While Cintre had been exposed to the destructive force of the Infiltration, the surrounding farm clusters didn’t look all that affected. Splatters of blood or newly built gravestones could be seen every now and then, but the farmers’ huts and their farmland hadn’t been touched by Demons or Vampires.

Making our way through the farm clusters without exchanging a single word gave birth to boredom. Jer didn’t seem to mind it at first, but the tension was getting to him.

"Where’s Clove? And what about your mate? Did she not want to come?" he asked, trying to sound cold and detached to maintain his image, but it failed miserably.

I raised an eyebrow at him, the corner of my lips curling upward. "I have no idea where Clove is. If I had to guess his whereabouts, though, we might find him in the Eserian. If he told you about my System update, I’m sure he also told you about his family."

Jer nodded slowly. He had heard about Clove’s obsession with growing stronger to show the House that abandoned him what they’d lost when they discarded him.

"Fern is still in Cintre. I didn’t ask her to join us because she’s been busy tending to the injured. The army has many healers, but there are only so many. Fern has some area-of-effect healing, which is why they requested her help." Now that I thought a little bit more about it, Fern had been a little bit ’off’ in the last week. It had started a few days before the Infiltration, but I hadn’t thought too much about it.

"She’s very exhausted. I guess returning to the Forea Alliance is hard on her." Was that actually it? I felt our bond growing stronger, so I wasn’t too worried about her second-guessing our relationship, but we didn’t really have the time to speak about her little fight with Clove and about our future goals yet.

The Infiltration had forced our hand, and we had yet to meet up to talk about the future.

Fern liked being needed. Not necessarily by me, but the fact that the Forea Alliance and its armies needed her meant a lot to her. I could feel it, which all stemmed from her family leaving her behind. The exact psychological meaning eluded me, but she liked being needed—being relied on, people trusting her with their lives.

"I see. So, we are on our own against thousands of demons?" Jer grimaced, looking like he was only now starting to understand what he was up against.

"Thousands of demons? I think you hit your head a little bit too hard during the Infiltration." I let out a snort. "We’re going to hunt demons in smaller groups. Against Lesser Demons, we can push a little harder, but if we don’t want to attract all the demons in the Eserian, we will move slowly and steadily. Search the outskirts, make sure no Demon or Vampire can jump us from behind, before locating a suitable target."

Devising a more thorough plan, I turned to Jer. "You do know that I can transform into Vampires and Demons, right?"

I pointed at myself, horn and eyes to be precise. "Those are partial shifts belonging to Tier-2 Demons, but those might not be enough at times. I might have to undergo full-fledged transformation, and I will almost certainly have to subdue a bunch of Lesser Demons to lure more of them out of the Eserian’s deeper parts."

Jer pressed his lips tightly together. It didn’t look like my revelation surprised him all that much. After having seen me transform into a Silverback Elephant a while back, I did not expect him to be all that surprised about my Power in the first place, but he didn’t seem to like my plan all that much.

"You want me to fight alongside Demons?" He ground his teeth. "I understand your Power, but fighting with—"

"They’re my subordinates once I use my Insignia on them. Forced to follow everything I order them to do." That didn’t seem to help the Minotaur demihuman all that much, so I approached the topic differently. "If it makes you feel better, just think about what it means to put demons against demons. You will see them pounce on each other, ripping at their throats."

While that was not a perfect solution, Jer seemed to accept it more easily. Knowing more demons were going to die was a good thing, after all, because it did not take long before we encountered our first group of Lesser Demons as soon as we reached the Eserian.

Jer didn’t hesitate and charged the demonic creatures. Their screeches reverberated through the surroundings, and I noticed the rustling bushes at the border of the Eserian, but the Lesser Demons had to be removed first.

Using Burst, I caught up with Jer right before the clash commenced. One of Jer’s axes cleaved right through one of the demons, killing it in one swoop. Next up, he crashed into the group, splitting it open. The might of the Minotaur awakened within the young demihuman as he thrashed around.

Taking the opportunity, I shoved another demon’s claws to the side, reached for the nape of its neck, and smashed its face straight into the ground. Next up, the Insignia of Dominance triggered.

"Submit to me," I hissed and shot up to face the next Lesser Demon as soon as the nebulous connection of submission formed.

Submitting another Lesser Demon wasn’t all that easy. Precisely, keeping it alive was difficult. Jer was more of a problem than expected. He beheaded the second Lesser Demon I’d submitted, forcing me to punch him in the sternum when he was about to attack yet another one of my subordinates.

The first fight ended rather anticlimactic. The Lesser Demons didn’t touch me once. Jer got cut a few times, but his Bloodline was already working on the wounds, tending to them at a visible pace. As for my subordinates, I managed to keep two subdued Demons alive, although it would have been more if not for Jer’s mindless rage. However, I could work around that.