When Erebus awoke from his nap, the sun was beginning to set. The sky was tinged with orange and the clouds were set aglow by the sun’s dimming light.

He lifted his head from the comfort of Tear’s lap (who had been extremely happy when he rested his head against it) and looked around at his surroundings slowly.

All of the others had also fallen asleep, the area was too peaceful and relaxing for one not to. The Guardian of the Forest had left, too.

Erebus yawned and stretched a little bit. His back cracked satisfyingly when he twisted his body. He walked over to the sleeping Vyne and unceremoniously kicked him lightly in the stomach. “Wake up.”

Vyne jumped up, shaking the sleep from his eyes and standing up straight. “Yes, Lord Erebus?” He bowed ever so slightly at the waist. “How may I be of assistance?”

“This place is boring, gather the others and we will leave.”

Vyne nodded his understanding and awoke the others. They stood up, stretched, yawned tiredly. Their postures slouched and eyes still longing for more rest.

Tear threw a saddened stare at the dripping stone before they all exited the area of the [Godly Stone].

The sickening oppressiveness appeared once more when they were away from the healing properties of the stone, but this time no one complained. They all walked with the same blank expressions and persevered through the thickness. A silence had settled over all of them, no one bothered to speak.

Even Weryn kept his mouth shut. He held Lilian’s angel-soft hand and she practically dragged him.

When they entered the forest once more, the creatures did not bother them this time. The few that passed by would bow their heads in respect before proceeding on their path.

In essence, it was a rather peaceful albeit boring time.

Erebus did not vocally complain of this, but he thought of it. Multiple times, in fact.

He folded his arms behind his back, kicking at the dirt as they walked.

“We are sorry, Lord Erebus. There is nothing to do here,” Lilian said as she watched him do so. “I cannot think of anything that could possibly entertain you until the time remaining is up.”

Erebus waved away her apology but did not say anything more on the subject. If he could deal with Position One, Two, and Three for centuries, he could handle walking around for a month!

Right?

Well, that’s what he wanted to say; however, it was the farthest thing from the truth. He was bored out of his mind over here! Everything was dull and monotonous. Sure, it was beautiful.

Still, after seeing something so many times it becomes lackluster and normal. If you see a magnificent sight multiple times a day, you’ll become used to it.

That’s the kind of thing he was currently experiencing.

Erebus felt like banging his head against the bark of a tree. Perhaps that could give him something to do other than move his feet.

He sighed.

After a few counts, he sighed once more. Then again.

In total, he let out five sighs.

Everyone eyed him with looks of pity. How he was suffering right now... The others weren’t nearly as bothered by the bleakness. Unlike Erebus, who had little to no patience, they could handle at least this much.

“Perhaps we could explore other sections of the Lower Continent, and then come back within a few weeks time,” Lilian suggested when the brilliant idea occurred to her.

“Ah.”

“None of us here have really explored the Continent to its fullest extent, correct? It would prove to be an interesting adventure to explore lands unknown to us!”

The section that the group had currently explored was in the southwestern section of the Lower Continent.

So far they had seen Karun, the port city (not really) up in the north before travelling diagonally through the [Scorpion Pass], [Cockatrice Valley], and [Poisonous Snake Forest], before arriving at Yvick’s castle.

This left a very large chunk of the Lower Continent largely unexplored. Tear had only gone a little east of her hometown, so she truly never saw much of it either. The same for Erebus who had been wandering about after visiting Yvick.

Erebus clapped his hands together. “Wonderful! Splendid, that is very much true, Lilian!”

The rabbit-woman bore a unveiled expression of proudness and content. Yes, Lord Erebus’ excited tone was rather refreshing to her.

Even a small smile flitted at the corners of her full lips.

“Then, does anyone remember the way to get back?” Weryn questioned.

Four pairs of eyes widened.

Silence settled over the quintet.

“Don’t tell me... none of you were paying attention to the direction we came to?”

His question was met with more silence.

“It’s not like you can talk, you didn’t look either,” a voice muttered. The owner of said voice was Tear.

What’s with that? I’m the kid here, you know! I’m the one who’s allowed to slack off. What an irresponsible bunch... Weryn narrowed his eyes a little bit and let out a frustrated groan.

“It’s not that big of a deal... I know the language of the monsters. I can simply ask them for directions,” Erebus said after awhile.

He was met by surprise.

Wait... you mean, that he, Erebus, was useful in subjects outside of fighting? Preposterous! Unheard of. Could it possibly be that he wasn’t as simple as they had previously thought?

“What’s with those looks of shock? Huh?” Erebus gave them a disdainful look. Their lack in confidence in his abilities outside of combat was appalling.

Vyne instantly starting bowing and apologizing profusely. The others joined in, saying things like, “We apologize.” and “Please punish me.”

Well, the latter was only spoken by only one person. It was rather obvious who that person was, too...

“Ehm,” Erebus, made uncomfortable by the previous statement, cleared his throat.He began to speak in the smooth language of the magical beast, “Someone come escort us out of this forest.”

Within a few moments, rustling could be heard then a lone figure walked out of the safety of the trees and into the rough pathway.

It was essentially an overgrown fox that stood at least two meters tall with thick, glossy fur. Half of its strong, muscular body was white and the other half was green. Its amber eyes held a certain mischievous gleam in them.

The fox opened its mouth and spoke, “Hello, O Great One. I have heard your call and come to assist you. I am the great fox Liro. A pleasure to meet you!”

Liro bowed his head in respect.

“Yes, yes,” Erebus said while waving away the formalities with his left hand. “Escort us out of here, quickly, I’d prefer.”

“Of course!” Liro puffed up his chest. “Follow me.”

Everyone followed the strangely colored animal into the forest and off of the semi-passageway created by a parting of the trees.

They could have followed the passageway, but it broke off multiple times and twisted and winded. They had basically just walked in a straight line, and ended being completely lost.

Truly a careless group.

Liro effortlessly weaved through the trees, not really checking to see if they were still behind him.

He was so caught up in showing off his knowledge he forgot to make sure everything was okay!

Lucky for him, the quintet was not quite bad enough to lose an uniquely colored, two meter tall fox.

His appearance was his saving grace, more or less.

Within a short amount of time, they passed by the small clearing that Weryn had completed his first kill in. In even shorter period, they were able to see Yvick’s castle not too far off in the distance.

“That is all we needed from you, Liro,” Erebus told the creature. “Thank you for your assistance.”

Liro bowed once again. “It was an honor.” He retreated back into his home, disappearing into the shadows.

“Well,” Erebus started to speak, a smirk tugging at his lips. “I’m sure Yvick will be delighted to see us again.”

It was clear from that statement that Yvick would be anything and everything but delighted.

After all, he had practically forced them out of his home while wearing a ‘smile’.

He would act indifferent while on the inside, his hidden sharp-tongue was at work. Erebus had figured out the true nature of this man during his short time of training him.

“Eh? Why do we have to go back to Yvick?” Weryn questioned. They could just as easily walk around the castle. Sure, cutting through the backdoor would be faster, but there was no need to intrude on the Demon Emperor.

“He has mana stones,” was Erebus’ simplistic answer. “And I’m hungry now.”