Roughly two hours passed.

Ellis sat cross-legged on the floor, his back leaning against the stone wall. His expression was slightly hazy. It was unknown what sort of thoughts filled that head of his.

Grisella leaned against him, her head slumped against his shoulder. At some point, she had fallen asleep. The day’s excitement was apparently too much for her to handle. She clutched her magic broomstick close to her chest.

For whatever reason, the Majins had not taken it away from her. Ellis was unsure as to why. Maybe they did not realize its true nature, or maybe they just did not care? Who knows.

He was honestly more surprised that Grisella could sleep even after all that had happened, and especially considering what was about to happen. Earlier, she went on about the importance of time management, and how it was best to make every second count, but Ellis was not convinced. He did not know whether she was telling the truth or if she was simply lying in order to cover up for the fact that she was tired.

Either way, Ellis shamelessly indulged himself.

He could feel her warm breath tickling his skin. It caused his heart to lurch in excitement. Ellis was a simple man. Rather than ancient artifacts or large-scale monster battles, he much preferred small, intimate moments like these.

Just as he was about to drift off into a world of fantasy, the sound of footsteps suddenly reached his ears. He looked over towards the source of the noise.

A large black silhouette stood directly outside the cavern entrance. Due to the glint of the sun, Ellis was unable to make out any of the silhouette’s finer features, just that the person possessed a wide back and a slender build.

The rest of the prisoners soon noticed the ominous figure. As if by instinct, they instantly scurried back into the depths of the tunnel. The cave prison was far larger than what Ellis originally imagined. The squirrels hid in a deep alcove nearly fifty meters underground.

Hal-Wrynn was reluctant to leave, but Alma forcibly pulled him along.

In almost no time at all, the only ones left were Ellis and Grisella.

“Open the door.” A gravelly voice echoed through the air. A moment later, two Majin guards quickly swung open the wooden bars.

The dark silhouette entered the cavern. He was not alone. There were two other Majins behind him. Judging by their attire and their deferential attitude, they were probably something synonymous to members of an elite knight squadron.

By this point, Grisella had woken up. Her hair was slightly matted, while her gaze was still a bit muddled.

“That’s the leader of the campsite,” Grisella whispered to him. “At least, I think it is. Unlike everyone else here, I can feel a bit of mana circulating within his body.”

“…”

Ellis did not respond. He kept his eyes fixated on the unnamed Majin boss.

Without the sun’s glare, Ellis was able to make out a few more details pertaining to the boss.

He was a Majin of great height. The top of his head scraped against the roof of the cavern. His blue skin was a shade slightly darker than the others. A single horn of less than six inches protruded out from his scalp.

Yellow eyes, a bald head, and an ugly face. That was the leader of the Majin Campsite.

… To be honest, he gave off a very ‘mob-like’ aura. It was the sort of enemy that Wight and the wolves usually handled. He did not have the qualifications to make the ‘true boss’ (Ellis) act.

The Majin stood directly in front of them. He briefly scanned the room before his beady eyes landed on Grisella. A faint smile twisted his lips. The Majin bent down and grabbed Grisella’s face. He smushed her cheeks together while he casually inspected her like a piece of meat on a chopping board. All the while, a slightly amused expression colored his face.

“…”

Ellis’s expression instantly darkened. In that moment, boiling anger rose from deep within his chest. His breathing grew heavier, the blood in his body rushed to his head. He had played along earlier with Grisella’s plan mostly for amusement’s sake, but Ellis was not a very tolerant man, nor did he want to be.

He clenched his fist. For someone of that caliber, all he needed was a single punch.

Just as he was about to stand up and attack, Grisella did something so completely left field that it took the wind away from his sails.

“Ptooey!”

She spat directly into the Majin’s face.

“…”

“…”

Silence filled the cavern.

The Majin guards that accompanied the Boss looked tense. Their hands tightly clenched onto their weapons, but they did not dare to move. Like good little dogs, they silently waited for their orders.

