The next morning, Arica, Sistina, Emma, and Elly stayed in the forest while the rest of us went towards the village.We left Arica and Sistina there because both of them couldn"t use holy or earth magic. The other reason was that both of them were good at direct frontal attacks and those attacks could be dangerous if you don"t know the enemy"s strength.
Our plan today was to deal with the undead in the village and find out who the enemy we were facing was. If the enemy was strong we were planning to retreat and come back tomorrow with a proper plan.
After we reached the center of the village, we divided ourselves into three teams. Ronald and Nina were on the first team since Ronald could use holy magic to purify the bodies and Nina could use earth magic to bury them. Princesses and Dale were on another team. Dale could use holy magic so he could help in purifying the bodies. The third team was made up of me and Marina. Miss Lilith told me that she was planning to investigate the cause so she wasn"t going to be with us.
Moving the bodies to a proper location would take too much time so we were planning to bury them wherever we find them using earth magic. Even though it was painful to see a place that was a fine village once turn into a graveyard, it was unavoidable.
The village had around 60 houses so we divided 20 houses for each team. Marina purified the bodies while I buried them. Purifying a body consumed a lot of mana compared to burying them so I took over the purifying part too when Marina was taking a break.
The purifying magic was simple since we just had to pa.s.s the holy magic to chase away the evil spirit possessing the body. But pa.s.sing the magic through the whole body consumed a lot of mana.
We helped others after we were done with our part. It was almost evening by the time we finished all the houses.
"Phew, I never thought I would be able to do this," said Nina looking relieved.
"Y-yeah, but at least they can rest in peace now," said Marina in a sad tone.
Dale was looking at the houses around. It must have been hard for him to see the village where he grew in this state.
"Just imagining how things were a month ago makes me want to think all of this a dream," said Dale looking towards the village well.
"I understand it"s hard on you, but you will have to be strong for your family," said Ronald looking towards Dale.
Dale took a deep breath in and replied, "Yes, you are right".
Princess Anna and Princess Eliane were silent, but their faces were clearly saying that they just had the most terrible experience of their life. This was probably their first time seeing a dead body.
"S-shouldn"t Miss Lilith be back by now?" asked Princess Anna breaking her silence. She is usually confident and cheerful but none of those things could be felt in her voice as she said that.
"She said she will be back after finis.h.i.+ng her investigation," I replied since that is what she told me when I asked her what she was planning to do.
"Yes, but what kind of investigation is she doing?" asked Princess Eliane looking towards the direction she headed to.
I wasn"t really sure what she was planning to do so I just replied, "I am not sure".
After around half an hour, Miss Lilith returned. I asked, "How did things go, were you able to find anything?" when I saw her coming.
"Yeah, I think I have a good idea where it is. The miasma here was dense because of all the undead here so it took a while," said Miss Lilith after she came closer.
"Where is it?" asked Princess Anna in a hasty tone.
"It"s right next to us. See for yourself," said Miss Lilith with a smile.
She created a huge fireball in her right hand and went towards the well. She threw the fireball inside the well which ended up creating a blast strong enough to shake the ground.
A cloud of water vapor came outside from the well. Inside the cloud of water vapor, a humanoid shape could be seen. After the vapor disappeared his appearance became clear.
He had four transparent insect-like wings in his back and two black insect-like antennae in his head. Almost half of his face was covered by his long black hair. He was wearing a jet black leather dress and had a displeased look in his face.
By no means, his presence felt normal. It was similar to miss Lilith"s but much much evil. The black aura that was coming out of his body was similar to the lesser demon we once fought but it couldn"t even be compared. This presence was many times superior.
"I didn"t want to appear in front of my food in this weak state. But, I guess I have no choice," he said in a displeased tone.
"Who are you?" asked Ronald taking out his sword from its sheath.
"Who am I you ask? I am the one who devoured an entire city in a single night. I destroyed many countries by spreading diseases and devoured millions of souls. Who am I you ask? There were millions of tales about me. People used to cower in fear whenever they heard my name. Have I already been forgotten?" he said in an angry tone. The black aura around him became even denser as he was saying that.
"HA! Don"t joke around. My father killed the demon that you are talking about hundreds of years ago. You dare to call yourself an Archdemon, you are nothing more than a weak imposter," replied Miss Lilith in an angry tone.
"Ho! I sensed something similar to black from you. You are probably one of his children whom he is so proud of. Let me tell you something, Black couldn"t kill me. n.o.body can kill me since I am immortal," he said looking towards Miss Lilith.
"I don"t believe you. You are strong but not strong enough to call yourself an Archdemon," said Miss Lilith releasing her dark aura.
"That is because some idiots released my seal in a place like this. I haven"t eaten enough souls yet, but even in this state I am more than a match for you," said the demon. A burning rage could be felt in his voice.
Both of them had such a powerful presence that it felt like we would just get on the way if we try to a.s.sist Miss Lilith. Ronald also sensed that which is why he told us to step back and observe the battle for now.
Next Chapter: True Dragon vs Archdemon