Chapter 96: Preparing for the Worst-Case Scenario

It was midnight time and Azaroth was preparing to sleep. He had trained for a long time and was going to give his body a well-deserved rest.

At this time, Azaroth received Josephine's mental message.

'Milord, Jonas is going to leave for Kloras Town tomorrow.'

Azaroth was jolted awake from his half-sleepy state as he heard that information.

He was utterly confused right now.

'Why is Jonas coming to Kloras Town? Does he have a plan that involves this town? Or is he coming here to check up on how I am administrating the town?' There was another possibility and even Azaroth gulped down a mouthful of saliva as he wondered 'Or…Has he found out about Tiana and Laura?'

'But how? The guards I brought along sent back no information that would reveal Laura and Tiana.'

Azaroth soon shook his head. He had to figure out how much did Jonas know.

'They shouldn't be sure that I abducted Laura and Tiana.' Azaroth guessed.

He then began wondering just what he had revealed 'My body was completely covered using the Demonic Ardor and even my spiritual aura was different. Jonas also knows that I possess Holy Ardor. He shouldn't think that the demon is me because of the Holy Ardor.'

'The only thing that coincides with me would be Tiana's abduction while I left for Kloras Town. But that shouldn't be difficult to explain.'

Azaroth slowly calmed down as he realized that the situation wasn't as grave as he initially believed.

"I should still prepare for the worst-case scenario though in case something unusual occurs," Azaroth concluded.

"The worst-case scenario should be that Jonas manages to figure out that Laura, Yrellea, and Tiana are all with me."

"I just need to make it appear as if they were never here," Azaroth spoke as he understood what he needed to do.

Now, all he required was a plan to make it happen.

'I should have nearly one week if Jonas comes here with his full speed.' Azaroth remembered flying with Jonas and estimated his top speed.

He also calculated the time Jonas would need to rest and assumed how much time he had.

"I need to begin working on it today or else it will be too late," Azaroth muttered to himself as he stood up and left his room.

~~

The next day, during the noontime, Azaroth was with his retainers.

Azaroth spoke with a serious look, "Laura, Tiana, Yrellea, I need to inform you that you three need to leave."

"Leave?!" The three were utterly started as those words left Azaroth's mouth. They had no idea why Azaroth was suddenly throwing them away.

Even Noah, Sargan, and Ralph were nervous. Was he dissatisfied with their results that he was making them leave?

"Is it because we performed poorly in the training arrays?" Yrellea asked the question she was most scared of.

Azaroth rolled his eyes at their reaction and added, "You are misunderstanding the situation. I am not kicking you out but more like asking you to hide temporarily. My father, Jonas Rhodes is coming to this town and investigate it. If he found you three here, well, you can be sure that neither you nor I will have a good ending."

"Aah. It was this." Laura and Yrellea looked quite relieved while Tiana had a solemn look.

She knew that if Jonas was coming here to find them then it would be very hard to fool him. Just simply hiding them wouldn't work.

"Are you sure that it would be fine if we simply leave? Wouldn't they torture you all to extract information about us?" It was Yrellea who asked this question.

Sargan and Noah remained calm.

Sargan could remain calm because he had already experienced great torture under Azaroth's hands. He was confident that no matter who came, they wouldn't be able to torture him as Azaroth had done by using those Azure Flames.

Meanwhile, Noah was thinking seriously 'My life never had any meaning in those walls. Master is the one who saved me and has given me purpose. I will take on any torture to protect him.'

Azaroth casually replied, "You don't need to worry. I naturally have a plan."

Just as Azaroth spoke those words, a strong shockwave hit Kloras Town.

Other than Azaroth, Noah, Ralph, and Sargan, everyone else struggled to maintain their footing.

The laborers and the farmers were so startled that they fell on their butts.

Noah and Sargan wondered with a frown.

"What was that?"

Azaroth frowned as he spoke, "Looks like someone has launched an attack against us. From the direction, it appears to be from the Alpine Gerbil Woods."

He commanded Noah, "Order the guards to gather in the backyard of the manor."

He then looked at his other retainers, "All of you return to your rooms except for Sargan and Ralph."

Sargan and Ralph were somewhat confused why Azaroth was asking him to stay.

They looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders indicating they had no idea what Azaroth wanted them to do.

"This is what you will do…"

Soon, Azaroth gave them detailed instructions on what they had to do.

~~

Noah gathered all of Azaroth's guards. It wasn't that hard since he was familiar with the current guard captain Rampo.

He had informed them that the beasts had attacked the town.

The guards were quite nervous. During this time while they had been assigned those miscellaneous jobs, their fighting skills had suffered greatly.

But still, some of them were excited that they would be given a chance to fight.

Azaroth soon appeared ahead of them and addressed his guards, "It has been quite some time since you had a chance to fight. Many of you were lamenting while thinking about it. Now… The chance has appeared."

"The beasts have attacked our town. Slaughter every single one of them and spread the Rhodes House's prestige! Become the heroes renowned in the world!" Azaroth's last couple of sentences roused the spirit of all guards.

