The Hero's Demonic Return

The Darkness and The Cloak

Augustus continued moving down a single direction. Though there isn’t any guarantee that this would lead him outside. After all, this forest is named the [Forest of the Lost] and without any proper guide, anyone would surely experience the reason why this place has been named as such – the very fate that Augustus is now suffering because of how he left all of his allies behind.

Their porter is the one who navigates for the group. With him being killed by the goblins, the only thing that Augustus can rely on is his own head. Though there isn’t much of that which can be relied on as the man simply continued blindly running without any pause or rest. That is, until he came across the eyes that gleamed in the darkness.

This almost paralyzed him completely. He knows that what’s staring at him from the darkness is nothing more than a goblin but, what made this nerve wrecking is the fact that it multiplied. More pairs of eyes suddenly came out, surrounding the poor warrior on all sides. And, without any pause, they made their move and attacked him.

“GAAAAAH!”

Three goblins pounced at Augustus from the front. The warrior raised his shield to block them but had little strength left to do so. Leading to him dropping to the ground in the most pathetic way possible. But not before being able to slash the same enemy on its body. Killing a goblin and leaving the other two that are now forcing their way through his shield. Clawing it and, in the process, clawing him as well.

“Get back! Get back you monsters!” Augustus flailed his sword aimlessly in the air. There’s no way that this can kill anything but he still, seemingly, believed that it could happen. And so he continued on with this pathetic act of his.

“I am Augustus Jurgenson! You don’t have any right to lay your filthy claws on my body!” He exclaimed from the top of his lungs.

All that this did is invite the goblins to move closer to him. Instead of warding them off, more goblins began to approach him at that second. Closing in on the poor warrior who seem to now be at a loss on what he’s going to do.

“I will not go down like this!” The goblins laughed at him, ridiculing the efforts of the warrior who is now beginning to water his own eyes.

“S-Save me!”

But there’s nobody coming to save him. The goblins tore through his shield, finally taking it off the arm of the warrior as they bit through his flesh. Forcing the grip of this fighter to loosen, even for just a second. That is all the goblins needed after all. And, with the shield gone, they easily disarmed his sword as well.

“HELP!”

The human quickly sunk into despair. Hearing nothing else but the unceasing laughter of the goblins mixed with the footsteps of the monsters that slowly got closer and closer finally took away the last shred of hope that Augustus still has.

Death.

That awaits him as a goblin stood on top of his body. Holding a dagger in its small hands, Augustus always thought that he would be killed in battle by a much stronger foe. He thought of dying valiantly and honorably. Instead, he is going to be killed by the weakest of monsters and as the dagger is struck down on him, his body accepted its end.

But that is not what happened.

“Stop.”

A human voice. A human’s voice said this word. Augustus is sure of it. Though paralyzed to the point of being unable to move anymore, this is one thing he cannot be mistaken about. After all, it is human language that’s just been used. Not elven, not dwarvish. Human language. Human tongue.

That is why none of this made sense to him because…why would monsters listen to a human? As soon as the human gave the order, all of the goblins backed away. They didn’t even attempt to attack Augustus anymore. They followed the command and went back to the darkness. Leaving Augustus alone with the man wearing a cloak.

“I’m sorry about that, they tend to get extremely excited whenever they get the chance to actually be the predators instead of the prey.”

“T-They?” Augustus asked.

“Well yes, these are subordinates after all. As for you well, you’re going to die unless you fulfill the things that I request from you.”

“This is a dream right? Yeah, that must be it. This must be a dream.” Augustus said. “There’s no way that another human is saying these things to me.”

“Oh all of this is real. You can believe that much. I’m not lying one and if you don’t believe me, I can always just make the goblins come back.” The cloaked mand took one step forward as he drew out a short dagger. “In fact, why don’t I just stab you in the throat to prove that this isn’t a dream?”

Deep inside of him, Augustus knows that the cloaked man isn’t lying. This is reality and he is facing a person who can command monsters. Yet there has never been anyone capable of doing this for, monsters are never creatures that can be tamed or ordered around by humans, nor any other race. The sole entity that can do this is the demon lord and, even this almighty creature is already dead. Killed by the ten knight heroes long ago.

“You don’t have to do anything hard. All you have to do is agree to my terms and you will be spared.” The cloaked man added. “So, what do you say? Do you want to live or do you want to meet the same fate as your comrades?”

“I-I’ll do whatever you ask.” Augustus replied.

“Good. You’re actually the first person that I caught before getting killed since you’re also the only one that ran away.” The cloaked man said. “So this is what I need from you.”

“What is it sir?” Augustus asked.

The cloaked man sat on the ground, leveling himself to Augustus who is also sitting down. Though covered by the cloak, Augustus can feel that the eyes of the person in front of him is staring at him. Piercing through his flesh and seeing the very core of his being. This same stare is what the cloaked man offered when he finally gave the condition.

“I want you to tell me what happened to the demon lord.”