Chapter 114

Everyone reached and went into Pickham and both Eri and Lily immediately felt the difference between this town and the one they visited before, this place was definitely run-down and the atmosphere around here was very solemn but what was more noticeable to both of them was the ever-present feeling that they were being watched.

So for the first time since the girls started their little adventure, they didn't take off running all over the place and instead stayed close by to Harry and Jessica who smiled in approval at the fact that the girls were being extra careful within this town.

It wasn't a surprise to both adults in the party of four after all Pickham was a town of vagabonds, drunks, and thieves, this town was a haven for gambling and contraband, and if you're not careful around here you might find yourself waking up outside the town buck ass naked and defenseless.

It was best to always be alert in this town lest you find yourself in a predicament something both Eri and Lily instinctively knew and so the group of four walked around, first Harry and Jessica wanted to head to the bar up north of the town and ask about Yangus and Red.

The girls walked ahead of the group and as soon as they came about an arch leading to a street a big muscular man got in their way and loudly spoke to the group "This is my patch, you wanna come through 'ere, ya pay me so dosh! 10 gold coins in fact!".

Lily frowned at the man while Eri tilted her head, she then turned her head towards her daddy and Harry just shrugged letting her know that he was leaving it up to her, Eri then turned her head back to the very muscular man and then walked up to him.

The muscular man tense up not expecting a small little girl to actually approach him but he then thought she was going to give him the coin especially since Eri reach out with her hand towards him.

But instead of giving the muscular man gold coins, Eri flicked him in the stomach, and to the surprise of everyone watching this going on the muscular man was sent flying back at high speed until he crashed against the wall at the far end of the street.

The poor muscular man groaned in pain and then fell down to the ground from the crater his body created when it collided with the wall behind him, the muscular man just twitched and groaned in pain while being on the floor face down.

Eri then sweetly smiled and everyone watching her began to nervously sweat and vow not to get in the way of the very scary and powerful little girl, Lily grinned in amusement finding the whole thing hilarious while Harry chuckled and Jessica just shook her head in amusement.

After that whole ordeal the group then immediately walked down the street and headed to the bar at the end of it, it didn't take long to reach it and all of them ignored the groaning muscular man as they walked past him.

Once inside the bar, Harry went to speak with the bartender while Eri, Lily, and Jessica waited by the door not wanting to go inside such a shady place especially when everyone inside the bar was staring at them.

It didn't take long for Harry to come back and Jessica immediately began to ask him how it went "Did he know anything?".

Harry shook his head "Not really, other than Yangus stopping by for a barrel of beer about a week ago he hadn't heard anything from him or Red since then but he did tell me to ask Dodgy Dave since they have been doing business with him lately".

Jessica nodded and hummed "Dodgy Dave huh? That means we have to go inside his little lair by the casino".

Harry nodded but then he felt someone pull on his sleeve making him turn towards Lily who looked at him in the eyes "Papa Harry what's a casino?".

Harry tilted his head and then hummed for a few moments before deciding to answer Lily's question "A casino is a place where one goes to gamble money in some games however people tend to get lost in those games and end up losing a lot of money".

Lily nodded "Are the games fun?".

Harry looked up in thought "I've never been particularly good at them so I hardly ever played games of chance, my friend Naruto is very lucky so he used to gamble once in a while and get a lot of money, Angelo is very good at card games too but honestly I don't see how those games are any fun but that's my opinion anyways".

Lily tilted her head and Jessica grinned "Are you curious Lily?".

Lily turn her head towards Jessica and nodded "Yeah, Mom and Dad went to a place called Baccarat once, Mom said that she and Dad spent time playing in the casino so I was wondering if it was fun".

Jessica nodded in understanding while Harry gave Lily and head pat "Well do you want to give it a try?".

Lily looked up at Harry and brightly smiled "Can we? I just want to try them and see if they're fun!".

Harry nodded "Sure, Jessica can take you there while I go talk to Dodgy Dave, how does that sound?".

Lily cheered and then hugged Eri who also cheered, Harry chuckled and then turned his head towards Jessica who smiled and nodded at him, it was for the best that Lily and Eri didn't go to Dodgy Dave's place since it's not exactly a place for children so they might as well have some fun at the casino.

