It was frustrating dealing with displacement flowers. While it was feasible to use them to move from one location to another, most of the places they sent people were death traps. The forest had designed these flowers to teleport intruders into dangerous places. For the past seven days they had been here, they remained put, refusing to move. Seras wanted them to recover their strength before they continued moving. More than that, she wanted to mentally prepare them for the Hanging Paths. For the past few days she had scouts spread out, searching for displacement flowers within a hundred kilometer radius. Some of them had found the flowers. Some had not returned. And some were better off not returning. They were the unlucky ones who returned corrupted and full of rot, becoming monsters themselves. She was not shaken. It was only a matter of time before they encountered corruption anyway. She had been optimistic in hoping they would avoid that until they reached the Demon Continent. It was mentally jarring for the expedition force to have to kill members who had fallen to corruption. The Evil Forest was a death zone, yet it was mostly a forest. Of all the death zones, it was documented to have the lowest possibility of corruption, a low of about 73.6 percent chance. Which, factually speaking, was considered low. Although people did not actually get corrupted often, the reason was simple. You would be dead long before that. Seras flipped through a page of documents, her fingers tightening on the parchment as she bit her lip. They had found a displacement flower that would allow them to cross over several regions of the forest and reach the Hanging Paths. The only issue was the one guarding that path was a… dragon. Dragons were powerful creatures with great destructive power. Their scales were hard and difficult to damage. They had a deep understanding of magic, powerful regenerative abilities, and robust souls. Add that to their monstrous intelligence and cunning and it became clear why they were the apex of all species. Dragons had no natural predators, as far as Seras knew. That was indeed true, though what she knew about dragons was very little. What she did not know was how ancient dragons were as a race. The first dragons were the True Dragons, long lived and ancient. These dragons were born at the peak of the primordial omniverse. They were born roughly around the same period as the Old Gods, with only four of them in existence against all the Old Gods who were born from different ideas and concepts. They were naturally outnumbered. Despite having limitless potential, they were not allowed to grow, forcing their strength to remain at an upper limit where they were a nuisance to the Old Ones but not strong enough to overcome them. This was their equilibrium. A stalemate. When other races were born, dragons were already there, or at least the initial four. These four created all other dragons, intentionally or unintentionally. All dragons existed because of them. The dragons in this world were no different. Perhaps that was why they were not classified as part of the goddess races. What Seras did know was how capricious and dangerous dragons were, especially if you entered their territory. The most known dragon in the world was Ashergon, and he had many titles that boasted of his horrible magnificence. This dragon had laid waste to cities and countries, and the world could only endure. Seras shook her head slowly as she tried to recall everything she knew of dragons. Whatever it was came in fragments from myth, legend, personal experiences, and hearsay. Yes, she had experience. She was there during the Battle of the Burning Plains when Ashergon had attacked the demon and goddess race armies in the middle of their battle. Why… Because he was having a nap in a mountain two days away from the battlefield, and the noise was annoying. The world was consumed by flames. The heavens were choked by smog and ash. The wings of the dragon thundered across the sky, and the two warring armies shamefully had to work together to repel him. There were no victors that day. "I better be careful if I don't want our little force to be eliminated." She placed a hand in her hair, fingers dragging through the strands as she exhaled. "I would prefer not to encounter this dragon personally. The best course of action would be to sneak through his region…" Of course, that was not to say she could not kill a dragon. She just did not know if she could kill this one. If its rank was too high, it would be a disaster. She shook her head and stood up, leaving her tent. She crossed through the camp as soldiers saluted, which she responded to with curt nods. Her stride was calm and measured as she walked towards a large tent. When she opened the flap, she found a squirrel and a raven in the corner. These two creatures did not look like much, but their aura revealed Fourth Class advancement. Apart from them, there were three women in the tent. A knight in armor made of shattered black ice lingered in the shadows of the tent. A woman with a somewhat wild side held a bone sword loosely over her shoulder. And of course, the last one was none other than a violet haired young woman. Seras could not help but sneer. After all, the reason they were all here was none other than an unconscious young man lying on a bed in the tent. She really wanted to lament his popularity with women. Sadly, he was still unconscious after the last battle. "We'll be moving out in a day. Hopefully he wakes up before then." Seras said with a calm tone, arms folded. Renata nodded, gently touching Damon's head. "He'll be awake by then…" With those words, Seras glanced at him one last time before leaving the tent. She was certain he would be awake by then. Her footsteps slowed outside. "Hmm… am I worried about him…" That was an unusual feeling for her. At most he was entertaining, a means to find amusement. Then why was she feeling this way? She shook her head. "I'm overthinking this…" ***** There was a long road. This road stretched for many thousand kilometers. It was one of the many roads built during the Demon Wars. When wars were fought, the battle required many steps before the actual fighting. It was not just about finding the enemy, it was about getting there as well. For that reason, logistics was the lifeblood of war. Actually, logistics was the lifeblood of the economy as well. But it was life and death in war. It was the difference between victory and defeat. For that reason the roads were built. This allowed soldiers to march while saving just enough strength. It made it easier to bring machines of war and carry supplies. The ground thundered loudly from the sounds of thousands of footsteps. From where he stood, there were hundreds of banners from many different noble houses. As far as the eye could see on this road were countless soldiers marching. Cavalry, infantry, mages. Along with them were carriages and large magic tech constructs of war. Long towers with large crystals containing defensive spell arrays. Automatas. Magic artillery. Cannons. In the sky were airships, metallic monstrosities armed with weapons and carrying soldiers and command structures. Flying magical beasts accompanied them. Damon sat in the shade watching all this, or rather Damon sat under a tree watching all this. By his side was a woman wearing a white hood. From her figure, she was without a doubt a beauty. She was his company here today. "The empire is really moving full swing. Looks like they really intend to invade the Demon Continent." Lilith spoke in a calm, clear voice as her gaze followed the marching army. "You'd think after failing every invasion of the Demon Continent they'd give up by now. I really have to admire their persistence." she added, almost mocking. Damon enjoyed the gentle breeze under the tree, eyes half closed. "I wouldn't be surprised. They are, after all, very proud people. That, and the temple has a problem with demons. They wouldn't stop their invasion anytime soon…" Lilith sat down next to him, leaning her head against the tree, her shoulder brushing his. "That so… except the demons were the ones who declared war this time. This might look awe inspiring, but trust me when I tell you this, our high ups are shaking in their boots. They are uncertain about the future as we are. Even the temple can't guarantee anything. The goddess is silent… or has she ever spoken to them before…" Damon closed his eyes, trying to enjoy the peace. His shadow clone rested here while his main body remained unconscious. For the first time in a while, his attention was split. "The goddess probably sees this world as just some safe box to keep her stuff. Us being here isn't really that important to her. Thinking we have any value to her is self righteous and delusional, but…" he paused, a faint smile forming "I'm fine with that. We don't have to be important to a god when we can be important to ourselves and each other." Lilith smiled at him, shaking her head. "That's some growth there… you deserve a reward." She leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. Then she stood up. Taking out a key, she inserted it into the tree, and a door formed in the bark as it slowly opened. "Let's go… we have work to do. If the Temple wants to attack the Snake Temple, why not do the same to them…"