Chapter 224 - Moving Forward (5)

Effie looked at the standing dead body of the Minotaur Warrior in confusion and slight anxiousness. The Minotaur Warrior was still holding its gigantic hammer high, making it apparent what it had been about to do, and she was anxious because of this.

There was a possibility that the Minotaur Warrior was just pretending to be dead before striking them when they heaved a sigh of relief for whatever sick reason it had.

Effie had strongly believed that was the case at first, but she stopped thinking that way when she saw its face.

"It didn't have any idea it was about to die..."

Turning her eyes to the hole in its solar plexus, Effie tried to determine what could possibly have made the hole. She was very sure it wasn't her, because her attack had missed.

"If I am not mistaken, there should be something..." When realization dawned upon her, her eyes quickly widened in surprise. "The dagger—it is gone!"

She couldn't see it clearly as she had kept her distance between the Minotaur Warrior, however her eyes could tell from its shape that the thing that had been stabbed in the Minotaur Warrior's solar plexus was a dagger.

"Now that there is a hole in its solar plexus, the dagger must have been the cause of it. The question is, what did it do?" Effie frowned as she couldn't think of an explanation for the thing that had happened.

"The hole is clean. That either means the dagger spun itself to make the hole or it detonated itself. Either way, there must be someone behind it." She bit her lower lip as she recalled someone's face. "There is no way that man..."

She couldn't help recalling Basil's face when she thought of someone who could control weapons as if they were his limbs. Despite so, she was still sceptical about it since she didn't feel any Aura activation prior to the death of the Demon.

She could say for sure that Sylvia was the only individual other than her who could utilize Aura there. "No matter how good he is at hiding his Qi, unless there is a greater amount of Qi overwhelming the area, his Aura wouldn't go undetected..."

Effie suddenly turned silent as her beautiful face made a strange expression. She had come to a realization that she had overwhelmed the area with her Qi when she used her Technique, which made it impossible for her to detect a well masked Qi.

"Really? Did that guy really do it?" She frowned heavier than ever, but shook her head in the next moment. "There is no way that happened. That man is in the east, after all."

Sighing lightly to herself, she muttered, "Let a mystery remain a mystery. For this one, I will take it as something the God has done." In the end, Effie decided to drop the matter entirely.

As she turned her head to the two girls she was embracing, she couldn't help twitching her eyebrow upon seeing the bashful look on their face. She knew they were about to say something that would irk her.

"Kuhum! You are very beautiful and undoubtedly attractive, but I still prefer men."

"Effie... I like you, but not like that. I am still hoping for Basil to do this to me."

"..."

Effie knew they were joking, but she still sighed in exasperation before abruptly letting go of the two girls in the next moment. Not expecting that at all, the two girls, who were sluggish due to their exhaustion, fell down to the ground helplessly.

"Kyaa!"

"Ouch! Why did you have to do that?!"

Looking at them with neutral eyes, Effie simply responded, "I prefer hugging men than two idiotic women."

"Hey! Don't compare me to this masochistic pervert!"

"Huh?! What did you say, maniac arsonist? You have almost burned my butt four times!"

The banter between Sylvia and Alexandra was honestly amusing to look at—they looked like a pair of drunk best friend—but Effie could only briefly smile at the scene before turning her gaze to the remaining Middle Class Demons, who had survived her Technique.

"Tsk. There are quite some of them remaining." She couldn't help clicking her tongue when she found four Middle Class Demons were still alive. Although they were heavily injured, it would only take them a couple of minutes to be able to move again.

Turning her head to the still bantering girls, Effie seriously said, "The Monsters are still recovering, and now is the time to escape. I don't have any Qi left, but I can still carry the two of you."

Sylvia and Alexandra stopped their banter then turned to Effie. "No, we can still run on our own," they said in unison while shaking their head as if they had promised it beforehand.

"Very well." Effie didn't convince them otherwise upon seeing the stubborn look on their face. "We'll be regrouping with the others, so we will be heading south."

They all stood up from the ground, and immediately dashed towards the south with Effie in lead. Along the way, they suddenly remembered something that they had put aside due to their fight with the Demon horde they were chasing after.

'Who had caused the Minotaur Warrior to go rampage?'

As soon as the thought came though, they decided to let it remain a mystery.

...

Right before Oster Forest, Deacon, along with Jake and Robert were close to conclude their battle. Unlike the three girls, who had had a hard time against the Demons they had faced, they were facing the Demons quite easily.