And so the party of four headed towards the right side of Pickham and headed towards the Casino, once there Harry gave a bag of gold to Jessica and the girls who immediately ran inside the casino.

Now by himself Harry headed towards the secret location of Dodgy Dave's trade and went inside, the place hasn't changed and neither had the people inside, all of them thieves and shady individuals.

But Harry ignored them and immediately headed to where Dodgy Dave stood, this man is a tall and muscular man and as soon as he saw Harry he grinned at him "Well if it isn't the hero 'Arry Potter, what can I do for ya?".

Harry sighed and shook his head "Dave it's good to see you're doing well, I came for some information that you might know".

Dave tilted his head "Alright, I'm betting you're looking for Yangus and that pretty little bird Red aren't ya?".

Harry nodded and took out a gold bar from his inventory already knowing that information was expensive here and so he passed it to Dave who took it with a grin on his face "Ah good doing business with ya 'Arry... Yangus and Red came by here for information as well, rumors really but lately there's been a wave and air of evil coming from them Dark Ruins, not sure why but Red and Yangus looked mighty concerned bout those rumors and ran off to investigate, something about confirming whether the ruins were destroyed or not before calling the Guv".

Harry frowned {The Dark Ruins?... That goddess-forsaken place should have collapsed after our battle against Dholmagus... shit I hope Yangus and Red are okay}.

Harry nodded to Dave "Thanks Dave, I'll be leaving now, don't get into too much trouble and if you do at least don't get caught".

Dodgy Dave guffawed "Mate I make it my business not to get caught hahaha".

Harry grinned and then left Dodgy Dave's place and went outside but a worried expression marred his face, the Dark Ruins and the islands where they're located are filled with very powerful undead and demon-type monsters.

That place is a horrid island filled with darkness and the ground is poisoned to the point that nothing grows there, it is a completely desolate place and one not many would dare to go into unprepared which is why he's worried about Yangus and Red.

As Harry walked towards the casino he couldn't help to dread the place, he knew it was absurd to do so now that he was multiple times more powerful than the first time he went there but the place truly was very hard to forget and it had left an impression on not only him but Hiro, Jessica, Yangus and Angelo as well.

Which is why he was surprised Yangus went there, that in itself is proof that Yangus truly believed something bad was happening there, otherwise you wouldn't catch him going there if his life depended on it.

{Dave said that they came a week ago so at best they should have been there two days, three tops so we have to hurry, if something like what happened in the Waterfall Cave is happening there then they might not be fully prepared for it}.

Harry reached the casino and went inside only to stop and watched as Jessica gaped a Lily who was sitting in front of a slot machine and being buried in coins while Eri was happily cheering.

Harry raised an eyebrow and walked up to the girls, Jessica noticed the look on his face and immediately knew something serious had happened but Harry shook his head letting her know that they will speak of it in a bit.

Mean Lily noticed her Godfather and brightly smiled "Papa Harry! Look I won with my first coin~ hehe".

Harry raised an eyebrow "Your first coin? Wow, that's actually a little scary Lily" Harry chuckled in amusement.

Jessica smiled and shook her head in disbelieve "I have never seen anything like it before, first we tried playing bingo but we weren't very lucky but as soon as Lily sat in front of the slot machine, put a coin in, and pull the lever she hits the jackpot!".

Harry smiled and with a wave of his hand he lifts all the coins and then takes out an enchanted bag from his inventory and puts all the coins inside, afterward he hands them to Lily who smiled at him and ran with Eri to the Exchange counter to see what they can get.

Meanwhile, Harry and Jessica decided to talk, Jessica stared into Harry's eyes and saw the worry in them "I take that Dodgy Dave gave you some bad news".

Harry sighed and nodded "More or less... Yangus and Red went to the Dark Ruin to investigate some rumors".

Jessica's eyes widen in surprise and concern "The Dark Ruins?! Didn't it collapse after we killed Dholmagus? and why would Yangus and Red go to that goddess-forsaken place?".

Harry frowned and looked down "That's the thing, apparently the rumors Yangus and Red went to investigate were about some kind of dark and evil wave coming from it... I remember all we saw that day was the entrance collapse but we don't know if the entire place collapsed from the inside".

