This story began with our protagonist wondering if the world was born out of chaos, then it should have come into existence the same way. The chaos was something that didn't have any end, as humans and monsters always kept hunting each other with no end to this. One of the female knight heroes followed by her 12 other companion heroes were out to hunt the master of the moon mountain and our protagonist, the beast named Klebetes which ruled the power of shadows and it was moonlight itself. The heroes had come after suffering for a long way of fighting monsters, and the rest of the world was gone. to be finally able to come close to hunt down the one of the four Devil Beast Kings Clevetas, and they could feel the pressure from the beast even from this distance.
But they couldn't just give in to pressure, as the 13 heroes claimed to have been chosen by the King of Hyden to hunt Clevetas down on this mission. The hero ruling this party swore on his pride to defeat Clevetas without fail, as all of them ambushed the moon beast at once with their spears, shields, and swords aimed at it. However, Clevetas was not the type of beast to mess with.
and it proved it pretty much right away by deflecting all the attacks right back at those heroes. The counterattack from Clevetus were aimed at the heroes one by one, and the beast began reducing the number of heroes. When the heroes realized they were in a pinch, they thought of retreating for now while regretting ever coming into Clevetus'attack range.
Suddenly, they noticed something pointed was coming out from their shadows, and it turned out to be the sharp attacks from Clevetus'tail immersed in shadow which pierced right through their bodies. The hero Alicia noticed those attacks and she quickly commanded others to stay away from their shadows. One of the heroes asked how they could run from shadows, to which Alicia told them to jump just like she took a high jump.
She figured if they jumped higher, the shadow would get farther from their body. Clebetas saw Alicia as she made her way towards attacking it, and it admitted this human was a bit clever. It had been a long time since she had seen one human, around 1,000 years at last she could remember.
They should have been weak insects but if that was the case, Clevetas wondered why did they come this far and just what was their aim in the first place. Now, as the hero Alicia slashes at Clevetas, she manages to land a minor scratch at its horn. That made Clevetas so raged that she decided to finish it once and for all, and destroy the ones who dared to pose a threat to his land. So, Clevetas landed a strong cut on Alicia's left eye and she began striking back by massacring all these heroes who came to defeat her.
Now that these heroes were dealt with, Clebetas'next target was the country of iron and steel, Haydn where people were just as busy as always in their regular furnace activities. The blacksmiths seemed to be working on advancing their methods to make strong swords. These furnaces symbolized the growth and strength of Haydn, and suddenly an explosion occurred at the biggest furnace.
The workers were confused about what happened, and it turned out that Clebetas had made an appearance in this country to destroy the ones who attacked it first. Clevetas began rampaging around the capital and the citizens couldn't do anything except running around shouting a devil beast appeared. The guards were quickly summoned to where the beast was, while Clevetas took a closer look at these measly humans. Clevetas recalled that those so-called heroes from before were chosen by the King of Haydn, so she wanted to destroy the mastermind king itself. Clevetas was very merciless in destroying things, as she destroyed everything that came in her way as well.
Clebetes charged her moonlight hairs and her shadows spread throughout the whole capital. There was only so far the citizens could run away from those shadows, and even if the guards stationed together to attack Clebetes repeatedly, their attacks were nothing to the king of devil beasts. Meanwhile, one of the kingsmen went to the king to report a devil beast appeared in the city and went on a rampage.
When the guard was about to tell the king which devil beast it was, the king stopped him as he could guess the identity himself, and understood that the heroes must have failed on their mission. The king regretted they couldn't manage to reach the ultimate peak Monahydrite to form a blade strong enough to defeat the devil beast, and now they couldn't simply continue anything. The soldiers told the king he must flee, since Clevetes wasn't something that could be stopped at all.
King replied if they couldn't stop Clevetes, it was pointless for them to run away in the first place. So, he just ordered soldiers to close the furnace which occupied Hyden's fire, and declared that it must not be let extinguished. At the same time, Clevetas kept destroying everything, killing people and whatever in the way to the king's castle.
To Clevetas, the resistance was only at the level of mere insects and she realized that somehow, the heroes were a bit different. So, she understood that must have been because they used some sort of different weapons. For example the red blade which managed to scratch its horn. Suddenly, the soldiers on the castle's walls shot large arrows at Clevetas but it was nothing for its strength. However, Clevetas figured that even if these mere humans were weak, they could become a menace by acquiring knowledge.
She decided to put an end to them this instant before they learned to become even more powerful. Then, Clevetus was attacked by some cannons and it landed direct hits on it simultaneously, but no damage at all. Now, she wondered where this king was, while the king was actually doing his job. something to the Hyden's fire, and he managed to seal it safe before Clevetas arrived. The king was relieved he made it in time, and suddenly, a loud explosion occurred behind him and it was very clear that the source of this destruction was the raged king of devil beasts, Clevetas.
At this point, more than half of the soldiers and citizens were killed while the king couldn't do anything to save them. Clevetas recognized the king right away with those excessive ornaments. and it took heavy steps slowly towards him to show hostility the king brought upon himself.
The king of Hyden was surprised to see Clevetas to be able to use the words of a human. Clevetas told the king to mind his words, as she might destroy the hominids entirely. The king didn't expect that would happen, as Clevetas made it clear that she would destroy every country, and people from Hyden, Dorne, Org, Slaughter and Bent.
Even now. she destroyed this country of Hyden partially and decided to kill them all because all the hominids were the same who would one day appear to vandalize his land. Therefore, what Clevetas did wanted to know was the essence of the hominids and exactly what kind of creatures they were.
Clevetas yelled at the king to answer him why he wished for his death. The king looked back into Clevetas'eyes and said a beast wouldn't understand that, and these words got him beheaded on the spot, leaving his head falling a few meters away. Clevetas was mad after that answer. and he decided that as of now, he would start destroying whole humanity. As it walked some steps further, Clevetas planned she would begin with making an army, with the sole purpose to destroy hominids.
Amongst all this, Clevetas heard the cries of a baby coming from the rubble, and the baby was being held by a woman who got trapped under the rubble. The baby kept crying and Clevetas figured it was the baby of Hyden which didn't matter to her at all. So, she was about to go on her way and then the woman holding the baby called Clevetas out and asked for help.
She told Clevetas to save this baby. Clevetas thought this was absurd, and she declared that she had decided to kill all the humans. So, if the woman must resent something, she could resent the fact of being born as a human in Hyden.
The woman then exclaimed out loudly that this was just a child, and a child couldn't choose the time or place where it was born. Clevetas didn't care one bit about this, and the woman stated even if the adults did a lot of horrible things to Clevetas. She still wanted this small request to be heard otherwise this child would die.
Clevetas stated that all the humans were the same in its eyes, and after growing up, that child might take a sword and bear its fangs back at Clevetas, since it wouldn't be satisfied by its current territory and family being killed by Clevetas'hand. So, rather than letting the trouble pile up, Clevetas planned on destroying the humans anyway. However, if there was a merit to keep the child alive, Clevetas asked the woman to prove it now. The woman stated it was impossible right now that she was almost dead but she assured Clevetas this child would prove it to her one day.
Before the woman could speak anything else, she passed away and Clevetas was left watching at the child crying there helplessly. And then for some reason, Clevetas picked up the child and looked at him closely. He didn't feel any persuasiveness from the baby, then decided to see its growth since it would be like an instant for a beast who lived thousands years. Now to know more about this world before Clevetas journey.
Ethia was a continent containing five countries inside of different humanoid races. The first kind were the Don, which were the most numerous and excel at architecture and military arts. These kin had established two big nations in the continent, named Esalen and Bolate.
The second kin were the Org, the brave people of the forest, who were good at hunting and making medicine. The third kin were the Slotta, the people of water who were good at naval arts and swimming, and they hated interacting with other races. The fourth kin were the Bent, a barbaric race living in the wastelands where humanoids had absolute confidence in their strengths, but they lacked unity. And lastly, the fifth kin were the Hyden, which hold many mysteries being the oldest of races and were proficient in refinement and processing technologies. Although Hyden was a small country deep in the mountains, they were the only ones who were able to make weapons out of magic ore, and also the only ones who knew of the manufacturing methods were those of the royal family in the capital.
Hydens used to have a long history of weapon trading with the dawn. And these five kins were not even aware of the extent of the world which wasn't just limited to Ethia. Beyond that land lies the dwelling of the devil beasts, and each of the four devil beings had their own way of fighting back the intruders.
Now, the Moon Mountain, which was situated amongst the land of monsters, was the place where Clebetes lived. This mountain was the home to this monster of shadows and moonlight, and right now here some beasts were roaring loudly while looking at the baby brought by Clebetes. The baby was so scared of these beasts.
that it began crying even louder than before which made a fuss for Clebetes. Clebetes had no idea how to handle human babies, so it had actually tried to take help of other beasts to make the baby quiet. She figured that at this rate, the baby would die quickly and couldn't help thinking what to do in this situation. Then, she used her tail to provide some magic and strength to the baby and it slept afterwards. Clebetes wasn't able to do anything.
unsatisfied, since she could make the baby recover his stamina like this, but it was only a temporary measure. It didn't fundamentally solve the problem of hunger, and she wondered just why the baby was wrapped up in this thin hide like this. She guessed that it must be to protect the failing body of the baby, but even if that was the case, the baby might end up smearing in its excrement sometime.
Clevetas tried to think if the baby would be fine with it, and then spoke of the devil. The baby seemed to have done some shit and he started crying again. Clevetas realized it wasn't fine after all, and it was such a bother for her.
So, Clevetas picked up the baby in its mouth gently and then dropped it gently in between some kind of bugs. The bugs started collecting over the baby, while Clevetas'purpose was to let these bugs which don't eat flesh or blood to skillfully sweep away the excrements of the baby. However, the baby was clearly terrified from being in this situation, and it sobbed up and cried loudly again in front of Clevetas. Clevetas thought that human children would become adults after several nights, but currently it hadn't even a dawn passed and she was already tired of the baby. She recalled the words of the baby's mother, that a child couldn't choose the time or place it was born, and was sure this kid would prove it so.
Clevetas couldn't fathom why she listened to that woman, but now as she picked up the crying baby in its mouth carefully, she figured she couldn't go against what she already decided, since it would be a disgrace as a devil beast king. Clevetas promised the child to watch over his growth by herself, and in order to decide the date of all the humans who flocked to the land of Ethia, Clevetas knew she would need something more, which was a servant. So, Clevetas went to the body of Alicia the hero and chose to bring Alicia back to life. When Alicia opened her eyes, she wondered where she was and if she was dead. But as she stood to look around her, Clevetas saw she had come to her senses.
The moment Alicia saw Clevetas she quickly got on her guard and tried reaching out for her sword. But it wasn't there. Clevetas told her that all the corpses of other heroes and weapons have been discarded into this ravine here, and since Alicia was the only one useful enough to be resurrected, Clevetas turned her into an undead servant.
Alicia was stranded by the thought of becoming a walking corpse, while she also had many confused thoughts about what the hell was this beast king speaking. She quickly checked her leg which was severed before, but now it was intact and it confirmed Alicia's doubts that she was dead after all and now just a puppet of Clevetas. Now, Clevetas ordered Alicia to give her milk, which was a pretty unexpected request coming from a beast. She couldn't believe it was coming from one of the four devil beast kings and thought if she misheard something.
Then Clevetas told her that the baby was hungry, so she should shut up and listen to what she said. Alicia suddenly felt a shock controlling her body, and her hands started removing the armor on its own. Alicia was helpless in front of this dominating beast, and Clevetas was telling her to just be quick. Alicia was about to remove her top because of this undeniable command. After she finally gave in, a few moments passed and Clebetes asked her why there was no milk coming from her.
Alicia shouted she was a maiden after all, which hadn't ever started milking to begin with. Clebetes thought it was just a virgin thing of hers, to which Alicia clarified that a woman would only give milk after becoming a mother. Clebetes in that case, called Alicia useless and the poor Alicia was having to cope up being abused like this despite being a hero. She yelled at Clebetes to just kill her once again.
Which led Clevetas to hold her down and inform her that as long as blood was flowing through her body, she won't ever face death even if she wished for it. Alicia felt like she was cursed now, and in all of this, the baby did poo again and started crying loudly. Clevetas got mad seeing Alicia make the baby cry, and he mentioned to her that he couldn't do anything about the baby's hunger. Alicia yelled out why does a bastard like her have a baby from Haydn, to which Clevetas replied she doesn't need to know the reason for it. But she must have this baby turn into an adult.
Now, since Alicia couldn't give any milk, Clevetas wanted to find another way to make use of her. Alicia wondered what it could be, until she was told to raise the baby with her human knowledge. Alicia stated she didn't have any experience raising a baby either, but just the knowledge of it would be better than at least nothing.
Clevetas asked her what they should do now, and hesitantly Alicia replied they would need to find a wet nurse. She explained that a wet nurse was like a substitute for the mother. who could be hired to give milk to the baby. Clevetas questioned what if they don't have money, to which Alicia replied they could instead exchange some things for money to begin with. She figured just a piece of the magic ore from this mountain would be more than enough, and Clevetas started looking around.
Meanwhile, Alicia had thoughts that if she just had her sword right now, she would have dealt just one strike from this close and finished it. But the self-realization hit her again, knowing fully well she won't be able to lift a finger at all. Clevetas took some magic ore and he told her it was time for them to go for hiring a nurse now. Alicia quickly stopped Clevetas and said there was no way it would be able to hire someone.
