A carriage was running on narrow, rocky mountains at a very fast speed.

-Thudk. -Thudk. -Thudk.

Two red horses were pulling the carriage and their brown-red hair were dancing with their rapid speed.

The one driving this carriage wasn’t bothered by this, as if he was accustomed to an even faster speed.

There was a strange frown on his face right now.

There was a thick silence on the road.

He had traveled many times on this path but, it was never this quiet.

Sound of wind blowing. Leaves dancing. Water running from the nearby river.

Sometimes energy beasts would jump before you unexpectedly.

There were a lot of different sounds of creatures.

At the very least, there are some sounds of them from the side every now and then. .𝙘𝒐𝒎

But… right now, it was very spooky.

The whole area was dead quiet.

Except the sound of horses running and rolling of wheels, there was nothing.

Even the air was dead calm.

Something was very wrong…

Inside the carriage, clenching my hand around my heart, I looked at mom and dad with wide, horrified eyes.

Everything was going perfectly fine until we entered the rocky mountain path.

It was quite noisy back then but then, voices started quieting down.

And, as the rocky hill started, everything was quiet.

Even the air seemed strangely heavy.

And, at exactly that moment, my heart suddenly almost jumped out of my chest.

This was a strange feeling as if my body was screaming for me to run away from here.

My face paled, and sweat ran down my back.

As they looked at me, they knew something was wrong.

Just a moment ago, we all were sitting comfortably, laughing at how dad was like a baby himself.

Even uncle, who chimed in between us every now and then was silent.

What the hell was I feeling right now?

Just then, dad stood up and jerked his head in front of us.

This was so sudden that even mom was surprised by this.

Dad narrowed his eyes, a strange atmosphere started to feel around him…

‘Bloodlust…’

I hurriedly grabbed his hand and mom did the same…

We both understood what was going around us on with this behavior.

He came back to his senses and looked at both of us, and sat down by my side.

Mom came and set on the other side.

“A demon…”

I mumbled under my breath and a cold shiver ran down my spine.

They are the enemies of all other races.

Known for their magical abilities, they are beings that always go against nature.

They destroy nature and make good places like this mountain into their disgusting base.

They are corrupted evil beings, they don’t have an ounce of feelings towards other races.

The only thing they seek is the destruction of nature and every being living inside it.

They only care for themselves and do whatever they want.

Power is everything for them.

You either serve some other demon with a higher power or get stronger yourself. That is what their life is.

They will do anything if it means they would get stronger.

They get stronger from death, suffering, and chaos.

And taking down a path connecting the main city and a small border town was not a bad idea.

Everything was ok on their side.

But why did it have to be now?!

Just when I was going to my new home?

Just when I was going to become a big brother!

Just when-

“Don’t worry,” dad held my hand a little tighter.

Mom also tightened her grip on my hand.

I released a long breath and held them back with whatever strength I can.

In terms of total strength, I was already much stronger than an average human.

At least as strong as a (Rank-1) knight.

The ranking of knights was different from mages where mages were directly ranked based on the (tier) of their Mana nucleus, knights were different.

Starting from (Rank-1) knight who holds exceptional physical abilities among normal humans.

If we say a normal human’s average stats are mostly 10 to 15, then a (Rank-1) knight has average physical stats around 25.

(Rank-3) knights can use the [Aura], one of the most powerful and common energies on the continent.

From there, it’s divided into classes like chess pieces.

(Rank-4) being Horse. They can not only coat the weapon with Aura, but they can also cover their whole body with it.

(Rank-5) being Tower. They can fire pure Aura like magic.

(Rank-6) being Bishop. They can materialize Aura into a weapon that they could control however they want.

(Rank-7) being Queen/King. They are as strong as an (Elder) magician in terms of power.

They all have their own special way of using Aura. It could be either creating a large number of weapons or a single powerful armor.

There were (Rank-8) and (Rank-9) but I didn’t know about them.

So, I was a strong and pretty boy.

I can help them if needed, and if they could let me.

I knew already that they won’t let me get hurt in any way but… I won’t, I can’t see them getting hurt either.

“I think they are just up ahead…”

Uncle spoke from the small window of the driving seat and slowed down the carriage.

“I will help.”

Mom and dad looked at me and sighed.

They can see the look in my eyes and they knew, I wasn’t going to back down.

They had to take me even if they didn’t want to.

It might be better to help them there than be here sitting inside some barrier.

“Stay close to us. Always.”

Mom was worried sick right now.

Everyone had only one concern on their minds right now.

Demons.

Whatever was out there was definitely a noble demon.

I haven’t felt their presence before but I could guess from the pressure in the air.

And, my heart was jumping inside my chest, god knows why…

This strange feeling was something that I only got when using my Origin skill.

Was there something wrong with it?

It was strange but, this wasn’t the time or place to think about things like that.

“Huuuu…”

Releasing a long breath, I nodded at dad.

We had something dangerous ahead of us.

The trip which was going to be a smooth, fun ride, was now going to turn into a bitter battle.

A bloody one.

‘And, that blood won’t be ours,’ I hoped as we exited the carriage.

Mom had the grimmest expression I had seen her make.

Things had turned out very ugly at a very wrong place and time.