Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 115 - 114 - “You crossed the line.”

The wind whispered through the trees of the Bestiary Mountain Forest, brushing leaves with such intensity that the branches shivered, making it look like a horror show opening.

Despite all that, Raven led the group through the undergrowth, following Nibbles’ crude yet impressively detailed leaf map.

Around them, the squirrel squads moved like trained operatives—tiny, fuzzy blurs with purpose and acorn-sized aggression.

Clara walked beside Raven, close enough to brush shoulders.

She didn’t speak, but her presence was grounding, warm like sunlight in early spring.

Raven gave her hand a quick squeeze before letting go, his silent way of telling her he appreciated her.

Alex trailed a little behind, holding Nibbles like a sacred relic. "So... uh. Still no sightings of demonic squirrels, right?"

"Not unless one of yours gets possessed by berry wine," Jessy replied dryly.

"I mean, we did have that squirrel disco rave."

"Stop reminding me," Clara groaned.

But then, they heard it—the music.

Not just any music, but a violin tune.

It was slow, eerie, and weeping.

"...The squirrels weren’t being dramatic," Jessy muttered, gripping her short swords tighter. "There actually was violin music."

The sound through the air, threading through the trees like smoke—thin and sorrowful, and impossibly ancient.

The melody was beautiful in a way that made the air taste metallic.

Lovely in the way death might be beautiful if it came wrapped in silk and sorrow.

Everyone stopped.

Even the squirrels.

Clara squinted. "Do demons get music budgets now?"

"Maybe they summoned a theater kid," Alex offered.

The wind howled louder, kicking up leaves and soil. It wasn’t just nature—it felt like the planet itself was moaning in warning.

Raven’s eyes narrowed as he recalled the plot in one of the latest Chapters he had read of ’The Raven Tale’ before he had died.

’The melody of despair.’

That’s what it was called.

It was played by the world to warn its inhabitants who approached a certain area.

Inside Selena’s mind, Mistress stirred violently. "...Oh. Oh, that’s not good for you guys."

Selena blinked. ’What?’

Mistress sighed, "That music isn’t just a vibe, darling. It’s a warning. That’s a planetary-level rejection protocol. It happens only when something truly awful and dangerous from another realm steps foot into a realm it doesn’t belong to."

Selena, who could now handle the strain of hearing Mistress’s voice, didn’t need to stagger, yet she did before grabbing Raven’s arm. "It’s a warning," she said quickly, her voice serious and urgent.

"Something from another realm crossed over. Big. Dangerous. That music is the world trying to warn us about it."

Raven glanced at her hands, raising a brow as he could tell that Selena was fine.

But still, he didn’t expose her and nodded.

"I figured."

The mood shifted.

Even Alex shut up.

Because all of them knew that things were more than serious now.

Soon, they reached a clearing.

The violin had stopped.

It was quiet now—too quiet.

The air was thick with tension, and the moment they stepped into the glade, Raven’s eyes scanned the surroundings.

The grass was torn.

Trees snapped.

Burn marks scarred the ground.

Signs of battle.

No—struggle.

But what struck them most was how uneven it was.

Only one crater marred the ground—a massive twenty-meter-wide impact zone, scorched at the edges like a meteor had hit.

All around it, other attacks had been slashed. Literally.

Sword marks cleaved through trees, rocks, and dirt with clean, elegant brutality.

This wasn’t a fight.

It was a massacre with only one attacker.

Clara knelt beside the bone dagger on the ground, brushing a finger along the edge.

"It’s Siris’s," she murmured.

Jessy crouched beside the crater. "But who made this?"

It wasn’t that they weren’t capable of such a feat.

With their powers, they could wipe out a village with ease, but that was if they used magic.

With physical powers alone, they could at most destroy a two-story house, but making a twenty-meter crater on the ground—one as deep as this one—was impossible for them.

Shattering the ground was harder than breaking walls, after all.

Could Raven do it?

They couldn’t tell, especially now that he expressionlessly looked at the crater on the ground.

However, looking at his expression right now reminded them of someone, making them exchange a glance.

’Doesn’t he look similar to the Patriarch right now?’

That was the question in their heads, but before anyone could answer or even ask that question, movement stirred in the woods around them.

Shadows.

Running feet.

A whisper of laughter—wrong, grating, and cheerful in the way nightmares pretend to be friendly.

Then he stepped out from the tree line.

Travis.

He had dark blonde hair and black eyes like polished tar.

His smile was wide, teeth gleaming too white, too bright. His overly casual gait was the exact wrong fit for the aura he exuded.