Clevetas asked if there was a problem, to which Alicia replied it was a big problem actually because just Just the appearance of a small devil beast could cause a large uproar. And here if the king of devil beasts go there, the whole city would be in panic, making it hard for them to find a wet nurse. Clevetas agreed she was right considering how the people of Hyden reacted to its visit before. Alicia then suggested to leave this baby to her, and she would go there in Clevetas'place, then find a nurse to entrust the baby.
Her real purpose of this offer was because she didn't want to let Clevetas go near a human habitation. And no matter the circumstances, she wanted to get that baby away from this beast. But when she insisted on it, Clevetas denied at once because she didn't want the baby to die somewhere her eyes couldn't reach.
She agreed that if she took the baby there in current appearance, it would cause an uproar. So in that case, Clevetas decided something and started glowing brightly enough for Alicia needing to cover her eyes. After the light faded away, Alicia saw that Clevetas had taken a human shape.
Clevetas questioned if this appearance was fine now as she held the baby in her hands. Whereas Alicia was shocked to see just what form did Clevetas take just now. Clevetas explained that she could manipulate shadows, so this appearance was of the woman who entrusted this baby to her.
She figured it would be fine since the rest of her form was hidden. Then Alicia mentioned her dangerous tales were still visible right now. Clevetas got her tales inside the shadow and now she was all good to go. Although, she figured that a name was necessary now, for both her and the baby to walk in the human world. Clevetas decided to name herself as Klen, and the baby as Luna.
Clevetas asked Alicia to introduce herself properly as well, and Alicia obeyed at once, following by her village named Soga. Clevetas declared it was time for them to head out to the town to get the baby fed. Now 10 years ago, there was a village named Sogo in the southwest of Esalen.
It was a beautiful, calm and nature-filled village where an innocent girl named Alicia lived. Alicia used to have fun playing around, while her father used to work hard in the field. Alicia's father loved her a lot and for some reason, he seemed to have lost one leg. One day, her father told her about an old legend of Edthea, according to which heroes amongst heroes would be granted mysterious weapons by the King of Hyden to defeat the four Devil Beast Kings.
Small Alicia kept hearing it with interest and asked if the Devil Beast Kings were strong. Her father replied that was indeed right and they were strong enough to even tear up the world. There was no way to win against them, which was why special weapons by the King of Hyden were necessary. Since those weapons could only be bestowed upon heroes, and were said to enhance the ability of their handler manifold. Alicia wished to have one of those as well, and got a reply that she would need to be acknowledged as a hero first, which would be difficult.
She was optimistic and looked greatly towards becoming a hero to make their world better off those beasts. That was when Alicia decided upon her goal, but now in the present time, she looked at herself looking like an undead with no place left without scars. She wondered what a mess she was in right now.
And then Clevetas, or we say Klen, came behind her and asked whether she washed Luna's excrement. Alicia was surely not liking this slave life, but she had to obediently reply that she just finished it. Then Luna sneezed from being wet and Alicia nervously was about to dry off Luna soon. But suddenly, Luna again leaked on Alicia's face and this was just another thing Klen ordered her to clean. Alicia was feeling a lot of rage on the inside, as Klen kept ordering her around to wipe her there, with less strength but more precision.
between fingers and all carefully. Clem kept going as thoroughly as he wanted to on poor Alicia, who at first felt like it was good she couldn't go against his words, otherwise hitting Clem would be the first thing she wanted to do. She had started to feel like this devil beast King Clevetas was becoming more like a stepmother from some Disney movie, who just barked orders with no reason.
Now, after working hard for a long time, Alicia finally managed to clean Luna and the baby started enjoying himself. Clem made sure to check everything was well. and mentioned that those bugs were more thorough than this undead servant at least. He called Alicia useless, but still she at least guided him to their camp where heroes were staying before attacking Clevetas.
However, there was nothing decent around here, to which Alicia replied she just left most of the things that wouldn't be useful in combat in an inn at the foot of the mountain. Klen understood now the reason why, but he ordered her to still look around for any possible thing left around. Now since there wasn't anything like that around, Klen told her to go easy herself in the river.
and also wash Luna's cloth while she was at it. Alicia looked at the dirty cloth and she felt disgusted thinking she was being treated at the same level as poop. She called it wretched and either way had to go along to wash the cloth in the river. There, she noticed something surprising. After washing the cloth that had the crest of Haydn's royal family, Alicia didn't think it could be possible at all, as she looked at Luna again and was sure that Luna was from the royal family.
Meanwhile, in the capital of the kingdom of Haydn at the same time, One of the knights which was stationed around the borders came back and saw all the damage done to this capital. He couldn't believe that a single devil beast was capable of this much damage. devastation, and understood this must be because the king decided to fight a devil beast king recklessly. He tried to think why would the king take this desperate measure, as if something made him snap for doing this.
The guy understood that the crown princess anxiety was right on the mark, but to think this baptism would be done on the day when she planned to slip out of the castle with her son. The guy shouted around to find any survivors, and during the same time, an army of some other country was looking at the destroyed Hyden's capital. Their ruthless general scouted the situation and he seemed to have a fierce sword with him. He stood tall and figured that in the end, legends were really legends and one of them had fallen here.
The vice general Maynard asked the general Doril what they would do now, and Doril told the informants to report the legends'attack to their emperor. Doril declared that Hyden would soon become an empty area, since both their castle and the king had been crushed. So, the neighboring kingdom Eslen won't stay silent with the weakened barrier. General Doril didn't want any other country to get their hands on the secret arts of refining magic ore that were only found in Hyden to any other country.
He planned on strategizing first, so Doril commanded everyone to go back to the border to reorganize their army, while Maynard would search for survivors amongst the king and his relatives. He told Maynard to do anything to capture them alive as soon as he found them. Maynard agreed to the command and he sharpened his weird-looking eyes, then went on to carry out the commander's order. Meanwhile, Back to where Klen was, Alicia showed the cloth and asked Klen what was the meaning of this. Klen asked her what she was trying to say, and Alicia stated that only those of the royal family were allowed to wear this coat of arms.
So that means, this child was one of the king's relatives. She asked if Klen kidnapped Luna, being unaware of what happened to the whole capital. Klen didn't expect that, then Luna started crying, seemingly wanting to swing like babies need. Klen told her he didn't know that, and to be honest he didn't kidnap this baby but was entrusted with him. After which, Klen took on the appearance of the person he got Luna from.
Alicia called him a liar saying why would anyone entrust this baby to a devil beast king. And Klen shouted he was not telling a lie. And the baby just happened to be in the rubble of the collapsed castle.
Now that Klen knew Luna was from the lineage of that king, it picked his interest a bit. Whereas, Alicia asked surprisingly what Klen meant by the castle rubble. To which he replied everything was destroyed when he was killing Hyden's king. He told her not to get surprised by every little thing.
and by fair means these humans were the one who started the fight. Alicia was startled by hearing about the king's death, and she added if the king was dead, then everyone must be looking for Luna, the king's relative, because the secret art's magic or refining could only be handled by those who inherit his blood. Klen asked if those weapons she used before were also manufactured by that, and she admitted that was indeed right.
Klen was now more curious about the baby, since he had found interest in raising the baby already. He figured the baby indeed can't escape the destiny of his blood, and after all this curiosity, he decided to make Luna a king. Klen wanted Luna to become the kind of king who would be supported by him, the devil beast King Klebetes from the shadows.
Alicia was shocked by sudden plans of Klen, as he added that invading humans was never one of his interests in the first place, so instead he thought observing humans from afar sounded a little better. He also felt it was very interesting to have infiltrated the royal family. and through this he thought he could just destroy anyone whenever he wanted. Alicia was clearly unsettled to hear things taking a turn for the worst, and realized she just said too much for this to happen.
Glenn stated that now things were decided. He told her their priority now was to fill Luna's belly first. He wanted to find a good wet nurse for Luna, and then he told Alicia to also make sure to bring those magic or fragments taken from the Moon Mountain.
Alicia obeyed it as usual. and she calmed herself while thinking there was no way a mysterious kid with a horn like Klen would be accepted as Luna's aid in the next town. She knew that even if the horn wasn't that unusual, because it was similar to Org's species and aside from that, she was sure that Clevetess couldn't hide his horn no matter what appearance he took. However, she wondered what would happen if Clevetess realized this himself and what he would do at that time, since he could just wipe out humanity on a whim. Now either way, Klen would surely stick to Luna and if she tried to take Luna away now.
Klen would not only kill her but the entirety of the human race which must be avoided. Alicia wasn't sure how much she could handle this, but she took this situation as her final mission as a hero, and she followed after Klen. Klen told her she was slow, then at the same time she noticed a big guy with many scars appeared behind Klen with a big spike club to attack.
Alicia tried warning Klen in time, but before he could notice, the guy hit his head so hard it made a loud noise. Klen just stood there after taking the hit without doing anything. While the bandits asked Alicia if her bag had magic ore in it, Alicia thought these bandits were now finished as they just attacked. But to her surprise, Klen just fell down on the ground unconsciously with Luna in his hands. Alicia was quiet for a moment seeing Klen down, and when she shouted in shock, another bandit came and hit her head from the back as well to knock her unconscious.
Alicia didn't expect that she could even take damage despite having an undying body. Whereas the bandits discussed that these guys were just like they were informed by some broco guy and decided to take Klen and Alicia in cuffs. After some time, Alicia gained consciousness and found herself in a carriage with some other kidnapped guys.
She claimed to have been caught off guard that time, and started observing things around her including the cuffs in her hand. Then she got called out by Klen. who was holding Luna in his hands and just realized they had been captured. Alicia asked him how he could be so carefree, to which he just replied it was nothing to worry about since Luna was safe and sleeping now. Alicia went closer to Klen to ask why he collapsed after a single blow, as if his strength was also reduced to that of a human just like his appearance.
Klen told her to not be foolish and he was just surprised by how much weaker this small body was with its thin skin. He didn't expect to lose consciousness. aside from which he intended to keep his identity a secret until he made Luna a king. Klen also wanted to see this aspect of the human world, from which right now he could see some beaten up and were being transported somewhere. He asked Alicia to explain the situation, and she told him that the ones who attacked them were some lowly bandits, and seeing how they were left alive and put into cages, they were probably going to be sold off to a slave trader.
Klen questioned how strong those bandits were, to which she replied they were not that strong. but the troublesome part was, they would use any means necessary for their objective. She stated they were simply scums and requested Klen to not judge humans just on these guys.
Klen had begun to understand some humans were just trash and after some time, the bandits finally took the captured to a huge place which looked like a crater had fallen there. It had a dark blue water lake with stairways, and the place itself had been surrounded with wooden fences. The carriages of the captured were taken through the gates and then they got the people off it and ordered them to start moving themselves as told. Flen kept following it while observing everything, and later on the captured people were being divided into men and old people, and women's and kids separate. Flen noticed the captured guy behind him showed some sudden movements and started running because he didn't want to be a slave, and the bandits called that person a moron for even trying it.
They just threw daggers at that guy and stabbed him from behind. The one bandit seemingly leading them declared to everyone they were ravens, and those who rebel or try to flee would be killed without mercy. Now he shouted at the slaves to get moving again, and Alicia explained to Klen that's how these bandits were.
Then the bandit leader called out Alicia, a blonde woman, and told her to come his way. Alicia knew that Guy didn't have good intentions, but she couldn't refuse going along with them. Klen kept observing from the side, as he went on his line without doing anything. Then a woman at the place he was taken, saw that Klen brought a baby and she called out another woman named Nell from the back. Nell was a short woman with almost no teats, and when she was coming after being called, she fell down showing how clumsy she was.
Nell apologized to the woman from earlier named Carmen for another mistake, and said she would clean up her mess right away. Carmen told Nell there was a baby and asked her to take care of it. Nell looked with dull eyes over to Luna, sleeping peacefully.
Nell went to take care of the baby afterwards. Nell this shady crater-like place seemed to have more than meets the eye, as deeper into the lake, there lay a mysterious sword at the bottom with an enormous water beast around it. Meanwhile, at the place of the guy who sees over this place named Brocco, Brocco let his underlings enter the cabin. Brocco was clearly an ugly-looking evil guy with marks on his eyes, and the bandits came inside to inform him that they brought the woman he asked for. Brocco exclaimed to the bandit to stop calling him Brocco.
and start calling him boss already since their previous boss Zazak got imprisonment and wasn't here anymore. The other bandit told him he was just calling himself boss even if nobody agreed to that. But Broco was hung up on becoming boss even if he needed to shut others down.
And by that, he actually meant to use his cute pet Betty, a dangerous beast mutated by Broco himself for all the dirty work. Betty seemed to have lost all brain and left with just animal instincts. Alicia recognized it was a beast troll from the west. and to see Brokko tamed was just a sign of how difficult things could get.
Meanwhile, Brokko told Betty must be hungry for a man, so he would let him have one of these bandits. The bandits called Brokko even worse than Zazak, and now Brokko got to work asking if this woman was the one carrying a large amount of magic ore. The bandit agreed she was on the path leading to the Moon Mountain.
By the mountain, Brokko figured that she might be connected to something he heard before, about that place being the den of one of the four devil beast kings, Clevetess. and also it was where the 13 heroes were recklessly headed. Brokaw also added that Hyden's capital had also been attacked by the same Clevetes, which caused a big fuss, and the castle fell. So, in another world Brokaw could figure that the heroes failed, which was pretty obvious since they fought with something they shouldn't have.
