While fighting with the giant ancient crane, they had covered quite a bit of distance. The surroundings were now more like open plains with fewer trees, and small purple grass carpeted the ground, swaying gently in the strange breeze that carried a faint, sweet scent like honey and wildflowers.
In the distance, there was a small mountain with a river flowing beside it. It seemed like a good place to chill out and have a few days of vacation while camping on top of that mountain, with its peak offering what would surely be a breathtaking view of the alien landscape.
Esdeath and Maruti were again ready to move, but then... the ground was trembling lightly, the dirt vibrating a little beneath their feet.
Dud... dud... dud... Small vibrations could be heard upon listening closely, and it was starting to grow faster and faster, like a distant drumbeat that was getting closer and closer.
"What now?—" Maruti just said it, and the next second—
DHUMMHH!...
Something huge landed beside her from above, missing by just inches away from her. The impact sent a shockwave through the ground, kicking up dirt and purple grass.
Maruti's whole body tightens and shivered like a bolt of lightning had run through it.
But she was quick to respond. As she turned around to look at what it was, that thing didn't stop. It pulled up, and with another DHUMHH!... it landed a bit further away from her, each impact shaking the very earth.
As Esdeath and Maruti looked up in the air, only then did they realize that it wasn't a 'thing' but a living creature.
An incredibly huge giant humanoid creature with two hands and two legs like a normal human, but it had three eyes—two below the forehead like normal, while the third one rested in between, giving it a creepy, unsettling look.
Its hair was messy and big like an eccentric.
What landed beside Maruti was not a boulder or a big block of brick but its right leg's toe, more than triple the size of Maruti herself. The toe itself was larger than her entire torso, with a nail that was dark and chipped like obsidian.
"A giant?" Maruti asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she craned her neck to take in the full sight of the creature.
"S rank monster, Three-Eyed Titan," Esdeath answered, without sparing any glance at Maruti. Her gaze was still locked on that titan, her expression unreadable but her posture alert.
"Where is it going?" Maruti asked casually.
"How would I know?" Esdeath replied just as casually, though her eyes never left the approaching titan.
But soon enough, their questions were answered. Unlike earlier, the ground starts trembling fiercely like an earthquake was happening. The purple grass rippled like waves on an ocean, and small rocks bounced and danced on the ground.
It grew so much in just a few seconds that Maruti almost was about to lose her balance, stumbling forward and catching herself with her hands.
"Fuck... What now?" she shouts, the situation becoming more and more crazy with each second.
They saw the giant running towards the small mountain. It pulls his hand back, as if about to throw a powerful punch that could shatter the very earth.
But then, movements in the mountain started happening, causing a small earthquake in the surrounding area. It's as if the mountain itself became alive, the ground shifting and groaning as something stirred within.
"Holy shit, that mountain is moving," Maruti points towards that mountain. She was completely baffled.
Esdeath immediately flew up in the air. Of course, she didn't fly up much, or else she would have to feel the fierce crushing that came with altitude in this strange realm.
Hovering just about twenty meters away from the ground, with her keen eyes, she could clearly see what was happening.
"It's not a mountain. It's S rank beast, a Mountain Turtle," Esdeath answered while descending to the ground beside Maruti, landing as softly as a feather.
"So it's a battle between S rank monster vs S rank beast?" Maruti asked, but it was more of a confirmation than an actual question.
While Esdeath just chuckles, a small smile playing on her lips. "Welcome to the real demon realm," she says.
The mountain turtle moves forward slowly, its massive limbs finally emerging from the ground. The head had spikes like green shells covering them for protection, creating a natural armor that gleamed in the strange light. Its green eyes shone with anger, like emeralds catching fire.
Meanwhile, the Three-Eyed Titan, despite its massive size, was surprisingly fast. Even Maruti felt it when she couldn't react in time to how quickly he ran from beside her. Usually in her mind, giant creatures were always slow and lazy, but now her imagination had clearly been shattered into a thousand pieces.
The titan moves its punch forward, directly aiming at the turtle, releasing its S rank Aura at the same time. The air around its fist seemed to shimmer and distort, as if reality itself was bending to accommodate the power it was unleashing.
Meanwhile, the mountain turtle buries its limbs in the ground to withstand his punch directly, its soft green S rank Aura spreading wildly like a protective shield. The aura had a quality like sunlight filtering through leaves on a forest floor.
