CH 227

The sudden event blanked Fillia’s head. Why did the imprisoned woman have a whistle. And why did she blew it at this time.

Suddenly, another voice yelled out at Fillia.

「Fillia, restrain her! 」

Fillia who received the instructions from Rona snapped out of her daze and created ropes of sticky substance with magic, restraining the woman’s movement.

「W-What is this!? 」

She might’ve not expected a young girl like Fillia could use such arts. The woman that was taken by surprise was restrained immediately.

「You, a magici――」

Since she would be noisy, a blob of the sticky substance sealed her mouth next.

The woman that could no longer even make a sound struggled but, the restraint isn’t so loose that she can get free by struggling.

Fillia who managed to suppress the danger for the time being heard Rona’s impressed thoughts.

「They’re quite thorough with their doings. 」

「Meaning? 」

「They had one of themselves disguised as a prisoner as a countermeasure for intruders. They even dressed her up like that. 」

Hearing Rona’s explanation, Fillia finally understood. The restrained woman were like the other women, she was wearing a dirty rag.

It’s unknown if she’s one of their people or a hired mercenary, in any case, it’s impossible to rescue them stealthily from the start if there’s an enemy mixed in with the refugees.

Fillia frowned at the unexpected development, but she wouldn’t allow it to get worse. Sounds of people running outside the room can be heard.

Three mana signatures were approaching. It’s probably the three men they saw earlier.

「Looks like escaping quietly is not happening. ……Well, it might’ve been impossible from the start with this many people. 」

「Rona, what should we do……」

「I think there’s no other way than to forcefully push through. 」

「That’s, true……. Unn, I will try. 」

Fillia who became gloomy for a moment regained her spirit as she hardened her expression.

「Well, when push comes to shove……」

「When push comes to shove? 」

「Unnya, it’s nothing. Rather, about the three people coming. They’re almost here? 」

Rona prompted Fillia to instead focus on the incoming threat. Finished thinking of an idea within a breath, she called out to Haru beside his sister.

「Haru-kun, stay in a corner with the onee-sans. 」

「Ah, unn. 」

While seeing Haru guiding his sister and the other women into a corner, Fillia casted the invisible arts onto herself.

Then, creating foothold from mana, she moved to above the original door that is now a melted hole.

Just as Fillia got up to near the roof, the men that were on watch duty arrived.

「T-The door 」

「It’s melted!? 」

The men were surprised at the abnormal sight of the metal door melted.

「Intruders!? 」

They must’ve immediately thought of a likely reason. While on guard, they peeked into the room, and as they discovered the dark-skinned woman that was restrained, they questioned her.

「Oi, where’re the others!? 」

That question was not to Fillia, Rona, or even the other women. After all, just like how she made herself invisible, Rona had used the same invisibility arts on himself and the others.

「Nnn――, nnNNnn――! 」

The dark-skinned woman shook her head desperately trying to convey something but, the men that looked around the room slowly approached while being on guard.

In their eyes, other than the dark-skinned woman, the entire room is empty.

The two men that followed behind lowered their guard, entering the room with their weapons lowered slowly. At that moment, Fillia wordlessly used arts.

Creating the same sticky rope that restrained the dark-skinned woman, she restrained the two men at the back.

「Enemy! 」

The first man who entered took up his weapon but, he could do nothing but be cautious of everywhere as he couldn’t see Fillia.

Fillia tried to use the same trick to restrain him.

「Magic!? 」

However, the man who was already on guard immediately noticed and avoided it. The speed of the sticky substance impacting was unavoidable for people that aren’t used to fighting.

Leaving aside if used on someone as a surprise attack, it’s not as effective when used against someone on guard. Fillia who had overlooked that made a blunder.

「There huh! 」

The man threw a dagger towards Fillia who was supposed to be invisible. He must’ve realized the source of where the attack came from.

The same time as Fillia panickily deployed a physical barrier, she dispelled the foothold she created and dropped onto the ground.

Did she get disrupted, or did her concentration break. The invisibility arts lost its effect and Fillia appeared.

「A kid!? 」

Hearing those words from the man as she deflected the thrown dagger with her barrier, she judged that it’s impossible to restrain him and moved into offense.

Fillia swung her hand sideways as she landed. Wind arts manifested from her hand.

It was not the arts for slicing, but a compressed mass of air for impact. No matter how trained his body is, it’s difficult for him to defend against the magical impact. Though, in the first place, there wasn’t enough time for him to avoid the impact that arrived within a split second.

「Gahak――! 」

The man was blown to the opposite wall having taken the compressed air in his abdomen, before passing out. As she restrained the unconscious man with the same sticky rope, Rona dispelled the invisibility arts and reappeared.

「If your surprise attack didn’t restrain all of them at once, they will be on guard and it’ll become troublesome later on. Why didn’t you end it in one move? 」

「Umm……」

「I bet you thought something like 『I might miss aiming at three at the same time』. 」

「Uuu……」

Fillia’s words were stuck after getting pointed out right on the mark.

「Anyways, you can think more about it later. The problem now is how to bring this many people out――」

Just as Rona said so, an intense explosion sound came from above that even reached underground where they were, shaking the entire room.

On top of that, another threatening howl of a beast resounded.

「Kyaa! 」

「W-What? 」

「It’s scary! 」

While the imprisoned women screamed, Fillia sensed the surrounding mana. Although it’s only a narrow radius of fifty meters in radius, she could tell the movement of the surrounding people.

However, Fillia could only tilt her head at the result she got. Rather than mana signatures drawing closer, they are all running outwards.

It’s better to describe them as 『Dispersing』 rather than 『Gathering』.

「Rona. 」

「Aa~ah, what’s he doing. 」

「Eh? 」

Fillia was confused at what Rona said, as the golden beast was having a stupefied expression.

「Nah, it’s nothing. Rather, it’s convenient. Let’s escape in the chaos. 」

「Chaos? 」

Despite not understanding the situation, Fillia who followed Rona’s instructions and guided Haru and the others out from the underground witnessed.

The confused people running about with rubble of various sizes scattered on the ground, and the scene of the biggest building half destroyed.

「Eh, what? 」

Seeing the scenery that changed completely from a while ago, Haru’s words indicated his confusion. At that time, another explosion resounded.

Fillia who followed the source of the sound raised her head up, and saw a ball of flames burning in the air with the sky as the background.

「What is that? 」

「It’s so big……」

Some were surprised, some were confused. It’s natural. After all, the enormous flames is probably visible from any part of the town.

The incarnation of violence that brings about its destruction just by existing. It was a scene that’s unimaginable for anyone that doesn’t live by the battlefield.

Although it’s unknown as to who did it, it can only be a magician.

「Why is a magician in this town……? 」

Someone among the women must’ve thought so. It’s what a normal person will think. However, Fillia’s recognition is a little different from them.

Even if magician, there’s only a few that can create such flames. On top of that, there’s a total of eight of them in the sky.

Lined up in a circular pattern like a necklace, they flaunted the power of the magician, reminding Fillia of a certain person.

If it was only one of them, then there’s probably many magicians that can do that. But creating a second, third one, there’s probably almost none that can do that. Even more so when there’re eight of them, Fillia only knew one magician that’s so unconventional.

「Let’s go, Fillia. 」

「……Unn. 」

Feeling the absolute reassurance, she was once again forced to realize her lacking, as Fillia guided the imprisoned women and Haru out of the association’s base, escaping from the flames in the sky.