Cana stops Alex from just entering the hidden cave. There might be an alarm that will alert the enemies when someone enters the camouflaged entrance. Unless the enemies are too stupid, they would put an alarm to alert them of any intruder.
Besides, the entrance is closed with a big rock made with magic. They will need to move or break it and it will alert the enemies even if there's no alarm. They don't know the enemies' power, so it isn't wise to just barge in and fight them.
"Then what should we do?"
Alex has just asked when the big rock that blocks the cave entrance suddenly moves. Cana quickly tells Alex to act like a wild beast before she stops talking. He immediately does as she says and acts like a wary wild beast because he is surprised by the rock that suddenly moves.
"Eh? What's that?" The cloaked man that comes out of the cave sees the Mini Shukaku. There are 4 people that come out of the cave.
"I never see that kind of beast?" A red-haired man frowns.
"It must be a rare beast. Let's capture it. We might succeed if we use that thing as a subject." The only woman there seems excited.
"Alright, let's capture it. Newbie, take some Magic Sealing Chains. It might be a strong magical beast, so we'll need to seal its magic later for the experiment." A middle-aged man that seems to be their leader gives an order and the cloaked guy nods before entering the cave again.
The remaining 2 men and a woman quickly move to attack Alex who's in Mini Shukaku form. Alex gets ready to fight them seriously now because it will be very troublesome when they get the Magic Sealing Chains to seal his magic.
The 3 enemies surround Alex and get ready to use their magic. But suddenly, yellow magic circles appear beneath their feet. Sand comes out of the magic circles and climbs their bodies very quickly.
They are surprised and can't react on time. The sand covers their whole body, leaving only their faces. Their magic spells are canceled as their magic circles break because they lose control when the sand wraps their bodies tightly.
"WHAT?! WHAT'S THIS?" The woman yells in surprise.
"IS THIS THE BEAST'S DOING? IT CAN CONTROL SAND?" The red-haired man is flabbergasted.
"Sand Magic?! But it doesn't look like a Sand Beast!?" The middle-aged man is just as surprised.
They try to break free, but the sand that wraps them doesn't budge at all. These guys are not as strong as Alex thought they would be for making this an S-Class job. This means there are bigger threats, maybe stronger Dark Mages that are still inside the cave.
Alex absorbs the 3's magic power. It can make them lose their consciousness and he also needs more magic power to break the next Tailed Beast's seal. They don't have much magic power, but he can't waste free stuff.
After the 3 lose consciousness, Cana traps them inside her Magic Cards. There's no need to hide anymore now, so Cana gets out of the Magic Card and walks with Alex. Meteor Destroyer is still inside a Magic Card though because this might be too dangerous for the bear cub.
They enter the cave and walk carefully because the enemies can show up anytime. So they are preparing themselves to fight anytime too. Alex senses their surroundings while Cana holds some cards to be thrown at the enemies if they suddenly appear.
It doesn't take that long for the enemies to show up. The previous man who returned to get some Magic Sealing Chains came back with some more people. They are surprised to see the beast has entered the cave with a young girl.
Cana doesn't wait for anything and just throws the cards in her hands. The cards hit some of the enemies while a few manage to dodge. But the cards aren't thrown to injure them, they are for distractions.
All the cards that Cana throws are releasing smoke that covers the whole area. The smoke is thick and it blocks everyone's sight, even Cana's. So now no one can see anything and this is what Cana wants.
Suddenly, some screams are heard from inside the smoke. The enemies are screaming when their bodies get wrapped by something unknown. Then when the smoke clears up, they can see that they are wrapped in thick sand.
Although the smoke blocks his vision too, Alex can still sense where the enemies are using Shukaku's earth sensing ability. He uses it to attack the enemies when they can't see anything because of Cana's smoke.
"That strategy is not bad. We can use it more in the future." Alex nods in approval while burying the unconscious enemies that have gotten their magic power absorbed by him.
"Yeah, but I don't have many Smoke Cards. I've already used all my Smoke Cards just now to produce that much smoke."
"No worries. We still have other strategies. This is just a trial anyway and the result is not bad, so we can use it as an option in the future. Let's try another strategy after this. But be sure to stay on high alert because the next enemies might be much stronger."
Cana nods after hearing Alex. This is an S-Class job, after all. It might be easy for now, but it will get more dangerous or this won't be considered as a very dangerous job.
Their suspicion is proved when they reach the deepest part of the cave. Very deep underground, there's a giant room that can fit a mansion. It is clearly a manmade room because the walls, ceiling, and floor are very neat.
In the middle of the room, there's a giant glass tube filled with green liquid and a big lacrima crystal. There are some hoses on the tube's bottom part and they are connected to the caged beasts that are placed all over the room.
These Dark Mages are injecting the green liquid into the beasts. It seems to be the reason why these beasts became very violent and they released these violent beasts to villages and towns to terrorize people.
"Well, well, well, look who we got here. A little girl and a strange beast. I assume you were the beast that the newbie was reporting before. He didn't say anything about a little girl, though. From the look of it, you must've defeated my men or you won't reach this place."
Suddenly, they hear a woman's voice. It comes from above, so they look up and see a purple-haired woman standing upside down on the ceiling. She has a pretty face, but Alex can sense something ominous from her.
"A demon?" Alex frowns because he can sense demonic magic power from the woman even though she tries to hide it.
"Oh? A beast that can speak? Or maybe you are a Mage who transformed into a beast? Hmm, the 2nd case is more likely. That means you are sent by a Guild or even the Magic Council itself." The demon woman jumps down and looks at them while smirking.
Cana immediately moves behind Alex and prepares her cards to fight. Alex is also on high alert because he can feel this demon is stronger than she looks. She can hide her power well enough, so she might be hiding more.
"Ah, right. Why don't you help me with my experiments? Help me test the effectiveness of my method. I need to send a report to Mard Geer soon, so you come at a good time."
Alex frowns when he hears Mard Geer's name from the demon woman. If she needs to report the result of this experiment, that means she is a part of Tartaros Guild, which means she is also a demon from the Book of Zeref.
He doesn't remember this demon woman in the main story, so maybe she has died before Tartaros Arc. Tartaros has many Etherious Demons in their group, after all, and they have operated for years.
So it's not strange for them to have members other than the ones shown in the story and it's not strange for them to lose members throughout the years because they are a Dark Guild that fights a whole continent and has been hunted by the Magic Council for years.
But this makes Alex think that maybe the ring that caused a demonization in the Capital Crocus sometime ago when he was on a job has something to do with Tartaros. After all, he remembers that one of their main members can turn people into demons.
This is surely a part of a much bigger problem because Tartaros is one of the Greatest Threats for Ishgar. But that's for the Magic Council to think about. Alex just needs to focus on his current mission, which means he needs to beat up this demon.
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Ch. 122. Dorma Anim