In the southeastern part of Raneil Barony, Eugene's team and the group of Paladins were closing to their destination—Kuzo's village.
They would have actually arrived faster if the Mages had utilized their Transportation Artefact, but none of them did that to prevent the Demons from noticing their present.
Of course, the one hiding their presence were not only the Mages, but the Paladins were also trying to suppress the Miracle they exuded. Most of the Demons avoided Paladins at all cost for some reason, so they couldn't risk scaring the Demons ahead.
"Oh, I sense quite a lot of them," Caaden muttered. Slightly slowing down her walking speed, she stopped right beside Caleb. "Are we going to eliminate them all?"
Instead of immediately answering, Caleb slightly turned his head, then looked at Eugene from the corner of his eyes. "No, we are not going to eliminate them." Gesturing at Cadmon, he added, "We are just going to save Mr. Kuzo's family."
Caaden frowned behind her helmet, but said nothing in the end. She got what Caleb meant; they were only there to fulfill the task given to them, that was, to protect Eugene. However still, she felt that it was a waste of time.
At this point, considering how crowded the village ahead of them with demons, she was sure Kuzo's family had already moved on to the next plane. It would be pointless going there, if they had no intention of eliminating the Demons.
"Isn't it better to wake him up?"
"Caaden," Caleb muttered quietly. "Be careful of what you say, and where you say it." He didn't show any indication that he was talking about Kuzo who was in Cadmon's hand, but Caaden fully understood what he meant.
Caaden lightly sighed, and said, "For such a strict person, you are quite soft." She increased her walking speed again, then walked beside Cadmon. Turning to Kuzo, who was carried like a princess, she remarked, "We are already close, Mr. Kuzo."
"A-Ah, yes. I know about it, since it's the village where I was born in."
Caaden slightly cringed behind her helmet, but still managed to comment brightly. "I am talking about your family, Mr. Kuzo. We are going to save them soon!"
"Yes... I'm looking forward to it." Kuzo smiled emptily, and Caaden could only sigh again at that.
Silence descended once again amongst the group, until Caaden broke it when they finally arrived right at Kuzo's village. "It looks more peaceful than how it feels ... Are they hiding somewhere?"
Like she said, the village, though ruined, had no Demons roaming around it, contrary to what they had expected. If they couldn't detect the Demons' presence, they would have thought the Demons left the village after they had raided it.
Though something like this often happened—Demons like to coop themselves up in some place—they had never seen Demons could stay this silent. Usually, even if they had cooped themselves up, they would still make noises that made them easy to be spotted.
"Are they hiding behind a Magic Barrier or something?" Caaden turned to look at the Mages, but the Mages immediately shook their head.
"I don't feel Mana being utilized here," Darien commented. "Besides, only High Grade Monsters can use Magic, and if there is one here, I'm sure it is better to avoid it. By no means I have intention to offend you, Paladins, but not even you can help much."
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"It is embarrassing to acknowledge it, but Senior Paladins like us don't have the power to face a High Grade Monster yet."
"It's not embarrassing to admit that." Eugene shook his head faintly. "The difference between Middle Grade Monsters and High Class Monsters is like heaven and earth. We even need to coordinate 30 Sixth Circle Mages to defeat a single Lower High Grade Demon."
"It doesn't matter," Darien interjected. "We are not going to face one, so we will be alright. Furthermore, if there really was a High Grade Monster here, all of us would've been wiped out long ago."
The mood suddenly turned grave, as everyone was reminded of what had happened to the eight Legion Commanders who had fallen in the battle of Ruttenhale Barony. The eight capable and undoubtedly strong people had died by a single Demon's hand.
The Paladins, though also worried about it, were way calmer than the Mages. Randalvine Church's Head Priest, Eban, had told them to not worry about the High Class Demon who had become a hot topic, because their Gods always protected them.
To the faithful Paladins, it was enough to calm their mind.
"Then, are we just going to enter the village?" Caaden asked Caleb.
"We will explore it carefully, and find where Mr. Kuzo's family is. That's the only thing we will do, understood?"
"Yes!"
Caleb nodded his head at the Paladins' firm response. Facing Cadmon, he looked at Kuzo, who was still in Cadmon's hands, from behind his helmet. "Can you show us where did you leave your family at?"
"I can." Kuzo nodded his head. "I left them in the basement of our house, when I left the village to seek for help. I will guide you there, so let me—"
"Show us the way," Caleb interrupted decisively.
Kuzo opened his mouth and tried to protest, but quickly gave up when he noticed that no one would hear him. Therefore, he let Cadmon carry him a little bit longer.