Alicia knew this guy wasn't off the mark, and then Brokaw told the Ravens it was more convenient for them either way, since They could profit off this disaster and Haydn's destruction now that nobody would pursue them in stealing or committing crimes. He thanked those foolish heroes for this outcome, and hearing all this crap made Alicia mad enough to call Brocco a good slave trader. The bandit told her to watch her mouth, but Brocco told the guy it was fine and it wasn't her fault to think they were simple slave traders.
So, Brocco decided to show just how simple they were, as he took out his sword and told her it was also something he sold in the market. It was a reddish blade which reminded Alicia of Monohydrite used in Hyden King's made weapons. She called it impossible for a slave trader to have a weapon like that, and Brokko detailed how the Monohydrite looked like in terms of red color and the more red meant a higher purity.
The Monohydrite weapons had the effect of enhancing the abilities of its user. However, Brokko told her this weapon in his hand was a fake, and he was currently selling these fake magic swords. And even if these weapons won't enhance the ability of the user, Broco made sure to make it look like it had enough purity which would fool just about any idiot. Broco mentioned that now there was a rumor saying the whole royal family was dead, so that means the value of this sword which couldn't be made anywhere would just rise and rise even more. He had the plan to produce fewer of these to make the unit value even more, as he claimed he was a genius to come up with an easy business such as this.
Furthermore, he had already planned which people to sell these weapons to, so he wanted to gather more of these treasures. The bandit added that their previous boss Zazak was doing the same, but since those treasures were only given to the heroes by the king, there were only two ways to obtain them, which was either by becoming a hero, or by taking it from one. The easiest way to obtain those weapons was to steal them from a dead hero, but the problem in this option was that most heroes die in the devil beast's territories, which was hard to get close to. Now, he mentioned having heard that among the heroes sent to subjugate Klebetes. There was one woman and by the look of Alicia carrying those magic ores of extreme purity, which couldn't be found anywhere else, Brocco asked if this was all a coincidence.
He looked thoroughly and didn't see any sword or armor on her, but she did have a well-toned body. Brocco touched her from behind which got her pissed off, but Brocco was taking full advantage of his upper hand of having Betty behind. He observed that Alicia doesn't fear even in front of Betty, so that means she was a hero for sure. Alicia didn't deny it since Brocco was already sure of it. and then he mentioned that she must have also had a treasure.
But since she wasn't carrying one, she must have lost it somewhere. Brokko thought she might have desperately fled from Klebetes and couldn't afford to retrieve her sword, so now he wanted to know where she left her sword and what happened to the twelve other weapons. Alicia didn't say anything, so Brokko ordered the bandits Dagon and Sachai to have Alicia guide them to the treasures tomorrow morning. Sachai mentioned it might be better if they instead send her to retrieve that one sword they know about before. But Brokko refused since it wasn't worth risking 13 of those mythical weapons for just one.
He stated it would be the slaves'jobs to keep trying to retrieve that one sword they know about. Brokko gave Dagon freedom to use whatever means he wanted to get the information out of her. Dagon and Satchai laughed after hearing, and they made sure to let Alicia know she will be taken care of nicely.
Alicia was in for a tough time. In the meantime, Klen was made to do different labor tasks like serving food to the bandits. The bandits were enjoying however they wanted with the slave girls and Klan observed from the sides. He noticed Nell was sitting in a room and feeding her milk to Luna. She told Luna to drink as much she wanted and was happy to be able to help.
Luna finally got fed with milk. Then some bandits shouted at Nell they were out of alcohol. Nell had to quickly get up and put Luna down slowly to go there to work more. The bandit kicked her from behind for being so slow.
After Nell went away, Klen kept looking at her and he also got called out by other bandits to bring them some meat. Klen listened to the orders they barked without saying anything, and others also started making him work more. Then the bandit Satchai told slave Carmen that the brat Klen was perfect as he does whatever he was asked to.
Carmen agreed it was right, but for some reason something about Klen creeps her out. Part of the reason was Klen's horn, which looked like he had some of Org's blood, and that gaze of his didn't seem normal of a hominid. Meanwhile, Klen observed Nell being mistreated by the bandits who stumbled their legs in her way intentionally for fun.
And after she fell down and broke the jars Nell was carrying, Nell got her hairs held and taken away by the bandits. Klen figured nobody was noticing him right now, so he decided to follow after Nell. As the time of the night came by, Nell was getting beaten from behind by those bandits, after which they left her with warning to not drop any more alcohol again. Nell couldn't do anything but just take whatever was thrown at her and cry. Then she quickly shut herself to prepare for taking care of the baby.
The bandits on their way mentioned to each other how Nell was like a cow. Then suddenly their heads started feeling dizzy, and they fell down unconscious on the ground. This was done by Klen's shadow, as he seemed to have come here with some purpose. He told Nell she would be a splendid pick for feeding milk to Luna, and he came here to discuss it.
Now, while Klen was still in the hospital, he was still in the hospital. When Nell feed Luna, he asked her for her name and if she was a member of the bandits. But clearly, she didn't look on the bright side of being part but just a slave, so Nell asked her if she could tell him more about herself.
He didn't mind her feeding Luna at all, since she seemed good for taking care of Luna. Nell was a bit confused, as she informed Nell that she had been here in the Ravens from the moment she was born. Nell couldn't speak properly but with broken words, while she stated she never knew who her father was. And aside from that, she used to have a mother but she never got to look at her face from the front. Her mother used to be a slave as well, and those bandits made her do the same things Nell was made to do now.
Nell remembered the times when she always saw her mother only being mistreated by those bandits, but whenever she looked at Nell, she toughened a smile at her. By the time Nell turned 12, her mother vanished and Nell wasn't sure if she passed away or just escaped. Until then, Nell lived in hiding from those bandits in this area, and when she was found by them, Her life became hell as she began to be beaten and punched.
Nell lost almost all her teeths and one of her ears stopped hearing. That was when she noticed for the first time, that until that moment, she had always been protected by her mother before. But now that she was gone, Nell's life wasn't different from that of livestock.
After that, she came to know Carmen and her life became a bit better. Carmen started telling Nell how to survive in this hell and just do what she was told by those bandits, and once they were satisfied they would leave her alone. Nell kept following whatever Carmen taught her and followed after her. However, with her missing teeth and clumsiness, she couldn't become like Sister Carmen.
But it was still way better than before, because now, she at least had a role. It was being able to provide milk to fulfill the needs of a baby. Glenn heard her attentively then he mentioned that according to what Alicia told him before, a woman could only give milk after giving birth to a baby.
So, he asked what happened to Nell's baby, to which Nell disappointedly replied she didn't have one. She had gotten pregnant three times but all of them were stillbirths. Flan heard her sad story, as Nell stated she felt like it was all her fault that she wasn't able to give birth properly. Nell could still remember the times when she had to face those stillbirths and had to cope up with that bad news by herself.
Time after time, she started to feel like her body became cold, and the whole world became dark like she was at the very bottom of the ground. She had come to get used to this feeling, while wishing that one day, she might be able to meet her child on the other side. But after some time, she got to feel the warmth on her chest and when she opened her eyes, she saw a baby was drinking milk.
She didn't know the baby at all but despite that, the baby was frantically near her drinking milk like its life depended on it. That was the first time she felt like trying to live a little longer for this baby. And another day, another baby came and as this kept happening Nell didn't think of where the babies came from but she just liked taking care of babies.
She wanted to make any baby she came across happy. Klen heard her story and he stated it was plenty of what he wanted to know. He deemed her as a fit person and asked her to come with him to be hired as a wet nurse for Luna.
Nell was a bit surprised to hear a boy like Klen saying things like that, whereas Klen mentioned that even if he doesn't put his trust in hominids, he doesn't see a reason to reject Nell, and above all, Luna seemed to have taken a liking to her. Luna looked at Nell with innocent baby eyes as he felt comfortable around Nell. Klen asked her again if she would leave this place with him.
or stay here living as an outlet for this scum until the end of her life. He told her to choose, to which she replied this offer made her happy but it was impossible for her to accept. Since from her point of view, Klen was himself a slave and she already had to take care of the babies that would keep coming here.
So, Nell said sorry and gave Luna to him then went on with her work. Klen wasn't expecting that, and he didn't want to force her either. Meanwhile, at the side of the lake on platforms, Alicia was being taken like a prisoner. and the bandits told her to quickly cross over the bridge. She noticed at the end of the bridge, there was a lamp and also the end of the path with nothing but lake down there.
Alicia could only see it going bad from here on. Dagon shouted at her to not even think about jumping, since this hole down there was shaped like a mortar. So before falling into the lake, she was sure to hit the rocks around the edges and die immediately. Alicia noticed from the hints of a large mortar-shaped hole and traces of magic or mining, and realized which place this was.
At the same time, other bandits on the lower platform seemed to have tied up a slave with rope at the end of the platform. Satchai figured they got another challenger down there, and he mentioned to Alicia that she must have also heard about a story of the Hero Codwall, who died 300 years ago. Alicia was sure of her guess now, and confirmed that this was the last place where Hero Codwall appeared, named as the Mineshaft of Elba.
Meanwhile, the slave tied to rope was about to do something crazy in the lake. and before that he asked the bandits if they would keep their promise. The bandits faked that they would surely release him and his wife if he just went and pulled out the sword in the lake with that hook.
The slave's wife was praying for him as well, and thus the slave jumped down with the hope to release his wife. After he jumped down in the lake, Alicia called it absurd since more than half a century ago, Half of this mine was submerged right now, which was more than 30 meters deep. And if the legend she heard was correct, then there was more to it. The bandit claimed she was right, as the ones who killed the hero Codwall were still down there in the lake.
Suddenly, the slave's wife saw a huge beast coming out from the lake with that slave man's ripped body in their mouth. The face of her dead husband traumatized that screaming woman, until the devil beasts went back into the water. Satchai commented that this attempt failed as well. Alicia found this situation cruel because this lake was filled with the devil beast Alvensis, which gushed out from these waters 300 years ago, and it was because of them that the mine was abandoned.
According to the legend, Hero Codwall fought these devil beasts on the ground, and despite being the strongest hero of his time, he couldn't win against the swarm of these beasts. It was also known that the Hero Codwall had the Hyden's pride weapon, known as the Waterfall Slicer. Alicia now understood that the objective of these bandits was to obtain those legendary swords, and Satchai admitted she got that part right at least. Alicia called them bastards for sending out that slave by promising him freedom, and even if he had been lucky enough to reach the sword, she didn't think these guys would have freed him either way which was something only low-lifes like them would do. Bandit Dagon exclaimed to Alicia and told her she must have understood her place now.
He explained that with her hands and shackles, balls and chains on both her feet, on top of which being on a suspension bridge with nowhere to flee, she couldn't disobey them at all. Dagon also told her to look over to the other side of the bridge, where there were more cruel guys who were waiting for their turn to torture Alicia. One guy Pito was so crazy for his chance that he already had his daggers in hand, and he jumped straight in front of Alicia.
Satchai told Pito to not be hasty, but Pito didn't care because he was blind after all. He just wanted to comprehend the pain she would suffer and feel her body, and tamper of her heart to their peak points of pain. Pito made his move by aiming for Alicia's clothes first, so he told the others to be ready for the show. Alicia couldn't stay quiet anymore, so she muttered she never expected she would be thankful for the curse on her. Dagon and Pito wondered what she was uttering about, until Alicia dislocated her shoulders and trapped Pito's head in between her shackles.
She squeezed Pito's head between her hands and stated he seemed to be fine with high places. After that, Alicia spinned around with heavy force to cut up the ropes of the bridge they were at. and everyone on it began falling down into the abyss. Pito cried out for his life, while Alicia seemed to be cool as she put her full trust into Klen, since he told her she was immortal now.
After a few seconds, both of them crashed straight into the rocks of the surface. Dagon and Sachi seemed to have survived by latching onto the end of the fallen bridge, and they looked down to see what happened to the other two. They saw that the bodies of both Pito and that woman Alicia had been crushed by the impact of falling.
Alicia's body was in tatters with blood coming out from almost every part of her body, and she wasn't moving anymore. Sachi was convinced she was dead now, which created a big trouble for them, since they were supposed to make her hide them in the 13 treasures. Dagon told him they should go down to check on her quickly, because otherwise, they were screwed if Broco finds out about it. Whereas Alicia wasn't actually dead, but she could definitely feel hell of a pain in every part of her body. Alicia could feel she was somehow alive, but couldn't feel any part of her body below her neck.
She saw that her body had become hell and if she wasted too much time here, those bandits would find her. She wanted her body to move so badly, and then her blood started moving and it gathered above her head like it was alive. The blood formed a mini version of Clevetess, and he called her a fool for having lost so much blood carelessly like that. Alicia noticed the mini Clevetess and she asked what was up with this puppy shape. He replied that his form was determined by the amount of blood, and this small body worth of blood was currently keeping her body alive.
If she were to lose this blood of Clevetes, she would have died for sure. Now, he stated if she wanted to be useful to him, he could force all the blood lost back into her body, which would recover all the parts except the ones completely lost. She asked him why wasn't he just fixing her already, to which Clevetes declined doing that, because he first wanted to inquire about something while they were able to talk. Clevetes informed her that he came across just the right wet nurse for Luna, and her name was Nell. She was one of the bandits, and from Clevetes'point of view, Her situation was far from a blessing.
