A few meters away from the demon king’s castle, stood a group of ogres, beastmen, kobolds and trolls as they all watched the actions of a single man.

Tyler watched as the expressions on everyone’s faces changed drastically when they saw his hand pass through the barrier in front of him. He had half expected this, and could almost feel the changes to their emotions and their shock.

Although he was just as confused as the rest of them or maybe even more, while they’re able to come up with all sorts of crazy theories to who he was, Tyler himself knew for sure who he was and there was no reason why he should be able to do this, then again he shouldn’t be able to use magic and be as strong as he was, so who knew anymore.

Maybe the barrier was only for demons, maybe humans and other races could pass through it as well, actually that didn’t make sense, if it was something that simple, the five great families would’ve already figured it out. So what did it all mean, was he the only one allowed inside, did the barrier recognize something on him or was he just an exception, did that make him special or was he seriously no longer human.

Questions he had painstakingly pushed aside were now trying to weave their ugly heads back up. He sighed inwardly, he didn’t have any answers to these questions and wouldn’t get it from anyone here..

He repeated himself ones more, snapping everyone out of their daze.

“Whatare you all waiting for, you may enter.”

With a collective spark, they all snapped out their daze and Albert couldn’t help but smirk. Azar hurriedly got up from the ground, he was glad everyone was too focused on Tyler to notice the embarrassing sound he made when he fell.

He quickly got back on his driver seat and urged the rest of the carriages to follow behind. As the last carriage entered the barrier, Tyler walked in as well. He felt the usual sensation assaulting his senses and confirmed his guess. He got on the carriage, this time electing to ride up front with Albert.

They were only about 100 meters from the castle walls so it only took a few minutes to get there. If the six-eyed bulls had ran at full speed, it would have taken seconds, the sky was already dark and it was only because of the trolls that they had made it on time, otherwise they would have had to set up camp and spend the night in the plains.

Soon they proceeded through the open (fallen) main gate and into the outer ward. It was obvious none of the castle’s previous protection was active. With the carriages coming to an halt in front of the large arched double doors of the castle, Liz quickly got off her carriage and ran over to Ty.

“Um… May I take the healer to see my friend?”

For some reason she was now asking permission to enter the castle.

He was sure the girls must’ve been heading for the castle before they encountered what he now believed to be a powerful Tier 6 magic beast, based on the difference in the magic crystals he had received from the lesser basilisks and the Gray-War troll.

“…Of course, that’s why we brought them with us isn’t it?”

She was a bit flustered by his sudden response but didn’t have the time to think too deeply about it. She left with Erin who had just gotten off the carriage. Without further ado they entered the castle and headed for the 7th floor of the west wing and Tyler could only hope she remembered the way this time.

•••••••••

•••••••••

Tyler watched the ogres as they moved around awkwardly clearly feeling pressured by the massive and imposing castle, well all except Albert who just stood by his side like a loyal Butler. He was now getting used to it but it still felt a bit weird. Most of the kobolds were still passed out and the trolls just stood by the side quietly.

He remembered noticing what looked like a stable by the side of the castle previously, although he hadn’t gone out to confirm. It was a massive building that could not be missed, it looked like it must’ve been used to tame dragons or Monsters of that caliber, of course even for a fantasy world dragon’s were still just myths.

Tyler then walked over to Azar, the towering 7 foot giant that looked down on everyone like a king. He immediately dropped down on one knee the moment he saw Tyler approaching, ‘Huh, what’s with the continuous change of attitude’ Tyler thought as he stopped in front of him.

“You can use the stable in the back for the bulls and the rest of your people can stay in the rooms on west wing for now.”

“Ah… Er… thank you my Lord, not only did you save our measly lives but you even offered us lowly ogres a place in your castle, you have my eternal gratitude. From this day forth, I Azar Igna, chieftain of the red ogre tribe shall lift my blade only in the service of Lord… uh..”

“Ty, you can call me Ty, and you don’t have to do…”

“Yes Lord Ty, I will be your blade and my people shall be your servants.”

‘You can’t just sell the lives of your entire town to a complete strange…’ before he could complete his thoughts he saw the lineup of the entire town appeared suddenly behind Azar, and with fluid and practiced motions, they all knelt down on one knee swearing fealty to him, even the massively dumb trolls seemed to have been included in the plan and the leader of the kobolds stood in place of her people.

Their movements were so sudden, it stunned Tyler for a moment. It wasn’t just the adults, but the elderly, the kids, every single person that had came with him made one fluid motion in such perfect harmony that it rendered him speechless.

The sight was impressive and looks of determination in their faces was like a knife stabbing into his heart. He saw the looks of admiration in the eyes of the kids he had thought hated or were scared of him and his mind momentarily stopped working. It had taken quite a while to finish processing what had happened.

