Chapter 37: Demon Territory

"Gah!"

I burst out of the river, a fish caught firmly between my teeth. Even as I clamped down on the slippery scales with my jaws, the desperate fish flailed and flopped about in an attempt to break free and escape back to the depths where I caught it.

With a force of will, I bit down hard. My teeth sank deeply into the fish and blood gushed into my mouth. The fish's resistance increased but I maintained the pressure. Within a minute, the fish finally went limp.

With my catch firmly ensnared in my mouth, I crawled ashore. I flopped down on the riverbank and lay in the mud, my limbs utterly depleted of energy. I chewed on the fish, ripping the flesh from its bones and then swallowed.

"Phew…"

It was but a very tiny amount of energy – not a lot, but enough to sustain me for now. Whatever injuries that didn't heal over time were now slowly closing up, and the pain in my body faded away. I must have suffered heavy internal injuries while on the run from Asakura Akane and ran out of energy to Regenerate.

Good thing I managed to find some nourishment when I was washed away by the raging rapids, or the situation would have gotten very dangerous.

"Ugh…"

Though I wasn't at full strength yet, I had recovered just enough energy to lift myself off the riverbank and stagger to my feet. Looking up, I saw that I was still stuck in the middle of a dense forest, surrounded by trees.

Where do I go now?

I sighed and I tried to calm myself down and consider my options. One thing was sure. Moving from here was much better than sticking around. I had no idea how fast Asakura was, but if she was determined enough, she would follow the winding river to track me down.

And I didn't want to be found by her. At least not now. Even if I wasn't weakened or hurt, as I was right now, I couldn't beat her.

It was frustrating, but it was the truth.

Let's start moving.

I began bashing through the forest, wincing as thorns scraped against my skin and tore flesh, drawing blood. Unlike the boss, I didn't carry a machete and my staff was too unwieldy and blunt to smash my way through.

The trees were so thick and dense that I could barely see an inch ahead of me. Even with my undead vision allowing me to see in the dark, it was still difficult to make out the trail in front of me. It wasn't the shadows that obscured my sight, but rather the cluster of trees that clumped so closely together that I could hardly see between them.

"…a light?"

Despite the obstacles in my path, I was rewarded for my perseverance when I finally caught sight of a light at the end of the tunnel.

Light at the end of a tunnel…heh.

I couldn't help but chuckle. This wasn't a tunnel but a forest, but somehow I could see the aptness of the metaphor. This whole escape from my former classmates had been quite the ordeal. For a moment I had almost allowed myself to be swallowed by despair.

I don't understand.

Why were my former classmates so…irrational? It made no sense whatsoever. I didn't understand why they were so determined to kill me. It was as if they weren't operating out of logic. They were afraid I would take revenge on them because of Kobayashi's attempted murder, and so they tried to kill me preemptively before I could avenge myself? What the hell, man? It just made no sense, almost like they weren't real characters.

It was as if they were caricatures of antagonists without any depth who existed for the sole purpose of being killed by me in the end. Their murderous actions and completely irredeemable behavior were written in such a manner that I would be justified in killing them. Or perhaps this wasn't reality. I had really died after Kobayashi murdered me and now I was just having this eternal dream in death, some sort of delusional dream to allow me to pass on after such a death full of bitter resentment.

Well, I can't tell reality apart from death and delusion, so there's no point in treating it as such. So long as I feel like I'm alive I'll just treat it as reality. There's really no point in assuming otherwise and wasting time worrying over it.

Buoyed by my discovery, I hastened my pace and rapidly strode toward the light. The trees were beginning to thin out the further I went, and the light grew brighter and bigger, the rays of the sun shining down through the little holes in the canopy.

"?"

However, as I neared the outskirts of the forest, I suddenly felt the ground tremble beneath my feet. A huge, thunderous noise roared from outside, an unceasingly clatter of hooves beating relentlessly against the ground.

This is…

I recognized the sounds. They were those of horses…of cavalry. It wasn't just one or two knights, but an entire squadron of them. I was almost on the edge of the forest, so I hastened my pace. Almost breaking into an impatient run, I finally burst out into the open, only to find myself perched on the grassy edge of a cliff.

