610 Entry into the Base of the Enemies, Discovering a Stomach Churning Scene (1/2)
The sun had set about two hours ago. And now the surroundings were very dark for most people to be able to traverse the forest-covered mountains.
For Demons and creatures of the dark, however, it was the best time to roam around freely.
And Mark was not an exception to this.
Mark patrolled around the cave and securing that there was not a single threat nearby. He then returned to tell everyone about his plans while he grabbed a bite of dinner.
”I'm going to scout the situation. Teremillio, you're coming with me this time.”
Mark said, slurping some cup noodles.
”Okay.”
Teremillio agreed without hesitation. His wives were worried, but at least they understood the reason as to why Mark needed him.
Their target was Teremillio's homeland. No one in this group other than him was familiar with its structure. Of course, for the long time that he left that place, some things were bound to change. At least, he would know which areas they needed to check.
After eating dinner, Mark made another round of patrol before bringing Teremillio away.
Everyone that was left was worried about the two. It was not surprising since Mark and Teremillio would infiltrate the enemy base.
In any case, this was not the actual rescue mission. The goal of the infiltration was to scout the situation first. Of course, if it was possible to snatch away Teremillio's mother in one go, why not?
Still, Mark told Mei to pay attention to her ring. He would contact her if things went awry.
”Okay, you ready?”
Mark asked Teremillio, who was now sitting on his shoulder.
”Why do you have to ask, of course! Not!”
Teremillio grumbled. Who would be ready in this situation? Several decades had already passed since he left his homeland. No one would be ready to return by being forced because of the current circumstances. He just had no choice. To secure the safety of her mother in the now crumbling world, he needed to return and take her away.
Among his family members, his mother was the only one that treated him as a family. The others more or less bullied him for being a halfbreed, although it was their father who was at fault.
Mark did not say anything else as he opened his wings and soared towards the night sky. Teremillio's insecurities were suddenly blown away as he held onto Mark's clothes tightly.
”Hey! I almost fell! I'm not like Amihan who can fly!”
”Then, hold on tighter. It's not my problem if you fall for being careless. Also, close your mouth if you don't want to bite your tongue.”
Teremillio wanted to complain some more, but as Mark accelerated further, he almost bit his tongue.
After leaving the area that was filled with poisonous plants, Mark and Teremillio entered the airspace above the mountain.
Mark asked. Even though it was already night time, Mark was not confident that no one would see them in the sky.
”Fly until midway the mountain. Our kingdom usually had detection magic deployed around our kingdom. It's more clustered at the foot of the mountain. This way, our kingdom can monitor who and how many people entered and exit the mountains. The Black Duendes have a lot of enemies. They are always cautious.”
Mark followed Teremillio's instructions. He even flew as high as he could so that he would be hard to see from below.
It did not take long, and they landed where Teremillio said they should.
So far, there were no problems.
From there, they continued on foot. Unexpectedly, there were people roaming the mountain. And all of them were...
”Demons huh.”
Mark murmured as patrols entered his range of detection.
They had to carefully thread up the mountain, and avoiding the patrols was not that easy. If not for Mark being able to detect them, they might have been caught already.
With all the trouble they had been through, they finally reached the other side of the mountain where they would be able to see the Kingdom of Black Duendes.
And there it was, situated in the middle of a valley encircled by several mountains.
”Is this how should it look like?”
Mark asked Teremillio, but no reply came from the Duende. It seemed that Teremillio did not expect this either.
The Kingdom of Black Duendes measured about the size of a large town, or maybe, a small city. As the Stone Fortress was also large itself, the size was not the issue. The problem was the appearance. A description that would perfectly fit its appearance was a Demon City in fantasy novels. It was medieval-like with a gothic twist.
The whole place was surrounded by tall walls, and at the center of the town was a huge tree wrapped around a castle made of stone. It was quite a sight.
However, looking at Teremillio's expression, it was not like this when he left this place in the past.
Then, it just meant that the whole structure of the town was influenced by the Demons, not only during the apocalypse. To fully develop a large town into something else was not easy. It should have taken several years.
It meant that even before the apocalypse, there was already cooperation between the Black Duendes and the Demons.
And it was not a good piece of news.
”Now, what are we going to do next?”
Mark murmured, observing the town inside the valley.
”Huuu, haaa...” Teremillio took a deep breath. ”Let me.”
At Teremillio's words, he started chanting a language unrecognizable to Mark. An then, he snapped his fingers.
But...
”Nothing happened?”
Mark said, looking around and at himself. All he noticed was Teremillio's magical energy enveloping their bodies.
”I cast it on us. You won't see anything.” Teremillio replied. He seemed to want to look smug but he had not recovered from the shock yet. ”It's magic to change our appearance to the eyes of others who see us. It will be easier for us to enter like this and we can't really show our faces either.”
”So, you have something like this all along.”
Mark said, still trying to see if he could spot any change at all.
”I'm still a Black Duende, alright? We are masters of trickery and illusions.”
”No, what I mean is you that you have something like this but never used it before.”