The Forest King looked at me then walked over to the young drake, pinned to the ground. Sharp claws appeared out of its fingers and it pierced its claws into the beast's chest, then pulled out a beating heart. Cool!

The beast's struggling stopped after a couple seconds and the flame lit up on its ears finally dissipated and blue blood started to spill out from the hole in its chest.

"You can have this carcass as a present. As I said before, I'm only helping you because I need your help."

The Forest king flicked its wrist to the side, removing the blue blood from its claws then faced me. He conversed with me with his true voice, it echoed in my head.

"What do you mean you need my help? Why would such a powerful being like you need help from me? I'm a measly human after all." I said, cutting up the large vines holding the dead carcass of the drake down.

"I don't know why you're trying to pretend to be human and live with them or what your end goal is, but I won't hesitate to kill you if you harm the forest again. Next time, I won't go easy on you, demon." The Forest King's voice showed no hesitation.

"Okay, so what kind of help do you need?" I asked, finally wrapping up what I was doing and absorbing the dead carcass of the drake into my dimension ring.

"My master is the Demon King you coerced with: Astaroth. He commanded me to kidnap that girl you were desperately trying to save, but in the end he was satisfied with your abilities and he gave up on the idea and let both of you live." The forest King began.

Sh*t! No wonder I couldn't even see the speed of his attack. That was the power of a demon king. What if another powerful enemy comes for me or even my family and friends? What if they weren't as generous as this demon king? Would I be strong enough? I gritted my teeth.

"The fight we had, and the abnormal rise in mana in the forest caused a disaster to occur. It created a dimensional break and a dungeon appeared." It continued.

"What do you mean a dungeon appeared?" I asked curious.

"Are you stupid or stupid demon? Dungeons are dimensions created when there is a sudden change or imbalance in the world's natural state. Powerful beasts roam in the dungeons and it's everyone's duty to clear the dungeon by defeating the beasts and challenges they offer.

"The opening of this dungeon meant that the Eastern Enchanted Forest - my territory - has become a supernatural beacon attracting powerful beasts such as this Drake, to come to the forest.

"That's why I need your help in clearing this dungeon and saving the forest before the other worldly beings hiding in the dungeon start coming out and or time runs out and too many powerful beasts start fighting for dominance in this forest." Whatever the Forest King said made sense, but what would I gain from helping this guy?

"What's in it for me?" I grinned, sinisterly.

"You Selfish piece of.. There are rewards. At the end of clearing the dungeon, there will be a reward, at least that's what myths say.

"Even if you don't help me protect my home, If I fail in stopping whatever lurks in there, your human inhabitants will all be wiped out. So it's your choice." The Forest King's voice sounded irritated and he spoke with sighs and stops.

Was there even a choice? I had to go. I could level up, while also saving the kingdom from destruction.

"Okay I will come with you."

**

I followed the Forest King into his lair; hundreds of beasts kneeled as he walked in front and I followed from behind. There were a variety of beasts from D rank all the way to a couple A rank beasts.

Large trees stood as pillars on the side and a large throne fit for the Forest King rested in front of an extraordinary tree, towering over the rest of the beta trees like an alpha. I could feel the intense mana radiating from it.

"Trees such as those are called Yggdrasil, they're also known as the tree of life and hold large amounts of mana. They help keep the balance of mana in the Eastern Forest. This one here is a couple hundred years old so it's still young." The Forest King pointed at the colossal tree, standing behind his throne.

"There are many Yggdrasil trees out there and the strongest beasts normally guard and protect these trees. Humans don't know about the countless Yggdrasils, otherwise they'd exploit its powers like some beasts before our times. historical

"Many beasts have tried to absorb the Yggdrasil trees but have failed, only True Dragons were able to consume the vitality of the Yggdrasil trees. This helped them to become the strongest species at one point.

"However, The monarchs descended and fought to the death with the dragons. Only the lesser dragons like the Wyverns and Drakes remained and even then they're very few in number." The Forest King finally stopped talking and sat on his throne.

I didn't say anything as I pondered how much I still didn't know about the world.

