Chapter 61. The Demon’s Land

The forest was seemingly quiet on the outside. However, Ivan could feel the dark magic mixed in it. There was a lot of miscellaneous energy.
“The forest is in disrepair. Much worse than it looked from the outside.”
Irene murmured lowly. The condition of the forest was so strange that even she, who had closed herself to the World Tree, can sense it. Naturally, the Fairy Legion sensed it much more directly.
“It seems they have been preparing for much longer than expected. Surprisingly, they didn’t notice until this happened.”
The commander of the Fairy Legion, Philane Greywood, looked around. There were no outward emotions, but he could guess from his attitude that the atmosphere of the forest was very unpleasant.
If the elves were uncomfortable with the forest, it meant that the current forest had deviated from its normal state for a long time.
“It’s frustrating. This isn’t the forest I know.”
Ferocious Tooth stared at somewhere with sharp eyes. It seemed that his warrior instinct continued to signal danger.
“They are adjusting the ground to make it easier to summon demons. As time goes on, it will become more and more like the Demon Realm. The inside will be worse.”
Delfino and the priests of the Kundara Temple raised a prayer after giving a warning like that. The divine power spread, and the demonic magic that had touched everyone’s nerves retreated.
Meanwhile, Ivan swung his spear repeatedly. (dlazarturead(dot)wordpress(dot)com)
Swish!
Lightly stab the air and return it. Then he takes a step forward and then stops.
Ivan looked at the imaginary enemy right in front of him and then looked at the bird flying in the distance again.
Ivan frowned.
‘As expected, the response is a little slow.’
It wasn’t even that long ago that he lost his eye. However, Ivan fought fiercely in the meantime, and a strange habit was formed because of it.
Apparently, not being able to see one eye was a fatal weakness, and he became overly defensive to cover that weakness. Even when he should have attacked, he unconsciously evaded or defended and distanced himself.
Now that he had his eyes back, he was preparing to pull his body back unconsciously even when he didn’t need to. When he tried to change it consciously again, he flinched, and the reaction was a little delayed.
People said that if you take a day off, you have to devote three days to make up for it, and he did just that.
‘I think it’ll be fine after fighting at least once.’
Ivan was the type who grew up through real battle rather than practice. I think he’ll find a sense of it again if he gets used to it by warming up his body moderately against an enemy, but Ivan never had a chance.
This place was originally a place with many monsters, and now it’s even more ferocious with the demon’s dark magic, but even those affected by the magic did not attack now. The momentum emitted by the fairy legion was that strong.
Golden armor and green cloak. As if they had truly entered a myth or legend, an army of elves shining brilliantly passed through the forest, getting closer to the demon realm.
If this is enough, wouldn’t the incarnation of the demon who took off his human mask would also tremble in fear? Everyone thought so, but Ivan was different. When he looked at it with a transcendental gaze, it felt infinitely insignificant, but the enemy was never an easy opponent.
Ivan knew just how strong a wizard could become if he was prepared. Even considering that his opponent was not a demon, he could not be relieved.
‘..something is coming.’
For no reason, Ivan felt that way.
After he absorbed the divine fragment, a sharper sense was warning him.
The enemy moves. will be attacked soon
Woo-.
Ivan’s magic moved. The magical energy that surged up at once gathered in his right eye, which he found again.
Then his eyes turned golden, revealing what he had not seen.
A weak magical flow, the movement of cause and effect around him.
As Ivan raised his head, Philane Greywood exclaimed at the same time.
“Ready for battle!”
Boom!
The ground turned upside down, and something rose.
Wriggling tentacles, countless teeth, and thick, acidic mucus.
A monster from the demon realm suddenly appeared and attacked the party.
Shh!
Bang!
The tentacles of the ten-meter-tall monster hit the ground, and the soil splattered in all directions as the rocks shattered. Trees were broken, and the ground shook.
Whoosh-.
Irene took a step back, hid in a tree, and fired an arrow. Her arrow didn’t miss, and she completely pierced the guy’s tentacles. The compressed wind blew up its tentacles.
Phut!
His tentacles are torn to shreds. However, Irene’s expression was not good. It was because the tentacles that were torn were still wriggling and moving. There was even a sign that it was about to be regenerated.
Whoops!
Ivan swung the spear. Then hot flames erupted and burned the torn tentacles.
Loki’s flames flickered, moved around, and burned it to ashes every time he waved his hand. Indeed, it could not be regenerated from the ashes.
Meanwhile, Delfino and the priests of the Kundara Temple radiated divine power. The evil creature twisted its body and resisted, but it was cut into pieces by the blade of the fairy legion. Even the fragments burned in the hands of the elves who dealt with the spirits of fire.
But that wasn’t all. A part of it rose above the ground, and its body was still underground. A new tentacle appeared through the floor.
Squeak!
As it cut off one of its tentacles, Ferocious Tooth shouted.
