8 When Demons be attackin, I be hidin.

Gellard and I walked inside the dimly lit cave as I hold a fireball in hand in case something attacks us by surprise. Suddenly, I heard loud fast-moving footsteps in front of us as a dozen of gnolls are charging at us with their spears and axes in hand, two gnoll shamans stayed at the back preparing lightning bolts as their brethren charged forward.

I threw my fireball to the gnoll leading the charge as the ball burned its head. I stepped back as I closed my eyes and weaved my hands in the air as I try to perform a spell. Magical energy courses through my veins as they are directed to my fingers.

'I haven't completely comprehended this spell yet, but it's worth a try! Right now it's do or die!'

I placed my hands in front of my chest as if I'm holding a ball. Then, I forcefully pushed my hands forward as I shouted the spell.

"Freeze!"

A wind of frost attacked the charging gnolls, freezing them in place.

'It worked!'

Gellard dashed at the frozen gnolls, easily chopping their heads off with his sword. The gnoll shamans at the back grew angry as they threw lightning bolts towards Gellard. Gellard evaded the lightning bolts by taking cover behind the frozen gnolls bodies.

I summoned a bunch of Arcane Missiles and directed them to the gnoll shamans. The gnoll shamans were easily defeated as a barrage of missiles penetrated their bodies while they were in the middle of performing lightning bolt spells.

"Phew~ Well that was a lot easier than I expected. What was that thing that you did earlier? It froze most of them."

"It was a new spell that I'm learning. I picked it up from the library yesterday, I didn't expect it would be that powerful even though I'm not yet halfway done in comprehending the whole spell."

Whistle~

"Well, whatever that was, It made our job easier."

Gellard and I began looting the bodies and the cave. Discovering a few pieces of coin and useful materials such as animal skin, woolen cloth, and a glowing dark blue gem, which is itself a mystery as I have never seen a glowing dark blue gem that is the size of a fist. Maybe the books from the library can give me information about the mysterious gem.

"What's that?" Gellard said as he walked closer to me.

"It's something that I found on one of the pouches of the shamans, I have no idea what it is."

"Hmm… I have never seen one of these, it must be rare."

"It could be. Well, I'll just look for answers in the library." I remarked.

I placed the gem inside my storage ring for safekeeping, I then scanned around the cave for anything else that has something of value. I checked every nook and cranny of the cave but found nothing that is useful. I eventually gave up and walked to where Gellard is, looting the body of a dead gnoll.

"Found anything?" I asked.

"Nothing of notable value, just a few coins that they have probably stolen from dead adventurers. How about on your side, found anything?"

"Nothing, the cave is empty, except for some bones and meat that's scattered everywhere."

"I guess we're done here then."

Gellard went ahead and chopped off the heads of the gnolls for evidence. The gnoll heads were then stored inside of his own personal storage ring, I asked where he got it, then he replied to me that it was given to him by his deceased father as a memento, even his sword came from his father. What a thoughtful dad Gellard's father must have been.

We went out of the cave as we ventured back to where we left the horses, and I tell you this, yes, my legs were killing me! We encountered a few wild animals on the way such as the usual wolves and a rare Web Spider. The spider was as big as a wolf, but we had no trouble fighting it for it got cooked to death with my fireball. We then eventually arrived at our destination, and I'm glad the horses were still there, if they ran away or got stolen by somebody, imagine the dread of walking all the way to Car-antor. My legs would become as soft as jelly��

We untied the leashes of the horses and rode them back to Car-antor. We arrived at the small village and decided to rest there since the sky is dimming, it's most likely almost evening and we'll likely not make it back in time. The village elder was very accommodating to us, he provided us beds and food for the night. The next morning we continued our journey back to the town of Car-antor, we bade farewell to the village elder and thanked him for his hospitality, on the way, we passed by the river and the forest of trees without trouble.

We eventually arrived at the town and went to the Adventurers Guild to report the completion of our current task. We arrived at the Guild's entrance and noticed that it was unusually quiet, very so. We then entered inside and found out it was quite deserted. There were a few adventurers here and there which can be counted by hand, something must have occurred… This is very unusual for the Guild Hall is always populated by a lot of adventurers may it be day or night.

We approached the receptionist table to get our reward for the mission and also to ask about the current emptiness of the guild.

"Ah, Noel! You two are back."

"Yeah, we're back. We've completed our mission, so here we are."

"That's good then! If you have the evidence that you have indeed completed your mission, please do show the proof.."

"Alright. I have 12 Gnoll heads, we did kill other Gnolls when we were looking for the Gnoll's hideout but I didn't bring their heads with me." Gellard commented.

"That's alright Gellard since Noel said that you guys have completed your mission, which I'm sure you did." Mirilia replied.

Gellard nodded at her response and proceeded to take out the Gnoll heads. Mirilia saw the amount of Gnoll heads and confirms the mission's completion, she then levitated the head and threw them on the giant fireplace behind her.

"I have confirmed that you have cleared out the Gnolls from Taumon mountain. Here is the reward from the mission. Five gold coins, and 400 reputation points."

"*whiste~* That's more gold than the Orcs I killed a few days ago. But on the mission contract, it only had a reward of two gold coins, why is it five now?" Said Gellard.

"Well, the man who commissioned the mission came back yesterday and increased the reward to five gold coins. You two sure are lucky though, if you have taken the mission any sooner, you'll only get two gold coins as a reward."

"Oh… Well, I guess we have good luck." I remarked.

"By the way, Mirilia, why is the guild quite deserted today?" I asked.

"Oh! I forgot! Yesterday a parchment came from the capital, its contents said that the King is recruiting any able-bodied men and women for the military. It also seems urgent."

"The King is recruiting people for the military? What for? Is there gonna be a war?" Said Gellard.

"I'm not sure. I don't know the exact details, but I heard rumors that the king is raising the number of the kingdom's military to aid the kingdom of Eylon, it was said that a giant dark portal appeared near the kingdom's capital and an army of demons emerged from it, attacking the capital and the whole kingdom." Said Mirilia.

"What! A-an army of demons?!" I said with shock.

I pondered for a moment upon hearing the news.

'A demon army… This isn't good.'

"A demon army huh. Hey, Noel, let's go enlist at the kingdom's military." Said Gellard.

"W-wa-what?! Are you crazy?! If we join the military, we'll be fighting those demons! Fighting the demons might sound cool, but they are highly dangerous! In the history books, it is said that the Legion of Demons has conquered two continents before and those continents were ravaged! Plus, even if I wanted to join, I doubt I'd last long."

"Are you scared?"

"Who's not scared?! We're talking about joining the military to fight the demons!"

"Even if you are, we got each other's backs! This is the perfect opportunity for us to get stronger, Noel! Also, the continent of Arseila needs us! We have to fight back the demons if we don't want everything to be destroyed." Said Gellard.

I looked down and pondered about what Gellard said.

' If ever the Demons do conquer the whole continent… Then there's no future for us, we will all die… But should I really join the army?'

---End---