"Wha?"Erin jumped from her sleep, her eyes widening. She had a feeling that she lost something. A bad premonition came over her.
"What"s wrong, Erin?" Anna and Lyse looked at her with half-closed eyes. That yelp from Erin woke them as well.
"I"m not sure. I feel like I have lost something, but I don"t know what." Erin tried really hard to think about what was wrong with her. She looked around the shelter, but couldn"t think of anything.
"I have a feeling that something bad has happened." She murmured, still deep in her thoughts.
Anna and Lyse looked at one another. Confusion was clearly shown in their eyes.
"Let"s go out, for now, and check the surroundings. You have to trust your instincts." Anna said and stood up.
Erin nodded and stood up as well. The girls changed their clothes and went outside. Seth was still sitting by the side of the campfire. Erin looked around, but couldn"t find anything strange. She looked at Richard"s shelter and her heart skipped a beat. She couldn"t sense his presence!
"Where is Richard?" Erin was now a bit panicked. Even when Richard hid, she could still feel his presence. Now she couldn"t feel anything. It was like he had disappeared.
"He went out. it seems like there were enemies after us," Seth answered, scratching his head. He was a bit confused about why the girls were out at this hour.
"I can"t feel his presence!" Erin"s words made Anna alarmed. If Richard was out against enemies and Erin couldn"t feel his presence, that meant they were in trouble.
"Prepare yourself, there might be enemies coming soon."
"What?" The others looked at Anna, a bit confused. Wasn"t Richard out to kill them? Erin"s bad premonition increased after Anna"s words. If she couldn"t feel Richard anymore, didn"t that mean... She shook her head. That wasn"t possible. He was a Demon Lord. There was no way anyone could hurt him. Her heartbeat increased and her hands trembled. She took a deep breath to control her emotions.
"S-so we will f-fight now?" Lyse asked. She closed her eyes and a ripple of cold air came from her body, going in every direction. That was a detection spell. The problem was that this was a forest, so her spell wasn"t really effective here. The cold air was blocked by the trees. She frowned slightly and waved her hand. A second ripple appeared and spread out. This time it was more flexible and the air surrounded the trees as well.
That magic spell not only could detect the enemies but their powers and race as well. After a while, Lyse"s eyes shot open. She looked at the east and gulped.
"R-run!"
Her body trembled. It was clear that she detected something that scared her.
"What"s wrong?" Erin became even more uneasy. She was still trying to connect to Richard.
"Humans. T-they are strong. One m-magician and the other are warriors. I am not s-sure how many, the m-magician blocked my spell before I c-can find out more."
"What about Richard?" Erin was looking with pleading eyes at Lyse. She was already used to Richard always being near her. She remembered the last time when he wasn"t. Her whole body shivered. That battle with the werewolves was hard to forget. Her body jolted as someone hugged her from behind.
"Calm down, Erin. Our Lord is fine." Anna"s whisper came next to her ear. She finally relaxed a bit, but in the next moment, she forcefully separated herself from Anna.
"Who cares about him?"
Her face was a bit red from embarra.s.sment. Why was she so worried about him? She wanted to deny it, but what came next from her mouth surprised even her.
"We should find him."
Anna wasn"t sure how to react to this. Should she laugh or not? Now wasn"t the time for this. She looked at the eastern direction and started to think about what to do. Should they look for Richard or run? Or maybe fight with the humans here? But Lyse said they were strong. That meant their chances weren"t big.
In the next moment, everyone felt strong auras coming from the east. The auras were almost suffocating. It was evident that the humans hurried over after Lyse"s detection magic. Everyone gulped.
"RUN!" Seth was the first to shout out. He turned around and dashed into the forest. The girls looked at each other and started running as well. Those humans were really strong. Especially two of the auras they felt were really intimidating.
Alfred and Henry were leading the knights forward. After the detection spell, they sped up to catch up with the vampire. It was clear to them that they had been discovered.
"Tch, they started running!" Alfred sneered. He could feel their opponents. Even though there were only four of them, they were relatively strong. It wouldn"t be easy to kill them. But they decided to run. His impression of them was now that of cowards. When were the demons so scared to fight?
Henry looked at Alfred but decided to be silent. Their opponents might run now, but that didn"t mean it would be an easy fight. Even more so, they needed to be fast. He wasn"t sure how long they could keep the demon lord sealed. Even though it should be for a few days, they would have to be fast. After all, it would be better if they were far away from him.
"What?" Alfred asked. He sensed Henry"s gaze on him.
"Nothing, I just feel we need to be fast. If we can"t kill them in a day, we"ve to retreat. Or else we might not be able to escape from the Shadow Lord."
Alfred"s face sank. Only thinking about Richard made him shiver. He wasn"t expecting to meet this monster here again. They were far away from the castle after all.
"Alright, if we can"t kill them until dusk, we will retreat." Alfred"s eyes were now glowing. One day was enough time to finish the battle. He sped up even more.
Henry sighed in relief. At least Alfred could see the danger they were in. If they were not fast enough, a disaster would l strike them. He saw Alfred speeding up and his speed increased as well. Now they were fighting against the time. Would they succeed or not? That was the big question at the moment.