The Demon King’s Hero Of Light - Volume 1 Chapter 192 192 The Devourers In The Storm

“Aella, abominations known as Devourers have found your realm, and they are here to eat it,” said Joseph, waving for her to follow him as he turned away.

“Wait, what do you mean?” she asked as she rushed down the stairs from the thrones. “What are Devourers?”

With a sigh, Joseph waved his hand and everything around them seemed to freeze.

“Alright, I froze time. What do you want to know?” he asked, giving her an exasperated look.

Aella glanced around the room, and swallowed.

“If these Devourers are so dangerous, then why do you need me? Why can’t you handle them?” she asked.

“These things eat everything, including magic. My expertise is magic. The swirling mana storms on your realm have attracted them and they intend to devour everything, the realm included. Because your realm is so weak from the storms, it can’t keep them from coming, and I am too powerful to fight them here. If I tried, your realm wouldn’t be able to handle it and would be damaged even more, he explained.

“So, if they eat magic, and you are magic, does that mean you can’t fight them?” she asked, trying to keep up.

“No, I can kill anything I want, but these things are annoyingly difficult. I thought I had already killed them all once, but apparently, they hid somewhere and gained enough strength back to be a threat again. The last time I fought them, seventeen realms were lost.”

“Seventeen?” she asked in a whisper.

“Seventeen,” he confirmed with a nod.

“But But if you can’t kill them, then-” she began, but he shook his head and interrupted her.

“I can totally kill them, easily right now because they’re weak still, but the problem is that if I try to fight them here, your realm will be damaged too. I have to travel back through the portal they opened to get here, in order to fight them there. Your job is to hunt down all of the scouts here and kill them all. If even one manages to survive, then they can return sometime in the future.”

Aella thought about that for a moment. “I can fight and kill things easily, but what are they?”

“These things don’t technically have a classification,” he said thoughtfully. “They shouldn’t technically exist. Their physical description is easy. They have multiple legs that are glorified spikes they use to stab into the ground and anchor themselves against any storms. Their hide is made up of thick chitinous plates that are basically impervious to being punctured or cut. They don’t have any eyes or ears, because their sole purpose is to eat everything. Mineral, vegetable, energy, everything.”

“Then how am I supposed to kill these things?” Aella said, throwing her hands up in annoyance.

“You’re the Realm Champion, surely you have abilities granted by the realm?” asked Joseph, raising an eyebrow, as if he already knew the answer.

“Realm Champion?” she asked, looking down at her hands.

“You didn’t honestly think you had started looking out for everyone instead of just yourself or the demon kingdom by accident, did you? The realm has even modified your body physically. Though, any kind of immortality it promised you won’t be effective against these things. They are seriously a huge threat.”

“So, I use my element abilities to fight these things, and you go back through some portal to fight more of them?” she asked, blinking a couple times as she realized he had no reason to lie to her. It would take some thought to process the whole Realm Champion thing afterwards though.

“The ones you will be fighting are going to be the size of those lions you like so much. The ones I am going to be fighting are going to be the size of mountain ranges. The main one, that I killed and thought to have destroyed them all, was the size of your sun. But just because you are going to be fighting small ones, don’t underestimate them. They are constantly mutating, and if one of them learns something works better, they will eat it and improve themselves. These things are the biggest threat I have ever faced.”

Aella nodded slowly, glancing over to see Alfred and Josephine in the process of entering the room.

“I think this calls for all of the heroes, not just me,” she said.

Joseph nodded and snapped his fingers, bringing Alfred, Josephine, Rupert, and Brimsey into the stopped time bubble.

“What?” asked Alfred, reacting the fastest.

“Listen,” said Aella, holding up a hand to get their attentions. “Our realm is under attack from monsters called Devourers. As the heroes of this realm, we need to do our best to fight them off and destroy them. Not a single one can be allowed to survive.”

“Finally,” sighed Alfred, pulling out his sword in anticipation.

“Do I have to go?” asked Josephine with a worried frown.

“If you fail, your daughter will die a painful death,” said Aella. “These things eat everything!”

Josephine frowned even harder, but then nodded.

“I have one request before we leave,” said Rupert, looking at Aella. “But I wish it to be between me and Aella only.”

The others nodded their understanding and moved to the edge of the bubble as Aella came to stand beside Rupert. He whispered a few words into her ear and she looked at her carefully.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” he nodded.

“Very well,” she agreed.

“Then you shall all need to prepare,” said Joseph. “The storms where we are going are far worse than the ones outside these walls.”

Aella already had her wind wall up around her, so she watched as each of the heroes used their own particular element to prepare. Alfred seemed to vibrate at such a speed, she doubted anything would be able to hit him. Josephine surrounded herself with an armor of water, as Rupert surrounded himself with an armor of rock. Glancing at her father, Aella saw he had taken on a shadow form that probably couldn’t be hit by anything.

“Wait, you’re a hero?” asked Alfred, looking at the general in confusion.

“Yes, I am the Hero of Shadow,” said Brimsey with a smile.

“I suppose that makes sense, that there would be an opposite to my light, but I can’t help but feel we shouldn’t be friends,” grumbled Alfred, turning towards Joseph.

“Let us be off!”

Joseph clapped his hands and the bubble disappeared, leaving them standing on a flat desolate plain. Wind swirled around them, obscuring everything outside their small area.

“I will leave you here,” shouted Joseph over the whine of the storm. “The portal is directly ahead of you, and has just opened a moment ago. If we act quickly enough, I will be able to close it before too many Devourers pour through!”

They all rushed forward, staying close to Aella since she was keeping most of the dust and debris away, until the portal came into sight. This wasn’t a neat round stone on the ground, as they were used to seeing. This was more of a rip through space and time. Aella could almost feel the pain the realm was in as they drew closer.

Joseph rushed forward, ignoring the figures that were streaming past him, and dived through the opening.

Alfred went to attack the first figure, when Aella shouted at him to wait. The lizard man stared up at them with blood encrusted eyes before glancing back at the portal and turning and fleeing.

“The ones we are to kill don’t have eyes or ears!” cried Aella over the storm. “These must be refugees fleeing from their home realm from the monsters!”

Alfred nodded, and everyone else took note of the various lizard people who flowed through the portal. When the first Devourer appeared, none of them had any doubts what it was. The thing plunged its long-pointed legs deep into the ground with each step, and opened a great maw that took up the majority of its body to inhale everything around it. Aella winced, feeling the pain of the realm as just being in contact with this thing caused intense agony.

Alfred charged, avoiding most of the flung debris from the storm, and cut at it with his sword. The blade skittered over the hide, throwing sparks that were quickly consumed in the rush to the maw. Josephine was shepherding the lizard people away from the monsters while Rupert tried to fling them the devourer up into the air. Alfred tried to stab it in the air, but again, his sword did nothing. The debris from the storm couldn’t hit Brimsey, but when he went to hit the Devourer, it flung him far away with a twitch of its leg.

Aella watched as the Heroes seemed to do nothing but annoy the Devourer. Then two more arrived through the portal, quickly followed by three more. She needed to do something, and now!