So, he thought Nell would agree to his offer but she refused immediately. He asked Alicia why was that, to which she replied it was probably because Klebetes was a slave himself in her view, and a child at that. That wasn't all, since in this place, those bandits don't forgive the ones who dare to leave and if anyone ever tried to do that, they would be relentlessly chased down and killed. Which was why Nell wasn't even taking the risk of it.
Klebetes understood the reasons now, and he asked what he should do. To which Alicia replied that first he would need to crush these bandits, because if they were crushed they wouldn't chase. She told him he could do that easily if he wished to.
But Clevetas replied he didn't want to risk his absence from the moon mountain known to anyone. which would be bad in various ways. Because if that happened, Clevetes would be searched for wherever he goes, and any pursuer would also know about him raising Luna. He told Alicia she would need to do this, and crush these ravens by going on a rampage herself. Clevetes figured it wouldn't be odd for a hero to slaughter one or two groups of bandits like this.
Alicia denied there was no way she would do something like that, because killing humans was just too much for her as a hero. Clevetas had enough and he ordered her to finish before Luna got hungry again then left from there. Alicia couldn't argue back to his selfish wishes as Clevetas'blood went back inside her body. The blood began rushing into her nervous system and it began healing all the damaged parts of her body. Alicia was having to go through hell of a pain while healing, and somehow she managed to stand up at the end when it was done.
She wished Clevetas would have at least spared that intense pain from fusing her bones back. Now, the bandits Dagon and others arrived there to check and they were shocked by the sight of Alicia still standing up. Despite going through a death fall, Alicia gave a cold look at those bandits, who wished to capture her again.
She could hear them being dogs to think she would really guide them to the 13 treasures, or let them capture her in the first place. The bandits didn't care if they had to cut off her arms or legs, but what mattered to them was to just not let her escape. When one of the bandits got closer to attack her, He called her pitiful and Alicia asked with a death stare if he was sure about it. She reached out her hand and let that guy's sword get into her arm.
The bandit thought he managed to capture her now, but to his shock, Alicia held his arm and took Highsword with those same deadly eyes without any sympathy. The battle between Alicia and the bandits began with a dramatic punch on that bandit's face, which sent him off straight towards others and she took his eye patch as well. Alicia broke free herself from the weights in her legs by cutting them with a sword, and as she wore the eye patch, match, she was now ready to do whatever Clevetas asked of her, even if it meant killing those bandits by her own hands.
Meanwhile, Klen here decided to find Nell and try to persuade her again. He told Luna not to worry, and Alicia would make it even if she doesn't look like it. After all she was the first human ever to scratch his horn. At the same time somewhere else, Nell was going back to her shelter and Sis Carmen welcomed her back with a scolding.
She asked Nell where she was, to which Nell replied she was giving milk to the baby. Everyone figured it was fine then. as she thought Nell would be beaten until she passed out by those bad bandits.
Carmen warned Nell to just do whatever she could before it was too late, because it would be trouble if she got any more disfigured. Nell tried to keep a smile on her face until Carmen felt it was fine. After that, Nell was tasked to do some cleaning in the kitchen quickly and Nell obediently got back to it. Carmen noticed Nell was in a surprisingly good mood for someone who came back after being beaten up, so she asked if something good happened. Nell smiled and mentioned that Carmen came from outside this place, whereas she was born in this place and always wondered how the outside world was.
Carmen stated that they were either brought from the outside or after they did something wrong to get caught up in trouble. So, she had no good memories of the outside world either. Nell made a blank face after hearing it.
Then Carmen exclaimed why was she asking this after all this time, as if she was thinking of leaving this place. Nell stated she would never think of that, but she just had a guess that if she could leave. what would the outside world look like.
At the same time, Broco was passing nearby and he could hear what Nell was speaking. Nell then mentioned that someone asked her if she wanted to go with them, and Broco got aware after hearing it. Carmen wordly asked who the hell asked her something like that, to which Nell replied it was a slave. Carmen got mad and she hit Nell for even thinking something like that because it could get her in trouble. Nell wondered why she got hit by sis Carmen, as Carmen told her to not even consider doing that because that slave might be just taking her now.
and then throw her away later. Sis Carmen was also pissed off since someone asked that from Nell but not herself, and she couldn't take Nell getting a headstart which was unforgivable for her. Nell was about to be hit again by Carmen, then Brocco decided to speak up, that situation here looked somewhat suspicious.
Carmen was afraid after hearing that voice, whereas Brocco played it dumb as if he hadn't heard them. But it was obvious to Carmen and she asked for formality why did the boss Brocco take the trouble to come here. Brocco mentioned he heard Carmen had something in stock. which picked his interest. Carmen understood what Brocco was trying to say, so he asked Nell where the kid that came today was.
She replied it was probably around the stable, and Brocco figured it would be fine if they let him gain some more weight. Then Brocco asked Nell to come and help him for a bit, and Nell obediently went without knowing anything. Whereas Carmen understood what it exactly was, so she tried to convince Brocco to wait but Brocco didn't pay a penny to her and left with unaware Nell.
Carmen considered it would really be trouble if something were to happen to Nell. because she was the only one around here who could feed babies. And when she was worried about that part, Klen came there with Luna in his hands. Harmon saw the baby and asked Klen if he was here to get Luna to drink some milk.
She mentioned even if that was the case, it was impossible now because the one who could feed her was Klen. Feed Luna wasn't here anymore. Clem learned from her that apparently, Nell made a mistake of dreaming something she shouldn't have and now she would really do what she sowed. Clem asked her what was the meaning of this and Carmen wasn't in the mood to answer him.
Until, she looked into Clem's deep scary eyes. Meanwhile, Nell was being taken by Broco through some stairway and she was looking around puzzled, since it was her first time seeing this place. Broco told her they were in a place which was originally a magic or mine, so there were sure to be a lot of holes like this here.
In the way, he kept spouting nonsense about how magic ores could be used to light up the lamp, or various other things like making magic swords. However, nowadays it was also used to perform some dark arts. And before joining the Ravens, Brokaw spent a long time dedicated to his research about these dark arts.
Now, he guided her to some places left and right and in the way she stumbled across some bones. She got scared and Brokaw told her they were probably of a mouse, since it remained unknown what insects could be here. He let her know they were going to see the content of his research, but the area was too dark for her to be able to see anything as Brocco turned out the lamp.
Nell's heart was racing in fear of not being able to see anything in this dark, and after some time, Brocco lightened up the lamp and what Nell saw behind her was the sight of frightening troll Betty, who seemed to be hungry for a man. Nell was completely horrified, while Brocco casually told her this was his research he performed by mixing magic or powder with drugs and found a way to control devil beasts. Brocco told her she had performed treachery by even thinking of going outside. So now, he declared this was her execution where Nell would become Betty's food.
Brocco released the hungry Betty on Nell and while she tried to run, Nell wondered if she had taken Clint's hand at that time. How would it have worked out for her? She began losing all hopes knowing she wouldn't survive this ordeal, and no matter how much she ran, she still got caught up by Betty with her widely opened mouth.
And then Betty just gobbled her up inside her mouth like some food. Betty then jumped out Nell from her mouth and Nell was very injured from all those bites. Nell knew she was done for, as Betty just swallowed her whole stomach at once. Brocco was just observing it from the sidelines and laughed seeing another human suffering in front of him. And at that time, Glenn arrived there and it was obvious he was really pissed off by what was going on here.
When Nell was inside Betty's mouth, she saw Glenn with Luna for an instant just a few moments before she passed out, saying sorry for not being there to feed the baby anymore. After Betty swallowed Nell, Luna started crying and Klen quoted him saying it was just the way of the world to eat or to be eaten. It was the same for animals or humans, and naturally for devil beasts as well. Brocco shouted what was up with Klen calling him a brat, to which Klen replied it was nothing and it was unavoidable for Nell to be eaten.
So, it was his fault for being late that was all. Klen took a glance over at both Brocco and Betty trying to understand the situation, and why was a proud troll being kept as a pet by a small human, which shouldn't be possible. Whereas, Broco thought this brat must be drunk to not have been scared by Betty, otherwise it was clearly abnormal of him.
But he figured it was safe for him, so he ordered Betty to eat Glenn as well, including the baby from Hyden. Then he noticed Betty didn't respond and even if he ordered her again, Betty was shaking with fear, and she started going wild doing random things while holding her head. Glenn was surely doing something, but Broco couldn't see it and in the next moment, the extremely scared Betty acted weird and released Nell from her mouth.
Nell was in a horrible state and barely taking a breath, and Klen noticed her faint breathing from close. Luna wasn't feeling well either and Klen entrusted Nell with Luna, as he put Luna near her. Klen made sure to neutralize the gastric acid already, and he told Luna to stay with Nell trying to comfort her which was something only he could do. Luna was just a baby so he couldn't understand what Klen said, and then he noticed something emerging from the shadow.
It was the tail of Klebetus which he used to send Nell and Luna at some safe distance away. Meanwhile. Broco was trying to get Betty to behave and then he noticed that it was just Klen standing there now.
He shouted just what tricks or sorcery Klen used to send that kid and woman. Klen questioned back just what he meant by sorcery, and Broco thought he was pretending not to know. Broco warned Klen to not think lightly of him just because sorcery was new, since he had gotten to an advanced level than the current generation. After that, he took out a tube filled with something which got Klen thinking it was grains of sand.
Broco stated he would give him a lecture on sorcery basics. and show just what his years of research on various subjects was capable of. Broco was currently able to control only one female troll, and his ultimate goal was to manipulate every kind of devil beast. Broco then put the substance in that tube into the spark inside that lamp, and some weird smoke started coming out from it and it affected Betty's mind.
Glenn started feeling a bit off from that smoke as well, whereas Betty had gone totally insane than before. Broco ordered her to attack Glenn. and Glenn had a bit of trouble reacting to her in time.
So, Betty managed to land a clean hit on him and dealt a high amount of damage. Glenn realized he could take direct hits in this form, and never the less. Nevertheless, he was pissed since Alicia didn't tell him any explanations about this sorcery. Meanwhile, on Alicia's side, she was slicing off the hands and necks of all the bandits attacking her. Alicia began to feel fatigue collecting up but she was somehow managing to fight these bandits with all she had.
At that time, she recalled the time she spent training swords with her father, and he taught her how to grip when hitting something harder than her sword. He told her to keep the softness of her joints in mind while attacking to be able to deal with recoil best. Alicia asked him what she needed to do to become way stronger, to which her father replied to just not waver.
No matter who her opponent was, if she were to hesitate while unleashing her tricks, it would just make her body stiff. So, the important thing she must remember was to trust in her sword. Alicia kept that in mind to bring out the true strength of her sword. She was fierce on the battlefield living up to her title as a hero, and now eight of the bandits remained. The bandits Satchai and Dagon were shocked to see her absurd strength, which was unlike humans.
Dagon told him if they couldn't win with their skills, they should attack her desperately with all their strength. Alicia tried to block that attack but Dagon managed to overpower her and send her flying from the hit. The bandits felt a little upper handed from this move, and Alicia knew it happened because the sword was weak and broke so easily. She figured no matter how many of these blunt swords she had, it won't be enough and she would need a proper sword. Bandit Dagon thought she must have broken some bones after that, but Alicia was still standing strong.
Whereas Alicia was feeling the fatigue only rising more and more, causing her to sweat in the process. Suddenly, she made the decision to run away from these bandits and while all of them kept chasing her. Alicia knew she wouldn't be able to beat 50 of them without a break.
She could feel her strength declining by the fatigue and also her blood boiling more than it should. She didn't want to imagine what would happen if she were to get caught. Because a woman could be put into terrible horrors by these bandits. Alicia ran all the way to the edge of the cliff and she looked around at the platform to come up with a solution.
She decided to be quick to somehow get that legendary sword, which was the only way to get rid of these bandits. So, Alicia mustered up all her courage and jumped on the lower platform. The bandits got the idea that she was planning to dive into the lake, and thought she would be stupid to think that since in these 300 years nobody had ever come back after entering it.
So, they considered she might be running towards another platform and climbing up from there. Alicia was running as fast she could while being chased by bandits from above. and monsters below in the lake.
She knew these monsters would attack those who fall into the lake, so she kept running close to the ground and climbed up to the alternate platform. She saw an axe there, took it and again began running above this time. In her way, she cut off all the ropes which were supporting the platform one by one and also throwed a drum down in the lake.
After this, Alicia was cornered by all those bandits from all directions, but she already had a plan in mind. She throwed the axe at the final rope which was keeping the platform above. and once it was cut, Alicia warned the bandits it was time to feed the devil beasts, Alvensis.
The platform began crumbling and so the guys on it, and Alicia also fell down into the lake with everyone else. Some of the bandits like Dagon and Satchai barely managed to remain on the ground, and they called Alicia insane for collapsing the whole platform like that. Now all those who fell into the water would now be eaten by those aquatic devil beasts. The fallen bandits started being eaten one by one.
And the only thing remaining in the water was either screams of the dying ones or the blood of those who already died. However, Satchai and Dagon couldn't spot Alicia bitch, because amongst all these corpses in the water, Alicia had slipped into the drum she throwed in lake before. She had everything going according to her plan until now, and she figured she had a good advantage right now which made her better than even the legendary hero, which was that she won't die even if she drowned. The last breath she took had already run out.
and now she just needed to endure it with all she had, until she reached the legendary sword sleeping at the bottom of this lake. But she wasn't aware that something else was also sleeping in this lake, which was never seen by anyone before. As she kept going into more depth of the lake, Alicia began to suffer more pain than even dying. And at this point her head was feeling numb, her eyes were clouded, and her whole body was screaming in pain.
