“Are you even sure we are going the right way? I can not help but get the feeling that we’ve been going around in circles for some time now” Suna felt chills creep down her spine as she observed her surroundings.

The sun’s light was strong right on top of their heads. It gave off a warm glow which should have made the day incredibly hot. But the air surrounding them was cold, almost like a wintery touch and it seeped right through to Suna’s bones.

“This should be the way but I get what you mean as well. This place feels different from the forest around us. Not to mention, this big open field looks out of place inside the forest” Nao examined as well.

The elder demoness was on alert, her eyes scouting for any enemies that might appear. The Siren from earlier had already confirmed the presence of one unknown creature in these parts so it was not a farfetched idea to think of this place having more.

“This place gives me the creeps. You think so as well, right Maria?” Suna asked as she turned to the side of the river, only to find no river in sight. She looked back but could not see anything either.

But Suna had been so sure that she had been walking at the river bank this whole time. How and when had they lost the river? And why had Maria not said anything?

“When did we lose sight of the river? I just saw Maria swimming in it not even a minute ago” Nao walked toward Suna as well, her gaze looking around for any sign of flowing water. There was nothing for miles, not even backward.

“I think we should track our steps back a little. We should not get separated in a place like this” Suna advised and the pair turned back.

But no matter how much they walked, they seemed to not see any sign of water. The grass and bushes around them also seemed to be getting bigger and it created a weird illusionary sensation inside the pair.

The grass to the right of the pair rustled which instantly caused the pair to be on alert. The moment of the grass indicated that the creature inside it was huge in comparison. Nao took an attacking position and slashed at the incoming animal.

Her blade instantly met and served the head of a rabbit. The creature hissed at the pair but it did take his last breath soon as well. The size of the rabbit was far bigger than the pair had ever seen.

“I’ve never seen a rabbit-like this, Look at those fangs. They’re as huge as my fingers” Suna took a look at the rabbit and poked at those exposed fangs the rabbit had.

Instantly, the body in front of her moved and tried to take a bite out of her hand. Suna was lucky she had managed to dodge at the last second but she still felt threatened by the rabbit.

“It came back to life? Is it a rabbit vampire? But they are no longer supposed to exist” Nao whispered as she observed the shaking rabbit. It seemed to have recovered from his death and his glare proved to be lethal.

The vampire rabbit had been a creature-class threat during the beginning of the last demonic war. They had been created by Trishula, a likely candidate to win the war, and had led to the first alliance during the last war.

In the end, Trishula had sworn his allegiance to the previous demonic king after he had been bested and his vampire rabbits had been killed off. To think that one, or perhaps, some of them had survived was a big deal.

“What should we do? It will not go down by any means” Suna sounded frustrated as she fended off the attacking rabbit once again. It was not a problem for the pair yet but they still had energy.

If the fight continued for long then they would have no choice but to be on the defensive after a while.

“The only way to kill one is to drain them of their life force. We have no means of draining the life force except using Maria’s chains. We need to capture it somehow” Nao tried to think of any rational solution they might have.

These monsters were a threat to be reckoned with during the last demonic war. They could not be allowed to reach Maria because it would be another disaster on their hand.

“Hey. So, I might have an idea but I won’t be able to do it a lot. I can lock him into my other dimension for now but I’ll need your help to lure it into the trap” Suna explained and Nao had to admit that it was a good plan.

The only plan as well since they were short on time and resources. Maria could have gotten in a tone of trouble while they had been trying to deal with small fry.

“Tell me what to do and I’ll help you out” Nao replied before she fended off the attack of the rabbit. The little bugger was fast but not too strong which Nao could use.

Nao used her strength to lead the rabbit after her as Suna prepared her trap. Nao had to divide her attention between Suna and the rabbit which made the fight unnecessarily tough but it did pay off.

“Now. Lead him to the toward me and jump” Nao followed the instructions and jumped when Suna asked her to. The rabbit tried to follow but it was a few steps too ahead to not have fallen into the trap.

It only took a fraction of a second before the rabbit disappeared into the shadows and Suna collapsed against the tree she had been leaning over.

“It’s such a pain when you have not prepared pre-cast this spell. You got away safely Nao?” Suna sounded exhausted and Nao felt worried. She had not thought that the spell would take out this much from Suna.

“Yeah, I’m fine. You can have five minutes to rest before we leave to find Maria” As much as Nao wanted to head out right this second, she had to consider Suna’s situation as well. The girl looked pale and sweaty.

The magic she had cast might have taken out more from her than either had realized at first.

“No, it’s alright. We can leave now” Suna sounded confident but her body did not reflect the same confidence. It was safe to say that her collapse was quite predictable and left Nao in a bind.