Maria was just about to dash into the portal but she quickly halted and turned around.
“Wait, Paipai, what about you?!”
“Forget about me! Just go!”
She could see that Paimon was completely surrounded by Mobius and his soldiers. He had tried to break through the encirclement a few times but Mobius’s soldiers were too well-coordinated that they didn’t give him any chance. The gate was just next to her and if he could use his [Warp], he’d be able to quickly arrive next to the portal but all Paimon was doing was constantly warping around and dodging Mobius and his soldiers’ attacks while he slowly moved away from the portal.
Maria could understand what Paimon was doing. He was trying to keep the enemies on him so that she could be safe. He also did this to keep them distracted so they wouldn’t see that the portal was opened already.
Mobius was quite invested in his fight against Paimon that he too didn’t even notice that a portal had opened next to Maria. He didn’t target her just yet because he thought that since she was weak, he could deal with her anytime he wanted as long as Paimon wasn’t there to hinder him and since he was the bigger danger, Mobius focused his efforts and attention all on his old friend.
Despite knowing Paimon’s intentions, Maria still hesitated to leave through the portal, “B-But…”
Maria was a person with integrity and Paimon had been nothing but good to her so she didn’t want to leave him behind. He taught her all of the magic spells she knew and was willing to throw away his allegiance with the Dark Faction just to help her escape the planet because she was his disciple. She’d be human trash if she left behind such a person without a second thought. Not only that, but Maria also thought about what would happen if they both escaped. In all likelihood, Paimon would definitely be willing to join her faction if she only asked.
Letting go of such an opportunity to gain another powerful ally such as her mentor was something pretty stupid. His fate, if she left him behind, was being locked up in the ancient prison, Ziggurat. If Maria allowed that, then she might lose all chances of recruiting Paimon into her faction.
Paimon was very strong but she just couldn’t see him winning against Mobius especially with those elite soldiers looming around and constantly doing all they can to stop him from casting any spells and healing or shielding Mobius whenever he took any damage from Paimon’s spells.
Mobius was still in healthy condition while Paimon was slowly losing MP. He kept his HP up using [Mana Shield] and healing spells but there was only so much he could do and his MP was finite. Paimon was able to chain multiple AOE spells together and directly kill the soldiers surrounding him and were helping Mobius, but the hero himself would just use a [Ressurection] spell and bring them all back to life even after their bodies had been evaporated into nothingness from Paimon’s spells.
This was the most annoying power that Hero Mobius wielded and that was the ability to give other NPCs a second chance to stand and fight after they were killed. This skill was the reason why his army was known as the Radiant Immortal Army. Such a cheat-like ability that could be used indefinitely with seemingly 0 cooldown and mana cost irked Maria greatly. Mobius was practically cheating and he was doing it so openly.
Once Paimon’s MP hit 0, he’d outright lose against Mobius and his immortal army. The circumstances were heavily in Mobius’s favor but Maria was helpless to do anything even though she really wanted to help out. Their true objective was to capture her and if she allowed that, Maria would be wasting all of the efforts that Paimon had made trying to get her off of the planet.
“Go, you stupid disciple! You don’t need to worry about me!”
Mobius wondered what Paimon was talking about so he took a brief glance towards Maria and immediately saw the portal that was open right next to her.
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“Half of you, go and destroy that portal! Don’t let the criminal escape! She’s weaker than all of you so don’t be afraid!”
He quickly ordered half of his soldiers to go destroy the portal while he and the other half would continue to pin down Paimon. Once the portal was closed, Maria and Paimon would lose their way off of the planet and their inevitable end was losing to Mobius and being captured, imprisoned, or killed by him.
“You stupid brat! You’re going to waste all of our efforts!” Paimon roared after he heard Mobius’s words.
He wanted to cast a [Levitation] spell on Maria and fling her into the portal and quickly close it but he couldn’t aim his spell at her as there were too many of Mobius’s soldiers blocking his way.
“Dammit…forget that then! Arise, [Frozen Palace]!”
