[BL]The Hero and his Party Won't Let Me Go-Chapter 48: Ch : A Little too Late

’S-Should I push my head out and see what is going on? But Nero told me to stay put... but what if he needs help...’

Shuu felt conflicted as he sat in his hiding place. He was not claustrophobic, but he felt like he might develop claustrophobia if things continued like this. His breathing was already getting harder and harder.

But his fear kept him put in place, and finally, things started to calm down after a while.

’Is it safe to go out? Should I check...?’

Just as Shuu thought that, he felt someone smacking their hand against the barrier. There was barely any light outside, but a sudden spark of fire showed glowing red eyes glaring down at him.

"A-A monster...?"

Shuu’s heart sank into his chest as he looked at the half-burned face before the light went away. But the glowing red remained in his vision quite vividly.

"Ghaaa loasrfdasss"

The voice of the monster came out shrieking, and Shuu could not understand a thing. The loud banging at the barrier made it even harder for him to keep his sanity.

"Am I... going to die...?"

Shuu asked as he kept praying that the barrier would hold. But another flash of light told him that the monster had somehow multiplied. What was once one became two... and then three...

More and more monsters were heading his way, trying to get to him.

At this rate, they would end up collapsing the tree, and the barrier would become useless.

The knocking got even more furious until the tree was actually knocked back. Shuu’s heart dropped immediately as he tried to run. But there was nowhere for him to run.

Formless hands grabbed him immediately and tried to pull him down. He could feel darkness trying to get to him, and for a second, it all felt familiar.

The way he was being held, the way those cold hands tried to grab and tear into him, only to pull back at the last second.

"Shuu-"

A loud shout of his name caused him to look at Nero’s terrified face. He could also make out Prince Kaiden’s form running toward him, but it was all too late.

"N-Ner..."

He tried to speak, but cold hands were trying to make him shut up as well. The darkness dragged him down into a cold and unfeeling world, and the last thing he heard was a soft but barely audible shout of ’help.’

__________

"Huh-? Is it only me, or are there not a lot of monsters here this time? Should we head back now?"

Reina asked as she looked around the village. They only had to dispose of about a dozen or so monsters before her spell could not detect any more of them.

"I don’t know. Something feels off. Maybe we should check around one more time."

Liam spoke softly as well, but it was clear that he was trying to stall for time. Reina did not care about his personal preferences, but she wanted to head back to the carriage now.

So they turned toward Prince Kaiden to check what he wanted to do. And the crown prince was about to make a decision when he suddenly looked up toward the direction of the carriage.

"Prince Kaiden, what is wrong-"

"We need to head back. It seems that the monsters followed the people outside and are now attacking our carriage. Nero just told me he might not be able to keep up without using a lot of power."

Those words alarmed Reina and Liam.

As the familiar of Prince Kaiden, Nero was extremely powerful and versatile. No knight or magician had been able to take him down.

So for him to declare something like this... it was surely a disaster.

"We need to head there."

"B-But what about the village-"

Liam tried to reason with the hero, but Prince Kaiden had already taken off toward the carriage.

Unlike the village, the forest had already turned dark, and the demon king’s shadows were everywhere. The air felt stiff and horrible.

"What the hell is all this? Are these shadows trying to eat everything around them?"

Reina complained as she ran toward the carriage as well. Nero was nowhere in sight, but Prince Kaiden seemed to know where to go.

But when they arrived at the scene, things were beyond bad.

Nero was locked in combat with about ten shadows, and he tried to get rid of them to get to Shuu. But it was already too late. The shadows ended up swallowing him whole right before their very eyes.

"P-Prince Kaiden, I know it looks bad, but let’s calm down-"

Liam turned to address the crown prince, but it was a mistake. Prince Kaiden had fallen silent, but his eyes were blank with a look Liam had never seen before.

He was afraid that everyone around the village and the forest was about to die.

"P-Prince..."

He tried again, only for the crown prince to take a step toward the place where Shuu had been swallowed.

Each step caused Prince Kaiden’s body to stagger, and the shadows paused as they noticed him before they stepped back.

Slowly, black and red marks began to appear all over the hero’s body until he was covered by those marks.

"Shit-! That is the curse of the devil. If we let it get to him, then Prince Kaiden will lose control of himself and become the demon king instead of the hero. What should we do..."

Liam muttered to himself as he watched in muted horror at what was about to happen.

After all, there was a huge truth behind the hero’s journey that no one knew about.

Their journey was not actually about the hero slaying or even resealing the demon king, but it was a ritual to make sure the demon king never appeared.

The chosen ’hero’ was just a reincarnation of the demon king who used this journey to learn to control their powers before reforming themselves. The public was never allowed to know the truth because it was a sacred rite.

"Ugh, I knew Shuu was bad news. Prince Kaiden got too close to him... fuck, what do we do now?"

Liam asked as Reina answered his question with a solemn look.

"We cannot do anything anymore. It is up to Prince Kaiden and Shuu to decide the fate of this world. Hopefully, we won’t all die here." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

They could only hope, because even if they tried to escape, they wouldn’t be able to do that in time.

"Ugh, what a nightmare. I knew Shuu was bad news from the start."