As for the Majin Boss himself, a wad of phlegm trailed down the side of his cheek. One second, two seconds, after ten seconds passed, he suddenly smiled.

It was an ugly smirk that turned the ugly Majin’s face even uglier. Two rows of shark-like teeth jutted out from a malformed mouth. He stood up and released Grisella. A long green tongue slithered out from the crack between his lips and lapped at the spit on his face.

Fucking hell, he’s a pervert. Such a thought suddenly floated to Ellis’s head. Judging by Grisella’s outward disgust, she too felt the same.

“Good, I like you.” He stated with a slight pitch in his voice. He turned to one of his henchmen. “Bring her to my tent tonight.”

One of the other Majins hastily nodded his head. “Yes, I’ll be sure to properly prepare her for you, Sir Illias.”

“Hmm.” The Majin Boss, Illias, grunted in acknowledgment. He then turned to Ellis. After a few seconds of silence, he commented, “You look like a homunculus.”

“…”

Illias was a well-traveled man. At least, by Majin standards. Although he mainly resided within the northern part of the continent, away from the kingdoms of man, he did occasionally have his fun. This was especially the case during his youth. For one, he was once a part of a Demon army that pillaged a northern kingdom. That campaign had been one of his only few interactions with the human race.

Still, contrary to the short time he had spent there, it had left quite the lasting impression on him. One thing that really stuck to him were the artificial servants that the humans utilized.

Dull and lifeless. It had been a unique experience. He even managed to get his hands on what they called a ‘comfort doll’. It was good but nowhere as good as a real woman. The dolls simply did not react the way he wanted them to.

Illias furrowed his brow and frowned. The young man in front of him certainly looked like an archetype example of a homunculus, but something wasn’t right. Even with his grey hair and pale-white irises, there was something about him that still felt off.

“… the homunculi I am familiar with are not this… life-like.” He thoughtlessly muttered to himself. After a few seconds of silent contemplation, the ugly Majin dismissed his thoughts. The world was large. Lull was a diverse place. Grey hair and white eyes may not be exclusive to the homunculi.

“Kill this one.” He stated as he emotionlessly pointed to Ellis.

“Yes sir!” The other Majins immediately reacted. They brandished their crude weapons and took a step forward. Their eyes glowed with killing intent.

“Wait, not here.” the ugly Majin abruptly stopped the situation from escalating too far. “Do it near the bonfire. Sacrifice his spirit to the Ancient Demon Kings.”

“…”

Hearing his words, Ellis did not know whether to laugh or to cry. You want to sacrifice the Demon King’s son to the Demon King? What sort of shitty coincidence is that?

Ellis inwardly shook his head.

As Illias turned around and proceeded to walk away, the grey-haired youth suddenly stood up.

“Oh?” The Majin Boss stopped and turned around. He raised a curious brow. He looked at Ellis with the same sort of amusement that a man looking down at a waddling toddler would have. Ironically enough, Ellis viewed the Majin much in the same way.

There was a certain something about this guy that just rubbed Ellis the wrong way. Maybe it was the constant arrogance on his face, or maybe it was the way he had treated Grisella. Heck, it could even be the sole fact that the Majin was taller than him, he did not know, nor did he really care.

Regardless, there was only so much that he could stomach. Ellis did not plan to let this bastard go.

He slowly approached the Majin.

Grisella immediately understood his intentions. “Ellis, don’t!” She shouted and reached out for his wrist. Unfortunately, she grabbed nothing but air. She looked up at him with pleading eyes, but Ellis ignored her.

To the outside world, the scene looked like the typical cliché of a wife trying to stop her reckless and foolhardy lover.

“…”

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Illias narrowed his eyes. For the first time, he felt that there was something wrong with the current situation.

“What are you trying to do?” He growled out, but again, Ellis did not respond. Instead, a pair of dull white eyes stared emotionlessly at him. An unknown pressure leaked out from Ellis’s pores. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to send shivers down the Majin’s spine.

