Finishing the preparation, Rex, Adhara, and the army of Dwarves departed for the battle.
It was already sunrise, the start of a new day.
The legion underneath the Demon Lord Ranath would be the first one to be confronted.
His legion would be coming from the southeast direction of the Dwarven Kingdom and was isolated, far enough from the other legions due to the Dark Fairy race that managed to stray away from them in an attempt to escape.
Adhara and even Huvuki anticipated them to have a way to contact each other.
Being nervous is unavoidable for them.
On the other hand, Rex agrees and disagrees with them at the same time.
It might be true that these demons have a way of contacting each other in case of an ambush, however, that doesn't necessarily mean they would do that. He derived his rationale from the Rastrikan Demon's natural dynamics, the dynamics of a conqueror.
Five Demon Lords leading five legions, I'm quite sure that they won't do it.
Rex smirked while pondering about this.
A demonic force that is fully focused on fighting is bound to be highly competitive between themselves, similar to the atmosphere of a competitive sport. Being the first one to ask for help only meant the specified Demon Lord admitted that he was the weakest of them all.
Due to that, Rex was not that worried about alerting the other legions and being surrounded.
However, there are methods that he prepared if that came to fruition.
Rex's assurance as he said this made the other two feel more at ease as it made sense.
"Remember, as soon as we encounter them, your foremost task is to create a mental barrier to protect the Dwarves in the frontline from the enemies' influence. Know that if you're late or can't hold on, the damage will be catastrophic" Adhara who was also mounting on a mutated white bear warned the Awakened.
Earlier, Rex and her were briefed about the legion underneath the Demon Lord Ranath.
It was Huvuki who briefed them, and he gave quite useful information.
Surprisingly enough, the Dwarves have names for each of the Rastrikan Demons' legions. For this instance, the legion underneath Lord Ranath is called the 'psycho-fellows' which implies their abilities to influence others' psychology or the mind.
Adhara's distribution seems to be the right thing to do in this situation.
Distributing the Awakened based on the races' weakness is a good move, the Awakened they have now were all from Lady Lauren's force, and most of them are Mind Elementalists while the few others have varying basic elements.
Facing the Demon Lord Ranath's legion should not be that hard because of that.
Currently, the army is coursing through a snowy plain.
Thousands of individuals are lining up neatly in a formation while marching forward strongly.
Locating Demon Lord Ranath's legion was relatively straightforward for them.
Following the whisperers of malice that filled and reverberated in the air alongside the scorching heat that the legion is emanating will do the trick. Judging from those two factors, it seems it would take some time before they reach the legion.
Rex who was mounting a mutated black bear used this time to meditate.
After dealing with the problems he caused in the city, he instantly departs and heads here.
Since this provides a considerable amount of time to recuperate from the mental backlash, he keeps his senses up and meditates throughout the way. It was only when he felt better, a couple of hours or so later that he eventually opened his eyes.
We're getting close, I could already sense the temperature rising and the whisperers louder.
Just as he thought about that, a voice startled him from the side.
"Was the problem in the city caused by Gistella?"
Out of nowhere, seeing that Rex had opened his eyes, Adhara decided to ask curiously.
"Hmm...? No, it's not about Gistella"
Even though she was dense lately towards Rex's feelings, she could still feel the powerful wrath permeating through their connection which signifies that he erupted in anger. It was bad news, it's natural for Adhara to think of the worst.
Something that could set Rex off, she suspected that it was related to Gistella.
But it seems that she was wrong, something else happened.
"Oh, I thought it was because of her. So has she come back yet? I haven't seen her lately"
"No, let's talk about that later. But I can say that if she's in trouble, I'll know. So don't worry"
"Huh? You say that, but you're acting as if Gistella's disappearance is a regular occurrence. This is the first time she vanished suddenly like this, yet you appear strangely composed, almost as if you know Gistella's current whereabouts or you are the reason she disappeared"
Adhara looked at him with great suspicion, her eyes squinted as she gazed at him intently.
Upon hearing this, Rex paused and kept silent for a moment.
"Are you reading my emotional aura right now, Adhara?" Rex asked, he then glanced at her and smirked. "Since you know what you did wrong already, then that means you should know that my appearance doesn't always represent what lies within"
Just as he said that Adhara's eyes widened as she saw his emotional aura soaring higher.
It was a mix of deep red and bleak blue.
Rex feels a mix of frustration, guilt, and anger right now due to the incident in the city. Hurting Evelyn is unforgivable, and he couldn't take his mind off of it. Due to that, he feels the pent-up emotions swelling inside of him.
He is in dire need of solace, and the Rastrikan Demons are the best way to vent.
On the other hand, this only acted as a distraction from Adhara probing her way into the problem with Gistella. However, it didn't work on her as she mused inwardly, 'He's trying to avoid the conversation, so that means he knows where Gistella is but won't tell. Flunra is probably the one who knows about this. Did Evelyn know too...?'
Deciding to trust Rex, she didn't probe further and averted her attention elsewhere.
A moment later.
