The Demon King's First General
Chapter 79: He’s Lying

Chapter 79: He’s Lying

"Can we really capture that monster alive with just the five of us?" asked a woman as soon as she and her comrades entered the forest area.

"Relax, Anj, with me here; you don’t need to worry about anything," a man reassured his companion while raising his arm and tapping his muscles.

However, the rest of the group laughed as they heard the man’s statement.

"It’s not you who’ll bring this mission to success; it’s Aryx," answered another man who was holding a gray-colored staff with a circle at its tip that had several pendants dangling from it.

"Quit fluttering me; after all, the success of a team couldn’t be determined through a single person," the man named Aryx replied and smiled afterwards.

Based on his clothing, he was a close-combat fighter who used a strange type of sword. It was a single-edged sword with a convex, curved blade that broadened towards the point.

"You’re such a humble person, Aryx. All of our mission turned out well just because you’re here with us. That’s a fact; you can’t change my mind," another man chimed in into their conversation and put his arm around Aryx’s shoulders. He had a quiver hanging from the side of his thigh and a bow sticking out of his back.

The rest of the group smiled upon hearing the man’s words, but the moment they passed the area with trees that had clawmarks on their trunks, they began to show a high level of alertness.

Then, after they made it to the center of the forest, they noticed a silhouette of a man looking at them from a distance.

"Prepare yourself; we’re not the only ones here," Aryx uttered, and he put his hand into the scimitar’s hilt while observing the surroundings for an ambush.

Then they saw the man stand up from his sitting position as they came closer. Their archer had already pulled out his bow, along with a piece of arrow. All of them were Ruby-class mercenaries, and they had too many unpleasant experiences when it came to meeting other groups of mercenaries during a mission.

There were those who just thought about their own business, but most of those they met had ill intentions, especially when they became aware of the contents of their task. Aside from this reason, bandits were also a very common sight in the woodlands located on the Plain of Fantasies, though their group didn’t consider them serious treats.

"Weird, he’s alone," the man with the huge body uttered.

"Take a look at those furs; that’s a lot!" The mage of their group, Anj, exclaimed as she saw the loot at the man’s side.

’Did he get that all by himself?’ She added her thoughts.

Her group members asked the same line of thoughts inside their heads as they noticed the thick fur of monsters lying beside the man.

Then, as they went to approach him, they learned that there was another person dozing off on a tree branch. Questions regarding the other man entered their minds; even though they saw him, they could not determine the reason why they couldn’t feel his presence.

’No, it’s not that he had no presence at all; it just completely blended with the forest,’ Aryx thought.

He stared at the silver-haired man for seconds before he averted his gaze and looked at the other man.

"Brother, we don’t intend any harm," Aryx stated as he raised both of his hands, making them suspended in the air.

Then he glanced at the broken blade that the man was holding.

"Are you with him?" He added, asking before pointing with his eyes to the man lying on the tree branch.

In times like this, his group let him do the talking and decide if the other party meant any harm.

Meanwhile, Kizeler contemplated for a few seconds before answering the man’s question. He scanned them, searching for their pendants, but they were all hidden inside their clothing.

"Then you guys can proceed with your task at hand; I’m just waiting for him to wake up so we can go," he replied, still cautious about the other party’s intention.

Aryx did the same; he put his hands down at his side but was still wary of anything that could cause them any harm, especially the man up in the tree.

"That’s good, anyway; have you seen any wolf monsters in the area? We’re looking for one specific beast," Aryx asked.

"Sorry, but aside from these bears that I killed, I saw nothing else," Kizeler answered as he took a glance at his side.

The man nodded in front of him and replied. "I see."

Afterward, he looked around their surroundings before bidding farewell to Kizeler.

"We’ll get going then; have a safe journey on your way back," he said as he raised his arm and offered a handshake.

"Same goes with you; be careful on your mission. I wish you luck," Kizeler stated, and he grabbed the man’s hand.

The next second, the group resumed their walks into the woods. Kizeler watched their backs as they disappeared into the bush when Zeno spoke all of a sudden.

