Chapter 264 Joining The Fray (End)

As soon as the Knights of Hauler, Basil's family, and the shadows entered the hotel, they immediately heaved a sigh of relief. They were glad that everything had ended earlier than they had expected and no one had lost their life.

The Shadows, different from the Knights, immediately disappeared when none of the people paid attention to them. They went outside of the hotel to monitor the state of the Barrier.

"Huuh... That was wild!" Sylvia exclaimed. "I have nearly been killed ten times! I was lucky that Jake had my back."

"Hahahaha! You can thank me by not recklessly jumping at any Monster you see next time. It is really dangerous—even though you have an amazing regeneration speed."

"Ah, I was just too excited. I am sorry." Sylvia bowed lightly.

Jake chuckled at that, but anyone who knew him well could notice that he wasn't as bright as usual. In fact, other than Sylvia, who was oblivious to the grave mood, every Knight of Hauler didn't look too well.

Other than the fact they had exhausted their energy by fighting all the Demons with their life on the line, they were weary because of what would definitely happen for the next three days they were there.

They dreaded the fact that they would be fighting the powerful Demons alongside the Shadows for the next three days.

"I thank you deeply for what you did out there, Thompson." Danzel extended his hand.

"Ah, yes. It's my duty to protect the family of my friend." Thompson grasped the extended hand in his. "I am glad that you are okay, Mr. Danzel."

"That should be my word, boy." Danzel looked weirdly at Thompson. "Come with us—my daughter will cook something for you. That was the longest 7 kilometers travel I have ever had, and I bet you are as hungry as I am, so let's have a feast."

"I thank you for your care." Thompson smiled apologetically. "We will not hold ourselves back then." Turning to his party members, he motioned them to come with him. "Let's fill up our stomach!"

"Let's go!"

It was mean to slightly cheer up his party members, but the only genuine enthusiastic reaction came from Sylvia. She wasn't experienced enough to know that the wave of Demons didn't end today, so she could still keep up her spirit.

The older members of Hauler looked at at each other silently, then decided to never tell her. She had been tossed around many times by the Demons—they knew she acted that way to hide her stress.

She wasn't strong enough, and that means she would also be tossed around for the next three days. Telling her about the upcoming Demon wave would only burden her mind—she had suffered enough, so there was no need to burden her mind with that thought.

"Relying on the Barrier alone will lead them to doom," Effie whispered to Thompson. "How can they survive after we leave them? Are we just going to turn a blind eye?"

"Effie..." Thompson sighed. "Let's think about surviving tomorrow or tonight first. We don't have any right to think about the future yet, as long as we can't guarantee our survival."

"We will survive," Effie said surely. "We can just repeat our strategy from earlier. The Monsters seemed fond of underestimating us, so we can always defeat them with the surprise, all out attack tactics."

"I praise you for your confidence, but you have to note that our victory was pure luck. We were lucky they were dumb enough to underestimate us, and were not many enough to overwhelm us."

"I mean—"

"I, however, got your point." Thompson put up his hand. "We will leave this place after three days, just like the deal. Basil must have prepared something for this kind of situation, so let's stop whispering to each other and forget it."

Effie wanted to say something, but the moment she noticed Thompson's weary smile, she immediately stopped herself from asking.

'What if leaving the people behind is actually our choice? Just like what Basil did in the Dungeon, what if this time, he also leaves the choice to us?'

Effie wanted to say that badly, but she didn't want to burden Thompson's mind. It was actually a quite possible thing to happen considering how basil was, and she was honestly terrified by that.

If that was really the case, they would be leaving the helpless people to fend for themselves in three days. Thompson wouldn't be able to look away, so she was absolute he would ask them to stay there.

She didn't want that to happen; they couldn't stay there. What if that was Basil's plan to hold them back? Even if that wasn't in Basil's intention, they would only die if they decided to stay there.

'I, for once, will believe in you, Basil Pacifer.' Effie recalled the way Basil treated his staffs. 'I will consider you as a family man, who has not the heart to leave behind his family.'

She decided to never talk about her thought to Thompson in the end. However still, she couldn't quite grasp the personality of the person named Basil Pacifer, so she wasn't really sure whether it was the right choice.

...

A day and a half had passed since Basil and Iliana had fled Randalvine. They were already 10 kilometers away from Woster County, and they could already feel the chaotic clash of Mana from the battlefield.

