On multiple occasions, they were forced to fight against hordes of monsters but to their greatest surprise, Cyrus never got hurt even once. In fact, the beasts of the forest never tried to attack him, they could only remain pa.s.sive under his attacks, but the others were not as fortunate as him.

With the injuries he sustained during his battle with the fallen archangel Samael, Gerald was unable to burst out a hundred percent of his original capabilities and in the end, he could not a.s.sist them much and could only watch his men drop one after the other. The situation had become so bad and unbearable that even Derik's formal teammates were forced to join the battle in order to ensure their safety.

....................

Meanwhile,

Derik and the elven expedition troops of Alda faced less problems on the way. With the guidance of the guardian spirit of death, Demos they were able to easily solve the riddles of the mysterious, advancing easily. As for meeting the high level beasts of the forest as an opposition force, Derik's diabolic and sinister aura scared them off easily.

His a.s.sistance greatly lifted the burden the elves had to face and their fear for Derik's ability subsided greatly, replaced with respect and grat.i.tude. They now considered themselves lucky that they were able to meet someone like this in their time of need.

They didn't dare consider the consequences if Derik was not present, they would have been forced to suffer irrecoverable losses just to make it through the forest. Chances are, they may not even make it through. They finally realized why their ancestors failed to conquer the dungeon numerous times in the past.

..................

"Are we almost there?" An innocent and soft voice reached Derik's ears from behind.

His body s.h.i.+vered as he didn't expect this to happen. Elsa has always stayed away from him throughout the journey, so he guessed she was scared of him. He really didn't expect he would get the chance to speak to this young elf anytime soon. So he was caught off guard by this moment.

His eyes twitched and he felt fl.u.s.tered for the first time in a long time. His heart was beating rapidly and his face reddened. He took a deep breath and a chilling aura flowed through his body. Just like that he regained his composure and the excess emotions were washed away. In a blink of an eye, all those emotions vanished even before Elsa could notice.

"We are close… Is there a problem?" Derik asked with a slight smile on his face.

"N-no… its nothing… I-I just wanted to thank you for everything… we probably wouldn't have made this much progress if it wasn't for you…" Elsa stuttered as she spoke. Her face reddened as spoke and she desperately tried to avoid eye contact by a means.

She was shy…

Derik found this cute and laughed, an elf who was close to if not above fifty years felt shy when speaking to him. If someone told him that a day like this would come, he probably wouldn't have believed it. He began to wonder what kind of upbringing these elves receive which allows them to remain pure at such an age.

"You can thank me this is all over" Derik smiled softly as he responded.

"Will you return with us to Alda? It's really a nice place… Since you have the werewolf bloodline in your veins, it won't be difficult for the queen to accept you… In fact, I'm sure the queen will be happy to have you over!" Elsa said with a hopeful expression on her face. Her huge circular eyes glittered and she looked as cute as a little puppy.

Derik was shaken by this at first but the chilling aura acted again and his excess emotions vanished a soon as it appeared.

"Will they accept everything?" Derik asked casually.

Elsa quickly nodded with an excited smile on her face.

"Even my magic?" Derik's visage suddenly changed.

Hearing this, Elsa frowned slightly. She hesitated for a while and looked at Derik's face without answering. Her silence was enough for Derik.

"That is while I cannot return with you…" Derik sighed and walked faster, walking ahead of her.

"Let them remove your magic… for me… please…" Elsa's voice stung like a thousand needles on Derik's black heart.

He stopped move and turned to look at her face. His eyes bore complicated emotions which the chilly aura could not wash away quick enough for Elsa and the other elves not to notice. They were terrified by Elsa's request but they were even more shocked by Derik's hesitance. They never thought that Derik would hesitate to give an answer .

On the numerous occasions when they met Derik, he has always been cold to everyone else except Elsa. Even after he battled the fallen archangel Samael, he proactively searched for her and took the initiative to approach her and check out her injuries. At first they thought he only felt grat.i.tude to her for healing him during the time they found he close to death in the forest but now they understood their thoughts were wrong! This was beyond grat.i.tude.

Derik's lips parted as if he wanted to speak but then he shut his mouth and his visage changed instantly. His gaze turned frosty and it startled Elsa and the other elves, at a point they really thought he was planning to attack them.

"You dare!!!" Derik roared like a beast, clearly enraged by something!

He waved his hand and his death aura burst out and surrounded himself and the other elves , taking the shape of a dome around them. He made fluid and gentle movement with his hands as he controlled his death energy, covering all the holes in the newly formed dome of raw death energy.

Woooos.h.!.+

Woooos.h.!.+

Woooos.h.!.+

Multiple vines appeared from all sides and stormed forward but unfortunately, anything that pa.s.sed through Derik's corrosive death aura withered in an instant.

Seeing this, the elves who had already prepared themselves to counter against Derik's supposed attack felt ashamed, to think that they didn't trust the man who has got them this far, it was something they were not proud of.

"What's going on?" Isabel was the first to snap out of it and move forward.

"I have gotten to this point before… this means that were are not too far from the edge of this mysterious forest… it wants to keep us in, so since it can't fool us with its illusions, it has decided to take a more direct approach!" Derik snorted.

"How did you get past this?" Isabel asked

"I didn't… I was ambushed by the fallen archangel at that time and was forced to retreat into the forest" Derik spoke with an indifferently

"You- you can get us past this right? I mean you cultivate the death element… it shouldn't be a problem for you right?" Elsa asked, looking anxious.

"If I were alone... this wouldn't have been a problem… but protecting more than a hundred people... at my current realm it won't be easy… I'm not willing to take off my limiters here since I don't know what is outside this mysterious forest… I can't risk that much since I too have my goals… Once we leave this forest… our temporary alliance will be over… I hope you all will understand and protect yourselves as much as you can… I will only support" Derik explained calmly but his eyes were cold and vicious.

Crack!

Crack!!

Crack!!!

The ground beneath them suddenly cracked and whips of vines burst and quickly wrapped around them like a serpent, totally robbing them of their mobility. The vine that quickly reached for Derik withered away and the others which attempted failed as well.

"Let her go!" Derik's fiery eyes burnt brighter than ever when he saw Elsa fall victim to the surprise attack.

He didn't dare use his aura directly on the entangled Elsa so as not to hurt her mistakenly. His body shot forward like an arrow and in just a second he was already in front of her.

Roar!

Grabbing on to the vines, he skilfully pumped his aura into it and watched it wither in less than a second.  His eyes scanned the whole area and he spotted Isabel moving like a ghost, cutting through all the vines that held down the other elves. She moved like the wind, maneuvering through hundreds of vines skilfully.

Derik quickly focused on the lady beside him, blocking out the rest. He grabbed Elsa by the waist and dashed away!

"Please don't…. help big sis Isabel save the others… please!" Elsa cried the moment she realized Derik was planning to escape with her.

Hearing her request Derik bit his lower lips and began to wonder why he was even considering the request. Why did this girl's words matter this much to him. He suddenly realized that Demos has been awfully quiet ever since he joined the elves to explore the forest. Something told him that the angel of death was not really thrilled with his relations.h.i.+p with the young elf but he refused to interfere with his personal life. His respect for this guardian spirit increased once again and he swore in silence that he would not disappoint this ancient guardian spirit.

He stopped abruptly and turned towards the elves, taking a deep breath he let go of Elsa and took a few steps forward.

"This won't be easy!…" Derik laughed with a bitter smile on his face.