Kizilkoz: 'We barely managed to escape the gorilla tribe, but now we have to deal with a giant eagle, of all things! Why is it that whenever I am next to him, so many bad things happen, almost like he is a doomsday magnet?'

As for her unwanted companion, Ren Karatengu, he was busy napping.

Both of them were inside of the bird's enormous nest on top of the cliff, at much higher level than the gorilla territory.

Currently, Kizilkoz was desperately pleading with the giant eagle to let them go with their lives.

Luckily, her demon eyes allowed her to communicate with the giant eagle, but persuading it was totally different subject.

If her persuasion was not convincing enough, they would get eaten on the spot by the eagle and its chicks.

So, it was not exactly a good time to sleep, at all.

Kizilkoz: 'What is that idiot doing?! Here I am trying to save our hides and he takes a freaking nap?! What is wrong with that demon?!'

Lightning Eagle:

Kizilkoz:

For emphasis, she unfolded her two red wings, putting them on a clear display.

Kizilkoz:

Unfortunately, the giant eagle was not that easy to convince.

Lightning Eagle:

Lightning Eagle looked down on the two of them, like two tiny worms it wanted to swallow whole.

Raising its beak up into the air, eagle struck with an attack imbued with extremely potent lightning magic.

Lightning beak clashed against the three layered fire type barrier Kizilkoz managed to manifest just in time.

Barrier is simple type of magic; its protective power depended on the user's ability.

Kizilkoz's version was not very powerful, but it did manage to stop the eagle's beak from frying them alive.

Unfortunately, one strike was all it could take.

As the power output of the eagle increased, the fire barrier started to slowly crack under the pressure.

Kizilkoz: 'I can't hold it for long….She is too strong…'

At this rate, the two of them were going to perish.

What Kizilkoz couldn't have predicted was the awakening of a certain someone.

As the last layer of her barrier shattered into pieces, Kizilkoz ended up injuring her wings as she fell roughly on the ground. Both of her wings ended up broken.

The impact of the lightning magic was just too much for her to hold back.

Prepared to die, Kizilkoz braced herself for what was to come.

Then, she heard a sound of a rough impact.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a form of a tall crow demon, his fist clas.h.i.+ng against the beak of the eagle beast.

Kizilkoz: 'Who is that guy?'

Kizilkoz looked behind her and saw that Ren was gone.

Kizilkoz: "Don't tell me….that's him?!"

Even though he a.s.sumed his partial True Demon Form, the difference in appearance was still too drastic.

With a single sweep of his leg, Ren delivered a roundhouse kick to the eagle's head, making it momentarily lose its balance.

It was an impressive feat, especially since the eagle was about five times Ren's size.

Kizilkoz: 'Amazing…Wait, what am I saying? He is still my enemy, my enemy!'

Eagle beast quickly regained its composure.

Eagle:

But since Demon Ren did not possess the power of

, he could only hear the eagle screech in incomprehensible manner.

Coating her wings in lightning magic, the eagle shot out a ma.s.sive bolt in their direction.

The portion of the nest Kizilkoz and Ren were on was destroyed in an instant.

Much to her horror, Kizilkoz realized that she was falling to her doom.

But something felt very weird.

Or rather…just plain wrong.

Much to her humiliation, she found herself being carried by Demon Ren, tucked underneath his right arm.

And the rate of the fall was much slower than what was expected, almost as though they were floating.

Apparently, Demon Ren unfolded his wings, allowing them to glide down.

Kizilkoz: "Seriously?"

Kizilkoz: 'He noticed that I injured my wings and chose to save me, even though I consider him my enemy….I don't understand. This does not make sense'

Maybe her sister was wrong. Such thoughts frequently crossed her mind, but in her rage, she would usually dismiss them.

But from what she could tell, there was no reason for a man who attacked her clan to bother saving her. There was no logic that could justify his reason for taking such contradictory actions.

