kind of martial art, but without any technique."
"Huuh, alright... Thank you for answering."
We quickly reached the entrance of the demon pit and the five demons lazily guarding it.
The five demons were immediately skewered by an iron blade or got their skull bashed in. I didn't kill any of the demons, but rather watched it happen right in front of me.
"Alright squad, the first part is done. Now we just have to deal with the rest of them while finding out what they are doing here." Kevin softly whispered while going further into the 'building'.
What we saw in front of us was a huge cavern-like hole that dug deeper into the mountain. There were protruding rocks sticking out of the walls and huge stalactites on the ceiling.
The hole stretched so far that the light couldn't reach the end of it.
"Bryan, put down your bag. I'll grab a lighter to make it a tiny bit more visible."
I put my human-sized bag down on the cold, grey rocks and watched as Kevin pulled the lighter out of the bag.
Kevin stared at the bag for a few seconds before whispering: "We should probably leave the bag here somewhere in the dark so it doesn't get in the way later."
"Yeah, sure. We can do that." I grabbed the bag and laid it next to the wall of the cave.
Kevin flicked the lighter on and a soft orange light illuminated the area around us.
We slowly moved further into the cave while staying vigilant for any sudden movement.
After a few minutes of walking through the dark, we found a light source further into the hole.
"Finally, we found something in this dark cave." Leo let out a relieved sigh.
There was a massive iron wall with a door in the centre of it. The door was easily big enough to let a whole ogre through.
"Let's just go through the door and see what's behind it." Kevin put the lighter into his pocket and stepped towards the door.
He put his hands on the door and shoved it open. There were two long empty hallways behind the door. The hallways were completely white, without any signs of rot or decay.
"So they weren't nice enough to put some directions here? Does anyone have a preference about which one to choose first?" Kevin observed the hallways for a second before turning his head around and asking us.
"Why can't we just split up into two teams and search through both of the hallways at the same time?" Leo tilted his head to one side and asked.
"Are you crazy? We have no idea how dangerous it is inside this mountain and you want to split up our forces? There's no way that's a good idea!" Instead of Kevin, it was Tony that answered Leo's question.
"You heard him Leo. Anyways, if no one has a preference, then we will go through the left hallway first!"
We kept walking through the desolate hallway and within a minute, we spotted a large white door on the side of the hallway.
Kevin glanced at everyone, and we nodded in return.
He quickly swung the door open and jumped into the room.
Quickly turning his head around to look at the room, he suddenly stopped and slightly tilted his head to the side while frowning.
"The area is safe... I guess? Come take a look at this." Kevin said while gesturing with his hands to quickly come into the room.
We immediately stepped into the room and looked around us.
"Holy shit... That's a lot of corpses..." Leo stumbled backwards while uttering.
What we saw was a huge mountain of dead demons. The pile of bodies was over four meters tall and ten meters wide.
Heaps upon heaps of corpses were sprawled all over the room, leaving only the space near the door clear of the remains.
'Did we just find the demon graveyard?'