Illias tensed his shoulders. Fear. He had felt this same sort of feeling numerous times before. It was fear. An ugly scowl contorted his face. He shook his head. This damn runt can’t even reach my shoulders, am I supposed to be afraid of him?

He refused. He did not acknowledge his fear!

Illias scoffed and waved his hand forward. “I changed my mind,” he solemnly spoke to his guards, “kill him now.”

In response, the two Majin warriors rushed forward. Ellis briefly glanced at them with placid eyes. He did not bother dodging any of the oncoming spears.

CRASH!

The wooden weapons accurately hit their mark. Unfortunately, they were not strong enough to pierce through his skin. Instead, they casually bounced off his body like a rubber ball hitting the pavement. Before the guards had the chance to recover, Ellis took action.

Like a pair of fired bullets, his hands whizzed through the air and clamped down onto their necks. The two Majins fiercely struggled, but his grip was like steel.

CRUNCH!

Ellis clenched his hands. A few seconds later, two bodies crashed down onto the floor, dead.

“…”

“…”

Silence filled the air. The heavy pressure that seemingly filled the air grew several times thicker. Cold sweat dripped down the back of Illias’s neck. After a moment’s pause, Ellis lightly walked over the corpses.

Without a doubt, it was a blatant act of rebellion! The Majins were a cruel race. As the Leader of a Majin Army, Illias was well known for his cruelty and short temper. Normally, the Majin Boss would have already retaliated by now. In fact, from the very start, such a thing would have never even happened. Unfortunately, today was different.

Rather than anger or contempt, Illias could only feel fear.

He opened his mouth to say something but Ellis did not give him the chance.

In a blink of an eye, the distance between the two rapidly shrank. Ellis lightly jumped up and drove his fist straight into the Majin’s face. A dull boom quietly echoed through the cavern.

A small fist covered in tiny bits of red popped out on the other side of the Majin’s head.

Ellis retracted his hand as he fell back down to the ground. Half a second later, another corpse collapsed onto the floor.

“…”

“…”

“Ah,” someone uttered from outside of the tunnel.

Ellis looked over, just in time to see two shocked and obviously frightened guards staring blankly into the cavern. Their bodies trembled. Their first instinct was to run and call for help, but before they could do so, Grisella acted first.

She quickly pointed a finger in their direction and spat out something unintelligible yet oddly profound. Almost instantly, the guards’ eyes glowed purple. The fright and fear vanished from their faces, only to be replaced by dull, almost lifeless expressions. As if nothing had ever happened, the guards straightened their backs and flanked the cavern entrance. They stared out into the distance with blank eyes.

“That was a close one,” Grisella breathed out a sigh.

Burdened by curiosity, he couldn’t help but ask, “what was that?”

“A simple enchantment spell,” she explained. “Although they look a bit stiff, it allows me to control their bodies like this.

As if to demonstrate, one of the guards suddenly turned towards the cavern and waved his hand.

Ellis widened his eyes in surprise. After a moment’s pause, he asked, “have you ever thought about doing that to me?”

She shook her head. “No, of course not.”

Besides, she was confident that such a thing would have absolutely no effect on him.

“More importantly, why did you do that!?” She practically shouted. “You actually killed him! What about the plan?!”

He awkwardly scratched his cheek. “He was pissing me off.”

“That’s not a good enough reason! You promised that you’d stick to the plan. This is definitely not sticking to the plan!”

Ellis shrugged his shoulders. “I promised that I’d try, but… I don’t like doing things that I don’t like. And that guy, I did not like him.”

“You…”

Grisella did not know how to respond. After a few seconds, she breathed out a heavy sigh. The witch of the forest was not dense. She could make a guess as to why Ellis took action like that.

A long time passed with neither one of them speaking. Eventually, Ellis interrupted the silence. He let out an awkward cough and spoke. “Well, now that I ruined your plan, what should we do next? Personally, I think we should just destroy the entire camp.”

“Wait, don’t be so hasty!” Grisella hurriedly responded. “The plan can still be salvaged…”

Ellis did not argue with her this time. After killing the big boss, he felt somewhat satisfied. At the very least, he was a lot more willing to play along.