Below, a massive carriage rolled along the dirt track, escorted by dozens of knights. I saw now that I was mistaken – those weren't horses. The armored knights were mounted upon dragon-like ground wyverns that were as small as horses but quicker and more durable.

My eyes wandered toward the carriage. It was enormous, almost resembling a double-decker bus that was plated in gold.

Heh…so they aren't just any ordinary knights…the person they're escorting seems to be a noble of considerable social standing.

From what little knowledge I possessed of Restia, I knew that it was rare even for nobles to possess an enormous, gold-plated carriage such as that. As high as it was, the carriage seemed armored and well-protected, an almost extravagant-looking tank with wheels. It was so huge that it couldn't be pulled by steeds or wyverns – rather, it appeared to be running on some source of mana, powered and moved by a magic engine.

I had never seen the likes of it during my time in Restia – admittedly I had spent less than a month here, so…

That banner's emblem?

The flapping of the flags held aloft by the cavalry caught my eyes, which widened upon seeing the clan crest splashed across the velvet fabric of the banners.

It was a crest I had seen in my library of Eden, once before, after I had defeated Asura and was scanning through the books to get a better idea of the world. There was no mistaking it – it was one of the crests of the demon clans.

The demon clans…!

Well, it made sense. I was probably deep within Helsreach, especially after my flight from Asakura Akane and Sakaguchi Seiji. I was in deep demon territory. Of course they would be traveling about in huge processions like this.

And given how the humans are trying to probe and invade Helsreach, all nobles would want such a large escort.

That explained the huge army of armored cavalry and fierce earth wyverns. To protect their lord from being attacked from the vanguard of the human forces, demon nobles would never travel out of their domains unless under heavy guard.

This might be a chance.

I glanced back, almost as if I expected to see Asakura come flying after me. That girl had been ruthless and relentless, so I wouldn't be surprised if she had caught up to me already. Furthermore, I couldn't defeat her.

I needed allies.

Taking a deep breath, I jumped off the cliff, sliding down the steep slope as I struggled not to fall to my death. Flipping myself up and kicking the rock, I propelled myself to the front of the procession, waving my hands.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Sorry, but I need some help! If you don't mind…!"

The lead knight almost blanched when he saw me, and he raised his hands as if to call his troops to a halt.

Then he got a good look at me, and his expression turned to that of fury.

"Filthy human!" he spat.

"Huh?" I gaped at him. "No, wait…!"

I wasn't given a chance to finish my sentence. The knights didn't stop, but they picked up speed. The commander growled as he drew his spear to thrust it at me. All around, the armored escorts were arming themselves.

"W…wait! Wait! I'm not…!"

"Kill him!"

What was it with people always wanting to kill me on sight? First, it was my former classmates, and now it was a bunch of demons. That said, the latter probably had a good reason. After all, to them, I was a human – an enemy.

"F…!"

I swore under my breath, but sprinted forward. The lancers appeared shocked by my seemingly suicidal charge, but at the very last moment, I hurled myself upward and jumped atop the lead spear. The knight who was wielding it stared at me, his jaw dropping open, before I bounced off his spear to kick him in the head. Balancing atop his helm, I kicked off from the top of his skull and propelled myself further into the massed formations.

"Kill him! Protect the princess!"

"Princess? Uh, right…that crest is the crest of the Serpenta Clan, isn't it?"

Nobody replied. My question was drowned out by the aggressive cries of soldiers as they tried to spear me.

I jumped over the bunch of spears that lanced toward me. Had I been a second slower, I would have been impaled by no less than four spears. However, I boldly jumped toward the attack and planted my foot on the tip of one of the spears before springing myself further upward. I instinctively tossed myself right at the carriage.

If I can just get on top of that thing, they wouldn't dare to attack me…whoa!

While I sailed across the massed ranks of escorts, a few soldiers had begun casting magic. Despite their anthropomorphic forms, from their long, sharp ears, I could tell that they weren't humans. The mana they were accumulating was menacing, almost formidable. By now it had gathered into something that resembled a massive thundercloud.

I so did not want to get hit by that.

"Get him!"

"Yes, sir!"

The demons launched the massive ball of miasma at me. Being in midair, I was unable to duck, so I was forced to conjure Dark Barrier to block the hit.

"Gah!"

