5/9

.....

Some time ago.

"Three recruits still need to be sharpened more, especially their discipline in a battle and more importantly, their cooperation."

A middle-aged man said from the top of the tree while watching his three new members of his team busy with their task to kill the Boa.

His body was no less burly than the three people he commented on. He also looked much older than the man beside him who has been silent since the start.

“What do you think about the performance of these latest recruits, Commander?”

The older man turned his head to the side, asking the opinion of the mute man. The inquiry didn't get a reply right away. The man he was asking barely paid any attention to the struggles of the three down there, let alone hearing his question just now.

The mute man stayed silent like that for a while, frowning hard. He was looking into the distance. The older man didn't know what made his boss make that kind of expression.

"Is there a problem, Commander?"

The older man inquired again. This time his voice unconsciously got lower, a little tense as he was affected by his boss's behavior.

“The air… is becoming eerier. I just feel…” the Commander muttered under his breath, as his face only grew heavier, “Perhaps we have an uninvited guest tonight.”

"Enemy? Is it a spiritual beast or…” the lieutenant immediately changed his expression.

“Whatever it is, order the rests to make preparations. Prepare for all the worst possible scenarios."

The commander gave the order in a deep voice as he withdrew his gaze and watched the fight of his three men who managed to inflict a life-threatening injury on their opponent.

“Roger that! I will order the sensors to…”

The lieutenant's words stopped when he saw his commander jerking his head hard to the side as his eyes harden.

"No need, they're already here."

The commander's words were drowned by the loud sound of the various explosions that occurred from the battle that was taking place below. But it was sounded very clear in the lieutenant's ears, as he followed the direction of his superior's gaze.

"Those guys ..." the lieutenant's widened eyes were surprised to find four strangers who suddenly appeared on the tree not far from their position.

"Those masked men... and the symbols..."

"They are from the demon faction!"

“Team up with the rest of the squad! Immediately retreat to the army headquarters! Make sure this incident is reported to the higher-ups !”

The commander paid no heed to the volatile state of his lieutenant. He immediately gave some instructions in a grim voice.

“But, Commander…” the lieutenant meant to say something, but his words were cut off short.

“My words are absolute! Do it right away!”

The commander snapped, as he unsheathed his sword from its scabbard at his waist. Then his momentum changed, facing his guests who obviously didn't come to invite him to night-chat.

*Clap**Clap**Clap*

“Ah, isn't this Commander Garreth, the youngest and most renowned Royal Aegis that's currently active? I've heard a lot about your great name. It is an honor for this lady to meet you.”

One of the four masked people, a woman wearing a red mask with a thorny rose pattern that only covered the upper half of her face clapped the fan in her hands elegantly.

She was wearing a red long-dress as if she was about to attend an aristocratic banquet. She was speaking in a very graceful voice. She was very noble-like, both in manner and appearance.

"Hypocrite," Garreth said in a cold voice.

Without any warning, the sword in his hand suddenly jolted. Instantly, a burst of spiritual energy exploded started from him, rapidly spreading in all directions. At the same time, the sharp cutting aura seemed to criss-cross brutally in the area traversed by the energy.

All the trees, leaves, soils, and even the air seemed to split by those invisible slashes that appeared suddenly. The area around Garreth as the center point seemed to be hit by a sword storm that destroyed all objects in its wake.

The lady in a red dress immediately changed her expression drastically, jumping backward with lightning speed which was followed by the other three who were no less quick to react to dodge the omnidirectional attack.

After retreating more than a hundred meters from their original position, they only stopped moving when no more attacks followed them.

“ARGGHH!! MY FINGERS!! MY NAILS!!”

A woman in a ponytail who was wearing tight clothes, of course with a mask, winced in pain. Her fingers were bleeding, all her fingernails were cracked.

The woman was not one of the four who had been standing, facing Garreth prior to this. She was the one sneaking up behind one of the recruits, staying true to her character. Apparently, she was with cahoot with the other four earlier.

"Is that his sword domain?" one of them asked.

He was a man in a bear-like mask, perfectly suited to his large and thick body. His height easily exceeded two and a half meters. He was wearing a black warrior outfit with chainmail on it. On his back was strapped a pair of big spiky mace as his weapon.

"Not exactly. It's part of his sword domain, yes. But he didn't fully manifest it. It was a variety manifestation of his domain ability with a highly compressed sword energy. He released all of them at once to get the effect of raging sword slashes in all directions.”

Another man who looked like a scholar beside him explained as if he understood very well the intrigues of the attack just now.

The mask he wore did not have any characteristics, only a flat surface that covered his entire face. Or it could be said, a flat, full-face was his mask's main characteristic.

"That's not all," added the lady in a red dress, waving the fan she used to dispel several energy slashes that chasing her.

“Even though it looks like a blind attack in all directions...”

She paused for a moment, looking at the shattered area in front of her, then turning to the side at the few victims, their subordinates, who were no longer moving on the ground, covered in blood, with many separated body parts.

