“KRAAAAAWWWR!”
“KRIEEEEEK…”
Clack, clack.
The noise in the cave full of demons ceased the moment a majestic figure glad from head to toe in dark-red armor stepped in. The commander of the third demonic army strode forward, each step containing prestige and pressure strong enough to generate a reverberance. All the low-tier demons didn’t dare to move, not even tremble in fear.
A symbol of terror.
The third demonic army commander was infamous for their cruelty towards anyone who dares to defy them, be it human or demon alike. Amongst all commanders of the demon’s side, they were the hardest to fight and every battle with them ended in heavy causalities for humanity.
“Once the armor dyed in blood appears, the ghosts of the underworld will feast on the living beings.”
The tale of the third commander is widespread throughout Agnostos. Despite the infamy, only few information about them was known. Nobody even saw what their true appearance was like. Only their trademark, the dark-red armor that seemed impenetrable, came to mind whenever they appeared. But the being inside was shrouded in mystery. Some say it was a horrendous chimera between human and demon, some say it’s the materialization of sins, but the ones that really saw them, had all died an excruciating death or were left mentally disabled after meeting them. Thus, they gave them the nickname ‘Red Specter’.
Red Specter walked past the numerous demons towards the seat on the elevated platform, a hooded individual followed closely behind them. Gazing at the demons below out from their seat, Red Specter gestured the hooded party to them. Most demons present were low or middle-tier at most, they had neither resistance against Red Specter’s intimidating aura nor had the ability to transform into a superior humanoid shape. But the individual was completely unaffected and whispered something to Red Specter, the latter pardoned them. The creatures below incredulously gaped at the hooded person, that came forward.
In contrast to the glum appearance, a mismatching gentle voice of a young lad resounded, “Mankind’s ‘heroes’ have returned. The interception on earth has failed.”
The dispassionate words coupled with the sonorous effect the cave produced terrified the demons below. They knew it was just a mere human, but only by appearance. Under the skin of a human was a cold-blooded tyrant, who didn’t hesitate to betray humanity and sell his comrades to the demon side.
Under his command, human armies and attacks were one after one shattered, but in return for the victory, they had to endure his unconcealed loathing towards them. Even with a not insignificant number of demons dying at the hands of this man, Red Spector highly regarded him for the information he provided and let him be the de facto vice commander.
“I’m disappointed.” The man spoke with sorrow, but the demons below shuddered from the ominous feeling he gave off. “A whole battalion of four hundred low-tier demons and one-hundred mid-tier demons...annihilated. It was just one legacy wielder and one dying man, who can barely use spiritual energy before spitting blood. Yet, you still failed.”
“I’m disappointed,” he repeated. “They found Memories of Athanasia and most likely already brought back the vessel for it. We need to retrieve the legacy and kill the potential wielder before the other commanders know of them. Call back the scattered troops around the human camps and prepare for a large-scale attack.”
“Our goal will be Vanguard!”
***
Far from the demon territory, Tommy was leading Jiushi and Harem God into the Mistore Forest located three hours by carriage northwest from Vanguard’s camp. Ace had matters to take care of and couldn’t escort them.
“Haaah~ Only trees and dirt as far as the eyes can see!” Seeing no one, Tommy finally let out a sigh of relief. He had been wary of other people ever since he was privy to Harem God’s matter.
Withholding information regarding the last legacy left by the goddess Athanasia was a serious crime. They were all essential core members of Vanguard, an organization consisting of humanity's strongest and combat-orientated elite. Ace alone could change the tide of war with his strength. But with the current situation, even they would be convicted as traitors and locked up for not reporting back the truth. But luckily nobody suspected them, at least for now.
However, it was just a matter of time if a certain mute-again-mana-battery kept doing high-profile things. They concluded that it was safer to keep him away from other people’s eyes altogether.
The evening before, Harem God displayed a splendid <Wind Space>. As the name implied, it was an elemental spell with wind affinity that has both defense and attack properties. Upon activation, several wind slashes will stir around the user and create a spheric defensive space that inflicts damage on intruders and nullifies magic attacks. It was an intermediate spell that someone untrained as Harem God shouldn’t be able to utilize.
