In the marketplace, Freya watched Ophis closely and she tried her best to figure out why Ophis was so familiar. Where have I seen this woman before? There has to be someone that looked like this in the past.
Freya's eyes widened as she suddenly remembered her time in the castle at Aquinas before Floid cursed her with old age! She saw a woman that looked just like this one! The only difference between that woman and this one is that the other woman she saw was a demon with purple skin and large horns! But even though they looked different, Freya knew just how easy it was for Floid to use illusion magic to make anyone look different. Did Floid do the same thing to this woman to make her look like a human?
Is this woman... A demon?
Freya slowly came out from her hiding place and started to follow Ophis as Ophis made her way into the market. Freya had to make sure if this woman was a demon or not! Freya would never forgive any demon for what Floid did to her and if this woman is a demon then Freya would make sure she exposes her!
.....
Dray and Quinn walked out from the forest and they arrived at the large field where they could see a large army arriving from the horizon. Quinn smiled in relief that they were finally out of that forest! She didn't know who those women that attacked them were, but Quinn was going to have a very long talk with the Grand Commander after this. Why was she never told how dangerous those women were!? How come no one ever told her that there were demons that were this strong!? Everyone claimed that the only demon she had to worry about was the demon lord himself, but that was obviously a lie. Those women were stronger than the Grand Commanders!
Quinn put her hand up to her head as she could feel a headache coming and she felt Dray put a hand on her back and ask her if she was okay. Quinn looked up at Dray and smiled. Yeah, she was fine. Quinn didn't know why she has been getting these small headaches ever since they started this mission. For some reason, her head would just start hurting, and then it would stop after some time. Dray nodded and told her that it was probably just stress. It happens a lot to new adventurers that aren't used to using Mana. Quinn noticed that Dray's hand was still on her back and she gave him a small look that made him realize what he was doing.
Dray quickly apologized and removed his hand as if he was burned and Quinn just laughed a little. She didn't mind him touching her at all. In fact, she liked it. This near-death experience made her see Dray in a different light and now she felt like she could really trust him.
"If you didn't tell me to run away back there then I would have died. I might not like how you saved me, but I'm still grateful for what you did. Thank you."
Dray gave Quinn a small grin in return and Quinn moved forward to meet the army. Once she was no longer looking at him, Dray lost his smile immediately and he flexed the hand that he used to touch her. He was already close. Just a few more touches and he would finish this mission.
Ever since Dray and Quinn met, Dray has been performing a special spell that Elias taught Dray. It was something that Dray had never heard about and Dray was sure that Elias only told him about it for this mission.
The name of the spell was [Mana Transfer] and it is a spell that was first used a long time ago to help adventurers who are low on Mana to replenish their lost reserves by touching someone else, but the spell was abolished because the spell was not efficient enough. Before the spell works, the two people sharing mana have to be compatible. And even if they were compatible somehow, the spell would usually leave the person giving the mana in a bad state and the person would start suffering headaches and fevers after some time. What was the point of helping someone get back on his feet if the person giving mana will get sick as well?
This spell was abolished a long time ago so there is no one around today who even knows about it. The only reason Elias knows about it is that he has been alive for more than a thousand years.
But even with that consequence, the spell was perfect for Dray's mission. Dray has been using that spell ever since he met Quinn to slowly suck away the mana that was inside her dragon core. The mana in her dragon core was a fixed amount that wouldn't replenish automatically, so when Dray sucks it out there is no way for her to get more mana to fill her core again and that is the reason why she was feeling those headaches so frequently. Dray was basically sucking her dry. If Dray continues using this spell, then Quinn would become too weak to even walk. The longer Dray uses this spell, the worse Quinn would become. After Dray touched her back just now, he was able to finally take up to one-third of her Mana and now Dray would only need the remaining two-thirds for this mission to finally be completed.
The reason why Dray was going after her mana instead of her Mana core itself is because of the problem that would come with killing her. Taking anyone's mana core would automatically kill that person and killing Quinn would be bad because it is obvious that a lot of people are watching her. The demon lord, as well as the kingdom of Uta all, have their eyes on her and if I kill her then they will all have their eyes on me. Instead, it would be better to slowly take her Mana without anyone noticing and leave her core empty.
"Ugh!"
Dray put his hand over his chest and grunted in pain when he felt that familiar burning sensation that he has been feeling ever since he started taking Quinn's Mana. Dray knew that the Dragon Mana would hurt him but he didn't think that it would hurt this much. It felt like there was a hot knife cutting through his chest.
Dray wasn't the hero and he also didn't have the compatibility that Quinn has with the Dragon Mana so it was very painful for him to withstand the Dragon Mana. The only reason why Dray hasn't already died was because his own Mana was also based on fire and it was allowing him to barely withstand the Dragon Mana. Dray knows that the moment he takes everything from Quinn, the pain might become too much for him. But Dray was still going to do it because he didn't have a choice. Once Dray has all the mana, he would send a signal to Elias and Elias would open a portal for Dray to escape from.
Elias told Dray that there was a method he could use to quickly take the mana out of Dray and use it to find Givalich so Dray only had to withstand the mana for a few more days at most. Dray waited for the pain to subside and he shifted his shoulders around when he finally stopped feeling the burning sensation. Damn, I'm really going to die if I take too much of this. Dray sighed as he started to move after Quinn to go and meet the army in the distance.
