ESLAIN
3:00 PM
ZWAIN'S POV:-
"Is anyone of you collaborating with the devils?" I ask them activating my [Nature's eyes].
To be honest, I don't want to do this, but the situation is critical right now so it has to be done.
The room turns silent for a while.
Leilena is gazing at me with her brows furrowed.
Aria is looking at me with an emotionless face.
Karina is smiling but it was anything but a polite smile.
After a few moments passed,
"Is anyone of you collaborating with the devils?"I ask again, this time with a heavy voice channelling mana throughout my body.
I create a web of mana threads all around the room.
Karina closes her eyes,
" No, I am not" she answers.
A sigh of relief escapes my mouth.
I really don't want to fight a Royal Mage when there is already so many things to handle.
I then look at Leilena.
"Leilena...answer me, are you collaborating with the devils?" I ask the Wood Fairy Queen.
The atmosphere is getting tenser by the moment, then...
A portal appears...and sucks Aria and her guards in.
As soon as the portal closes, both my mana threads and a white-golden spear passes through the area where the portal was.
-BOOM
The spear crashes at the wall.
"Damn it!" I got furious at the sudden revelation.
'This isn't what I expected, losing Pixie Queen is worse than fighting a Royal Mage' I think closing my eyes.
My brows furrowed a lot.
This...is a mess, without the Queen, the Sacred tree might weaken after another year...we will need to ask Alfheim to send some of the Supreme Elves to manage things here...
"But why would their race go against us?" Asks Karina who is also equally disturbed by the sudden revelation.
'Why, huh' I mutter silently, if counted then there would come out many reasons. It's not like they didn't have any struggles living with other races.
But that's not important, what's important is...
"We have to erase the devils first...then we will deal with the Pixies. The situation is still in an acceptable range." I speak thinking a few steps ahead.
Then I turn on my other side.
Karina is staring in the same direction.
"Leilena..." I look at the Fairy Queen whome I have bound with my threads and prevented her from escaping through another portal.
Her guards escaped though.
"Looks like we have a lot to talk about" I speak to her with a bit of killing intent surging within me.
Honestly, I spread my threads on everyone present here, I would rather think about the consequence later.
Karina cut through those threads like paper, though.
I want to know everything that has been going on in Eslaine. From how did they enter the city to where is Princess Lia.
I stand up and move towards her.
But then...
She starts burning and soon...she turns to ash.
I try to stop her but it is already too late.
My eyes are wide open, looking at the place where she turned into ash.
I look at Karina who is equally shocked.
"" Reflector"" both I and Karina shout in unison.
Reflector is a Supreme Devil who excels in creating copies of both himself and others. The copies obey their creator without any hesitation.
"Aaah! That bastard." I am losing my sanity at these turns of events.
"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!" I shout out as loud as I can.
Then after shouting a bit I gain my composure slowly, after breathing a few heavy breaths I look at Karina.
She has a serious look on her face as she stares into my eyes.
"How long do you think that bastard has been lurking in this city?" She asks me.
"At least a month but I could be wrong" I speak as I sigh and sit back in my chair.
Honestly, I don't know...how long, huh? I really wonder.
Karina then stands and starts leaving along with her guards.
"I'll be going then, looks like it's going to be a long night." She speaks as she departs.
I look at her departing figure, then asks my guards to leave me alone for a while.
My face is a bit solemn now.
'It really is going to be a long night, huh'
'I guess, it's earlier than planned but...'
"Let's meet that monster," I mutter as I leave the room.
...
...
...
GREATER LEAF FOREST(WEST)
3:00 PM
LIGHT'S POV:-
'First things First, let's see what's inside the cave.'
I activate [Mana chain circuit: The one] and..
-Time stops-
I move inside the cave that has a special gate through which a devil was entering,
'Thank you' I think as I pass by him, the cave goes underground for quite a while, then what I saw left me astounded.
A town, a small bustling town...is the first thing that came to my mind.
It is small, roughly 8 to 9 buildings in a large space. There were about 30 Devils visible and a rough estimate would be 100devils lurking around in this town.
'Damn! That's so awesome' is what I thought.
I love city building games, I used to play them a lot with Aisha in my free time.
'Good old days' I smile faintly thinking about the past.
'Let's check around a bit'
I walk around the city and found 8 Supreme devils, 27 High devils and 57 mid devils in this city.
The structure of the buildings is very defined.
A forge, an eatery, a bathhouse? three houses, a shed, an armoury and a training area.
It looks well planned.
'Now where is the Queen?' I search around a bit more,
After looking around a bit more I see another entrance behind the shed, but since it was closed...entering it would be difficult within the time stop.
'All right, let's head back' I move back to Kaneto and co.
-Time starts-
"All right, I found where the Pixie Queen is possibly kept," I tell them in a casual tone.
The others then turn towards me and looked at me confused...
.
10s
.
20s
.
"What?" I ask them.
Shouldn't they be already used to me?
"How do you do it?" Leraye asks with a glistening face.
"I'll tell you on one condition," I speak.
"What?" He asks tilting his head a bit curiously.
"Join my party," I speak without any hesitation
He stays silent for a while then,
"Let me decide after this quest is over," he speaks.
The others are looking at us with blank faces.
"So what is inside that cave?" asks Kaneko getting back to topic. He is as serious as always, isn't he?
"8 Supreme Devils, 27 High Devils and 57 Mid Devils. A town of Devils to be precise. Expect 2-3 more Supreme Devils for precaution's sake."
I speak with a casual tone.
".." Leraye
".." Kaneto
".." Pixies
Ignoring their shocked faces I ask Kaneto,
"How many Supreme Devils can you handle at your full power?"
He snaps back to look at me as he hears my question.
Then looks at me for a few seconds.
'Does he want to kill me?' Is what he seems to be thinking.
"3" He speaks, telling the truth.
The Pixies are really shocked at the revelation.
Well, he is not your average old man now, is he?
Anyways, I turn to Leraye and look at him urging him to answer the same question.
At first, he avoids my gaze, he looks a bit scared too, then..
"I can't kill a Supreme devil," he speaks.
Looking at his expression he is telling the truth
But...'he is strong enough to do that, then why?...some form of condition?' I look down as I start thinking...
I stare at him again and ask," can you kill all the High devils and Mid devils?"
The pixies are looking at me like I'm a freak, even Kaneto starts wondering if something is wrong with my head but...
"Yes," he answers with a beaming smile.
This revelation shocks Kaneto and Pixies as they turn to Leraye as if he is some freak.
"Okay...Now...Kaneto give me your sword," I ask for his sword.
He first hesitates but after urging him a bit he gives me his sword.
I take out my dagger and draw some high level runes on it.
After 15 minutes...
'This should double his power...guess that's the max to which I can push his limit.'
I give the sword back to him.
After looking at it for a good while and making a few swings.
He starts smiling.
".." this is probably the first time I am shocked until since I entered this world.
He looks at me then turns his head away.
'Tsundere?' I mutter.
Ignoring him I turn to Leraye and ignore him too since his eyes are glistening as usual, then turn to Pixies who are shocked again.
-Sigh
"All right, simple plan, we knock every devil unconscious, I don't want a single devil to be dead...but you can do anything else except killing them."
It would serve as a warning to them and our name will spread throughout the continent. Killing some leaving few would serve the same purpose but we have not been paid for that and we don't have any obligations to do so unless they personally come against us. Plus killing them would bring unnecessary trouble.
"Let's go," I speak as we move towards the gate.