*Whoosh–!*

Almost half a day had passed since we made our hasty escape from the scavenger city, which had long since disappeared behind the dusty horizon of the barren lands.

As we got closer to the ancient battlefield between the two worlds, the faint fog of demonic miasma around us grew increasingly restless.

The environment also became far more unpredictable, as strong gusts of wind whipped through our surroundings, while dark clouds covered the sky directly above us – occasionally crackling with bright flashes of lightning.

....*step*....*step*....*step*....

The twin red suns of the Demon Realm were nearing the distant horizon, but our steps never paused.

We had to get as far away as possible from the scavenger city of Gamor, unless we wanted an angry tribe of Hobgoblins pursuing our trail by tomorrow's sunrise.

"Haah...haah..."

Possessing the body of a young Devil, I faced no problems in traversing through the uneven lands of the Demon Realm, but unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the Lycan woman.

"...haah...haah...ugh..."

By now, she was barely managing to trudge along my side, panting and groaning heavily from exhaustion.

With the full-body cloaks forcefully whipping about due to the strong winds, the stamina drain she felt was severe.

"You want some water?"

"...haah...ye-yes..."

With a sigh, I pulled out a skin bottle from my inventory space and handed it to her.

"Here, take it."

Quickly snatching the bottle from my hands, she started gulping down the water inside it like there was no tomorrow.

While she was busy emptying the bottle, I swept my gaze across the apocalyptic landscape that lay ahead of us.

Straining my eyes for a short while, I spotted a huge sandstorm slowly brewing in the distance, along with a few other 'anomalies', causing my eyes to narrow a little.

"You can sit down and relax. We are going to rest here for a while before we continue further ahead."

Turning back, I gestured for her to take a seat on one of the boulders, before handing her a piece of cloth to wipe her sweat and plopping down on a small boulder myself.

"Ah, thank you..."

Yera accepted the cloth with a tired expression on her face.

But as soon as she spread the cloth open, she froze in place with her eyes wide open.

She looked at me with a questioning expression for a moment, and after seeing me nod at her, hesitantly retracted her gaze and started wiping down her sweat silently.

'It's nice to work with smart people.'

No more words were exchanged between us for the next few minutes.

'[Uncanny Form]!'

While Yera continued to wipe her sweat that didn't show any signs of stopping anytime soon, I took off my cloak and relaxed my upper body on the surface of the boulder.

This time, [Uncanny Form] had transformed my look into a pale and weak-looking demon while maintaining the original flair of my appearance, significantly lowering the mental strain required to maintain it.

"Haaah...I'm dying, big sis! I can't go on anymore!"

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A high-pitched boyish voice suddenly came out of my mouth, as I was laying on top of the boulder like a dead fish.

Well, it wasn't like my normal voice was much different from my current one, but the adult tone in my voice was gone, replaced by a whiny little brat's one.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Yera's face twisting a little before it went back to normal.

"Just...just rest for now. W-we will get...to a city very soon..."

She managed to utter a completely random line haltingly, but her awkward response ultimately served its purpose.

"Gahahaha! Why don't you guys come with us, then? Even the closest city is quite far from this place, you know."

'Finally, they're showing themselves...'

I jerked my body slightly in response to the unknown voice that suddenly started talking with us, before sitting up with a surprised expression.

Three fat ogres surrounded us in a triangular formation, sporting a wide smirk on their faces while each of them clutching onto a large machete.

"Ohh, it seems we accidentally startled you, little brother. Sorry about that."

"Gahahaha!"

"Your habits are terrible as usual, Urgus. Stop playing around and get it done quickly, eh."

One of them who was behind me stepped forward and politely apologized with a smirking face, while the other two either laughed, or told him to hurry up.

This was the Slaver gang that Yera had been warning me about since earlier.

"Big sis....B-Big sis, w-what do we do?"

I looked at the Lycan woman with a hint of anxiety on my face – the most appropriate emotion for a boy of my age, and stealthily told her to start her act with my eyes.

She took a deep breath, before looking at the ogre that was coming closer to us with a stern expression on her face.

"Wait. You don't have to harm us. If you let us go, we will give you all the valuables we have. Otherwise, my young master's family will not let you off the hook!"

Hearing her words, the ogre's smirk widened even more.

"Hear that, lads? We got ourselves a big fish this time! Gahahaha!"

"Little missy, we can always get all the valuables we want from your corpses. No matter which big-shot family you're from, how would they know what happened to you so close to the cursed lands?"

"Tsk, tsk. Just give up. It will be much easier for you guys that way..."

Yera's face visibly paled when they mercilessly crushed her hope, but she didn't let up just yet.

"No! What we have on us right now is too meager for you guys. There's nothing to be gained by doing this. Just think it through!"

"Hmm, but I think we can get a pretty nice ransom out of your young master's family, if they are as impressive as you made them sound. Also, you're not half bad yourself. How about this: if you surrender now, we won't kill you. Of course, we will still ransom the boy."

She gnashed her teeth, frustrated by the ogre's dismissive tone.

At this moment, I stepped closer to her and whispered into her ears.

"Just go with what I say. Ask any questions later. And make sure to not spoil my plan."

Yera stiffened for a moment, but still gave me a curt nod in the end.

'Now, to make my performance believable for these three idiots...'

I suddenly grabbed into the Lycan with my trembling hands, showing off my teary side profile to the ogre stepping towards us.

"B-Big sis....please, l-let's just surrender. D-Daddy will definitely s-save us, so let's w-wait until then..."

"W-what...?"

Because of my sudden close contact, Yera seemed a little flustered. But I didn't pause my act.

Mustering up the most teary and cute look possible, I looked up at her face and delivered my final line.

"I-I don't want big sis to get hurt, so p-please wait for daddy to come!"

"O-o-ohh..."

Her eyes trembled, while she stuttered out a broken response.

"Wow....what's this?"

*Whistle~*

"...The kid knows his stuff, eh?"

The peanut gallery let out amused exclamations from the side, impressed by my impeccable performance.

"Well, well, well. You heard your 'young master'. Now get down on the ground and throw those daggers our way."

Yera was finally brought out of her daze by the smirking ogre's words, before she sent an angry glare towards him.

"Get on with it, and don't try any funny moves. The safety of your 'young master' depends on you."

Unfortunately, the ogre wasn't having any of it. He just brandished his large machete in a threatening way and told her to obey his commands silently.

Gritting her teeth, Yera took off the twin daggers hanging from her belt and threw them away, before kneeling down on the ground.

"You too, little boy. Do the same thing your big sis is doing... Hey, you guys! Shackle them up quickly. We're going back before the storm hits!"

"Yes, yes..."

As I also knelt on the ground with a terrified look on my face, the leader of the ogre group stared at the brewing sandstorm in the distance.

The other two ogres came forward with rusty chains, shackling both my and Yera's limbs tightly so that we couldn't make any sudden moves.

"Let's go!"

""Ohh!""

With the dark clouds above ominously crackling with thunder, two hulking ogres dragged us along the edge of the ancient battlefield in chains.

*RUMBLE~!*

But before we could reach their base, the rumbling crimson sandstorm from before rapidly caught up with us.