Agatha The Legendary Guild Master

My mind began to work fast as these strange shaped demons were hot on pursuit. Gen's speed alongside his men were really fast, but they weren't faster than these demons.

If things kept going like this, they would eventually catch up to us and we would end up with one result, dead.

Dying here wasn't the end of my journey, but I would have to start over and I might be a bit late to save the situation and stop the castle from controlling the second layer.

I gritted my teeth, as this wasn't the time to think about the results of my failure. All this was because of that voice, that bastard was laughing at me right now in the back of my head.

I knew it, If I listened to its request and did what he told me to do, I would end up being dead. I missed what would happen to me however turning into these demons was a fate worth more than death.

This voice was the reason behind all this, and it didn't stop from laughing with mockery inside my head.

Suddenly it hit me, as I looked around searching for something that might help. We were running without goal or any plan, just running in the middle of this strange place.

"Gen, I want you to think with me. These demons are tracking us by the voice in our head. Is there a way to make it go away?"

I had no clue so I decided to ask Gen who looked to me for one second before he repeated my words to the players around us. It seemed he was like me, a good fighter and bad thinker, so he asked for help from his team.

Hopefully we weren't all that hopeless, as one players spoke up fast:

"I can set up a defensive field that will isolate any foreign intrusion away, like that voice. However this is a special skill I learned here, and it needs a lot of demon hearts to activate and function."

She was a magician with long smooth staff which reminded me of my father's beautiful ruling scepter. She seemed to be hesitant, however as long as there was a solution then I would be happy to spend my pearls on it.

"Don't worry about the hearts, just say what else you need," I said.

"Nothing, I have some hearts from the last battles. I can start the skill now, but I will need more in order to make the skill last."

I just nodded to her as this was the only plan we could use right now. My eyes weren't focused on these demons anymore, as I was only watching this magician as I waited for her to finish her skill.

"You know her skill will only protect us from the sound," Gen suddenly murmured softly with a hardly to hear voice. I knew what he was referring to, as this skill would only protect us from the future pursuit.

As for now, we had no way to escape the hunt of these demons.

"Don't worry, I have a plan," I softly replied as I took out the balloon which I previously used to sneak into the castle.

"This… are you going to use it? then we don't need the skill, right?" Gen exclaimed with surprise when he saw my balloon.

"No, the skill is the cornerstone for our escape. Even if we managed to slip through these demons for now, our location will always be exposed to that sound. We won't have rest from pursuits, and we might even pump into a harder enemy.

Before we can use this balloon, we need to use the skill first. The timing must be right, once she uses her skill you will drop me and go to help her. Use this porin, as you will find enough demon hearts there."

I took out one bronze grade porin which I moved part of the demon hearts into. Everything was settled, and what I waited for was for the magician to end her skill.

I wasn't alone, as literally everyone else was focused on this girl. Her skill was the savior to us, and that put more unintended pressure upon her.

I was about to say something to distract the sneaky eyes, but a loud roar came from behind me and did the job perfectly fine.

The demons seemed to get the warnings of that sound about what we intended to do, so they began to be crazier.

However no matter what they tried to do, there was a safe distance separating us from them. as we were running for our lives, the magician said with some fatigue in her voice:

"I've done it, the sound is now isolated perfectly."

"Now!" I immediately said as I jumped over from the hands of Gen, at the same time I threw out my balloon and was ready to jump at it. At the same moment, Gen had already run towards the girl as he carried the porin full of hearts with him.

The balloon didn't take two seconds to be large enough to carry part of us, so I jumped, Gen carried the girl like he did with me and jumped, in addition to some players who were quick witted enough to realize my plan.

"Jump or die!" Gen screamed in the remaining bunch of players who were shocked to see the balloon. Once Gen shouted at them, the balloon was ready to carry all of us, and that was a good news.

The bad news however was all this happened while our running speed declined fast, and that gave the demons a chance to close the distance upon us.

"Not in my watch, defensive reflective shields activate!"

This time I wasn't that helpless, as the balloon was a special war item that was designed to get shoulder to shoulder with strong war items like defensive towers.

No matter how strong these demons were, in front of my balloon they were like ants. Their attack didn't cause any harm to any of my players, as the shield defended them perfectly fine, and as a bonus their attacks were reflected upon them and caused their precious shields to shatter.

And I didn't intend to let this golden chance slip by my hands.

"All players listen to me, attack!" I yelled as I threw my spear high in the air and let it fall on the tips of my fingers. I also used two of my precious skills:

"Penta auxiliary skill."

"Dragon head spear skill."

The two skills were activated at the same time the spear was ready to launch. I didn't hesitate for a moment as I threw the spear followed by five dragon spear shadows to attack the vulnerable demons.

Four demons were in front of us with their shields destroyed. They were already ready to be slaughtered, and I didn't show any mercy to them.

Due to the recent highly stressful chase, these players totally forgot that these demons were their mates from minutes ago, however I didn't forget that. So when the demons all fell to the ground, I turned to ask:

"What is the range of your skill?"

The magician girl was still shocked with these rapid developments, however Gen patted on her shoulder to encourage her. She took a deep breath as he said something I couldn't hear to her before she replied to me:

"It's two hundred meters with the standard consumption rate, but I can increase it to exceed one kilometers if you need to. However this will consume ten folds the standard consumption rate."

Her reply was enough as the bodies of these demons were inside the effect zone of her skill, however I was interested with something else as I asked:

"what is this standard consumption rate?"

"It's ten hearts per hour," she replied. Ten hearts per hour was something I could live with, even one hundred hearts per hour wasn't that costly in regard to the benefit of getting rid of this annoying voice.

We lacked intel, as this place gave me the same feeling I had when I entered my first dungeon. I just hoped it turned out to be like the old dungeon, without any difficulty once its big secret would be revealed.

"Listen up, go there and grab those demons' bodies and bring them to me."

I ordered all the players around me. I didn't want to dissect the demons here, after all our place was already known for that voice owner. I needed to move and find a suitable place to hide. As for dissecting these demons, then that would come next.

Just as the players moved to grab the demons' large bodies, I heard a strange sound coming from far. We were in the heart of this weird forest, however that voice was recognizable for me even though I heard it from far away.

"These are cavalry, we need to hide now!" I muttered softly as I turned to look at Gen to find a more distressing look all over his face.

"What about the demons?" he pointed towards the distant bodies of the demons. These demons were heavy and bringing them to here would take much time.

"These cavalry are here to retrieve the bodies of these demons. As I feared, these demons had something special about them. we have to bring them with us," I said as I began to move the balloon towards the direction of the demons' bodies.

"We don't have time, they are closing up fast," Gen said.

"I know," I then focused entirely at the front as I yelled:

"hold to the balloon and don't let the demons' bodies fall from your hands."

"That's madness!" I heard Gen murmuring softly before he ran to the side of the balloon as he waited with the other players to support their mates.

Once the balloon reached them, the players jumped at once and grabbed the edge of the balloon with one hand, while the other was holding the heavy body of the demon.

If it was up to the few players down there, then we wouldn't be able to obtain even a single one of the demons, however by the help of everyone we managed to bring to the deck the players and the four demon bodies.

"Hang tight, this might be challenging."

I yelled as this wasn't over yet, the cavalry was always famous for their high mobility, this intimidating factor that usually decided winning from losing at any battle. So, it was normal for them to be just behind us.

However we were finished here, and I had no reason not to utilize the full power of this balloon and fly with maximum speed towards the sky. This move was rapid, however my players were professional as they didn't fall and they didn't let the hardly acquired demons fall.

In less than a minute we couldn't see even the distant shade of these cavalry. I didn't need to fly high or fast, so I began to slow down the balloon and lowered its altitude.

"Now let's see what the fuss is about these demons. Dissect them very carefully and don't destroy any part of them," I said towards my players as they were just like me, asking themselves what secrets did these demons' bodies carry inside.