Besides, it’s not as if he saw absolutely no merit in Grisella’s plan.

An encounter with a calamity-class monster was also not something he could avoid. As long as they continued up this river, then surely, he’d run into even more monsters of similar strength. Ellis needed to know if he had what it took to reach the world tree or if he was in over his head. Rather than recklessly challenging one in its own territory, it was more beneficial to fight it within a more controlled environment.

“How are we going to continue the plan?” Still, he had to ask, “I don’t know if you noticed or not, but their boss is pretty dead.”

“We know that, but they don’t,” she spoke. “Right now, only the two guards standing watch outside saw, and they are currently under my spell. If we play our cards right, then we can still do this…”

Grisella glanced up at him. “You need to go out there and distract them. Keep them occupied until the calamity class monster attacks.”

“And how the hell am I supposed to do that?”

She paused for a moment. After five seconds of silent thinking, she said, “go get executed.”

Ellis’s expression darkened. “You want me to get executed!?”

“Pretend! Only pretend to get executed.” Grisella hurriedly responded. “Just go along with it. I’ll find a way to hide the bodies, so you do your best to drag out the time.”

“You…” Ellis was about to argue, but at the last moment, he held himself back. On second thought, being executed might be a bit of fun. At the very least, it was definitely bound to be a very… unique experience.

***

As soon as he stepped out of the cave, dim light filled his eyes. He looked up. Soft rays of white descended from the canopy. Although it was a bit difficult to make out, it was probably around noon. They had been captured sometime around mid-morning.

Isn’t it a little bit too early for a human sacrifice? Usually, he imagined such things taking place during the dead of the night, maybe underneath a blood-red moon or a meteor shower. Doing it during the day felt like a huge disservice not only to him but also to the being they were going to sacrifice him to.

Still, he was not in any position to argue.

Ellis briefly looked around before he quickly made his way towards the center of the campsite.

“Halt! What are you doing!” A blue-skinned Majin ran up to him and called out. Of course, the Majin wasn’t actually speaking to him, but rather to the person behind him.

Before he left, Grisella casted another enchantment. It was a spell that allowed her to remote control one of the guards. After all, it would be weird if Ellis just wandered the campsite all by himself.

Come to think of it, why didn’t we just wait out in the tunnel? Such a thought suddenly came to mind, but by this point, it was already too late.

“I was told to bring this one to the bonfire.” The hypnotized Majin spoke in a monotone voice. “Sir Illias wants him to be sacrificed.”

“Sir Illias is it?” The other Majin furrowed his brow. “Where has he gone?”

After a few seconds of tense silence, the guard responded, “…Sir Illias has returned to his tent.”

“I see.” The other Majin nodded his head. “Then, I will take it from here. You still need to guard the Prison.”

The hypnotized Majin responded with a nod before he turned around and walked back over to the cavern. His moved like a robot, but fortunately, none of the surrounding Majins noticed.

Like that, Ellis was passed around like a hot potato. The new watchkeeper tied his hands behind his back.

“Move it!” The Majin pushed him forward. Ellis stumbled but otherwise stayed on his feet. The two of them slowly made their way to the center of the campsite.

After a few seconds, he couldn’t help but look up. Even from a distance, he could still see the billowing smoke rising high up into the canopy.

Are they really going to chuck me into an open flame? Ellis subconsciously frowned. He wasn’t fireproof. This had been proven time and time again whenever he confronted a monster with an even remotely fire-based ability. His skin had the tendency to crisp up and burn like overcooked bacon. Fortunately, it would heal just as fast.

Just as his thoughts began to wander, the Majin abruptly stopped. Without hesitation, the Majin threw him to the floor.

Ellis hit the ground with an inaudible thud. Dust billowed around his face as he broke out into a fit of strained coughing.

He looked up. He had arrived at his destination. More specifically, he had arrived at his supposed execution ground.

Someone walked towards him. It was a tall Majin with broad shoulders and a pot belly. Ellis immediately recognized him. It was the Majin captain who previously captured him.