Since he couldn’t do anything about it, he tried creating a situation where Maria wouldn’t be able to do anything but go through the portal. He conjured a castle made of ice centered around the portal where Maria was located and isolated her and the portal from the outside world. The soldiers moving towards Maria were forced to stop in place. They quickly began attacking the ice castle in hopes of breaking it down but its walls were far too sturdy and they couldn’t even make a scratch on it. Maria ran towards the edge of the castle and looked through the somewhat translucent ice and banged on it.
“Paipai!”
“Stop hesitating already! Get going! If you’re really sad about leaving me behind, then come back when you’re stronger and free me from the prison!”
“N-No, you can’t do this! I don’t need anyone sacrificing their lives for me! Hurry up and get over here!”
[I wish I can, you stupid little brat…]
‘Stop being an idiot and just [Warp] over here!’
[It’s impossible...Warping over to you will take a second or two. Mobius wouldn’t miss that. You have to leave me and go.]
‘No. No way!’
[Trust me on this and live to fight another day. You need to get stronger. After that, you can just come and fetch me from the Ziggurat. In there, I’ll at least be able to have a nice, long sleep until you get there.]
Maria ground her teeth in anguish and tears started falling down her cheeks. She really hated this feeling of helplessness. Her teacher was right there but she couldn’t do anything to help him. Anything she did at her current level of power would amount to nothing but a wasted effort. Paimon was right, she should leave right now and get stronger so that one day in the future, she could come back to this planet and free him.
She already knew where he was going to be held and that was the ancient prison, the Ziggurat. In there, he wouldn’t be able to die thanks to the place’s law so Maria could somehow be assured that he was going to be fine and he wasn’t going to disappear forever. Once she became a lot stronger, she’d definitely come back and free him...as well as kill every single person present that had attacked them, starting with Mobius, then his immortal army. He was already on Maria’s hit list as the number one priority after the Vampire Lord Siegfried.
“I’ll come back, Paipai, you hear me?! I’ll come back and free you...then I’ll kill everyone here! Mark my words, Moby Dick or whatever the hell your name is! I’ll definitely kill you in the future!”
Even Mobius was helpless against the castle of ice that Paimon had built so he could only glare at Maria and scoff at her threats which he deemed to be empty, “...Hmph!”
Maria moved back to the portal, and Paimon was relieved to see this. He sighed and just before his disciple could step through the portal, he quickly spoke up, “Kid, take this! It’ll help you find me when you come back!”
Paimon raised his staff, the [Tal’un Gedon Veh], and teleported it to Maria. Mobius had his attention on Maria so he missed what Paimon was trying to do and it was too late.
“No!” Mobius yelled. “Stop him!”
However, even if he or anyone else tried to stop him, it was useless. You couldn’t stop a [Warp] spell without a high-ranked [Area Dispel] or [Space Lockdown] and even if he had a mage that was capable of performing either one of those spells, it was useless since they would be trying to cancel the spell of an Archmage. The [Tal’un Gedon Veh] appeared in front of Maria just before she stepped through the portal. She quickly took the staff and looked towards Paimon who was smiling back at her with a relieved look on his face.
“...”
She only gave him a very determined stare and nodded before walking through the portal.
*DING*
You have completed the quest: Planetary Escape!
*DING*
You have received the Quest Item: [Legendary Staff of Tal’un Gedon Veh]! The quest: [Prison Break] has been generated and automatically accepted!
Quest: Prison Break Rank: SSS+ Description: Archmage Paimon, your mentor, has been captured by the forces of the gods of Eur. Break him out from his imprisonment at all cost! Objective 1: Achieve Level 250! (101/250 - 40.4%)
Objective 2: Kill the Prison Warden and obtain the key to the Ziggurat (0/2)
Objective 3: Kill Hero Mobius and his Radiant Immortal Army (0/2)
Objective 4: Rescue Paimon (0/1) Time Limit: N/A Reward: Paimon’s Loyalty, Spellbook: [Perfect Resurrection], Spellbook: [Full Restore], Spellbook: [Radiant Cure], Exclusive Equipment: [Trinity Core], 100,000 gold, Level +10 Failure: ???