Slave Company Chapter 89 Vision Of Terror

-Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom…

The sound of Ogra biting, chewing and swallowing could be heard as she sat beside the campfire eating meat skewer after meat skewer.

Ogra’s voracious appetite has never before been this enormous as she swallowed down anything she could get her hands on.

Avian who was behind the makeshift grill didn’t mind though as he worked just as fast. Grilling and spicing the meat precisely without excess or insufficient spices.

The size of each individual piece of meat was exact and uniform while golden oil dripped from the skewers igniting the flames giving off a mouthwatering smell.

 

Of course meat wasn’t the only thing on the skewers. Avian made sure there was a wide variety of ingredients as he added vegetables and fruits to the grill to give synergistic flavors.

All these ingredients came from hunting a pair of boars in the forest and from Avian’s space-ring where he stored fruits and vegetables he got from the Kobolds.

Ogra didn’t seem to have a preference though as she just picked anything that was done and ready to be eaten.

Avian still had to frequently slap her hand whenever she reached out for a skewer that wasn’t done.

Previously a slap like that would have caused no pain to Ogra who was a Half-Orc [Barbarian].

But Avian was now Rank 2. Two whole ranks higher then Ogra with much higher attributes plus the ¼ of attributes Avian got from his [Blood Mimicry] forms namely only one which was his Dragonnewt form making his current strength about equal to that of a peak Rank 1 [Warrior].

Because of this. Avian’s slaps did actually cause quite a bit of pain to Ogra. But she ignored it as she was more concerned about the skewers then to care about the pain truly a glutton.

Everyone else was sitting beside the campfire eating as well with the exception of Dahlia who just like always stuck to Avian like a bug arguably eating just as much as Ogra as she too had missed Avian’s cooking so did the others who felt like they finally came back to heaven putting everything back to order after going through all the trouble eating bland food with their meager cooking skills.

The only ones who weren’t used to this were Bethany and Soraya. Mostly because they were a bit disturbed when they saw how voraciously Ogra and Dahlia were eating. They were all for a good appetite but they never saw anyone eat like this while the rest didn’t even care as they were already used to it. Only caring about the skewer they were eating at the moment which Bethany and Soraya could understand since Avian’s cooking was indeed just too good to pass up.

Currently it was already night out.

Avian’s party upon reuniting had much to say. They ended up sitting down and talking to tell each other what happened on their side for the past few days talking for a very long time as it got dark by the time they all finished.

And as Avian had guessed the monster horde had been successfully defeated the Rank 3 monster that was leading the charge killed by the guild master.

The current state of the town, how many people died and were injured what the atmosphere was like.

Gabriella basically told everything to Avian that he wanted to know. After that it was Avian’s turn to explain what happened to him. Everyone wanted to hear this as they were all curious as to what happened to Avian how he made it out.

Avian of course did not speak the truth as he made up a story to satisfy their curiosity. He was not about to reveal anything about the Kobolds and how they mistook him for a Dragon and their god.

Instead he told them something along the lines of him being able to break out from the other side after stopping the summoning but being heavily wounded in return and needing to recuperate. Hiding inside the forest for the past few days avoiding monsters and the like.

Everyone mostly believed this story since they didn’t see a reason why Avian would lie neither would they think he would lie.

Everyone but one person which was Gabriella who had been feeling extremely aware of something the moment she reunited with her master as their connection was clearer from which she also knew.

Avian was Rank 2.

She had felt this a few days back when she woke up in the middle of the night. She thought she had been imagining it. But now that they were reunited there was no doubt about it as Gabriella instantly confirmed Avian’s power through their connection.

She hadn’t said anything about it though since Avian wasn’t talking about it either meaning he didn’t want to talk about it. Still Gabriella couldn’t stop her mind from swimming as she remembered that Avian was only unranked more than a week ago.

But now he was Rank 2!

Gabriella had never heard of such speed of advancement before. No blessing she ever heard about was notable for quick advancement either as all blessings took years of practice and training to improve other than a unique blessing like her [Knight] blessing that needed the use of an ability to advance to Rank 1.

Then again Gabriella was also aware that there were lots of blessings out there. And not all blessings were made public either as the blessings of most noble families were kept a very strict secret never to be revealed to the public as it was the root of their strength and why they were nobles to begin with.

In her memory her lady was also the same as her family possessed the unique blessing called [Marauder].

Gabriella did not know what that blessing did as her lady never fought personally or talked about it as she was more like a tactician and commander who organized everything from behind.

