Samael's power was surging to the limit! But even with this, he still wasn't fast enough to save Silvia.
He watched as the shadow arrived before Silvia, he saw the hideous creature. It was only the size of a small child and it had the same features as the other creature but it was more human-like and it had a dark red crystal on it's chest.
Silvia was in the motion of stepping back when the creature was right in front of her. She felt fear and helplessness as there was nothing she could do, this thing was much faster than her and Samael combined!
She closed her eyes, afraid.
But then...
"Humph!" She heard a man's voice harrumphed before her.
Bam!
The sound of a small explosion echoed in her ear. She lost her balance and she began to fell down when someone swept her off her feet in an instant.
She opened her eyes and saw the familiar blood soaked face of Samael along with that crimson eyes of his. Silvia felt her heart skipped and then she shyly said while gesturing Samael to put her down.
"Th-thank you."
Samael gently put her down but even then he didn't look at her in the face, he only had a serious and deadly look on his face staring in front. Then he said.
"Don't thank me, it was not me that save you. It was him." He nudged his head to his left.
Silvia stood and turned, she saw a young man, older than her, standing there in a suit of armor and a long sword in hand. He had a solemn look that had a playful charm to it but he too was staring in front of them and didn't glance at her.
Wondering, she too turned to the direction that they were staring at and she finally saw the creature that attack her, groaning and squirming before it jumped up and rushed to a enemy creature's corpse and started tearing the flesh, gorging on it.
As the mysterious creature continued to feed on the other creature's corpses, some mysterious runes lit up on it's body. It disappeared once it finished eating all of the flesh on the creature, leaving only bones. After that he rushed back to the forest, escaping them.
Samael and Silvia, along with the young man that save her was speechless as they watched on until the young man spoke.
"Hey brat! what the hell is that?"
"Stop calling me 'brat' you bastard, i don't know either!" Samael was irked and shouted back.
"Hey, hey, is that how you thank the person who just save your new girlfriend?" The young man said.
From his words, Silvia unusually blushed which turned out to be so adorable and even Samael had a shade of red on his cheeks then he shouted back.
"She is not my girlfriend, you bastard and why the hell aren't you with Sister Lina? Aren't you supposed to protect her at all times?
Turns out that it was Julian who saved Silvia earlier.
Silvia saw how Samael reacted after she calmed herself and she thought "They know each other?"
Julian laughed after seeing Samael's blush "What's this? So, even the cold and arrogant Samael can blush, eh? Well if you don't want her, how about I take her?"
When Samael heard this, he suddenly felt angry and he even found this to be weird. Why would he be angry about what Julian has said?
But before he could even spare another thought at it, he shivered as he felt the surrounding suddenly turned cold and he could distinctly feel a certain killing intent looming over them.
He looked back at Julian at which Julian closed his eyes, gulping down his saliva and he asked.
"I'm in trouble, aren't I?"
To which Samael nervously laughed "Definitely."
"What is this I hear about you taking that girl for yourself?"
Suddenly a very familiar woman's voice entered Julian's ear and he shivered. Turns out, it was Princess Lina and she heard what he said earlier. He shivered as he finally felt the coldness and killing intent that Samael was feeling earlier.
"Let's talk, shall we little Julian?" Princess smiled but deep down both Samael and Julian knew that she was fuming deep inside
"Uh...about that, let me explain." Julian apologetically smiled.
But the Princess Lina dragged him by grabbing on the neck of his armor. They went behind a nearby tree and from there Samael heard screams of anguish.
He closed his eyes and laughed deep inside then he let out a laugh.
"I hope my future wife won't be that violent."
After that Princess Lina and Julian came back but you could see that Julian had a obvious red palm mark on his left cheeks.
"Who's this?" Princess Lina, turned to Silvia, smiling amiably. She knew that Julian was just joking when he said that but even so he had to reign in him and show him that if he dare to cheat on her, he is in for a world of hurt.
