While Saku was watching over the comatose Riku and Edin was dealing with the sewers Desmond had been sent out to the west side of the city where the raging demons where allegedly making a mess. Desmond took along a squad of guards to a.s.sist with these takedowns. When he arrived there was nothing of notice. While there were demons fighting they were all low levels. Desmond sighed as he looked towards the waste of his time thinking to himself.~well, some things never change for the weakest h.e.l.lHunter~ Desmond said to himself just as a thought clicked in his head. While yes Desmond was used to constantly being treated like a tool that only happened with the false leader. This was Saku someone who once trusted Desmond with his life. The outside would never be able to change Saku that much. The guy was way too stubborn. He slowly started to ponder over Saku"s demeanor while back at base. He acted like a big shot which was not Saku either. Normally the guy was more humble unless it involved his father. This also did not include the fact his attention fell on Haru while he talked about the current state of things. He doesn"t believe Haru can handle the generators but didn"t want to call him out in front of everyone.
Desmond turned towards the guards before pointing at one. " you"re in charge while I go handle a h.e.l.lHunter duty. You lead these guys and kill off the stragglers aim for the stronger ones of the groups while they are fighting. They won"t be able to handle your long range and the demon currently challenging them." He said before rushing off towards the East for the power plant.
As he ran towards a.s.sist Haru he started to think about how he ended up here roughly 10 years ago.
Desmond was only 16 but was the leader of the Human Hunters a specialized clan of humans who used specialized arts to fight. These arts were derived from using special traits of each species they came across. It was said their ancestor fought against each type of creature out there to use their power against them. Desmond had been a prodigy back in their homeland before the Demonic Royal Army or the DRA attacked their home. It had happened so quickly, that if Desmond"s father Darius hadn"t sacrificed himself the 100 people Desmond was leading wouldn"t have made it out. Now Desmond was leading these people to a supposed human sanctuary that was protected by high-level demons. He didn"t know if he could trust this but it was his only hope. Since Desmond was the only full-fledged hunter left he put his pledges to protect the encampment while he scouted ahead. Even a pledge could at least handle up to a rank-9 alpha. Which is good since there are 10 different levels of Alpha demons.
Desmond was slipping through a dense dark forest that had small gleams of light from the sky above to give him light. His clan excelled at low light to nearly no light visibility since they focused on hunting demons. So to him, this little bit of light was all he needed to see in the dense forest. He was north of Kantha by at least 150 miles or so. That Going through the forest would shorten their already dire journey. This forest was called Damu held by a Demon Lord Ra.s.shkar, the Serpent Demon. The forest was vast that spread over 15,500 square miles. Having been traveling for a long time through the forest it became more dangerous the more they headed south. The direct path they were taking was going to be a few miles outside of Ra.s.shkar"s supposed castle. The most dangerous part about Damu is the fact that no one really knows where Ra.s.shkar"s castle. Most people who head near this forest follow a predetermined path. This path was created by the demon lord council so that armies could travel through the forest without Ra.s.shkar"s Serpents attacking them.
Desmond had refused this idea because taking that path would add almost a month more of travel to their already stretched thin supplies. If they didn"t find supplies soon this much of a journey without detours is deadly enough. Thankfully Ra.s.shkar kept rage demons at a minimum like most demon lords. That didn"t mean there were any but so far the group had not come across one.
As Desmond stepped forwards he heard a small rustling sound behind him. He turned quickly as he already had his bow in hand. Desmond though proficient in many weapons is, his favorite is the bow. Desmond"s fingers knocked the arrow in place without making a single sound. His body slowly shifted as his eyes scanned the trees for what was making the noise. He noticed something moving just above to his right. He rolled to the side as an arrow flew from his bow.
The serpent demon dove out the tree dodging the arrow holding up a crescent-shaped sword. It slowly slithered along as the upper half of its body was like a lizard man but its bottom a long black snake tail. Like many demons, their ranks are shown by some form or another on their bodies. For serpents, it was the color of their tail black being a mid teir alpha demon. This also meant it had a deadly venom over a neurotoxin. Its blade had a foul odor that gave Desmond the confirmation of this matter.
"What do you wantsssss, Ra.s.sssshkar doesss not take kindly to outsssidersss" said the serpent as it struggled to speak human English.