This enigma naturally lead to a long questioning from Tommy, which resulted in...no results. Apparently, Harem God had neither control nor recollection over what and how he had done it. Thus, he joined Tommy on his mission that happened to be far outside in the immaculate nature to get trained.
The three men arrived at a campsite after a twenty-minute walk into the forest. It was a cleaned-up but plain area surrounded by stone rocks with palm-sized, round stones between them. The entrance was at the midpoint of the crescent-aligned rock stockade that nearly enclosed the whole camp and opened towards the riverbank at the other end. Here and there were some grassy patches of green, but overall, most vegetation inside the camp was already trampled flat by the visitors.
They passed a stone board with ‘Vanguard’s territory’ written in English on it. There was also a list of rules listened underneath, but Harem God didn’t bother to read them. Tommy started to set up their camp since they were going to spend a few nights outside. Jiushi wanted to help him, but noticed that Harem God had slowed down. He marveled at the milky white magic stones with the curiosity of a cat. Although he tried to hide it, Jiushi chuckled from the sidelines and actually thought he was a bit cute.
“Do you have any questions?” He asked Harem God.
Jiushi thought he would deny it and shy away. Harem God had been oddly distanced and nervous around him and Ace after their reunion. It wouldn’t be strange to get ignored. Yet, contrary to his expectation, he simply took out his notepad and wrote something down.
—What are those?
He pointed to the palm-sized stones that were slightly translucent and spread evenly between the rocks.
Jiushi stepped closer, and stood beside him, to explain, “They are barrier stones. We call them stones but they are actually extracted from the roots of a certain tree that only grows in magic forests like the one we’re in. They have a repelling effect on magic beasts.”
There was an awkward silence of no response after Jiushi finished his explanation. Harem God got his answer and stiffly turned away. Jiushi followed his actions with his eyes and a tinge of red on his ears caught his attention.
He ran away, Jiushi thought. Although he had a hunch at what caused Harem God’s flustered behavior, he wasn’t someone who would frankly confront others. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t tease him a bit.
“Nii-chan, how will we split up the tents?”
“Huh? We only brought one tent. There’s no splitting up, we need to squeeze together.”
Harem God heard the two and his footing on flat ground slipped.
F*ck! I have to sleep beside the two?!
Immersed in thoughts, he didn’t notice that Jiushi was approaching him. They stood side to side and the mischievous one put his hand on the other’s shoulder. Harem God turned his head without thinking while Jiushi was deliberately moving his face closer, “Would you mind gathering some firewood?”
A closeup was shoved into his face and Harem God’s brain circuit blew up for a moment. He was especially vulnerable to Jiushi’s appearance, even if he didn’t want to admit it. Seeing the great effect, Jiushi smiled lightly, “Don’t go too deep into the woods or you won’t find the way back.”
Clack!
Harem God noticed Jiushi’s other hand on his wrist and felt weirded out by the ambiguity. Both hands were squatted away like an annoying fly and Harem God fled from the camp to get firewood.
Jiushi leisurely walked to Tommy and helped him set up the tent as initially intended.
The latter couldn’t help but ask, “Will he be alright alone?”
“Mn. I gave him ‘Angel’s Rampart’ and he does know how to survive in the wilderness. It shouldn’t be a problem as long as he doesn’t lose his way,” he answered.
Tommy gave an “Oh” and didn’t pry further.
‘Angel’s Rampart’ was a common defensive artifact that could withstand most common magic beasts in the Mistore Forest. It had two passive skills. One was sensing magical beasts and demons in the vicinity, and the other could hide the wearer’s presence. On top of that, it would activate a magic shield when dangerous beasts approach without the need for an incantation. There wasn’t a better shield for beginners.
It was nearly impossible to attract danger near the camp!
…Or so they thought.
Harem God was only away for half an hour when a beast shouted from the direction he had gone…
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Kyonio· Oct 18, 2021
