I remembered something Blaze once told me in the past, his words echoing in my mind.
"[There could be various reasons, my friend. Perhaps there's a hidden treasure or a valuable artifact concealed within the forest. Or maybe it's a defense mechanism to keep trespassers at bay.]"
As I deactivated the elemental vision, a sudden surge of adrenaline rushed through me. Before me stood a lone humanoid figure—a single demon.
Its appearance was far from the formidable demons I had encountered in the game. This one seemed weak, likely one of those lower-level demons used to bolster numbers in a demon king war. Its skull-like face bore tribal tattoos, and its emerald green skin resembled that of a goblin. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Yet, there it was, right in front of my eyes. This wasn't an illusion caused by the forest's Illusory Path; it was real.
"Kheee!" The demon sniffed around, then turned and disappeared behind a wavy illusion tree, unaware of my hidden presence high up in the tree.
"What are they doing here?" Blaze's voice broke my focus, drawing my attention away from the demon.
"Why now?" I was taken aback to see a demon appear here, exactly two years earlier than the game's storyline indicated.
Why so soon? Why here? For what purpose?
Questions swirled in my mind as I activated the elemental vision once again, trying to make sense of the situation.
The world transformed into a mana blueprint, revealing hidden details and patterns. My gaze followed the path the demon had taken, and my heart skipped a beat.
The golden white light in the sky dimmed significantly and eventually disappeared entirely, as if it had never been there.
Tup*
Silently, I jumped down from the tree, landing on my hands to cushion the impact. My heightened senses allowed me to stealthily approach the Demon group.
They were gathered in a big group, encircling something I couldn't see from my position.
Cautiously, I crept closer, taking cover behind a tree, and peered out to observe their actions.
The area was now free from the trees that had been there before. It appeared that they had been cut down for some nefarious purpose. The spacious open space gave a clear view of the group surrounding a single person. Whatever they were doing seemed to be complete.
The source of the golden-white light still shone brightly, contrasting with the darkness of the night and drawing attention to the scene.
My curiosity and determination to unveil their intentions drove me forward, though I maintained a safe distance from the group.
"General Zephyrion, the process is done," a demon, who looked less fearsome than the others, kneeled before someone he referred to as "General Zephyrion."
'Zephyrion!' Recognition struck me as the illusion magic slowly wore off, revealing the identity of this high-class demon. He was one of the four pillars of the Demon King's forces, the tactician of war arts, and the mastermind behind many military attacks in every nation.
Zephyrion's name had struck fear as an event boss in the game. But now, he stood here, in this reality. The significance of his presence sent shivers down my spine.
"..." He remained silent, kneeling as he brushed his hand on the hard soil ground, then got up again.
"What about Vexis?" He asked, referring to another demoness who played an important role in the storyline.
Vexis wasn't one of the four pillars, but she held considerable power.
"We have not heard anything from Lady Vexis for the past six days," one of the demons reported.
"Hmm... activate the teleporter," Zephyrion ordered, scanning his surroundings. For a moment, his eyes seemed to pause on the place where I was hidden, but my concealed mana signature prevented him from detecting me.
*Zkzk*
A servant demon placed a feet-tall cylindrical artifact on the ground and channeled mana into it. The runes and engravings on the artifact began to glow, and its components started moving, forming three separate parts with increasing gaps between them. A spark shot between the parts, creating a swirling vortex that took the shape of a triangle portal.
It was a temporary portal, used only once, and its use came with significant risks, as it could even be fatal if one lacked sufficient mana in their body.
"General?" The single-horned demon behind Zephyrion followed his gaze.
"This Illusory artifact... make sure we use a more powerful one next time," Zephyrion's voice was devoid of any emotion as he turned to leave towards the portal. "It's wearing off too soon."
With that, he stepped inside the portal, followed by the other demons. Within a few minutes, they had disappeared completely from sight.
.....Silence.....
"What now?" asked Blaze, hopping out of my pocket.
"Haaa," I let out an exhausted sigh and slumped on the ground, but that lasted only for a second as I quickly got up and dashed towards the spot where the light was coming from.
The source had disappeared, but I was determined to find out what they were doing.
I approached the spot, but to my disappointment, there was nothing but solid ground.
"What were they doing here?" I questioned as I kneeled at the same spot where Zephyrion was standing, touching the soil and even digging a little, but to no avail—the results were nothing.
"How troublesome, princess," Blaze echoed my thoughts.