Even if she was a talented demon, Kizilkoz did not have much to offer. If she died, at least ability-wise, her replacement could easily be found.

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Yet, he was still protecting her. His motives were too twisted for her to comprehend.

Kizilkoz: 'I don't understand you, Ren Karatengu'

As they glided down towards the ground, two of them ended up landing in a slightly rough manner.

It was Demon Ren's first time flying after all, even if it was simply gliding through the wind. Landing properly takes some practice after all.

Though, it was not half bad for his first attempt.

Kizilkoz: "What a rough landing…"

Kizilkoz: "At least we are safe, right?"

Demon Ren: "We are surrounded"

Kizilkoz: "What?"

As if on cue, something burst out of the ground and lunged at Kizilkoz from behind.

Fortunately, Demon Ren reacted just in time and repelled it with a flying kick.

It was a giant snake.

There were at least thirty of them if not more.

They were far different from Jilan Snakes that could were commonly encountered in fields. Primary difference was the sizes. Jilan Snakes were roughly the same size as demons, with their primary danger lying in the number of heads they possessed.

While Snake Beasts only had one head each, they were so enormous that they made Jilan Snakes look like earth worms by comparison.

Kizilkoz: 'We escaped one dangerous monster only to end up in the jaws of another'

Kizilkoz: 'Still, is that really Ren? From what I could tell, he would usually freak out or try to run for his life….but now he is barely saying anything'

In his partial true Demon Form, there was no denying that Ren was indeed a demon.

Kizilkoz: 'He is taller, almost as tall as Master Korgan'

Before Kizilkoz could even react, Demon Ren was already taking action against the giant snakes.

From what Kizilkoz had heard; Korgan Karatengu and her father, Akil Ras, used to be tag team partners.

Partners, in the demon world, were two demons who fought as one. They would exchange their mana with each other, allowing both demons to obtain abilities that would otherwise be inaccessible.

For example, if one demon is capable of using fire magic and other demon was proficient in water magic, if the two of them were to become partners, then either demon would be able to access both fire and water magic, as long as both partners were alive that is.

But in order to have such a bond, the demons must be able to trust each other fully and completely.

Becoming partners is far harder than it sounds. Even some of the most powerful demons would face challenges in that regard.

Because of this, nowadays, most demons rely solely on their own strength, rather than act in pairs.

In a sense, partners were not separate but two demons compromising two halves of the whole.

Still, between the future Demon King, Akil Ras and future Demon Lord, Korgan Karatengu, it was obvious which one was the leader and which one was the follower.

But in the case of their respective offspring, the position of the leader and the follower seems to have been reversed.

Kizilkoz: "What are we going to do? Eh?"

Kizilkoz couldn't help but be confused when Demon Ren casually lifted her up and put her on his shoulder, before running for it.

Kizilkoz: "Eeeehhhh?"

Demon Ren: "Too loud. Mind shutting up?"

Kizilkoz: "What?"

Demon Ren jumped up, landed on top of one of the heads of the giant snakes, before jumping away again, avoiding the jaws of another serpent.

Just like that, Demon Ren proceeded to run and jump over the obstacles, with Kizilkoz still on his shoulder.

Kizilkoz: "Let me go! I can run by myself"

Demon Ren: "You are too slow"

Kizilkoz: "But…"

Demon Ren: "Your wings are broken"

Kizilkoz: "This is humiliating"

Demon Ren: "Better than dead"

Short and to the point, and without a single joke, Demon Ren's personality was a stark contrast to the normal, Human Ren.

Kizilkoz: 'So fast…'

The speed at which he avoided the incoming giant snakes was simply astounding.

Kizilkoz: "Can't you fly us away from here?"

Demon Ren: "Impossible. I can't fly yet"

Kizilkoz: "But you did it five minutes ago!"

Demon Ren: "That was gliding, it's different"

Kizilkoz: "But the snakes should be less of a problem to take care of, right? Compared to the eagle, that is"

Demon Ren: "Don't be naïve, eagle was easier to handle, see?"