Her daughter on the other who had the same blessing was different as she was a powerful melee fighter who just like her mother was adept at commanding people amidst battle.

Gabriella started to think that maybe Avian had a similar blessing that was unknown and that maybe it was like the [Monster Tamer] blessing since Gabriella couldn’t explain Avian’s ability to tame monsters otherwise.

Not once did she think that Avian actually had 2 blessings as that was beyond common sense to a native like her who had constantly been taught all her life that humans can’t have more than 1 blessing.

Most people thought just like her. Making it so that even if Avian was revealed to have a different blessing then [Monster Tamer] they would not immediately think he had a second blessing as not many people could step away from their natural common sense of the world.

At least not most people as individuals like Marco. Cornelia’s former butler who was a [Investigator] could figure it out with their powerful deductive reasoning abilities as that was how he was discovered by Marco making him quite impacted by the blessing known as [Investigator].

Back to the present.

-(Ah! I almost forgot! My song!)

As the party was eating and about to finish with everyone stuffing themselves. Bethany almost forgot as she did say she would play a song once they were all together.

But since it was night already she didn’t know if this was a good idea since they were about to rest.

Which is why Bethany hesitated as she stopped reaching for her Mandolin. Avian though noticed patting Dahlia’s head all the while remembering what she said she would do as he asked.

-You’re not going to play it?

-Eh…I uh…

Hearing Avian’s expectant question. The rest party soon started to pay attention to Bethany as they also were curious.

They had already heard Bethany play her Mandolin. But that was when they were in a fight recently when she used her [Song Of Inspiration].

It was a pleasant melody that made them all feel invigorated in combat. But they had never heard play the Mandolin outside using it in the fight which is why they were curious.

-Ah…you guys.

Having all these people looking at her expectantly like this made Bethany feel bashful but Soraya tapped her with her elbow encouraging her to play.

-C’mon isn’t this what you wanted?

The whisper was all it took for Bethany to immediately pick up her Mandolin once more and start playing.

Trying to decide what kind of song to play at every situation was not an easy thing. Bethany taking the atmosphere into account decided not to play an energetic and boisterous song and instead chose to play a soft comforting melody.

Bethany decided to sing as well. Something she never did when playing her music even though she talked a lot. Soraya had heard her beautiful singing voice before. But she didn’t expect her to sing here and right now though this had a surprising effect as everyone was immediately enthralled by the music and melody as Bethany sang.

-One day. In the far past. we lived in harmony. But the skies they darkened ushering age of fighting.

As Bethany sang a very obvious sort of relaxing energy started to gather as it enveloped everyone making them feel more calm and relaxed. It almost seemed as if their fatigue was being sucked away listening to this song.

Which is when Avian remembered that this was also one of the [Bards] other abilities.

[Tune Of Rest].

The effect of this ability as Avian recalled was to increase natural regeneration of everything to the body. Be it healing, mana recovery, stamina recovery, stress relief and so on. Avian once read skilled [Bards] were often hired by nobles to use this ability to let them recover faster and better each night before bed.

Avian could only now understand why they did that as it was indeed very pleasant.

Not fall asleep pleasant though as everyone was still wide awake as they listened to Bethany sing her song. From the lyrics it was clear the song was about what happened in the past as Bethany continued to sing about the beginning of how the Demon king came to be and united the demons fighting against the other races for 100 years.

It had no mention of his formers classmates and teachers as news of them hadn’t spread that much yet. But Bethany was likely going to change the lyrics once the news was out.

The song eventually ended and when it was finally done. Everyone including Avian clapped as it was a brilliant song that made them all feel good. Bethany again smiled bashfully scratching her head.

It was then that Avian was reminded of wanting to invite these 2 into his party.

With the Kobold business going on he started to think he would need more manpower. They also fit very well into his party since they covered roles that were good to have. The fact that they weren’t under his complete command though bothered him very slightly. But he also thought they were more than worth it.

Making up his mind. Avian was about to ask them if they wanted to join their party.

This is when something unexpected happened as Avian’s head all of a sudden started to hurt.

Avian didn’t cry out though as the pain wasn’t that intense. He at first thought it was just a mild headache.

But things changed when he suddenly started to see visions.

His original view which was directed at everyone sitting around the campfire instantly changed as it showed him dark lands with gray skies.

Hundreds, thousands of soldiers walking those lands with armor and weapons on hand while the skies were filled with monsters who had riders on top.

