Elemental Cats

After noticing how the guards wouldn't be able to touch them, Toz didn't care too much about them. He looked at Asilean again. Asilean looked at the stairway leading out of the cave for a few seconds before he disappeared and began flickering through the air toward it.

After arriving at the bottom of the staircase, he sat down and began concentrating. It didn't take long for Toz to sense the build-up of space mana right in front of them, and when he did, he smoothly took control of it.

Toz and Asilean worked together to create a portal between the castle and the staircase. It wouldn't take long for them to cross the distance by themselves. But a few others in their group didn't quite possess the same speed. Nil, Lucy, Mindle, and Brunswick would all be left behind by Toz, Scrael, and Asilean if they decided to sprint to the staircase.

With the experience from the previous time, Toz and Asilean quickly created and stabilized the portal. Brunswick's glasses were once again resting on the tip of his nose due to the shock at how Toz and Asilean had just created a fully functional portal in only a few moments.

Toz didn't care about Brunswick's shock as he grabbed him by the neck of his clothes and threw him into the portal. Brunswick thudded to the ground, barely able to react to what happened. However, when he regained his bearings and was about to stand up, he was pushed to the ground by the arrival of the cats. Each cat landed on his back before beginning to climb the staircase.

Since Brunswick realized what Toz's plans were, he hurried to follow the cats. He considered looking back to make sure Toz would make it out, but he didn't have a reason to doubt Toz's capabilities, so he turned forward and hurried his way up the stairs.

While the cats returned to the surface, Toz launched his fireball spell and stepped through the portal. He had widened the space across the distance that the fireball would have to travel to reach the oil blanketing the ground within the fortress.

The oil's original purpose was most likely for the defenders to haul it up, bring it to a boil, and then pour it on the invaders after destroying the stone bridges. It might also have been a last resort for when the invaders are about to conquer the fortress.

However, Toz had found another use for the ridiculous amounts of oil stored within the spires.

After widening the space, firing the fireball, and stepping through the portal, Toz grabbed Asilean and began running up the stairways. With the combination of lightning and space, he quickly caught up to the other cats. He had intentionally slowed down the fireball's advance, so they might have enough time to escape.

Toz threw a glance down at the castle, and when he saw the fireball approaching the incredible amount of black oil, he decided it wasn't worth the risk.

Toz asked the cats to enter the inclination, though Asilean and Scrael stayed with Toz since they were capable of keeping up, especially since Toz had to carry Brunswick.

Toz didn't have to save Brunswick, but he decided that Brunswick's potential was definitely worth it. He had also promised to spare Brunswick's life for his assistance, and he had proven himself to be very helpful. Depending on how things turned out, it might even be worth recruiting Brunswick to the Paw Print Pirates.

Since Toz carried Brunswick, he couldn't flicker through the fabric of space all willy-nilly, but by combining lightning and space, he could reinforce his body while at the same time reducing the restraints space placed on his body.

Toz buzzed up the stairway, barely touching the steps. It didn't take long for him to reach the cave ceiling. But Toz didn't stop there as he burst through the remaining stairs and completely left the cavern.

Toz felt the ground shake as he placed his feet on it. However, it wasn't because of him. The fireball had finally made contact with the sea of oil.

Shortly after the tremor, a gust of hot wind blew out of the hole in the ground that was the entry to the cave. The temperature of the air in the Blue Lounge's central mansion quickly rose.

Toz didn't stay behind and began rushing to warn the Bunglehoppers. However, he still heard a couple of screams from the hole. Screams that soon turned into bodies flying into the sky, straight through the palace-like mansion.

Toz guessed that the people soaring through the air as if launched out of a cannon were probably the guards with enough foresight to begin fleeing as soon as the oil spilled out of the spires. The explosion of burning oil had most likely sent them flying while they ran up the stairway.

Toz didn't care about them since it looked like they were about to die anyway. Instead, he focused on finding the Bunglehoppers so they could leave the Blue Lounge headquarters before it collapsed.

Thankfully, it wasn't difficult to notice Wulf.

He and Chairman Stris had created a large clearing surrounded by rubble as they clashed. Both of them looked a little worn and bruised as they stared in the direction Toz came from.

Stris looked like he wanted to stop Toz and question him about what was going on, clearly unaware of Toz's identity. However, Wulf saw the intensity of Toz's gaze and turned around while storing his great-axe.

"Bunglehoppers! Retreat!"

Wulf's voice boomed across the Blue Lounge headquarters.

Hayar retracted the poison mist as she began running in the direction of their base. The green fog disappeared, leaving behind a sea of corroded bodies.

Frank stopped smashing ice sculptures and joined up with Vaner, who let the orbs of water he used to attack fall to the ground.

Hayar, Frank, and Vaner joined up with Stitches on the outskirts of the Blue Lounge base before regrouping with Wulf and Toz.

"Mosshead, you're so fucking slow!"

Stitches was about to retort to Hayar's comment on him lagging behind everyone else. However, he was interrupted by a large rumble, and the noise drowned out his words.