She had determined herself to bear this increasing pain no matter what, until she found that legendary sword at the bottom. After some seconds, her drum touched the surface and she wondered with squinched eyes if she reached the bottom. Alicia looked around her in her eyes then fell upon a sword right in front of her.
She quickly reacted with all the strength she had remaining, and sprinted towards that sword because Alicia was after the sword's power to enhance the physical abilities of the wielder. She crawled her way to slowly reach towards the sword to reach it, and suddenly, she noticed something shocking on the surface opened up like an eye. And this was the moment Alicia knew she fucked up. Because what she thought was the bottom of the lake, turned out to be the top of the head of a gigantic aquatic devil beast.
The huge devil beast got up from the bottom and Alicia figured from the size of it, that this beast was even bigger than Clebetes in size. size. She couldn't believe such a thing was lurking in the Elba's mineshaft, and quickly tried to take this opportunity to reach the sword near her. However, the devil beast sensed her presence and it opened up its large mouth to suck up Alicia as its prey.
While she was being pulled down, Alicia looked at the sword up there and she made a desperate attempt to just get a hold of that sword for the last time, because it was now all or nothing. The huge beast closed its mouth, and upon taking a closer look, Alicia barely managed to get a grip on the legendary sword Waterfall Slicer. At that time, she recalled her father's words when he told him she might fall behind men in terms of brute strength. But when it comes to bringing strength out of swords, he was sure that she won't lose to anyone and become a fine hero. Those final words of her father remained in Alicia's mind, and she was now ready to fight again.
Alicia got herself out of the beast's mouth and looked at its giant eyes. Her guts were ripped open from the beast's teeth. But she finally got the sword and closed her eyes to focus on getting out the real strength of the waterfall slicer.
The next time the huge beast tried to eat her, Alicia managed to take good control of the sword's abilities, which allowed her to travel faster in water. She was able to go faster than the gigantic beast in water, because this sword allows its user to cleanly cut even water in two to generate propulsive force. Alicia felt like she was a fish in the water now, and from that, It was inevitable for her to think just why did the legendary hero lose with such an advantage underwater.
She could tell that this beast must be the reason, because no matter how she looked at its size and the otherworldly appearance, it was surely an ancient beast. Ancient beasts were said to live for thousands of years, and they were a bit different than devil beast kings. Many ancient beasts have been dormant for centuries.
It was rare to confront them possibly in the depths of the earth, the oceans or even in the clouds. It was a well-known fact to everyone. If they were to encounter an ancient beast, they must not approach it at any cost. Alicia figured that this beast must have been accidentally dug up during the magic or mining, and the hero Codwall must have confronted it as well without knowledge. Alicia observed above her that those Alvensis near the surface also noticed her, so she needed to be careful even if she was strengthened by this sword.
She used another water cut to dash right into those Alvensis, and managed to get past right through them. Her priority right now was to reach the surface. because she needed to breathe urgently. At the same time, bandits Dagon and Satchai were standing there looking at the water, when suddenly, Alicia came out from it. She was drenched in water and took a deep breath she was longing for.
The bandits recognized her and also noticed that she was holding the legendary sword in her hands. Then the ancient beast also came out and surfaced above the lake, and the size of it scared off even the bandits. They wondered what was this monster like an octopus, and the ancient beast started attacking crazily right away. Its giant tentacles began destroying the surrounding area as it climbed the ground, and bandits, slaves or anyone else who came in its range couldn't outrun their deaths. In the middle of all this, Alicia was standing there knowing there was almost nothing they could do against this beast.
She was barely keeping the tentacles attacking her away by cutting their tips, but the whole ancient beast was a disaster on its own. She noticed that even those Alvensis beasts were keeping their distance from this beast, and after thinking a bit, she decided to just run away. The bandits called out to her and asked for her forgiveness, saying they would do whatever she wanted.
They begged for her help because now that she destroyed the platform, it was not possible for them to climb up there. Bandits told her to act like a hero and save them, to which Alicia gave a mouth-jabbing reply that she wasn't some convenient hero anymore, especially for the likes of them. She declared that she was now the servant of someone way more powerful than even this ancient beast.
After saying that, she went on her way leaving those bandits at the mercy of that giant ancient beast. Alicia quickly climbed several levels above and saw the ancient beast running havoc down there. She figured from the height that this beast and those Alvensis won't be able to leave the water, and thus they would remain in the shaft.
Alicia considered her mission from Klen was fulfilled like this, since most of those bandits died and with the ancient beast awakened, they won't be able to live here anymore. It kind of left a bad taste for her not getting to fight this beast, but either way, she got the legendary sword so it was fine. Then, she got called out by Klen which startled her out of nowhere. He told her not to be surprised that much, because he was just talking to her through his blood. He could tell from her blood flow that she managed to clean things up on her side, even though she struggled a bit.
Alicia exclaimed it was not a bit by any means and she was suffocating like hell down there and even an ancient beast came out. She told him if he knew that, he could have helped her in the least but Klen replied he heard to deal with his own troublesome opponent which kept him busy. Alicia was puzzled just what could be had faced.
to which Klen replied that it might have been because of his human form, but he was annoyed by the tricks which he had never seen before. Klen accused Alicia that she hid the existence of sorcery from him, for which she was now due for a scolding as he called her where he was immediately. Some time ago, when Broko used his sorcery he was pissed off when he saw Klen not acting like just any kid, and instead facing off against Betty. Broco never heard about a type of sorcery used to strike the way Klen was attacking, and he thought his sorcery was behind time. It was around the time when those platforms collapsed and Broco here felt the ground shaking.
He had no way of knowing what was going on the outside. Then somehow while walking around, Broco noticed Luna and smirked as he planned on doing something crazy. After Klen had taken care of Betty, Alicia arrived there and called out to him. She mentioned having run all the way here immediately just like he told her to, even if she was almost out of breath and inhaling heavily. She asked him what was up with all this smoke here, whereas Klen noticed the sword she had in her hand.
He asked her about the sword and Alicia yelled she would never let him throw it away because she almost lost her life trying to get it. Klen figured it was fine for now, and then he told her that the smoke here was troubling him. He observed that small animals here were fine, so it means the smoke was only affecting the five senses of devil beasts.
After having been exposed to this smoke, Klen's nose and ears were done for which made him feel awful. Not just that, but he couldn't find where Luna was right now either. Alicia was shocked to hear Luna wasn't with him, and Klen also told her Luna was currently with Nell who was close to death right now.
Alicia understood Nell must be the name of the wet nurse he wanted to hire. Klen stated he was having a hard time finding them because of this annoying smoke, and they must do something of this sort. He asked Alicia to do something about it.
But she wasn't that sure about being able to handle this either. She stated one needed aptitude to be able to use sorcery, and its base was magic ore. Basically those magic ore would be just stones, but for people with aptitude for sorcery, they could draw out hidden powers from magic ore when they handle it correctly. Klen understood just one thing from that, which was Alicia being useless here.
She obviously didn't like being called that, so she mentioned to him that there used to be some who could do sorcery amongst the heroes Klen killed before instantly. and never looked back. Klen was in no mood to listen to her babbling, so he walked away thinking that it was no use now if Luna and Nell might have died. Alicia didn't like where his thoughts were going, so she asked him what he would do if Luna died.
Klen angrily replied he would simply not do anything, but if that happened he won't have any interest left in humanity. Alicia expected Klen to react like this, since he had already hardened his determination to destroy the human world and until now Luna's existence was the only thing delaying it. She figured that she must find Luna at any cost.
Then Alicia noticed there were some traces showing something being dragged there before. She checked them and it turned out to be blood from Nell's injured body. And Klen added if that was the case Nell shouldn't have energy to move right now. Alicia stated that she seemed to have been dragged by something, and since the blood seemed fresh they must be around there.
Both Klen and Alicia started following after the trail of blood. Meanwhile, Nell seemed to be holding onto the leg of Brocco, even if she was getting more dragged in the process. Brocco cursed her to just for already as he had Luna in his hands, and Nell even if she was barely conscious, she didn't want Brocco to take Luna away.
Brocco shouted at her to stop clinging to him already, and he even stomped at her to make her release him. Nell kept taking on hits but she still didn't let go of Brocco, who was hung up on at least taking the child away with him. He recalled how he found Luna before on Nell, and when Luna looked at Brocco, he decided to take him away. But Luna shook his hands off and when Brocco tried to be persistent, Luna began crying and that was when Broco's sorcery started being shaken off.
Broco was surprised when he saw that Luna had a very high attitude for sorcery, which means he was pure blood from Haydn. It didn't take him time to understand how important Luna was, but now that he was trying to take him away, Nell was keeping a hold of him. Now he thought there was no choice but to cut off the arm of Nell, then at the same time Broco got shouted at by Alicia who exclaimed what he was going to do with that knife. She seemed to have run all the way here.
and Brokko realized he was in trouble now. Brokko questioned Alicia why she was here and where were his underlings Dagon and Sachai. Alicia was about to reply then Klen came and started saying those bandits were already digested by aquatic devil beasts and now he would show Brokko it was not the worst way to die. Klen threatened Brokko for even trying to mess up with him. Then Klen noticed Nell on the ground and understood she mustered all the strength she had to keep Brokko slowed down.
Brokko shouted at them to not get any closer. Otherwise he would cut a finger of Luna for every step he took forward. Brocco warned him that he would really do it. Then Clen told him to do as he wished because he would split Brocco in half after cutting one finger. Alicia stepped forward and she told Clen that this guy would really cut a baby.
But Clen thought it would be fine since he could heal it immediately. Alicia stated even if he does that, the pain baby would feel can't be healed. So she asked him to let her handle this matter instead.
Then Alicia called out Brocco and said to make a deal. as she pointed out the legendary sword Waterfall Slicer and showed its crest to Brokko. Brokko quickly recognized the sword, and Alicia confirmed that it was one of the Hyden's treasures, which she went to the bottom of the lake to get it.
She threw the sword in the side saying that was what Broco was after, so now he could just hurry up and take it. She made it clear that she would need to use both of his hands to get the sword from the rock. So, if he were to obediently leave Luna on the ground, he could have the sword and either flee from here or slash at her, it won't matter. However, if he were to do anything suspicious, she would pick up the sword and kill her. Now she told him to make a choice of either picking up the sword or getting killed here.
Broco mentioned it was not everyday to see a hero let go of such a treasure easily. so he was now sure that this kid had the blood of Haydn's royalty flowing in him. From Alicia's expression, he knew she wouldn't make any rash decisions here, so in that case he figured a single sword was too little to ask for and he told her to speak up more to stop him from killing Luna. Alicia didn't get it at first until Brokos shouted to himself that he wanted to know about the location of other 13 treasures, since the baby was at least worth that much.
Glenn told her to tell him about them, as they were just swords. Alicia informed Brocco that those swords were in the large cavern at the Moon Mountain, and he could go get them himself if he wanted. Brocco smirked as he took out another tube with something in it, and Alicia noticed Brocco tried doing something suspicious by forming a black powder. Brocco told her she was naive to think he would simply do what he was told, as he was greedy enough to want Haydn's baby for himself.
Brocco was confident in his sorcery which would allow him to get away from here. Alicia kept her eyes at Broco then suddenly he just disappeared from their sight with Luna. Broco was full of himself now that Alicia couldn't see him, and he was proud of his transparency spell. He felt a bit bad for the Codwall's sword not being in his reach, but if he were to take it that would leak his location. Broco thought it would be more convenient to go for 13 swords instead of one, and after he got them Broco had plans to mock those superiors who mocked him before.
But to his surprise, Alicia came just where Brocco was and she slashed off his neck in one clean swing. He asked how she could see him, and Alicia mentioned she couldn't see but she could hear where he was, by hearing where Luna's crying noise was coming from. Alicia didn't take any time to cut Brocco in half and Glenn caught Luna in his hands.
He brushed off the powder off Luna and now he could see him. Alicia decided not to brush off the invisible powder off Brocco, and she was glad they made it in time thanks to Nell. Alicia asked Glenn if he could save her. But he replied that he couldn't use his blood on multiple targets at the same time.
Besides which he saw Nell had been missing some body parts as well. So he would need something else to make up for it. Because of which he doesn't see the value in going that far to save her. Alicia told Glenn he must save her.
Because despite being beaten to such an extent she still protected Luna. It wasn't something just anyone could do. And if they had to find a wet nurse for Luna.
Alice wanted Nell to take care of him. And Klen told her that he would need his blood from Alicia's body to restore Nell's body, and while he does that Alicia would die again. Alicia didn't have a problem with dying again, since it was a hero's job to sacrifice their life for the sake of the future of others.
She stated that was what her dad used to say, and moreover she already died once so twice won't be much. Luna was crying while looking at Nell, and Klen didn't wait after getting confirmation from Alicia. So, he took out his blood from her and it took him some time to fix Nell's body parts by parts.
until she was able to get back up. Nell wondered why she was still alive, and how was this possible for her broken teeth and damaged ears to have recovered. When Klen saw she gained consciousness, he told her that he used dome parts to heal her. After hearing that, she thought he was her savior then Klen told her if she had to thank someone, it should be the hero Alicia. Because in the end, it was Alicia's decision to save her, and as for her she would take some time to recover from the rotting state.
Klen mentioned Alicia was quite strong for a human. and Nell looked at Alicia with a smile. After that, Klen called Nell as Nellie, which was her new name now after being reborn.