Jessica frowned and then crossed her arms "You're right... and we never went back to investigate after that, no one wanted to go back there for that matter honestly I'm surprised Yangus went there and took Red with him...".

Harry nodded "Yeah which means that he was really worried about these rumors, enough that he went to investigate and hasn't come back in about a week... it takes three days by boat to reach the island where the Dark Ruins are located, and about a day to traverse the desolate island".

Jessica began to bite her thumbnail "Which means Yangus and Red have been in the Dark Ruins for about two days tch!... We need to go there and check on them".

"Yes I agree... something is going on and if I'm right then we're dealing with a situation similar to the Waterfall Cave so who knows what we'll find in those Dark Ruins... I remember that it was all very strange how it seemed like some sort of ancient temple".

Jessica then looked down while still biting her nail "Yeah you're right... so we might find another one of those resurrected monsters right?".

Harry nodded "Yeah... and more than likely it will be a demonlord down there, the thing is... that place is not one I want to take the girls into".

Jessica nodded and was about to speak when Lily suddenly spoke from behind them "I'm going!".

Both Harry and Jessica turned their heads toward Lily and stared at her for a few moments, Harry sighed "Lily that place is horrible and there are really powerful monsters in there... your daddy and I barely made it alive the day we had to go there, are you sure you want to go to such horrid place".

Lily nodded "Yes! I'm not afraid! and I want to help Uncle Yangus! He always visits and plays with me! He always comes on my birthdays and brings me all kinds of cool gifts! I can't just stay somewhere knowing he might in trouble so I'm going!".

Eri walked up to Lily's side holding a few mini medals and a bottle of elfin water, Harry instantly knew that those were the prizes they chose in exchange for the coins they got.

Eri looked up at her daddy "We can handle it, Daddy! Let us go and help! Besides you and mommy Jessica are going too!".

Harry turned his head towards Jessica who sighed and then turned to look at both girls "Listen, that place is very dangerous and there are all kinds of powerful monsters so you have to be careful okay?".

Both Eri and Lily nodded with serious expressions on their little faces, Harry sighed "Honestly both of you are too young for this... not even Morgan and Hope got to fight at your age still both of you are dragons and dragons don't show fear so let's go, our friends need us".

Lily smiled while Eri put away their prizes into her witch's hat and then fist-pumped "and a Potter never abandons a friend in need!".

Lily cheered and fist-pumped as well while Harry and Jessica smiled at them, of course, both were still worried about the girls and the situation but they know that can trust them to take care of themselves.

They knew that all of this caution was because of their experience with the Dark Ruins and that in reality they don't have to worry but they can't really help it, even Harry who is a Dragon God and so much more powerful than the first time he went there was worried.

Still, they had to deal with what was going and the girls wanted to help, Harry knew that this would be a great experience for them he just wished they would have gotten it when they were a bit older like Hope and Morgan.

But he also has to have faith in them and so Harry will believe in these two adorable and quite capable little girls, besides he will be there and he will be damn if he would ever let them get hurt "Alright then let's go! I'm taking everyone there in my dragon form, the quicker we get there that faster we can find Yangus and Red, and find out what's going".

Jessica, Morgan, and Lily nodded and then the party of four left Pickham and headed outside and walked a fair distance away, as soon as they were far enough Harry took on his dragon form and the girls got on his head.

Soon after Harry flapped his wings and took off flying towards where the Dark Ruins lay at high-speed hoping to get there to help Yangus and Red in time.

-----

It is only time for Harry to arrive at the island where the Dark Ruins are located and as soon as he landed and lets the girls get down on the ground he could tell that something was seriously wrong here.

Harry immediately took on his human form and looked up only to frown as a swirling mass of darkness on top of the Dark Ruins was coming down onto the ruin themselves "... Something is happening here, there's something very old and powerful coming".

Jessica frowned and walked up to Harry's side and also looked up "How powerful are we talking about?".

Harry sighed and turned his head towards Jessica "At least super devil in rank, damn... we have to find Yangus and Red quickly and stop whatever is going on here".

