Our journey to the camp continued but now we were accompanied by a small group of orcs and life slowly started to appear. Four days into traveling we have passed by multiple groups of orcs and even some groups of humans.
Things were much more comfortable now as well with the artifacts to keep us warm Rivena gave me back my cloak so I simply wore my hood at all times now that we're in getting closer to the camp.
Turning my head to the side I tapped on Rivenas shoulder, "Say when are we set to arrive?" I asked.
"Within the next two days."
"Good." I simply responded watching a man approach us.
During our travels we met up with a human mercenary group also heading towards the camp, we decided to move together which kind of slowed us down, but honestly, it's good to see a physical map because the mercenaries had one.
The man approaching us was middle-aged with messy black hair tied up in a ponytail, green eyes, and neatly shaved stubble on his face. He held two bowls in his hands.
"The meals are finished." He handed one each to us.
"Where did the orcs go off to, Caldrius?" Rivena asked him while taking out an eating utensil.
"They said they wanted to hunt for their food as some sort of tradition."
"Sounds about right," I added looking up at Caldrius.
Caldrius looked down at me with a mixed expression he clearly didn't trust me because of the hood I wore 24/7 but it was sort of annoying how weary he was of me, our small camp at night consisted of a magic circle that kept the blizzard away and a few tents. My tent always had a magic circle around it that would alert the caster if I left, I assume they think I didn't notice it but they didn't put one around the orcs or Rivena's tent, and that made me feel alienated.
The Silver Moon mercenary group consisted of their leader Caldrius, three young men who all used different unique weapons, and a girl that was a mage. The mage was the one who set up the field that protected us from the blizzard, as well as the magic that surrounded my tent.
"Thank you for the food," I said while standing up and heading to my tent. I pretended to sleep in my tent and after about an hour I felt mana surrounding it, the mana was the spell that alarmed the mage if I left my tent.
Turning over in the small bed I had in the tent I sighed and stared at the ceiling, before becoming a dragon I didn't have to sleep much, and now I hardly needed sleep at all. I only sleep when I really want to and now wasn't one of those times.
Time passed by and I eventually stood up exited my tent and stared at the blizzard ahead, I peeled my eyes while gazing into it until I heard a feminine voice behind me.
"What are you doing up so late?" The voice said.
"I wasn't feeling tired," I answered while turning around and seeing an older girl in mage robes.
The girl was Caldrius's daughter they had the same black hair and green eyes, she had a rather charming appearance in contrast to her father who looks like he just hops out of bed and does nothing besides maintain his beard every morning.
I walked over to the girl and placed my hand on her shoulder, I felt her tremble a little bit but she didn't move. The cause for her not moving was me, I leaked out a small bit of Draconic Will to prevent her from doing something stupid just because I was up late.
"Whats your name?" I asked with my hand still on her shoulder.
"My name is Iliyana..." She responded while looking down at her feet.
"I'm sorry for startling you I'm Arulwyr, I hope we can become friends until we arrive at the camp." I released my pressure after my words and saw her visibly calm down.
"It's good to meet you Arulwyr."
"How old are you Iliyana?"
"I'm turning twenty soon... Why do you ask?"
"I was just asking because you looked around my age, I'm twenty-two," I said with a smile.
"Really? I haven't met anyone around my age on the battlefield."
"You're a talented girl, your spell protecting us from this blizzard and all, also the spell that you put around my tent every night."
After my words, she backed up and got into a slightly defensive position, "You knew?"
"Feeling mana throughout the air is a strong suit of mine, don't worry I can understand why you are all weary of me. You can't make out my face, right? And you're cautious because I wear a hood."
"Yes... Father has asked me to keep a special watch on you. My father usually makes good calls in this situation." She said while taking a few steps back.
I walked forward at high speeds and grabbed her wrist, "Perhaps if take off my hood will tell your father to not worry about me." Before she could even reply to me I pulled down my hood revealing my snow-white fluffy hair, my deep red eyes, and the horns that protruded out of my head. "Are you still worried about me?"
The girl seemed to be taking in my features, I released my grip on her and she stood still instead of taking a few steps out which signified my negotiation might just have been a success.
"You're a peculiar-looking elf Arulwyr." Iliyana smiled while looking at my face.
"What does that mean?"
"You don't look much like your friend Rivena."
"Not all elves are the same just like not all humans are the same."
"Earlier I was intimidated you might be a demon under that strange hood, but now I feel relaxed seeing your face. Your face is somewhat... Calming?"
'Is she trying to say I look funny?'
[I think it's the opposite Rei.]
'Is that so?'
Putting my hood back up I sat down near the fire.
"Will you tell your father to stop bothering me?"
"I will. I also want to apologize to you Arulwyr, I hope we didn't offend you."
"It's fine, I'm used to it.
Iliyana soon went back to her tent after our friendly encounter, in the morning things were a lot more spirited and Caldrius was much more friendly to me... Unfortunately, it seems happiness doesn't last.
"That's strange, the map doesn't show a mountain here." Caldrius pointed at a large white object obstructing us.
"Looks like someone's on top of the mountain."
"Really?" Caldrius said confused while squinting towards the top of the large mass.
"Somethings wrong..." I muttered looking at the group walking towards the large hill. "Rivena stop." I grabbed her hand halting her movement.
"What's wrong Arulwyr."
My mouth trembled and the hairs, on the top of my head, stood up. "Please dodge!" I yelled at the mercenary group and the orcs walking ahead of us.
