These demonic beast seeds, disguised as ordinary tree seeds, grow into trees at a frightening speed once they fall to the ground. From this point, one can distinguish whether it’s a demonic beast or not, as the tree trunk grows in the shape of the demonic beast to be born.

Demonic beasts are born from the fruits of Tabopis trees. That’s why humans remove those trees as soon as they discover them. As a result, demonic beasts instinctively seek safe places. Since there aren’t many safe places for demonic beasts to grow, their numbers aren’t large either.

Such a large number of demonic beasts gathering means that somewhere, Tabopis trees have grown like a jungle.

Naturally, Clementina had never actually seen a Tabopis before. The same went for demonic beasts attacking in packs like this.

A significant number of demonic beasts were disappearing in the flames Mago alone was spewing. But the number of demonic beasts was growing like a snowball, beyond common sense.

The knights had prepared their weapons, ready to welcome those who had somehow approached right in front of them.

Makuro was a small demonic beast covered in short black fur all over its body. Using its long arms and short legs, it ran toward them at high speed and jumped.

As the bloodshot eyes and expression of the Makuro drew closer, Clementina felt nauseous.

The demonic beast had a distorted human face, as if burning in fire, filled with pain.

The three dragons, including Mago, surrounded the knights in a circle from the air and breathed fire. The remaining three used their sharp claws on the ground, grabbing and tearing apart the limbs of the Makuro with their feet.

This was one of their fighting methods unfamiliar to Clementina.

The Makuro behaved like an intelligent animal. When one bent its back, another stepped on its comrade’s shoulder and leaped up.

The dragon riders swung their swords and axes at the Makuro, easily cutting them to pieces. But there were so many that no matter how many they cut down, they didn’t seem to decrease.

It looked merciless to Clementina, but in reality, they were fighting quite carefully and meticulously. This was obviously because of her presence, as she was not accustomed to fighting.

They were making an effort not to show her their blood-soaked appearances as they swung their weapons indiscriminately and performed cruel maneuvers.

“Heave-ho! I’ll win the bet. You filthy things!”

“These things seem to have lost their minds! They all seem crazy! Ukakakaka, kek, kek. Cough, cough. Oh my. Got spit caught. Ukakakakaka.”

Vance threw away his bow and was now cutting the Makuro into pieces with the axe he had somehow already drawn from his waist. Despite the sharp blade, he pressed down on the demonic beasts with his axe and tore off the flesh on the opposite side with his thick arm, leaving the demonic beast carcasses in tatters.

“You seem crazier than them.”

“Haha! You ugly bastards, just die! But weren’t these damned creatures supposed to be weak to cold?”

“Shut up. Please close your mouth and just cut them.”

Lillian, who could no longer endure his brother’s noisy chatter, spoke in a slow tone while glaring fiercely at Vance.

The Makuro’s pupils were pitch black. Without any visible whites, they looked like black glass beads had been embedded, completely black. As if possessed by something, their focus was indeterminable, and their faces were grotesquely twisted.

They moved beyond the limits of their bodies with terrified expressions, as if someone was controlling their bodies rather than acting on their own will.

The demonic beasts, which had been charging randomly, showed patterns as time passed. Their purpose was clear. They were frantically jumping toward the center of the knights.

The demonic beasts were targeting Clementina.

Dion tightly gripped Clementina’s hand as she stood motionless behind him. Although there was no way even a single demonic beast could get past Dion, Clementina’s hand was trembling with tension, unaware of this fact.

If what Clementina’s mother Caroline had said was true, anyone would covet her.

Did the demonic beasts instinctively want her death? As this thought occurred to him, thorns sprouted in Dion’s heart, which had been only excited and thrilled until now.

He had no intention of losing her, but it didn’t feel good.

Unlike Dion’s complicated feelings, all of this was too unfamiliar to Clementina. Murderous demonic beasts had swarmed in packs, threatening her life. Sharp, pointed claws threatened her instead of swords.

A situation arose where the dragons couldn’t easily breathe fire due to the entangled demonic beasts. They dealt with the demonic beasts using only claws and teeth, sometimes spreading their large wings to throw a group of Makuro far away.

If there had been only dragons and dragon riders, a fierce battle would have ensued, but everyone was concerned about Clementina’s presence. Since the Makuro were rushing toward her, they couldn’t ignore her and engage in battle.

The Makuro that had been thrown away screaming quickly got up with their broken bodies and charged again. If an arm was cut off, they would jump; if a leg was cut off, they would crawl. If touched by a dragon’s flames, they would run with their bodies on fire.

“Heave-ho! Heehee! Get lost! You ugly things!”

“These bastards just don’t end.”

Except for Clementina who was trembling in fear, the dragon riders cut down the demonic beasts cruelly with excited expressions. It happened to be just what they needed to scratch their itch. Like dancing, like playing, they cut down without hesitation, with madness of joy in their eyes.

That’s when it happened.

One Makuro passed over the knights’ heads and fell into the center of the battle. Despite making a creaking sound with its broken leg, it ran without slowing down and reached out toward Clementina’s head.

“Uh, huh?”

In front of Clementina’s eyes, the head of the Makuro with a human face was split in half, and black blood spurted high into the sky. Then it slowly split into two sides, neatly divided into two pieces, and fell to the ground with a thud.

As Clementina slumped to the ground, pieces of the Makuro created a pool of blood that flowed to her feet.

“Aah!”

A m*an escaped from Clementina’s lips. It was a fear she had never experienced before. It was completely different from the fear given by her father’s cold gaze filled with hatred. She simply didn’t know what to do, so she couldn’t even scream.

Countless lives were dying mercilessly before her eyes, but she had no thought of pitying them.

Dion lightly grabbed Clementina’s waist as she froze with a pale face and held her in his arms.

“Hmm, which way would be better?”

Dion leisurely scanned the surroundings as if playing a game. Soon after, contrary to his relaxed attitude, he quickened his steps and jumped under Arakan’s feet.

He knew that leaving this place now would be helping his comrades.

Arakan cleverly hid Dion and Clementina from the demonic beasts’ sight with his massive body, then used his wings to instantly move them to a place beyond the reach of the Makuro.

Momentarily airborne, Clementina flailed her legs and gripped Dion’s chest more tightly with her hands. Dion landed lightly and rushed into a dense pine forest that Arakan had set them down in.

As Clementina suddenly disappeared from sight, the Makuro began to howl loudly. Black blood started flowing from the eyes of the frenzied demonic beasts.

The Siara Mountains began to shake with piercing screams.

Dion ran through the forest path at high speed, carrying Clementina.

Several Makuro spotted Clementina’s shining hair and stirred their bodies to follow. But the experienced knights didn’t let even a single rampaging demonic beast escape alive.

Screams of dying lives continued.

Dion, who was moving his body nimbly, spotted two pine trees at a distance.

Standing at a regular distance from each other, the two trees were growing toward the sky with their bodies intertwined at a considerable height.

It was the entrance to the Siara Mine.

A small thrill ran down Dion’s spine. He increased his speed, letting out a laugh.

Clementina was amazed at his smiling face without even taking a breath.

“Ouch!”

A sharp thorn scratched her ankle. The undergrowth became denser as they approached the cave. Thorny vines that had grown to waist height caught Dion’s ankles.

Ten steps to the mine entrance. Spring existed even in the snow-covered Siara Mountains. A small bush with poisonous red fruits hanging abundantly blocked Dion’s view.

Whoosh.