Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 116 - 115 - Raven and his group vs. the demonic humans.

Chapter 116: Chapter 115 - Raven and his group vs. the demonic humans.

The violin had stopped.

But the world hadn’t gone quiet—it had merely inhaled before the scream.

BOOM!

A blast rocked the fog-heavy woods as a demonic human burst from the trees, only to be sliced midair by a ripple of wind blades.

Jake blurred past, his sword gleaming like lightning in the gray mist.

His feet never touched the ground more than once, each step launching him forward with breakneck velocity.

"Don’t let them near them!" The guy who rarely spoke now barked, twisting mid-spin and cleaving through another.

Selena stood protectively near the kneeling Lia, who trembled as she pressed glowing hands over Siris’s cold body.

But even trembling, her magic pulsed—a weak but stubborn green aura—like a sprout refusing to die in winter.

"Shadow Maw," Selena whispered.

The shadows behind her twisted, snarling—CRUNCH.

A demonic human vanished into the black as if swallowed by a nightmare. Her other hand swept outward, sending a torrent of cold, watery spears at the advancing enemies.

Water and darkness danced around her, elegant and devastating.

"Jessy!" Clara shouted.

"On it!"

Jessy slammed her legs on the ground with a thud.

A wall of stone spikes jutted out in a wide arc, halting two enemies in their tracks. One tried to leap over.

"Ha. Cute," Jessy said dryly—and shoulder-charged it with her Unbreakable Fortress Defense Technique, sending the attacker flying through a tree.

Clara shot past like a green blur, a gust of wind propelling her forward. She moved into melee, her Thousand Sword Art activating—ghostly sword clones swarming behind her like a phantom army.

With every step, a new illusion of her splitting off and stabbing.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

The forest was suddenly filled with the sound of swords.

"Don’t blink," Clara whispered, appearing behind one attacker and cutting cleanly through his chest.

Meanwhile, Rufus and Alex moved like twin firestorms, one calm and fluid like a river, the other aggressive like a wildfire.

Alex leaped in with a bestial growl, fists engulfed in flaming gauntlets, punching through armor and jaw alike. "Come on! Who wants to get roasted!?"

Rufus moved beside him, striking in precise, swift motions with his Form-Breaking Sword Art.

"Stop screaming and swing smarter," he muttered, cleaving an enemy’s weapon in two and stabbing through the gap with icy water laced along his blade.

Then, there were the squirrels.

Nibbles and Fluffy stood atop a rock, raising their tiny arms dramatically.

"Begin Operation Nutjob!" Nibbles squeaked.

Suddenly, squirrels poured from the canopy in coordinated chaos—leaping onto demons, slapping them with leaves, pulling their ears, and tying shoelaces together.

One even began breakdancing on a demon’s shoulder.

"What the actual hell—" The demon started before getting headbutted by a tiny squirrel wearing a leaf helmet.

None of them were strong enough to defeat all the demonic beings, but fortunately for them, the demonic beings were attacking individually.

With the coordinated teamwork of five plate five magic swordsmen, a circle-six mage, and a group of determined squirrels, they could easily take on one or two demonic humans.

After all, this was war.

Still, none of that compared to the clearing.

Because Raven had moved.

Travis’s eyes lit up in twisted anticipation as he whispered, "Now."

BOOOOM.

A sigil burst beneath him as he channeled mana and blood. The ground cracked open, and it stepped out.

Or crawled.

It was the same creature Travis had summoned to fight Siris.

BOOM—BOOM—BOOOM—

The ground quaked as the thing moved.

But Raven—he was facing it.

That creature was too long and thin.

Its limbs scraped the earth like rotting stilts. Its bone mask was cracked, a single vertical eye blinking with an eldritch rhythm—left, right, open, closed, and open again.

It exhaled.

SKRRRRRRRRRAAAAHHH—

The sound that came out of its mouth was like the world tearing paper.

Raven, however, lunged, his sword flashing.

"CLANG—TINK—SKKRRR!!"

His blade met flesh—no, not flesh but something like it.

Even if it was flesh, it was too hard to be called that.

Because the moment it clashed with it, the sword bounced off. Not even a scratch was left.

Raven snarled, swinging again—this time with wind magic.

"SLASH—WHOOSH—"

The wind howled, but the creature didn’t budge.

Fire, earth, and water. All poured into his strikes.

The result, however, remained the same.

Much less defeating it, Raven couldn’t even leave a scratch on the creature’s skin.

’Fuck! Just how strong is it?!’ He growled inwardly, gritting his teeth.

Dragon scales slid across his arms and down to his legs, reinforcing his speed and strength.