Samael was shaken back when he heard Princess Lina's voice. "Oh, right. Sister Lina this is Silvia, i believe she's the eldest daughter of the Frost Family. Silvia, this is Princess Lina Crimson sky."
"Silvia Frost greets the royal princess." hearing the introduction Silvia was first shocked but then she quickly knelt and greeted the princess.
"It's the first time, I have met the daughter of the Frost family. You're famous for being reclusive when you were young but now, everyone calls you the 'Ice Princess'. So tell me, just how did this foolish little boy conquered you?" The Princess was also courteous but didn't forget to tease Samael.
"Princess, it's not like. We're not like that" Silvia shyly said.
"I know, i was only teasing you." Princess Lina laughed.
Samael suddenly held onto the Princess's shoulder and pulled her two steps away and then said "Alright, alright you had your fun right? Let's get to the serious business. Where are the other rescue teams? Or did the two of you leave your posts and charged hear, disregarding commands?" Even while saying this, Samael still had a light blush on his face.
But it wasn't the Princess who answered him but Julian "It's exactly like that, I tried to stop her you know."
Before they could continue the conversation a voiced echoed out to them.
"Brother!"
They all look over and saw Julius and Stella along with the survivors that they had rescued come over. Julian immediately broke a smile and walked to his little brother.
"I'm glad you're safe, little bro." Julian said as he fist bumped his brother.
Princess smiled and then walked towards the other survivors, she said "You all may now escape safely, we will stay and find others who may still be alive."
"We wish you good luck, Princess." As a Princess, she is a well known figure so it wasn't weird that these survivors instantly recognized her. They knelt and bid goodbye before using the Academy's talisman to finally escape this hell.
Once those survivors were gone, much time have passed. Samael had already changed into a new set of red clothes, Silvia had already shared her opinions and what Samael said about the creatures and shaman.
"If this is true, then we better inform my father. It's best that the empire is prepared for this kind of threat." Princess Lina said.
"Yes, but before that...we should deal with that first." Then Samael's voice cut in as he stared to the distance, towards the Mountain range.
The others had their backs towards the mountain range, Julian stood up "What are yo- whoa...What the hell is that?!"
Hearing Julian's surprise, they too stood and turned their gaze to the mountain. It was then that they sa gargantuan monster.
Standing in about ten to twenty meters in size, it had human skin but it looked emaciated like the other enemy creature. Bony protrusions could be seen on it's chest and joints. It had red eyes and sharp fangs for teeth but most importantly it had that noticeable dark red crystal on its chest.
"That thing is what attack Silvia earlier" Samael coldly said.
"That little thing became that?! Impossible!" Julian couldn't wrap his head around it.
Samael quickly covered himself in ice armor and Black lightning coiled around his body once again and he said. "It doesn't matter, if we don't try to contain that beast there then it might grow even bigger. At that point who knows how strong it will be"
Princess Lina was unexpectedly the second calmest person in their group. She said "Let us hurry then!"
Samael quickly moved, followed by Princess Lina, Julian and Silvia. Only Stella and Julius was left behind.
"Why didn't you leave with them?" Stella was still shivering, afraid of that gargantuan creature that she couldn't muster the courage to move.
"You should've just left me."
"I don't think i could." Julius softly said. But he thought that his voice was soft enough that Stella didn't hear him. He then continued.
"You're scared, i think that's normal. You're not a trained warrior like us, you don't have the same sense of duty like the princess does or any of us. You're not obligated to risk your life, so i believe that it's not shameful that you are afraid."
Hearing this, Stella couldn't hold it anymore and cried, she sat on the ground, holding both of her knees, crying.
Seeing this, Julius scratched his head, not knowing what to do he knelt down beside her. He placed his hand on her head then pulled her to his chest.
Stella felt this and was clearly surprised, she sniffled and wiped the tears on her face but it continued to fall. "Why didn't you go with them?"
Julius didn't know how to answer this, he raised his head and stared at the sky and he muttered
"I guess it's because i don't think I belong there..."
With that, Julius used his Academy talisman and both of them were sent out...