Way of the Knights

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In truth Raven didn't need to say anything since Jason was already frozen anyway. In fact it wasn't just him…

The intense fluctuations that occurred earlier when Raven was reinforcing the formation alerted the rest, they originally wanted to exit their tents and see what's going on but they felt something that completely froze them to their spots. 

A vast, repulsive, and incredibly evil aura, accompanied by a deep bellow of something completely paralyzed them. 

Their faces went pale and they were unable to lift even a single muscle. Their hearts were threatening to burst out from their chests as they felt a deep seated fear. They were too scared to even breathe out loud, they could only remain on their spots and hope that they make it out of this alive. 

*OooooooOoooo!*

The bellow sounded once more. There's no need to doubt it at this point, whatever the source of this sound was, it was getting closer to where they were. 

It didn't take long before all of them felt the ground shaking beneath them. Everyone felt nervous, they braced themselves from impact. Some of them were even thinking that it's over, they're going to actually die here, it didn't matter whether they didn't want to since they have no choice. That's the feeling that they got from this aura. 

Raven was the only one who was brave enough to look up and watch the horrifying yet incredible scene. Unlike the rest, he had complete faith that they're going to make it out of this. Whatever thus creature is, there's no way that it could sense nor destroy this formation. 

His eyes gleamed in splendor as he witnessed the monstrosity that's approaching them. 

The creature was at least fifteen meters tall, it had an outrageous pair of horns which gleamed with dark and malevolent energy. It's facial features were savage. It had a row of sharp teeth that completely protrudes out of its mouth, due to that it was constantly spilling spit - which was akin to an acid by the way. It had a pair of red eyes that gleamed with malicious intent, a flat nose and pointed ears. 

Its skin was pitch black, it's incredibly muscular and had a lower body of a horse. It's surrounded with a pulsing black aura which is steeped in scent corpses. It was wearing a necklace made out strewn skulls of different creatures. As it walked aimlessly, it dragged an enormous lance which was still dripping in blood, if one looked closely, there's even bits and pieces of flesh present in there which would give anyone chills. 

At a glace, this creature doesn't seem to be aware of its surroundings, but from Raven's observations, it's ears are constantly twitching. It would also let out a few grunts and every once in a while, would release a deep bellow that echoes across the whole area. 

Raven referred to the records that he read about devils but he doesn't seem to recall reading about this one. But from the looks of it, it seems to be similar to a fabled creatures that he'd read about before. 

A half-human and half-horse, for now he'll call this creature a Centaur Devil. 

As Raven monitored the Centaur Devil walked menacingly, he could help but feel nervous and incredulous at the same time. He had no idea that such things like this existed. Don't get him wrong, so far all he met was Imps, he only read about other variations of Devils on paper, he had never seen the others yet. 

But just like they said, hearing about it and seeing it in person are two different things. 

He couldn't believe that the other variation he would encounter first was already this formidable. 

As he sees it, the Centaur Devil doesn't seem to be really going after them. If anything, Raven was more likely to believe that it's just patrolling the area. What didn't make sense to him is that, for what he could tell, this Centaur Devil should be pretty formidable, judging from the aura it possess', which makes him inclined to believe that it's place on the hierarchy of devils should be pretty high-up. 

'Why did come here?' Is what he wanted to know. 

They're at least 12,000 miles away from the Devil Emperor's Pagoda, if the records were correct, what they should be encountering are devils who were just a bit stronger than Imps, not this one. So how come it's here? Is there anything that attracted it to this side of the map? 

As Raven tried making sense out of this situation, he saw the Centaur Devil walking just a little bit over the border of the 1000 mile mark, it was so close that even Jason could see it and the aura it has were now more obvious to the team. 

Raven's expression turned solemn, the repulsive aura of the Centaur Devil was making him uncomfortable. 

Just as it was about to get closer, it suddenly stopped on its tracks and looked at the ground. It stared at if for a good while before raising its hand and scratching its head. It let out a couple of grunts and whines before deciding the turn sideways and follow the edge of the black soil. 

The moment it started walking away from them, everyone inside the formation released a sigh of relief, Raven included. Still they tried their best to remain still just until they could no longer feel the repulsive aura of the Centaur Devil. Thankfully, that didn't take long and finally, all of them relaxed. 

Jason lost all strength on his legs, even Raven himself felt his back drenched in sweat. He sighed in relief and stepped closer to Jason in order to help him up. 

"I nearly shat myself there." Jason commented as he grabbed on Raven's arm, it was clear that's he's still pretty shaken about the whole incident but he was trying his best to overcome it. 

"Go rest, I'll replace you." Raven stated. He then looked at the tents and said: "You guys too, rest and recover. Try to shake it off. It's gone."

"Wouldn't it be better for us to return instead?" Jason asked, a bit hesitant himself. "Sure we're going to have a stain on our records but it's better than sending ourselves to the jaws of death right?"

Raven was silent for a bit. Jason's words made sense but he felt a bit reluctant to return just like that. Of course, he too was considering their safety but he also didn't want to fail the mission since it's going to be troublesome. Suddenly, an idea struck him.

"I'll contact Senior Brother." He said to Jason. 

"Didn't they say that transmissions doesn't work here? How are you going to do that?" Jason asked. 

"Don't worry, I have my ways." Raven replied, he then tapped Jason in the back and said: "You go rest first, I'll deal with it. I'll tell you guys how it went and we'll go from there."

"Alright, man. Thanks, I'll go pass out on my tent for now." Jason stated causing Raven to chuckled. 

He then watched as Jason limped towards his tent and closed it. As for himself, he sat down in the middle of the formation and checked if it's still working as intended. As soon as he finished double-checking it, he sat down and took out several items that he could use to contact Henry. 

Raven tinkered some things and ended up with a small table with an array of gemstones embedded on it. The table is filled with several runic seals connecting each gems. 

He then placed a hair belonging to Henry, one that he collected during the last time they met. He then tied it to a medium and placed a drop of his blood on it. He then injected the table with his cosmic energy and started forming hand seals. 

Not too long after that, a screen of light emerged in front of him showing Henry who looked like he was handling some paperwork.

"Senior Brother." Raven called out. He then saw Henry sharply raising his head and looking around him until he saw Raven's face within the light screen. 

Henry looked stunned, his eyes widened a bit as he asked: "Is that you Raven?"

"Yes, it's me Senior Brother." Raven answered.

"What sorcery is this? Wait, how do I confirm that it's really you?" Henry's face turned serious as he asked this. 

Raven didn't say anything, instead he lifted a finger and released a wisp of Cleansing Flames. Seeing that was a proof of his identity. 

"Alright, I believe you. But is there really a need for this? A sound transmission would've done it." 

"I'm not in Tartarus Senior Brother, we're here at the Devil's Cradle." Raven revealed, causing Henry to be shocked once more. He was about to say anything but Raven interrupted him. "One moment please, Senior Brother. I want to tell you something that takes precedence."

"What is it?"

"We've encountered something that and we want to hear your input about it." Raven then lifted a drawing board with a detailed sketch of the Centaur Devil. As soon as Henry saw this, his eyes widened like saucers. 

"Where did you see that!?"

"We're at the 970 mile mark, we saw it patrolling the edges of 1000 miles mark." Raven replied. 

"What!?" Henry was greatly alarmed, he then urgently said: "Retreat! Don't worry about the mission and retreat as soon as possible! I'll come there and get you!"

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