Demons Appear

Perhaps, as time passed in later generations, this feeling would gradually settle into calmness, with only occasional extremes that could be restrained.

But Serie was still too young now.

Many of her thoughts were laid bare without any attempt to hide them.

This was somewhat unlike her.

Rhode still preferred the later Little Ancestor—the one whose words grew more extreme by the sentence, yet still performed gentle acts.

"It's fine." Rhode rubbed Serie's little head. "No matter what you want to do, I'll be with you."

Serie shook her little head, her expression displeased. "Don't touch my head!"

This short-lived human was growing more and more presumptuous.

Letting him hold her in the tent before was one thing, but now he dared to casually touch her head whenever he pleased. If this continued, Serie didn't dare imagine what bold moves he might make next.

She had to give him a stern warning.

Though she was somewhat unhappy about Rhode touching her head, Serie had to admit that the anger in her heart had actually eased quite a bit because of it.

Perhaps even if the war truly ended, being able to witness this man invent all kinds of magic would be wonderful too.

The only pity was that his life was far too short.

A mere hundred years would never satisfy her.

A strange feeling arose in her heart for no reason, and Serie couldn't quite name what it was—after all, she had never experienced it before.

Or maybe it was just her imagination.

Serie comforted herself with that thought.

But just then, a sudden change occurred—Rhode felt a sharp pang in his chest.

Because he had slightly modified his early warning spell earlier, once the magic was triggered, his "Great Detection Technique" would activate automatically.

Now, the automatically activated magic array showed dozens of red dots around them, rapidly closing in from all directions.

"Everyone!" Rhode shot to his feet. "Something's coming!"

Luckily, he had expanded the warning range to two hundred meters, giving them ample time to prepare.

Serie instantly entered a combat state, her intangible mana beginning to coalesce. "How many?"

Since Rhode had already deployed his magic array, Serie didn't bother activating her own Detection Magic.

Let him feed her the information—days of unspoken understanding had made Rhode immediately grasp Serie's intent.

"At least thirty, and the number's still growing!" Rhode's voice was deadly serious.

For now, the monsters were concentrated on the east and west sides, but in the next second, all the warning spells on the camp's perimeter were triggered.

"We're surrounded." Rhode's face turned grim in an instant.

Kraft and Som immediately went on alert, quickly closing in on the two.

"No time to pack up. With this many monsters, there's definitely a Demon Race commanding them." Kraft drew his longsword. "Som, protect Rhode!"

Among their group, Rhode was the weakest in combat, and since he was currently maintaining the Detection Magic to provide intel, he naturally needed to be protected in the center.

"Run to the right!"

At Rhode's direction, Serie took the lead. She hadn't gone far before encountering a monster blocking the way, and she fired off Light magic in rapid succession, piercing through them all.

Meanwhile, Kraft swung his longsword, cleaving a lunging monster clean in two.

"Head for Gremir Forest—there are leftover barriers there."

Gremir Forest had once been a gathering place for the fairies, but as the wars of the Mythical era raged on, the fairies left this world. The barriers, however, remained.

These barriers could block monsters from entering, which was a key reason that human tribe had been able to stay in Gremir Forest all this time.

Som, covering the rear, swung his Battle Axe. Under the moonlight, the axe gleamed with a cold light, and every monster that charged was driven back by his strikes.

At the same time, Rhode in the center wasn't idle. While expanding the Detection Magic's range to its limit, he also found time to fire off a few Light Arrows to help finish off stragglers.

The group had already formed a small, well-coordinated team.

As Serie unleashed another high-powered light blast, creating a gap in the monster horde ahead, Rhode seized the opportunity. "Three o'clock—no, northwest. Break through there."

Though a gap had been blown open, the number of monsters was still immense. If they didn't keep attacking, the gap would quickly close.

So Serie's mana erupted once more. A massive pillar of light crashed down, vaporizing dozens of monsters in an instant, and illuminated a dark silhouette on a distant mountain peak.

"That's the Demon Race in control." Sharp-eyed Kraft quickly pointed out.

Rhode looked up. The figure was hidden in the night, its features unclear, but from its shape, it seemed humanoid.

He estimated the distance—about a hundred meters, likely beyond the range of a Light Arrow.

But before Rhode could fire a Light Arrow to test it, the figure vanished.

"Watch out!"

As if to confirm his warning, a bizarrely shaped monster suddenly burst out before them. It opened a mouth like a lamprey's, actually swallowing Serie's magic into its body.

Clearly, this was another monster specialized against mages.

"I'm on it!"

The Dwarf Som raised his Battle Axe and charged forward, slamming it heavily into the monster. The moment the axe struck, blood sprayed everywhere, splattering across Som's armor.

Rhode sensed something wrong and quickly pulled Som back.

At that moment, the armor emitted a puff of white smoke. Just a trace of the blood had already corroded the surface badly.

Good thing he'd pulled him in time—otherwise, Som's armor would have been eaten through even worse.

Blocked by this creature, the group halted in their tracks.

And in the darkness, dozens of crimson eyes flickered to life.

The Demon they'd seen earlier stepped slowly out of the shadows. It was a humanoid creature nearly two meters tall, with sickly gray-white skin and two twisted horns sprouting from its forehead.

"An elf, a dwarf, and... an unknown race. An unusual combination."

The Demon's voice carried no emotional inflection, but for some reason, its gaze locked tightly onto Rhode.

Serie had no intention of exchanging words. She fired a Light Arrow straight at it, but the Demon dodged it with ease.

With a wave of its hand, dozens of monsters lunged out from the darkness.

Serie instantly released a dazzling Halo, reducing the first few charging monsters to ash.

Then she raised her hand again, and a dense volley of Light Arrows rained down like a storm. In response, the Demon cast its own magic—a black barrier that blocked every attack.

This was what made the Demon Race so terrifying.

They could learn magic, martial arts, and other techniques to grow even stronger.

At the same time, Kraft suddenly struck from the flank. The Demon leader dodged hastily but still took a sword wound.

Crimson blood flowed from its side. It wasn't fatal—just a minor injury to the Demon.