Howl!

They had Deacon with them to protect their back, so they could focus on the Demons in front of their eyes. They were even too focus on their own fight to notice that Deacon was basically stalling for time by toying with the gigantic Silencer.

Of course, Deacon wasn't doing it because he liked to toy with the Silencer; he was stalling for time so Basil could execute his plan perfectly.

[You can finish the fight. I'll be there in a few minutes.]

Upon receiving Basil's instruction through their [Link], Deacon's eyes gleamed excitedly. He didn't know how Basil would suddenly appear there, but he never questioned what his master ordered.

Ptooi!

Spitting the hand of the gigantic Silencer he had bitten off, Deacon growled at the Demon. The 8 meters tall Demon was already extremely cautious towards Deacon at this point, and it didn't dare to thoughtlessly charge at him any longer.

No matter how heavily it relied on its instinct, it could still figure out that Deacon had been toying with it after fighting with him for a quite long time.

Deacon, who wanted to end the fight quickly, surely didn't need the Silencer to come at him. Kicking the ground after channeling the Mana from his Core to his feet, he dashed at the Demon like a bullet.

As it was an agility type Demon, the Silencer could see Deacon's figure clearly; its eyes were used to observe things that moved quickly. Naturally, it also didn't have any intention to take Deacon head on, as it prepared to move away from Deacon's path.

"Too late, Monster!"

Unfortunately for the Demon, it found that it couldn't move its feet much to its bewilderment. When it looked down to its feet, it could see two earthen hands holding them in their place.

Normally, such a weak Spell wouldn't work on it, but the story was different when the Spell caught it off guard. It could easily break the Spell, but Deacon was already in front of it, and it was enough to seal its fate.

Swish!

Deacon fiercely swung his paw at the Silencer, and said Demon raised its remaining hand to block his paw. Since Deacon had imbued his claws with Mana however, the hand protecting the Demon's head couldn't protect it at all.

Deacon's claw cut through its hand, before carving three claw marks on its face. Since the Silencer had no mouth, it couldn't scream, however it was apparent from its movement that it was in pain.

Bam!

The gigantic Silencer fell to the ground due to the impact of Deacon's body afterwards, and Deacon quickly jumped on top of it. Quick in his action, Deacon tore its chest open before biting down its heart and took it out of its chest.

Spurt!

Blue blood was gushing out of the Demon's chest, but none of it splashed onto Deacon; he had covered himself with a Barrier beforehand, just like what Basil did in his every fight.

Munch.

As a conclusion to the battle, Deacon ate the Silencer's heart, then revelled in the unique taste of the heart. The other Demons, who had treated the Silencer as their leader, however, couldn't help but falter in their step upon seeing the scene.

Being effective in their job, Jake and Robert didn't stay idle; they quickly used the confused state of the other Demons to their advantage. Sending their attack here and there, they massacred the confused Demons who couldn't fight back properly.

Looking at the chaotic crowd of Demons, Deacon couldn't help snorting at them. "Hmph! Like a sheep, they quickly lose their way when they lost their shepherd."

Deacon opened his mouth wide, and shot a high pressured wind sphere towards the Demons, who were torn between avenging their dead leader or running away. The wind sphere killed them all, creating another crater on the ground.

The battle—the massacre continued for a couple of minutes, until all of the Demons were successfully exterminated.

"Phew! That was a good battle!"

Robert turned to Jake, who was covered in Demon's blood from head to toe, and couldn't help smiling awkwardly. "Thank you for your work, Mr. Jake."

"Oh, you too, Robert!"

Robert merely nodded his head with a smile as a response. He was still amazed that Jake could still make a happy face despite being smeared with such a pungent blood.

The two dashed towards Deacon's side, and like him, they quickly faced Oster Forest, waiting for someone's arrival.

"Thank you for the assistance earlier, Robert."

Turning a surprised eyes to Deacon, Robert nodded his head. "My pleasure."

"You should bathe yourself, giant man." Deacon's nose twitched as he turned to Jake. "You look awesome, but smell disgusting."

"Oh, thank you! Hahaha!"

"It seems to me you forgot to see the negative side." Deacon couldn't help shaking his head at Jake's response.

Of course, when they felt a presence approaching, they all turned silent. They focused their attention to the forest, and there they could see the person they had been waiting for.

Basil had arrived at Oster Forest using the Teleportation Circle he had Carved on a plain a few kilometers away from the small village above the underground bunker.