With the red haired elf out of the way, Luminis turned to Alpha, and with a smile on his face he asked,
"Are you alright?".
"Hahahaha." Alpha laughed, "You kicked him in the face…Hahahah".
"Just stay still so I can untie you".
"W…. what are you?!" One of the female elves yelled, Isla still held captive by them.
Luminis turned his gaze towards them, he could see that they were all frightened, barely able to hold up their weapons without their limbs trembling.
He sighed,
"Why are you doing this?" Luminis asked, "I'm new here and even I can tell how weak you people are… money? Is that why you attacked us out of nowhere? Did you hope you could get something from us?".
The elves grew silent, looking each other in the eye with looks that were practically screaming, "Help us".
"Look, I can overlook this and forget it ever happened, if you give me back my friend and we'll call it even, uhn? What do you say?" Luminis had his arms stretched to the side to show them he had no plans to attack them.
[Warning: Opponent approaching]
"Uhn?"
Luminis immediately turned his gaze to the right, only to be met by the red haired elf, in front of his hand a magic circle with flames building in the center.
Booooom!!!
The red haired elf sent the flames forward, Luminis vicinity going up in flames upon impact, the explosion sending a powerful shockwave around the forest.
The ground was scorched in flames and Luminis was right in the middle, his body enveloped by the flames and lying helplessly on the ground.
"Master!!!"
Alpha called out desperately, her limbs still tied up by the magic ropes so all she could do was try to crawl towards him, her rage slowly building up the more she could tell that he wasn't moving.
"Ahahhahah!" The red haired elf laughed out loud, "That's what you get, How dare you kick me like that, this is what you deserve! Insolence fool! Die by my flames! Ahahaa".
"O-Orland… you killed him?" One of the female elves asked, her eyes widened a bit in shock as she watched Luminis burn in the fire.
"I didn't have a choice, it was either this or he stops us from doing the ritual, his life or the lives of the people in our village, I think it's pretty obvious which I'd choose." Orland replied, his arms gesturing his feelings as he spoke.
"I…understand".
"Good, now pack up the girls, let's go, it's only a matter of time before the god bird decides to destroy this place if we don't offer the sacrifice now…" Orlando began moving towards Alpha who was still struggling to make her way towards Luminis.
"So that's what this is about… a sacrifice."
A loud gasp escaped the mouth of everyone as soon as they heard the voice, one by one their gaze turned to the fire, widened in shock, there, they could see Luminis moving in the flames.
"You should have told me earlier, I'm not so heartless as to turn a blind eye to people in need."
Orland felt a huge wave of fear overwhelming him the more the voice passed his ear, he struggled to move, his limbs frozen up and his eyes hitched with terror.
'There's no way he could have survived that, right? I know I landed a fatal attack…so what's behind me? What's this feeling… look back! Look back or you'll die…. Orland!!!'.
Taking everything he had, Orland pivoted, his hand set to attack whatever was behind him, but what he met left him completely stunned.
Only a hair's distance away from him was Luminis, his body still on fire but his skin was gradually repairing itself.
Orland could barely tell what was happening, the moment his eyes met Luminis, his head went blank, fear shrouded his mind and all he could do was stand there, looking at Luminis like a doll.
"If you had asked me nicely, I might have considered helping you, but you had to go pull a prank like this…." Luminis spoke, his hand grabbing Orland's hair before pulling him close.
The flames on his body were slowly fading, and his skin that was burned to a crisp a few moments ago had now been completely healed.
"I'll ask you one more time… release my friends, or else… I won't take responsibility for whatever happens next."
"I….I…I…"
Orland could barely make out any meaningful words, his eyes were swollen as if on the verge of tears.
"Uhn… speak, don't… '' Luminis paused, he felt something wet drip down on his foot, taking a glimpse at it, a disgusted expression immediately showed on his face when he noticed it was Orland peeing himself.
"Ahhh!" Luminis panicked, releasing his hold from Orland's neck and digging his foot in the sand to try and get rid of the substance on his foot, "What the hell man?! That's disgusting!".
"You've done it now brat! I'm going to kill you for real this time!"
Angered, Luminis looked at Orland, only to see that he had passed out on the ground with his pants soaked in his own pee.
"What the…" Luminis with a deadpan expression on his face could barely believe what he was seeing.
"Strong one!!!"
One of the elves from behind suddenly called out, this caused Luminis to turn his gaze to their direction.
The elves had already untied Isla and set her to the side, but that wasn't what caught Luminis attention.
It was the fact that they were all on their knees, their head bowed,
'Uhn? What's this about?' Luminis questioned as he watched them.
"Please strong one, we beg you, to please help us!" They pleaded in general.
"That's rich coming from you guys, considering you tried to kill me a few seconds ago." Luminis spoke, sending a death stare at them.
"Words can't begin to express our apologies, we have no way of defeating a man such as yourself, but… we are in desperate need of help…. I beg of you, please do not let us die like this!".
Luminis stared at them for a while, and after a few minutes of thinking, he sighed, and then turned to Isla.
"Hey, sorry you got dragged into all this, you can head back, there's no reason for you to escort me again." He voiced out to Isla, with a warm smile on his face.
Isla picked up her spear from the ground, "My orders was to escort you out of the forest… I tend to follow that to the very end, regardless of your opinion on the matter".