"So, that's the Demon continent, right?" I asked, as something began to make sense.
"Stating the obvious, huh," Blaze agreed, in a roundabout way.
"In the game, it wasn't explained how these demons entered our continent. They
just said the demons were spotted out of nowhere, so most of us players thought that they were somehow able to be born out of thin air, thanks to the Demon God Azra or something like that," I muttered.
"Well, that's stupid. Due to the laws of nature, nothing can be borne out of thin air," Blaze replied.
"Tell that to someone who has just played a game and thought that the demons just spawned in the wild so the player can gain experience points," I sighed. It makes more sense now that this is a real world, not something that follows the laws of a game. The story is the same, but how it is executed is different from what I know.
"The world doesn't revolve around the MC alone, huh?" I had quite a strange thought as I realized how much is actually going on in this world that wasn't even shown in that few-gigabyte game.
The academy was the start of this world's story, but for me, the story started long before this academy. It's absurd to even think about it at this point.
"Elemental Vision," I activated the skill, and as I thought, there it was. I just couldn't trace it with normal vision.
Getting up, I picked up a small stick and began tracing it on the ground. It was big.
"Phew," I sighed with relief as I deactivated the elemental vision and looked down at the thing I traced.
"Hmm... I'm not even surprised at this point," Blaze was right. I'm surprised that I'm not surprised.
The place I traced was a big circle... fuck, it's a summoning ring.
"Let's go back. I think I know what I have to do."
"You ain't gonna destroy this?" Blaze asked as he turned into his Winged Pardus form.
"Nope, I don't wanna mess up the storyline that much. I guess the knowledge is much more useful," I replied, climbing up on his back as he soared into the sky.
It took us half an hour to return home.
I immediately entered my room and pulled the large world map from the desk, laying it on the floor.
"Now tell me again, where exactly would the mermaid kingdom and the demon continent be?" I asked, my curiosity driving me to explore every detail.
Blaze leaned forward, his keen eyes focused on the map as he tapped the spots where these hidden locations were supposed to be, absent from any cartographic record.
"The Demon Continent lies here," he said, tapping an area at the southern pole of the map. "According to my knowledge, it's approximately the size of the Grav Kingdom, or perhaps even larger."
As for the mermaid kingdom, Blaze directed his paw to the sea region just below the Reva Kingdom, in the southern seas. His words painted a vivid picture of its magnitude, claiming it to be the most extensive among all the four kingdoms and empires.
I mulled over this newfound information. A subordinate of the Demon King had somehow made it to our shores, likely through a sea route. Once here, they began to implement these summoning rings—a concept usually reserved for summoning powerful entities like dragons.
"But in this case," I interjected, "it seems they managed to alter the magic and transform these summoning rings into portals to transport the demons from the demon continent to our land."
Blaze nodded, affirming my assumption. The pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit together, and a sense of urgency washed over me. The appearance of the demon and Zephyrion was just the tip of the iceberg, signifying a greater plot that was unfolding.
As I lay on my back, closing my eyes, the pieces of the puzzle began to converge in my mind.
"So this is how they were able to come," I whispered, finally understanding the means behind the Demon's arrival. The warning Jasmine gave me about "him" suddenly made sense, connecting to the enigmatic Zephyrion and his mysterious activities.
The puzzle only grew more intricate as I considered the secrets of the Nightshade Sanctum, the hidden knowledge buried in the game's storyline, and the existence of new, uncharted territories on the world map.
Alver's enigmatic presence as a noble also lingered in my thoughts, adding another layer of complexity to the unfolding plot.
"All these threads, intricately woven together," I muttered, a hint of both awe and excitement in my voice. It was as if the entire world had been unveiled before me, revealing a grand tapestry of mysteries.
A sudden burst of laughter escaped my lips, catching Blaze off guard. He reacted with a sigh, his feline eyes observing me carefully. "Don't go crazy on me, princess. It's scary," he remarked, his concern evident.
I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. "It's just... so overwhelming," I confessed, my voice still tinged with amusement. "To think that all these important plots are unfolding, and I am somehow part of them—it's mind-boggling."
Blaze nodded, understanding the weight of the revelations that had been laid bare before us. "So, when are we leaving for the academy?" he asked, his voice gentle.
"In three days," I replied, realizing that I couldn't delay my journey any longer. The urgency to uncover the truth, making it impossible to stay idle.
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