Sii---ik!!
Suddenly they heard a sound as if a blade struck the ground. They instantly became alert.
Kyle clutched her daggers tightly, while Tidlen prepared to cast spells.
"Guys don't attack, it's me, Ray"
But they heard Ray's voice. They felt a bit relieved, but they did not lower their guard. After what they had experienced, they would not even be surprised if they found an enemy using Ray's voice. But thankfully their worry was for naught.
Ray's figure became clearer and clearer. Finally, they could see him. His clothes were cut and torn. He had a bruise on his left hand, and was limping. But his eyes glowed in the darkness like that of a cat.
"How did you find us?''
Asked Tidlen.
"My eyes allow me to see better in the dark. Though it was quite hard because of the fog."
"How long has it been for you?" Kyle was the next to ask.
"It's been an hour. And its not safe. There are weird creatures that attack you if you move. Not instantly but they attack you if you keep moving for some time."
"Hmm… monsters. Is that why you are in such bad shape?"
"Yes, even I can only see them as silhouettes. They attacked me continuously when I was looking for the team."
"Ha…now we even have to deal with invisible monsters! I am exhausted! Do you have any water, Ray?" Tidlen was very frustrated.
"Yes, a bit. But can't you get water using magic?"
"I tried. But I can't use elemental magic or healing here. All I can do is curse magic or use basic mana attacks. Anyways, please pass me the water bottle."
"Ray, were you able to find the others?'' Kyle asked without much expectation.
"Yes. But Matt got injured in the leg when we were fighting our way searching for you guys. Lily is with him right now. They are resting at a place that looked safer than the others. Come on lets also get going. Be alert, we may be attacked at any moment!"
Hearing his reply both Tidlen and Kyle felt much better. The group advanced slowly expecting to be attacked at any moment.
Ray's thesis turned out to be correct as they were attacked after moving for a while.
***
I regained my consciousness as soon as I was teleported. Using my eyes I could see Matt not so far away from me but he had yet to regain his consciousness.
'Oh well I'll just wait for him to wake up'
He had still not finished absorbing the mana. He would get much stronger after completely getting the mana. Our party is already A-rank. By the time we go back, we might as well have become an S-rank party.
Afterall, it required only one member to be S-rank for the party to the recognised as 'S'. And I predict that Kyle can reach S-rank after absorbing all that mana. And then we would much a greater share from the guild.
As I was thinking about this, Matt slowly started to wake up.
"Where am I? Where are the others? Ugh… I can't see anything''
As expected, he was perplexed.
"It's me Matt, Ray"
He could see my eyes glow and turned towards me.
"How can you see in this dark? And why are your eyes glowing?''
He had his shield ready. He truly was an experienced adventurer.
"It's my ability. I can see better in the dark. My eyes glow because of the same reason, you did not forget that I was a demon, did you?"
Hearing my words and attempt to crack a joke he finally believed me.
"Ha…Do you have any water? I feel dry as a bone."
"Yes, I do. Here you go."
I lent him the water bottle. He returned it after drinking a bit. He knew the importance of water in exploration and thus drank only a little bit
After that we decided to search for others. We had walked around for some time when suddenly we left a strong killing intent. We instantly reacted to it but could not see anything.
But then I saw a faint silhouette near Matt.
"Matt! Behind You!"
But before he could react completely it slashed at him. He managed to avoid anything fatal but his leg was bleeding.
The figure attacked again, but this time I managed to block it. Now it was my chance to attack. I swiftly parried its attack and slashed it. I could feel that my slash was successful. The figure then retreated just as suddenly had it appeared.
"Ha…Looks like its gone. But your leg is injured badly"
"Yes… it is… I have a single healing potion left so don't worry about it."
Matt poured the potion on his bleeding leg but though it helped to some extent, it was clear that the injury could not be easily cured using a potion.
"Well… at least I can walk now. Let's get going"
"Right"
Not far from there I could Lily. She was yet to gain consciousness. We went to her and decided to wait till she awakens.
We were just resting, when Matt asked with a serious face.
"Ray, about what we heard. I find it hard to believe."
'Ah… I knew this topic is going to come up again'
"I also find it difficult to accept. Think about it, if all the Dragon Elders had been killed, shouldn't the outside world have gotten information. Like even if they made sure that it does not go out, the Dragons' Kingdom would be in great despair. But nothing like that ever happened in history."
"You are right… That makes sense. Ha… maybe the old Dragon had gone senile."
Matt looked better. The wound in his leg was slowly healing because of the potion. As we were making small talk Lily woke. She gave the same reaction as Matt.
"Where am I!? What happened!? It's too dark"
After she had calmed down. We approached.
"Its us Ray and Matt."
[To be continued]