Atheline turned to him, confusion in his expression.

"What is?"

"I mean the beasts," he corrected.

Prince Lucifer looked disappointed.

"I expected larger ones. The ones in my home are much bigger than this, more violent even," he continued.

Atheline’s expression became strange. Simion looked equally confused. None of them had really travelled far, and the Demonic continent wasn’t really open to visitors most of the time.

Prince Lucifer continued, unfazed by their expressions.

"Maybe there are stronger ones deeper inside."

Atheline suddenly remembered why everybody had been avoiding him from the start. The guy didn’t have the best mental state.

Prince Lucifer’s definition of fun was concerning. Still, their relationship had improved considerably over the past weeks. Mostly through political discussions, trade agreements, shared interests, and mutual respect born from strength.

He had become one of the few people Atheline genuinely liked, even if he was insane half of the time.

Prince Lucifer suddenly looked toward him.

"About the moon crystals..."

Atheline nodded. As expected he went straight to business.

"The first distribution begins in one month," he reassured him.

Prince Lucifer’s eyes sharpened and he moved closer to him. Atheline could almost physically feel the heat coming from him.

He continued.

"Preparation is already underway."

The prince listened carefully, this was one of the reasons he had insisted on coming to the hunt when he heard of it.

Atheline continued.

"The distribution agreements won’t change, you do not need to worry."

The prince nodded, satisfied with what he said.

That had been one of the main reasons for this excursion; informal diplomacy. Atheline knew that relationships built outside conference halls and the trust created through shared experiences were completely different.

Lilith had even encouraged it when Atheline proposed it. Usually, it was difficult to hate someone after fighting beside them.

A horn suddenly echoed through the valley and everyone turned. A lot of movement appeared among the trees right after.

Atheline’s smile widened immediately. He has started to get impatient and now, finally, something interesting was going to happen.

The snow-covered forest erupted. Beasts poured from between the trees in hundreds; wolves, ice boars, snow bears, and winter panthers. Creatures driven from their territories by hunger or stronger beasts.

Several corrupted beasts moved among them. They were larger, more aggressive, and dangerous. To make it worse, some of them were also attacking the live beasts, which, a few minutes later would turn into the same corrupt beast. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The gathered hunters immediately reacted. Orders echoed across the valley as weapons appeared. The beast swarm everyone had been eagerly waiting for had finally arrived.

Atheline drew his bow. Wind element immediately surrounded him followed by his other elements. The familiar sensation spread throughout his body as his blood stirred and instincts sharpened.

Prince Lucifer grinned beside him as dark flames erupted around his hammer. Simion drew his sword as lightning cracked violently around him.

For a moment the three stood together atop the ridge, looking like the most unusual combination. Atheline looked toward the incoming swarm then smiled.

"Let’s see who gets the most."

Prince Lucifer laughed. Simion immediately groaned.

"Why do I feel like this is a terrible idea?"

Prince Lucifer pointed his hammer forward and said, "Because you’re intelligent."

The next moment he jumped off the cliff directly toward the beast swarm.

Simion could only stare at the man. Atheline sighed then rolled his shoulders.

"That’s cheating."

He jumped after him leaving the horrified Simion standing alone on the ridge. Unfortunately for him, he was not used to such reckless behaviour, the thought of doing something like this had never crossed his mind.

Several seconds passed. He looked toward the sky then toward the charging beasts then toward the two lunatics already diving into battle.

"... This is for my future."

Lightning exploded around him and he followed.

.

.

.

The battle began exactly how every military officer feared it would, with absolutely no discipline.

Prince Lucifer landed in the middle of the beast swarm like a meteor. Snow exploded outward and the ground cracked before he touched it.

A massive ice bear the size of a carriage looked up just in time to witness a warhammer descending from the sky. The beast vanished before it could even react and only a crater was left behind.

Several nearby hunters stopped fighting and stared. Prince Lucifer grinned, enjoying the audience and the waves of shock spreading.

"One."

Atheline landed a second later more calm since he had an image to maintain. Wind exploded beneath his feet, instead of charging directly into the swarm, he immediately drew three arrows; fire, lightning, and ice.

The bowstring was pulled back, then released. Three streaks of light crossed the battlefield. A corrupted wolf leading part of the swarm suddenly found itself missing a head, a second beast froze solid and a third exploded in a shower of lightning.

Atheline nodded then glanced towards the prince.

"Three."

Prince Lucifer turned toward him, eyebrow raised.

"You’re counting?"

"Obviously."

The prince looked disgusted, then immediately smashed another beast.

"Two."

Atheline just shook his head.

"Since you missed the hunting competition," he calmly said while drawing another arrow," how about we count this as a competition. I would like to see how you would have performed."

"Do not complain when you lose."

Atheline snickered but didn’t answer him. It felt good to be free once in a while instead of acting uptight all the time. He found it fun.

Nearby, Simion finally arrived. Lightning crackled around his sword. He took one look at the two monsters he had decided to accompany and sighed heavily again.

"...I made a mistake... no this is for my future," he muttered to himself.

’I will become an advisor one way or another’

Nobody listened to his complaints.

The battle continued. For the next hour, the three became the center of attention. Though it was for a completely different reason, it was because they were enjoying themselves far too much.

Atheline shot through beasts with impossible accuracy. Prince Igrad flattened everything unfortunate enough to enter hammer range. While Simion desperately attempted to maintain some level of dignity which wasn’t working especially after Atheline started keeping score.

"I’m at twenty-six... Your Highness, you need to work harder"

Prince Lucifer looked offended.

"Twenty-three. We only have a three kill difference, why are you happy about that?"

Simion stared between the two. It was clear that Atheline was toying with the prince.

"You’re seriously counting?" He couldn’t help but ask.

Atheline looked confused.

"Why wouldn’t I?"

Prince Lucifer nodded surprisingly agreeing with him.

"Competition improves performance."

Simion considered leaving. Unfortunately, he needed witnesses later or nobody would believe this otherwise.