"Demon General?"
Helena, who had initially appeared calm, suddenly widened her eyes, her complexion turning pale, and she tightened her grip on the fan she always carried everywhere.
"Aren't those creatures just a myth? They only exist in fairy tales. How could such a powerful being exist in this world?"
Cayn snorted. "This is not the world you lived in before."
Helena's voice trembled as she asked. "W-what do you mean? Doesn't encountering a Demon General mean challenging death? Why has this journey suddenly become so terrifying? Isn't this just a journey to meet the Dragon?"
Cayn gave Helena an unpleasant look. "Do you think this journey is just for fun? Ever since the word 'Dragon' became involved in an event, didn't that already mark a terrifying beginning?"
Helena sank her neck, feeling horrified by the aura Cayn was emitting.
"Just hearing the words 'Demon General' makes you tremble. There is an even greater threat than a Demon General." -Cayn.
Zephyr asked. "What threat is greater than a Demon General?"
Cayn answered. "A threat that even the Singing Witch is helpless against."
Cayn turned towards Tsana and saw her expression was blank.
Then, Tsana spoke, "Demon General? It doesn't sound unfamiliar to my ears."
"C-can we just go back?" Rolan whispered nervously.
"Yes! Let's just go back! I don't want to die on this journey!" Helena chimed in, her courage returning after Rolan also spoke. "Besides, who are you actually? How can you know the ins and outs of this forest when the Singing Sorceress herself has never entered here."
"You want to go home?" Cayn raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead, I don't mind if my group shrinks."
Helena widened her eyes, she completely ignored Cayn's answer which didn't answer her question at all. "A-aren't you afraid of death?"
"What is the point of meeting the Dragon anyway? Isn't it better to just hunt monsters. That Dragon is too strong." - Rolan.
Cayn chuckled. "Thank you for the compliment. But we are meeting the Dragon not just to complete a school exam like someone, we have a far more important reason to meet the Dragon."
Helena and Rolan stood in a different position with their backs to the cliff, while Cayn, Tsana, William, and Zephyr stood on the other side with their backs to the forest.
They were split into two factions: one wanting to return and one wanting to meet the Dragon.
"Alright! Then we have decided to return! We'll see who stays alive, those who return or those who continue this journey." - Helena.
Cayn turned to Tsana. "What do you think, Singing Sorceress?"
Tsana nodded. "If that's what they want, then it's up to them."
"Very well, then this is where we part ways."
William, Zephyr, Tsana, and Cayn turned one by one and stepped into the forest.
Cayn, the last one, turned without looking at the two teenagers and a strange smile appeared on his half-masked face. "Good luck."
★★★
A few hours later.
"Aaaaahh!!" - Rolan.
"Help usss!" - Helena.
"Whoaa!" - Rolan.
Rolan and Helena ran fast, avoiding the creature chasing them from behind.
"It's a Demon General! Why did we have to meet it?!" - Rolan.
"I don't know! This is all your fault!" - Helena.
"Huh? Why me?" - Rolan.
A few hours ago after they separated from Tsana's group.
Helena stared blankly at the cliff wall. 'Where is the gate?'
She had just flown back to the side of this cliff using her flying magic to return to the outside world, but what she found was that the gate was no longer there, leaving only the steep cliff face.
"WHAT THE!!!" Helena screamed.
Rolan, who was still at the bottom of the cliff, heard Helena's scream.
"What's wrong? How is it there?" Rolan asked.
There was no answer from Helena.
Rolan thought that Helena had already passed through the gate, and shouted again. "O-oooiii!! Did you pass the gate without me? Don't leave me alone here! You know I'm afraid of heights, right?!! So please take me with your flying magic!!!"
Again, there was no answer from Helena.
Rolan became more and more panicked.
Was he really left alone here?
*Rustle*
*Rustle*
The sound of bushes rubbing together was heard from the direction of the forest behind Rolan.
He thought it was Tsana's group returning here and deciding not to meet the Dragon. "I knew all of you would come back. No way you'd dare face death-"
Rolan stopped rambling when he saw that the one approaching was not Tsana's group. Instead, it was a creature he had never seen before.
The creature had a body the size of a bull, and its entire body was purple. Its form was a half-horsea, half-human, with the upper body being a burly man with a buffalo head and horns, while the lower body was a horse with 4 legs.
Rolan had read the characteristics of this creature in a fairy tale book during his spare time at the academy.
One of the things he had read was about Demon General Kylos, one of the 5 very powerful Demon Generals. He was the highest evolution of the monster Bufequss, a monster with a half-buffalo and half-horse body.
But everyone believed that this creature was only a myth often told in fairy tales. But...
How could such a creature now stand before him?!!
