The Demon and the Healer - Chapter 0- Prologue!

“To pass from here alive, you have to leave behind that woman.”

Inside the demon castle, in front of the last barrier which came in between the hero’s party and the monarch of darkness was the last general in the army and maybe the strongest foe the hero and his comrades had come across.

Those deadly fangs, red horns, and ruby bloody eyes were intimidating enough to make the party of five call contemplative of their choices.

What the heroes thought was that the demon general wanted the healer to stay back as a hostage, but only the general knew the reason behind his intention.

‘How adorable is she…I really want to spend some time with her~’

The Demon General who has spent his whole life in solitary and boredom has found the medium of his interest and the one on whom he was ready to spend accumulated affection.

****

The world has always remained in chaos ever since the emergence of the demon lord a thousand years ago. Once a lively and easygoing life of humanity was soon flipped and the cloud of darkness shrouded the whole plain, threatening to exterminate whatever the people held dear.

A war happened between the first hero just after the awakening of the demon lord. It was given that someone who envisioned world dominance would get targeted by the hero of light and the savior of humankind.

The war was catastrophic and thousands of lives were renounced. Both sides face consequences as the lightness clashes with darkness. It was a period of mayhem when children didn’t know if their older siblings would leave for the day and would ever return. Wives could only pray to see their husbands once again once they leave for the battle. Many families were destroyed. Many sacrifices were made but in the end, the loss had to be borne by the human side.

Though the demon lord was severely injured by the hero and it would have taken time for him to recover, it didn’t change the fact that the first hero was no longer on the human side, spreading an instant sense of horror amongst the masses.

After all their savior was no longer with them and to face the demon lord once again, humanity wanted another superhuman with the might to move mountains and pierce the sky with his strength. The one who gets the blessings of all the greater gods and becomes the hope of humanity once again.

And after a thousand years, they finally got their hero.

***

“Grace, don’t use wide area spells from now on since the path is getting narrower with time and your magic night hurt our friends in the process.”

A young youth with silver hair ran along with four more people as he commanded his team mage to keep her magic in control since the path leading to the demon castle was now much more compact compared to the place where they fought against generals.

The azure eyes of the hero shone brightly under the thin light as he continue to pace forward while keeping in check that he wasn’t getting ahead of everyone. Despite having the strength to cover the whole corridor in mere seconds, the hero exponentially reduced his speed to be with his teammates and protect them from possible danger.

“I will keep it in mind, Helios.”

Replied, the violet-haired mage who was wearing the typical robe and the long hat covering her head. Due to her small body and limbs, she was the slowest in the team but her teammates as kind as they always are, never complained and let the mage—Grace Violette—move with her pace.

“Gellion, whatever appears behind that door, make sure to wait for us.”

Upon hearing the party leader’s command, the bulky man with a bald head and huge build nodded as he clutched his battle axe in anticipation to face whatever enemy resided just in the last room before the main castle.

“Glain, don’t try to do everything by yourself and let others help you this time, okay?”

Hearing Helios’ words, the assassin of the team, Glain Maceraft, snickered but the stinging sensation on his bruised shoulder contoured his expression soon after, reminding the blond man, how he got injured in the first place.

“I-I will keep it in mind.”

Helios was satisfied with the answer since it was only Glain who ever went out of command and did things on his own. And coming this far, Helios could not allow a single blunder in the raid.

“And you Charlotte…just be safe out there, okay?”

Hearing the raid captain’s words for the team healer—Charlotte von Carlesthine—all the other three members grinned since the favoritism of the hero toward the healer was oozing out quite remarkably the past few days.

“Don’t worry, captain. I will stay in the back and provide as much support as I can.”

But the dense healer was the only one who couldn’t see how Helios’ words were coated with affection and love for the blue-haired girl. Even Helios could only sigh since despite giving her hints the healer always remained unaware of his feelings toward her.

“Get ready. We are here.”

Brushing off his needless thoughts for now, Helios narrowed his gaze before muttering in a grim tone as they finally arrived in front of the door which kept the hero party away from the demon lord. It was the last barrier that they had to cross and end this war once and for all.

Since the demon lord was still injured and not in full health as per the rumors, what separated the nape of the monarch of the darkness and Helios’ blade was this single door.

Anxiety rose in the air as Gellio jumped forward and smashed the humongous door with a body slam. Being a top-notch tank, it was inevitable that any door was not safe in front of the baldy just like this one.

“Surrender yourself or be prepared to get punished for the sins you have committed.”

Helios insheathed his blade before announcing the first and last warning to the demons since as he always believed, everyone should get a chance to throw their weapon and accept the punishment in face of the light.

But Helios along with his teammates was shocked to see the scene in front.

Since it was the last barricade before the demon castle, they all thought there would be a large army of elite demons waiting for the heroes to get slaughtered in the end. It was not expectancy but rather a sensible anticipation from the human side.

But what they could only see was a single person sitting lazily on a huge throne, with its red eyes glimmering ominously in the thinly lighted hall. The intimidation from that single gaze was enough to make the ever-brave hero falter and sweat drop. Not to talk about the other party members.

The air contained an eerie sensation that screamed for the humans to run away as far as possible and hide from this calamity that was grinning at them with its silver fangs protruding like death scythe, ready to tear the flesh of its enemy.

This was the first time for the hero and his comrades to come across something so dangerous and surely it would be the last for them as well.

“So you guys finally arrived huh…”

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A/N:- New story. I hope you guys will support this one as well.