Reincarnated as the Demon King's Son

A few days later, Aldred and the others arrived on top of the mountain. It was cold and harsh wind constantly bombarded them.

Stella casted a barrier to protect them against the weather.

As they stood and looked around, they saw adventurers crawled to the top. Ice formed on their skin, and they breathed in and out heavily as they heaved themselves up on the platform.

Only a few thousands adventurers managed to come here. There were still tens of thousands people down at the bottom of the mountain.

"Prepare for battle," Aldred said. He knew that the top of the mountain had to be a test for them.

The soldiers prepared their weapons, which made the other adventurers wary, but they noticed that the soldiers were looking at the sky.

They looked at each other before brandishing their own weapon and lookout for anything in the sky.

A few hours later, a cry came. Then, it was followed by thousands of cry.

"They have come! The Ranehawks have come!"

The blue sky was covered shut as the hawks filled the sky.

A Ranehawk flew closer to them, and revealed a beautiful woman riding on top of the bird.

This shocked everyone.

"Leave this place and you will live!" the woman shouted.

None of the adventurers say anything or move.

"Fine! If death is your wish, I shall grant it. Attack!"

The Ranehawks dived down simultaneous under her command.

Aldred's eyes turned purple and burst out powerful energy that spread around him. It made him and his friends invisible to the birds, and not only that, they unconsciously avoided Aldred.

Baendjbi and his allies were shocked by this.

"Put away your sword. This spell is only effective as long as you put away your intention of harming the birds," Aldred said.

Baendjbi looked at his friends before he put away his sword. "Aldred, what kind of spell is this?"

"It's an illusion spell of mine."

Bartrem and his soldiers sheated their swords as well.

A Ranehawk flew past them and bit onto the neck of its target, decapitating the man.

"Don't make sudden movement," Aldred said. "Move very carefully like you're afraid of waking someone up. And come together to me, very slowly."

They obeyed his instructions, tip-toeing their way towards him.

All around them, the Ranehawks were attacking the adventurers and the adventurers retaliated with all they got. Swinging axes, throwing blades, shooting arrows, casting spells, screaming, running, ducking, and everything in between.

It was a chaotic scene. The adventurers mostly came in a group of four to eight. This meant that they only worked together in a small group, but in a large scale, they were very scattered and only protect their own hide.

Although it was logical, it wasn't effective, and the birds managed to kill them one by one very quickly.

A few minutes, passed, and a man roared. Bright light came out of his eyes as he went onto a rampage. Heaving his sword on his shoulder, he slashed towards the sky, cutting hundreds of Ranehawks at once.

More adventurers activated their ultimate skills, trembling the platform. Birds fell by the dozens, but even so, their numbers were too much, and the adventurers could not fight them for long.

Hours later, the platform was filled with corpses and blood of the Ranehawks and the adventurer. Either humans, elves, winged-men, dwarfs, all died.

The woman on top of the bird looked at this scene with cold, unfeeling eyes. There was no sympathy, only contempt.

Just as she was about to leave, Aldred and his group appeared out of nowhere.

This shocked her. How could this man hide not only himself, but also his allies that numbered more than one hundred?

That shock quickly turn into a rage as she was about to order another attack.

"Wait!" Aldred held up his hand. "I have something to show you."

Aldred grabbed something from his inventory. It was [Wena's Spit] and then smear it all over his body.

Right after doing that, the woman widened his eyes as the birds made weird sounds.

"That smell."

Aldred smiled. He finally understood why Wena gave him that bottle of spit. These birds must be familiar with Wena, and smearing it onto his body would make them think that Aldred was a friend.

"That wretched woman send you here?! I am going to kill you myself!" The woman grabbed a spear as her bird dove down.

"Eh…" Aldred did not expect the even to turn out this way. Wasn't Wena their friends? Weren't they suppose to accept him?

The bird came at him at a high speed. Aldred summoned his shield and braced for impact.