Klen asked her now if she would come with them, and Nellie agreed to it right away happily. Meanwhile, a new character showed up near the Elba Shaft and it was yet to see if this figure was a friend or foe. Now back to the mineshaft, Klen confiscated the waterfall slicer sword, because it was standing out too much which would cause them trouble if it caught the eye of some bad guys again. He put the sword in his shadow and Alicia had to see her hard work being taken away like that. Glenn assured her that he could get that sword out when they needed it, and she should be grateful that he didn't just throw it away.
Nellie from the side saw that her master Glenn could use some strange techniques. Glenn asked her if she was done with the preparation, and after she confirmed she was all ready to go, Nellie added she had gathered everything she thought would be useful for traveling. She also managed to find some clothes that fit Luna, then Alicia offered to carry her luggage on her back. Nellie said she was alright, and her body was feeling strangely lighter than usual.
Alicia understood that Klen must have used the bodies of the remaining bandits to fix Nell up, and fortunately she wasn't there to see anything since she was dead. Nellie instead offered to carry Alicia's stuff, as she wanted to be useful for the hero, but she said it was okay because she didn't have anything to begin with. Nellie then mentioned to her that all The good items were stored in Brocco's desk, and Alicia liked that idea.
She asked Klen beforehand if it was okay with him if she got some sword. Klen figured it was fine, but she was allowed to take only one item. Alicia was really happy to hear that, and she ran away to get something. Whereas, Nelly found this excited side of Alicia was cute.
Klen told her she was just stupid, but thanks to her at least the bandits got wiped out and this place was now deserted after all the slaves fled. Klen asked Nelly if she felt some regret. To which Nelly replied it wasn't like she had any good memories here to begin with, except one small fact that she used to live with her mother here, as they kept walking. Klen heard her saying things until Luna saw something in the air.
Klen also noticed it and when he turned, he saw a man head for him with his leg. This guy was attacking Klen, saying he was the one who used odd tricks. Meanwhile, Alicia invaded Brocco's office, and there she went straight to his desk. She realized it was all untouched, and everything that belonged to Brocco was kept inside the desk.
She took his money, feeling like a little bandit herself and then she also found a leather armor for womans. She could understand that Broco guys must have been a pervert, since it was pretty clear he couldn't have worn something like this. But Alicia didn't wanted to give it any more thoughts, so she just wore it for herself thinking Klen won't mind a armor. After she was all done with armor, she looked further into the desk and found some weapons.
Alicia picked one of them and made sure to check the sword by swinging it around. She chose a nice sword with good balance and lightweight. Alicia could tell this sword was built by at least a renowned swordsmith, and now she was all ready to go back.
Suddenly at that moment, that weird attacker from before throwed Klen straight through this hut, and this commotion left Alicia surprised as she looked at Klen behind him in the rumble. Klen stated that this human body was really a bother for him, and Alicia asked who attacked him. Then she saw the attacker himself, who was pissed off to see just more companions. Alicia could tell this guy was strong, so she quickly got on her guard. From what she could see, this guy didn't seem to have any weapons, which left the question of how he managed to blow Klen away.
Suddenly in the next second, that guy launched a kick at Alicia, and she managed to somehow dodge it. She now understood this guy's power was his leg, and a cut opened up on her cheek. She was shocked to see that guy's kick was no ordinary, since it cut her cheek without even touching it. Whereas, the other guy stated she had good eyesight to be able to dodge his kick.
Alicia took her stance and now this guy wanted to see how long she would last against his kicks. He kept taking out one kick after another at her continuously, and Alicia couldn't believe a human was capable of that in midair. She managed to stay on her foot, and the guy realized she was pretty tough as well and took some distance from her.
Now the guy wanted to finish her off with his next move, as he put a lot of force into his hands and released a powerful gust of wind just from that. That attack cut through the floor and Alicia got blown away from it also. She fell out of that hurt and while she was in the air, Nelly saw Alicia falling straight on another building.
Then on the ground, Nelly was concerned for her, but the guy was not going to go easy on her. Alicia kept her eyes sharp this time, and now the guy stated he only had business with the small one, so he would turn a blind eye if she withdrew. Alicia warned the guy to not underestimate a hero, as she pointed out her sword at him.
The guy stated she seemed eager to die, whereas Alicia was prepared that if this technique won't work, she would need to use the waterfall slicer. After that, Alicia dashed right at the guy with her sword looking like it was a whip. The guy was caught off guard by it, as Alicia just used a secret sword technique called Rising Dragon. The guy seemed like he was about to trip from confusion, and Alicia was just about to land a hit on him. Suddenly, she got ordered by Klen to stop and she stopped her sword at once just one inch away from the guy's neck.
Klen told her that was enough, and he punched her in the head. She asked what was that for, to which he replied she should shut off her leaking killing intent as well. Alicia told him it was part of her technique and why did he even stop her.
Klen stated that this guy was hostile to them just because of a misunderstanding, which was why he stopped them. She didn't understand it, until Klen told her that if he hadn't stopped her, her body would have been ripped up by his leg. The guy decided to give them a listen, so he asked them why that woman, referring to Nellie, was smelling like a troll.
Nellie didn't expect he was actually after her, and she replied it was because she was swallowed by a troll. The guy mentioned that he came here after hearing that a small man was controlling a troll. and after he just found the corpse of a troll underground, he saw its limbs were torn off mercilessly. So, he thought Klen was that small man behind this and asked if he killed the troll. Klen was getting the situation now, so he asked Nellie to take Luna and wait at the entrance of the camp.
Nellie went away just as ordered, and Alicia asked if she should go too. Klen told her to stay here, and told her that this guy was actually a devil beast as well, who took the shape of a man. The guy got alerted to being recognized like that.
and Alicia asked Glenn shockingly if he was right. Glenn told her this guy had a powerful illusion that even he couldn't see his real appearance, but he was sure that this guy had claws and wings. And after thinking a bit, There was only one being who could use such powerful illusions, the Devil Beast King of the Grand Forest of West, named as Zaftir of the Mist with a mysterious body.
Alicia was surprised by this revelation, and Klen also mentioned that the Devil Beast King was on bad terms with Clevetess of the Moonlight. The guy understood that these guys were not the one he was looking for, but he wanted to know why he knew so much, and just who he was. Klen then introduced himself as just Klen.
who was borrowing a hominid form just like him and he was a servant of one of the devil beast kings. Alicia noticed Klen just lied and wanted to hide his identity, which reminded her that he didn't want his absence to be known. The guy thought Klen must be a servant of Clevetas, so they shouldn't act friendly towards each other. But, he added that their goals might be the same right now, because he heard that Clevetas recently flattened one of the hominid capitals.
The guy took his original beast form. as he informed Klen that his lady Zaptir was currently thinking about annihilating the hominids. After that, the devil beast introduced himself as Gart, a servant of one of the four devil beast kings Zaptir.
He showed his true form to Klen and asked him to do the same, so that he could be sure he was a devil beast as well. Klen said he would show just a bit, and proceeded to show one of his tails. Klen asked if that much was enough, after which Gart was assured and he turned back to human form. He figured they don't have any reason to fight for now. And while they stood silent for a few moments, Alicia was shocked to realize that there were more devil beasts able to shapeshift like humans and even talk in human language.
She didn't expect there would be anyone other than Clevetas, which means there could be more walking around in cities. She thought heroes weren't aware of their real battlefield in that case and realized that the human world was smaller than she thought. Then Clenn told her not to worry, because there weren't many devil beasts who could shapeshift. And even the devil beast King Xaftir who could freely shapeshift. wasn't one to get involved with humans.
Klen added Zaftir looked down on humans, so she doesn't wanted to shame herself by talking to them. Guard agreed he was right. Then he asked Klen to explain why did Alicia called herself a hero and why she was with him. He demanded an answer right away from Klen as servant of Klebetes, who didn't like humans as well.
Klen stated it was because she was now his servant, and under a spell which won't allow her to oppose him. She was also his guide on a journey to learn more about the human's world, as well as his shield. Aside from that, Nellie and Luna were the same to him, and he didn't felt any obligation to give more details to an outsider like Gart. Gart understood what Klen meant but he made sure to let Klen know that if these humans were to become an obstacle to him, he would kill them. Klen also made it clear he won't let him do something like that.
Now it was Klen's turn to ask Gart about what he meant when he said that Zafdir was thinking about annihilating humans. Because as far as he knew, Zafdir was a weird beast who kept distance from humans but still kind of loved them. It was because she was worshipped as a god by orcs who lived in the forest of the west. Alicia also wanted to know the reason behind it, because it seemed more likely that something happened in the west. Dart closed his eyes and started telling the story that began three days ago, when he was patrolling the grand forest of the west.
Dart noticed some beasts on the ground, and he went closer to check what was going on. Dart observed that these beasts seemed to be looking for their child, and from the looks of it, it didn't look like he would be eaten. So, They were confused because he disappeared suddenly, and Gart noticed something was weird here. Then his eyes fell upon something near the root of the tree, which seemed like a small bottle. He took it to his master Zaptir, and she took a closer look at it to observe.
Gart mentioned something strange has been going on for a while, and from what he could grasp, it seemed like it was the ninth case of the beast disappearing like this. Zaptir seemed to be suspicious about this situation, and then Gart mentioned it looked like humans were behind this. Zaptir thought if that was the case, Then Orgs must be behind this which could very well become a bad omen for them.
Gart asked if he should call their leader, but Zaftir declined saying she couldn't trust them so for now, they should keep this confidential and ordered Gart to go and investigate humans in their world. It was when Zaftir said that depending on the situation, she might decide whether to annihilate the humans or not. Gart stated that was gist of what happened, and Klen now knows how Zaftir's thinking process turned to consider human annihilation even before himself. or he pretended that his master Clevetess. Gart told him that it was possible that devil beasts might be disappearing from Clevetess'south territory, so he came here to find some clues.
Klen told him that he had to kill the small man who tamed the western troll, because it bared his fangs at him. Gart didn't see a problem in that, and Klen then told him there was a possibility that these weird things were not limited to beasts, but also happening to some humans, according to what he heard from a woman. Klen had heard it from Carmen, who was scared when he approached her. She mentioned there were some guys who would come there to buy human babies without a doubt, and Klen asked what she meant. Harmon said she didn't really know them, but those guys were claws in back from head to toe, and only Master Broco was the one who met them one time.
However, even Broco Coco seemed to be scared of them. Glenn asked if those guys also took the three babies Nell had, and Carmen agreed that was actually the rule of the women, that their kids would be sold right after being born. There was no way to know who the father was, so those babies didn't have anyone to protect them.
And since the women were afraid, most of them tried their best to not get pregnant. Carmen mentioned Nell was stupid for not being able to do the same. Glenn didn't like one word she said and Luna began crying at that time.
Then Glenn asked her if Nell was born and raised here. why wasn't she taken as a kid? Carmen stated it was because Nell's mother probably kept her hidden until she was old enough to not be sold off. After that, Klen went on his way, and now back to present he stated the presence of this bunch who were buying babies, and might also be abducting young beasts. Klen suspected those guys were working with Broco, and Broco was the one who tamed the troll.
So, Klen could say with some truth that Broco might have used something called dark arts on those baby trolls. It was the first time for Gart to hear about dark arts. whereas Alicia seemed to have heard of it.
Glenn noticed her expression and asked if she had something in mind, and she replied that she didn't really know much about it. But it kind of reminded her of a group, who used dark arts as a tool for war, known as the Wizards. She stated those guys seemed to be standing out for a few years, and seemed to have changed the course under that General Doral.
Nowadays, Wizards had a high inflict over which side had the superiority on the battlefield, and even in the battlefields, they use various tricks like blasting items or some weirdly killing items. People began using these dark arts against each other in the wars, and some of those deadly items could even make anyone's body rot away upon contact. The first person ever who brought dark arts on the battlefield was the General Doral, also nicknamed as Dragon Slayer. He led many soldiers and wizards under his command, and their current objective seemed to be Hyden's border fort called Higgate.
Doral was clearly a guy who just wanted to kill people, and Alicia stated that he was also the man who killed her father. Alicia couldn't forgive that Guy and Klen could understand that she wanted to take revenge on Doral, but she still came to kill Clevetas despite that. Alicia told him that was just because she was following her father's will. Meanwhile on the Higgate, a scout named Mikkel came back to tents to inform their leader Rod, that the Bolete army led by Doral was progressing towards them.
Their numbers seemed to be close to 50,000, and Rod could tell Doral surely intended to take over Hyden. He assessed they were at quite a disadvantage with just 6,000 soldiers and a few wizards, and by the look of things they had three days until the war. Rod took a stick and drawed down their battle plan against Doril's troops which were heading for Higate.
He came up with the plan to get some reinforcements and attack from another direction, for which he sent a messenger with the same purpose. Things were not well for them on the borders because Hyden was in chaos on the inside already. Mikkel asked Rod if Clevetes attacking Hyden was really true.
and Rod stated that might very well be the truth. And now, Doril seemed to be after the royal family's furnace and the precious sword he held called Snow Flower. Nicol could tell this would become a problem if Doril took over, which wasn't everything.
Rod added that the furnace of Hyden's royal family was known as the world's oldest tool for dark arts, so for those who were developing sorcery, the furnace's secret was something they desperately wanted to obtain. The Bolate army already had an advantage in dark arts fighting power, and with things as of now, they would get their hands on Ethia. Which was why, Rod wanted to do everything to stop Doril's army at all costs here.