"We'll halt right here. Go scout and find out what those demons are doing"
A Dwarf General, Eridro commanded a couple of squads to scout the place beyond the hill.
It was about half an hour ago that the terrain turned from snowy to normal tundra, the vast plain was littered with nothing as far as the eyes could see except for a couple of hills in the distance which is where the Rastrikan Demons' energy was coming from.
While waiting for the scouts to come back, the army stayed on the spot vigilantly.
However, this position makes Rex feel uneasy.
Not a good spot to be in, I don't like this. We're in the middle, a sitting duck.
Although it was true that the scorching heat, whisperers, and foul scent were coming from the front beyond the hills, there was no guarantee that there were no more Rastrikan Demons hiding on the other sides, suppressing their auras.
It might be safer to assume that there were to be more focus and ready.
Rex expanded his senses to cover the sides which had a slope that might hinder their vision from the center, he couldn't feel anything out of the ordinary. But that didn't stop him from conveying his thoughts.
"King Huvuki, send some scouts to the side. I feel like we're being trapped"
Upon hearing this, Huvuki nodded his head.
Just as he was about to send the scout as Rex requested, the scouts from the front already signaled to them that it was safe, and the Rastrikan Demons could be seen at sight rampaging through a bloodied city.
Since the army is vast, it advances forward under the generals' command.
Albeit still feeling uneasy, Rex strode forward to follow the army while still scanning around.
On the other hand, Adhara was wearing a frown as she stared intently at the slop to her right. She seemed uncertain about what she was observing as she continued to move alongside the army, keeping her head still turned to the right.
It was around the same time that Rex's senses were spiked by something.
None of the Dwarves seemed to realize it, however, his senses could feel a weird sensation coming from the ground that his black bear passed earlier. This prompted him to look back, searching for any cues for the weird sensation he sensed earlier.
Something was definitely wrong, I could feel it.
The more we go forward, the worse this feeling gets. We need to turn back...
Catching sight of a weird thin peculiar red line that the army including him passed earlier, the very thing that created this weird sensation, he becomes certain that this place is not what it seemed to be.
He doesn't know what but he feels like they are heading to a trap, an ambush.
Knitting his eyebrows together, he started to meticulously scan the entire area in worry.
One sign is all he needs to call this advancement off for now.
Eventually, finding that there's nothing on the ground, he looks skyward at the clear blue sky before his eyes catch sight of a flying silhouette that he has never seen before, it swims through the sky in a circle.
Judging from its shape, this flying black silhouette should be somekind of mutated bird.
Rex didn't pay any attention to it and shifted his gaze elsewhere, however, his head snapped back at the mutated bird realizing that it was emanating energy that alerted him instantly, an energy that showed that this bird was not a regular mutated bird.
Demonic energy! It's a demonic bird!
"Go back! We've been spotted! It's an ambush!" Rex shouted at the top of his lungs.
Upon hearing this, King Hivuki alongside the armies turned towards him in great confusion.
Similarly, Adhara's eyes widened when she heard his shout, realizing that the subtle red color coming from beyond the slop is getting more intense as they strides forward. It was only that she realized that the subtle red color was a gathering of emotional energy.
As Rex suspected, there are the Rastrikan Demons hiding on the side.
Heeding the warning that comes from Rex himself, the army quickly turns around and heads back to where they came from. Despite a fight being inevitable, they wouldn't want to fight in a disadvantageous position.
But suddenly, their path back was blocked by a searing sky-high hellfire wall.
Boom!
Swoosh!
A blast reverberated through the surroundings as the red thin line earlier threw up a hellfire wall. It was a sky-high wall that spanned to the side, covering the entire tundra plain and blocking their way of escaping back to safety.
Following that, vicious and menacing growls could be heard from everywhere.
Emerging from both sides of the slope were the Rastrikan Demons, their eerie laughter and maniacal chuckles filled the air. Surprisingly, they managed to effectively trap Rex and the army, leaving them with no choice but to confront the demons head-on.
Some tried to go through the firewall, but their bodies were vaporized instantly.
Just as the situation became dire, something more happened.
Rex and the others gaze to their front and see a monstrous demon towering behind the Dwarf scouts. It has a massive body that emits a horrifying amount of demonic energy for being suppressed by the First Breath.
Glancing to their backs slowly, the Dwarves gasped in utter fear.
But in the next second, their bodies got cleanly cut in half, leaving one single Dwarf.
Upon seeing that his comrades were killed rather easily, like squishing a bug, the last Dwarf started to tremble uncontrollably. "I like your expression, Dwarf..." the Demon mused before he lifted the last Dwarf by the head savagely.
It was then that the Demon crushed the last Dwarf's head.
Splash!
While gazing at the army, he then lets out a powerful roar that produces a soundwave.
Boasting its dominance over these low-lives that try to attack him.
Rex on the other hand fixed his eyes on this monstrous demon with two big and thick goat horns, he then smirked as his battle intent was riled up at the sight of this Demon. So that's Demon Lord Ranath... This is going to be way more than venting out my frustrations!
Roar!
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