"Poof!"

"Whew...... Call...... Hahaha......"

Aisha, who finally held back her smile, gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and then turned her head to apologize to Dio, who had turned into a cat: "I'm really sorry, Dio, I really can't help it." ”

"Laugh, laugh, it's not good to hold it like this."

Dio, who has turned into a round, "big orange heavy" orange cat, said with a look of lovelessness.

God knows how he showed that expression with a cat face.

And looking at Dio with this appearance, Aisha burst into laughter again after holding back for a while, laughing so much that she almost rolled on the ground.

In this regard, Dio just rolled his eyes helplessly.

There's no way, what else can he do with Aisha now? Besides, it's not Aisha's fault.

As for why Dio turned into a cat, the reason goes back to a day ago.

"We want you to complete the mission alone, but we can't just let you go to the underworld alone. So I decided to become a cat for a while and follow you as a cat. ”

Dio, who was depicting a magic array on the ground, said without raising his head: "Of course, if you don't encounter the danger of your life, I will not change back to my original appearance." And if I go back to the way I was, it's time for your mission to fail. ”

"Dio, is this really okay?"

Aisha, who didn't care about Dio's words, just looked at the magic array that was gradually appearing on the ground with a worried face: "I always feel that something is not quite right......

"Don't worry, I've tried this magic array to turn into a black cat several times."

Dio, who was still seriously portraying the magic array, replied: "Even if something goes wrong, there are still two vice principals, Ewen and Patsy, who can save the scene." ”

In fact, the presence of the two vice-principals was the key to Dio's final decision to do so. Otherwise, there is no way to follow Aisha secretly and not let her find out, and there is no need to turn into a cat.

Teresa, who knew this, did not raise any objections, but stood beside Aisha with a smile on her face and watched Dio go about her work. In fact, like Dio, Teresa has a considerable degree of curiosity about so-called "magic". It's a pity that Teresa follows Dio as an "angel", a half-spirit, and she can't learn magic like Dio as a "heroic spirit", so she can only watch from the sidelines.

Probably because of the relationship between many times of practice, Dio quickly drew the magic circle, and then stood in the center of the magic circle.

At this moment, Patsy, who finally took his eyes off the magic book in his hand, glanced at the magic array on the ground very casually, and then immediately frowned. But before Patchy could speak, Dio activated the magic circle.

In the next moment, Dio did not turn into a nimble black cat, as he had hoped, but into a round orange cat that looked like a ball but looked like a ball......

While everyone was laughing, the expressionless Patchy concluded after careful examination that Dio, who failed to successfully turn into a black cat because of an extra stroke of a certain rune, could forcibly change back to his original form, but if he really did so, due to the influence of the elemental conflict, he would not be able to turn into a cat again in a short period of time.

So after some careful consideration, Dio finally decided to follow Aisha in his current appearance.

Well, if you think about it in a better direction, it's actually not without benefits to becoming an orange cat. At the very least, this kind of vivid expression is not something that other cats can make.

Although Dio doesn't want this ability at all, it's just.

When Aisha had had enough of laughing, Dio easily climbed onto Aisha's shoulders on her four short legs, and sat down there.

Despite her roundness, Dio, who turns into an orange cat, is surprisingly light, allowing her to sit on her shoulders without affecting her at all.

"Now, Dio, why don't you just let me hold you?"

Looking at the orange cat so close to her, Aisha smiled and said, "Save you from falling again." ”

In fact, the reason why Aisha laughed happily was because Dio, who tried to jump off her shoulder, had not yet gotten used to the current appearance, so he fell to the ground before he could react in time.

It's still the kind of face to the ground......

Fortunately, Dio, who turned into an orange cat, did not have much combat power, but his body was still quite strong. So this level of collision is not a problem for the orange cat at all, at most, it is a little difficult for Dior to get over in terms of face.

"Don't worry, as long as I don't die myself, it's easy to stand firm on your shoulders."

Dio, who changed his "calm" expression, said very calmly: "Even if something happens, I can rely on these four cat's paws to firmly grasp it." ”

Dio, who had just had an embarrassment, was not lying, and as time went on, he mastered the body of the orange cat more and more. And compared to the cute round appearance, the orange cat that Dio has turned into actually has several times stronger athletic ability than ordinary cats. So although Dio doesn't have any combat power now, he still has the power to protect himself.

If he really ran into danger, Aisha, who was not good at running, might not be able to escape as fast as he is now.

"That's good."

Aisha, who had always trusted Dio, nodded with a smile. Although Dio is just an orange cat with little combat power, Aisha feels a lot more relieved to have him by his side.

"Alright, stop chattering."

After giving Aisha a white look, Dio said helplessly: "Although it is said that it is very safe here, I told you about it during the special training. In order to avoid accidents, it is best to be vigilant at all times when in the wild! ”

According to the information that Karenn has obtained, it seems that the demons who have invaded the Mantes Empire and some other regions are just looking for something. After finding nothing, these demons either died in battle or opened a portal to escape. Therefore, after a detailed investigation, Karine and the others can determine that the only place where there may be a stable stronghold of the demon clan at present is the underground world where the spider queen rose and the ancestor of the lich were originally located.

