As he walked off, she created vines in her hand and condensed them down. They eventually created a pointed green stick no longer than a dagger.

(“You embarrass me and think you can get away that easily?”)

She slowly approached. (“I don't how long I've been slumbering but the yearning for human flesh feels almost nauseating. It doesn't get this bad unless I abstain for a year. Don't worry human, after I drink more of your blood and feast on your arm, I shall let you leave as promised.”)

As she was about to stab his arm, he stopped. She had to stop herself and wondered what caused this reaction. Until she looked beyond and saw a pale-looking woman walking. She had horns, with a beautifully black finish but… from what Buer sensed, she was no demon. What was this affront to demonkind before them?

The boy seemed to tense up and turned around to see Buer behind.

“What the?” He said before trying to pass her. She used her magic to restrain him. She created vines that exited her hand and wrapped around him. He helplessly fell to the floor.

“I'll deal with you later. (It would have been rather enjoyable, attacking when his guard was down but I suppose such a thing wasn't meant to be.)”

She walked up to the woman with horns and… an angelic wing?

(“A fallen angel? No, I haven't seen or heard of one with only one wing.”)

“State your identity, woman,” Buer commanded.

The pale woman looked unsure of what she wanted and continued walking.

As she went to pass Buer, the red demon grabbed her head and slammed her into a wall.

“I'm sure you're hearing must be going. How lamentable it must be to be a feeble human.” She brought her mouth close to her ear.

“STATE YOUR IDENTITY, YOU WORTHLESS CREATURE.” She shouted into the poor woman's ear. She forced her head out of the grip and rubbed her ear with, clearly annoyed.

(“What the? How did she escape my grip so easily?”)

She easily overpowered that man but this strange woman escaped her grip with little effort.

Another strange thing she noticed was, now that she focused on her, was she could sense something from her. But she would never have thought it was something unique unless she saw her with her own eyes. Her presence felt similar to that of the dungeon she occupied.

“Let me ask again, what are yo-”

A punch sent her flying down the hallway. The pale woman spat in her direction and began walking off.

Her walk was interrupted by something that held onto her leg.

“You're no human.” The woman with red skin stated. “Yet you don't respond to my words. It seems you need a lesson in manners.”

As Kevin watched this go down, he noticed the vine wrapped around him had vanished. He wasted no time and did his best to escape while walking.

(“I can catch the boy later. I placed some spores on him if I needed to track him. For now, I should keep my mana drain low, this woman is no joke when it comes to strength.”)

She wiped the blood from her nose. She could heal it but fixing a broken nose would be a waste of mana.

The pale woman ripped the vine from the ground with minimal effort and turned her attention to Buer. She looked at her like a piece of dogshit she stepped in and slowly approached.

----------------------------------------

The five women did their best to go down alternative paths, to find their uninformed allies.

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They followed any footsteps they could find down, marked in the dust and soon came across quite the scene.

For this section of the dungeon alone, the walls, ground and ceiling were painted red.

Nora gagged at the sight, and Lily looked on in amazement and horror, eyes wide.

“Holy shit.” Lily said, stunned.

Even Elizabeth couldn't look at this scene cold-faced. “I assume this is that woman's handiwork…”

Several men were lying on the floor unresponsive. How many men? Only their butcher could have the answer for that. They were quite literally torn apart. Hands, arms and legs were gathered with a single body. Intestines decorated the floors and walls, along with claw scratches.

Some heads were missing jaw bones while some jaws had no suitable upper heads in sight.

The smell of rot hadn't yet come, but the viscera had its uniquely awful smell.

“Fucking hell,” Tina commented when she walked into it.

“I suppose my theory about her encountering the cultists was right. The rest of you, do you see that priest anywhere? Please be quick.” Elizabeth commented, walking once more.

“I don't see any blonde hair,” Tina commented. “Wait… no that head looks way too old.”

As they exited the bloody carnage, they noticed a pair of footsteps exited the bloodshed. A pair of feet wearing shoes to be exact. Based on their size, they looked like a child's.

“You said that priest looked young, correct?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yup. Ugh, don't tell me that bastard actually survived this?”

“Hmm…” Elizabeth contemplated something. “We are just walking at random and hoping to find them. It wouldn't be too out of line to follow these footsteps now, would it? After all, if we do encounter the priest, I can't imagine he'd be in the best shape after escaping that monster. ”

“I guess,” Tina commented.

“Why not? Might as well get him off the checklist.” Lily added.

“Can we leave this place already?” Nora asked, looking pale.

Agatha felt almost cathartic, seeing those bastards get turned into mulch, and stood behind the group appreciating the view.

With most of the group in agreement, they continued further, with the footsteps as a starting point.

BONUS

She held the stabbing implement made of vines and watched as the pale woman approached. Buer blew blood from her nose and decided to initiate.

She created a vine that held the woman in place.

It didn't take her more than a second to close the distance between them. Her shank was inches from the pale woman's neck.

And the woman grabbed her arm with seemingly no effort.

“What the hell?” She tried to escape but the woman brought her next hand down like a hammer, removing her lower forearm.

Buer had pissed her off and she wasn't in the mood to play around unlike another one of her kin.

Buer looked down and recognised what happened. The vines wrapped around her upper body were torn. She ripped through it with strength alone.

She quickly grabbed her fallen hand and backed away.

She placed it back on.

(“Shit already? I can't afford to waste mana like this.”) She thought calmly as her arm reattached, the strands of muscle forming and connecting back together.

But the pale woman gave her no reprieve. She took a swipe out of her stomach, giving a detailed view of her intestines and liver.

She hurriedly stabbed the shank into the pale woman's side and a torrent of vines flooded the pale woman's skin.

Buer used this opportunity to run away and watch the carnage unfold. She healed the bare minimum.

The vines wrapped under her skin and started moving to parts of her body other than her torso.

“Serves you right, you lobotomite.”

She grabbed the still embedded shank and pulled it, vines and all. It ripped off a circle of skin surrounding her torso but nothing else thankfully.

Buer had assumed the vines had penetrated much deeper but they didn't even make it past her muscles. She didn't so much as react to it.

She balled up the vines. They tried to escape and tangle her but like the souls of the damned dragging down a sinner, none of them escaped. She crushed them all into a compact ball and threw it back to Buer.

She swallowed her throat and looked on as the woman slowly approached, her black blood staining her lower body.

(“... I should retreat for now. Right, as soon as I access the atmosphere’s mana, it won't take more than a single attack to end her.”)

She slowly backed away and turned it into a sprint when she turned around.

The pale woman grabbed her tail and Buer quickly cut it off.

(“I'm not running away, I'm simply taking an easier path to victory!”) She thought as the pale woman followed hot on her tail back.