Demon in the Forest

…

"You won't believe it. This mist…

…this dampened mist… is an elemental magic attack!"

According to Nina's sightings, she spotted mana energy gathering up within the mist. However, she could hardly tell what element was used there. "Normally, I can see what kind of elements being used by my opponents… but in this case, it's not possible. My perception must catch full form of the magic user, or else I cannot determine it," she thought in her mind.

"An elemental magic, you say?" said Sean while getting off the wagon. "Sister, what's going on here?" Aily asked in a scared manner.

"This is bad, Sir Sean. For my lifetime I ain't ever experience mist coverage this thick. We can't go any further, my boy. It's too risky, especially when that lassie told us that this mist is a magic spell," the coachmen refused to go onwards. "Naw… just look at my horses, they're all restless because of this warm mist," he added.

"Fine, fine. You guys come over here!" he called Marco's party to discuss the matter at hand. They gathered around behind the wagon.

"Alright, so here's the thing: we're stuck. That's it. The mist is covering our sights, the horses refused to move forward past the shroud and the mist itself is slowly warming up to a level where it may burn our arses. We must do something quickly," Sean explained the situation.

"Then let's continue on foot," said Marco giving his idea. "On foot, huh?" Sean considers it as an obvious plan when their ride is off the hook.

"But Marco, going on foot will eventually lead us deeper in this forest." Nina stated her opinion, "This forest isn't simple, you know? The dark skies plus this white heating mist might cause unwanted troubles. Who knows we might end up nowhere and we could've stuck here forever!"

"Geez, that's a dark analysis. But quite true," Marco nods. "Then, going on foot is out of the box." Sean stated. "I also remember there are monsters here, without a ride, we might get munched by them." He added.

"Hm… What about we wait until sunrise? Wait a second… no, it won't work would it?" Scias thinks. "I guess so. The monsters in this forest will wake up in the morning and it'll be a helluva work to do. We must get out of this forest this very night."

"Hhm… Aily, you got any ideas?" Marco asked. "Eh? Me? Well, I'm not an expert at this, so count me off," she replied in a pickle. "Don't worry, we're a team here, right? We'll hear you out." Marco encouraged her to give her opinion.

"Ungh… let me tell you, it'll be useless. Let's see… hm… erm… ah!" Aily flickered in her achieve of idea. "What if, we find the causer of this mist and ask him to stop?" she stated brightly.

The rest of them glared at her, "H-Hah, see? I told you mine's not a good idea," she retorted. "No, wait. Waiting seems unreliable, going on foot also made extra work to do and if we're late, we might need to face unwanted monsters. I also happen to remember that undead creatures lurk here in this forest." Sean explained.

"Phew, it's getting too hot in here, ain't it?" he added. The heat boils the skin beneath his armor. He's sweating intensely.

"Yeah, you're right. We must get going somehow, before we're turned into steamed beef," said Marco. "It is set. Let's find the one who caused this mist," Sean decided.

"Easy for you to say, but how are we going to find that troublemaker?" Marco sounded desperate. "In terms of that, I had activated my mana sensors to scour the area. Apparently there are two big source of mana energy—probably a monster—moving around the forest. We cannot afford going together to one place and then to the other one. We must split up."

As what Sean stated, the party splits into two groups. The first group consists of Marco and Sean while the second group consists of Scias, Nina and Aily. The coachmen will stay in the wagon until they regroup.

The first group will go to the north while the second group will go to the east. "Don't forget guys, let's get this over with and get the hell outta here alive!" Marco stated spiritedly.

And with that, they spur away into two different locations.

Marco and Sean moves into their first target, which is quite far. Marco jumps from tree branches to another while Sean spurs on the ground. "HEY! Don't get too fast will ya?! You're going to left me behind!" said Sean while running.

"Yikes! Sorry, mate. This forest has some tough branches. It just feels really fun to free run here!" Marco replied while continuously running above. "Hey, unlike you, I'm not an expert in this type of terrain. So GET THE YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!" he shouted.

"Geez, alright, alright, already," said Marco from above. "Hiyup!" he front flips and land in a standing position and joins Sean's sprint. Even when below, Sean's running speed isn't as fast as Marco, making him feel that his years of academy training wasted just like that. Seeing him in such condition, Marco slows down to pace his movement with the vanguard.

"So? How far is it now?" Marco asked. "A little bit more, we'll stumble to it. Just stay alert!" Sean replied. "Roger, that!"

"Scias, Nina, Aily, I hope you guys are doing well there…" he thought in his mind.

Meanwhile…

Scias with the twins have covered some distance. It's been twenty minutes since they part ways with the first group. "Let's walk from here, I believe we're not that far to the target," Scias stated. "Mm. I agree with you, all of that running is quite tiresome," said Nina. "Sis, just wanna make sure," Aily called.

Nina and Scias looked at her and ask altogether, "What's that?"

"There's no undead creature lying around here, right…?" she asked in a concerned way. "Well, undead creatures live from mana energy, but lately there were no signs of them." Nina replied reassuringly. "Huh… so it's the same as our world, huh…?" said Scias.

A few moments later, Nina and Scias realized something was different as they progress through the misty forest. They stopped quickly in one place. "Ueh? What's wrong, sis, Scias?" Aily asked wondrously. "You realize it?" Nina asked Scias, "Yeah…" he replied shortly.

"Mana Perception," *ZIIM!*

"Just as I thought… something wasn't right," said Nina while looking around her. "So it is true, huh?" Scias added. "Aily, did you realize it?"

"Realize what? What I realize right now is that this place is incredibly cold! Brrr!" she said. But suddenly, she finally figured out, "Wait… if this place is cold… wasn't that supposed to mean that we're straying further from the mist maker?" she wondered.

"Yeah, that's exactly what we thought." Scias replied.

"We're going even farther from the heat, which means… this area isn't where the mist maker is." Nina stated.

"Doesn't that mean we should go back and go to where Marco and Sean went to?" she asked in concern. "They're in big trouble!" she added. "Turns out to be like that, good grief, we must turn back now." Scias confirmed.

"…wait, guys. Sean stated that our direction also holds a big mana energy, right?" Nina stopped the two from going. "Yeah, so?"

"I'm picking up a blazing sight of mana energy… not far from here—no, it's coming this way!"

Scias got surprised and he quickly pulls Nina away from her current position. In matter of seconds, Scias finally feel the mana energy flowing greatly from someone. Shortly, they're greeted by an unknown creature.

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman," said the creature in distorted voice. "Are you people lost?" it asked kindly, but its voice made the kind intention into terrific. The creature lands on the ground. It was flying beforehand with its wings beforehand. Scias then casted a tiny fire on his palm to light up what's in front of him, from there Nina and Aily got terribly shocked.

In front of them stands firmly yet menacingly, a demon. Its head takes the shape of a human head with short grey hair and red sclera eyes with its skin tore in half revealing its skull with sharp jaws. There's only a single demon horn on its forehead. The demon wore a menacing dark grey cloth with a small skull on it. A pair of large bat wings soars from its back.

"Y-You…!" said Nina in horrified voice. "W-Why are you here?!" Aily shared the same emotion.

"My, my… if it isn't the Princesses of the wind kingdom, Meridia." The creature realized the face of the twin sisters. "It seems fate has set out for both of us to meet again, eh? Kee-hee-hee."

Nina saw it coming here, but she didn't expect the big mana energy would source from a powerful demon. "You are… one of the demon generals…

…Dantalion!"