Swish!Swish!Swish!Swish!
Landing on the ground, Lucas witnessed the dark red flames ravaging the land extending to the wide meadows filled with lush green vegetation. A huge part of the Church was covered with gardens and meadows that served as excellent fuel for the fire.
Stepping ahead, Charles kicked the ground with a loud bang. The ground trembled, forming curly waves. The upper portion of the soil filtered the burning mass above and exchanged it with the lower soil encasing the upper layer.
"I will make a path so follow me quickly. The path might not be wide. It expends too much mana."
Everyone nodded at Charles's words.
"Let me help," Monica said, taking out her staff.
[Water Magico]
A magic circle appeared from which a huge fountain of water erupted and splashed all around them, extinguishing the fire at the side.
After that, she casts a wind spell to divert the smoke that may suffocate them.
Making a path, Charles darted ahead. The cracking sound of fire echoed from both sides. Even though Monica was acting as support. The heat radiating around was lowered narrowly still they could feel the hot air brushing past them.
"Damn!"
"Oh my god!"
It was then, a group of blackish ghouls blocked their path. Charles couldn't afford to stop as the moment he stopped the earth manipulation, the fire from both sides would engulf them.
Lucas frowned seeing the roadblocks and fell into a dilemma wondering whether he should use his bombs now or not. It was then he noticed a movement beside him.
It was so fast, that all he saw was something hurling beside him.
Charles who was in a stupor at the front suddenly felt something go past him after which a loud shriek echoed.
Brains and flesh spurted out around the place, and the axe blade slammed.
The ghoul who stood at the front was sliced but with the momentum carried by the axe, it went past the ghoul and decapitated two more behind it.
Lucas's eyes flashing with horror turned around only to notice two axes in Tiffany's hands. It wasn't only him, Monica and Charles's gazes also interchanged between Tiffany's lean dainty hands holding the axe and three decapitated ghouls wriggling on the floor, ahead.
Tiffany, who was the most frightened one among the bunch, turned out to be savage. Lucas didn't know much about her fighting pattern. Even if there was something mentioned, he would have just skipped it.
"Huh! Why are you staring at me like that? It's making me embarrassed."Tiffany spoke shyly while swaying her body with a pout.
"Nothing! Let's go."
Lucas gave Charles a sidelong glance praying for his well-being.
'Charles, this girl might look shy but she is too wild. Who knows if she turns out to be a tomboy in the future?'
More ghouls tried to block the way but Monica got rid of them using long-range spells. Still, the ghouls didn't give up and tried to run after them as they weren't properly taken care of but the group just focused on the hit-and-run method.
Tiffany threw the hatchet and axes one after another terrorizing everyone.
As they walked further, Lucas finally found some familiar figure afar making him heave in relief.
........
The acrid smell of blood and the sensation of minced rotten meat sticking to the skin was quite horrendous and unpleasant.
Panting heavily, he searched for the next enemy.
Along with ghouls, there were corpses dressed in black. Humans whose facial skin had been ripped off and sliced bizarrely. They tried to kill them at the cost of their lives but now lay before him.
When he turned around, various stifling images of charred land and dead bodies flashed before his eyes.
As he tried to find the enemy again, suddenly the image of a rose hair girl appeared in his eyes.
A trembling voice tickled into his ear snapping him out of his stupor.
"Frederick.."
As soon as he heard the voice, his heart which had been gripped with eeriness eased a lot.
He had always been calm and composed. It was very rare for him to lose himself to the madness of fighting and running amok on the battlefield. So, it might be a shock for some to see him slaughtering the enemies into minced meat.
As soon he realized the fact, he loosened the grip of the spear. Stammering words escaped from his lips.
"Umm...Rose...That?"
Turning around, he saw Rose's widened eyes, staring at him. She seems to be in shock.
"It's okay. They are our enemies. It's useless to show mercy towards those who wanted to kill us."
Rose's kind words eased his heart.
Humphrey who stood at the side had a pale expression on his face. For a moment, he wondered if what he saw was real.
The fight was going well. Clearing the encirclement, they were making their way quickly. It was then, two black-robed figures appeared who summoned more ghouls.
They also attacked them with a dark spell due to which they fell into a disadvantageous situation. The ghoul of intermediate rank was extremely difficult to deal with and they fell into a pinch wondering what they should do now.
It was then as if consumed by madness Frederick started to run amok. With his spear, he dug holes into the ghouls making them look like Swiss cheese.
The black wizards marking Frederick as dangerous poured out curses on him but tearing through the barrage of curses, Frederick appeared before them after which hell descended on the two.