"I’ve been waiting for you guys~," he sang.

Alex whispered, "Why is he trying to enter the scene like the final boss?"

"Well," Jessy muttered. "He might be the final boss of this arc."

Raven’s eyes sharpened as he drew his sword, but before he moved, Clara stepped closer to him. "Don’t engage. Not yet."

Travis spread his arms. "Aw, come on, no welcome hug? I even cleaned up for you."

Raven gritted his teeth, his eyes locked on Travis. "Where’s Siris?"

"Oh ho!" Travis clapped like a child at a puppet show. "Straight to business! You have changed, Raven. You used to pretend to be polite."

Raven didn’t flinch. "Where. Is. She?"

Travis grinned wider—far too wide. His smile stretched until it almost trembled at the edges.

"You know," he beamed, "I was going to burn her after I killed her. After all, fire is such a cleansing thing. But then I thought..."

He snapped his fingers.

From the woods, a demonic human emerged. Pale. Blank-eyed. Dragging behind him a massive sheet of coarse cloth.

The figure let it drop.

Time stopped.

There, lying in a pool of red on the crude cloth—

—Siris.

A deep wound gaped across her stomach, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

Her face was pale, smeared with dirt and gore. Her head hung limply to one side.

She didn’t move.

She didn’t breathe.

The group froze at that sight.

’S-She’s dead...’

The wind stopped, and the forest turned quiet.

Not even a squirrel dared to move.

Clara covered her mouth with both hands while Jessy froze mid-step.

Alex’s expression broke, his eyes wide. Nibbled and Fluffy, still above his head, mirrored his expression.

Lia’s knees buckled, and she almost fell to the ground, but Rufus, with a quivering gaze, reached out to hold her.

Even Selena, who didn’t feel any attachment to Siris, was shocked, her eyes turning to Raven.

After all, Siris’s death would probably affect him the most.

But as she looked at him, he just stood there, his expression unreadable.

Travis tilted his head, that wide smile still painted on. "I saved her for you, Raven. I wanted to see the exact expression you’re making now. Mmm~ worth it."

Still, Raven didn’t move.

He didn’t even blink.

Until his hand slowly got covered in dragon scales, his sword was clenched.

Then, instead of moving toward Travis, he turned toward Lia, who flinched under the weight of his gaze.

She felt that she was about to obtain a heavy responsibility, and true to her fears, Raven spoke.

"Heal her."

He didn’t make a request; he ordered.

In the group, only Lia was capable of healing people.

After all, she was one of the very few people who could use a higher element—life element—despite not being an eighth-circle mage.

She was even called a genius because of that, but all of that was gone when she couldn’t progress past the second circle, and now, Raven was asking her, a weak mage, to heal Siris?!

"B-But she’s—"

She tried to tell Raven that Siris was dead, and it was not just her, who was a second-circle mage; even an eighth- or ninth-circle mage couldn’t save her.

But before she could complete her words, Raven’s eyes turned cold. "Heal. Her."

Lia trembled, her quivering gaze tearing up, but she wiped them off.

She didn’t know why Raven was doing this, but she believed he was just angry about Siris’s death, so for now, she decided to follow his command.

She turned toward Jake and Rufus, who nodded at her before they rushed toward Siris’s body, pulling her away from Travis, who didn’t even stop them.

"What? You think you can save her?" The guy tilted his head, laughing while shaking his head.

His voice turned mocking. "Sure, go ahead and try. I would love to see the legendary resurrection magic being used by a circle-two failure."

As Jake and Rufus brought Siris closer to Lia, Raven finally turned toward Travis.

He spoke softly—dangerously soft.

"You shouldn’t have done that."

Travis grinned wider, somehow.

Raven took a step forward.

"I don’t care if you’re human, demon, or garbage pretending to be either."

Another step.

"You crossed a line."

Clara reached out, touching his arm—barely. "Raven..."

His voice was ice.

"Clara."

He didn’t say more, but Clara understood what he wanted to say, so she obeyed.

Her eyes turned to the others, especially Selena, who was the strongest in the group.

She gestured for the princess to move toward Lia and Siris, and the princess nodded.

Jake and Rufus, along with Jessy, Clara, Alex, and the squirrels, gathered around Lia, their weapons drawn.

After all, Travis wasn’t their only enemy.

There were other demonic humans in the woods.

Raven, on the other hand, looked at Travis, and his smile finally returned—but it was cold. Sharp. A smile like a loaded blade.

"You wanted to see my expression?"

Travis nodded, giddy.

"Good," Raven whispered.

"Now you’ll see what it looks like when you die."

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