“We need to get it out!”
That’s true. But Philane Greywood thought otherwise. If it is difficult to pull it out, then bury it deeper.
He bent his knees and placed his hands on the floor. Then a large earth giant appeared. The spirits of the land contracted with Philane began to use their power.
Thud!
The ground fell. The monster hiding in the ground was pushed deeper, and the ground around it was compressed and crushed.
Kiiik!
Green fluid spurted from the floor. The monster couldn’t withstand the strong pressure, and its body exploded.
Unlike the tentacles, its body seemed to have died without being able to regenerate.
It was a tricky enemy, but they handled it faster than expected, so there was no damage to the allies. But still, Ivan didn’t like it.
“It wasn’t hiding. It just showed up.”
As Ivan spoke, Philane nodded his head.
“Yes. He was just summoned.”
It happened very secretly and quickly. It was so natural that most of the party didn’t even notice.
This meant that the forest was completely in the enemy’s hand, to the point where he could summon demons from the demon realm anytime, anywhere.
Flap, flap!
Two crows flew out of Ivan’s shadow. He climbed through the trees that were blocking the sky and looked at the old ruins where they were hiding in the distance.
“There’s still quite a bit of distance, but it’s already like this. This wide area is all his territory.”
A well-prepared wizard becomes ten times stronger than usual if it is his domain. They couldn’t put their guard down. The attack will continue from now on.
Ivan glanced at the people around him.
‘As expected, everyone is not in their best condition, but since the beginning of the chase, they have not been able to rest properly and have been on a tight schedule.’
Even in the fortress where they were going to rest overnight, they couldn’t sleep and had to fight monsters all night long.
They entered the forest right away in that state, so their condition could not be good. They had good physical stamina and strong mental power, so it was clear that they were just not showing any signs of being tired. (dlazarturead(dot)wordpress(dot)com)
He wished they could take a break at least once, but they couldn’t afford that. There was no way they could rest comfortably in the enemy’s realm.
“…Save your stamina. You can’t leave revenge in the hands of others.”
When Ivan said that, the priests of the Kundara Temple answered with a firm face.
“The torch of Kundara, Glorious Lord of Fire, never goes out under any circumstances.”
It meant that they were still fine and were determined to fight even in the worst situation.
It was a little different from the answer Ivan had hoped for, but their determination was strong, so there was nothing more to say.
‘Still, it’ll be fine if the fairy legion is alive and well.’
In the meantime, the news from the front came through the elves in charge of scouting. The communication of the elves connected to the world tree was so fast that the skirmishers could receive what they saw.
“Dark magic is getting stronger. Demonic power is shaking the forest and distorting the space.”
“Can we get around it?”
“It’s difficult. There is a barrier inside, so it will be the same wherever we go.”
The elf who was talking shut her mouth. In an instant, the movement of the fairy legion changed. They are connected to each other. They could react simultaneously without the need to transmit separate commands.
“What’s going on?”
Ferocious Tooth asked, and Philane Greywood answered.
“We are in a battle. We will move to save us.” (TN: They are in a battle (the scouts), we will move to save them)
The elves, whose minds were connected to each other through a world tree network, had a unique linguistic structure in which I, you, and they were all expressed as us.
So it was hard to understand at once. But soon realized that the scouts inside the barrier had been attacked.
“What is the enemy?”
As Ivan ran, an elf answered the question.
“Goblin! Undead!”
If it’s a goblin, it’s a lesser demon. Each one isn’t that strong, but they are the demon species living in the Demon Realm.
All the demons are shady and cruel, so they casually dig into people’s weaknesses and attack them unexpectedly. It was classified as a goblin due to its weak power, but its wickedness was the same, so it could not be ignored.
Kick!
First, Philane Greywood jumped into the barrier. After that, some elves also flew away.
But suddenly, the elves abruptly stopped. And they looked very confused.
It is rare for elves who do not have a large range of emotions and rarely change their facial expressions. Ivan asked them, not jumping into the barrier yet.
“What’s going on?”
“The spatial distortion is greater than we thought. Even if you follow us now, there is no guarantee that you will arrive in the same place.”
The distance widened. It meant that the world tree network that connected the elves to each other was also cut off. No wonder they were confused.
Doo doo doo!
Then the barrier suddenly expanded. Ivan stopped his involuntarily retreat. Because he realized that there was no point in escaping alone.
“Everyone! Check out your companions! Never get separated.”
Ivan’s cry was devoured by a loud noise. The ground shakes, and the trees move. The road that was there was gone and the road that wasn’t there was created.
Suddenly, the barrier engulfed them and tore them in all directions.
Ivan looked around quickly, but there were only ten people in the same space as him.
“Damn bastards. I’m not going to sit still and get hit like this.”
Ivan ground his teeth.
-Kiki Kiki Kick!
Evil laughter erupted from all sides.
The dead body rose to life.
The attack began.