Walking before the old man, Kai pressed his hand on the old man's head. The next moment, a soft brown glow emitted from his body, which dispersed the fire on his body and also began to heal his burned marks and scars.
Most of the fighters under Goddess Ignia use Earth Element. When they vowed to abide by Goddess Ignia's theocracy, the goddess would instantly change their element to earth. While the healers—Priests, bishops, and such—get Wood Element.
The wood element is best for healing; however, that doesn't mean other elements aren't as good as it. Still, only the Earth Element comes second in terms of healing power.
As Kai healed the old man, he frowned. 'What is this? This level of mana is at such a random place, and…if I am not wrong, there also seems to be demonic energy mixed in.'
'Don't tell me…' Kai started to doubt if some demon was hiding nearby and pulling a prank. '...or a demon did it deliberately to capture my attention.'
After healing the old man, Kai stood up and spread his mana senses as much as possible. But he couldn't find anything, only saw common people doing their daily work. At that moment, he suddenly noticed Nil's house's window open. He became surprised, as when he first came, they had everything shut, boxing themselves.
Spreading his senses inside, he found no one. Kai turned his head in Nil's house's direction with his eyes wide open. 'When and…how?'
Getting out of the crowd, Kai ran around, trying to see if he could find them. But all of this effort came for naught.
Kai stood in his spot and pondered in shock. 'How can this be? There is no way they left this place this fast, and they had to leave some mana traces behind. But there is none.'
Kai was finding it hard to believe someone could bypass under his nose, and on such a large scale at that.
While Kai was pondering to himself, one large group was walking just a few meters ahead of him, invisible to the naked eye.
Belal looked behind him, watching Kai not far away from them. He looked at the group and made a gesture by placing his finger on his lips, telling them to stay quiet.
After a while, they exited the city and headed toward the forest. Now that no one was near them, they began to talk quietly.
Nil came beside Belal and others and spoke sincerely. "Thank you, Brother Belal."
Looking at Bailey and Tanaka, he continued. "Bailey and Tanaka, you guys too."
Belal patted his shoulders and shook his head. "You don't have to thank us. All of this happened because of me in the first place. I should be the one apologizing."
"Brother Belal, you are still as humble as always." Nil joked, not letting the atmosphere get gloomy.
Belal also cheered up, seeing them not mind the troubles he brought. Suddenly, thinking of something, Belal asked. "You guys know I am a demon. So, you guys…"
Belal hasn't even finished his sentence, as Nil cut him off. "Brother, do you think our bond can be severed just because of different races?"
The others behind Nil also followed along.
"Brother, don't you ever try to say something like that. You still have to keep your promise of letting me join you."
"Huh? I was the first one who asked Brother Belal to let me join him. You say behind the line."
"You guys… Please be quiet. We don't know if someone is near us or not."
Seeing the others still have the same attitude and respect toward him, he couldn't help but tear up a little. He thought they might fear him now and hate him for what he had put through them, but it seems like they didn't even think about such things.
Gardenia listened to their conversation in surprise. She was wondering why these humans would believe Belal so much. 'It seems there is more to bond between people than race.'
When they entered their house and took the invisibility spell off, everyone was ready to jump on them, especially when they saw Gardenia, who was in front. But Belal's one word was enough to make them stop and fully believe in her.
As they walked forward, a red-haired boy came beside Nil and asked with caution. "Nil, can we trust that woman?"
This boy's name was Rabi, one of his team members. Nil knew who he was referring to. So he replied calmly with a smile. "You do not have to worry, Brother Belal doesn't ever become friends with people who are untrustworthy, or do you not trust Brother?"
"No, no, no, that's not it. It's just that I don't want any disaster to strike us." Rabi said it with a gloomy face.
Nil became a bit surprised before he put his arm around Rabi's neck. "Rabi, since when did you become so cautious? But it's fine, we need more cautious people like you. Our group has been very careless many times."
"Don't worry, they will also become cautious when the time comes."
"Hahaha… you are right." Chuckling to himself, Nil went ahead to chat with Belal.
The rest of their journey was calm and peaceful, as they were close to arriving at the edge of the forest.
However, just at that moment, two people walked out. Belal and the other three recognized them immediately.
"Brother Ragnar and Miss Fiain." Belal called them with a smile. But unfortunately, they weren't able to see them as they still had their spells on.
"Who?" Ragnar became cautious as he wasn't able to see anyone. Despite recognizing the voice, he stayed vigilant, as it might be a trap set by their enemies.
Fiain activated her bloodline power, and her eyes revolved in golden light. "Huh? It's Belal and his team. Also, there are a bunch of kids with him."
Gardenia, who was about to dispel the spell, had her eyes widen in utter shock. She couldn't believe someone was actually able to see through her spell.
"Yes, it's us. We can't hide anything from Miss Fiain." Belal laughed to himself before saying it to Gardenia. "Hey, you can take off the spell."
Belal's words brought Gardenia back to her senses. She quickly dispelled the spell, revealing everyone to Ragnar and Fiain.
Ragnar glanced at everyone and asked, not trying to delve into greetings. "Is this everyone?"
Belal nodded his head in reply.
"Good." Ragnar turned his body in their base's direction. "Let's go quickly. We don't know if those Paladin Warriors might come at any moment."
Everyone agreed with Ragnar and was ready to go along with him. When suddenly, Fiain threw a sword—which she brought out from her storage ring—at the kids group, specifically at Rabi.
It all happened so suddenly that no one was able to react in time, especially everyone with their guards lowered.
"RABI!!" Everyone shouted in unison as they watched the sharp sword slowly approach Rabi's.
Grip
But what happened was beyond anyone's expectations. Rabi didn't get impaled by the sword; instead, laughter escaped—a voice foreign to others who are familiar with Rabi—from his mouth as he clutched the blade of the sword. "Well, you look at that. It looks like there are some capable people in this unknown demon lord's army."
Everyone's eyes widened as they were having a hard time believing the scenario before them. Rabi's outer skin melted slowly, turning into mud. When his appearance melted into mud, everyone was able to see who this unknown voice belonged to.
A man stood proudly, who had the same hair as Rabi. He had above-average looks, but that arrogant smirk on his face somehow enhanced his appearance, adding a distinct charm. He was wearing a black, tight robe that looked like a cloak, and he had red gloves on both of his hands.
"Wh- Who are you!?" Rabi's closest friend, Gran, pointed his sword at him and asked with anger.
"Everyone, stay away from him." Ragnar quickly warned, making others come behind him reluctantly. They wanted to know what happened to Rabi by themselves, but from the aura this fake Rabi was emitting, they knew they had no chance.
The fake Rabi didn't attack instantly, as he just swept his glance around Benimaru's generals and Gardenia.
"I think you should now introduce yourself." Fiain asked coldly, as she was ready to pounce on him at any moment.
The reason Fiain acted surprised at first was because she detected a dangerous aura from Rabi, not for the invisibility spell. To not let the snake know her gaze, she acted like nothing happened.
"Me?" Feeling everyone's eyes on him, he said proudly. "I am Kailer, Demon Hunter, Rank Red."
"Demon Hunter? Rank Red?" Ragnar squinted his eyes, as he had never heard of such a name before.
"Hehehehe…" Kailer chuckled, seeing Ragnar's confusion. "It looks like you don't know what a Demon Hunter is. But it's okay; not everyone knows about us."
Staring into Ragnar's eyes intensely, Kailer continued. "We are an organization that kills demons for livelihood, and we comprise the top geniuses that humankind has ever produced. We are the most respected and feared organization on Mystralyn Continent."
Read latest chapters at f(r)eewebnov𝒆l Only