Within an instant, Frederick sliced and butchered them into countless pieces of flesh giving him and Rose a sense of dreariness.
"Frederick!"
They were snapped out of their thoughts hearing loud voices. Turning around, they saw a group of people making their way.
Humphrey sighed in relief seeing Monica safe and sound among them.
Coming forward, they stopped for a moment seeing Frederick drenched in blood and meat. An awkward silence prevailed.
Lucas coughed to shake away the awkward atmosphere and said"I don't know what happened here but let's leave that for later."
"Everyone must have gotten a token before coming here. This token allows us to enter the barrier of carriage that has a radius of 5 metres. This token is key to our survival."Lucas explained.
Julian was the one who informed him about this and asked him to hide in a carriage in case of trouble.
With a tacit understanding, they made their way to the parking area.
"Did you encounter any paladins or priests on the way here?"Humphrey asked.
"No, we came out from the other side. We might have encountered them if we came through the hallway."Lucas replied.
"Where are Ezekiel, Jenette, and Hailey?"Tiffany asked while raising the axe in her hand.
"We don't know where they are but don't worry, they would have surely seen the message sent by Lucas," Humphrey said.
"That's the part I am worried about," Lucas said nonchalantly, but a grave silence lingered after that.
Seeing the blitz of flames, the party halted for a moment.
Charles with a tired expression was about to step forward but Rose took the lead and shot an arrow.
Swish!
The arrow exploded creating airwaves that extinguished the fire while carving a path for them.
Lucas senses suddenly screamed of danger ahead as if warning him there was someone ahead. A scream erupted from Lucas's lips.
"Dodge!"
Lucas wasn't the only one, Frederick also noticed something. His body reacted on its own to the dangerous situation and gripping the spear tightly, he threw it away and then pushed everyone.
BOOOM!
A loud blast encased before them.
There was a look of incomprehension on everyone's face but all of them reacted to Lucas's scream, and the reaction was immediate.
Jumping around, they rolled on the ground.
A fiery breath passed over their head.
Monica threw herself first, then started chanting shield magic. Because it was quick action, the output was poor, still, it was enough to cover everyone.
Swoosh!
As the fiery aura retreated, everyone raised their heads. Through the dark mist, they saw a few dark robe figures appearing before them with sinister expressions.
"What do we have here? A group of measly worms trying to crawl out."
Lucas shook his head to clear his blurry vision. As soon as his senses returned, his heart thumped wildly seeing three dark mages of 5-Star.
For a moment everyone's mind went blank.
Panting heavily, Frederick glared at them while kneeling on one knee.
"What is your target? Do you want to kill us? Let me tell you if something happened to us you would all be hunted down by the whole Empire."Frederick spoke unperturbed by the danger.
Lucas stared at Frederick's back and wondered what was going through his mind.
It wasn't as if a murderer will tell you everything before killing you and as far as he knew, Frederick is not that naive.
'Are you buying time?'
Lucas at the same time weighed all the options. Seeing their conversion, he pulled out the life-saving locket.
Contrary to his expectations the black mage answered Frederick's question.
"You all were never our target. We are not fools. Don't worry, we will not kill you. Our goal is to capture Saintess. We are here to wipe out your memory."
A sinister smile appeared on his face.
"What happened to the paladins?"Charles asked.
"Paladins and Priests are in a pitiful state. The smoke that you breathe carries poisons that cause allergy in those who have divinity."
'Damn!' Lucas almost swears after hearing this.
From the moment he saw so many Liliac, he had a bad premonition.
In the future, a drug made from Lilac was going to be introduced that will become a nightmare for people with divinity.
It should be introduced next year so it was unbelievable that it had been made already.
'I should have barged my way to the Princess at that time.'
"Now that I have answered all your questions, let's finish our work."
"Do you think we will let you do..."
Before Frederick could react, the four of them raised their staff and shouted at the same time.
[Bleed]
Swish!
A dark wave hit everyone.
"Ahhhhhhh!''
"Argh!"
"Damn!"
"What the hell?"
Screams of agony echoed in Lucas's ear.
Bleed was a spell that lowered stats, and inflict them with a status ailment. It will blind one senses and make the body weak.
Lucas gnashed his teeth to remain standing.
'I can't fall. Once I fall it's over.'
Through his dimming vision, Lucas looked around and noticed everyone rolling on the ground.
With a heavy heart, he looked ahead and saw Frederick standing up with a drooping shoulder trying to fight the pain of curse.
A bluish haze erupted from him followed by a loud declaration filled with resolution.
"This time, I will protect everyone.''
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