BAM!...
The punch lands directly, sending shockwaves through the ground that Esdeath and Maruti could feel even from their distance. Many natural trees, fungi growing on the turtle's body with dirt and stones—a huge part of it broke away, falling to the ground with thunderous crashes.
While at the same time, it produced a huge shockwave, sending ripples through the ground that made smaller creatures turn into meat paste or died by coughing blood.
Meanwhile, away from both of them, Esdeath and Maruti could feel the aura clash of two S rank beings. Unlike before, where they only withstood restrained aura of S ranks in situations where they couldn't use it to fullest.
But right now, these two were spreading their S rank Aura wildly without care, like two storms colliding and unleashing their full fury upon the world.
If it was before, Esdeath and Maruti would have already turned to meat paste by now without even realizing what happened. The raw power being unleashed was enough to obliterate anything in its path without a trace.
Even surrounding trees and boulders were being crushed by the sheer force of the auras clashing. Huge amounts of screams of different unknown beings from surroundings could be heard easily—cries of pain and terror that echoed across the plains.
Esdeath couldn't help but twitch her lips. Despite being far away, and being far more stronger than they were in the past, they both could still feel quite the amount of pressure on them.
It was like standing at the edge of a hurricane, trying to hold your ground against winds that threatened to tear you apart.
"Eww... I feel like vomiting," Maruti sighs, while keeping her balance. Her stomach churned, and also feeling a little headache.
"One is almost like a mountain tall, one is a literal mountain. How could people kill these kind of things?" Maruti says in protest, her voice strained.
"Hmph! Lortell can split mountains with her one attack," Esdeath crosses her arms, saying proudly, her chin lifted slightly.
"....." Maruti just stares at her for few seconds, her expression blank, and then adds with a flat tone.
"But we are not Lortell," she says, stating the obvious with a simplicity.
"...." Esdeath was also silent for few moments, looking in Maruti's eyes without blinking and then—
"Run!" she adds, her voice sharp and urgent.
Maruti didn't ask anything. There was no point in asking anything when survival was at stake.
Both of them turned around and ran as fast as they could, going as far away from these two S ranks as possible. Their feet pounded against the purple grass, which seemed to flatten in their wake as they fled.
And why not?
None of them were S ranks. Besides, they did have potential to kill an S rank beast or monster now, but there was no point in wasting their effort on these two.
Their goal was to kill Time path creatures and collect materials and essence stones related to time path.
Just witnessing the fight of these two S ranks was more than enough. It was a good thing that compared to them, these two were just insects in size, so they didn't draw their attention. Or else, both of them might team up and attack Esdeath and Maruti instead.
Running was the best option.
They ran... and ran... and ran.
Covering kilometers of distance till exhaustion kicked in, Till their lungs burned.
Of course, Esdeath was there to lead the direction. The running only shortened the journey towards the river sand of flawless time, turning their flight into progress toward their goal.
Pant!... pant... pant!...
Maruti pants while running, her arms pumping at the same time. "Phew... it's growing cold all of a sudden. Should we make a bonfire and cook something?" she asks between breaths, the sudden chill raising goosebumps on her skin.
But Esdeath rejects her flatly, "No, we'll continue journey forward till midnight and eat only in daytime," her voice firm and unwavering despite their exertion.
"So cruel," Maruti groans, her shoulders slumping slightly. "You should've said it before coming here," she sighs, the complaint barely audible over her heavy breathing.
"Helppp..."
A sound suddenly interrupts their conversation out of nowhere, cutting through the cold air like a knife.
For a second, they both felt like they misheard something, but then the human-like scream came again, clearer this time.
"Help... me. Someone help me," the voice came again, trembling with fear and desperation.
"Do we check it out?" Maruti asks, her head tilting slightly as she tries to pinpoint the source of the sound.
"It can be a monster mimicking human speech as well. Who would be idiot enough to ask for help in the middle of Terra Divina?" Esdeath says, her words definitely made sense. The very idea of someone crying for help in this dangerous realm seemed absurd.
"What if it's a demon?" Maruti replies with another logical line that made sense.
Esdeath thought for a few seconds, her brow furrowed in concentration, then nods. "Let's check it out but be ready to run at any moment," she warns.
Maruti nods in agreement, her expression serious.
With that, they slowly approach the bushes behind the trees, moving as silently as shadows. They try to see if it was actually someone or a monster mimicking human speech, their senses on high alert for any sign of danger.