Despite so, instead of looking ahead wondering about what the battlefield looked like, they were busy paying attention to their back. Anticipation and cautiousness were painted clearly on their face.

"Did we do something that somehow offended whatever is following us?"

"Maybe, it is the fact that we exist."

"Seriously? Is being a Pacifer a sin? There are too many people chasing our arse apparently."

"The greats are envied."

Basil and Iliana smirked at the same time as they thought about their ordeal. They had been chased by the same entity for the past a day and a half—from Randalvine to their current position.

While Iliana only knew that the entity was someone they needed to be careful about, unlike Basil, she didn't know that the entity was one of Goap's Six Generals. Like Iliana, however, Basil also didn't know why they were being chased.

The only possible reason Basil could think of was their identity as a Pacifer. Demons must hate them to their core, because Pacifer Clan had killed many of their kin in the past.

Still, thinking it was the case was a little bit silly. No matter how much said Demon hated a Pacifer, he wouldn't dare to leave the post Goap had assigned him to.

In other words, a situation that required his presence had occured or there was something that was more important than staying in his post on Basil. Either way, the fact that he was chasing them was alarming.

'Cabalen, Goap's Fourth Great General...' Basil mused to himself. 'If he joined forces with Lucilla, things will get out of hand. Luckily, he doesn't bring his army with him. Still though, I wonder why he is chasing after me?'

Although he had been acting oblivious for all the time, Basil was painfully aware that he was the one being chased by Cabalen. He didn't know, however, why Cabalen was chasing him.

'I only carry two of Solomon's 9 Seals and Caliburn with me—there should be nothing that can attract his attention.'

Actually, he might know about the reason why he was being chased after, but he decided to play blind. He wasn't entirely wrong however; Demons shouldn't be too attracted to Relics that were at most on par with theirs ... Unless they weren't.

"We are just 4 kilometers away from Woster County. Whatever chasing after us will join forces with the Monsters ahead of us, so prepare yourself," Basil said to Iliana.

"I don't need your reminder, but thanks anyway." Iliana smirked then took out Sinister Piercer.

Due to Deacon's speed, it didn't take them long to eliminate the distance between them and the County. Deacon immediately notified his presence to the people by howling mightily so none of them would attack him.

Iliana's eyes widened the moment she saw the state of the outer region of the County, and immediately jumped down from Deacon to dash at the Demon that was about to kill a Mage she didn't even know.

Thrust!

She successfully pierced through the chest of the Demon and even blasting a good chunk of it in a matter of seconds.

The Mage that was being helped widened his eyes in shock at what had just happened, and his eyes immediately lit up by the time he saw the uniform Iliana was wearing.

He was extremely elated another competent students from Randalvine Magic Institute had arrived to help them, so he cried while profusely thanking Iliana.

She was quite taken aback by the man's un-Mage-like behaviour, but said nothing about it. Instead, she asked the question about the thing she wanted to know.

Boom!

She was interrupted by the explosion Deacon's attack had caused, and it annoyed her slightly. She wasn't mad at Deacon however; she knew he had done it under Basil's order.

"Where are the other students?"

"Ah, they are at Wisselton fighting the humanoid High Grade Monster!"

Iliana's face darkened at the information. "Thank you for the information."

"W-Where are you going?! Don't go there!" Bewildered by Iliana's choice to go to Wisselton, the Mage shouted at her. "Only death will await you there—don't waste your life!"

Iliana paid no mind to the Mage's warning—she didn't care about it in slightest. Her friends—her family were at Wisselton fighting the Demons, so she couldn't just let them fight the Demons alone.

Basil also didn't have any plan to stay away from the fight as he kept instructing Deacon to move forward. Iliana jumped on Deacon's back not long after, and together, they arrived at Wisselton in three minutes.

Everyone there was too busy to mind Deacon's appearance; the situation was also too chaotic to let them pay any attention to anything other than their survival.

Iliana was about to join the fray, when an immense pressure from behind her caused her eyes to widen.

Flash!

Boom!

Everything happened too fast for her to properly register it, but the moment she could see what was happening, she was already on the ground in Basil's embrace. Basil himself was blocking the sword of Cabalen with his sword.

The battle seemed to stop as the people's attention was planted on the two people. It was as if they were looking at the stars that had just joined the fray.