Royal Princess of Blood

The group ventured deep into the dark cave, a magic light emanating from Taneva’s hand used to illuminate the area. They would have preferred to walk on the surface, it would have been more straightforward and they could have moved faster. However, walking on the surface at the moment would be riskier.

They had neither the time nor the energy to face an entire army of demons — another encounter might cause them their deaths of those who could die. They had flying units, which meant that they might easily find the crew. Best to keep a low profile for now until they get farther from the demons. Taneva doubted that Estelia’s magic wiped a lot of the enemies. The ravagers could be wiped out, but the imps were a different case. Their power to recover was just that absurd, might as well be almost comparable to his immortality.

Hartwin directed a worried look at the princess in Velar’s arms. She was sleeping so peacefully, so small and fragile.

“The princess almost died…” Hartwin said. “To go this far, knowing the demons won’t kill her anyway. For a time, at least.”

“Perhaps for her, it was better than being captured by those demons and ending up dying in the end,” Taneva said. “But her condition is worse than ever, it’s baffling how she is still alive. That kind of damage she suffered is usually enough to kill a person.”

Velar sighed. “I still couldn’t protect her, prevent her from putting herself in danger.” He just wasn’t strong enough. In the end, despite being her knight, one who should protect her, he was the one who ended up being saved. He just wasn’t enough. If only he was stronger, perhaps he wouldn’t have failed in his service.

“She is strong,” Hartwin said with a small smile. “So much strength inside that fragile body. Admirable.”

Taneva groaned. “Her nature confuses me. Her upbringing shouldn’t make her a person like this.” He had researched about her, and observed her surroundings. The way she was treated and so on. And this tenacity she had, he couldn’t figure out where it would come from. What made her become like this? It was so strange. And that was setting aside her skills in fighting.

“Well, people often mistake gentleness and kindness for weakness,” Hartwin briefly chuckled. “Perhaps she had always had this strength in her, no one was just able to see.”

“... Perhaps.”

They walked further into the cave, and it was surprisingly peaceful. No monster just yet.

“Are we heading in the right direction?” Velar asked.

Taneva nodded. “Roughly, but it doesn’t deviate too much. It’s tolerable. What I worry about is where this cave ends.” It could be an exit, or a dead end, or even perhaps an exit that deviated too much from their destination.

“What if it ends in a dead end?” Hartwin casually asked.

“Hm…” Taneva looked around the cave walls. “This place seems old. I can imagine monsters having already dug an exit somewhere a long time ago, or just formed naturally. So I believe we’ll eventually find an exit.” Surely in the countless years this cave existed there was an exit somewhere, naturally or artificially made. If it didn’t, that would absolutely cause an issue, and they might have to make their own exit. But not for now, they had to get as far away from the demons as possible and not attract attention.

As they went further in, Velar came to notice that the princess felt to be warming up.

“Taneva, the princess is heating up.”

Taneva let out a tired sigh. “That was fast. A fever is not something we can fix with healing magic. Just put a wet cloth on her head or something.”

Hartwin quickly came up to Velar. “Let me.” He pulled out a handkerchief and poured water on it. After a squeeze, he gently placed the wet cloth on her forehead. Then he sighed. “She’s not in a good place to be suffering like this.”

Having a fever in a cave with a bad environment, and couldn’t even get a proper bed, plus having to be on the move, was not ideal for someone sick. This was the kind of thing that would make a condition worse. At the very least they could get a sterile environment, but that was impossible at the moment.

“It’s a miracle she’s still breathing…” Hartwin murmured.

When they started moving, they heard a commotion ahead, and some squeal of some sort of creature. As if there were fighting nearby. They continued ahead, and Taneva advanced. The pair of Cursed Children were clashing against a monster.

It was two meters tall and five meters in length. Its skin was black, and it had four legs with sharp claws. The mouth was somewhat round with dozens of pointy, sharp teeth. It was furless, and its eyes were red. The moment Taneva came close, it seemed to be disturbed by the light he was emitting. Because after all, it was a creature of darkness, one that was not used to any light, likely because of the dark of the cave being its natural habitat.

