The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

As soon as night fell, Zaos and Aleni left the camp and climbed the nearby mountains. While Zaos didn't have to go as far as using Thunder Armor to increase their movement speed, he still used wind magic to do that. While the boost of speed couldn't be compared to thunder armor, it was a lot more efficient…

After half an hour, Zaos found a presence at the top of the first mountain. Even though the army would be wary as soon as they began to cross that path, it seemed that the demon was planning to use their fear against them. After all, if it happened on the first, it was bound to happen in the others… in the end, the demon was planning to force the armies to choose another and a more roundabout way route. However, Zaos wouldn't let that happen since the presence of demons around was a sign that they were in the right direction.

This time, Zaos used Thunder Armor because he couldn't let the demons warn others… There was a chance that only a single demon was enough to make several avalanches happen, but Zaos didn't want to take his chances. Once the spell was active, Zaos dashed toward the demon, and he found a small version of Darkaun that had massive eagle-like wings. The demon frowned when it saw something shining suddenly appearing, but the demon didn't have the chance to do anything… Zaos pierced Guardian's Hearth on the monster's throat, and after agonizing for a few seconds, the demon fell, and his body turned to normal. In the end, Zaos only found one of the pale individuals that belonged to the tribe of the demon god…

Zaos sighed as he cleaned the blood from his sword… he got used to fighting and killing his opponents since it was the only way to protect his allies. Still, it wasn't something that he liked to do. Besides, he always felt that humans fighting humans seemed really weird, he didn't know why, but when he heard that the demon god was the hero of a war against monsters and completely defeated them, it felt more normal to him. However, after thinking for a while, Zaos realized that perhaps that had been a mistake… Thanks to the fact that the humans no longer had a common enemy, they decided to go at each other.

Zaos checked the body of the enemy and then found a bone ring and a bone sword. Those were things that he didn't remember seeing them using before. When Zaos put on the ring, he felt that the cold of the area decreased, and when he held the sword, Zaos felt his body getting lighter. Nevertheless, he doubted that anyone would use equipment made of bones, so Zaos tried to make his sword absorb them… it actually worked. Zaos mana became full again, and his focus increased.

"The aura of your sword is getting weird again… even more than before," Aleni said after she approached.

"Only now?" Zaos frowned. "I thought that it was because it absorbed the blood of someone who had become a demon, but…"

His sword still had many secrets… still, Zaos decided to think about it later and decided to check the other mountains. In the end, he and Aleni didn't find anyone waiting for them there, and they didn't find any signs that people or demons had been there. Around midnight, they returned to the camp and told the others that the path ahead was clear, and Cohnal also had a message to Zaos.

"The commander contacted us earlier… it seems that they lost two hundred soldiers, and three hundred got hurt in an avalanche," Cohnal said. "His Majesty, Laiex, and Drian are fine, but it seems that the path ahead for them will be hard due to the snow. Their advance will be delayed for a full day."

"Maybe I can help with that… Do you know their current location?" Zaos asked.

"His Majesty ordered us to keep moving forward. Everyone is working hard to get rid of the snow," Cohnal replied.

While Zaos would have to use some mana, he was certain that FIRE Blade could easily melt fifty or so meters of snow, so he actually wouldn't waste daylight as long as he goes to where they are right now. Still, keeping going forward wasn't a bad idea per se… it would be better if their forces attacked the demon's location at different moments. That way, one of the armies will deal massive damage with a pincer attack.

When morning came, Zaos' group began to move forward, and while some soldiers still were uneasy since other demons could have landed in the top of the mountains over the night, nothing happened. Around noon, they left those mountains that could cause some avalanches behind, and thanks to that, they found a weird area where a snowstorm had covered nearly everything. As if that wasn't enough, Zaos could feel a lot of mana coming from that area… it was the first time he felt mana in a region instead of an object or living being. The surprises didn't end there either… Zaos could feel demons hidden nearby, many of them.

"Warn Drannor's group… the place where the demon god was killed is just ahead," Zaos said.

"Are you sure, captain?" Cohnal said.

"Yes, I am very sure… demons are about to attack us, so enter information in order not to suffer any losses," Zaos said and then unsheathed his sword. "Aleni and I will deal with the first ones, but once we enter the snowstorm, everyone will have to fight."

Cohnal and the others finally realized that the snowstorm wasn't moving, it was concentrated in a single place, and the winds were moving in circles… a vast concentration of mana had made that. They became even sure of that when the demons suddenly appeared from some piles of snow ahead of them… Zaos enhanced his and Aleni's legs with wind magic and then dashed toward the monsters.