She continued with a serious face, “That was a move that was perfectly under control. Not a single one of his men was touched by his sword energy."

The lady in red noticed the movement of the people in the shattered area who started to regroup.

"Moreover…"

she glanced at the other female in their group besides herself who was still in pain and tried to regenerate her wounds.

Apart from the lifeless bodies of their subordinates that couldn't dodge the abrupt attack, this cat-like masked woman was in the most pathetic state.

"Obviously, this attack isn't just a mere area attack, but a well-targeted one."

'It serves her right, acting like a whore,' the lady in red sneered inwardly.

“Extreme attack power, exceptional control over his energy… Truly, the Royal Aegis generation can not be underestimated. I really want to measure the extent of my ability against him.”

The last member of the five was a young man from his voice, the smallest figure among them. The most conspicuous of his half-face mask was a mark resembling a sword-cut mark on it.

"Give up, you are not his match, one on one," The scholar man snorted in response.

“I REALLY WANT TO KILL THIS BASTARD!!”

The woman in tight clothing snarled like a beast, full of hatred. That guy had ruined her favorite nails. For her, he was being too mean to injure her in the places she considered the pride of women.

Even so, neither she nor the others made a move right away. It was clear from that first contact, none of them were overly confident of defeating their opponent in a one-on-one battle.

Only the lady in red dress and the flat-masked man did not eat any loss, only the hem of their clothes was slightly cut, nothing more.

The cat-masked woman suffered the most. All her fingers were bleeding. The bear masked man and the sword-wielding young man only had a few cuts on their hands. It's nothing serious, but it still counted as their defeat.

“Alright, restrain your emotions. We have a mission to accomplish. Catty, how about your wound?”

"It's okay, I need a bit more time. After that, I'm ready to go."

“Good,” the lady in red was in command, saying in a solemn voice, “No matter how much we have to pay, we must successfully complete this mission.”

“All for the rise of the Demon Lord!”

…..

Garreth didn't take his eyes off the five people. After the first attack, he didn't take the initiative to continue. That was just a clearing move, to make sure there was space for his subordinates to retreat.

"Commander!"

Garreth nodded, glancing to the side. All his subordinates were ready. Some still hadn't fully recovered from fatigue or their wounds. However, their overall condition was not too bad. It was just…

“Now the command is completely in your hands. The main objective is to safely retreat to the headquarter and convey the information on the movement of the demon faction here to higher-ups.”

"Be careful, there are quite a bit of their subordinates in the outer region, encircle this place. Avoid fighting as much as possible. And…”

Garreth stared hard at his lieutenant, “I wish you luck! Now, move!”

The lieutenant saluted Garreth with a very firm face. He didn't know if he could still meet his commander in the future. But he threw such useless thought away. Their situation was precarious...

…..

"I didn't think that the famous Royal Aegis Garreth could perform such a sneak attack like this."

The lady in red said, stepping forward towards Garreth, along with the rest of her comrades. The bear man and the young man moved to the most front, obviously, both were the main assault force.

Catty, the one who had suffered the most injuries, seemed to have fully recovered. The fingers on her hands were no longer bleeding. Now, they had been covered in a kind of golden stingers. She started circling Garreth from the side, looking for his blind spot while keeping a safe distance.

While the flat-masked man was at the very back, along with the lady in red.

“How can that be called a sneak attack. I am under the light, it was you who is always hiding behind the dark."

Garreth sneered, as he sensed the movement of his men who were starting to move away from this spot, starting to leave the inner circle. Unfortunately, they were followed by the others from many directions.

There was not much help he could offer as his own legs and arms were restrained by the five people in front of him.

“But in any case, the fact was you have killed some of our men. How will you take responsibility?”

"Why should I be responsible?"

"Stubborn, aren't we?" the lady in red chuckled, covering the lower part of her face so only her mask was visible.

"How about this, you come with us so we don't have to bother with continuing this tension. I really don't like this kind of situation trapping us. After all, I heard a lot about you, and to be honest, I quite admire you.”

“So, should I be flattered and say thank you, then? What about them?” Garreth sneered as he glanced in the direction of his leaving subordinates.

"They? If you can fulfill my request, nothing will happen to them. I guarantee, it's just that they have to be restrained first for a while. For that, I can only offer an apology, there's nothing I can do.”

Garreth who heard that burst into laughter, as if he was hearing a joke. Then he stopped as his eyes turned very sharp.

“Since when the words from a demon could be trusted…”

Immediately, Garreth's momentum exploded.

Seeing that, the other four members of the demon faction reacted the same way, releasing their momentum, starting to circulate their spiritual energy.

The lady in red could only sigh as she lowered her face behind her fan.

"Oh? I see, too bad… There's no other way… Then…”

She mumbled softly as her eyes emitted a very sinister light.

“DESTROY HIM!!”