After stuffing the wood I had just cut down into my Bangle of Folding, we continued towards the tree while keeping an eye out for more of those Abhorrents.

Just in case, I called out a few of my Shadow Guards as well to protect us in case of a horde.

Ironically, I ended up not needing to worry about other travellers witnessing this since it was easier to spot them as well so I could just hide my Shadow Guards if we see anyone else on this road.

As we continued on the path, we did end up meeting a few Abhorrent pawns but they were easily dealt with by my Shadow Guards before they could even get close.

"There’s not a lot of travellers here huh..." I mused, looking at the completely empty road.

Lisa giggled, "Ehehehe~ That’s because most people don’t travel through here, Aster~ Precisely because of the dangers that the Abhorrents pose."

Emilia nodded, "They would usually take the sea route instead. They would take a ship from Amazon Town and travel along the coast to reach Nomed Metropolis instead of moving through the land route. Only people who have no choice for some reason or are moving north will opt for the land route."

"What about the Waystones?"

Lisa giggled, "Ehehehe~ Like I told you earlier, Aster~ There’s another Waystone that is closer to the city itself. Right outside the gates in fact. So people would normally use that one to reach the city instead."

So basically we’re the weird ones for using this road then... And anyone else who uses it would also be seen as weird or desperate...

Well... Since there was no one else here... That means I could do one thing that I couldn’t really do when I was travelling with my girls and worried about other people around...

I can flirt all I want with my girls!

"Mis... Mistress... This is..."

"Hush hush~" I hummed, giving Katsuki a kiss on the lips while I was carrying my Inugami maid in my arms.

She moaned into the kiss while her body tensed up, as though afraid that I would stop kissing her if she were to make any sudden movements.

So cute~

I put her down after having my way with her, letting her join the rest of my girls who I had already kissed earlier.

Ira and Tsara seemed to be feeling a little left out so I went ahead to give both of them a grope on their boobs.

Ehehehe~ Squish squish~

As soon as I was satisfied with all of my girls, I suddenly felt a tug on my arm.

I turned, thinking it was one of my girls wanting more attention from me but I jolted when I realised it was Eins.

Eh? What’s wrong? I don’t sense any enemies nearby... Nor are there any threats either... And my girls are... Still currently in a daze after all the love I’ve given them earlier. So what’s wrong?

Eins then placed a finger at her lips and puckered them slightly.

Eh? Wait... Really? I didn’t know that my Shadow Guards could have their own wants too?

Wait... Are they evolving or something?

"Master..."

Ah, got it, got it... Come here~

I pulled Eins close to me and I’ll admit... This wasn’t my first time doing this.

Hey, I explored myself, ok?! You can’t blame me for doing that when I have a prime specimen right in front of me! Of course I would at least try to do some stuff!!

Ahem...

I pulled Eins close and gave her a kiss, enjoying the sweet taste of her lips as she moaned into my mouth.

Mmmm~ Kissing Eins always taste sweet~

I pulled back and licked my lips, returning my attention to my surroundings which was when a voice came from above us.

"You’re seriously in a relationship with everyone in your party? What a freak."

That prompted all of us to shift into a combat stance as we faced the direction of the voice.

The fact that this person managed to get so close to us without any of us realising was already concerning to begin with.

When we looked up, we found a guy with purple skin and black horns jutting out from his forehead looking down at us. He was even dressed like some kind of noble with his expensive looking clothes and a hat that sat on the top of his head.

I narrowed my eyes and tried to use [Screened] on him.

But right as the window popped up, the person flicked his finger at me and scoffed, "Ah, ah, ah, peeking is rude you know?"

The screen shattered before it could even show me what the person’s stats were, causing me to recoil in surprise.

I have never seen something like this happen to me when I was using the ability... Even if someone knew about the skill, they would hide their stats behind question marks instead of destroying the screen outright.

That’s definitely a cause of concern... Who the heck is this guy?

"Demon," Lisa called out, shooting a [Laser] at the guy.

The purple skinned demon swung his hand down and deflected her spell away casually.

"Hmm... Attacking someone you just met without any warning? That’s rude~"

Emilia and Delmare appeared beside him, their swords slashing and thrusting out respectively towards him.

He raised his hands and caught their blades between his fingers easily, stopping their swords from reaching him.

"Mmm... Seems like I have the unfortunate luck of running into a couple of rude mortals... Fortunately for me, all of you are too weak to even land a scratch on--"

A red lightning struck him in the chest, blasting him back and sending him crashing back down onto the ground a short distance away and throwing up a dust cloud.

When the dust cleared, the demon was in a really sad state as the clothes on the upper part of his body had been burned away and even his hat was torn to shreds by the lightning.

His purple skin was also charred in various places making him look really pathetic.

He crawled up to his feet, looking at us in confusion.

"Ho... How? What?! Who are you?!"

Ira lowered her palm to point at the demon again, charging up another bolt of her [Infernal Lightning] before shooting it at him.

He managed to avoid this one as he threw himself onto the ground, letting the lightning crash through the trees that were behind him.

Ira clucked her tongue in annoyance and aimed her palm at him again.

He raised his own hand as well, summoning a wall of dark red flames that blocked her next lightning that she shot at him.

He flew up into the sky, his demeanor completely different from how he first appeared as he was now bloody, bruised and dishevelled.

"You!! Who are you?! How are you able to use our magic?! Are you a traitor?!!"

Ira didn’t even answer him as she simply shot another bolt of lightning at him.

He tried to dodge it, but it ended up striking him in the shoulder and tearing that arm off, the torn off limb disintegrating into ashes as it floated away.

I think at this point, he got the message that he was completely outmatched and he spun himself in a circle to cover himself with black flames before disappearing from sight.

Ira clucked her tongue again as she lowered her arm, upset that she didn’t manage to kill the guy.

"That’s a demon?" I asked.

Lisa nodded, "Yes... And this situation is more problematic than I thought..."

I turned to her, "How so?"

"The fact that a demon had the audacity to just show up in front of people... Even in front of us... It means there’s a reason for that confidence... If it was under normal circumstances, they would definitely be hiding themselves in the shadows to avoid anyone figuring out who they are... So this was definitely abnormal..."

"Maybe he thought we wouldn’t realise he’s a demon?"

"That’s still a big risk for him which wouldn’t make sense for him to take it for virtually no return. It means either he was confident of taking all of us out by himself... Or that it wouldn’t even matter even if he was found out..."

I frowned, "Then does that mean..."

"The situation in Nomed Metropolis might be more dangerous than we thought..."

"Should we just rush there straight away then?"

Minnera gestured towards the tree, "It might not even be the city... They might have taken over the area around the tree instead. And maybe the disaster was something they caused instead?"

That... Might also be possible too...

"I guess we might as well stick to the original plan for now... Just take a look at the Tree of Death to check things out before going towards the city itself?" I suggested.

The girls were all in agreement so that was settled for now.

Seriously... What are the demons planning?