"Since we're friends now, do you mind if I come here to train and meditate here near this Yggdrasil tree." I smiled trying to exploit the Forest King's kindness.

"Don't humour me, demon. Remember you're in my lair." He pointed at me and a group of A rank humanoid type beasts surrounded me.

They were at least at low A rank. Damn!

They were plant based monsters, with similar appearances to the Forest King. They had no mouths or noses, only eyes and sharp claws.

"Okay, okay, I understand." I said raising my hands up like I surrendered. Truth was I had a 40% chance of winning if the Forest King didn't join the fight, I liked those odds. A 1000 or so beasts vs 1 half demon, I smiled at the thought.

"I'm still waiting for one of my allies, when she arrives, we'll leave." The forest King scoffed, folding his legs and resting his arm on his chin.

I nodded and took a seat on the ground. I needed to absorb as much pure mana as I could from the Yggdrasil tree; my focus wasn't as good, as I could constantly feel the stares of hundreds of beasts.

It felt like my mind was constantly on high alert as my demon senses were constantly being poked.

A couple or so minutes passed and I was able to recover some energy and restore my MP from the previous fight with the Drake.

The Forest King finally stood up.

"She's here."

At the Forest King's words a storm started brewing and dark clouds filled the once sunny sky. A large thunderclap resounded and a beast with large wings descended, appearing out of the dark clouds.

With every beat of its wings sparks of lightning cackled until it descended down to the ground. It stood at a height of 30 metres and its feathers had a darkish blue colour, which resonated with the lightning mana in the atmosphere.

As it landed on the ground the clouds finally started to disappear and the sky became clear again.

"I recommend you look away." The Forest King insisted as a bright blue light flashed and almost blinded me. I instinctively closed my eyes.

"You can open your eyes now." The forest King instructed.

"Who's the boy?" A woman's voice echoed through the air.

I slowly opened my eyes to a surprise.

I tried my best not to blush as the beautiful girl a little older than me stared back at me with a piercing glare.

She had a white complexion which matched perfectly with her pink lips and blue eyes and her slim figure would have put many models to shame. Her azure hair was tied in a high ponytail and a dress made of the finest blue coloured silk covered her body. Large wings with the same darkish blue feathers protruded out of her back and she held a golden staff in her right hand.

Who was this strangely attractive woman?

"Dianmu, he's an ally. He'll be helping us in clearing the dungeon." The forest King miniaturised to our heights and descended from his throne.

"B-But that's a demon! We shall kill him right here and now, no matter how good-looking he looks," She demanded, blushing a little, "And why aren't you changing into your humanoid form Numen."

I wonder how she'd react if I told her I'm not 16 but in fact 13 years old.

"My main body is not present at the moment, it's still sleeping. We need to move quickly, let's introduce ourselves formally before we leave." The Forest King replied sternly.

"Okay then I'll go first. I'm Dianmu, The Legendary Thunderbird." She said smiling, happy with her status.

"I'm the Forest King, also known as Numen." The forest King folded his arms.

"I'm Zeref Amara." I finally said, ending the introductions.

"Zeref what? Don't you have any titles?" The woman scoffed, looking unimpressed.

"Zeref Amara, The Lightning Candidate." I replied smiling. I was tempted to also say the descendant of Lucifer but I didn't even know who this 'Lucifer' guy was, so even though it sounded cool I refrained from saying it.

"Pfftt, like that's meant to be impressive, actually it is but that's besides the point. I heard rumours that the tournament was going on, I didn't believe it. So how strong are you then?" She asked.

"Enough of the chitchat, the dungeon could open up anytime, we need to enter it before it does and clear it." Numen began running east before leaping up on a tree.

"You lot, protect Yggdrasil while I'm gone." He spoke looking back at his underlings.

Dianmu and I exchanged looks before hurrying behind him. Her body cackled with lightning, every time she moved. Wasn't that 'Lightning Aura'?

I also activated 'Lightning Aura' and caught up to the two speeding figures. Dianmu looked back at me and smiled as she saw the familiar technique I was using.

Let's hope she was as strong as the Forest King or more, otherwise we were doomed.