The Author's POV

[Planet Idoania]

Boom―!

The sound of metal clashing against the ground reverberated through the battlefield as Angelica panted heavily.

She stared at the bulky figure lying beneath her, trying to catch her breath.

"Haa..hha… This is too much…"

She tirelessly muttered to herself.

Angelica's eyes shot up as she saw over a dozen other dwarves approaching her.

Her face paled at the sight, knowing that she was outnumbered and outmatched.

She was only a Maquis ranked demon, and while it was considered strong, it wasn't anything noteworthy in the grand scheme of the battlefield. She had already taken over a couple of dozen dwarves, but she was almost out of energy at the moment.

"Fuck."

Her grip tightened around her weapon as she prepared to face her adversaries, but she knew that it was only a matter of time before she would be overwhelmed.

She was barely holding on.

Booom―! A beam of light headed in her direction.

It was so fast that she had a hard time avoiding it.

"Ahhhhghh."

The impact of the beam was so powerful that half of her arm blew off at that moment, causing her to let out a frustrated cry and glare at the dwarf responsible for her injury.

With a pale face, her arm wiggled and slowly regenerated itself.

"Shit..."

Angelica cursed under her breath as she looked around and noticed that she was surrounded.

'Where did all that arrogance go from before?'

When she looked down, and her gaze paused on her so called prospective 'fiance', she could only sigh in disgust.

He had only lasted a couple of minutes before dying.

She knew that she was in deep trouble, and her expression crumbled.

"So much for this strategist being great."

She thought to herself.

They had clearly fallen into a trap intricately set up by the dwarves.

When she looked around and noticed that the situation was like this for the other demons too, she knew that it wasn't just her that had fallen for the scheme.

It was clear to her that the strategist was at fault for this predicament.

"Fuck it, whatever."

She could only curse another time, knowing that there was no use cursing the strategist's incompetence at this point.

Staring at the dwarves that were surrounding her and loading their artifacts, she channeled all of the demonic energy within her body.

Her eyes started to glow a red hue as she prepared to make her last stand.

"Put down your weapons."

Her soft voice echoed within the surroundings and traveled through the ears of each and one of the dwarves in front of her.

For a split second, the dwarves' movements halted, and Angelica took advantage of that moment.

Fwap―! She flapped her wings and made a dash upward, the only area that wasn't covered.

But unfortunately, the dwarves' reaction was a tad bit faster than she had anticipated.

a huge net was cast above her, trapping

to be an impossible task as the net stretched and absorbed

"No, shit!!!"

feeling despair. She knew at this moment that

"Shoot her!"

aiming their weapons

'It's over.'

barrel of the artifacts, knowing that

at the artifact,

WOOOM―!

shot and approached Angelica, and there was only one thought in her

like

Bright and large...

such a

her vision

"Hu?"

reason, she felt no pain, and light soon returned to her vision. Her vision hadn't yet fully cleared, but what she managed to catch a glimpse of upon opening her

'Reinforcements?'

***

Swoosh! Swoosh!

natural fortress, blocking out most of the sunlight and casting

was thick with the sweet scent

"Follow closely."

a tangled mess of roots, vines, and fallen leaves that crunch and

Squish!

spongy, and it felt as though every step was filled with

there. Make sure to hide your presence as best as you

distance, the twisted silhouettes of gnarled trees clawed at the sky, their blackened limbs reaching

impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction, adding to the sense of disorientation

the right way,

just

deeper into the forest, the trees grew thicker and closer together until their trunks were so close that you could reach out and

here for a

and

Immediately, everything turned silent.

deafening, and the only sounds I could hear were the occasional rustle of leaves under a

I couldn't shake the

using

it with my senses. There was no one near us at

this chance to rest, I'll get in contact

I brought my watch

situation? Have you all

currently waiting for

yet; we'll be

―We have just arrived.

there. A couple of minutes at

I nodded my head comfortably. Everything so far was proceeding

'This is good.'

far, I didn't let my guard down. With the unsettling feeling that I was being watched, I knew that the demons weren't completely

where

I'd let

where you are. Keep

the others on my watch before shifting my attention toward my group. It was

about bringing Melissa, but considering the gravity of the situation, I decided to leave her in Ashton City, which… well, she was all

and I turned to look at the others behind

I

she was practically the weakest and not by

tore my gaze away from her and

city and do a proper check of the city before we decide to

see the faint outline of a city. It was currently masked by the fog, but I could feel it from

infiltrate the city and do a proper check of the place, we'll find a way to let the others in. It's important that everyone

put an emphasis on the final

was no point in doing so because he was no

lethargic as he had been in the past, he was a lot more alert

sure that we were all on the same page

"Let's go."

***