He pointed behind them with his free hand.

Kizilkoz: "Ah?"

What she saw was a strange scene; about a dozen snakes were wrapped around the giant eagle's body, constricting it to death. Giant eagle was currently thras.h.i.+ng around desperately, trying to free itself from the embrace of the serpents.

Kizilkoz: "Eagle must have come after us only to get attacked by snakes"

Demon Ren: "Individually, snakes are weaker than an eagle, but problem is that they work together. They can simply overwhelm any enemy with sheer numbers"

Finally, the eagle had enough, and proceeded to fly away, with its tail tucked between its legs.

Kizilkoz: "*Gulps*. Right"

Demon Ren: "Not good"

Giant snakes kept popping out everywhere he would go.

Kizilkoz: "How many of them are there?"

Demon Ren: "Around 150"

Kizilkoz: "What?! But there are 50 at most here!"

Demon Ren: "There are still more underground"

Kizilkoz: 'He can sense them?'

Kizilkoz: "Do you have a plan? Is there any way out of this death trap?"

Demon Ren: "There might be, but I need to get higher"

Saying that he proceeded to climb up a tall tree, especially impressive because he was carrying Kizilkoz on his right shoulder; he could only use his left arm to climb.

Putting Kizilkoz down on the lower branch of the tree, Demon Ren started to breathe in and breathe out in a strange manner, almost like he was doing a vocal exercise.

Kizilkoz: "Ren, whatever you are doing, do it quickly! They are starting to slither their way up here!"

Demon Ren: "*Takes deep breath*. CAW! CAW! CAW!"

Kizilkoz: "?"

"CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW!"

Kizilkoz: "What the ****?"

Kizilkoz's right eye started to twitch at the absurdity of the situation.

Here he was, on the top of the tree, just inches away from being eaten by giant snakes, and of all things he could have done, he chose to caw like a crow.

Kizilkoz: "What is wrong with you?!"

As the weight of snakes became too much for the tree to handle, the tree ended up snapping, causing both Demon Ren and Kizilkoz to fall on the ground.

Once again, they were surrounded by giant snakes, but this time, with no way out.

Kizilkoz: "I thought you had a plan!"

Demon Ren: "I do have a plan"

Kizilkoz: "Then it's not working!"

Demon Ren: "*Listening to the sounds around them*. On contraire, it worked perfectly"

Kizilkoz: "You call this perfect?"

Demon Ren: "Patience is a virtue"

After saying that, Demon Ren simply sat down on the ground, with his legs crossed.

Kizilkoz: "Oh for the love of!"

Using the storage bracelet, Kizilkoz summoned her bow and arrow, and started to desperately shoot the giant snakes with arrows imbued with her magic.

Unfortunately, the hides of snakes proved to be practically invulnerable to magic. Or her magic was too weak to affect them, whichever was the case, the result was the same.

Kizilkoz: 'That's it. We are doomed. Not by gorillas or an eagle, but snakes of all things!'

As a bird demon, Kizilkoz had a natural fear of snakes. Dying like this was equivalent of a nightmare.

Strangely, that fate never came to pa.s.s.

Rather than the hissing of snakes, the sound that permeated the skies was the call of crows.

An entire murder of crows swarmed down and started to mercilessly slash the snakes open with their claws.

Even if their scales were highly resistant to magical attacks, it did not mean they were invulnerable, as the crows were generous enough to demonstrate.

Crows were smaller than the eagle, but unlike the eagle, they swarmed the snakes in a seemingly endless murder.

Kizilkoz: "Crow beasts….so many of them…did you summon them? Such resourcefulness….but how?"

Demon Ren: "Call of the crows, grandfather taught me"

Kizilkoz: "I don't understand"

Demon Ren: "SOS signal, recognizable only by crow demons. But apparently it also works with normal crows, so there was a possibility that the variation of the signal could work with crow beasts"

Whenever his grandfather taught him something, Demon Ren would test it out, and this just happened to be something he found through trial and error.