Harry turned towards Lily and Eri "Eri don't hold back, I want you to go full out from the get-go and Lily pick your battles carefully, make sure you can take down whatever you choose to fight, and don't hesitate to ask for help".

Lily and Eri sensing the seriousness of the situation in Harry's voice nodded to him, Harry smiled at both girls "Jessica and I will be active this time but you're the leader Lily, keep in mind that we need to find Yangus and Red quickly and use light elemental attacks, there's only demons and undead here".

Lily nodded while Eri took out both her wand and staff, Eri then looked down in thought for a few moments before looking up at her daddy "Daddy should I summon Salamon and Tsukaimon to help?".

Harry smiled at Eri but shook his head "Not this time sweetie, the monsters here are a little above them plus Jessica and I will be fighting this time and you know how wild we can get".

Jessica then spoke up as she brought out her Gringham whip "Plus there's not a lot of space inside the ruins and a lot of monsters, it's best for both Salamon and Tsukaimon to sit this one out".

Eri nodded and got ready, Lily took out her Dragovian God Sword and her goddess shield and got ready herself, Harry nodded at them and then summoned both Oblivion and Oathkeeper.

Lily awed at both legendary weapons, she had heard so much about her godfather's keyblades but this was the first time she had seen them, and not only are they amazing to look at but Lily could feel their power as well.

Harry turned to look towards where the Dark Ruins lay and frowned as he could already see countless undead and demon monsters gather around to get in their way "Lily take the lead".

Lily snapped out of her awed state and nodded, she then walked to the front with Eri and began to walk towards the Ruins, monsters began to immediately get in their way.

Monsters Lily has never seen before but has heard of from both her Mom and Dad, great trolls, gigantes, archdemons, fowlfighters, dullahans, wight priests, and even hell gladiators.

These types of monsters weren't only very high level but they possess skills beyond the norm, these were the type of monsters anyone would run away from, ones that no one would not want to ever face.

But Lily was the daughter of heroes, a Dragon Knight but most of all the goddaughter of Harry Potter and she wasn't going to be intimidated by a bunch of monsters.

No, she was going to prove herself here, she wanted adventure, she wanted excitement, and she wanted to fight powerful monsters; and she was getting was she wanted.

So with a grin on her face, Lily called upon the dragon within her and it immediately answered, her little body exploded with power as blue scales began to appear around her cheeks and forehead.

Her green eyes took on a reptilian look and as Lily brandish her Dragovian God Sword she suddenly roared and took off running as fast as she could.

Which was pretty fast since she became a blue blur that the monsters weren't expecting, suddenly Lily appeared behind a massive great troll that froze and then suddenly fell apart having been cut to pieces.

The monsters growled and step back from Lily a bit in both shock and fear as she stood up straight and widely grinned at the monsters showing off her fangs.

Harry chuckled in amusement and then smile in amusement "Well then, let's not keep the princess waiting shall we?".

Jessica grinned and nodded while Eri cheerfully giggled, Harry then disappeared in a flash of light and darkness followed by Jessica who disappeared in a flash of red energy while Eri just apparated.

Harry appeared beside Lily in a flash of light and darkness and then immediately rushed forwards with both Oblivion and Oathkeeper glowing black and white.

Lily there bore witness to her godfather's fighting for the first time and even though she knew he was holding back a lot it was still an amazing thing to see.

Harry immediately began to dance around the many monsters in the area who took too long to react to him and most of them were taken out by a single attack from Harry but then they all reacted soon after and attacked back.

A dullahan swung his flail at Harry who batted it away with Oblivion with ease and then smacked the dullahan's body away with Oathkeeper, the dullahans body immediately exploded in wisps of light.

Harry suddenly jumped up and avoided a thrust attack from three fowlfighters' swords, he then landed on top of the swords and swiftly cast a spell "'Aeroga!'".

An orb of powerful and sharp wind engulfed Harry's body and burst outwards blasting the monsters away and destroying them, a gigantes suddenly swung its massive club at Harry but he just grinned and didn't move.

The gigantes was then whipped in his blue face by Jessica, she had whipped the massive monster so hard that its head flew off, a group of wight priests pointed their dark wands at the group but before they could even gather any mana they were suddenly impaled by multiple spears made out of white holy light.