Rolan stammered. "W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-wh-wh-wh-wha-a-a-a-t-t-t-t-is-is-is-that-t-t-t-"
Kylos raised the front part of his body and let out a sound like a horse's whinny. His right hand stretched into the air, and suddenly a dark purple spear appeared in his palm. The spear was 2 meters long and had a black magical energy surrounding it.
"Die, you filthy humans!" Kylos's heavy and hoarse voice was heard, before he swung his spear to throw it towards Rolan.
The spear shot quickly towards Rolan.
Rolan, whose knees were trembling with fear, found it very difficult to move.
'I must avoid that spear. Otherwise, it will pierce my heart and I will die instantly.'
Rolan tried to gather his resolve.
'Come on, dodge!'
Just when the spear was about to hit Rolan, Rolan managed to avoid the spear by jumping 6 meters away from his original spot.
Meanwhile, the spear struck the cliff wall and caused a landslide. The area was filled with flying yellow dust, obscuring the view.
Suddenly Rolan felt his wrist gripped by someone. "Waaaa!! Let me go- hmpph hmpph."
"Ssshhtt, don't shout, or that creature will hear you! Right now, the creature's vision is obstructed by the dust, we have to escape immediately."
It turned out to be Helena.
Rolan removed Helena's hand that was covering his mouth, then asked in a whisper. "Didn't you pass the gate? Why did you come back here? Did you come to pick me up?"
"The gate is gone."
Rolan was silent. "What?"
Helena sighed. "The gate is gone, so I can't return to the real world. If I could return, I wouldn't bother coming back here to pick you up."
Rolan's eyes widened. "WHAT!! Hmpph Hmpph."
"Shh! You idiot! I told you not to shout!"
Suddenly, they felt something shooting towards them, and quickly both rolled to the side.
Sure enough, the black spear shot towards them again and hit exactly where they had been with a loud boom. Causing the ground hit by the spear to crack and create a deep crater.
"Run!!" Helena said.
Only then did Rolan and Helena run into the forest to escape the creature.
Meanwhile, Demon General Kylos chased them while continuously throwing his black spear at them.
They continued to play a game of chase with the Demon General until now.
Meanwhile, Cayn, Tsana, William, and Zephyr each stood on a branch of the largest, oldest tree and watched the chase scene unfold before their eyes.
Zephyr chewed on an apple he had picked on the way and asked William, who was standing beside him. "Should we help them?"
"Should we help them, My Lord?" This time William asked Cayn, who was on the lower branch.
Cayn looked at Tsana beside him. "Should we help them?"
Zephyr swallowed his apple. "They are very bruised."
William complained to his master. "They are dying."
Cayn said to Tsana. "They are close to death."
Tsana sighed, hearing the ramblings of the three men, then quickly Tsana shot straight towards Kylos, coating her hand with a fiery green magical energy. When she was directly above Kylos, she quickly swung her magic-coated hand and delivered a heavy punch right to the creature's head.
Kylos's body slammed into the ground with a loud thud, creating thick dust.
As the dust thinned out, a sight that Rolan and Helena had never seen before in their lives became visible.
They saw the body of Demon General Kylos lying unconscious in a hole. The hole was generated from the hard impact of Kylos's body due to the heavy punch from Tsana.
Helena and Rolan, whose bodies were already battered, finally dropped themselves to the ground.
Rolan spoke with awe despite still panting. "Truly astonishing power, hah hah, I truly admire you, Singing Witch, hah, please, hah hah, take me as your disciple."
Meanwhile, Helena sat down weakly, also panting, but her reaction was different from Rolan's, which was full of admiration and relief. Helena's reaction looked more nervous and scared. Her pupils trembled with a blank gaze. 'Even with just one punch, she can take down a Demon General. Then how am I supposed to kill her?'
Initially, she wanted to just go back to the real world, forget her father's mission to kill the singing witch, and thought that perhaps the singing witch would die sooner or later in this forest. However, after the gate disappeared and the Demon creature appeared, she had no choice but to stay in this forest.
But, seeing Tsana's power just now, her courage truly dwindled.
After the dust slowly disappeared, suddenly the sound of the ground cracking was heard from the side of Kylos, who was still sprawled in the hole, while Tsana was still standing right above the hole.
Everyone saw the ground beneath Kylos's body begin to crack, and slowly the cracks spread wider.
Kylos, who was initially sprawled, now began to move again. Although blood was coming from his mouth, he still tried to stand up, staggering.
The rocks around him floated, as if gravity made them weightless.
Hylos's sharp eyes stared at Tsana with deep sadness, and his next sentence truly startled Tsana.
"Why-"
"Why have you only arrived now!"