And then another informant came to inform him that the east gate seemed to have opened without any orders or alerts. And from the east gate, it seemed that a shady guy from the Bolate army came out. He managed to infiltrate the east army to open the gates and let his general Doril enter the land of Esalen.
Doril asked this guy named Maynard if he got any information along with his mission. and Maynard informed him that the crown princess seemed to be safe while the king's death was confirmed. However, they had a problem that princess's six-month-old son, who seemed to have inherited the royal family's blood, was nowhere to be found.
Doril got the word that Maynard lost that baby, and Maynard replied that he apparently got a lead that a baby was seen last time in some place with a group called Ravens, and that baby matched the descriptions of the royal family. Doril commanded Maynard to go there at once and handle it. as the strongest wizard of the army, and make sure to bring that baby back without any fail.
Two years ago in Alicia's village Sogo, her house was on fire and Alicia was crying out while calling her father. She kept crying to get him up, but it seemed her old man was heavily injured in a fight. He barely muttered Alicia's name and she called out her father again in a desperate voice.
Then General Doral who was standing behind her, told her that one could only fight so much with a sword. Doral believed that from now on, It would be the age of sword and dark arts. Doral was the one who killed her father, and it was after he won against him, Doral thought that his dark arts were now perfect.
But it was still not enough for him, so Alicia yelled at him that he was a coward for having fought her father who had retired long ago. Doral then raised his sword and used his dark arts to show off his overwhelming strength to Alicia by splitting the ground in three. Alicia was intimidated by his strength, as Doral told her that Alicia's father was once a friend of his but he didn't like seeking true strength like Doral did.
After that, Doral began walking from there and Alicia yelled at him to wait. She tried reaching out for her father's sword, but her father stopped her and said Doral was from the army, and he was just a warmonger, so she must not fight him otherwise she would get dragged into a war. which should be the furthest thing from the path of heroes. He told her wars were only rifts inside this world of people, so she shouldn't fight against other humans. Her father wanted her to become a hero and see what was beyond their word.
That was his last wish he left with crying Alicia, and took his final breath in front of her. Alicia cried out loud that day and it was the saddest day in her life. Now in the present time, Klen was sitting at the hill of some place with a cup in his hand. He looked at the drink and asked Nellie what was this black hot water. She informed him this was coffee, which was something expensive Brocco used to drink from time to time.
She also put plenty of sugar in it to make exhaustion. Klen thought humans surely come up with strange things, but when he tried it, Klen got his tongue burnt as he had forgotten that his tongue was way less resistant in this form. He put the cup down and Luna was another to approach it.
Then Klen picked the cup again and told Luna to not touch it. Nelly came and asked him where that scary guy went off to, and Klen understood she was talking about Gart. Apparently.
He had gone back to report what he learned about dark arts and wizards, then flew away. Glenn assured her she didn't have to be afraid like that, because Gart was no longer suspicious of her. However, Glenn figured he should start thinking about their next move, as he took another sip of coffee.
Glenn got used to this aroma which made Nellie glad to see he liked it. Around that time, Alicia came back after getting some information from a merchant in town that something terrible was happening to this country. Apparently.
Bolate had violated the borders and was currently attacking Hyden. Klen got that this was just another human war, and Alicia explained that Bolate wanted to take advantage of this country's no-king situation, and even if Hyden had first-class weapons they lacked enough wizards to fight them off. Klen asked why they didn't have wizards, to which she replied that Hyden's king actually banned the use of dark arts in this country, and she doesn't know the reason behind it either. It might have been to keep Clevetas getting to know about it as well. Then Alicia took out the map she got of this country.
She laid out the map and explained to him that currently they were at Shirentown in the east, and the Bolete army was currently attacking from the opposite direction of the country from the west. Alicia stated it would take her one and half day to travel all the way to the west with a horse, but on foot it would become two weeks, and if they were to go there, they were most likely to be caught up in the war. Glenn kept hearing her and then Nellie offered Alicia some coffee with a warm heart.
Alicia had a surprise. surprising reaction to that and Clen teased her saying if it was her first time as well to drink it. Alicia mentioned it wasn't something a villager like her could get and after taking a sip, she really liked it.
She told Nelly it was delicious and she should make more of it sometime. Now as for Luna, Nelly took him away to feed some milk to him. Nelly was looking good with Luna and Alicia was glad to have made the good choice of saving Nelly.
Nelly was thoughtful and somehow seeing her put her in a good mood. Clen told Alicia she was unlike Nelly. and it seemed she wouldn't be able to take care of a child like that. Alicia shouted feeling awkward and told him that she was actually happy about being able to win someone's smile using her sword. She was feeling like she just did something heroic, and felt a little awkward to say the rest.
Now back to the main topic. Alicia asked Klen what they should do from now on, because Klen wanted to make Luna the king but it was only a question of time before the country would be destroyed. All because someone already destroyed the capital of Hyden. Klen stated he doesn't see a problem what would change if Hyden became Bolate, to which Alicia replied once that happens, Luna who is from Hyden's race won't be able to become the king.
Klen realized that would be troublesome, and Alicia added that those Bolate army guys would certainly take Luna as prisoner once they found him. Luna was also important because those of the Hyden royal family possessed the secret of magic or refining, so Bolate would definitely want to hunt him down at any cost. She told him there was only one person who would rule the army of Bolate.
which was the dragon slayer, Doril. That was the same guy who killed Alicia's father and if she was right about him, that bastard would surely chase relentlessly after Luna. So, Alicia made it clear that if Klen wanted Luna to live in this world, it was very important for him to repel Doril's army and protect Hyden. Klen wasn't glad to have to do things which were such a pain, like protecting those who he decided to destroy eventually.
He got up and then Alicia offered to go along, but Klen straight up declined her because he wanted her to stay here to protect Luna, and nelly he also didn't want to be known that clevetas was moving for the sake of one country's side and there had to be enough reasons for him to go fortunately he did have a reason to take a personal stance which were those wizards in doral and if they were secretly abducting young beasts then it was completely natural for a devil beast king like himself to go check. And while he was at it, Klen figured he could also check the power of those so-called wizards in his true form. He could tell Alicia was eager because the one who killed her father was out there, but he wanted to stay here obediently. And besides, he mentioned that she was told by her father to not fight against that man.
Alicia admitted she promised her father that because a war was the opposite of a hero's path, but she thought she was no longer a hero now, but just a corpse moving around thanks to Clevetes'blood. so she thought it would be fine to at least avenge her father like this. Glenn asked her if being a hero was something she decided herself or not.
Or was it the king, a sword or slaughtering demons which made her a hero? He asked her to remember what she became a hero for, and Alicia answered it was to make the world a better place. Glenn told her she was the one who made Nellie's world better, which was why she felt like she did something heroic. Alicia was moved by those right words.
So she stayed here while Klen left saying that he never ordered her a single time to stop being a hero, but he won't stop her if she did want to. Alicia then called him out and reminded him that his opponent was the army, whose leader was stronger than her even two years ago, so he should remain careful. Klen asked her just who she thought he was as he turned back into his original form.
Nelly and Luna were playing at time with stones, and suddenly they felt winds from nearby. Nelly wondered what was wrong with the wind. whereas Luna was just playing around and having fun as a baby.
Then Alicia arrived there and Nellie asked her if the master clan went somewhere. Alicia told her he just got some minor business, and in the meantime they would go and find an inn inside the town and wait for him. She was sure he would be back soon, even if they didn't want him to.
Meanwhile, Clevetas was traveling at a fast speed with his shadow attribute nature, and wherever he went, his seven shadow tales kept spreading everywhere. He then howled to make sure his presence was known wherever he went. including the Moon Mountain he used to live in. Meanwhile, at the Salit, Hyden's second fort, Bolate's army seemed to have just conquered this fort as well and Doril was showing no signs of stopping with his dark arts. This news of Doril's marching spread to other forces of Hyden, which were Mikkel and Rod.
Rod stated their reinforcements won't make it in time, so they must engage into battle right here and do their best to stop the Bolate army. Rod encouraged everyone to follow him and so they headed out there for battle. Mikkel had a bad feeling about it but she decided to follow Rod as well. Meanwhile, back in Shirentown, Alicia was guiding Nellie to the inn, and as they walked away, an insect seemed to be looking at them.
It turned out that this insect actually belonged to Maynard of Doril's army, and he informed everyone that the location of Hyden was found. The army of insects was then ordered by Maynard to go and capture the Hyden's prince. His army of insects had hundreds of thousands of insects of all sorts in it.
While Alicia and Nellie were unaware of what danger was heading towards them. After walking a bit, Alicia noticed some guys were beating a bandit with their legs. They disgusted the bandit who dared to walk around in broad daylight, in this shirn town of woodworkers. The bandit who was being beaten up cried out and said he was just fleeing.
Alicia observed that some survivors of Ravens seemed to have come here, and hearing that name made Nellie tremble because she was still afraid of her past. Alicia told her not to worry because no one who knew her would recognize her now. After that, Alicia stated they should head different ways for the inn, and she took a single glance at the lowly bandit.
The bandit was crying out badly and then he noticed Alicia. He shouted she was the damn hero who ruined everything, and without her things would have been fine for them. Then those guys stomped at his face again, telling him not to make fun of them by saying there was a hero still alive. Because if it was true, this country wouldn't be in such a state.
The people sentenced those bandits to be hanged to death, and Alicia kept walking without turning back. The bandits were really hanged to death later on, and this made one more bandit hanged making it a total of nine ravens in the past these days. At this point, people had heard of the octopus ancient beast story so many times, they considered it might be true. They wondered just what was happening to this country, from Clevetas attack to Bolate army while their situation was only getting worse.
These people wanted to at least do their best to protect this town themselves, for which they were ready to arm anyone who could fight, even the old or young ones. Meanwhile, Alicia went to the inn after having observed people in her way which were all desperate in these times. She asked Nelly to not call her hero here because it might get them in trouble.
Then she opened the gate of the inn and inside, there were two big guys on guard duty. They noticed her and asked who she was because they didn't want to let a bandit slip in. Alicia tried explaining they weren't bandits and Nelly kept quiet as told by Alicia before.
Then the owner of the inn told the boys to stop it because at this rate they would wake up the baby. The guys noticed the baby Luna. but they were still wary because Alicia had a sword and an eye patch.
The inn lady stated it was normal these days due to danger outside, and they should just shut up and listen to her. The lady went to Alicia and said sorry about that. She introduced herself as Gari, the landlady, and she mentioned that the kid in Nellie's hand was of pure heart.
Hayden's blood. It was easy to tell from Luna's light red hairs and pointy ears, which was something only pure blood had. She asked Alicia to explain who they were, because depending on the situation, she might need to have the guards Pete and Seat kick her out.
Alicia stepped up and told her they were just guards working for someone important, and right now their duty was to protect this child. Gari looked keenly at Alicia, as she stood firm knowing she didn't lie. Gari figured it was fine in that case. as she guessed Alicia's employer must be a noble that fled from Hidrat. Gari didn't care where that noble wanted to flee, so she was fine with Alicia staying over as long as she paid.
Alicia asked Gari for a room for the baby to sleep safely and meals for two. Gari asked for the payment in advance and that was where the coins Alicia looted before came in use. Gari gave them the first room on the right upstairs and Alicia thanked them for the help. Pete and Seed alerted her to remain on guard from any strangers.
and they were tasked to carry Alicia and Nellie's luggages. But when Pete asked Nellie for the luggage, she said she was okay. Pete stated it was okay and he would carry it.
Then Nellie figured it was fine if he was insisting on it. But after Pete tried lifting it up, he was struggling with the weight of the bag while Alicia was happy for Nellie. Then Pete put down the bag and asked just what those boxes were filled with.
Seat stated it might just be the boxes themselves which were heavy, and that aside, Alicia and Nellie went to check their room and they liked it enough to stay there. Alicia was glad there were iron beds for them. Then Gari told her that workers in this town used to work for the king a lot, so the king sent them things and furniture made of iron as thanks.
However, it was such a mess now that the king died and there could be a war anytime soon. Alicia said sorry to her, but Gari couldn't understand what she was sorry for. Either way, Gari told them to take it easy and if they needed anything they could tell her anytime.
Alicia and Nelly saw her go and then they decided to ease up a little. Alicia put her sword in the room as well. and after some time she noticed it had gotten dark already. She could see the moon mountain from here, which made her wonder if Clebetes had already reached the battlefield. Then she asked Nelly how Luna was.
Nelly replied Luna would wake up soon. Then she showed something cute to Alicia which was Luna getting his first tooth. Both of them were adored by cute Luna growing up.
Then someone knocked on the door which was Gari who wanted to tell them their meals were ready, and they could take it in their rooms if they wanted to. Alicia mentioned Luna would wake up soon. so she would go to bring the food. When she went outside, the place was crowded and noisy as Gari guided her to the table. In the middle a guy asked Gari who that woman was and Gari warned him to stay away from her.
Alicia wasn't unfamiliar with noisy places like these and she heard people around the place talking about the king's death and Clevetas attack. The people believed there had never been a hero who managed to reach the devil beast king. Hero was just a decorative title. Another guy stated those heroes might become heroes just to get those treasures of the king. He thought so because the king himself stopped forging any more new swords, thinking there wasn't anyone worthy of his treasure and hopes.
