I arrived at the fort during a siege from some kind of imbeciles that didn't realize that the fort was set on a mountain. The terrain was treacherous for even the most sure-footed mount, let alone more than ten people. Yet these imbeciles were coming up by the hundreds, some slipping and causing the ones behind them to fall. So the amount that actually made it to the walls was less than five.

I dropped onto the wall beside Alissa who was watching arrows and spears being tossed down like the need for money wasn't a factor.

"Welcome back." Alissa said as she crossed her arms.

I motioned at the enemies, "where did they come from?"

"Somewhere from the north. This is the third attempt but as you can see it is unnecessary deaths."

I nodded and glanced at the new faces around Alissa. "These guys are?"

Alissa looked at them with contempt. "New recruits."

"So how's the demon invasion going?"

"Fucking bad, we lost nearly hundred men since we started going into the caves. Let alone those that were crushed in the ocean." Alissa pointed at the gathering of enemies that managed to bring a ladder up.

A large fireball splattered into their midst and it stunned me. Not the enemies burning or exploding but the way Alissa as a warrior casted a spell. There was a red circle around her finger. It happened much too fast for me to make out what was inside but I bet it was the runes.

"Oh, so we are going to pull out or keep wasting lives?"

Alissa gave me look that said I was dumb. "Of course not. Everybody wants the resources inside the demon plane, the amount of deaths ain't a factor to the Emperor." She gestured at the tents that are spread out in open squares of the city.

I clicked my tongue, "who is in charge since we lost so many men?"

"The first General's son. I forgot his name but he is here under the orders of the Emperor."

Oh, so I didn't have to do much heavy lifting.

Alissa threw a smile at me. "He supports the first prince, by the way."

I knew nothing about what she was talking about. "Where is my dragon?"

Alissa shrugged, "probably in my room avoiding all these useless nobles."

I forgot how promiscuous bored nobles could be. Clicking my tongue, I flew to Alissa 's room and found my dragon girl sitting on a pile of cushions eating grapes like royalty. Guess I expected too much.

She didn't even get up, just looked at me with those big red eyes like I was interrupting something. That shit only made me mad.

"Let's go." I turned around and walked towards my room which was right beside Alissa.

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"When did you get back?" The girl ran behind me, still smacking on the grapes.

"Just now."

"Oh, are you going to stay this time?"

"Maybe. Let's see what this demon plane thing about when Alissa gets back." I dropped onto the bed and dragged a pillow over my face.

I must have fallen asleep the moment I covered my head. Cause when I woke up, the dragon girl was playing with my hair while looking at me like a lost puppy. It made me wonder if she was still thinking of killing me.

"Someone seems to be sleeping really well." I rolled over to see Alissa with her arms crossed as she leaned against a wall.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up. "Yeah, I was tired and then the flight over was hectic. Winterstorm and all."

"Mhmm, well we have an assignment. So gear up and meet me at the portal." Alissa fled out the room quicker than I expected.

"She has feelings for you but conflicted. Humans are so amusing. Why would you want her when you have me?"

I threw a glance at the prideful dragon and wondered why her approach changed. Yet, it didn't bother me for long. I was already moving off the bed, heading towards the grand room. I might have been an Itty bit curious about how so many people could die when me and Alissa fought our way out with two burdens.

There were about forty men and women dressed in all kinds of armor variations. Alissa was standing in front of two men huddling around a small table with a 3d map. I walked over and noticed that they done some amazing work mapping out all those tunnels.

"Glad you could join us. We will be breaking into teams of two, you will be with me plus ten guys. We are clearing this area." She gestured at a couple tunnels leading off into a foggy area.

"The team before us said that there are four legged spiders that spit fiery webs or some kind of acidic component. Plus the caves are dark enough that any light source is a dead give away." The pretty boy with a bow said while pointing at sections close to the foggy area.

Alissa grabbed my arm and pulled me towards a team of twenty. "The right half is yours."

The right half was all guys while the left was all girls. Say it ain't so.

"Okay, let's go." I led the way to the portal with Alissa behind and the two segregated teams in line behind us.

The smell of sulfur and that dry earthiness was disturbing my nose. The fact that it was completely dark didn't help the uncomfortable situation.

"How long are we going to be on this side?" I asked Alissa as we traversed the dark corridors that look more like visuals from a hell fantasy.

"About three days according to this artifact. Why? You scared?" Alissa waved something like I could see as she mocked me.

"I'm scared that I won't get to see your pretty smile again."

I felt the wind brush past my face. That silly duck tried to hit me! Haha! "I don't know why you are against our mating. It is God's will."

"My God doesn't approve of sleeping with animals." Alissa retorted.

"But what if your God doesn't find out."

"The princess already claims you as her consort."

That is interesting and new but not surprising. It's so hard being this pretty. Ah, looking better than all the females around you sure is hard.

"That doesn't mean we can't make like nobles and frolicking in bushes."

Alissa didn't speak and I stopped as I felt a strong magical presence that was quickly coming our direction. The closer it got the more you could feel the vibration in the very earth. That scary thing was probably a very short but heavy fucker.

"Formation!" Alissa yelled.

I didn't know what these guys expected to do when they had to wear artifacts to see in the dark and that was just different grades of dark. Even as a creature with a strong dark affinity this darkness wasn't something I could penetrate with my own eyes.

Yet, with my sword domain, I felt something that resembled hundreds.. maybe more than that as those things were covering the ground, walls, and ceiling as they scampered towards us.

"Those are some mighty big rats." I said as a burst of black flames surged out my palm. It spreaded from me and flooded the entire corridor, rushing further downward.

"Black flames that produce grey light? That's new." Alissa sounded rather platonic.

"Um, let's see what you can do then." I stopped my fire and watched as a large care circle appeared before Alissa.

It vanished the next second and I was about to mock her for choking. The next second, a large gush of hot wind whipped my hair back like a goddamn flag on the fourth of July. Followed closely by bright white flames that made me pull up a shield.

When everything calms down and the heat stops trying to dry out my skin.

"So why didn't you do any of this the first time we came to this place?" I asked out of curiosity.

Alissa coughed as she moved forward. "I couldn't hear what you said. My ear was ringing. Let's move!"

"I said, why didn't you…"

"My God! My ears!" Alissa shouted over me.

"That's so childish of you."

"Oh, I can hear you again."

"If you can hear me now, then why did.."

Another mighty bomb went off and the same shit happened. I really couldn't believe that she really fucking did that just not to say, she just learned how to do it.

What a sour cookie!