Elemental Cats

Although Kahglia's fists, the Death Knight's slashes, Mindle's strikes, and Toz's Fireballs didn't do much to the Blood Fiend, it still seemed to find it mildly annoying and started expending some more effort to try and get rid of the four of them while it charged toward the Alliance.

However, Toz and the others did their best to stall the Blood Fiend for as long as possible, despite barely being able to slow it down.

Since the Alliances' troops should be getting close to their target, Toz spread his perception all the way over using space magic. He wanted to know if it was even worth trying to save everyone.

With how fast the Blood Fiend was, it wouldn't take much for it to catch up. And rather than trying to delay the inevitable, Toz might as well do his best to make sure he and the people he wanted to save could get a headstart on the Blood Fiend into the Void.

And what he sensed made him thankful that he decided to check ahead of time.

It was too far away to sense in detail if there were any ships or not. But, Toz could detect scouts coming back from the camp. Or rather, scouts had been sent to the camp, and some of them returned to the main army. Others broke down in despair. That was all Toz needed to perceive to know that the Obsidian Empire had sealed all ways of retreat.

"Hey! Time to move!"

Toz shouted at Kahglia and the Death Knight to get their attention. The two, without hesitation, moved toward him. Mindle also controlled all of the remaining fire mana of the firestorm and sent it toward the Blood Fiend in a single burst to make it stop in place long enough for them to withdraw.

The giant fire cat transformed into a stream of fire and left behind only a single, exhausted orange cat. Toz jumped up and caught Mindle before letting her into the familiar space.

When he landed, Toz enveloped Kahglia and the Death Knight in space magic so that he could bring them along as he dashed toward the Alliance of Kingdoms' troops.

Enveloped in Toz's space magic, Kahglia and the Death Knight did their best to accompany Toz as he shrank space and rushed toward the Alliance to pick up General Scoll and the others that Toz wanted to bring.

Without Toz and the others obstructing it, the Blood Fiend was making steady progress as well. Toz wouldn't have much time to bring General Scoll and the others away. It was ruthless, but he would have to use the troops to buy him time. He also wouldn't have much time for explanations.

Toz gritted his teeth and rushed forward while checking how it was going for Asilean and the others. They had found traces of Lucy. But unfortunately, they also found traces of a demon who had reached the threshold of the transcendent level, just as Toz feared. So, Toz would have to do all the hard work himself.

However, before he even got too close to the army, Toz noticed someone approaching him from that direction. And they were closing the distance rapidly. Toz quickly sensed the spatial fluctuations coming from the person and realized that it was General Scoll's subordinate, the space mage, Merr.

Toz didn't stop moving toward the army, and Merr didn't have any intentions of stopping him. He just wanted to get information from Toz about what happened with the Blood Fiend.

"We couldn't stop it. I'm taking the general, you guys, Wyrie, Mifter, Hal, and the Lightning Rascals with me. Go ahead and get them ready."

Unlike Toz, who didn't have much mana left and was practically running on fumes, Merr was a fully rested space mage at the eighth level. He returned to the army in the blink of an eye to get things ready. He knew how dire the situation was and didn't bother asking Toz how he was planning to save those he mentioned. But if it meant the general would get out alive, Merr didn't want to waste time with bothersome questions. He also didn't bother asking about the Death Knight, struggling to keep up with Toz and Kahglia.

Toz and the others quickly arrived at the Alliance of Kingdoms' troops. It seemed like their and Merr's movements had caused a slight ruckus in the ranks. But Toz didn't care. He quickly located the general, who had grouped up with the Lightning Rascals and the other members of the infiltration squad.

Toz, the giant Kahglia, and the Death Knight's arrival caused an incredible stir, even more so since people could still see the Blood Fiend in the distance. It was obvious they had retread because they couldn't defeat it.

Despair began setting in among the troops. There were nos hips or ways to get off the battlefield, and the only ones who had hopes of stopping the Blood Fiend were unsuccessful.

Toz pointed at Kahglia and the Death Knight.

"You two are coming with me at once. Merr, you stay here and prepare a portal right here."

Toz set a lump of space mana in the air so that he could connect to it later.

"I'll go ahead and create a portal in the Void."

Toz grabbed Kahglia and the Death Knight and started flitting through the air toward the Void. Kahglia was too large to fit through the portal. And Toz didn't trust the troops not to cause a ruckus when one of the leaders of the ones who killed their allies was in the middle of them. A ruckus was the last thing he wanted, especially when he was about to leave everyone behind for dead. All of the troops might be enough to interfere with his plan to save the general and the others before the Blood Fiend caught up to them.

It wouldn't be the end of him. But there was a lot to gain by bringing along the General, and he also wanted to save the ones he was close enough to call acquaintances. He was still thankful for the grimoire Hassandra got him as well. So, if he didn't succeed in bringing along the ones he wanted to bring along, Toz might feel a little down, which he didn't want.

"Wait!"

General Scoll's voice stopped Toz before he got too far.