But the fact the king still chose 13 new heroes and even held a parade before they went on mission, was nothing but just a boast from them. Alicia didn't like hearing all of these accusations but she just kept walking with her food, coping with all of their blames. She realized the hero got criticized harsher than she thought.
but she couldn't blame them to think that was since those guys did fall in predicament like this. Suddenly, something broke the window of the inn and she noticed it was something like a devil beast. However it was quite small before, and when the people around saw it, they wanted to know who the hell broke down the window.
They thought the thing that came from the window was just a stone, and Alicia tried to warn the guy to not touch it. But it was too late, as that small thing suddenly became larger and became a big devil beast, large enough to cover the main hall of the inn. People were scared to see a big insect here, and Seat saw his brother Pete being injured by it. After that, Maynard entered the inn and announced to everyone it was not an ordinary insect, but one that was on par with the devil beasts under his command. So, he advised everyone present here to not move too much, otherwise this insect would kill them instantly.
Alicia recognized this guy was a wizard capable of controlling insects. She tried reaching for her sword but it wasn't there since she left it in the bedroom. Meanwhile, A person from the inn was so scared that he desperately tried to run away from here and jumped out of the window.
But to his shock, he was mercilessly taken away by a large bee and got himself killed by it. That was when Maynard mentioned to everyone that this whole town was currently sounded by more dangerous insects, and he ordered them not to let a single soul run away. The woodworkers outside were also captured by these insects, and back in the inn, Maynard kept his threats coming at them.
Garry asked him who he was and just what he wanted. to which Maynard replied he was the top wizard of Bolate's army commanded by General Doral. This introduction was enough to scare off everyone, and even Alicia because she could guess that Maynard must be looking for Haydn's baby. At the same time, Alicia heard Nelly's screams coming from her room.
Nelly seemed to be trapped by the iron beds holding her at the it was yet another high wizard named Nea from Bolate's army. It didn't take Nelly time to realize Nea was an enemy, whereas Nea managed to come so high directly to this room on the second floor, by using her gravity magic which worked on iron things, such as axes. So all she needed to do was to throw an axe, and use it to make herself fly with the magic.
Nea then looked at the baby, and she went closer to Luna talking about a legend of a turtle with an iron which was hard to attack. After that, she took out a magic pill which she intended to feed to Luna. Nelly shouted what she intended to do with it, to which Nea replied it was just a drug to see Luna's aptitude. She explained that if Luna had an aptitude for dark arts, the color of his eyes would change, but if he doesn't then he would die by choking on his blood.
Nelly was afraid to hear Luna could die, whereas Nea stated it would be okay since Luna won't suffer much if he doesn't die. Nelly cried out loudly for Nea to stop, because risking the life of a child was just a crime as Nelly tried to push away the iron bed. beds.
Nea told her struggling was pointless because her manipulation could stop even a charging bull. However, Nelly just couldn't do anything while Luna's life was in danger, and she kept putting more power in pushing the beds. Nea was just about to give the pill to Luna, and that was when Nelly just lost it as she threw away the iron beds with an overwhelming strength.
Nea was left shocked to see her dart, arts being overpowered, while those iron beds went flying back and broke down the room's wall. Alicia was worried after hearing the noise and she tried coming to check what was happening. Then Maynard noticed her running and he couldn't just let it be, so he sent the insect to attack her for moving like that.
The large centipede went and smashed his head into the staircase, which scared Gari for her customer's life. Whereas, Maynard thought that should do it and he was quite sure that the swordsman was surely carrying the baby of Haydn. However, Alicia wasn't hit by that insect, which left Maynard surprised to see her being able to stop that insect with her bare hands.
She stated she was not that easy to kill, as she left Maynard and that insect back there just like that. Maynard thought for a bit and he could tell she was more than just a swordsman then Maynard noticed she looked familiar. Alicia ran straight to the room and asked Nellie what happened. But there, she saw Nellie sitting normally while the wizard Nea seemed to have been knocked out. Nellie saw Alicia with tears in her eyes, and Alicia asked if she and Luna were okay.
Nellie told her Luna was safe which was good news, then Alicia asked her if that wizard was the one who made this hole. Nelly told her she was trying to push the beds away, but by the time she came back to senses it was already like this. Alicia figured it was not the right time to worry about that, because she needed to protect Luna right now.
Nelly asked what they should do about their luggage, to which Alicia said they needed to leave urgently so just taking the sword and leaving was necessary. However, they had those insects outside to worry about as well, to which Alicia stated she would be cutting them down, so Nelly should just jump down without looking back. Nelly trusted her words and jumped down, while Alicia drawed her sword and used the secret technique of consecutive cuts of dragonfly to destroy dozens of bees in an instant.
After that, Alicia and Nelly managed to come down and Alicia told her to keep running. As they kept running, Nea gained some consciousness and she tried to stop them by throwing her axe in their direction. Alicia noticed it and she dodged herself with Nelly and turned to another direction. Nea was upset as Alicia managed to flee with Luna. She was also left thinking about why that woman Nellie had so much strength to push away those iron beds.
Meanwhile, Alicia and Nellie were running for their lives then Alicia noticed those insects stopped following them after a distance. She figured they must have reached their limit of order, so they should use this chance to escape. But to her surprise, Alicia saw that the borders of the town were surrounded by a wall of insects. This time there were way too many insects, which she won't be able to cut like before. Nellie asked what they should do.
to which Alicia suggested they should hide for now where those insects couldn't reach Luna. Alicia and Nelly began fleeing again leaving those insects behind. At the same time in the inn, Nea informed Maynard that Alicia and others slipped away.
Maynard asked if she got to check the baby, but unfortunately she had to say no because she was interfered with by a woman with superhuman strength. Maynard stated they might have underestimated those two quite much, and he also recognized that the woman with the eye patch was actually the hero, Alicia Glenfall. He was able to recognize her because he was also there when General Doril killed her father. The other people overheard Maynard just saying hero, and Maynard speaking that they didn't even have to test the baby now.
Because if he was being taken care of by a hero, it was sure to be Haydn's baby. Things just got more exciting for Maynard, as he was eager to bully Alicia himself. Nea stood there seeing him laughing like a pervert.
Then Maynard ordered all the people to gather in the town square. They weren't sure what was going to happen to them now. And in some minutes they were gathered just like Maynard wanted it. Maynard seemed to have something in mind for them, and the woodworker's representative asked just what Bolete's soldiers wanted from them.
The guy manned up and said to Maynard there were only four of them while here every town person was armed, so they won't be intimidated by his insects. He didn't mind and starting a fight right now. But before that he asked Maynard what he was planning for this country. Maynard was impressed by the courage of the residents of Shirentown, so he laughed and said all of these people were in this situation because their king was reckless. So, he told them it wasn't like their country was being invaded by them.
But instead the truth they should know was that Maynard and others came to protect their land and their peaceful Ives. Maynard reasoned that a devil beast attacked their country, so it was only natural if they kept getting attacked. Their country would become the territory of devil beasts, and humans would have even smaller land than before.
So, Maynard told them they came here to prevent that because Hyden clearly doesn't have the power to do so, and protect their world with full power. He told the townspeople they were not here to take away anything from them. Then Pete exclaimed Maynard already killed one of them, how was he going to explain it?
Maynard didn't try to deny it and he said it was just an unfortunate accident. He stated it happened because they came here in pursuit of a vicious criminal woman who was a traitor to the people of Hyden, an enemy of all mankind. He blamed it was because of her that this accident happened, and this got the people asking who was that vicious criminal he was talking about, who was also their enemy.
Maynard agreed she was indeed their enemy as well, because she was after all one of the 13 heroes. The people were shocked to hear that, as Maynard informed them her name was Alicia Glenfall, and all of them must hunt her right now. Somewhere, Alicia and Nellie were still running trying to find a safe place and starting to get tired. Then Alicia stopped feeling something was off.
Nellie asked her what happened, and she said it was nothing. Alicia began showing her the way they should go and started running again, whereas the residents of the town had lit torches in their hands. Meanwhile, the army led by General Doral was still marching forward with Doral being as sharp as always. After that, Doral sensed something and asked whoever was in front of him to come out.
in this dazzling light of the moon otherwise he would come himself. Then someone came out from the forest and it turned out to be Rod, with his treasure snow flower in his hand. He used his treasure on the ground, surprising Doril in the process, and declared that he and his army would stop Doril right there. Rod's army charged at Doril's army and Mikaela ordered everyone to back up their leader Rod with all they had. Doril noticed they were currently on a frozen lake, and Rod's army was using spikes in their boots for strong footing.
Rod agreed he was right about the frozen river being part of their plan, since neither horses nor those slugs would be able to stand straight here. Rod's plan seems to work like he expected as General Doral's army struggled with footing. Even the Grand Slugs slipped on the ice floor, as Rod proudly declared to General Doral that this was his plan to go on about this 6,000 vs 50,000 soldiers fight between him and Doral. Michaela, second in command, encouraged soldiers to defeat as many enemies as possible while they still had an advantage. and they should first target the wizards, and as for those who fell down, never let them rise back up again.
The bloodbath of this war began and Doril could see his army was being defeated at a faster pace than expected. He admitted to Rod it was impressive to see Rod was truly the descendant of a hero. Doril mentioned he heard once about that treasure of Rod, a snow flower being used to repel a large number of devil beasts, but he figured that treasure won't be able to freeze the entire lake alone.
so Rod must have deployed his wizards to cool the river until it was on the verge of freezing. Rod exclaimed that was damn on mark as he charged towards Doril, and now he planned on stopping Doril right here. Doril asked if he really thought he could do that, and Rod didn't want to let his words remain a bluff. He released a seriously power-packed swing of his treasure spear Snowflower, whereas Doril took out his own sword to repel Rod's attack.
He deflected Rod a few meters back, and Rod had to use his spear to lower the impact, barely. Doril was impressed and Rod withstood it, and Rod quickly launched another attack of freezing gusts towards Doril. Doril didn't expect this attack, so he couldn't save his horse from it.
Rod was proud of himself, as he managed to get Doril to leave his horse and come down to equal level. Doril praised Rod's spear handling along with his ability to draw out the power of his treasure. He also complimented Rod's strategy, but stated it was useless because Rod won't be able to reach him.
General Doril activated his true power and declared that Rod was way far from enough to break through the limit of this world. Suddenly, General Doril sword cut a space and a big skeleton claw emerged from it. Rod was scared after seeing the claw, whereas Doril's appearance also changed from his eyes turning to black. Doril released this claw on Rod, exclaiming its name as Dead Dragon's Claw.
The giant claw attacked Rod with an overwhelming impact, which made Mikhail a worry for him. Rod wasn't able to block that attack. So he went way far from taking the damage. Mikaela and others got worried for their leader, whereas Doril wasn't done there so he muttered that he fused dark arts into his treasure black dragon, to go beyond the realm of the sword. He used the same attack to crush the rest of Rod's army like insects, and told could do nothing but watch them die in front of his eyes.
Doril stated that weak ones have no right to step into the world he was going to create. Rod couldn't understand a word Doril was spouting. And just what was he trying to do? Doril turned to look at Rod and answered that he seeked the destruction of the hero's legend.
He believed there was no point in continuing those unrealistic legends forever, because of which the heroes nowadays were just challenging opponents they couldn't win against. Doril mentioned that even Rod's grandfather, who was a hero, died by putting their faith into some legend as well, and these kinds of unnecessary deaths were happening not from hundreds but thousands of years. He wanted to put an end to all of them.
So Doril told Rod that he didn't want to kill Rod because he respected how well he fought against him. Doril's army just defeated Rod's army and they marched forward without killing anyone else. Doril asked Rod to stay here and witness the change he was going to bring to the world. Rod couldn't speak anything as he saw Doril's army continuing their marching. However, suddenly Doril's army met a formidable power, and in an instant, most of them died at the hands of the devil beast King Clevetas.
Clevetes finally reached the battlefield and Doril was unpleasant from this unwanted sight. Rod and others from his army were scared by the sight of Clevetes, who came here looking to end Doril. Clevetes howled to mark his presence to the whole army here, and Doril could feel the overwhelming pressure whereas other soldiers were left shaken to witness the devil beast king speaking. Rod now understands just what kind of beast Clevetes was, to be able to emit such pressure with just his sound.
General Doril reached out for his sword and activated his dark arts right away knowing the weight of this battle, as he admitted to Clevetes about him being the guy Clevetes was looking for. He asked what the Devil Beast King of the South was doing here, to which Clevetes just asked one question he wanted the answer to, which was just how Doril gained this power called dark arts, and if the disappearance of humans and Devil Beasts was related to these dark arts. Doril questioned back if a Devil Beast King really came to ask about such a thing. And Clevetas made it clear that he wouldn't just sit around if his territory was attacked. It was the same for Hyden's king, and as well as anyone who would dare defile his land.
He declared it was the natural way of things to work, but this natural law was what Doril deeply hated from all his guts. He didn't answer Clevetas with appropriate words, which enraged him and Clevetas started destroying everything with his shadow tales. Clevetas'destructive power was something nobody could even stand against. and when Doril tried to go all out from the first attack, Clevetas quickly ended it by stabbing Doril with his tail.
Clevetas made it clear he wouldn't answer a question by a foolish person, as he saw Doril spurting blood from mouth. Clevetas didn't want to waste much time here, so he wanted to finish things quickly to return to Luna. But Doril seemed to have some other backup, as he stated that he actually expected Clevetas to appear in his way.
So a third eye emerged from Doril's forehead as he declared that he already developed a dark art to seal even the devil beast King Clevetas.