When the group was well rested, they continued on their march down the main road while being cautious of any ambushes, one of the Oni faction''s favorite tactics.


    They were now several hours into their journey with little of interest to look at other than the dark burnt ground and the grim-looking black stone trees.


    Sniff! Sniff!


    Fluffball stopped jumping around and chasing the gravel that was kicked up and instead began sniffing the air fully alert.


    “YAP!” was all he said before charging ahead of everyone down the road.


    “Fluffball! What are you doing?” asked Akira as he rushed forward to try and scoop him back up.


    As Akira and the others ran further down the road their noses perked up to the smell of smoke!


    Spearia''s face changed to one of concern causing Akira to issue an order, “Everyone slow down we need to stay on guard!”


    They rounded the bend in the main road that was positioned between several large dark hills and were greeted by the sight of several dozen shattered and torn-down homes. A few of them had been burned to ashes which had alerted Fluffball to the village''s presence. There was no smoke in the air since the fire had burnt itself out the day before.


    “Minos?” asked Akira pointing to the destroyed village.


    Spearia seemed to understand his question even without a translation and shook her head and only muttered a few words before staring at the ruins.


    “An allied demon race called the Lume. They are a part of the Ancient Alliance faction,” said Zundar.


    “Search the village for survivors,” ordered Akira. As soon as he said that he felt a little foolish since from everything he had learned about the Oni faction he knew they would not leave anyone alive.


    In their search for the destroyed village, they were unable to find survivors, but there were also no signs that anyone was killed there either.


    “Maybe they were able to escape?” said Zundar as he looked around for evidence to prove this theory.


    Fluffball continued to sniff around but found nothing of importance as everything worth looting had already been taken by those that had attacked. Everything else was smashed or burnt.


    There was little they could do here so they once again continued down the main road now with even more caution.


    They encountered several razed small villages and rural houses along their journey, several of them were Minos villages which caused Spearia and the other young Minos to be quite distressed.


    “Is this normal for the Oni to raze entire villages to rubble and ashes?” asked Akira after they finished searching the fourth village.


    Spearia shook her head when Zundar asked the question and only said a few sentences.


    “According to her, they normally are too afraid to go out of their way to attack the villages directly unless they have an overwhelming force... they normally just ambush people that are alone and outside of the faction''s territory,” Zundar paused for a second when a thought hit him and he turned to Akira and asked, “You don''t think that they have gathered a large force and have rounded up both the civilians and village guards?”


    “It''s a possibility that a large force is out and about, but the Oni faction taking prisoners? I highly doubt that... it would be too much of a hassle for them,” said Akira.


    Akira, Fluffball, and the royal guards all stopped what they were doing when they heard a silent whistle from one of the werewolf scouts who had gone out into the wilderness to search for clues.


    Spearia was unable to hear the silent whistle but saw the odd reactions of Akira and the others.


    “Wodeset?” she asked.


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    “There is a large group camped out in the hills. Not sure who it is since it was too dangerous to get close...” was what Zundar translated to Spearia.


    Spearia continued to chatter repeatedly pointing in the direction that the silent whistle had come from.


    “She says that is where the emergency evacuation zone is for the several villages in the area. She wants us to go see if the survivors are there or if the Oni followed them there and ...” said Zundar trailing off.


    “Of course, we''ll check it out. It would be foolish not to see what is going on over there,” said Akira as he picked up the small but heavy Fluffball pulling him away from his inspection of a destroyed house.


    The group cautiously walked with slow and silent footsteps as soon as they reached the werewolf scout and continued to creep forward toward the hill that was hiding the large force on the opposite side.


    As they were creeping up the hill a few of the eager Minos warriors were the first to pop their heads up just enough to see what was on the other side. When they saw who it was they stood up tall on top of the hill not hiding and …


    Fwoosh!


    A large spear sailed just over his head. He was only saved when the others near him pulled him back down immediately.


    Akira was able to peek over and saw a mishmash group of warriors guarding a hidden tunnel entrance.


    In the group below them, there were about a dozen poorly armored and armed Minos warriors along with several dozen red-skinned warriors that were far too skinny and at least two heads shorter than the Minos warriors. Akira guessed the skinny warriors were from the Lume demon race.


    They were now shouting in an agitated voice causing even more poorly armored fighters to come out of the tunnel ready to fight off whoever came over the hill.


    “Weitesosfomminos!” shouted Spearia near Akira. She was still hiding behind the hill not wanting to get spears thrown at her.


    Several confused and skeptical questions were shouted back at them which Spearia answered well enough that Akira saw the fighters lowered their spears that they had been aiming towards them.


    Only then did the young Minos warriors stand up. The fighters were visibly relieved upon seeing such a well-armed allied force show up. But when Akira and the other Werewolves stood up the fighters once again raised their spears fearing that it was a sneak attack by unknown foes.


    “Hod!” shouted Spearia, stepping in front of Akira while raising her hands out to the side to block him and those near him from being targeted.


    Another quickfire conversation was spoken between the two sides leaving Akira wondering what was going on as everything was happening too fast for him to keep track.


    Eventually, the fighters below them lowered their weapons once again. They continued to ask questions towards Spearia and their faces were filled with a mixture of anger and sadness when they had heard her replies.


    A few young children poked their heads out of the entrance but were scolded by the guards and pushed back inside trying to keep them and the other civilians safe.


    The two sides continued to chat from where they were for a few more minutes due to the fighters still being wary of Akira and the others.


    Zundar was trying to do his best in translating everything but... he was only capturing a little more than half of what was said due to how fast they were speaking and the slightly odd accent that the fighters used.


    “They are saying something about a small group of elite fighters, far stronger than they have ever faced before, are the ones responsible for raiding the AAF villages,” said Zundar after a long pause.


    “Demigods,” said Akira spitting out the word with great distaste.


    “From how they describe them, that''s my guess...there were several Oni fighters with the group of raiders,” said Zundar.


    Ding!


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Main Quest: [Island in a cold war!]


    Last chance to choose a side in the fight. If you do not choose a side you will be ineligible to receive any rewards!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    With the system message putting Akira on the spot he was hard-pressed to decide... but his choice seemed to have already been made for him now that the demigods had chosen the Oni faction...


    After a long pause, Akira tapped Zundar on the shoulder causing him to stop listening to the rapid-fire conversation between the two groups.


    “Zundar... tell Spearia that we will help them with their fight to protect their villages against the Oni and the demigods. But we are not going to be commanded by them. We have other things to do as well.”


    Zundar was speechless for a minute before asking, “What changed your mind? The demigods? And what could we possibly have to do here since this is our first time setting foot on this land?”


    “Just tell her,” said Akira.


    Zundar waited for a lull in the conversation and passed on Akira''s words which both sides heard clearly and immediately turned to look at Akira with blank faces.


    There was no celebration from the homeless AAF fighters at the news of receiving new allies. They only started not saying a word causing Akira to feel like he had done something wrong.


    The reality was Minos and the Lume demon race did not know what Akira and his small force could do to help them. They thought the most likely case was Akira and his group would more than likely just be more mouths they had to feed with their limited resources. Still, any help was better than nothing.


    The awkward silence was only broken when several of the more outgoing young warriors that were close to Zundar began to happily chat with him while bowing to both Zundar and Akira in respect.