But it turns out, it was actually a human, on his knees, his eyes were deeply shut as if in prayer or terror. He didn't look visibly hurt but definitely horrified, his body trembling uncontrollably.
There was a slave collar on his neck, indicating his slave identity, while another noticeable thing was another statue of a human laying beside him. It was so well carved and detailed that it's as if it was a real human frozen in time, its face forever captured in an expression of horror.
Esdeath and Maruti still didn't let their guard down and approached while making some distance between themselves, ready to react at a moment's notice.
"You, who are you?" Esdeath says, her voice cold and demanding.
The middle-aged human's eyes open in shock, but it surely turns into one of pure horror as he sees Esdeath and Maruti. His face pales, and his mouth opens in a silent scream.
"No... Now I'm going to get eaten by demons instead," he screams and starts crying even more, tears streaming down his face like rivers.
"My debt wasn't even this big, I don't deserve this," he screams, his voice cracking with despair.
Esdeath and Maruti look at each other with grimaced faces, a mix of pity and exasperation in their expressions.
With a deep breath, Esdeath spoke.
"I'm not in the mood to eat humans today, so I may spare you," she says, her voice devoid of any warmth.
The middle-aged man immediately opens his eyes in hope, his tears momentarily stopping. "Really?"
"Yes, but only if you answer all of our questions truthfully," Esdeath says, smiling wide to mimic a benevolent smile, but it only made her look even scarier.
The man shivers but decides to grab onto this hope.
"Okay, what do you wanna ask? I can't disclose any special information about human kingdoms though. I was only a lowly citizen there," he adds, his voice trembling slightly.
*****
After some rounds of questions, he explains about his situation.
His name was Caster. He already had several debts, and then he started taking more from illegal ways, which led him turning into a slave. The enslavers were doing illegal works of coming here in the demon realm and exporting essence stones as much as they could.
Because unlike any other place, Terra Divina and, more specifically, in the region of the river sand of flawless time, there was no scarcity of essence stones, especially time path ones.
His and other slaves' work was to collect as much as they could while risking their lives. .
What was more fascinating was that none of them were awakened except the leaders of the slave group, who made sure that no slave escapes alive and does their work.
Despite having the advantage of numbers, these people could do nothing against an awakened. Not to forget, there was this slave collar on their neck, they couldn't disobey any commands.
"Since we are not awakened, most creatures actually ignore us or don't sense us at all. We are like insects to them. While if they do, then those enslavers use some of us as decoy to run away with the rest," Caster explains.
"So you were used as decoy but somehow survived?" Maruti asks, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"N-no, actually it was our small group to find wood path essence stones here, but we got attacked by a snake-like lady. She turned most of us into stones and killed some of them while they couldn't see," he said, his body trembling at the memory.
"You idiot!" Esdeath shouts immediately, shutting her eyes tight.
"Shut your eyes!" she adds, her voice sharp with urgency.
Maruti also does the same while Caster shuts his eyes out of fear, his hands flying to cover his face.
"Fuck, you should've said from the beginning. Why were you wasting time introducing yourself?" Maruti scolds but also keeps full alert, her body tense and ready for action.
Both of them realized that they were up against a Gorgon, a Rank A monster known for its petrifying gaze. Caster had literally told everything except the most important thing up until now.
That Gorgon would surely have enough time to hide for a sneak attack. It was already a luck that it didn't attack up until now.
Even among slaves, Caster would surely be the dumb one.
"You, do you know about where other slaves are mining essence stones? Their numbers, path, and where is the highest quantity?" Esdeath asks.
"Y-yes, I know," he replies immediately, his voice shaking.
"Good," she adds, her expression grim.
But because of this, she or Maruti couldn't release their aura to scare off the hidden Gorgon. Or else Caster would surely die.
Esdeath stood still, focusing her eye senses to track any presence around them.
Few moments later, Maruti's slowly whispers in Caster's ears.
"It's clear now, you can open your eyes," she says assuring.
Caster smiles, relief washing over his face. "Okay," he says, opening his eye.
But as he did, in front of his eyes was a woman's face, her skin had a green fade, and instead of hair, it were living snakes, hissing and writhing as if they had a life of their own.
Her serpent-like pupils were glowing dark green, while her smile reached ear to ear, revealing teeth that were sharp and pointed like needles.
"Got you!"