Chapter 206- Demon Queen (Part 1)
*17 years ago*
"Tsk, it's dark. Can you see anything, Rophian?" Somi asked as they were falling at high speed right into the demon world. The heavy atmosphere along with the strong wind made it almost impossible to see or even sense where exactly they were.
"No! I can't see the bottom." Rophian replied as he looked down. "Ampivor! Use fire to light the place up!"
"Right!"
After that, Ampivor's arms were suddenly ignited with fire before a huge fireball was blasted down at high speed.
Its sheer power illuminated the hole and gave them a clear look at their surrounding. However, that didn't make things any better.
"Shit! We're about to hit the ground!" The other woman, Numen cursed as she quickly pointed her hand down. Quickly, mana traversed her body and a huge boulder appeared in the air beneath them.
Instantly, everyone landed on it which led them quickly to the bottom.
"When the rock is about to hit the ground. Everyone should jump." Somi quickly alerted everyone.
*BANG*
Eventually, the rock crashed at the bottom and the group quickly jumped in the air, landing safely.
"Fuuh! That was intense!" Somi said with a smile.
"Are you ok?" Rophian asked as he approached her. In his eyes, a warm, loving look could be clearly seen.
"Mmm, that was nothing. Is everyone good?"
After making sure the group didn't face a problem, Somi finally took a look at her surroundings.
"Hmm, we are inside some kind of a cave. Weird." She murmured as she examined the whole they came from.
*Click*
Ampivor then lit up a fire in his hand to make it easier to see the place.
"Look at the ceiling of the cave. Why are the rocks... red?"
"Maybe it's simply a type of rock that's red?" Numen said.
"Well, we can't stay here. There is a passage over there." Rophian pointed out as everyone was getting more and more distracted by the cave.
The group then started walking through the cave. It was dark, quiet, and eerie. This was unnerving considering the fact that the place should've been filled with monsters made it weird that there were basically none.
"Hmm, are we supposed to have a smooth sail or something?" Somi asked with a confused look.
"Well, we can be considered lucky. Extra trouble is avoided." Ampivor added.
Minutes passed of continuous walking until they eventually reached what seemed to be the exit of the cave. Passing through it, the group was welcomed with a sight out of imagination.
"What... is this?"
It wasn't the hellish, horrible-looking world they expected but instead was akin to the entrance to paradise. A Dark, starry sky with three moons floating in the middle, illuminating everything. Vast expanses of nature, mountains, forests, lakes, and every possible thing that could exist in nature.
"Is this really the demon world?" Numen asked as she couldn't believe her eyes.
"The books didn't mention this place like this." Somi said with squinted eyes as she felt suspicious of something.
"The books liked, apparently." Rophian commented with a sigh.
The group was confused as to how the demon world, the world that should've looked more like hell than anything else, was actually even more beautiful than the human world itself. Especially the sky, it was so mesmerizing they even forgot they just went inside a huge hole a few minutes ago.
"Everyone, don't lose your focus! The fact that the demon world isn't how it was described in the books means that we know nothing about this place for certain. We must be extremely careful."
After that, the group stepped into the vast world of the demon world. A world that was uncharted from any human.
***
"The journey in the demon world wasn't problematic. We faced some monsters here and there. But, we never saw a single demon." Letum said with a cold tone. "We had no idea what was awaiting us but we didn't really try to think about it too much as that will only break the spirit of the group. Everything was fine... until the fifth day of the expedition." The moment he uttered the last few words, Letum's face darkened even more.
Rin felt slightly nervous but he simply listened quietly to what the man was about to say.
***
"Somi, oi, Somi! Wake up!" Rophian chook Somi urgently on the morning of the 5th day.
"Hm, what?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes.
"Ampivor... There is something wrong with Ampivor." He said.
"Huh?"
Quickly, the two left the tent to check what happened. There, they found Letum pinning down Ampivore while Numen put a rock on him.
"What the fuck is happening here?" She asked.
"Ask him. A few minutes ago, he suddenly attacked me. I had to pin him down." Letum said with an annoyed tone.
"Attacked you? Why did he?"
"Look at his eyes... He doesn't look normal at all."
Approaching Ampivor, Somi took a closer look at him. Ampivor was a very cheerful and energetic man. However, at the moment all of that was nowhere to be seen. Instead, his eyes looked bloodshot red and his teeth were clenched to an unhealthy degree. As he was resisting the weight of the rock, his limbs squirmed left and right violently.
"He seems to be under some kind of spell that I can't get rid of," Numena added with a grave expression.
"How did he get hypnotized? Ampivor has extremely strong mental strength." Rophian asked.
"No, the even more important question now is... Who did it?" The moment Somi asked that everyone went silent as they looked around them.
Those words were more than enough to send a shiver down their spine. Someone or something was able to somehow hypnotize one of them even though no such thing should be possible. That alone was more than enough to make them fearful of their surroundings.
"Everyone... Keep your eyes open. I feel as if something is watching us." Somi said as she pulled out her sword, a sense of danger penetrating her whole being.
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