Kizilkoz: "A possibility? Are you saying there was a chance this might not have worked?"

Demon Ren: "Be glad that it did"

Kizilkoz: 'I was wrong, he is not resourceful; he is insane!'

Overwhelmed by the crows, serpents retreated underground, leaving only corpses of their fallen.

As for the crows….their leader was heading in their direction.

Unlike the other crow beasts, there was a white mark upon the head of the leader.

Right before their eyes, the leader a.s.sumed his more humanoid-like form. Some of the crow beasts did the same.

Apparently in their humanoid forms, beasts look similar to demons in their partial True Demon Forms.

Demon Ren clearly resembled one of them.

Of course, one big difference remained. Even with his increase in height, Demon Ren was still rather puny by comparison to the crow beasts.

Even the ones that a.s.sumed their humanoid forms were two or three heads taller than Demon Ren.

In many ways, Demon Ren looked like a diminutive crow beast.

Crow Leader:

Demon Ren:

Crow Leader:

Demon Ren:

Kizilkoz: 'Ren can speak in their language?'

Then she saw the reason why.

Demon Ren was currently holding on to her hand.

She was not sure how he was doing it, but he forcibly activated her demon eyes and by having contact with her body, he was able to make use of her

.

Kizilkoz: 'He is using me as a translation magic item?'

Crow Leader:

Kizilkoz: 'He is a demon too, you know?'

Then it hit her.

Even though he was in his partial True Demon form, Demon Ren still had no horns, which is why the crow beasts could not tell he was not actually one of them.

It was a little frustrating, knowing that crow beasts though of Ren as one of them while the eagle beast refused to do the same for Kizilkoz.

Demon Ren:

Crow Leader:

Demon Ren:

Crow Leader:

Kizilkoz: 'I can't believe this'

Demon Ren managed to convince the Crow Beasts to give them a lift to a safe location.

He came up with an excuse that he was still young and that his wings were not strong enough for flight, which is why the two of them needed aid in that regard.

The flight this time was comparatively far less turbulent than the time when they got abducted by the eagle beast.

When they reached their destination, the crow beasts gently put Ren and Kizilkoz down on the ground.

Somehow, the bluff worked like a charm and crow beasts left them on peaceful terms, after wis.h.i.+ng Demon Ren a safe journey.

Demon Ren: "Well, that was interesting"

Kizilkoz: "I don't understand. Against the eagle, the snakes, and even the crow beasts, why did you protect me?"

Demon Ren: "You are a member of my clan. As the leader, it is my duty to protect those under wings"

Kizilkoz: "…."

Demon Ren:

Like a chain snapping, the contract that bound Kizilkoz to Ren was now destroyed.

Now, she was not obligated to be loyal to him anymore.

Demon Ren: "I am not the one who attacked your clan or killed your father. Believe it or not, that is up to you. Feel free to do what you wish"

Demon Ren: "But know that as long as you are a part of my clan, I will protect you"

Those were words worthy of a leader.

Kizilkoz: 'He does not seem to be lying. He even freed me from the contract that obligated me to serve him. But my sister said….I don't know what is true anymore. But I know this much, if I hope to have any chance of surviving this trial, I need to work with him'

If it was her alone, without doubt, she would have perished by now.

Only with Ren's aid did she manage to keep her life.

As Kizilkoz was confused within her thoughts, Demon Ren fell over and ended up snoozing.

Kizilkoz: 'He fell asleep, just like that?'

Before her eyes, Demon Ren reverted back to the Human Ren.

Ren: "*Yawning*. Kizilkoz? How did we get here? What happened?"

Kizilkoz: "*One eye twitching*.Nothing. Nothing at all"

Kizilkoz: 'What is wrong with him? He he he… I don't know where to begin!'