Before that could happen however, another woman appeared right in front of the bird. She got both hands behind her back, but the bird stopped right in front of her.

It was Wena!

"Come on! Onward!" the woman on top of the bird commanded.

The bird cried, shaking its head.

The bird actually refused to attack Wena!

"Wena?!"

"Good to see you again, Zara." Wena smiled.

Zara was confused. "But… you appearance."

Wena laughed. "This kid over here do something to me. It makes me look young again. I am not like you who can barely age."

Zara frowned. "Is that why you protect this child and led him to me?"

"You think I would do that just to look young again?" Wena smiled at her.

"Then why? You would have never led a human to this mountain."

"He can give you what you always wanted."

"This again?" Zara retorted.

"Excuse me," Aldred said. "I have been letting you two talk with each other, but can you tell me what is going on?"

The two women looked at him.

"I will tell him," Wena said to Zara before turning towards Aldred. "Have you heard the legends about the Ranehawks and what they have done?"

Aldred nodded. "They have destroyed an entire kingdom before."

"That is correct, but there are changes to the story. You see, these Ranehawks are actually not Ranehawks. They are dragons."

"What?" Aldred asked.

"Everyone, you can reveal your true appearance now," Wena said to the birds.

The Ranehawks cried to the sky, and their form changed into dragons with various shapes and sizes. Some had two to three heads, some had red vibrant color, and some were as large as a hill.

Aldred was shocked. "Why did they hide their appearance?"

"They are the special kind of dragons. One that can connect to the soul of another sentient race. This makes them a great companion as the dragon can double or even triple the fighting force of a single man. But with that benefit, many kings and emperors set their greedy gaze towards them. They wanted to force the dragons to connect to their soldiers and fight their war."

"So the nation that they destroyed was?"

"That's right. That long forgotten nation tried to control the dragons. Lured and fooled, these innocent dragons suffered enslavement for thousands of years. Dragons live a very long live, and they have suffered for most of their lifetime. Zara and I fought a long battle to free these dragons, but to keep them free, they have to stop being a dragon."

Zara snorted. "Because of that, the dragons are in pain every single day. The transformation spell weakened them greatly, and once they revert back to their dragon form, they cannot revert back to be a Ranehawk."

Aldred widened his eyes. "Then that means?"

"Yeah, apparently Wena trusted you enough to throw away our disguise that we have keep for hundreds of years."

Aldred looked at Wena with curiosity.

Wena smiled and nodded at him. "I know I can trust you, Aldred. I know you would agree to our wish."

"But I didn't even know your wish yet."

Wena walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder. She stared at his eyes. "I know your intention of becoming the ruler of the Ceraisian Empire in the future. My wish is for you to protect these dragons and let them roam free in your territory."

"This is foolish!" Zara shouted. "You trusted him too much for this, Wena! Even if he could kill the emperor, and fulfilled his promise, what happened when he died? What about the nobles under him?!"

"How can the son of a demon king died and be controlled by mortal nobles?" Wena smiled.

"Eh?!" Everyone was shocked.

"How did you know?" Aldred asked.

Wena shrugged, making Aldred even more curios."

"Aldred, you're the son of a demon king?" His wives asked.

"It's a long story, I will tell you later," Aldred said.

Maverick looked at Naly. "Did you know about this?"

Naly smiled. "I cannot unfold my master's secret can I?"

"You better tell me more about him tonight."

"Kyaa! Anything for you, darling!"

"So what is your answer?" Wena asked. "Will you do that for us?"

"I still don't understand. What will I get to do this for you?" Aldred asked.

"Right, I forgot you did not know yet. Your next challenge will be in the sky. The world will not let you fly on your own, and your competitors will use everything they can to defeat you. Don't you think using the strongest dragons in the world will give you any advantage?"

"I thought we are looking for clues where we go from here. I didn't know we are looking for dragons."

"This challenge involves mystery in it, child. You are lucky to meet me, but luck is also part of the game. It always has."

Aldred smiled. "That is true. Fine, I agree to your wish."