Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Argo flew at breakneck speed towards the orc camp with Eren on his back. The butcher couldn't smoke with such wind pressure crashing on him. So he decided to change his vice and started drinking the stock of elven ale as he thought of Argo's tri-element compatibility.

'It's about time I follow Argo's steps and start learning spells from other elements. The spells of wind and water elements would give me enough variation to tackle almost any type of move. They would be relatively easy for me to learn too.

With my constitution, it won't be too difficult for me to learn the basic spells from most of the elements.'

Eren sighed after he thought of this. He drank up some booze straight from the bottle before churning some more thoughts into his head.

'It's just that time had never been on my side ever since I woke up in this timeline. How will I find time to practise spells from other elements? There are other problems as well in practising multiple elements at once.'

Eren stroked the demon's beast's neck with his hand as he carried on drinking some more elven ale.

'Hmm! My lightning element is a hybrid element made of wind, water, and fire. I have already started working on fire elemental spells. So I'll focus on wind elemental spells next. Water elemental spells would come afterwards.

My compatibility with water and wind would be easy to explain because of my lightning affinity. Plus, it would help me against my obvious weakness in facing earth-element spells.'

Eren made some plans for the future. These plans won't help him in his solo mission in the Oni dungeon. But they needed to be made nonetheless if he wanted to stay ahead of his hardships.

'Caw!'

Eren was about to polish his dungeon exploration and artefact acquisition plan. But then he heard a distinct croak coming from the right side of him. He and Argo turned towards the source of that noise at the same time.

'Let's meet our pursuers, little guy!'

Eren commanded Argo who then released an eagle cry before heading towards the source of that noise.

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

"Altashia darling, did you miss me?"

Eren said to Altashia as they were both flying towards the orc camp with the evening sun going down the horizon behind their back. The latter just snorted her nose before replying.

"Where had you gone off to? Everyone thought that the Badlands had claimed another Edinburgh soldier for good.

It would have been quite a mess to report the missing case of a new demon beast owner. So I had to do something about it and search for you."

Eren shrugged his shoulders before drinking the last sip of his elven ale. He then threw the empty bottle away, wiped his lips with the back of his right hand's palm and patted Argo before responding.

"This guy needed some training, Altashia. He has become a fat bird by eating so much junk. So I had to get him into shape before he could begin to see his potential."

Altashia had already come to realise that Argo could use spells to fly now. She was surprised by his speed in gaining the spell. But she reasoned it herself with the beast belonging to the epic tier.

"Altashia, didn't you have some work in the city of Arangar? Want to visit the place with me during our long break?"

The city of Arangar was the nearest big city to the army camp. It was also home to a lot of guilds' branches that had an active presence in the Badlands. The city's strategic placement had made it a buzzing place for hunters, adventurers, and army personnel alike.

Altashia nodded at Eren's proposal before looking ahead. The teams would be granted a week-long break whenever they completed a certain number of missions successfully. Altashia had planned to visit the city when the long break would arrive. But having Eren in tow was something she hadn't planned. There was a bit of excitement in her mind regarding spending time with the latter.

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

'Sid was again trying to bring your image down. The guy's grasping for straws at this point. Maybe you should talk to him.'

Arjun warned him about what Sid had been up to in his absence when Eren rejoined his group. Argo was tired from sprinting to camp while carrying him. So Eren had decided to let him fly and follow the team while he rode the colt.

Eren looked at Sid with blank expressions on his face. Then he narrowed his eyes and looked at the guy one more time before looking ahead.

'Talk? I've already decided his fate.'

Eren thought to himself before speeding up and bringing his colt nearer to Altashia's. Sid saw that and thought that Eren was trying to snatch his crush from him. He was about to follow him and talk with Altashia too. But then he heard a loud, mana-imbued eagle cry projected right at him.

This was a threat from Argo. The demon beast didn't care much about army rules. His intentions were reflected in his cry. The berserker begrudgingly decided to carry on with his current position and not disturb Eren and Altashia.

The team successfully reached the camp. Eren's registration as a demon beast owner was finally completed. The butcher would have had to serve in the army for a long time for his ownership of Argo. But Altashia used her family connections to cut down the period by a lot.

Eren also had the option of participating in the kingdom-organised missions and reducing the compulsory army service. But the butcher had decided that he won't be participating in any such missions anytime soon even though he had met the minimum requirements.

Having an epic-tier demon beast was a big thing for many inside the army camp. But it wasn't that unheard of either. The buzz about the same soon died down.

Argo was given a spacious hall near Eren's room inside the camp as a place of occupancy. But the demon beast liked living on higher altitudes. So he would often find the tallest tree inside the army camp which could support his weight and rest there.

It had to be noted that Argo had yet to alter his body size using magic, a signature spell of all demon beasts. This was the first step into shape-shifting he wouldn't be able to take until he matured a bit more.

But Eren didn't mind taking things slow with Argo. He had already proved his aptitude by unlocking his inherent spell practically right after being birthed. So the butcher wouldn't put more stress on his pet anymore.

A few weeks passed just like that. And the day arrived for Altashia and Eren to visit the city of Arangar.