Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

A man and a demon beast were seen traversing through the night sky at a critical velocity.

"Not even a day and you are already on your way to becoming a fat bird, Argo. It's your weight that is bringing us down. I'm as light as a feather compared to you."

Eren spoke to his demon beast amid their unstable flight. Argo was trying his best to flap his wings and maintain a stable flight. But with Eren over his back, things were just too difficult for him for the time being. In a few moments, he would lose altitude and land poorly on the ground, losing his balance.

"Kiyeeeeh!"

Argo registered his complaints by releasing a sharp eagle screech. The poor beast looked like he was going to be very angry at his master for taunting him while he was struggling to survive his flight.

"What do you mean I'm being mean? Life is not all about eating pork, Argo. *sigh. It is indeed cruel. Get with the program already."

Eren said and jumped from the beast's back just as he was about to crash to the ground. As a result of his jump's recoil, Argo lost the semblance of balance he had. He crashed to the top of a huge tree that had loads of vines attached to its thick and dense branches.

Crack! Swish! Reek!

Argo broke through many of the branches and became tangled in the vines. His body was engulfed in them, making it difficult for him to move. But it was also thanks to them that his fall was cushioned. He stopped just a few meters away from landing face down on the ground.

Eren on the other hand used his movement spell to land safely beside his demon beast. He looked at Argo and sighed before retrieving Rigor Mortis– his Shamshir.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The branches and vines were cut down in the next moment. As a result, Argo met his eventual fate and crashed face-first into the ground.

"Stay here. I'll cover the rest of the way myself."

"Kiyeeee!"

"No. I'm not ditching you. I only said I'd take you out because I wanted to get away from the camp. And if we keep on doing what we just did, it'll be difficult for me to maintain the time limit. I guess I'll have to reach the place using the normal methods.

Eren patted the beast's head after he said that as a form of consolation. He knew that making Argo his mount was taxing on the demon beast from the beginning. But since he couldn't get Altashia and the rest of the rankers off his back using the covert methods anymore, he decided to use Argo as a means to get away from the camp, telling everybody that he was preparing to try simple flight trials with him.

"Kiyeeee!"

Eren didn't reply to the beast's objections anymore. He just retrieved two dead bodies of Earth Suidae and presented them to him as a form of consolation.

"I was just messing with you. Here, eat this snack. Um… let's say your sister also likes to eat a lot so I used to stock up on food like this. You should be glad that the habit never really faded away."

Eren said and started walking in a particular direction after looking at the star alignment. He waved his hand without looking back at his beast who was trying to call out to him.

"Stay put and don't create a fuss in the area. Remember, you are still only an Ace rank beast. And a newborn at that. Other stronger beasts will not hesitate to have sumptuous bird meat as a buffet, just the way you devour your food."

Eren gave a final piece of advice to his pet before seemingly disappearing from the place. He knew that no matter how untamed Argo might seem, he would listen to his instructions just fine.

He was rushing to a place he only knew from widely spread information from his previous timeline. This was the place he wanted to recon in peace without bringing any of his squadmates to join him in his exploration.

***************

'There it is.'

Eren could finally see a mountain with weird twin peaks, which looked like it had grown a pair of horns. This was the landmark he was searching for. He used his movement spell to quickly approach the mountain before starting to look around.

He eventually found what he was looking for. There was a small passage that one could only access after jumping down a vertical cave located at the same mountain ridge. It was covered by dense vegetation so Eren took some time.

This cave was only 8m deep from the ground. Eren landed inside the closed space and could see the only route he could take if he wanted to proceed further.

Eren coated his hands with his fire-mana powered flames and started walking down the passage.

The passage led him to a large, closed-off cave that had a high ceiling and ample space. The cave had runic patterns drawn all over its walls, ground, and ceiling. The cave had yooperlite stones embedded at the right places and corners, giving it a macabre ambience.

There was mana fog lingering everywhere which compromised Eren's vision and mana sense. But he could see what he wanted to see from his position.

There were a bunch of steps that looked like they would lose their solid state and crumble away if anyone stepped on them. The steps led to an altar that was placed a few meters above the ground.

The altar looked simple yet gave off otherworldly vibes. A human-shaped skull was attached to its wall, except for two horns on its forehead. Placed below the skull was a runic stone construction with a small depression in the middle. This gave the depression the appearance of a stone vessel.

Eren was running behind schedule, so he didn't hesitate anymore. He walked ahead and walked towards the altar that was placed at the other end. He took out Rigor Mortis and slashed his hand over his right hand to draw a line of blood. Next, he let his blood drop right in the middle of the depression over the stone platform.

The butcher was seeking entry into the Oni dungeon.