The air between the demonic creature and Olivia vibrated.
"Fiery Resonation!"
Sound waves boomed out but the demonic creature reacted quickly and stopped his charge. However, he realized that his sense of balance was distorted.
His falling figure worsened the distortion which made him land on the ground head first and plant himself upside down.
A hand then both grabbed Lucan and Olivia by their waists away from this demonic creature. The sudden motion woke them out of their daze.
It gave Lucan the opportunity to analyze the demonic creature's information.
[ Demonic Creature, Mahiista ]
[ Power Level: Karagero (Upper Demon) ]
[ Demonic Symbols: 734 ]
[ 344 Symbols of Magicka, 150 Symbols of Asura, 100 Symbols of Baruchard, 80 Symbols of Sarandawa, 60 Symbols of Tarsevia ]
[ Type: Caster, Semi-Fighter ]
'Strong!', was the reaction of his mind.
A demonic creature whose total demonic symbols surpassed 100 was deemed to have ascended to the rank of a karagero.
That did not directly mean they were powerful as the demonic symbols were categorized into many circles of doctrines.
Some imbued direct raw power while others augmented a demonic creature in all sorts of ways.
The most famous circles, as recorded from the documents inside the Heavenly Magic Academy's public library, were those from Magicka, the Mystic Demon; Asura, the Superior Demon; and Baruchard, the Transfiguring Demon.
With Mahiista's 344 symbols under Magicka, it meant that his magical power was very close to that of a peak master wizard. His 150 Symbols of Asura meant that his physical strength was comparable to an upper blade knight at the imprint realm.
The 100 Symbols of Baruchard weren't noteworthy compared to the first two. Having more of this symbol extends the limits of modifying a demonic creature's physical characteristics.
In other words, one can add demonic wings or tails, or improve them in a way such that being sliced by their wings was equivalent to death.
Mahiista's 80 Symbols of Sarandawa, and 60 Symbols of Tarsevia were rather problematic.
The former revolved in the concept of durability and sturdiness while the latter revolved in the concept of adaptability and flexibility.
This gives Mahiista the ability in adapting well to the freezing environment compared to Lucan and Olivia. With his defensive capabilities empowered by his Symbols of Sarandawa, the demonic creature could take a beating or two without dying.
A prolonged fight wasn't ideal. Mahiista can manage in holding himself against the weather and their attacks. They, however, would succumb to injuries and to the coldness of the northern glacial continent.
Lucan eyed the newcomer and found out that it was a man named Veron Zumfiel whose power level easily exceeded Mahiista's.
Veron, on the other hand, was surprised. He had seen these faces long before and was shocked by their identities.
"I didn't expect that I would be seeing together the crown prince of the Morning Star Empire and the royal princess of Norva Assili."
'Wh-who is this guy?!', Lucan and Olivia were dumbfounded, 'I haven't seen him until now!'
The feeling of someone knowing you but you not knowing them was a dreadful feeling. Either they know you under friendly circumstances or was it due to something else.
In addition, although the Zumfiel Noble Household was a well-known secular household, not many knew who were its household members.
And Veron was such a person.
"Oh, don't worry. I won't be telling anyone you were here.", Veron assured them, "Including the fact that the two of you are students from that fabled magic academy."
The roars of the magical beasts earlier caught his attention from kilometers away. Veron thought that he'd come over and see what was happening.
"Were you able to hear that demonic creature's words from far away?!", Lucan asked in alarm.
Jinmu heavily reminded them to not let anyone know of their identities as students of the Heavenly Magic Academy no matter what.
Veron only smiled and didn't bother to reply. His attention was focused on the demonic creature who have already recovered.
"Bastard, how dare you sullen my image, damn elf!", Mahiista shouted, forcing their attention towards his enraged face.
"Shut up, demonic creature. So you were the one behind all of this, huh?!", Veron guessed, "You even locked the space not only to prevent these young ones from escaping but to hide your presence from the magical beasts."
Mahiista grinned, "What if I am the one who is behind all of this? What are you going to do about it?"
Veron turned cold. To think that a demonic creature foiled his plans of saving Haera.
Mahiista continued on his parade and let out a snicker, pointing at them.
"Harrtugg Naaw will still slaughter the Norva Assili no matter what. And you, my dear elf and human friends will become a stepping stone to this grandiose of a plan!"
"Surrender your body, and I might give you a merciful death!", Mahiista said while licking the middle tip of his devil fork.
Olivia's heart sank after hearing Mahiista's words.
'Oh no, I have to stop him! I won't let him do what he wants to do!'
She stood up and berated Mahiista.