Knocked off course, I landed heavily on the ground. My Dark Barrier held, even as several dozen spears launched from all directions to impale me. They failed to penetrate my Dark Barrier, and several of the spears actually splintered and broke from the brute force.

"Kuh!"

But I wasn't left unscathed by the impact. Even when protected by the shimmering force field, I could feel the psycho-stigmatic feedback hammering into my mind. It almost felt like hammers crashing against my skull – it didn't exactly feel like pain, but it was an extremely uncomfortable feeling. Breathing heavily, I assessed my condition.

Raising both hands, I shouted as loudly as possible to stop them.

"Wait! I'm not here to attack!"

Nobody listened. The spears crashed against my barrier again. I watched as the knights backed off before preparing for another charge.

Bloody bastards just refused to listen. I would have to do this the hard way, huh?

I can try to kill them…but Corrupting Darkness might not work against their armor. Furthermore, they're demons, so they definitely have some sort of innate resistance to dark-type magic…my spells would be ineffective against them.

Not only that, I would lose any chance of negotiating or appealing to them if I ended up killing them. My objective was to hitch a ride from them. I doubted they would be willing to give someone a ride after he killed a bunch of soldiers.

And I wasn't delusional enough to think that I would somehow be able to defeat an entire army of demonic escorts all on my own.

Can't stay on the defensive forever…

My mind churned with strategic possibilities. Glancing at the carriage, I steeled my resolve. If they were escorting whatever princess who was riding inside the carriage, then jumping on top of that would stop them from attacking. After all, they couldn't risk hurting their charge trying to kill me. Once they halted their assault, I could begin to reason with them.

But to do that, I had to drop my guard.

Taking a deep breath, I dismissed my Dark Barrier immediately after the knights backed off from a repeated charge. Scrambling toward the carriage, I hurled myself high into the air as one of the horsemen (or wyvernmen) slashed at me with a sword. Ducking the slash, I spun about and kicked out just as another knight thrust a spear at me. Using my foot, I stepped onto the tip of the lance and used it as a platform to propel myself higher.

"Get him!"

"Fucker!"

"Don't let him near the princess!"

Yeah, there was no way they would be able to risk hurting their princess if I got close enough to the carriage.

The onslaught of spears grew more desperate as the knights tried to slaughter me before I could approach the carriage. But every time they thrust their spears at me, I used the opportunity to jump atop their weapons to bounce from one spot to the other. Eventually, several of them got wise enough and tried to wait for me to land on the ground before surrounding me in a pincer attack, but I used my Sword Saint ability to maximize my reflexes, throwing myself atop their helms and using their heads as stepping stones to travel inward.

"This brat…!"

"Fucking human!"

"Why can't we hit him?!"

Even as their frustration grew, their attacks remained composed, coordinated and disciplined. Truly elite knights worthy to be included in a royal guard, indeed.

Fortunately, it was never my intention to face them in direct combat.

I managed to clear the last line of soldiers, who finally broke and attacked me prematurely. Using the web of crossed spears as a platform, I tossed myself up and over the soldiers, who were trying to bombard me with spells.

At the current rate, they ended up injuring each other with friendly fire instead of hitting me, but at the corner of my eye I could see how their armor resisted the most vicious of spells. Unfortunately, I wasn't in any position to worry about my opponents. Bouncing up and away from the last line, I hurled myself straight at the carriage.

"NO!"

"Fucking human!"

"Stop him! Somebody, stop him!"

The panicked cries of soldiers rang through the battlefield, but they weren't able to stop me in time. Several of them raised their glowing hands to launch devastating spells at me, but their commander barked.

"Don't, you idiots! What if you hit the princess!?"

"Ah…!"

The soldiers faltered, realizing how close they were to damaging the pristine carriage with their own hands.

"Phew…"

I sighed a breath of relief, knowing that my gamble had paid off. I sailed toward the top of the carriage, flipping over and almost landing on my feet.

However, the room-shaped compartment situated atop the armored carriage trembled as I approached it. I blinked in surprise, but it was too late to stop. My momentum was mercilessly throwing me forward.

Uh oh. This doesn't look good.

