The lakeshore was finally silent, the water ran red for dozens of meters making it undrinkable, there were bodies of soldiers and overturned crocodiles scattered about, Drake ground his teeth in frustration at another thing going against him, he never imagined that there were such strong creatures hiding in the depths of the lake on such a low floor, as he was brooding and walking towards the second group the sound of mewing irritated him, so he kicked the sack.

Selenia’s group were still following the army closely and picking off any soldiers that deserted, because they hadn't received any new instructions they simply followed, Rick picked some plants whenever Selenia took her eyes off of him, Ahri went ahead occasionally to spot any ambushes while invisible, and she rode Kuro while she waited for Lucifer’s next plan.

Once the army stopped at the lake the group stopped nearby to observe the situation, Kuro’s ability to manipulate shadows made it easy for the group to go unnoticed as long as they didn’t get too close.

Suddenly Ahri shook, Rick and Selenia looked towards her and were surprised when they saw the grief-stricken girl, Ahri’s expression reminded Selenia of poor village girls whose homes were destroyed in raids and they didn’t know what to do anymore. Rick asked her quietly “whats wrong?”

Ahri shakily replied “I—I don’t know, s-something must have happened to Lucifer, it feels like my connection to Green- I mean Lucifer has been cut”, then she shut her eyes and desperately tried to contact Lucifer with a mental message across the slave contract, but Lucifer had just moved bodies and his mind was now in the library so he couldn’t hear her.

Rick consoled “Lucifer is a dungeon so unless someone attacked his core he will live forever, so he is probably fine. Besides a beast-man has never been attracted to a dungeon like this so we don’t know what effects that sort of thing has, it might just be a small glitch”

Selenia tried to cheer up Ahri in her own way, “You lost your infatuation with a dungeon so isn’t It a good thing, now you can pick your own husband”

Ahri growled “YOU don’t Understand bitch, my connection is proof of the best gods blessing”

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Selenia was taken back Rick tried to de-escalate the situation “be quiet the enemies are barely 50 meters away, besides if it disappears then doesn't that mean its also the beast gods will”

Suddenly there were a dozen roars and the group spotted the commander of the army running from a dozen panthers, Ahri went invisible and started running while growling “it's his fault”, Rick tried to grab her but was too late, he was left with a bunch of fur from her tails.

Once Drake kicked the sack of panther kittens the bag tore apart revealing a dozen fully grown panthers, just as the Panthers were getting their footing after growing Drake quickly drew and slashed with his sword, two fine streaks of crimson flew as two of the Panthers lost their heads, Drake retreated on the back-swing and only nicked a third, he was in the middle of both groups and only had to run one hundred meters to safety, so he turned and sprinted with his full speed. Drake was a powerful adventurer back in the day but fighting a dozen magical beasts was not something he could do. As he was running he peeked behind him as he ran and saw the Panthers gaining on him, he pumped additional mana into his legs and focused on how close they were.

3 steps 2 steps Now thought drake as he counted the number of seconds in his head, when he reached zero he kicked the ground and the explosion under his foot sent him sideways narrowly avoiding a panthers claws, but he lost time with the little maneuver so after only two steps he was forced to dodge again.

Soon he would be surrounded and his men were taking their sweet time getting to him, with no choice left he gambled on a last-ditch move, he stopped suddenly while overloading his body with mana, he could feel his veins bulge to the extreme and blood burst from his limbs, but this would give him the boost he needed.

His sword flashed, several Panthers dropped and his sword flashed again killing two more, with the extra breathing room he spun around and using his sword sent dirt into the eyes of the perusing panthers, however, he spotted something that sent chills down his spine.

When he sent the dirt flying it hit something moving towards him and created a silhouette in thin air, he only had enough time to remember seeing something similar in a magic tournament before he reacted on instinct, his hand pulled on the pommel of his sword and a dagger slid out of the handle which he immediately threw.

The dagger flew for an instant then a barrier of light appeared and deflected the blade to the ground, Drake could see the surprised face of a beautiful woman behind the barrier, he didn’t hesitate and struck forward while this new enemy was surprised.

His sword struck the already weakened barrier and it dispersed along with most of the force of the slash, however, there was still enough power to slash her leather armor and her underneath it, blood gushed out of her abdomen as she tried to hold everything inside and retreated with an invisibility spell already leaving her lips.

Drake saw his men arriving to attack the Panthers so he dashed after her.