[King Darius's POV]

The day for survival for Red is almost over. I dropped him off at the supposed "Forest of Death".

that was regarded as one of the most dangerous places to be on this continent, due to the constant tribal war between the monster species inside. I checked on him the first 3 days before heading back working my duties as a king. Though I may have a duty as a king, occasionally I would have a crystal orb to see his progress. Everything looks fine.

Until, I got the news when I was back in the castle, that a monster appeared in the Town of Lymbard, another small town, located west of the forest. The townspeople have requested more priests to come and treat a mass outbreak of poison wounds.

The town has always been protected closely and guarded tightly due to it being so close to the forest. Thus the guards there were all very strong, capable of subjugating a dungeon if they need to. But there was a monster that appeared and poisoned a mass amount of people. Feeling uneasy, I got up from the meeting room and left. My knight did the same and left with me.

"Your Majesty?!" My royal subjects asked as they got baffled at my sudden action.

While leaving, Seren followed me from the throne room, demanding to know the reason for my sudden actions.

"Father. We are conducting an annual noble meeting. Do you think this will reflect well on our end if you suddenly just left without any explanation?"

I ignored her and proceeded forward to my armory.

"Father! Stop. This is important to us. You might not like the mundane task but that doesn't mean you get the right to just leave in an important meeting, no matter how strong you are."

I stood still, after hearing what Seren said.

"Aria, Stop the princess from moving one step forward."

"As you wish, your Majesty."

My knight stood in front of Seren and blocked her while I continue walking forward to retrieve my gear.

"Father!"

"I'm sorry." As I mutter softly under my breath, leaving her in the distance.

Before leaving, I remembered that Red has his mask on. Maybe it was used to protect him from the world he came from. I ordered one of the maids to go retrieve it from his room. However, all they could retrieve was a charm that was a smaller version of the mask. I took it, kept it in my pouch, and left for Lymbard.

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There are a couple of ways to reach Lymbard. Normally people would have to leave the desert to make a big round to reach the Lymbard. But the fastest way ultimately is still to cut through the forest going straight to the entrance. But it would take at least 2 hours to reach through the forest.

"I have a very bad feeling about this." As I raced against time rushing toward the woods. As I passed the woods, the bodies of the monsters can be seen everywhere. Some were mutilated and decapitated and there were some that were eaten. I started second-guessing myself, was it the right choice to have thrown Red here for training? It was the forest of death, I wanted to see how far could he push himself. Did something go wrong?

Just as I was pondering what happened. Suddenly something started glowing in my pouch. With the speed of the horse going fast and me concentrating in front, I couldn't tell what was blinking until something spoke.

[.....Thou....]

"What the? Am I hearing things?"

[....Thou need to hurry...]

I heard someone speaking but I couldn't quite make clear where is it from.

[In thou's pocket.]

My hand reached out to my pocket and from there I picked up Red's charm.

"Was that you?"

[It's a surprise, that someone else other than Red could hear me, thou must really be strong.]

"What's happening with that disciple of mine."

[Thou mean our disciple.]

"That brat, he didn't tell me he had a master."

[No worries, thou are doing a good job. I am replenishing my strength so we can return back to our world. So do whatever thou want with him. I think thou are a master at thy's craft.]

"I'm flattered. So what's wrong with him." I said while trying to focus on the road ahead.

[I am not sure. But he is affected mentally. I could feel it even from here. Normally his emotion is relatively calm. But it's erratic now, similar how thou would call 'sending a chill down thy spine'."]

"I'm on my way," I replied, pushing the horse to move faster.

Rushing forward, the mysterious being suddenly informed me.

[Halt. I sense something towards the east of you.]

I looked at my ride, seeing a pile of rubbles gathered in that area. Curious, I used a skill.

[Aura Detection]

A Detection Skill.

Using the mastery over Aura, able to sense the User's surroundings.

Like a water droplet dropping on a still lake. One Vibration is all it takes to reveal the unknown.

Status Effect: The clearer the detection, the higher the mastery.

Scanning the terrain, I found a remnant of magic located near one of the mountains. Leaving my horse tied to a tree. I went ahead to investigate. There it was, a Runic inscription cast on the mountain. Whatever this was, it was meant to keep something sealed in here, never to come out. As evidenced by the different items inside.

"They were conducting a Magic experiment here but something went wrong. Causing them to seal whatever was here to damnation"

[That would explain the Different auras and spiritual energy of the dead here.]

Surprised, I turn to the charm and ask:

"You could sense the spiritual energy? Only either a sage or spirits can see traces of it."

[Don't worry too much about it.]

As the more we investigate, I found a journal hidden in the corner of the room. It was recordings of the experiments.

The test was conducted by the Kingdom of Lindbergh in an attempt to deploy a fully-intelligent monster to do their bidding for them. About a Century ago, the 3 major kingdoms were at constant war with one another trying to fight for control of the continent.

In an effort to boost their military powers, they thought it was a good idea to enslave Intelligence monsters to fight for them to reduce casualties. So the experiment took place when their war hero managed to capture a baby monster. A Manticore.

A legendary creature no one has ever seen but was known for its curiosity and violence.

For the next 5 years that it was imprisoned, it had to undergo various tortures and experiments to achieve results. But it was a failure as the Manticore refused to Cooperate with them. Until they dwelled on the magic experiment.

The results were great. The Manticore really did as he was told. But it was a ruse. The magic that was done on the Manticore worked but not in the way they wanted. It gave the Manticore a sort of magic, that charms the target he chose. Bringing out the worst in them. These led to a fight in the experiment ground and the ultimate accident. But no one knew that it was the Manticore who instigated the fights except the researcher who wrote this journal. Because of this, the Kingdom of Lindbergh deemed it too dangerous and ordered it to shut it down. Sealing the Manticore, in hopes it would never find their county and destroy it.

[Look's like the Manticore found its way out.]

"The Manticore. A legendary evil creature of the myth. To think it would appear here."

[Look's like our disciple went off to fight it.]

"Let's not waste any more time." As I said, mounting on my horse, going full throttle towards Lymbard.