As the both of them finally got closer to the army, they could hear the sounds of shouting and the barking of orders from someone in front of the army. The person shouting was a Grand Commander that was sent to aid in the hero's mission. He was a large soldier that wore full armor but he had a face that made it obvious that he was an old man. There were some wrinkles on him and his hair was stark white. He pointed to some of the dead bodies at the side while coming down from his horse.
"Ge' those bodies outta here this instant! We're givn' them a proper burial back home! Check for any survivors and bring em back ta camp!"
There was a strange dialect in the Grand Commander's sentences that Quinn had never heard before. She wanted to ask him where he was from but she decided against it because he didn't look like he was in the mood for small talk. Instead, she would just ask Dray later since Dray might know.
Dray also noticed the dialect and he immediately knew that the Grand Commander was not from Uta. That dialect was native to Aquinas. Maybe the Grand Commander is someone that moved from Aquinas to Uta a long time ago?
The Grand Commander noticed the two of them coming closer and he immediately frowned as he saw Dray. He walked forward and he grabbed Dray by the collar and lifted him off the ground!
"You fuckin' bastard! You dare to show ya face around again!?"
Dray was so shocked by the sudden action that he almost brought out a knife and stabbed the man! Dray was already used to Elias sneaking up on him and he was trained on how to react to sudden actions! But Dray stopped himself at the last moment! Dray wasn't a soldier now, he is a priest! It wouldn't be good for them to see a priest stabbing someone! They will immediately suspect me!
Instead, Dray grabbed the Grand Commander by his arm and looked up at the man in shock! This is how any regular priest would react in a moment like this so Dray would do the same!
"Hey! What do you think you're doing!? Let go of me!"
The Grand Commander snarled in Dray's face and he squeezed down even more! Everyone around them stopped what they were doing to stare at the scene occurring! They couldn't believe that a Grand Commander was grabbing a priest by his robe like that!
"T'was you wasn't it! T'was you tha' told those men to charge when they didn' even av a plan! What tha hell were you thinking!?"
The Grand Commander was glaring at Dray was so much hatred that Dray was worried that he might actually have to fight. Dray didn't have any hope of defeating the Grand Commander but it is possible to escape from him. If I can just get him to loosen his grip. Dray tested the tightness of the man's grip and Dray immediately lost all hope of getting out of the grip! It was like metal! There was no way Dray would be getting out of it! but maybe I can talk him out of fighting. Dray spoke with a commanding tone.
"You weren't there so you won't understand what we saw. Those women aren't people that you can fight and hope to escape from. If I didn't do what I did, everyone would have died!! Even the hero!! I don't know about you, but I think it was a worthy sacrifice from them!"
The Grand Commander was shocked to hear those words come out of the mouth of a priest! His shock was obvious for Dray to see and Dray also saw how the shock slowly changed to anger!
"You coulda given them a plan at least! If you gave them a plan then they woulda survived! What kinda priest sends people to die!? That's against everything we're trying to do here!!"
Dray chuckled. It was a low, deep chuckle that made the Grand Commander's blood boil with even more anger!
"If you think that a plan would've stopped those women, then you're even stupider than I thought, commander. What sort of fucking plan would stop someone that can erase an army singlehandedly!? Tell me!? Can you do it!? Is it possible for a Grand Commander to erase an army!? No, it isn't!? Those women are stronger than anyone we have in our entire force! No plan can fucking stop them!"
Dray didn't mean to curse, but at that moment he was just too angry to hold himself back! This idiot was getting on his nerves! Dray's shout was loud enough to reach the ears of the soldiers standing at the sides and the soldiers all started to murmur amongst themselves in agreement. They could all see the carnage caused here by Pyra and Andromeda and they knew that even a Grand Commander cannot do something like this! The Grand Commanders were strong, but it was not possible for them to erase an entire army from the battlefield. And since the Grand Commanders were already in the SSS-class, that must mean that these two women are even stronger than that!? Is there even anything stronger than SSS-class? No human has ever gone past that level so the soldiers didn't know. What sort of plan could they have used to stop those women?
The Grand Commander could hear the murmurs from the crowd and he realized that Dray was making things even worse by shouting! He pulled back his fists and prepared to destroy Dray's face with a punch but a hand held his fist back at once. The Grand Commander turned around to see the hero looking up at him with a disappointed gaze and the man narrowed his eyes at her in anger. What the hell does she want now?
Quinn felt that the Grand Commander was about to pull away from her and she released her grip and allowed him to pull his hand back. She then spoke in a final tone.
"Let him go. He didn't do anything wrong,"
The Grand Commander couldn't believe what he just heard! Did she just say that the priest didn't do anything wrong!? The same priest that made our men run into a losing fight!?
"He sent hundreds of men to die for nothin'! He coulda told them to run and it woulda been better than sending them to die!"
"He made the best choice he could have made in that situation. There is nothing more to it. Let him go and let's continue the cleanup. You're causing a scene,"
The Grand Commander looked around and he saw that Quin was right. Maybe this would be better to discuss in private. He looked back at Dray and he felt the urge to hit Dray again, but he stopped himself and tossed Dray to the side. The Grand Commander then turned around and started to walk away with a few final words.
"Do not think this is over priest. You and I will av words very soon. And you won't have a woman to save you tha' time,"
The Grand Commander spat the word woman like it was an insult and Quinn squeezed her hand in anger when she heard it. She knew that the Grand Commanders were all sexist and they didn't regard her as a comrade because she is a woman. Quinn has heard the stories about the female Grand Commander that was sent to die simply because she wanted to prove herself. Quinn would never do something like that because she doesn't have anything to prove to these bastards. All she has to do is finish the demons once and for all and they will all shut up.
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