The path was rugged as if not many people walked from there no more, and that was the path that would lead to the demon. Idris moved in front while Scarlett and Livia were behind him. As they slowly walked, Livia said," We will complete this quickly, this place is so monotonous, i want to leave from here as soon as possible."
And she was right, the place looked much sadder than the place they have just walked through, both were similar in a lot of ways. They both were green, trees all around, with small patches of flower here and there. But unlike before, here the plants were much darker shade of green, with weird shaped leaves, even the grass have looked better if it was brown. There were flowers but unlike there colourful counterpart, they were grayer in colour, even their shape looked dreadful.
"Yeah, i would be so, cause of the demon that resides here. Unlike, us humans who have neutral mana, the demons have negative one. Hence, our mana has no effect on the environment around us but on the otherhand the demonic mana corrupts the land, this is the effect of it. That is why we have to stop it as soon as possible, it may even take centuries to decorrupt these lands", answered Idris.
He still was feeling something wrong about what was happening all around him, there was a sense of immediate danger."why am i getting goosebumps?", he thought. But still kept up the pace, he had promised the villagers to kill that monster and he would do so. The villagers were being made to give their kids for the demon to eat them, this was the most disgusting things that he had ever heard. How could someone kill anyone, who was close to them. For he was the hero, they begged him and he had a job, he would kill whatever was there. So no more kids have to be killed.
"How long will it take?", Scarlett asked.
"Not more than 10 minutes, I think", answered Livia.
"This place is in such a bad condition, what do you think is here?", Livia asked Idris in a fearful tone.
"No need to worry, whatever is here, we are quiet enough to get it done. It is probably that it has been here for so long that, it has corrupted this land to such an extent", answered Idris.
"Then, why didn't anyone before us kill the monster?", asked Livia.
"Probably, cause of the villagers. They must have never asked for help because of their fears. Only when I came here, they got the courage", answered Idris.
"That demon must be a smart one", Scarlett added.
"Yeah."
In all this talking they were already near the base of the demon. It was an old abandoned mineshaft. The village a few hundred years ago had big iron mines. But now of them exist, the village then went to ruin. Only a few people lived here now and then another tragedy that the demon chose them as his next target.
Now he lived in this mineshaft waiting for his next target.
"I will check it out, you two stand in the back, ready to provide support", ordered Idris.
"Yeah!!", they answered.
Saying so he went to the entrance of the shaft, getting near he took out his spear. The glow of the spear luminated the whole cave, there was nothing shady about the entrance, though it looked rusty and deteriorating still it was safe.
He slowly went in, signalling them to also follow him. They all slowly stepped into the cavern, he could hear the sounds of water dripping down. As they walked they came across an open cavity inside. The roof was covered in ice, which slowly melted making a dripping sound. But what was actually disgusting was the number of human bones lying all around them. They were small mostly of little children.
"What do we have here, you are not what I asked for", said a voice. For a moment even Idris stood frozen, the man was standing behind him," I didn't even notice him", he thought.
Suddenly he jumped feet away, the girls did the same on the other side. Now in front of them was the monster, a demon, a demon who could talk. They had seen a lot of demons but being this intelligent was a new one for them.
"Maybe I have already eaten all the kids, can't you guys just make new ones, it's just that easy, but no you have to make me angry. Maybe for now you three would do", he said. As a bit of black blood came out of his mouth, he looked like a normal man but if his body was too elongated, he had a greyish skin, his body was all skin and bones and a single horn protruded from his head. He stood there menacingly.
That was until, Idris powered up his spear while Livia took out her bow, looking at that he started laughing.
"Oh is it so, you are not the dinner. You are here to kill me, the legendary heroes!!!", he screamed.
"Yes, I am. I will kill you and leave not even a single trace of your existence. I will make sure of that," said Idris as he threw his spear with great speed. On the other hand, Livia did the same. But to their disbelief, he graved both of them, crushing them and turning them back into mana.
"Maybe these weak attacks would have worked on some weaker demons but not me," the demon said.
Listening to his Idris went on a rage, moving quickly close to him and trying to hit him with the spear, but the demon was quick, he swiftly punched him.
"Listen to me, 'cause I am going to tell you something important", said the demon," there is a hierarchy in demon kind, on top is the demon king, then are the 7 elite demons and then are the higher demons. You have been fighting weak demons till now, boosting your ego that you will kill the demon king but today who stands in front of you is a higher demon. You are nothing in front of me so what makes you think you can kill the demon king, believe me, you are not the hero!!!".