At the spot where the demon had appeared, several peak Spiritual Warriors were on the outskirts investigating the terrain in search of the traces of what was there.
Most wore similar clothing, typically worn by demon hunters, members of the Seraphim Church!
But not only were these individuals out there, but experts from Peters City and the director of the Morning Star Academy were also in the area.
"There really was a demon here." One of the men from the Seraphim Church said loudly, with a severe expression on his face. "And it wasn't of a common lineage. I can see from how it was living that it has high intelligence."
Everyone there understood the meaning of those words, and their eyes sparkled with the possibility of tracking down a high-ranking demon.
The Soul Bone of this creature would be extremely valuable to any of them!
As much as Lothur had teleported to a place that none of them had any way of knowing where it was, the creature had lived in this cave and reached this place somehow. In other words, it was not impossible to track its movements and, who knows, even find where it came from or even identify other demons.
Hence, even knowing that the creature defeated by Lothur was probably out of their reach, these Peters City experts were investigating the place thoroughly.
As for the Transcendent who had made Lothur escape, he was already far away from there, returning to the empire's capital to report his failure.
Only Lothur's allied Spiritual Warriors who saw that situation had stayed behind to tell some of what they saw to those people now there.
'Lothur has probably teleported himself to the area where his father is...' The academy's principal thought about this in silence as he analyzed the traces of the brief fight in that cave. 'I wonder what will happen next? Will he return to the academy? Will he join his father's cause?'
This man knew Daemon more than other people in Peters City. So his thoughts about Lothur differed from those who knew little about this young man's background.
But he had similar concerns as other people who did or did not know these facts since he was investing in the Ritter Motor Company.
"Principal, what can we do? We don't know where Lothur might be... He may well have been taken to a dangerous place." One of those men associated with Lothur asked while their group was a little further away from those who knew nothing of such a business.
Hearing this, the principal of the Morning Star Academy looked at that old fellow and said. "There's not much we can do in this situation. Lothur is out of our reach..."
"But..."
He did not wait for that person to say more and said. "For the rest, let's continue with our plans. Maybe he's already working out a way to return, so if we delay because of that, we'll all be in trouble."
'That's right...'
That one and others thought the same thing, sighing in disappointment that there was nothing they could do but continue waiting for news.
That was extremely frustrating, but with no clues or means of investigating the formation used by Lothur, they had no hope of finding a way to get more involved in the matter.
Therefore, some continued investigating the area for a while longer, interested in the traces of the demon, while others slowly withdrew.
"Principal Hellwege, are you leaving already?" The leader of the group of demon hunters saw Luis preparing to leave and approached him.
Luis turned around and saw a man with a horizontal scar on the forehead, very muscular, questioning him. "Yes. Since there are no signs of danger to my students here, there is no further reason for me to stay in the area."
"We could use your help..."
"No. I am not a demon hunter and have my responsibilities at Morning Star Academy." He refused that person's request.
That brown-skinned man smiled upon hearing that and said. "In the past, your academy was more receptive to our cause, principal... Unfortunately, it seems that the current administration no longer has demon hunting as a priority."
Luis looked silently at that person, remembering that, indeed, the academy had been quite active in demon hunting in the past.
This academy had a name connected to the cause of these individuals, related to the founding of Peters City and the downfall of a demon leader who lived in the area long ago.
Luis knew this, but the emperor had no interest in getting mixed up in church affairs these days. So he obviously would not do such a thing, risking his job and his life.
"We cooperate with the Church and its demon hunters. But the province is free of these creatures now, and your group can deal with them independently."
"Is it?" That man asked before returning to his group without pressing the matter further.
Luis continued watching him for a few seconds before leaving that cave and looking thoughtfully at the bluish sky of that area.
...
After an hour of hard work in the blue cave from earlier, Lothur finally reached the point where he could knock out the fourth of his opponents!
He had fought bravely in that place and gained several training benefits, having seen the system warnings a few times during that time.
Lothur had done his best to destroy the legs of his opponents made of snow during this period. That had been tricky work, which had to be done slowly, given how weak his attacks were compared to the bodies of these beings.
But because of the Elemental Staff, Lothur eventually managed to defeat the first of his opponents, leaving that being practically immobile.
That snowman could still move using its arms and attack Lothur with snowballs as powerful as cannonballs. But without legs, they were much more harmless, so the silver-haired fellow's battle had become less complicated with the fall of this first opponent.
He could repeat the same with the second, having made his life easier after this and not having to use all of himself to fight the remnants. Because of this, he managed to fight for an entire hour without exhausting himself, dodging his opponents and attacking their legs.
On the other hand, the demon had spent the entire interval suffering at the hands of one of the snowmen. In contrast, the fox had defeated one of its opponents.
But this beast had been deeply wounded, unlike Lothur and the demon that could regenerate itself. Because of this, it was almost fleeing the area as it was no longer in fighting condition.
Lothur saw this as he finished his fourth opponent and felt he would have problems if this beast ran away.
'I don't have the energy to deal with two or three of these individuals. One at most.' He pondered as he noticed that beast suffering.
He then decided to help that creature, hoping to get an ally to defeat at least the two snowmen around the fox.
If only the demon's enemy remained, the chances of both he and the fox gaining access to the blue pools in the area without problems would be great!
...