‘W – WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!’

••••••••

••••••••

Liz and Erin finally arrived in front of the large door that lead to the room she had previously left Rain unconscious body in. Liz opened the door and the view from within came into sight. She saw her friend laying on the bed still in her previous position, she wasn’t moving and Liz could tell by the colour of her skin that she was in a worse state than before.

They both ran towards her and Liz could not help but panic. She had great hearing and the room was deathly silent, yet, she couldn’t hear her heartbeat.

Arriving before Rain her heart sank, she wasn’t breathing and her skin was cold.

“We’re too late.”

Liz cried as she fell to the ground in despair. After so much effort, in the end it had all been for naught. The familiar feelings of guilt and uselessness were starting to overwhelm her.

“There’s still a chance.” Before she could even begin to process the large amount of negative emotions building up inside her, she heard the soothing and watery voice of Erin, which instantly calmed her down. Erin walked over to the bed and placed her hand on Rain’s heart, she couldn’t feel her heartbeat but she could sense a faint energy running through her body.

Her lifeforce. She could feel the very life within her soul slowly fading away. It wasn’t too late to save her, as long as her life force hadn’t completely been extinguished she had a way to help.

“I can feel a faint aura within her, but, since her heart has stopped, this greatly limits the methods i can use to save her… Right now, we need to move her into a body of water.”

“A body of water?”

“Yes… Although normally a natural body of water would be ideal, but, since her life force is still quite strong, even a bath would do.”

“Can we use the one in bathroom?”

“That should work, let’s move her”

As the two ladies tried to careful pick Rain up, wanting to take her to the large bath in the bathroom, they heard another voice in the room.

“I’ll help.” Tyler said as he walked into the room, he had rushed here after giving the excuse of being worried about Liz as he wanted to avoid the troublesome situation he had found himself in. Truth be told, he was actually headed for the demon king’s Chambers, aiming for the magic library, but had overheard Erin speaking, it seems they had probably still gotten lost as he was able to catch up with them after spending some time with Albert’s people.

The girls looked at him in confirmation and he walked over and picked up Rain. Either she was surprisingly light for a girl or he was now quite strong. He walked into the bathroom and place her in the empty bath as Liz hurriedly turned the water on.

The bath was filled in no time and Rain floated on the surface of the water lifelessly. Erin took off her robe and Tyler couldn’t help but advert his gaze. Her outfit was a little revealing and her assets were quite robust. She entered the bath and placed her hands on Rain’s head.

The mood changed drastically as she uttered a simple word. “Tranquility.” Tyler had never heard of the spell and from the looks of it, neither had Liz. The entire bath radiated an aqua-blue glow and Rain was slowly submerged into the water.

The air in the bathroom was cool but not cold, calm but not placating. It was an environment that they had never experienced before. The Mana in the air sparkled like fireflies as they slowly floated to the water in the bath.

This had been going on for a while now and Tyler was getting bored, although it was impossible for him to get agitated or even feel any strong emotions except, well, tranquil.

He knew he should be worried for the girl’s life but his mind still felt peace, all the slight and hidden pain in his heart seemed to be melting away. For the first time since he woke up, he felt peace.

Liz on the other hand, looked like she was being tortured, it didn’t seem like the environment had any effects on her. He thought about consoling her but knew he wouldn’t help. Just as his thoughts wondered about, the sound of splashing was heard.

Someone was gasping for air, struggling to breathe underwater, she jump out, she coughed frantically and it seemed rather painful as she tried to stabilize her lungs. “Rain!” Liz shouted in delight and relief, she hurried over to the bath and saw her friend panting heavily.

She looked better than she had been just minutes ago, her clothes had been torn in several locations during the fight and she had scratches and injuries in those location.

Now however, there was nothing. Not only was she practically brought back to life but all her wounds and even fatigue had been taken care of. Tyler saw this beauty alive and felt actual relief. He didn’t know them and he hadn’t even spoken to the elf yet so he had no idea why he cared so much. Of course he wouldn’t want to see anyone die for no reason but in the end, they were still demons.

Rain slowly recovered her senses in the arms of Liz and Erin was getting out of the bath, with her clothes wet. Tyler promptly decided to excuse himself as he saw the figures of both girls. Although Rain didn’t have the size to match Erin, her figure in a torn skintight outfit was a little too much stimulation for him to handle.

Her short black hair stuck to her face because of the water, preventing Tyler from getting a better look at her features which led his eyes to wonder around her body.

He immediately walked out of the room with the excuse of giving the girls time to rest and catch up. As he left the room he saw a figure walking down the corridor, it was Albert who must have been looking for him.