"Wha-"
I hurled Rivena into the sky immediately after a large arm flew towards me I held my arms up to block against a great pressure hitting me to the side and sending me flying. Coughing a few times I stood up my left arm was completely broken, it soon regenerated and the scene before me made my heart pound.
The entire mercenary group and the orcs were reduced to meat chunks and corpses laying across the ground. Before me stood a giant polar bear and a man in a fancy black suit with a top hat on his head. The man had a bright smile staring at the scene in front of him, his eyes were red and his hair was black.
"I'm sorry," I said with tears flowing out of my eyes seeing the grotesque corpses lying on the ground next to me. Soon after my words Rivena fell back down and I caught her, the expression she had on her face was one of pure shock.
'Two prince-ranked demons.'
"Wow! Look, we found a strong one Mammon, he took your attack seemingly unscathed... I can't say the same for his companions."
My teeth chattered and I pulled Zenith out from my sub-space. "You shouldn't be celebrating, demon scum."
"Scum? Do you hear that Mammon? He called you a great calamity scum."
Seeing the massive polar bear lift his arm I set Rivena down and got into a stance, pouring an insane amount of Draconic Force into Zenith. The arm flew down tearing through the air, I swung Zenith, and the massive arm was cut into two.
"W-what! Are you okay Mammon?" The demon in the tophat sat on the polar bear's head and rubbed it. "Looks like you truly aren't a joke... I'll have to try now." The demon's tone turned grim.
[These two aren't on the level of Minos but they are strong... Especially the fellow in the tophat, I sense a strong demonic energy from him. Escape is our best option.]
'I don't flee from winnable fights.'
[You're a fool. Rei.]
Getting into a thrust position I channeled my energy, aiming right for the polar bear's core. 'I'll have to play it smart against the tophat if I pull off this attack...'
Right as I was about to thrust my sword forward black tentacles wrapped around my arm stopping my attack completely, I strengthened the scales of my arm and ripped the tentacles.
"You're dangerous... Whoever you are under that hood, it won't be good for us if I let you make it to that human camp. I will kill you here." The demon's expression twisted and the entire space around me turned black, it seemed as if we were in an infinite space of darkness.
"Lightless World."
The demon's voice echoed through my head. I got into a stance with my sword slightly anxious about what the demon would do next.
"You see, the almighty Demon King grants each of us a unique ability when we reach the rank of prince, my friend Mammon's is his ability to project an eternal gale, mine is the ability to reign over darkness."
Dark tentacles and spikes flew out in every direction, I stepped back and reflected all of them heading toward Rivena, a loud scream came out of the polar bear and his arm regrew, He began raining a barrage of attacks down on me, dark spikes barraged me as well and dark creatures began appearing through the ground.
'I won't be able to protect Rivena much longer!'
[Rei, escape.]
'I'm stubborn.'
[You will be able to execute them both with the alliance at the human camp.]
Exhaling I poured 80% of the Draconic Force I had left into Zenith, I swung Zenith pulverizing all the shadows near me and sending the polar bear crashing into what seemed to be a wall. The man looked amused at my attack and clapped.
"There seems to be a wall to this place," I said looking at the demon with the top hat.
"I hope you aren't thinking about escaping me." He chuckled.
"I won't have any problems escaping you fodders."
Veins bulged out of the neck of the demon, "You take us prince-ranked demons lightly."
Hearing the demon ramble I pulled out Spell Breaker, "You seem more on the level of a great demon honestly, one of you is a hardly intelligent bear, and the other is a guy who thinks he's powerful. You see, I've fought against your superior Minos who is a true prince-ranked demon. You trash aren't anything close to his level."
The demon seemed far more agitated than before and giant figures began raising out of the darkness, and the polar bear began recovering from his dazed state. The demon in the top hat looked as if he was performing an orchestra as figures began appearing from the darkness approaching me and Rivena, as well as spikes of darkness flying towards us at high speeds.
"This is a poor imitation of darkness." I simply said raising Spell Breaker above my head. 'Fourth Form: Sky Cutter.' I swung my blade down and the space made of darkness was split in half instantly, and soon dissipated the demon in the top hat looked at me with a face of total disbelief, and the polar bear now recovered and charged at me.
Pure white wings shot out of my back, I quickly swept Rivena off her feet who had a few injuries protecting herself from the creatures of darkness that had previously been attacking her. I then flew high into the atmosphere as I possibly could escaping the two demons' gaze.
'Looks like we lost them...'
Taking a deep breath I looked down at Rivena who was still in my arms slightly shaken from the brief events that took place. "Are you okay?" I asked looking down at her concerned.
Swallowing she finally answered, "I'm fine it's just that I've never come face to face with prince-ranked demons..."
"You'll need to get used to it because we're gonna be fighting them again soon."
"Right..." Rivena answered enthusiastically
"Haha... Now uh, which way to the camp? We can't go on foot anymore."
"Straight ahead."
Nodding I cut ahead through the wind, I bit my lip remembering Iliyana and her father and the mercenaries who died in such a tragic way, I also thought about the orcs who were quite friendly as traveling partners and who were quite eccentric as well.
'None of them deserved death... Demons need to be driven to extinction.'
[Not all demons are bad, don't make me list the crimes of humans. Think about what happened in the world of your past life, or perhaps the black market you happened on a while ago.]
'Why are you so quick to defend them? Are you a demon or something? I don't want to discuss this right now.'
[Sorry.] Althieus apologized, perhaps she could feel my rage.