Invite
1634 Words
Bael, Cali, and their entire group of fiends avoided Redgrove City and opted to head straight for the Shifting Hallows.
They already knew about the elves living in the Redgrove Forest and stayed clear of their territory.
It didn’t take them too long to arrive at the Shifting Hallows, but what they saw was rather unsettling.
“...I thought our information said the Shifting Hallows was supposed to be a barren land?” Bael asked aloud.
“Well...not anymore,” Cali responded as she took a look around.
The border between the Redgrove Forest and the Shifting Hallows was indeed barren, however, what lay beyond the border was anything but that.
The land was emitting a red-color miasma that seemed to contaminate the land and the air. From this miasma sprouted grotesque flesh-like trees and plants. These odd vegetation-like structures are what now dotted the lands of the Shifting Hallows.
“Wait a minute, let me go check things out.”
Cali spread open her wings and quickly took to the skies. She shot straight up into the air and noticed how peculiar the miasma was acting.
It didn’t spill into the Redgrove Forest but instead seemed to stop right at the border. This wasn’t natural since any kind of miasma would infect anything it could touch and continue to spread from there.
However, this red miasma seemed like it was alive and moving according to its own will...or the will of whatever was controlling it.
Cali flew further into the air and broke past the cloudline. She noticed that the clouds past the barrier were red in color, just like the miasma. She was appalled to see that even the sky was filled with the red miasma.
Like any other miasma, this red one was bound to be poisonous. They both saw what it did to the land and if they even stepped into it, something bad was undoubtedly going to happen to them.
Despite everything looking quite bleak, Cali was able to find patches of land underneath the clouds that didn’t radiate with this miasma. She took note of them and quickly returned to the ground.
“Over to the west, just a few kilometers away, there’s a patch of land that isn’t infected by this red miasma. I say we head there. It may take a while, but you can feel it too, right?”
Bael didn’t even need to think and quickly agreed to Cali’s suggestion.
“Let’s head in that direction then. This red miasma is bad news...it’s the second time in my life that chills actually ran up and down my spine from looking at something…”
Bael and Cali quickly went in the direction where Cali had seen the safe patch of land that didn’t have any miasma exuding from it.
As they walked through the Shifting Hallows, Cali sent her demons to scout ahead just to make sure that the road in front of them wasn’t infected by the miasma while they discussed why the place had changed so much.
“That red smoke...it’s obviously the reason why the land’s changed...do you think it’s the fiends’ doing?” Cali asked.
Bael sighed and answered, “If it is...these creatures are much more dangerous than what we’ve originally assumed…”
“Enlighten me.”
Bael looked into the distance searching for something. He had noticed this while he was taking a look at the miasma-infested lands of the Shifting Hallows and soon, he found what he was looking for.
He pointed towards a shadow in the distance and said, “See that building-like structure over there?”
“Well, dear brother, unlike you, my eyes aren’t endowed with Clairvoyance!”
“Ugh, never mind then...but you can at least see the silhouette of a pillar in the distance, right?”
Cali squinted her eyes and tried looking for this silhouette her brother mentioned. She looked hard in the direction her brother pointed at and soon noticed the faint silhouette of something sticking up on the horizon.
“Yeah...I see it, I think... but it’s so far away...what does it have to do with the red miasma?”
“Well, you can’t see, but there’s actually more than one of these pillars lying in the distance and they appear to be flesh pillars or something…”
“Okay?”
“Those things are also what's spewing out the red miasma.”
“Hm?”
“The flesh-like pillar is pale white like those fiends’ skin color so I believe it’s a fiend construct of some kind…”
“Do you think those fiends built those there for a purpose?”
“They must have… otherwise, how could something like that appear suddenly in this barren wasteland that has no power ruling over it?”
The two Grand Demons continued walking through the Shifting Hallows and were met with a few monster packs which they swiftly took care of. They immediately resumed their previous conversation regarding the fiends and the changes that have happened within the Shifting Hallows.
Although they lived most of their lives on a different continent, the demons were well-informed of the Harrdigor Continent’s topography and geography. After all, it was the continent that they were trying to take over. It was only natural that they knew everything about it.
And because of this, they knew that the Shifting Hallows shouldn’t look like how it was today. It had clearly changed and something was behind it and since the only intellectual creatures living out here were the fiends, Bael naturally concluded that they were behind the changes.
He took the risk to get close to the changed lands and quickly retrieved a sample of the infected soil. Bael wasn’t afraid and quickly did some on-the-spot tests and experiments with the soil.
He injected mana into the soil, he smelled it, and even tried to taste it a little. Cali who was observing him was immediately appalled and spoke out.
“What the hell? Aren’t you afraid?”
“Oh please, as if this could kill me,” Bael retorted.
“Whatever you say...just don’t come crying to me when you fall flat on your stomach later!”
Bael scoffed before continuing to experiment with the soil. He even told his demons to retrieve a few more samples to see if the lesser demons experienced any changes to their body after just a brief moment of contact with the miasma and the dirt that was infected by it.
After seeing nothing wrong happen to them, Bael stopped his tests.
“The soil...it’s definitely been bathed in blood…but how could the fiends have that much blood and why would they use it to soak the lands?”
“Why blood?”
“Smell it.”
When Cali smelt the miasma-infested dirt, she quickly recognized the all-too-familiar iron-like smell.
“This...is it actually blood?”
“It smells much more repugnant but that’s definitely the smell of blood. It’s just that the blood is a mix of different types of creatures’ blood, that’s why it doesn’t smell so distinct.”
“That’s impossible...how could the fiends possibly have that much blood to soak this entire piece of land? Why did they do this? Is it to intimidate other creatures from coming into this place?”
“Intimidate? Well, you aren’t wrong, but you’re not entirely correct.”
“!”
“!”
When the demons heard the voice that seemingly came out of nowhere, they immediately went on alert.
“Who’s out there!”
“Sorry to be rude. I didn’t mean that.”
The demons were currently close to the periphery of the miasma-infested lands so when they saw a figure emerge from behind the smoke…
“Don’t attack! Stay your weapons!” Bael quickly ordered.
“Brother!”
“Oh, why so hostile?”
“...”
The demons immediately pulled out their weapons when they saw Julius emerge from the miasma. He was currently in his normal form and he had a playful smile on his face as he looked at the demons.
“Are you...a fiend?” Bael carefully asked.
“Ah, where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Julius...the Lord of the Fiends.”
“Eh?”
“!”
At his words, Sammael immediately slammed down into the ground from the air and a few more dark fiends did the same, completely surrounding the demons.
“Sammael, that’s enough. You don’t need to act so hostile…”
“Master?”
“They are…” Julius looked at the wary demons and continued, “They are guests.”
“Understood.”
Sammael sheathed his weapons and the dark fiends under his command quickly backed off. They had been following the demons ever since they exited the Ecklewood Forest and thanks to their abilities, they were able to remain undetected.
“Come, I know you’ve been searching for me. Let me escort you to my abode. It’s a little dangerous for any non-fiends to be traversing my lands nowadays. Long exposure to the plasm could kill you~”
Julius extended his arm in invitation as he said this with a smile on his face.
- Writer