"Foul demonic creature! What rights do you have and you think we'd let you do as you wish?!"
"I won't let that happen over my dead body!"
Lucan went over to Olivia and soothed the vexed girl, "Hey, calm down!"
Olivia slapped his hands away this time.
On the other side, Mahiista clapped his hands. He was amused by Olivia's futile resistance and courageous fa?ade.
"Well done! Well done! As expected of a student of the Heavenly Magic Academy, you truly are an idiot with a loose screw on your head!", he mocked.
Mahiista planned to rile up Olivia as much as he could. That was what fuels his excitement and the urge to murder her in every way.
Veron tapped Olivia's shoulders and calmed her down. He then stepped forward, planning to fight Mahiista thought not to kill him, but to escape.
Now wasn't a favorable time for a deathmatch against this demonic creature.
Lucan and Olivia were here. Guarding them against harm while fighting the demonic creature wasn't an easy task.
Demonic creatures tend to attack anyone they deemed an enemy regardless of the other party's thoughts. That was why it was best to fight them alone or else they'll use everyone around you and turn the tables of a winning fight.
Furthermore, the demonic creatures weren't vulnerable to death unless one was imbued with the power of divinity.
Killing their physical bodies wasn't enough.
One had to purge the demonic essence flowing around their spiritual manifestations before they were pronounced truly dead. Otherwise, they'll simply find a new body and reincarnate.
The best Veron could do this time was to incapacitate Mahiista as quickly as possible.
"Demonic creature, don't forget that I'm here. I'm going to make you regret your actions sooner or later.", Veron waved his fingers.
The demonic creature noticed the surrounding air vibrate again. He wasn't able to react to this sudden attack.
Heavy and dull sound waves entered his eardrums and made a mess inside. He blacked out without fully knowing what happened, hitting the ground with a loud thud.
"Cover your ears, now!", Veron alerted the two students.
He then clapped his hands together and let out furious sound waves which bounced back and forth with increasing amplitude and intensity.
The space around them vibrated to the extreme. Not long after, pieces of magical array formation lines shattered.
At the same time, a system prompt appeared in both Olivia's and Lucan's eyes.
[ Planar demarcation magic array formation destroyed. You may now teleport back to the academy. ]
They gulped in awe of Veron's skills. He worked fast and efficiently with a concrete plan set in his mind.
However, the surrounding environment shut off their elated minds in quick succession.
Destroying the formation resulted in the space returning to normal. It brought with it the image of devastated houses and corpses that littered all around.
Veron grabbed the two students again and started his teleportation process.
Olivia's face turned ashen, "Wh-where are you taking us?! Let me go, I need to look after them!"
"Somewhere not around here so stop struggling young lady, or else don't hold me accountable if your body breaks during the travel!", Veron scolded.
The pressure forced Olivia to behave.
As her body blurred in place, she bitterly bit her lips and stared at the dying figure of a northerner man being impaled by a glacial scorpion's frosty tail.
"Ah! Help me! Please!", the man shouted at them, "Don't leave me dying here!"
His words fell on deaf ears. Veron and the company had already left him alone to die.
"Curse you! Curse your damn-!"
The glacial scorpion hissed before puncturing the man's abdomen with its bloodied tail. He struggled for a while and died.
Staring at the meal in front of it, the glacial scorpion readied its pincers to devour its prey.
…
In the far distance was a large sky-blue dragon flapping its wings mid-air.
"Demonic creatures. They are here.", a cold thunderous voice resounded within the sky-blue dragon's mouth.
He was surrounded by several large magical beasts who looked up to him as their leader.
"Lord Harrtugg Naaw, it's best to halt the attack. The presence of the demonic creatures might have something to do about the merciless slaughter of our innocent magical beasts.", a bird purely made of ice advised.
Its wings were large, thick, and sharp. They were unnaturally flexible as well.
"Do you think I have not considered that?! But those northerners shall still pay for their crimes!"
"I will never forget the scent of that northerner who came over and stole some eggs while I was out there overseeing the death of the magical beasts under me!"
Those eggs were the result of his and his late wife's hard work. They were about to hatch any time soon and someone had to disrupt this auspicious event.
Harrtugg Naaw's teeth were gritted, "Continue the attack! I will not rest until I see that person die!"
Hidden deep within Harrtugg Naaw's cold blue eyes that were filled with hatred was a glint of red barely observable.
Harrtugg Naaw raised his head and roared fiercely. This was the signal for them in continuing their march.
The thirteen large magical beasts around him didn't notice a thing and roared in reply. They then bowed down and turned around.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m