Drog 'Yes, master. It is me, we were attacked.'

'Attacked? By who?'

Drog 'Soldiers, mages, and priests.'

'Soldiers, meaning the king's troops?'

Drog 'No, these were different. They wore shinier armor.'

'But they are still humans, how did they beat you?'

Drog 'The priests used a banish spell. If I wasn't tied to Blitz I would have been sent back to hell.'

'Wait, would that spell have affected Ruby as well?'

Drog 'She is a spirit so probably.'

'Damn, they lost the two best fighters to one spell. How many enemies were there?'

Drog 'Less than a hundred at the start. I killed at least ten before the spell hit me.'

'How long ago was this attack?'

Drog 'A few minutes before I got here?'

'How long has it been since the night I fought the soldiers?'

Drog 'A week I think. I don't pay much attention to time.'

'Well, that settles it. It is time to get out of here and go save everyone.'

Drog 'What if some are dead by the time you get there?'

'If I can't save them then I will just have to settle for avenging them.'

Drog 'I am all for killing those priests!'

'Can you manifest again?'

Drog 'Not for a while. A week or two maybe.'

'Alright, guess it's just me and Bones then.'

Drog 'Bones? You mean that skeleton in armor?'

'Yes. Wait, how could you tell he is a skeleton?'

Dorg 'I am a demon, I can sense it has no soul.'

'Oh, I guess that makes sense.'

Drog 'Although I am curious how you managed to tame a skeleton.'

I start telling Drog what has been going on down here while I am packing things back into my pouch. I tell him all about the trials and the rewards and finally the Orb of Arkat.

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Drog 'What? Why didn't you keep it? We could have ruled this world with it!'

'I have no interest in ruling the world.'

Drog grumbles and says he is going to sleep, but I know he is just sulking. Even though he is annoying sometimes it is good to have him back. But now is not the time for that, I need to get out of here.

After doing a walkthrough to make sure I didn't miss anything I pack up my hammock and put it in my pouch. With everything stowed away I head over to the barrier, it is finally time to leave. First I enter the void, then I start preparing myself to slash the barrier.

Drog 'Wait! Just how strong are you? What rank are you now?'

'I am rank three now, I am quite a bit stronger than I was.'

Before Drog can make anymore comments I activate demonic assault and slash the barrier five times in rapid succession. As soon as the last slash hits I activate dash and dive through the hole in the barrier before it can close. I hit the ground on the other side and roll to my feet, then I turn and look back at the barrier from the outside.

Final Trial Complete! Reward: DP +100 Hp +100 Str +50 End +50 Int +25 Wis +25 Cha +25

First Clear Bonus: Luck +10

*DING*

Congratulations! You have unlocked the special stat Luck!

'Wow, nice stat boost! Another new stat? I guess this was supposed to be a parting gift for the new god or something.'

As I watch the barrier starts shrinking down around the trials, then everything starts dissolving into white light. The light then starts drifting upward, when I look up I see two stars absorbing the light. One star is white and the other is black, those must be Seronia and Krenocia.

Watching the two stars I quickly notice the light from the trials is not being split evenly. Krenocia looks to only be taking about a quarter of it while Seronia absorbs the rest. I guess Krenocia is trying to make Seronia stronger so she can control the Orb of Arkat.

It makes sense though, even if I defeat the demon invasion there will still be more demons on the main continent. The ability for humans to have levels is the best bet of winning in the long run. Although, personally I'd rather have Krenocia be stronger since she is the one keeping me alive.

Then again, anything is more strength than she had when she summoned me so it shouldn't really affect me. After thinking that I turn my back on the trials and head up the tunnel. The tunnel is fairly open so I run for five minutes to reach the end.

'Ah! It is so good to see the sun again!'

No time to enjoy it though, I turn west and start running. The problem is Drog is with me so I can't home in on him, I try but I can't sense Ruby either. I try to sense Mericel but I don't have that kind of connection to her.

'Drog, can you guide me to where the fight was?'

Drog 'No, not really. It is a huge sea of grass with no real landmarks.'

'Then I will have to try to cross their path and track them using scent I guess.'

It only takes me about ten minutes to reach the road, seeing signs of fighting I can tell this is where me and Ruby attacked the soldiers. That means my group's trail should be north of here, so I cross the road and run north-west. Once I find their trail it should be fairly easy to catch up, they would have been taking it easy with so many freshly freed slaves.

'Drog, you left the morning after I failed to come back. About how much distance did you cover before the attack?'

Drog 'At first we moved really slow and only covered about thirty miles in the first two days. After that we picked up the pace and did about twenty miles a day.'

'So, somewhere around a hundred and ten miles to a hundred and thirty?'

Drog 'Yeah, that sounds about right, master.'

That is more distance than I was expecting to have to cover. The battle will definitely be over by the time I get there at this speed. I am trying to think of a way to cover the distance faster and not paying much attention to my surroundings.

That is why I run right into the group of human soldiers without realizing they are there. I stop in surprise and look around, I am surrounded by kingdom soldiers. As far as I can tell there are over a thousand, my guess is it's the group from the north and the survivors of the group we attacked.