Most demons lower than mid to low tier alphas have a less likely to learn English. Of the demon alpha population, there is less than 10% that actually can talk to humans without magic. That is because of alpha using lesser demons to handle human issues. They see themselves higher than the human race and see no use to talk to them.
Desmond had never dealt with a serpent demon making his fingers twitch as he had an arrow trained on the demon. He took a moment to mull over his question before bowing his head lightly. "I am Desmond chief of the Hunter clan. I seek an audience with the great lord Ra.s.shkar." he said as he slowly lowered his bow.
Before the creature could speak the sound of more trees being shifted about became clear. Desmond realized he had been surrounded a lot longer then he had thought. A blood red tail lowered causing the black tail to lay his entire body to the ground placing his face into the dirt. Desmond quickly looked down at the ground to avoid looking up the tail.
"Ich lan coris torag Huma, Ig Ra.s.shkar nos varkos merda. Desmond vast nota resssh coo." said the voice that echoed a moment before the black tail spoke again. "He sssaid he ha.s.sss no hate for humansssss. He is Ra.s.sssshkar king of sssserpentssss. He grantsss you hisss ear."
Desmond nodded softly before speaking "we mean no disrespect Lord Ra.s.shkar. We simply are trying to get away from the DRA before it find and kills the last of my clan. We only went off the path of your forest because if we followed the path we would die of starvation before we could arrive at the city of Kantha. We are already low on supplies but we respect that this forest is yours. We do not burn your trees nor do we hunt your food. We simply want to pa.s.s and should we die in your forest we ask to let us return to the earth." said Desmond as he tried his best to emulate his father.
the black tail lifted up to hear the whispers of Ra.s.shkar keeping its eyes shut as to not anger him. After a moment of listening the black tail slowly lowers himself back down to look at Desmond. His eyes were focused on him as if to look into his soul. "Huntersss in lord"sss foressst is enough of a disssgrace and sssooo you are graced with the glory of walking freely through the foresssst. Still Ra.s.ssshkar ha.s.ss offered you a deal. Look upon the lord"sss face and sssshould you not react. Your people will be grant food and water." said the black tail as its tail flicked across the ground showing its held back rage at the moment.
Desmond nodded before slowly lifting his head to follow the blood red tail of Ra.s.shkar. He noticed the upper half was very concealed but the moment he locked eyes he knew. He was looking at a woman serpent. His eyes locked firm as he tried to not react to the woman. Many who know serpents knew they were male alpha dominate. The fact they followed a woman as their demon lord made this an even more dangerous situtation.
"Lady Ra.s.shkar my apologies for a.s.suming otherwise. Knowing your peoples customs I made a foolish error of ....choice...uh oh judgement. I thank you for your wisdom and grace to allow my people help." Desmond said struggling to sound as regal and professional as possible.
"Young Desmond you are not a leader are you? Your words and posture tells me your nervous. Your eyes focused and determined to do what is needed for your people. Even as so much as to place yourself so far out here. You should surrender your people at the gate of Kantha and return here. I always looking for new things to learn. Your hunters are considered the strongest clan of humans. Sadly no match for the DRA. While it was decreed that we to turn you over to them at first sight. I choose to let you travel and see what kind of people you really are. Banes of the demon bloods or humans struggling to survive. Your people are both knowledgeble and valuable so asking you to join me is understandable....Alas that look in your eyes tell me you won"t abandon your people for any reason regardless if you cannot lead them," said Ra.s.shkar causing many of the serpents around them to hiss with disgust for Desmond.
Desmond shook his head lightly before responding. "I am no leader and I am saint to say the least. Still I must lead them to Kantha then maybe I will make my choice. I cannot make promises I may never be able to keep." said Desmond before he turned to leave with the cart of supplies that was brought to him as they talked.
"Honorable and n.o.ble choice young one. I apologize but seems no all of my children agree with my choice. Many DRA elites have been informed of your people"s location. I cannot a.s.sist you but all that I have given you is as much as I can offer. you better go save your people young hero this cart will not move and inch as I will grace it with my gaze." said Ra.s.shkar with her eyes moving from Desmond to the cart.
Desmond knew at that moment he had to act. He quickly hid away his bow before going into a full sprint to reach his people in time....