At first Avian did not recognize who any of these people were or what was going on. He couldn’t move his body in fact and to him it seemed as if he was being forced into watching a scene from a movie he couldn’t look away from or close his eyes.

Looking at the soldiers individually. Avian could see drastic difference from each of them as they weren’t all the same.

Some looked humanlike while some looked like humanoid beasts.

What was the same though was how dark skinned or furred all of these people were.

It was only after observing the soldiers closely for a couple for minutes did Avian finally understand who these individuals were as he remembered how the demons looked like from the illustrated records.

Without a doubt these were the Demon kind Avian heard about ever since he came to this world and the reason he and the others were summoned.

This also told Avian that what he was watching was also the territory of the Demons as the general looks of the landscape matched the records as well. The only thing Avian could not understand was why and how he was seeing all of this.

No amount of questioning seemed to be able to answer this.

Ultimately Avian could only watch as the Demon soldiers all stopped marching for a second and turned towards a particular direction a large pitch black hill a top of which was a huge castle made out of what looked like obsidian as the stone was darker than anything Avian had seen before.

And even though it was so dark. The figure that came out of the balcony of one of the castle was visible very vividly as a handsome androgynous young man with tied pitch black long hair came out wearing some regal dark robes that were a mix of gold and black.

His eyes were also black with the center being gold just like Avian’s eyes when he transformed into his Dragonnewt form.

The dark skin and a pair of horns that grew into the shape of a crown. The atmosphere this Demon exuded was the most powerful Avian had even felt even stronger than the Black Dragon even though he was quite a distance away from where he was seeing this.

-(Is this…the Demon King?)

Avian wondered.  For a good reason as it could only be him considering the entire setting he saw so far.

Unfortunately, there was no one to answer him as the Demon King? Started shouting in front of the thousands maybe hundred thousands of soldiers about something he couldn’t understand.

It was clearly a speech. One that gripped the hearts of all the Demon kind as they looked at their king with boundless admiration before the Demon King finally finished and raised his fist and said.

-HURAK!

-HURAK!!!

The Demon soldiers repeated after him stomping the ground with their weapons as a thunder clap seemed to erupt.

Avian was slightly startled from this. Inspired the Demon soldiers started marching once more. Avian expected this to finally end as he saw the Demon King about to return to his chambers.

But this is when the Demon King suddenly stopped as if he had noticed something.

Turn his head he instantly looked at a certain direction at the sky.

Right where Avian was seeing all this from directly at him to be specific as if the he had noticed his existence.

Feared gripped Avian’s heart when he saw this. The stare of the Demon king which was stronger than that of a Dragon’s was simply nothing Avian could ever defend against.

He felt like he was dying.

No he was dead, there was nothing he could do.

The end.

-Master?… Master?!

-Huh?

Avian woke up.

Looking around him he knew instantly he was back as he saw everyone surrounding the campfire. Though this time they were all now looking at him slightly worried as something seemed to have disturbed them because of Avian.

Avian was confused. He still remembered the vision he just had. The sensation of death where everything was over. Hopelessness.

He wanted to think over it and try to understand what happened. But seeing everyone else’s worried expression he knew he had to explain himself first.

-Lukas? Is something the matter your face doesn’t look that good?

-Did you get sick while staying out in the forest?

-I knew we shouldn’t have asked you to cook when you just came out of the forest.

-Here! Ogra not hungry anymore! Eat and get better!

-Master…

Seeing their concerned faces Avian shook his head while pushing away the half eaten skewer Ogra brought to him before saying.

-I am fine. I am just tired. I think I am going to go to sleep now.

And with that Avian ignored their concerns and went into the carriage to sleep.

Dahlia obviously followed Avian to sleep with him. Avian honestly didn’t feel like sleeping with Dahlia. But he didn’t have the heart to abandon the little rabbit so he laid down using her as a body pillow which she loved quite a bit as she smelled Avian having not slept with him for the past few days which were agonizing for her. But now everything was fine.

The others didn’t pursue this and just watched Avian go to sleep.

That didn’t mean they forgot it though as they could clearly see the frightened and agonized expression Avian had there for a second, but since Avian said he was just tired. They could only take him by his word and let it be.

That night Avian thought about what he saw all night. He knew instinctively that what he had seen had to do with the fact that he was summoning for a purpose as a Hero.

And he also correctly deduced that it was not like that it was only him who had seen this.

The other heroes in Redria castle had all likely seen this as well.

Something big was happening.