Before I reached the top of the carriage, that compartment blew up into pieces as someone from within slashed it apart, reducing it to shrapnel of metal and debris of fine, expensive wood. Dust billowed from the destruction of the carriage, obscuring my sight. I couldn't change the trajectory of my landing position, even as I saw something sparkled from within the cloud of dust.

"Oh boy…!"

I was right.

A sharp blade lashed forward, almost stabbing me in the eye before I landed. I managed to dodge at the very last second, sliding my head to the side while deflecting the blade with my left arm. The girl who wielded the blade didn't hesitate, stepping forward to assault me with precise, well-aimed strokes of her sword.

"Ugh!"

I jumped back across the top of the carriage, both surprised by the elegant attacks and mesmerized by the girl's beauty. Long, dark hair fell stylishly over her shoulders, and she was dressed in an oriental, silk dress with pretty embroideries and flowery patterns. She glared at me with determined, jade-colored eyes, her expression set in grim resolve.

The princess?!

That extravagant, elegant appearance and regal bearing…there was no mistaking it. This girl was the princess the knights were talking about.

The sword cut through my arm deeply, drawing blood and biting into bone. With a hiss of pain, I staggered back, but was relieved to see that the blade didn't cleave through my hand and sever it. Adaptive Mutation must be working. After the wounds I sustained from Asakura, my body must have transformed physically and strengthened itself to keep up with the onslaught of violence that I had been persistently subjected to.

"Insolent, aren't you?" the princess snapped, her voice ringing as clearly as a bell. "Even though you know this procession belongs to me, the Serpenta Clan's Dragon Princess Yuan, you still have the impertinence to attack?"

She increased the pressure of her sword, forcing me to deflect it. I stepped back and dodged as the princess slashed at me several times, working hard to avoid getting eviscerated by those sharp, precise movements.

"Dragon Princess Yuan?" I mumbled.

"Against the betrothed of the crown prince of the Gremory clan, who dares raise his hand against them?!"

I widened my eyes at the news. The Gremory clan was the current leading family of the demons, having tried to pull the disparate families and forces of the demons together after the fall of the previous Demon Lord.

Yeah, well…not that these marriage politics are any of my business…

Yuan didn't seem like she cared either. She was mercilessly striding forward with her sword, eager to end my life. I could see emerald mana swirling around her blade – evidently she realized that I was not a simple foe.

I relaxed and dropped my guard with a smirk.

"!"

The princess fell for it. Her sword passed through my body cleanly, the blade exiting from my back in a spray of blood. Yet I didn't move or resist, standing still as I allowed her to impale me with her powerful weapon.

Why?

I didn't have to read Yuan's mind to know what she was thinking. Her confusion was written all over her pretty face, perspiration dripping down her elegant brow as she stared at me in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Why did he not evade?

"Because I don't need to."

I grinned as black mana whirled around me, particularly around Yuan's sword. She tried to pull her weapon free, only to realize that it was stuck.

"!"

However, I wasn't going to let her go like this. Before she could let go of her sword and retreat – having realized that something was terribly amiss- I quickly grabbed her arm. My fingers clamping firmly over her slender limb, I stopped her from backing away.

In one swift motion, I twisted Yuan's arm, causing her to cry out and sink to her knees, her face flushed in pain and shock.

"Ah!"

"Sorry for the rough treatment, your highness."

I let her go. Yuan stumbled forward before she twisted around to stare at me in shock. I shrugged and pulled the sword out of my gut.

"My princess!"

"You…you bastard!"

The knights below were in an uproar, surrounding the carriage with their weapons raised and their hands glowing with spells. However, Yuan lifted a hand and gestured for all of them to back down with a shake of her head.

"Huh…your highness?"

"This human…he has no intention of fighting." Yuan's eyes narrowed as she watched my wound repair itself. "No…you're not human, are you?"

"…not exactly," I confirmed reluctantly. I had no idea what I was now. My status showed that I was an undead, a Gravekeeper with the rank of Lich Lord. Whatever that meant. I could use that to my advantage. "I'm sorry for causing such a commotion, but really, I mean no harm." I raised both my hands to show my complete lack of hostility.

"Then what do you want?!" the knight commander yelled from below, still brandishing his spear. I turned to him for a second before returning to the princess and lowering my head.

"Please, your highness. All I want is a ride."