All, One, Everything.

Chapter 31: An Accident

Preview: Cries sounded in the valley but they cut short as their cries were drowned by the caves they were in. Pendra and Sunirae did not let any of them escape this time, nor did they waste time. They immediately killed those who tried shouting and wiped out the valley cleanly. And so, another massacre unfolded, one that cleared the whole valley in one go. Meanwhile, a certain Demon was out there playing with wings and tendons, not noticing the carnage happening ahead.

Yhaele continued on his work, repeatedly and finally giving up. Standing up and keeping the leftover wings and other materials, he starts going deeper into the valley. Looking for the duo who went ahead without telling him, he arrives to witness a strange scene.

Sunirae was just standing in the middle exuding happy vibes as though something good is happening. He couldn't understand what was going on but he felt that something was off. From time to time, shrieks would sound but stop shortly. He had an ominous hunch over the whole situation and looked back at the silly sunflower.

That stupid centipede isn't with her.. Yhaele was already partly certain of his guess when saw blood flowing down the valley wall and falling on ground, forming a small puddle on different corners.

"..." Dumbfounded as he was, he already knew what was going on. Poor Winged Monkeys, although I did hunt you before, I had no intention of making your entire race go extinct. But I guess this is really Hell, you can only die silently in some place if you're weak.

Yhaele silently prayed for the poor race that he accidentally led to extinction. But his guilt didn't last long as he remembered that they were close to Soleis Volcano which is just a few hours of walk ahead.

Sunirae noticed the Yhale from the footsteps and vibrations and turned back, as if to look at him and asked "What is it?" cheerfully.

"We should get moving soon, we're close to Soleis Volcano and it would be better for us to take action than sit around here doing nothing." Hurriedly replied Yhaele as though they're out here doing nothing when he knows the truth. I'm sorry Winged Monkeys but this is all I can do to at least keep your race existing.

He doesn't really care about Winged Monkeys much, but it reminds him of the war on his homeworld. It reminds him that although these are demons, they also have families and their own lives. Of course, he knew he was just being hypocritical about it, but he was also just missing home.

"Pendra, come back! We're hunting Flaming Salamanders now!" A voice laced with excitement echoed in Pendra's mind. Pendra knew that it was time to stop the hunt, plus they mostly wiped out the population anyway, so he's already satisfied.

"Coming, master!" Crawling out of a hole from the wall, Pendra immediately moves his hundreds of legs towards Sunirae's stem and coils around her.

"By the way, what about your wings?" Asked Pendra curiously when he saw that Yhaele was only bringing a piece of a wing while munching on it. He couldn't see anything related to what he was trying to do earlier. Even though he mocked Yhaele, he was actually looking forward to the result but to think he really got it right!

"Uh, that, I failed. Anyway, let's get moving, I'll lead you there." Boldly taking a step forward and leading the way, Yhaele was actually trying to hide embarrassment. He thought he could make something with his superior intellect but forgot that this only applies to demons. He regrets the fact that he even tried to make it in front of them but quickly shakes his head and rid himself of those thoughts.

They soon walked through the valley and could see the volcano in the distance. The distance was short and the trio started hurrying. Moving their legs quickly like a blur, they arrive at their destination in less than half an hour.

Arriving in the vicinity around the Volcano, the heat starts rising and occasional bursts of magma rise from the potholes in the ground. The floor was no longer the soft and bright-red soil, but a reddish rocky surface due to the magma flowing underneath.

Ponds of lava could be vaguely seen in the distance, along with reptiles that are covered with ash-gray colored scales. They remain unmoving despite the high temperature as though it is a warm bath for them.

The trio approached the nearest pond of lava and discovered that the reptile they previously saw was a Flaming Salamander. It gave no response despite their intrusion as though it was dead.

Yhaele carefully gets closer to the aforementioned Salamander and finally sees what state it was in.

Its head was gone, with only grayish-white fluid and membrane left on the hot rocky surface, sizzling. It produced a stench that was neither strong or weak but left one dizzy and nauseous.

Yhaele was thankful that the direction of his senses' evolution was to sight; otherwise, he probably would've lost consciousness the moment he smelled this.

"It's dead." Grave words came out from the mouth of Yhaele as Sunirae and Pendra fell into silence. Thoughts about the possible murderer and who could possibly come before them swirled in their minds.

"I thought you're the only one that knows this place? Clack." Pendra voiced his irritation as the current situation was not within their expectations.

"I never said that." Yhaele refuted Pendra's accusations and thought about how things could go wrong. He knew it probably wasn't just him who knew the place, but he also knew better than anyone else how dangerous it was. The Flaming Salamanders here were much more dangerous than the Winged Monkeys they previously massacred. They were a race specialized in combat and each individual adult Flaming Salamander can fight off an adult Majia Demon like him.

The population of the Flaming Salamanders also surpasses the Winged Monkeys by several times. He couldn't possibly think of any demon race or group to raid their habitat. And judging from the traces on the scene, there wasn't much struggle and it was one-sided. The head was completely crushed while its chest had a hole where its heart used to be.

Wait! If it can't be a race, could it be? A horrifying idea took root in Yhaele's mind as his senses warned him of the lurking danger. He felt that if they continued going forward, not only would he fail to achieve his goal, but he might even lose his life.

"What's wrong?" Childish voice rang out in his ears as snapped back from his daze. The curious sunflower was already circling around him, staring at his face.

"I-it's nothing." His expression was stiff and rigid as he once again felt fear towards the sunflower. Phew, no matter how cute this bastard's voice is, I can never really get used to her.

"So, what do we do now?" Pendra asked but his words were actually directed to Yhaele.

Yhaele was about to say that they better head back and wait for an opportunity to come back when the childish voice rang in his mind again.

"What else? Of course, we're exploring! And we need to find whoever came before us and teach them a lesson! Isn't that right, Yhaele? A lesson? By eating them!" Sunirae's innocent and childish voice asked about the words she learned from Yhaele. But Yhaele also knew that this innocent and childish sounding monster is the real leader of the group, and her decision is the team's decision. He forced back the words he was about to say and reluctantly nodded his head.