I fell on the floor as the confirmation destroyed any trace of denial that my Brain was hoping to do.
I could hear my own heartbeat. Its almost like it was beating in my ears. I was soaked in sweat, my hands and legs were shivering without any control. I tried to call out for Dhana and Dharma, but nothing is coming out of my mouth, except for air.
Sea Demons. Not just one or two.
The whole beach is riddled with those.
These Sea Demons are the ones that camped at the beach and they were attacking Anta city.
The soldiers were the remnant forces of the Anta Duchy as well as the forces of various vassals in Anta's territory.
They were coordinating the search and rescue of the remnant survivors while the battle was still raging.
I pulled myself together and connected with the birds again.
I tried to spot the Dukes and the General that went to that city, however, while I was searching, all of a sudden, I felt a sudden force obstructing my vision.
"FUCK"
I spat out some blood and lay down on the ground panting. My connection with the spirit has been cut by force. I don't know what happened, but it wasn't good news.
I took out the communication device to call for Dharma and Dhana.
They were resting in their rooms. They were out roaming all over the mountain to do their respective tasks and barely came back to their rooms when I called them.
"Dhana, Dharma…. H…hurry."
I still remember the shiver of my voice. It wasn't every day that you get to see a Sea Demon that's tearing apart your fellow human being.
Both of them ran to my room. They didn't even ask any questions in the call.
They barged in and looked at me with blood dripping down my mouth.
"What the fuck?" Dhana cursed and took out a potion.
"What happened?"
Dhana looked around vigilantly. Maybe he thought someone might have attacked me.
"Things are out of hand. The enemies that invaded Anta… they are not people of another kingdom, in fact, they are not even humans at all."
Both of them frowned.
"Barbarians?" Dharma asked.
I shook my head. Barbarians are not usually regarded as humans by most of the people in Daksh, because of their unruly nature and battle efficiency, however they are still humans. Only they have undergone certain mutations because of the place they stay in.
It is very similar to the 'race' here on earth. The skin color and many physical features were a product of geographical and environmental factors. Barbarians just happened to be evolved like that.
Anyway, I digress.
"No, its.. th… the Demons."
I spoke so slowly. I didn't understand how such fear enveloped me. I have never seen a demon before. All my knowledge came from hundreds of books I have read and the stories I have heard from other researchers.
Everyone knows Demons are in a way a superior race. They use mana in a different way. They convert into their demonic energy and cast spells. Their magic and spells are way ahead of humans. In fact, even after six hundred years of peace and quiet, while the demons were sealed, it didn't help humans progress.
We barely came close at that time.
As if that is not enough, there is the matter of Physique. The Sea Demon that I saw for example… can live underwater and can fight on land. They mature by the age of fifteen and can only grow stronger with age.
Their whole body is designed to use water and water bodies to extreme advantage.
Simply put, they are at the top of the food chain. Of course, as long as their circle levels are out-ranked, they are basically the apex predators.
They were a nightmarish species to contend with and they never negotiate. They were cunning, tactical, smart, strong, powerful, coordinated, united, worst of all higher in number.
In fact, one of my life goals at that time was to find out how humans even managed to defeat the demons. Everyone knows the fairy tale version where Daksh led nine others and sealed the demons away.
But how did he do it? Where did the final battle take place? What happened in the battle? In fact, who was the Demon King who was defeated by Daksh? A million questions were unanswered.
Anyway, once again… I digress.
"Demon?" Both Dhana and Dharma were as shocked as I was.
"Yes, Sea Demon." I calmed down a bit and showed them the book.
"I swear, this is the exact creature I saw. They camp on the beach and are driving the battle towards the city. The initial was collapsed, but there was a stone wall when I saw through the bird's view.
I believe it could be the Mage Team's handiwork."
"What is the status? What kind of information do you have on them?"
"Not much. When I tried to roam around a bit more, my connection with the bird was cut forcefully."
"That should be the work of city defense magic array. The Dukes must have activated it. It cuts all kinds of communication between the people inside and outside the barrier. Your spirit must have lost connection with you.
That explains the blood as well." Dharma explained.
I nodded. I didn't know about the array, but it made sense. I continued.
"I think the Demons originally broke through, the city was mostly destroyed. They are doing search and rescue. From the looks of it, they might have pushed the Demons back. But I don't know how long they can hold them.
The forces are far too and the Demons didn't even look like they are trying that much."
We collapsed once again.
"Do you think this has something to do with the man? It is all way too coincidental, to be honest. And there is the circular portal with weird squeals. We also know that the demons are supposed to be sealed.
Everything fits."
Dharma asked out loud.
Dhana had the same question and even I have some doubts. There is a great chance that it's the case.
"If that is true, what is that guy? A human? If yes, why would he unseal the demons? It would make more sense if he were a demon.
After all, Ardra and his partner in crime discussed that he was supposed to be sealed. Add it up with his actions against humans, the unsealing of demons, and that weird energy. That black-colored mana, which is far more sinister and darker than the Dark element Mana."
"Yeah, that theory does make sense and more believable, but we cannot forget one key factor within all of this."
Dhana said and all three of us nodded at that.
That factor was that the man called Duke Kurma by his name. If he is a demon, how does he know the Duke? How does he know his name? Duke's reaction clearly told them that he is also familiar with that person.
"What the fuck are we dealing with?" I sighed.
At this moment, Dhana suddenly thought of something.
"Can you still track that guy? Our suspect?"
"I can't. That essence was only good for one spell."
"Then can you divert a couple of the birds to the mountain region? Keep an eye out on the Mountain Valley where he opened that circular portal.
If my guess is right, Duke might have already kept an eye on that, somehow. We need to get out of here. If the Demons are really involved, there is no way, Ardra and whoever that was on the other side, will let us go."
Dhana pursed her lips after saying.
"I don't understand, one thing though. Why do they want us dead? Like even if it was the last measure or some extreme situation, why though? They need to have a reason. We only tracked him down. We didn't really talk to him or get any answers or information from him.
And they shouldn't know that we know about their involvement. So, why do they still want us dead? I don't get it."
Dharma posed a question and both Dhana and I were stumped.
We didn't really think that way.
When Duke Kurma tried to isolate them, they panicked. They knew that if they really wanted to hide information, they could really kill us, but we didn't think what Dharma just mentioned.
"Shit is getting out of hand. Tej, do you have any method to collect some hard evidence about Ardra's involvement? To get out of here, we need to cause a distraction and that man has a lot of hide. Of course, the evidence helps us too."
I started thinking.
"We can try using a recording crystal, but I need a high-level one. The ones I have are only suitable to spy on Sixth Circle mages and knights. I cannot go past that."
"I have a Level 9 crystal, does that work?"
Dharma said as he took out a crystal from his storage.
"You noble kids are something else," I muttered and grabbed it from his hands, as we started executing our next plan.
By the end of the day, we planned to get out of that place, by hook or crook.