He twisted mid-air, flame and wind crackling around his blade as he spun.

"RAH—!!!!!!"

"BOOOOM!!"

The entire clearing shook—but the summon turned its head slightly as if it didn’t even feel threatened. Its eye blinked once.

Then, it moved.

With a swipe of its arm, Raven was blasted back, crashing through three trees.

CRACK—CRASH—THUMP!

He rolled to his feet, coughing.

"You’re really starting to piss me off," he muttered, cracking his broken arm back into position as his healing factor did its magic.

He moved again, faster, pulling from every technique he’d learned.

Jake’s speed.

Clara’s clones.

Alex’s wild strikes.

Rufus’s form shatterer.

Even Jessy’s grounding stances.

None of it worked.

The creature crawled, slow, almost mockingly.

Then—

Travis coughed, blood slipping down his lips.

One glance at him, and one could see changes in his face. He was growing older.

Not old man-type old, as he didn’t have wrinkles, but he was aging, and it was apparent.

Still, his grin didn’t falter.

Glaring at Raven, he barked. "Didn’t I say you would regret rejecting my offer? Now, how does it feel to lose one of your girls? Are you despairing?"

Raven didn’t answer. Instead, he launched a series of attacks at Travis, only for them to be shielded by the creature.

’He hasn’t lost his spirit,’ Travis concluded, and looking at the creature, unable to connect many attacks on Raven, Travis knew he needed to do more.

He had to sacrifice more of his life force to let the creature use more of its powers.

After all, it wasn’t even using magic or its real physical powers.

Travis wasn’t strong enough to sustain the full-powered form of this creature.

However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t change the situation.

He stood at the edge of the clearing, grinning even as he bit his thumb and carved symbols into his chest.

"Wanna see real despair, Raven?!" He roared, his voice cracked with glee.

The creature twitched.

It stood.

Upright.

No longer crawling.

Its limbs cracked into place—"CRRK! SNAP! TCH—"

A second eye opened in the middle of its chest.

Then, it moved.

"BOOOOOOOM—!!!"

It vanished and reappeared right behind Raven.

"—!!"

Raven barely dodged, but the air still blasted him forward like a cannonball.

"SKRRAAAAAAHHH!!"

The thing screamed again—louder, deeper, and angrier.

Raven hit the ground hard, skidding through ash and blood. He spat out something—probably part of a tooth.

But he stood.

He was panting now.

His limbs twisted, but he snapped them back into place again, rushing forward once again.

More scales.

More magic.

More blood.

But the result remained the same.

Or maybe it was worse.

The summon was moving faster. Its claws now left black scorch marks on the ground.

It wasn’t using elemental magic yet, but now it didn’t need to.

It was just too powerful.

But Raven didn’t back down.

He couldn’t.

He wasn’t going to let Travis go.

That guy had to die.

It was then that Mistress, who had gone silent for a while, finally spoke again in Selena’s head.

’Alright, cutie, I got news for you.’

Selena paused, almost letting the demonic human that had attacked her slip by, only for Clara to take care of it.

"What’s wrong?" Clara asked her with a frown, and Selena, with a serious expression, turned to Clara.

"Mistress has news on that creature," she said, pointing at the creature Raven was fighting, and even Clara’s expression changed.

Mistress, on the other hand, continued. ’So, I have some good news and some bad news for you. Which one would you like to hear first?’

’The bad one,’ Selena replied without delay, making the demoness giggle.

’Good, I was going to tell that first anyway.’

She paused dramatically, her voice turning low and deep. ’That creature is the gatekeeper of the third hell. Among the top twenty strongest beings of hell.’

Selena’s breath hitched as she glanced at Clara, her gaze quivering, something Clara didn’t like.

’Alright, sweety, don’t get too worried. Here’s the good news.’

Mistress paused again, and somehow a dramatic beat played in the background, almost making Selena stumble.

Almost.

Then, the demoness spoke.

’That creature is bound by a contract. It would never attack anyone unless they attacked first.’

The moment those words were heard, Selena felt like the bad news from earlier was nothing serious.

After all, no matter how strong the opponent was, if they couldn’t attack, then why would they fear them?

’Aw, I wanted to see you more scared~,’ Mistress sighed in regret.

Selena, however, gritted her teeth as she realized why the demoness wanted to convey the bad news first.

But she didn’t have time to waste arguing with her, so she turned to Clara, her voice urgent as she yelled.

"That creature won’t attack until it’s attacked first!"

The moment Selena’s voice echoed through the clearing, the atmosphere changed.

It was as if the world knew that the tables had turned.