In the cave, the centipede was charging toward Zhar who could not even move after he released his magic.
Zhar looked at his own condition, and he sighed. He then looked at Alex, "Alexander, if there is such a thing called a next life. I want to be your brother... I'm going first."
As he said that, Zhar slowly closed his eyes. But suddenly he heard someone shout his name.
"Young Lord Zhar!"
The voice was heard from the entrance of the cave.
Zhar immediately opened his eyes again, he remembered this voice very well. He shouted, "Uncle Tius!"
The one who shouted just now was the person that Sherry met on the outside of the forest. The demon's name Tius and he was Zhar's companion. After hearing Zhar's voice, Tius was very happy, "Young Lord Zhar!"
But he saw a centipede was charging toward his young lord. He immediately let go of Sherry and the spear and blocked the centipede.
The centipede's charge was easily stopped by Tius's strength alone. "Young Lord Zhar, I'm glad you are fine."
Zhar nodded, "Kill this monster first."
"Understood."
Tius immediately kicked the centipede away. He pulled his sword and charged toward the flying centipede.
"Raging Strike!"
A continuous strike was unleashed, from the head to the tail. Tius released strike after strike toward the centipede as if he was a mad man. The centipede couldn't even fight back. Not only because Tius's strength was higher than him, but its combo also made the centipede couldn't move away.
After numerous strikes, the centipede laid lifelessly on the ground, with its body suffering from many cut wounds that were still bleeding. After the centipede died, Tius immediately went to check on Zhar and kneeled in front of him.
"Young Lord, I'm glad you are fine. We were looking for you for days."
"Thank you for your hard work."
"No... it is our job to do so."
"Young Lord, what has happened to you these few days?"
"I was ambushed when I went to this forest. Luckily, their strength wasn't that much higher than mine. I somehow managed to kill them all. But I was injured at that time."
"Wha!" Tius's eyes widened, then he became angry, "Those bastards human!"
Tius spotted Alex who was still on the ground, unconscious. Tius immediately got in front of Alex and raised his sword, "This human bastard, I am going to kill him!"
Sherry immediately got in front of Tius and glared at him angrily.
"Wuu!"
Sherry gave a deadly stare not only at Tius but also at Zhar. Sherry somehow hated Zhar who was indirectly involved in this. How dare his subordinate try to kill Alex who saved his lord. Sherry glared hatefully toward the two of them.
"Oh, this is the fox just now. Don't worry, this human won't control you anymore after I kill him."
"Wuu!"
But, just when he was about to thrust his sword toward Alex, Zhar immediately shouted.
"STOP!"
Tius immediately stopped, he looked at Zhar with a confused look. "Young Lord?"
"Are you going to kill my savior? The one who saved my life?" He also felt Sherry's gaze who seemed to hate him now.
"Savior? This human? Young Lord, you..."
"It is true that humans ambushed me and I almost got killed. But Alexander saved me despite our race difference. He doesn't wish for a war, he wants to stop it instead. and also he doesn't come from those two kingdoms, he comes from the third kingdom."
"Third Kingdom? The Acacia Kingdom?"
Zhar nodded, "Pull back your sword right now!"
"Ye-yes!" But as he wanted to ask what was happening just now, Zhar continued.
"I considered him as my brother, although our meeting is short I feel that he is trustworthy. He did not only save and heal me, but he also protected me from those two monsters," Zhar pointed at the centipede's corpse and the bear's half corpse since a portion of the bear's corpse was already eaten by the centipede.
"Young Lord."
Sherry silently grabbed Alex's spear and placed it beside Alex. She licked Alex's face sadly "Wuu!"
Her eyes seemed like she was saying 'I already finished the task, please wake up, master.'
"Wuu!"
Looking at this scene, Zhar felt pained inside. He then turned to Tius, "Uncle Tius, can you help him?"
Tius who heard this hesitated. Then he sighed and shook his head, "I'm sorry Young Lord, this subordinate of yours is incompetent. I also don't bring any medicine."
Zhar bitterly bit his lips, "Then, we can move him to our camp and get him treated there."
Tius shook his head, "I'm sure we couldn't do that, Young Lord. Before we can treat him, he will long be killed by other demons, even if you are the current Demon Lord. There is still some fanatic who will kill other races without thinking."
"Is there nothing we can do?" Zhar looked at Alex sadly.
"His vital organs, although weak, are steady. He just fainted because of this attack in his chest and he seems very exhausted. The least we can do is to gather the demons that are now searching for you and open up a route for him to go and get treatment in the human camp," Tius said bitterly.
"I..." Zhar looked toward Alex.
Sherry suddenly used her flame. She got covered by fire. The fire started to seep into Alex's sword. "Wuu!"
Tius's eyes suddenly widened. "This... this fox must be a Celestial Fox!"
