Ray slices through a swarm of hornets as arrows fly behind him, striking down others all around him. As all the hornets lay dead on the floor Ray and Lilly then carefully removed their stingers so that they didn’t poison themselves. After that, Ray and Lilly set up camp near a tree and finally rested after a long day of travelling.
“How far are we from exiting the jungle?”, Lilly asked Ray as they chowed down on some food.
Ray stood up quickly and using his flames blasted up high into the sky, past the trees. As he hovered in the sky, the setting sun giving the sky a nice reddish glow, he saw trees all around him, however in front of him he saw the mountains in which Kens cave was located and behind him he saw the giant blue ocean.
Ray descended back down through the leaves and landed before Lilly.
“We should be out of here by tomorrow.”, He said picking up a piece of cooked lizard meat and digging in.
“great.”, Lilly said yawning, “All these bugs are biting me and its irritating.”.
Ray chuckled. He was eager to exit the jungle too, it had felt like ages since he had seen Ken, there's was so much they needed to talk about. Not to mention, Ray wanted to see how much stronger he had gotten.
After a good sleep and a few more hours of adventuring through the jungles Ray and Lilly finally made it out and continued their journey through the hills of the south of the human plains until they arrived at the dungeon that Ray had awoke in all that time ago.
“Alright the cave shouldn’t be too far from here.”, Ray said when suddenly a familiar voice called out.
“Ray? Lill? What are you guys doing way out here?”.
Ray and Lilly turned round to see Ken... Though he looked different, they knew it was him. He was now taller than Ray at about 6 feet tall, his black hair was no longer long but short, like he had cut it off. He had black horns that perturbed from his forehead and was absolutely jacked. Ray thought he had a great physique however Ken looked like he had been sculpted by the gods themselves, he still had the scar that the Orc lord had left on him though.
“You cut your hair?”, Lilly asked shocked.
“Y-yeah, Lee thought it would look better like this and be more practical in battle.
Ken looked at Ray.
“You’ve changed quite a bit haven't you.”, Ken laughed.
“Says you.”, Ray smirked.
“Yeah, I was expecting to evolve into an ogre, but apparently due to my unique monster status I evolved into an Oni, whatever that is?”.
Ray was shocked, if that was the case... Then Ken could evolve into something quite dangerous. Oni’s were demons, which means there's a chance Ken would evolve into one. If that was the case, he really would be a great help in this war.
“What were you doing here?”, Lilly asked Ken.
“I was about to go to the second floor and hunt for some wolves, for some reason those wolves taste better than anything on the surface.”.
Ray laughs, “YEAH, those wolves were something special, we’ll help.”.
As the group walked through the old dungeon Ken asking questions about how the kids were getting on and if they had gotten any stronger, he finally asked the question.
“So, what brings you guys back here so soon?”.
Ray and Lilly look at each other.
“Well, you see...”, Ray starts, and he proceeded to inform Ken on everything that had happened since they had departed.
“So, the reason those humans have been acting so strangely was due to a demon?”, Ken asked confused.
“Pretty much.”, Lilly confirmed.
“So, you down to help. There will be a meeting and a tournament held in 6 months. Also, I’m gonna be the representative for the allied monster force. But I want you to come too so I can introduce you to prove that you will be a huge help.”.
“Of course you can count me in, I’ll make sure to continue my training whilst also improving the strength of my forces in preparation. Simply tell me where you need us, and we will join.”, Ken says clenching his fists.
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“Knew we could count on yah buddy.”, Ray says grinning.
“Speaking of. How's everything going with your army.”, Lilly asks as they descend the stairs to the second floor.
“Great actually, some of our warriors have already evolved into Ogres whilst also we have recruited some monsters from other races. We're using Demilang as our united language, I've taught most of them the basics, But I’ll make sure to have properly taught them by the time the war comes so that they can better communicate with the others.”, Ken said proudly
“Smart, I wouldn’t expect anything less from my right hand man”, Ray and Ken laugh, “So how many men do you have now overall.”, Ray asks curiously.
“We now have 10 ogres, 30 hobgoblins, 13 orcs and 5 kobolds. We also have quite a few animals we’ve tamed, we have a pack of 20 wolves and 2 twin Headed wolves.
“So, 80? You've really been busy haven't you.”, Lilly said impressed
“Well, we didn’t expect a war, but I expected an impending conflict with the humans after seeing how they treated Lilly and the kids, so I’ve been increasing our manpower. I'm sure in 6 months we’ll have even more.”.
“Perfect.”, Ray says, smiling. This was better than he had expected. The monster force could prove to be a huge asset in this war.
The group finally arrived on the second floor.
“This is nostalgic.”, Lilly stated, as they looked out into the underground wasteland that they had once spent so much time in.
“Yeah.”, Ray said, also reminiscing.
“Alright, Let's begin the Hunt.”, Lilly said cracking her knuckles and drawing her Bow, however Ray and Ken had other plans.
“No weapons or abilities just straight hands?”, Ray asked Ken as they squared off against each other.
“Yeah, if we were to use weapons, I feel like someone would lose a limb.”, Ken laughed.
They both stuck their weapons into the dirt.
“Boys.”, Lilly said rolling her eyes and sitting on the floor a few meters away.
“What level are you now?”, Ken asked Ray
“137, what about you?”, Ray replied.
“116.”, Ken smirked.
The 2 squared off against each other, Lilly shot an arrow high into the air.
“When the arrow lands, the fight begins.”, she said rolling her eyes.
As the arrow descended faster and faster, they both readied themselves for the battle. And when the arrow finally landed, they darted towards each other, both incredibly fast. As their fist collide, a small crater is left at their feet.
“You’ve improved.”, Ray says.
“Ha. Though Ik this isn’t you’re top speed.”.
The 2 separate and continue their battle in close quatres, Ken throws a strong right that Ray ducks with an attempted sweep of Kens legs however he jumps, dodging the attack and goes for a kick to Rays face, however he catches it and pushes him backwards. As Ken lands on his back foot, slightly off balance, Ray darts towards, sinking his fist into his stomach, Ken is sent flying, skidding and bouncing off the floor, Ray darting after him. However Ken quickly regains his composure, he reaches behind him stopping himself on the floor with his hands, body levitated off the floor, legs tucked in. He then lashes out with a two-footed kick to Rays face that connects, knocking Ray off his feet however he flips and lands on his hands and feet in the Spider-man pose. Both stand up, smiling at each other, they had both been eagerly waiting for this day.
The pair charge at each other once again and engage in an intense hand to hand combat match. At times where it seemed like on had gained the upper hand on another the battle would even back out. Ken was determined to finally win against Ray whereas Ray was determined to not lose. The battle could have gone on for ages without there being a definite winner, however Lilly, who had been watching this go down had gotten bored and decided to interject, she fired an arrow towards the 2 who stopped to look over at her.
“YOU’VE BEEN FIGHTING FOR AGES NOW, IT WAS IMPREESSIVE AT FIRST BUT NOW I’M BORED. DIDN’T WE COME HERE TO DO SOMETHING.”.
“Your just mad that you didn’t get to fight.”, Ray mumbled under his breath.
“What was that.”, Lilly asked, eyebrow raised, fist clenched.
“N-nothing.”, Ray said smiling.
Ken chuckled; he had missed this.
And so, the group spent the next few hours hunting wolves and once they had gathered enough, storing most of it in Lilly’s new bottomless bag that could store even more items, they made their way back to the surface, towards the cave that Ken had been inhabiting.