Black.
That was the first thing that Ellen saw when she opened her eyes. A black, starless sky was the first thing that entered her view.
At first, she was confused about what had happened to her, but then she remembered everything.
A weird group called the cult of Umbral entered the shop and declared that everyone inside the shop would have to join their weird little cult. At first, no one took them seriously, as they were dressed like normal people, not in some kind of clothing that would suggest that they were members of a cult.
However, it didn't take long as the situation got serious. They took a weird black ball out of their pockets and crushed it, engulfing half of the shop with some black mass.
And then everything turned dark.
When they woke up, they were on a wasteland that consisted of white sand.
The Depths,
At least the first layer of the Depths.
One of the men explained to them that each one of them would have to join their cult or die.
He then turned his eyes to Ellen, a lustful desire recognizable in his eyes, and said that she had no other option than to join as their leader commanded them to bring her unharmed.
When she saw his gaze, she immediately desired to punch his ugly little face.
However, there was a problem.
She wasn't able to, as her arms and legs were restricted by some type of mana-blocking rope.
She and a bunch of other people now lay there on the ground, waiting for something to happen to them.
They were told that they only had to wait for a few hours before somebody arrived to pick them up.
She had to flee before that.
Occasionally, a few of the men left with the excuse of "exterminating the monsters in the area".
They always left one person behind to let them watch over all the captives. The person left behind cycled every hour, and then they switched,
After two hours, everybody other captive fell asleep from exhaustion as the whole situation was just too stressful for them. They just slept, hoping that all was a dream.
Now only two people were awake. The man that was left behind and her.
Fortunately, the man that was left this time was the one that stared at her with a lustful gaze.
She would use that to her advantage.
Carefully, she moved over to the man, who was looking into the far distance, looking for his comrades to relieve him from that boring task.
"Hey..Mister?"
She internally cringed as she said that. Even though that was for her own survival, she contemplated about just stopping and acting like she never said anything.
The man turned his head to her, the lustful gaze reappearing in her eyes.
'Disgusting'
Even though she slowly got used to the male gender, she still thought that human men were the most disgusting of them all.
After all, they were the same people who captured female elves, sold them on the slave market, and did other unspeakable nasty things to them.
She trembled at that thought.
'Let's not think about that now.'
Well, they weren't the only race that did that, but definitely the most common one.
"Y-yes, princess?"
The man stuttered, dark intentions and thoughts hiding behind his voice.
"C..Could you please lose the ropes up a little? They hurt really much."
After uttering the sentence, she immediately regretted her actions. Especially because it seemed to work as the breathing of the man hastened.
'I should have chosen death.'
She would have never guessed that she would throw the respect that she had for herself out of the window like this.
"S..sure, m'lady."
The man said as he slightly readjusted his fedora. Ellen could see how his stomach was bouncing and moving with every movement of his.
It almost seemed like it had its own will, which was really fascinating in its own way.
Usually, she was pretty happy about the good looks that she got from her parents. Round green eyes, beautiful platinum blonde hair, a cute little nose, and pale white skin that almost rivaled Seraphir's skin in paleness.
However, she hated being attractive in such situations.
'If only Seraphir were here...'
She slightly missed her devil friend, even though they were only separated for a few hours at most.
'I wonder where she went...did she leave the shop because she suddenly found something interesting regarding magic? That wouldn't be the first time that it happened.'
Ellen chuckled internally at the thought of her cute devil friend. Even though they weren't blood-related, Ellen thought of her as a little sister.
Thinking about Seraphir lightened her mood up a bit...
"Is this alright, m'lady?"
-However, hearing his voice ruined it again.
"C..could you please loosen it up a little bit more Mr.."
"Mod. My name is Mod Discord. Hehehe..."
He said excitedly at the thought of the beautiful Elven princess saying his name, and a creepy laugh escaped from his lips.
"Mr. Mod?"
Unfortunately, though, he shook his head.