"Celestial Fox?" Zhar was confused.
"Yes, Celestial Fox. Fifty years ago, there was a Celestial Fox in human territories that resided in a forest. That fox was a rank 8 monster. Their specialty was their sensitivity to fire. They could recognize fire from hundreds of miles away. This fox must be its offspring.
From what I see, this sword's flame is fused with the flame inside the fox. The fox will recognize where the other flame sources are. The flame that was used to make this sword was special, it feels very pure. This type of flame is very scarce, so the other flame sources may be in this human's home."
"You mean?" Zhar's eyes brightened.
"Yes, this fox will know where his home is, bring him and get him treated there. Since his condition is stable enough, he should be fine with all of that."
"But... isn't it faster if he goes to the human camp?"
Tius pondered for a moment then shook his head. "He is from the Third Kingdom."
Zhar's eyes suddenly brightened, then he sighed. "The only way for me to help you are to pull back and make way for you, brother. I'm sorry that this is the only thing I can do to help you."
"Sherry... I'm counting on you. Bring my brother back and save him."
"Wuu!"
Sherry snuck under Alex's body and stood up. Alex was laid unconscious on Sherry's back. Luckily, her size was just enough for Alex's body. Then Sherry bit Alex's spear and carried it in its mouth.
"Uncle Tius," Zhar said sadly.
Tius nodded his head and grabbed Zhar. "We will pull back."
***
After a while, Sherry started to move. While carrying Alex on her back, she traveled to the outside.
She traced the fire aura inside the sword, Alex's fire that built this sword. She found the direction of the other fire sources.
The fox journeyed toward the direction for days, no matter when it was day or night, it kept walking. With Alex on its back, the fox couldn't run. So it could only walk and walk. The fox killed all the monsters in its way. Fortunately, there were no high-rank monsters that suddenly ambushed them, only rank 3 or below. Even so, the fox was exhausted from all the journey and fight.
During the day, the fox carried Alex. During the night, it didn't even stop walking but continued the journey instead, hoping to arrive a few days, a few hours, a few minutes, and even a few seconds faster. It traveled through forest, plain, and swamp continuously without stopping.
In the Celestial Forest, the fox was alone for many years. After it was born, it didn't even know the parents. There was only an empty fire cave when it opened its eyes for the first time. The fox fought with many beasts in that forest. Sometimes it killed other monsters easily, but other times, it got injured severely.
When the fox met Alex, she attacked the man because it thought he was a theft that wanted to grab its treasure. But after seeing Alex's flame, it felt the superiority in Alex's flame. Sherry thought that Alex would kill it, but he was not. Alex not only didn't kill the fox but also gave her a chance to evolve. Even when it journeyed with Alex, it was protected by Alex all this time. This was the first experience for Sherry who always struggled to survive alone in that cave.
The fox found some fondness toward Alex. Even if others considered Alex's action as something normal, it was entirely different for the fox. Sherry found happiness with Alex.
This was the reason that drove Sherry for walking this long. It was ready to live and die with Alex when they faced that centipede before, but somehow they survived the ordeal. So this time, the fox wanted to make sure Alex was safe.
After a week, she saw a big city wall. She felt a lot of Alex's flame sources gathered in this city. She was exhausted. People were shocked when she arrived near the city gate.
"Wha... monster!" Many travelers were shocked by the sudden appearance of Sherry.
The guard also moved fast, "What happened? Where is the monster?"
After seeing the guards, she let down the spear in her mouth.
"Wuu," the fox let out a weak sound because it was very exhausted. Sherry collapsed with Alex on her back.
The guard surrounded her with caution but saw that this monster was carrying a human. The guard looked toward the human and he felt familiar when seeing his face.
"Where did I see him before? I thought I had seen him somewhere," the captain frowned.
"Cap... captain!" Suddenly one of his subordinates talked. "Isn't he the one that we've been searching for?"
After hearing it, the captain's eyes brightened "Yes, his face is the same as the portrait!"
Then he immediately stood up, "Inform the King that we find him! Hurry up, bring him inside, and call the doctor!"
"Yes!" The subordinate understood the order right away.
***
The King was in the middle of a meeting with many ministers and nobles.
'Bang!'
"Your... Your Majesty!"
The nobles and ministers frowned. They were in the middle of a meeting but suddenly a guard came in.
"We are in the middle of the meeting!" One of the nobles shouted toward the guard angrily.
The guard's face became pale.
But suddenly the king stopped him, "What is it that caused you to be so rushed?"
"We... we found him!"
"Him? Who..." But before he completed his word, he was enlightened. He immediately stood up, "Where is he?"
"He... he is in our medical barrack."
"What! What happened to him?"
"We... we don't know, Your Majesty. He is severely injured and unconscious right now."
"Ca... call the royal doctors immediately! Call the Academy's Dean too and take me to him!"