Even the guards who weren't sure of their skills suddenly felt full of confidence.

Azaroth pointed them in the direction beasts have attacked Kloras Town.

In those directions were the farms where the farmers worked. Just a little behind those farms were the lodgings built by the laborers hired by Azaroth.

Soon, the guards departed to slay those beasts.

Once the guards reached the scene, they found out that the beasts that had launched an attack were only 1 Star Beasts or 2 Star Beasts.

They numbered a lot but each one of Azaroth's guards was a 3 Star Warrior. Not just that, they had two 4 Star Warriors.

They didn't fear these beasts.

The guards were secretly happy as they realized that Azaroth had actually assigned them an easy task.

They immediately charged forwards and began to slay the beasts ahead of them. The farmers and the laborers who had run away after seeing those beasts saw how the guards fought these beasts and slew them.

The farmers were rather happy since they had seen some of their friends die at the hands of these filthy creatures.

It was a similar case for the laborers. These people were even cheering for the guards from a distance.

Soon, Azaroth arrived at the scene and spoke to the farmers and laborers, "Leave. This is merely the first wave. We won't be able to protect you if you remain here."

The farmers noticed that Azaroth had come along with three youths. These three were precisely Noah, Sargan, and Ralph.

"Thank you, Mayor. Please slay those beasts before they can further harm the crops." One of the farmers requested Azaroth.

They had worked tirelessly over these fields and to see them being destroyed by these beasts frustrated them greatly.

"Just leave it to us," Azaroth promised them solemnly.

The farmers and laborers turned their bodies and ran quickly to the central part of Kloras Town.

Azaroth and his three retainers joined the fight.

"Noah, slaughter the beasts." Azaroth gave his instruction to Noah, who nodded before taking off.

Azaroth then turned towards Sargan and Ralph, "You both know what to do, right?"

"Yes."

All four of them moved forwards in different directions.

Azaroth was moving towards the location where the beasts were densely concentrated. These beasts were fighting Rampo and the Vice-Captain of the guards.

These two warriors were slaughtering the beasts with each move. Using their superior cultivation base, it was extremely easy to defeat these beasts.

Soon, Azaroth reached near them.

Rampo and his Vice-Captain turned towards him. Rampo smiled as he informed Azaroth, "There is no need to worry, young master. We are nearly done with this area."

"Yes, I can see that," Azaroth spoke before he suddenly pounced at them.

The two guards were surprised as they didn't expect Azaroth to attack them.

Claw-like energy covered Azaroth's hand as it slashed Rampo's body. Azaroth attacked them using his Demonic Ardor.

"W-What are you doing?" The Vice-Captain asked with a shocked expression.

Azaroth didn't reply, he instead used Phantom Step to suddenly attack the Vice-Captain as well.

The Vice-Captain saw Azaroth move and immediately crossed his arms and blocked his move.

Similar to Rampo, the claw-like energy covered Azaroth's hand slashed his arm.

"W-Why? Why are you killing us, young master?"

"Because your deaths are required." Azaroth coldly answered as he raised his arm and released two lightning bolts that pierced their heads.

This was Black Lightning.

'Alright. I have finished on my end.'

Azaroth then sensed Sargan and Ralph's positions. It appeared that they were about to finish as well. Their task was to kill the other guards.

Sargan's petrification skill was quite useful. Pairing it with Ralph's quick speed and powerful attacks was a remarkable combo.

Meanwhile, Noah was the one fighting against all beasts.

Even the beasts farthest from his position couldn't escape him.

Once Sargan and Ralph finished killing the guards, Ralph was about to join Noah in slaughtering the beasts but Sargan stopped him.

Sargan spoke with a serious look, "If you want to improve then observe him."

Ralph was confused by his words. He fought against Noah quite a lot of times. He was well familiar with his attacks.

This was what Ralph thought before he observed Noah's fight against the beasts. This was not a fight but a massacre.

The more Ralph saw Noah fight, the more astonished he was. Noah was using his sword intent and sword skills completely different from the time he fought against Ralph.

In fact, it was as if he had eyes on his back and even though he was surrounded by the beasts, he was the one who appeared more terrifying.

There were many beasts with 2 Star Rank so it definitely wasn't the case that Noah surpassed them greatly.

It was just that each one of his attacks hit their weak point and killed them. He appeared extremely efficient while attacking them.

Ralph thought 'How can he be so different as compared to when he fought me? Even though I lost to him, the difference between us shouldn't be so exaggerated. Was he holding back?'

Sargan observed Ralph and soon spoke, "This is a fight against multiple opponents and this is how he fights against them. He doesn't care about schemes. He doesn't plan at all. He just leaps in and fights them all at the same time. This is the difference between him and you. You are too focused on a single person even when you fight against a group. You need to be aware of your surroundings and I believe your combat prowess will skyrocket."

Ralph was surprised when he heard Sargan's advice.

He slowly nodded and muttered, "Thank you."

They soon met up with Azaroth.

"Good job."

Azaroth looked somewhat happy. He then gathered the corpses of the guards.