Nandia entered the recovery room and found that the heroes were waking up. She immediately went to help Ludric prop his body up. She didn't expect her hands to be directly thrown off.

Ludric didn't give Nandia a glance and checked on the others. Seeing that there was one missing, excluding Rye, he got out of the bed to look outside. It was then he realized that his missing leg was back.

Did Rye regenerate it?

Once he walked out of the door, he quickly met eyes with Aerindel and Freanor who intended to check on them.

"Aerindel, what happened to the battle?"

"The demons retreated after you guys defeated the archdemon. The Light Tree has been revived and the barrier is now fully functional again. It's over," Aerindel summarized.

"Where's our boss? Has he fully healed?" Marissa appeared next to Ludric.

At the battle, Ash protected her from an attack. He timely read the magic circle cast by the archdemon, but could only shove her out of the attack. Last she saw him before she herself lose consciousness, his condition was far from good.

"…" Aerindel and Freanor looked at each other and shook their heads at them.

Marissa's heart immediately fell.

After all of them were strong enough to walk, Aerindel and Freanor brought them to where Ash's body was kept. The thick tree has its trunk hollowed and the interior was covered with white sheers. In the center, a wooden coffin with intricate carving was placed amidst a white flower bed.

In it, laid Ash's body who has gone cold and pale.

Outside, at the back of the tree, Rye heard Marissa's crying inside and Rock's denial. He fixed his glasses and walked away. He had already mourned for Ash earlier by himself. If he entered, he would only cause unnecessary tension remembering what happened with Aerindel and Freanor earlier at the funeral.

Sitting on a rock somewhere inside the forest, he looked up when a shadow cast over him. It was Crow.

"Does the king have any message for me?" Rye lowered his gaze.

"I can't reach him," A rasp whisper-like voice came out from behind the mask.

"You can't reach him?" Rye raised his face back up with a frown, "is it because of the barrier?"

Crow shook his head, "We contacted once after I entered. Our last contact is before the battle."

"This method of contact involves your heritage?"

Crow nodded, "I can link absolute telepath to one person. Regardless of the distance and situation, I should be able to contact His Majesty."

"Can you teleport?"

Crow nodded.

"Then, you should return to check."

"I am not allowed to leave your side."

"What is the purpose of monitoring me?"

"I am not allowed to divulge that."

"Do you actually know?"

"No."

"…" Rye was silent for a while before he stood up, "Alright, let us check on him."

"Thank you very–"

Before Crow could finish his words, his body turned into a block of ice in a blink. Rye lowered his hand and approached the sculpture. He grabbed the head and broke it without any hesitance. The body tilted back and shattered from the fall.

Rye thawed the head into its previous state and opened the mask. Unsurprisingly, he found a red demon's face inside it. His face didn't even have the time to be surprised.

When Rye looked up, he saw that Ludric had found him there.

"Rye!" Ludric hurried towards Rye, "I'm glad you're alright. Where have you been? Are you hurt anywhere? Did the demons kidnap you?"

"I am fine, Ludric," Rye showed Ludric the head, "I think something happened at Yigiris. This demon tried to get me there."

"Crow is a demon?" Ludric's eyebrows tightened, "but he could enter the barrier."

"I am not sure since when or how," Rye paused for a short while, "he is the one who killed Adnadan. If it was not for the king telling me, I would not realize it either. Most likely, a demon got him amidst the battle."

"The elven king, his people, Ash, and now Crow…" Ludric clenched his jaw.

Rye put the head down, "I will go and check the situation at Yigiris. You should continue advancing to the demon lord's castle and defeat him before they do more harm."

"No, we should go together. You said that this demon wanted you to go to Yigiris, didn't you? There must be a trap."

"It is not the time to worry about me, Ludric. The faster you defeat the demon lord, the quicker the problem at Yigiris will be solved. I am going there to prevent any bad situation from escalating until you complete the task you have been destined for."

"…" Ludric cooled his head and nodded, "…You're right."

Rye was about to leave when he stopped in his track, "Marissa and Rock…How are they?"

"Not good. They probably won't continue this journey with us. If they decided as such, I won't stop them from leaving."

"I see. Please tell them I'm–" Rye halted his words and shook his head, "No, nothing. Please make haste and be careful."

Ludric, "…?"

What was he about to say?

Rye looked back one last time, "Find Eshril before you leave for the demon lord's castle. He's going to give all of you new equipment as gratitude and reward."

After saying that, he walked out of the forest to find Light. Once they met, he cast the invisibility spell on them before summoning out the door linked to the old chapel at the capital.

Immediately, they could hear the commotion outside. Yells and battle cries echoed in the sky filled with smoke and fires.

Rye didn't expect the situation to be this intense. The two of them didn't waste any time and directly flew up to go to the castle. On their way, Rye saw the knights below him. August and Orphel have returned with their soldiers and were now doing their best to defend the capital from the invading demons.

Rye cast a spell and a strong water tornado bashed away the demon army which was pushing back August and the others. The water tornado swept off almost all the demons and monsters on that street and rose to the sky. The water evaporated and wind blades minced through them in return.

August and Orphel looked up to see Rye appearing out of thin air, "Rye!"

Rye descended down, "What is going on? How did this happen?"

"They suddenly ambushed us around 3 days ago. Not only the capital, all the other cities are also under attack," August explained.

"We haven't even reached capital yet when it happened. We rushed here as soon as we could," Orphel added.

"What about the castle?"

"Boss Lucifius immediately went there as soon as we arrived. We're making sure they don't break through the inner district of the capital. The academy, temple, and city guards are also helping us," Orphel answered.

Rye felt his back being poked and looked at Light behind him. Remembering what Octavian said about angels, he understood. He turned back to August and Orphel.

"This is Light. I will leave him to you. I am heading to the castle first to see His Majesty."

"Got it," August nodded.

Rye flew up and continued his way. The soldiers guarding the palace immediately became alert when he appeared out of nowhere in front of them, but then they recognized him as Rye and lowered their weapons to let him pass.

Searching around the palace, Rye felt that something was amiss. He didn't pass by any servants or guards. If the servants were told to hide it was still reasonable, but the royal guards who were supposed to be patrolling inside were nowhere to be seen. He also couldn't find Lucifius anywhere.

He checked all the rooms he passed until he reached the audience hall. Inside, he finally met a person. The man broke his gaze away from the view outside the window and met his eyes with Rye.

"Your Highness," Rye politely nodded.

"If it isn't Rye Cazmere," Kiefer slowly walked towards Rye, "I thought you are supervising the Supreme Hero's journey to defeat the demon lord. Did you hear the news about the situation here?"

"I figured there is a problem, but I did not expect it to be this bad. May I see His Majesty?"

"Father is not in good condition. A demon in disguise attacked him when the wave came," Kiefer gestured towards the door, "let me escort you to his room."

"Thank you very much."

Rye followed beside Kiefer to the king's room. Unsurprisingly, they really didn't encounter anyone along their walk.

"May I ask where everyone has gone to, Your Highness?"

"They have been moved somewhere else."

"Including the guards?"

Kiefer only replied with a smile, filling Rye with doubt.

The crown prince stopped in front of a tall double door. For some reason, Rye didn't think this was a bedroom door.

Once it opened, Rye froze at the door.