Elemental Cats

Kahglia sighed, crossed her arms, and rested her head in one hand.

"Where did you say you were from, again?"

"City of Growing Iron, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"And where is that city located?"

"The Firebelt Kingdom."

Kahglia stared wide-eyed at Toz after hearing and processing his answer.

"You're from the Mortal Realm?"

"Yeah."

Kahglia closed her eyes, furrowed her brows, and tilted her head around in confusion.

"What the fuck? Do you have a master or something?"

"Nope. And again, what are you getting at?"

"I'm just trying to understand you."

"You don't wanna do that some other time? That thing's starting to move again."

Kahglia looked at the Blood Fiend after Toz pointed out that it was almost free from the death attribute demonic energy.

"Urgh. Anyway, do we have a deal? You'll help me get out of this place, preferably bringing along General Scoll as well, and I'll guide you to the Transcendent Relm, give you information, and let you hold an audience with my father, the Mountain King."

"Sure."

After some consideration, Toz agreed. And since Kahglia asked him to bring along General Scoll, he could save the Lightning Rascals and the infiltration squad members while he was at it. The Lightning Rascals could become sturdy allies in the future, considering their talents and future potential. And since they were most likely elite members of their factions, Toz could even possibly get some help if he wanted to save Taienra. And at least Wyrie and Hal possessed useful skills.

After hearing Toz's answer, even if there was no way to guarantee that he would stick to his word, Kahglia faced the Blood Fiend and got ready to intercept its advance again. However, the Death Knight, who had begun shrinking, still looked at Toz.

"Take. Me. As Well."

As the Death Knight lost the power it got from the spell, its voice grew a little less harrowing, but it was still slightly intimidating. Not that Toz minded.

Since Toz only stared at the Death Knight for a few seconds without answering, the Death Knight began reaching for the handle of the sword attached to its back.

"I. Give. You. Sword."

"I already have a sword."

"Then…"

The Death Knight looked a little flustered as it fumbled with its hands and looked around itself, trying to find something to convince Toz to bring it along.

"You know what? Since I'm already bringing her and a few others along, I might as well take you too."

"Really. ?"

"Yeah. Why not? But first, let's give those guys as good a chance at fleeing as possible."

The Death Knight nodded and joined Kahglia as they stood in front of the Blood Fiend.

The Death Knight had returned to its original size of just above two meters, and it was probably much weaker than it was only a few minutes ago. But it didn't show any signs of retreating or making use of its apparent weakness as an excuse not to fight. The Death Knight's attitude was a little inspiring, and Toz started preparing for how to bring everyone away from the battlefield.

Thankfully, he had managed to hit the tunnel system with his magic. And after breaching through the tunnel, he could suddenly establish contact with Nil, Scrael, and Asilean, at least. When he discovered that he couldn't reach Lucy, Toz couldn't help but get worried again. But since the other three cats were doing their best to find him, he concentrated on firing Fireballs at the Blood Fiend to stop it from smashing Kahglia and the Death Knight.

Toz also communicated his plans to the other cats so that they would be ready to help him when they found Lucy. Since he was planning to take the others and flee into the Void, especially Asilean's help would be necessary. Now that he was at the seventh level, he didn't even require Toz's help in creating a portal. It would help and make it easier, but it wasn't a necessity. That would certainly help if they wanted to flee the plane.

And then, before they stepped into the Void, Toz and Asilean would have to protect everyone with void magic. But that should be relatively easy.

Now they only had to find Lucy and delay the Blood Fiend for as long as possible.

Toz would be able to save a few people from the Blood Fiend by bringing them along to the Void. But he wouldn't be able to save the entirety of the Alliance of Kingdoms. The life and death of the Alliance's troops didn't have anything to do with Toz, especially now that the matter of contribution points had gone up in smoke. But the Blood Fiend would grow even more powerful if it absorbed the blood of all the combatants in the army. It could grow powerful enough to step into the Void and chase after them. While towing a bunch of other people, Toz wasn't confident he could escape the Blood Fiend, at least not while keeping the others safe.

So, the best outcome would be if the general found a bunch of still intact ships at the camp and brought the troops away while Toz and the others stalled the Blood Fiend.

However, with the waning fighting power of Kahglia and the Death Knight, it was becoming increasingly difficult just to slow down the Blood Fiend's advance. Even Mindle wasn't doing much to stop it in its tracks anymore.

It also seemed like the Blood Fiend realized that the Alliance of Kingdoms' troops were more important than the four pests buzzing around it and trying to grab its ankles. The Blood Fiend only did the bare minimum to stop Mindle and the others from destroying it as it marched onward toward the Alliance's troops.

Thankfully, the Alliance had gotten so far ahead that they were barely visible. But they didn't move as quickly as the Blood Fiend did. And as soon as Toz and the others were unable to restrain it anymore, the Blood Fiend would quickly catch up.