Chapter 102: Reunion II

Although they couldn’t comprehend why Shina would travel across the seas to save the strongest human in the world, the crew chose to trust Shina this time. They were now currently traversing the jungle of Sekhtar. Beyond this, they would be able to finally reach the demonic civilization.

Perhaps, she had a key role that needed to be filled, was what they thought. In any case, if even Dheinyrus needed rescuing, then what were their chances of survival?

Finch was starting to regret their decision more and more by the hour.

He glanced at Nozomi who seemed fine… Deep down, he was hoping that she would realize how absurd this expedition was! Pirates like them had no business in the realm where the Divinity Clan’s strongest heir himself needed help.

’What have we gotten ourselves into…’ he thought.

Then suddenly, they heard rustling in the bushes.

Everyone stood alert including Shadowblade and Remi.

“Demons?” Franco whispered.

The answer to his question revealed itself when several monsters with jet-black skin and voids for eyes jumped towards them.

Finch immediately drew his gun and killed three of them with precise shots. Jessika’s fire magic set them ablaze, burning through everything that charged towards them.

Shina and Nozomi worked together as usual. Their blades danced in the air with inhuman synchronicity. In no time, the crew managed to clear the enemies.

“These are the creatures that people can turn into after consuming the cursed food,” Shina stated.

“According to Dheinyrus, the demon king based the transformation on these creatures. Don’t worry, the ones we killed were not former humans.”

They nodded at her and they continued walking. Surprisingly, they didn’t encounter anything more dangerous than those creatures. They had to fight here and there but once they got used to the behaviors of the monsters, they were able to handle them much better.

The trees became fewer as they went on. And soon, they reached the opening to the end of the jungle.

Sekhtar was vastly different from anything the books described them as. Yes, it was visibly more gloomy than the human continents, but overall, they were basically the same.

They turned to Shadowblade.

“What’s the plan now?” Finch asked.

They heard her sigh through the mask.

“We need to conceal our presence,” Shadowblade answered.

“But once we meet with Dheinyrus, everything will be fine.”

Shina had no intentions of putting her friends in danger. It was very important to her that they moved very carefully.

Ahead of them was a forest. Since none of them had been to Sekhtar yet, they didn’t know how to navigate these lands. Shina decided to just go straight and hope for the best…

Which proved to be a poor decision, it seemed. Because not even a few minutes later, they came across as battalion of berserkers, patrolling the area.

Fear crept into their systems, but strangely, the berserkers only looked at each other and did not engage.

“Humans, what are you doing here?” one of them asked with a bassy voice.

“Crap! Let’s get out of here!” Finch declared, and it seemed like everyone agreed… except Shina.

They began to run away back to where they came from but the princess stood her ground. She summoned her twin daggers while Remi waited for her commands.

The one who seemed to be the demon’s leader signaled his men to chase after Finch and the others. He on the other hand, prepared to fight Shina.

She had to look up just to see the demon’s eyes. They were round and black in color. The fur that covered his mountainous body was dark grey. He wore a metal helmet with two holes on top to give way to his thick dark horns.

It was her first time seeing such a creature up close.

In the data offered by the empire, demons were categorized into three ranks. Low ranking demons were mindless savages, and were being controlled by the middle and higher ranking demons who possessed a degree of intelligence similar to humans. Berserkers were between middle and high ranking demons. That meant that Shina was going to have the same chance that she had when she fought the demoness back in the Selense Kingdom.

Gritting her teeth, Shina made the first move.

The enemy was bulky and muscular, he was heavy too. His weakness would most probably be mobility and agility. And that was what Shina would have to exploit.

She dashed to the side, planning to circle around the horned beast and strike from behind. Her eyes widened when the berserker dropped his weapon and prepared to fight her with his bare hands.

The massive demon suddenly spun and threw a right overhand, meeting the momentum of the masked assassin. Shina jumped and barely dodged the powerful blow that shattered the ground.

Shina flipped midair before landing on her feet.

’How is he so fast?!’

Shina shot the last of her crossbow’s arrow, but the demon tucked his head behind his enormous shoulder in the last second, shielding his face.

Using this chance, Shina dashed forward and thrusted her blade into the demon’s stomach…

But it didn’t even penetrate. The tip slightly dug into the beast’s thick skin, but barely enough to be considered a real damage.

With his huge hands, he grabbed Shina’s entire arm, and by that point, she was no longer able to do anything.

Remi tried to help her but to no avail. The demon also just used his other hand to grab and immobilize him.

The demon’s grip was inescapable, but somehow, it didn’t hurt Shina at all. She remembered that the demon dropped his weapon before they fought as though he didn’t want to hurt them.

Moments later, the other demons came back with Finch and the whole crew. They looked at Shina with pale and terrified faces.

They had no time to be curious as fear overloaded their brains. Shina in particular was desperately trying to free herself from the demon’s grasp.

“Let’s take them to the king,” the demon said.

When she heard this, Shina was confused. Didn’t they defeat the Demon King already?

They weren’t able to resist when the berserkers carried them all the way across the demon villages.

And as they were paraded through the demon settlements, they were able to see how wrong their assumptions were about the Sekhtar. It really was just like the human villages back in Olcour. The only difference was it looked like the Sekhtarian civilization was currently trying to recover from a devastating economic depression.

Finally, Shadowblade and the others were brought to the throne room of the new Demon King. And upon seeing who was sitting on the throne…

Shina couldn’t help but shed a tear.

Clad in all his majesty, Dheinyrus gazed upon them with unsurprising calmness.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep