'Alissa, I'm going after Vicereine, send me her location'

'No, she's too far right now, use the mini-Warden instead, Guardian 3 will take you to where she is, safely extract her without arousing anyone's suspicion'

'I will'

I was in the middle of the dark forest, it will be hard for Guardian 3 to land hereElfso I ran out of the forest, cutting through any tree that blocked my path.

It will take Guardian 3 three minutes to get here so I'll have to wait. I'm walking through all this chaos, people are dying here and there, I sighed, blame your own stupid king for this. I pulled out my sword and started all the formars withing my Area

"GET OUT WHILE I'M STILL HERE!" I shouted as I tore off the head of a formar

The townspeople who were saved started fleeing, seemingly heading for the gates of the town where they can escape from this death filled city

I guarded the survivors as they ran through the burning buildings and torn pieces of flesh on the ground, the gates were already torn down

"GO! GO! GO!" They ran away as I kept shouting them to leave

Everyone left and Lilith reminded me

'The mini-Warden is just outside the city'

'Thanks'

I walked when a group of demi-humans started walking in, not that I care, if they want to loot this city then so be it

"Halt, who are you, why are you leaving this city" One of the demi-humans, a half-lion asked me

"I am but a warrior fleeing a city in flames" I responded

"And you still call yourself a warrior?" He looked at me with contempt

I ignored him and continued walking away, he has his priorities, I have mine.

"Enough Lionel, we still have to answer to the King's calls" A female elf responded and paused before continuing "Even if we don't want to associate ourselves"

"Tch, that King just used some underhanded tactics!" A wolf-man replied this time

"Shut it, it wasn't underhanded, all clans just owe the King" A female tiger woman stated

Not my problem, you guys be you, and I'll just mind my own business

"Hey, if I'm not mistaken, you're the blade knight right?" The elf turned around and asked

'Lilith, go invisible'

'Activating stealth'

I vanished and the elf started shouting

"Please listen, I heard you can combat those disgusting creatures, we wish that you'd help us"

'Don't disengage the stealth'

I requested before replying to the elf

"So you're being attacked by them? and by the looks of it, the King is helping you, this Kingdom is my enemy if you're associated with them, doesn't that mean that you're also my enemy?" I don't want to let my guard down

"I know but please, we do not want to owe that King any more than we do because every day, it feels like we're digging our own grave" She took a deep breathe and continued

"Please, I will pay you with everything I have to save my people and all of the demi-humans' clans"

I looked back and saw the desperation in her green eyes

"Meet up with the queen of Arcadia, you want me to help, speak to her"

"Thank you!"

I moved away from the scene and entered the mini-Warden that was waiting in the forest

We moved at the fastest permissible speed

"Captain Zeno, we will arrive at the enemy base in four minutes" Guardian 3 stated

"Got it"

As we moved closer and closer to the enemy base, I noticed the plant life give off the feeling of death, they were all wilted and dry

"Captain, I apologize however, I can not land on this terrain, I suggest aerial drop"

"Alright, good enough, open the hatch, after I drop down, look for the closest place to land and wait for me" I responded

The hatch opened up and I jumped down

'Lilith, engage thrusters to counter my dropping speed when I am close to the ground'

'Calculating speed, velocity, and time required to reach the ground'

'Calculation complete, activating thrusters in 3... 2... 1...

Activating stealth and firing the thrusters on the sole and the palm'

My descent was slowed down and I landed on the ground without any problems

'Lilith, scan the area, map it out for pathways and any enemy'

'Engaging sonic radar'

Lilith, released continuous waves and mapped out the entire place to me, at first it is weird since the area is covered in fog but thankfully, unlike any other areas, the mana isn't interfering with the radar

I now had the map and Vicereine's location, with that in mind, I walked forward

A few steps and I saw a dark dreary castle, the area, according to Lilith, lacks mana in the air. Any other place always had at least, a decent amount of mana in the air but this place, it's just empty air

'Activate speed'

The dark red glow on my armor turned green but my stealth mode wasn't broken, I dashed forward, Lilith has scanned the place enough for me to know that Vicereine is being held underground. The castle had 6 floors and a tower that reaches 9, it has underground floors that reach up to 4, Vicereine is currently held up at 4

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The only pathway seems to be a set of stairs hidden behind a statue on the 2nd floor, there were a few enemies on the second floor but the first floor seems to be heavily guarded.

I slipped through all of the minotaur guards on the first floor as I made my way towards the second, the guards are 10 feet tall and are carrying an ax their size. The second floor was guarded by headless knights, they roamed every now and then but they usually stay in one spot, I found the statue, there was no one here but the scanners say otherwise.

On top of the ceilings lay an Arachnid, it was lurking in the shadows. I can't access the stairs leading down unless I push the statue but doing so will attract the Arachnid so I'll have to silence it first. I aimed my right palm towards its head and released a shot of gamma energy, it caused my stealth mode to be broken but the shot hit it's head as its body fell down on the ground.

I pushed the statue and saw the stairs leading down, I dashed down. The 1st underground floor only seems to be inhabited by prisoners and guards, the guards were just a bunch of moving statues, they need not rest nor food, they only follow one order they were given, make sure the prisoners don't escape.

I moved quietly past them, my invisibility still proved useful even in this environment of mana, slipping past the guards and ignoring the wailing prisoners, I moved down. I would usually try to save the prisoners but I don't have that luxury right now, I'm sorry but you'll just have to accept your fates.

The 2nd underground floor seemed a bit more... morbid, a pool as large as a basketball court was filled with boiling hot blood, it was dark crimson in color and would occasionally spew bubbles. I noticed that the prisoners upstairs would be pulled down to this floor before being beheaded and thrown in the pool, some demon would just throw the prisoner alive and enjoy their ear-piercing screams of pain and despair.

The 3rd floor was filled with different rooms, each room had 2 bunk beds, I'm guessing this is the demons sleep area

Moving down to the last underground floor, it was filled with statue guards moving about, they were all molded in the shape of a minotaur, a race of ox men with ox heads and lower body while possessing the torso and intelligence of humans.

After a couple of zig-zag pathways, I arrived in front of a huge door, it was unguarded that I thought I was being lured into a trap.

I pushed open the door and saw a dark room, only one spot was illuminated and that was in a chair made of human skeletons, seated on it was Vicereine, her arms and legs were bound to the chair. She was unconscious so I quickly moved to free her but as I thought, it would not be easy.

A dark lance came out of nowhere and I was forced to stop my advance, I looked at the area where it came from, my thermal scanner shows nothing and my radar seems to be affected by the mana in the air.

I pulled out Azazel and prepared myself for a battle but what came after was nothing but trouble, a dark drill seemed to have made their way behind and me and shot out, luckily, Lilith detected the abnormal fluctuation of energy behind me. I jumped up just in time only to be met with a whip slash from behind, I was pushed back and managed to recover mid air.

"Hehe, time for revenge" From behind the darkness came out the undead mage who teleported Vicereine away

"You shall pay for the death of our comrade!" Followed by a headless knight

"I will make you my pet" And finally, the female vampire

I looked at them with disgust before stating

"All of a sudden you guys seem chatty"

"Heh, Blade Knight, I don't care if you had otherworldly abilities but in here, in our domain you mean nothing!" The dark mage roared out as Lilith read the dense mana in the air gather all around him before shooting off countless tendrils of darkness

I fended them off by blasting off a gamma ray from my left palm, the throttles behind me shot me forward. The headless knight met my charge head-on, he barely managed to make it in time but he successfully blocked my advance, I had no choice but to take to the skies, my mission here is to safely rescue Vicereine, not to battle these demons, who knows, they might've already reported and are just buying time for back up.

I reached the ceiling and made my way towards Vicereine but I was stopped by an army of bats, I tried to shake them off but they kept hanging on to my armor and are trying to weigh me down but in the end, it was a whip being pulled down by the vampire and the headless knight that dragged me to the ground.

I couldn't take it anymore, I need to save Vicereine as soon as I can but not with them guarding her.

'Lilith, change to strength and discharge an electric current to electrocute the bats hanging on to the armor'

'Got it!'

I felt strength surge through me as an electric current was discharged from DK, the bats fell off as I tugged on the whip. The vampire flew towards me but she managed to let go of her whip midway but I already expected it, using the whip, her very own weapon, I lashed it and it directly hit her body causing her to hit the walls

I crouched and did a leg sweep behind me, Lilith warned me and as I finished my sweep, the leg of the Headless knight got swept causing him to fall over. I immediately stood up and aimed my palm towards his body and released a strong gamma blast

"You motherfucker!" The mage roared out as he clapped both his hands and released a dark snake towards me,

The shadow snake shot towards me at breakneck speed with jaws open wide, I immediately charged my Azazel and sent a [Crescent slash] towards the snake, cutting it in half.

My attack didn't stop there, it kept going and hit the mage who reacted late, his left arm was the price he had to pay for his slow movements

The mage kept wailing on the floor as his blood sprayed all over the place, I immediately changed to agility and kicked the mage's body away. I started to take off the shackles that constrained Vicereine, seriously, so much thing happened and here she is, sleeping like a child

"NO WAY IN HELL IT IS GOING TO END LIKE THIS!" I saw the mage running towards me, his body started bulging

'Zeno, mana is being compressed inside his body, he will explode like a nuke anytime soon!' Lilith warned me

'What the hell?! immediately concentrate all energy to our defensive system!'

'I already did it!'

I hugged Vicereine, covering her with my body. The explosion was strong, pixels of blood shot out as I felt waves of shockwave hit my body, with all the energy I have, I raised my foot and dug them deep into the ground, making sure that the shockwave doesn't push us towards the wall

'Energy is immediately going down! we are currently at 70%' Lilith advised

'How long does this energy blast last?!'

'I don't know!'

It seems that it wasn't just as simple as the explosion of compressed mana, more like a spell that he used at the cost of his life so I can expect this blast of energy to keep on going

'The left shoulder joints have been affected by the blast! it is rendered useless!'

I looked at my left arm and saw sparks from the joints, it lost energy and just started to dangle lifelessly, so with my right arm, I hugged her closer

The blast wave finally ended

"Old man Kal!" The headless knight roared out

I looked at his direction and noticed that he's sticking on the wall, I ignored him and carried Vicereine with my right arm

'Guardian 3, prepare to leave'

'Yes sir! but please hurry, I've encountered resistance, they managed to see through our cloaking'

'What?! how long can you hold out?'

'I can hold out for 6 more minutes sir'

'Use all the weapon installed on the mini warden, also, you can see my M4 inside our room'

'Got it sir!'

'Lilith, use the cloaking system'

'The cloaking device is slightly damaged and will need more energy to function, if we are to use it until we reach the ship, it will leave us with no energy!'

'It's alright, do it'

We suddenly vanished from the scene

I carried her all the way to the ships, as I made my way towards the ship, I saw hundreds of demons heading towards the same direction as I am.

"You little asshole, you think I couldn't see through your tricks?!" I heard a roar and looked towards the sky

I saw a man wearing dark robes covering his entire body, all of the demons looked at him with respect as they roared

"ALL HAIL THE DEMON LORD!"

He aimed his palm towards me and shot out a huge fireball towards my direction

'Disengage the cloaking device and concentrate on the jet thrusters on my back!'

'I got it!'

'Fire us off!'

The jet thrusters on my back ignited and pushed me towards the mini-warden

"Catch Vicereine!" I threw Vicereine towards Guardian 3 who immediately caught her

The jet thrusters on my back died as I crashed on the ground halfway towards the mini warden, DK started losing his shine as I felt the armor getting a bit heavier. I looked behind me and noticed a huge thunderstorm brewing on the demon lord's arms, he aimed it towards me and with a smirk, released a tornado filled with lightning.

"GO! GO! Leave me!" I roared out towards guardian 3, they'll get caught in the storm if they don't leave

'Lilith, take half of my core energy and use DK's shield at the last moment then using what's left of my core, use it to activate DK's life-saving system!'

'A-Acknowledged!'

I closed my eyes as the similar beeping sound rang out in my head, telling me that my core energy is hitting dangerous levels

1 second

2 second

3 second

Why hasn't it hit my body yet?

"Don't you dare give up now!" I opened up my eyes and saw Astarotia, raising a firewall to block the oncoming attack

She hurriedly ran towards me and carried me towards the ship