"I am sorry, m'lady, but this little me cannot go any further into assisting you. If I were to do that, I could free you entirely by accident."
Ellen bit her lip in irritation.
'This fucker. Just do as I say!'
"P..please? I will do everything for you if you loosened it up even further."
Ellen raised one of her twitched around, acting like a cute princess in need of help.
"Everything?"
Mod asked, flaring his nostrils in excitement.
Ellen nodded.
"Yes, everything."
"Hehehehehee..."
With a creepy laugh, he immediately began to loosen up her restraints even further.
'Almost...almost...yes! There it is.'
A refreshing and pure smile crept up on her face. She was genuinely happy and radiated a refreshing energy that charmed the man even further.
"Thank you!"
"That's no problem, m'lady...and now to my rewa-"
"Thank you for being such a fucking dumbass!"
Ellen screamed as she punched him in the face with all her might.
"Goddamn, that felt good!"
The man, who was now lying on the ground, trembled with anger.
"You...you...you fucking bitch! Don't underestimate me! I am a Tier 7 Magician!"
He then lifted his hand and began casting a spell.
"Great Fireball!"
He screamed at the top of his lungs as he shot out a gigantic fireball at her.
'Blink!'
The fireball hit a nearby sandhill and exploded in a large heat wave, waking everyone up.
'Shit. That was close."
Despite making fun of him, she knew that he was currently superior in pure magical powers, thus choosing the best option.
Escaping.
Especially because the sound of the explosion was so loud that he probably also notified nearby his allies and nearby allies.
She turned around, concentrating wind magic on her feet, and lunged away, flying away at an incredible speed.
"Not so fast, you brat!"
Mod crossed his arms.
Two gigantic hands out of mana appeared beside her and grabbed her, throwing her back at him.
CRASH
She landed in a nearby sandhill. Although she slowed the fall down with her wind magic, the impact still hurt greatly.
"Shit..."
She groaned as she tried to stand up in vain.
"I should've known that you wanted to trick me...after all...all girls are the same..."
He growled quietly. Anger and hate were evident in his voice. The other captives just watched in fear as the Tier 7 magician slowly approached the girl, raising his hand in the air.
"Take this! Majestic Thunderbo-"
He couldn't finish his sentence as a bunch of Ice spears pierced his back.
"W-what?!"
Those were the last words that he said before falling to the ground, pathetically.
"Seriously, you really are a troublesome girl."
A familiar voice spoke to her. She couldn't help but grin at the sound of that voice.
"SERAPHIRRR!"
Ellen called in excitement as she ran to her best friend, jumping into her arms.
"I knew that you would save me!"
"No, you didn't."
Seraphir responded in a deadpan manner, her voice monotone and dull.
"You're right, I didn't."
Ellen laughed.
"You had perfect timing, you main character!"
She then exclaimed, while lightly punching Seraphir's arm.
"Well, I didn't do it alone. I had help."
Seraphir then gestured to the man next to her.
"That's Mr.Voidwalker"
Ellen turned her head to the man that she didn't notice before. Her breathing stopped for a moment as she looked at him.
'He is beautiful.'
A statement that she made. This man really was the most beautiful person that she had ever met.
"My apologies. It was rude of me to not introduce myself. I am Ellen Elderwood."
She said as she offered her hand to him. Her voice carried the weight and dignity that a princess of an entire race should have.
However, the man did not respond.
"He had allies, didn't he?"
"Huh? Yeah."
Ellen answered, confused as to why he suddenly asked that question.
"Well, they're probably all dead now. You guys should probably decide quickly if you want to free the people around here or let them die."
"Huh?"
Seraphir asked in confusion as the man, Mr. Voidwalker, said that.
"Why?"
Mr. Voidwalker looked into the far distance, his eyes narrowing even further.
He had a serious expression on his face.
"You should better hurry up."
The man then turned around to look at Ellen and Seraphir.
"A Fenriswolf is coming."