"This way..." He pointed his hand to the east. Caleb immediately nodded his head, and took the lead.
The moment they stepped their feet on the street of the village, everyone immediately tensed upon sensing the aura assaulting them that belonged to the village.
They still didn't hear any noise from the Demons, but the thick Demonic Mana in the air was enough indication of their presence.
"They are definitely cooping up somewhere. This sickening feeling in the air can only be produced when Monsters concentrated themselves in the same place," Darien commented. "The only question is, where are they hiding?"
"I have swept the surrounding area with my Mana Sense, but I don't find any Monster on the surface," Rose remarked. "It's really strange. They feel like they are here and they are not at the same time."
Caleb glanced at Kuzo from the corner of his eyes, then said, "They may be in the underground, and that's the only plausible reason of why we can't see them or properly determine their position."
Everyone agreed to what Caleb said, but none of them let their guard down. They kept looking at their surrounding to look for Demons to prevent the hiding Demons from landing a sneak attack on them.
In the end though, they didn't encounter any Demon in their way. Although they did feel their extreme cautiousness was unnecessary, they still didn't regret being cautious.
A few minutes into the extremely careful walk, they finally arrived at Kuzo's house. It was a simple house made of wood that could be found in many rural villages.
Just like any other places in the village, there wasn't a single Demon there, but everyone still felt sceptical upon seeing the state of the wooden house. It was already flat with the ground, and even the debris was perfectly scorched.
"We are finally here..." Caaden secretly glanced at Kuzo, and faintly shook her head. 'Even if he has hidden his family in the basement, there is no way the Monsters didn't notice them. The probability of their survival is extremely low.'
"Let's put away the debris to find the door to the basement." At Caleb's instruction, Caaden was awaken from her thought.
Patting Kuzo's shoulder, who Cadmon had put down, Caaden brightly said, "Mr. Kuzo, we'll save your family soon."
"A-Ah, yes." Kuzo nodded his head with a forced smile. "Can you please stop patting my shoulder? You are breaking my bone."
In response to that, Caaden merely laughed before moving to remove the debris. The other Paladins were also about to do the same, but at that moment, Darien stopped them.
"Removing the debris by hands will take a long time. Although I don't mind we save people, we still have a mission to accomplish. Therefore, allow me to do it instead."
Caleb immediately nodded his head in acceptance, and told the Paladins to back off. Ignoring the Paladins and pretty much everyone, Darien stood in front of the house, and casted a Wind Element Spell while simultaneously materializing his Magic Circles.
Boom!
The air was briefly overwhelmed with Mana the moment Darien's four Magic Circles materialized themselves. The first two of them were Grand Circles, and the rest of them were Major Circles.
"[Wind Swipe]!"
His Magic Circles briefly shone intensely, before a strong wind current swept over the place that was littered with the debris. The debris and some of the remain of the house was blown away afterwards, leaving the ground clean.
Also at that moment however, everyone's eyes widened in utter bafflement. They could see the door that led to the basement, but that wasn't the only thing they saw; there was a Magic Circle Carved on it which purpose they didn't know of.
The Magic Circle shone brightly, signifying its activation upon being swept over by Mana, as a foreboding feeling overwhelmed everyone.
A bright light quickly enveloped them, and Caaden, quick on her move, pushed Rose and Elaine away from the area that was covered by the light.
"Kyaa!"
"Ah, what is this?!"
The two girls, who were pushed away by Caaden, were flustered, but unlike the others they were no more enveloped by the light.
They fell on their butt, and by the time they looked at the place where they had been before, everyone, along with the light, had disappeared. Everything had happened so fast, they couldn't react properly to what had happened.
Different from the two girls however, the rest of the people, who didn't manage to avoid the light, found themselves in another place. It was an extremely vast enclosed space that had the structure of a cave.
The aura the place was giving alone was enough to shake their soul, but the scene they were seeing in front of them made it even worse.
There were thousands of Demons that were ready to charge at them from all sides. Still, that wasn't the thing that further amplified the terror assaulting them; slightly away from them, they could see two men were standing face to face.
"Master," the shorter man called out respectfully. "I have done what you assigned to me." He bowed politely at the significantly taller man.
"Well done, Kuzo." the Master replied casually.
Everyone, without exception, widened their eyes in utter bewilderment at the scene. They knew who Kuzo's Master was: he was an individual they needed to put their eyes on.
"Basil Pacifer!"
Eugene was, once again, assaulted with the same feeling of imminent doom that he had felt when Basil had exercised a [Blood Decree] on him.
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