The Cursed Children dug their claws into the monster, ravaged it all over, blood splashed in the surroundings. It didn’t take long before the monster fell to the ground, unmoving.

Hartwin winced upon seeing it. “Eegh, the princess was right, they are incredibly ugly.” Disgusting-looking, in fact. The skin was wrinkly, and the face was just hard to look at.

The noise, the monster’s shriek, however, appeared to have attracted the other monsters in the cave. They looked around to see the same kind of monster appear from the darkness and faintly into the light. Everyone could hear their low growls.

Hartwin quickly drew his blade. “I see four of them.”

Taneva flourished his spear. “We can’t afford to slow down. Slay them all quickly.”

***

The demons had recovered and regrouped. Turned out they lost a couple of dozen imps in the magical explosion. It would seem you wouldn’t completely need holy magic to get rid of them, you’d just need an incredible amount of firepower, and make sure none was left to regenerate from. But still, there were still dozens of imps that remained. And a lot of them were capable of flying.

“To think she’s still escaped despite us outnumbering them,” Trigel muttered to himself. That was their only easy chance right there, and they almost got her. They were so close. But of course, being cornered would make them desperate, and thus they took a desperate action. Still frustrating that they got away.

They didn’t know where the goddess was heading exactly, and whether they were close or not. That was why they had to get her as soon as possible. But in these mountains, small pathways, tight crevices, and many covers, it wouldn’t be easy.

It would be troublesome if they found a cave to take cover in.

Trigel took a deep breath. If she gets away, it will be over. For millennia they had been trying to free their master, they had to win this. They might not get another chance otherwise.

A giant demon walked up behind him. “We going yet?”

Trigel turned a glance at the ravager. “Ongrus, feeling better now?”

“My body still aches, but moving around will be completely fine. What is your plan of action?”

“Scour the entire region. We don’t know where they’re going, so it’s going to be hard to guess the direction they’re going.”

“With our number, it shouldn’t take long.”

“We won’t know for sure.” Trigel turned around to the remaining army behind him. “Spread out and find the goddess! Do not engage, it’s important that you convey your discovery first to everyone and me. Search the pathways and find caves — search these caves, for they may be hiding inside. Walk the earth, fly in the sky, cover as much ground as you can. Give any kind of signal if you find them, launch a fire into the sky or something. Now go!”

And with that, the demons dispersed and ran through the mountainous region. Those with wings flew in the sky.

“I’m going too,” Trigel said. “Help in the search.”

“Hmph, of course.”

Trigel spread out his wings and flew in the sky.

***

The dark cavern was filled with a disgusting odor of blood and ripped flesh. And this stench lingered in this closed space with nowhere to go out anytime soon. Tiny squeals of monstrous beasts of the dark echoed before fading away.

The area was filled with corpses of monsters of various kinds, all equally hideous. Taneva casually walked over the corpses and covered his nose.

“This is why I hate caves, the smell gets trapped.”

Hartwin flicked the blood off his rapier. “And as expected, there are a lot of monsters here. A bit too strong for my liking.”

Hartwin was not one to face off against such a good amount of monsters all at once. And they were stronger than the usual monsters back on the continent. Taneva was fighting on his own, and Hartwin always partnered with Velar to defeat monsters on these lands. But right now, Velar couldn’t do anything.

“How far have we reached? It feels like we’ve been moving for hours.” With no light and sun to see, it was hard to tell precisely how much time had passed. “Are we still heading in the right direction?”

“Yes,” Taneva answered.

“Good… To think this cave goes this far.”

“Then there’s a good chance there will be an exit at the end.”

They continued onward. It was then that the three Cursed Children who went ahead came back, to everyone’s surprise. They reverted to their human form in front of Taneva.

“What’s up?” Taneva asked.

“There is a chamber up ahead, and there’s a massive monster. Just a warning, as it seemed threatening.”

Taneva nodded. “As long as it’s just a monster, we can get rid of it.”

They continued onward until they reached some sort of cavern. It was not that big, but it was big enough to contain the giant, hideous monster within. And it was ugly indeed. It squirmed like an octopus the moment it sensed the crew. The teeth on its tentacles opened up, and shrieks came out of them like pigs crying together. It was an abomination of nature.