Lily looked back and smiled as she saw Eri standing close by with her staff extended towards where the wight priests stood, Eri smiled at Lily and then waved her wand towards the ground.

Lily gaped when from the very ground beside Eri massive stone golems rose up and then took off towards the hell gladiators who suddenly rushed towards the group.

Lily watched as the golems began to swat the the four armed undead monsters and sent them flying, all of this was amazing to Lily and she grew excited to be able to fight with her godfather, aunty, and now best friend Eri.

Not wanting to be left behind she suddenly brought her sword towards herself and ran her hand on the blade, as she did so her Dragovian God Sword began to shine with light.

She then rushed forward towards a group of gigantes that were heading towards the golems to destroy them but Lily jumped and then twirled around in mid-air until she landed sword first into the head of one of the massive blue monsters.

The gigantes instantly died and Lily then took off flying with magic, she blurred from the rest of the gigantes' sights only to appear in the middle of the group with her shield arm extended towards the sky "'Kazapple!'".

A massive lightning storm suddenly dropped on top of not only the gigantes but also some of the smaller monsters around, the holy lightning shocked the monsters and killed them in seconds.

Lily sighed and then turned towards a group of monsters rushing towards her but then two massive Fireballs flew past her sides and crashed against the big group of monsters exploding in contact.

Lily smiled knowing it was her Godfather Harry and Aunty Jessica who did that, something that was confirmed when both Harry and Jessica rushed forward from her side with smiles on their faces.

Jessica then cracked her whip on the ground twice and from the ground in front of her a massive snake of flames and molten rock rose, it then shot forward and launched itself towards two Great Trolls heading her way.

The monsters roared in pain as Jessica's serpent's bite crashed into them and burned them alive, Jessica then pointed a hand towards a big group of Fowlfighters "'Kasnoze!'".

The Fowlfighters suddenly fell asleep as Jessica's spell hit them, Harry appeared above them in a blur of darkness and then dropped to the ground with Oblivion hitting the ground first.

As soon as Oblivion touched the ground massive pillars of darkness rose from the ground and began to spin around Harry and destroying any monsters in their way.

Harry then raised Oathkeeper into the air and charged it with light and then slammed it into the ground right where Oblivion had hit before, a massive dome of white light shot outwards from Harry and then exploded into many beams of light that immediately flew out and seeked any monsters nearby.

Many of the monsters were struck by the beams of white light from Harry's technique and exploded in showers of white light killing the monsters instantly and so the party of four kept fighting and fighting while moving forward towards the Dark Ruins.

No matter how many monsters got in their way they were immediately defeated, Harry and Jessica were holding back in order to allow the girls to grow not only in power but experience plus this would present a valuable battle experience for them.

Both Eri and Lily proved to be very capable of fighting big numbers with ease, even Lily who had never gotten the chance to fight big numbers of monsters or fight with all her power was easily mowing down groups of monsters and keeping up with the level of power Harry and Jessica were using at this moment.

However, none of them forgot that they needed to hurry nor that they needed to stop whatever is going on in the Dark Ruins, even now as they drew close to the ruins all four of them could feel the power and darkness gathering around it.

Even though both Harry and Jessica had bad memories of this place and much rather never have to go to it again, they knew they needed to do so and so the four of them rushed forward until they reached the entrance to the Dark Ruins and left nothing but destruction and dead monsters in their wake.

Monsters that might have disappeared in wisps of light but their howls and roars of pain still echoed through the area for a while.

-----

The group finally stopped at the entrance of the Dark Ruins and Harry immediately inspected the entrance "Looks like we don't need the mirror to get inside nor do we have to worry about that strange darkness".

Jessica nodded "Yeah plus I'm sure both Red and Yangus are already pretty deep into the ruins, there were a lot of monsters but they weren't anything we haven't faced before... still being back here certainly makes me feel uncomfortable".

Harry nodded as he frowned, he certainly felt uncomfortable being back here as well but he knew Yangus wouldn't have come in here if the situation wasn't serious, Lily then walked forward "Anything we should know about these Dark Ruins Papa Harry?".

Harry smiled at Lily proud that even now she was being smart and cautious "There's probably even more monsters inside which means we have to be careful because of the space, plus these Ruins also empower monsters a bit".