It’s this guy again… Captain Redrick furrowed his brow.

To be honest, he really didn’t want to see this grey-haired youth. The uncomfortable sensation from earlier still lingered in the air. Unfortunately, in front of his men, all he could do was smirk and put on a front of bravery.

After a quick explanation from the Majin that had brought Ellis here, Redrick immediately understood the situation. Still, he was hesitant.

Kill him? Do I even have the strength to pull off such a feat?

No, don’t think like that! This is a direct order from the Leader. I can’t mess up now!

Redrick fiercely shook his head. All of it was an illusion! A trick of the mind! This guy’s about to be executed, who cares what happens to him!

Eventually, he finally managed steeled his weary heart.

The Majin Captain circled around Ellis like a shark who smelled blood in the water. After a while, he shouted towards the gathering crowd. “The Leader has bestowed us with a sacrifice! Today, the spirits shall feast!”

The crowd erupted into raucous shouting. Ellis immediately felt the assault on his ears. It was like being stuck in the middle of a loud mosh pit.

“As per tradition, we will slice off his head and dump his body into the flames!” As if to emphasize this point, someone poured an oil-like substance into the bonfire. The flames immediately intensified. They burned and danced, almost as if to mock him.

Slicing off heads…. Is that the angle they’re going for? Ellis inwardly commented to himself. It feels a bit half-assed, no?

Unaware of his condescending thoughts, someone dragged his body over to a crudely constructed wooden platform. There, they forced him to kneel down. Someone else tied his hands behind his back with a length of coarse rope.

Without warning, drums suddenly began to beat. They vibrated through the air while the Majins around him chanted something in a language that he couldn’t quite recognize.

… boom, boom, boom…

With each passing second, the noises only grew louder. The sound of the forest was drowned out by their heightening fervor.

More people poured oil into the flame. The fire climbed higher and higher, while the smoke took on a shade of tar black. All the while, the Troop Captain led the crowd along like a priest at a Sunday mass.

Ellis couldn’t help but furrow his brow. It really was just like how Grisella had described it.

There were many types of demons that existed within this world. Those with blue skin, those with ugly faces, those with red skin, and those with beautiful faces. There were also those with wings, tails, and claws. Diminutive but scheming, strong but dumb, the ones with antlers on their heads and hooves on their feet. Large noses, pointy ears, twenty-seven pairs of eyes, you name it.

The qualifications of what constituted a demon were varied and often times confusing. The Trolls and Ogres that he sometimes encountered in the forest also qualified as demons, depending on the definition you defined them by.

There were even some who considered demons to be nothing more than monsters, while there were others who considered humans and the other races of man to be nothing more than a different type of demon. Really, the line was very blurry.

Most Demons lived in the north, on a peninsula separated by a row of jagged mountains. It was a large mass of land that could qualify as a sub-continent. Many people simply regarded that place as the completely separate entity known as the demon continent.

Blue Majins were the crude and ugly type. This particular species of demon weren't very well known, mainly because they usually lived within the demon continent. Going by Grisella’s conjecture, something major had happened, big enough to the point where it drove these guys out of their territory.

What’s more, if a sub-species as home-bodied as the Blue Majins were driven out, then many more might have experienced the same thing. It was a mass exodus.

Of course, Ellis could hardly care about any of this right now. He glanced up.

The dim world was illuminated by the orange glow of the bonfire. At some point, the Troop Captain had gotten his hands on a crude sword. The edges of the blade had long dulled, while the metal had already rusted. Still, it was big, like a snowboard attached to a metal pipe.

“May the spirits of the nine founding Demon Kings watch over us!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. “Accept our humble offer and give us the strength to slaughter our enemies!”

With that, he swung down. The rusted blade screeched against the wind. The sword rapidly approached Ellis’s neck, but right at the precipices of impact, something… unexpected occurred.

BOOM!

A loud explosion shook the campsite as a cloud of dust suddenly ballooned out in the distance.