Considering the complexity of the underworld, Kalen's brains, after analyzing the existing maps of the underworld, suggested to Aisha that she should travel from an abandoned mine in the territory of the Grand Duke of Thunder to the underworld. This abandoned mine originally had a natural passage directly to the underground world, so the original miners were often harassed by the inhabitants of the underground world, and this was finally abandoned by the Thunder Grand Duke.

Since then, the underground races that have been taught a lesson by the Grand Duke of Thunder have not tried to reach the surface through this passage. So theoretically, the first half of this passage should be safe.

According to the analysis of the thinkers, through the underground passage connected by this abandoned mine, you can reach three underground cities established by different underground races, which are the areas where some of the demons' troops are most likely to remain after the invasion of the demons.

That's why Aisha chose to go to the underworld from here. After all, even if she couldn't find the upper demon in this vicinity, she would just have to spend some more time looking for it.

"Got it......"

After listening to Dio's words, Aisha replied somewhat nonchalantly. According to the map, they are still four or five days away from the nearest underground city, so the chances of encountering enemies in this vicinity are not high.

However, an accident is an accident because it often happens when people don't expect it.

Just as Aisha was bouncing forward, she summoned one of the cave lizards that was a scout in a panic and ran back in a panic, jumping and screaming several times in front of Aisha.

"What's wrong?"

Aisha, who raised her eyebrows, immediately established a psychic connection with the grotto lizard, and then guessed what the grotto lizard was trying to express: "Front...... There are many, many blood ...... And corpses?! ”

"Gollum!"

After swallowing a mouthful of saliva very loudly, Aisha glanced at Dio, who was squatting on her shoulder without saying a word, and then summoned up the courage to follow the grotto lizard.

The grotto lizard, which was less than Aisha's knee-high, ran fast in this underground passage, and Aisha, who followed the grotto lizard, walked for half a day before arriving at the scene of the incident.

Before she could get there, Aisha smelled a strong smell of blood, and she tensed her nerves before following the grotto lizard silently after she clenched the staff in her hand.

The scene that he saw made Aisha subconsciously gasp, and even Dio, who had long been accustomed to all kinds of cruel scenes, frowned.

It's really the scene in front of you, it's really tragic.

Red, blood-red, crimson, and a dark red liquid with a hint of blackness filled almost the entire floor.

It seems to have been attacked by some kind of giant creature, none of the underground creatures that Aisha has yet to distinguish a specific race can leave a whole corpse behind, and there are even very few stumps and severed arms that can be distinguished.

The ground was covered in blood and completely smashed flesh, and it looked as if it had come to hell.

"It's too much, it's too much!"

Holding back the feeling of vomiting in her stomach, Aisha carefully searched for the recognizable corpse stump, and said through gritted teeth, "What kind of creature is this, those monsters?" ”

“…… I'm not sure either. ”

Dio, whose face was very serious, whispered, "Although many demons take pleasure in killing, they generally do not destroy corpses so completely. On the contrary, when those devils tempt other beings to perform certain evil rituals, they often make those beings do a lot of bottomless things. ”

This is also the reason why the devils are hated by the people of the main plane more than the demons. Compared with the demons who are born to destroy, the devils are just trying to obtain more evil souls, so they continue to persuade some ignorant beings to constantly break through their own bottom line, and step by step become more evil, cruel and disregard for all ethics. And the creatures they persuade will be pulled into the demon realm by the devils if they are not purified by the holy light after they are killed, and become soul gems full of sins.

Among the devils, the darker and more evil the soul gem, the higher the value, so the devil will always take all kinds of risks to come to the main plane and persuade the ignorant creatures to fall, so as to get more "bargaining chips" for trading.

"So the devils are supposed to do it?"

Aisha, who was still searching carefully, replied.

"It's hard to say, it's just that it's most likely the devil."

Dio shook his head helplessly: "In addition, it is also possible that some powerful demons who can't hold their hands back, or hostile races that have a deep hatred for these dead. ”

"Is that ......?"

Hearing Dio say this, Aisha also understood.

Not to mention those demons who like to kill and destroy, compared to the ground races, the underground races with a rather harsh living environment are also very frequent and cruel to fight each other, so it's really hard to say whether this scene was made by an underground race in order to take revenge.

Vengeful creatures can sometimes be more cruel than the devils......

"Ahh Found ......"

After searching for a long time in this pool of blood, Aisha finally found what she was looking for.

It was a head, a head about the size of a normal human head, with a big beard.

"It turns out that it is the dwarves who are exterminated here, and it is not the gray dwarves who are enslaved by the drow elves and other races, but the dwarves who believe in Moradin."

Looking at the light brown skin, Aisha's face was not very good-looking.

"Compared to the cities built by the gray dwarves on the other side, and the cities of the gnomes who are farther away, the cities of the dwarves are our first goal."

Dio, whose expression was very serious, said slowly: "But judging from this situation, the situation of that dwarf city is probably quite bad." Well, do you still want to go there? ”

"Let's go and have a look."

After thinking about it for a while, Aisha said calmly: "Compared to other races, the upright dwarves can be said to be the most suitable race to inquire about the news now. And...... I'm curious about which race did such a bad thing to the dwarves. ”

Judging by the chill in Aisha's eyes, it was clear that she was more than just curious. However, after taking a deep look at her, Dio did not object: "Then let's go." Be extra careful on the road, though. ”

"I understand."

Aisha, who nodded, took one last deep look at the dwarven head, and headed towards the dwarven city without looking back.