Lily turned her head towards her Godfather "The ruins empower monsters? How is that possible?".

Harry hummed "Has your father ever told you about this place?".

Lily shook her head "Not really, usually when he tells me stories about his adventures he skips a lot about the Dark Ruins and goes almost immediately to the fight against Dholmagus but even then it seems like he skips a lot of details".

Harry nodded and then snapped his fingers slowing the time flow of this world, something that Lily didn't notice but Jessica and Eri did but they didn't say anything about it.

Harry then sighs and shocked his head "I don't blame Hiro for not wanting to speak about this place, back then when we arrived here in our pursuit of Dholmagus we had a difficult time with all the monsters around though back then they weren't as powerful as the ones we fought right now, in fact, this island was inhabited by other types of weaker monsters".

Lily listened intently to her Godfather's words as he continued on "Even still we fought as hard as we could... we truly gave everything we had in this place and more, I don't know how many times we came close to dying or worse but things got even worse when we finally faced off against Dholmagus".

Harry then turned his head towards the Dark Ruins "There's something very wrong about this place and it was made worse with whatever Dholmagus did here... by the time we got to him he already had forsaken his humanity and become a demon".

Lily's eyes widen in surprise "There's something here, something that no one noticed before but whatever it is must be the cause of all of this right Papa Harry?".

Harry smiled proudly at Lily and gave her a head pat which made her smile "That's right, you're a very smart princess~ way smarter than I was back then... your father and our group desperately fought Dholmagus here and back then we just didn't have the time nor the need to investigate this place but now that I think about it, it was weird that Dholmagus choose this place to transform into a demon".

Jessica gaped as she came to a sudden realization "This isn't some kind of ruins! This is a Dark Temple isn't it!?".

Harry smiled at Jessica and nodded "I'm afraid so, we didn't notice it back then plus we just didn't have the knowledge of such things before either but yes these so-called Dark Ruins are in fact a Dark Temple...".

Jessica frowned and looked down, Eri walked up to her side and grabbed her hand to try and cheer her mommy up and got a kind and soft smile in return.

Lily however was a bit confused "A Dark Temple? What is that?".

Harry turned his gaze towards Lily "They're places where monsters and evil people worship the demonlords of this world, places that gather all the darkness and evil emotions of the world and serve as a place of rebirth to these demonlords".

Lily's eyes widen in surprise "What? The demonlords!?... I read about them in the Dragovian Archives, they were known as very powerful monsters and beings, in fact, they were so powerful that a specific rank was created solely for them...".

Harry nodded already knowing what Lily was referring to "That's correct, that rank is known as X and truly powerful and evil monsters belong in this rank, Raphthorne even in his larva form had this rank".

Lily nodded and then turned towards the Dark Ruins "... So a demonlord is about the be reborn?".

Harry nodded "I think so, the amount of energy and darkness that this place is gathering is massive plus the number of monsters here is too big even by the normal standards of this goddess-forsaken place".

Lily hummed and seemed to be thinking about something for a few moments "Do you think I can handle it? I know I'm not anywhere close to any of you in both power and skill... I don't want to get in anyone's way when things are this serious".

Harry smiled and then got on one knee right in front of Lily and then caressed her cheeks with both of his hands, he could feel her hard scales on his finger tips "You're powerful Lily, so much that you don't have a clear idea of the extent of your power yet... you've never gotten a chance to be pushed to your limits so you don't know just what you can really do".

Lily stared at her godfather's green eyes and listened intently to his words while Harry went on "Right now your at the place where you'll find out what exactly it is you fight for, you will soon realize that and you will raise in power the which you can never imagine... your a Dragon Knight Lily, a dragon and a dragon does not hesitate nor doubts itself so believe in yourself as you have all this time".

Lily teared up as Harry smiled at her, she then nodded and Harry let go of her face, she then sniffle a bit but then she nodded at herself and smiled "Then let's go get Uncle Yangus and Aunty Red! and prevent this so-called demonlord from coming back!".

Harry stood up straight and nodded to Lily while Jessica and Eri smiled at her and also gave her a nod, whatever might be going inside this Dark Temple they will face it and stop it together.