"They’re all going to die," he blurted out while his eyes were still closed.

Upon hearing him, Kizeler knitted his brows and looked at the demon.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Since we arrived at this forest, I’ve detected only one wolf in this place, and its strength is more than those humans could handle," Zeno replied.

Then he opened his eyes and stared in the direction in which the group of mercenaries went.

’Now, I’m curious how such a monster is still alive, knowing that it is in a place surrounded by greedy humans,’ he thought.

. . . . .

"Aryx, that man..." Anj paused for a moment as he looked at the man walking beside her.

"I know! He’s lying. There’s no way an Emerald-class could kill those many bears," Aryx replied.

"But I can’t say the same thing about the other man," he added.

"What do you mean?" Asked the man with the arrows.

"I don’t know, but I felt sudden chills the moment I glanced at him, as if all my warning cells were yelling danger," Aryx tried to explain while shaking his head.

The next second, as their group felt a sudden gust of wind, they halted their steps and observed the surroundings.

"Be ready; it’s not a normal wind," the man holding a staff warned his comrades.

They readied their weapons while the mage kneeled on the snow to cast a defensive buff in case something unpleasant happened.

"Light that’s brighter than any darkness, heed thy call and grant this crest; vanish thy chaos that dwells; layers of protection enough to repel," the woman chanted, and all of them were covered in an instant with gleaming armor made of light.

However, the gust of wind turned even fiercer and sharper. Without the mage’s spell, they would be filled with cuts in just a matter of time.

"I can’t see even a silhouette of it," Aryx muttered as he raised the scimitar in front of him.

"Same with me," the healer reaffirmed, and the rest of the group followed.

’This is atrocious,’ Aryx thought.

He was focusing his mind to locate the monster’s presence, but it was moving so fast that it appeared invisible from their perspective.

The next second, a wind blade was hurled in their direction, which caused them to be separated from each other.

"Froy, protect Anj and Merv!" Aryx shouted, giving instructions to the other fighter who acted as the tank of their party.

"Leave it on me," Froy answered with a yell and ran towards the mage.

Meanwhile, Aryx was still glancing around him while gritting his teeth.

’Think, Aryx, think!’ he thought.

He contemplated for a few seconds before he began to run towards the area with denser trees.

"Come with me!" Aryx ordered.

Upon hearing his command, the group followed him without an ounce of hesitation, and as soon as they entered the area with compacted trees, the hurling wind came to a halt, and the presence of the monster they felt earlier vanished along with it.

"What is that?" Anj asked, and there was a slight tinge of fear in her voice.

However, no one among her comrades could provide her with the answer to satisfy her curiosity. Even Aryx remained staring somewhere with knitted brows.

’It stopped attacking... But why?’ He asked inside his thoughts.

His original plan was to use the aligned trees as a cover so they could focus their gaze in front of them. However, he couldn’t understand why the monster put a stop to its attack.

Little did he know, the real reason behind the creature’s strange behavior was the very man that they saw earlier, the demon, who was watching the entire happenings inside the forest.

. . . . .

"Then we should tell them!" Kizeler exclaimed and was about to follow them when the demon spoke again.

"Do you really think they will believe an unknown person they just met along the way?" He asked.

"But I can’t lea-," Kizeler fretted, but his sentence was cut short when the demon interrupted him from speaking.

"Then you can go and die with them," Zeno uttered as he leaped down from the tree.

"That’s not a normal direwolf," he added.

Afterward, he started to walk in the direction where the group of mercenaries went.

"Where are you going?" Kizeler asked.

He felt confused upon hearing Zeno’s words, then saw him walk on the path that the mercenaries traversed. However, upon hearing no reply from the demon, he began to follow him.

"Are you going to help them?" He asked once more.

"Why would I?" Zeno replied, answering back with a question to his companion.

"I’m just interested in the beast, nothing more," he said.

Kizeler didn’t respond any further; he just kept walking behind the demon, but as the man halted his steps, he asked. "Why?"

"It ran away," Zeno said, clicking his tongue.

. . . . .