The beautiful green-haired elve woman descended in the middle of the two and flicked her fingers, suddenly the demon was blasted back, hastily stabilizing himself in the air, the demon finally noticed that he had coughed blood because of that casual attack, he didn't even see the woman attacking, he started doubting if her Rank wasn't higher than what he had speculated, he is Rank 9 after all, even there is a huge disparity between the two Ranks, it wasn't to the extent where he would be sent flying like a ragdoll.
Suddenly, feeling the wind caressing his face something that shouldn't be possible, the demon brought his hand toward his face to finally becoming aware that his mask had been destroyed.
His pale white face and white hair were displayed, he was a little bit handsome, his eyes were blood red.
''What?" He shouted eyes filled with disbelief, his black mask was a high-grade artifact, to think it could easily be destroyed filled him with fear.
Unbothered by the demon shout, Leena casually swept her hand and twelve heads fell onto the ground.
Gale's eyes widened, as for the demon, he started trembling, he expected this outcome when he saw Leena appearing, however expecting and seeing are two different things, somehow he hoped that Leena took different road hence his men's lives would be spared, unfortunately, it was not the case.
''So, you are their leader?" Leena casually asked as she started slowly advancing, the demon unconsciously took a step back, each time Leena took a step forward he would take a step back, he was afraid as he remembered the expression of terror on his men's face, suddenly he stopped and counted the heads on the ground once more, indeed there were twelve heads, not thirteen which would mean his right-hand man who was almost strong as him must have went to accomplish their real goal.
Thinking about it brought a smile upon his face which didn't go unnoticed by Leena and Gale.
Leena's eyes narrowed, she stopped advancing and asked, ''What make you laugh?"
''Hahaha! I noticed that you being here is a good thing, Marcos can accomplish his mission.'' the demon said not hiding his joy.
Feeling that whatever mission that Marcos was going to accomplish held capital importance to her, Leena decided to probe.
''Which is?"
''Hahaha, all of this, monsters rampage, killing humans and destroying several villages was part of our plan with a single goal of killing a person, an individual who had the potential to destroy our future plan, to help that person.'' the demon blurted out.
''So, you are saying all this massacre was because you want to eliminate only one individual?" Gale asked eyes filled with hatred, he released all of his killing intent. He couldn't be blamed, just imagining that it was because they want to kill only one person, they will go to the extreme and sacrifice so many lives, it's unforgivable.
Leena, on the other hand, was pondering about something, her expression started changing as she thinks about a certain possibility, if it's true then she had made a huge mistake by appearing here.
Meanwhile, the demon smiled and continued to speak, he was secretly planning his escape.
''Indeed, at the start, it was one individual, however, it became two, the one we were planning to kill survive and joined the second whose threat was even higher than the first one, the oracle says we must quickly kill the two. Like that, that traitor would not be able to complete its goal.''
When she heard the first part of the demon's words she was able to confirm her guess, she was not happy at all, her expression changed.
Gale and the demon noticed it, Gale didn't understand why Leena became panicked all of a sudden while the demon's lips curled up into a grin.
''Oh?! It seems you're able to understand what I'm saying, I bet you are now aware of our real motivation.''
To the demon's words, Gale was astonished, he quickly glanced at Leena in the hope of gaining some answer.
However, Leena did not even look at him, she looked at the demon dangerously.
Panicking, the demon stuttered, ''Wh-what? It's already too late, Marcos will accomplish his goal before you go there.''
''It's that so?" Leena said smiling, she started slowly walking toward the demon, the latter panicked and quickly tried to activate the hidden teleportation scroll inside his pocket because it's an extremely long-range teleportation scroll, it needed some time to activate and it must be secretly done, it was why he started blurting out their real goal to buy himself enough time to activate the scroll.
Suddenly, Leena who was fifty meters away from the demon disappeared to reappears right before him, he didn't have to move nor scream as he felt a hand piercing through the armor he wore underneath his clothes and directly destroy his heart, everything happened so fast that it gave the impression that time around the two had stopped.
Removing her hand from the now-dead demon, Leena's hand was clean without any blood on her it, if one looks closely you will notice that her hand was coated with the Wind element.
''Thank you for the information. I'm not a fool, I knew that you were secretly planning to escape since the moment you started spilling everything, it was to divert our attention as you complete your goal.''
Hearing Leena's words, Gale was surprised and at the same time, ashamed for not noticing the demon's scheme because he was too focused on what the demon was saying.
Turning her head in Gale's direction, Leena said, ''Gale, I'll let you clean the battlefield here, don't worry I have taken care of all the hidden problems, it was why I was late. Well, I'm leaving, got something to take care of.''
She didn't wait for Gale before soaring into the sky, leaving Gale to helplessly watch as her figure slowly disappears from his sight. As she was leaving, Leena mumbled to herself, 'I hope nothing bad happened to you two. Stay safe, I'm on my way.'
Back to Gale's location.
''What in the hell happening? Where Lady Leena is going? Is to rescue the two individuals the demon spoke about?"
Numerous questions started running through Gale's mind, he quickly shakes his head and decided to complete the task assigned to him.
Quietly mumbling,
[Wind Steps]
Gale vanished, moving at a fast speed, he appeared on the left side a gigantic Water Bear of 4 meters tall (19.69 ft), thrusting his sword through the latter back, he instantly killed it by crushing its heart.
He immediately switched to another monster and again instantly killed it, by now the adventurers fighting against those monsters became aware of their savior.
''Leader?"
''Yes it's leader, we are saved. Him being here means that demon must have been killed or driven away.''
''Oh?! It's true? If it is then let's quickly finish the remaining monsters and go back home.''
''Home.''
''Home!!!"
The adventurer's morales skyrocket as they witnessed Gale the leader of this expedition reappearing and started killing monsters left and right lessening their burdens, not seeing the demon, they judged it that he had been slain or flee, because the place where Gale and the demon fought was far from the main battlefield, none of the adventurers present here knows what happened, nor they were aware of Leena's arrival, same for when she departed. They were too focused on their fight, too focused on keeping their lives to be able to divert their attention elsewhere.
Gale smiled as he saw his men's morales back, he continued slaying monster after monster, only the strongest, though, as he hoped for whatever plan the last demon was going to complete may be destroyed, he prayed for Leena to quickly go save the persons who seemed to be in danger, the target of the demon's plot.
Suddenly, Gale remembered a certain handsome promising youth and his sister, he wondered if they have completed their final test? Knowing the siblings, they may have finished it. He hoped that it was the case because if it wasn't they may be swept in the demon's plan and die an unfortunate death, it would be sad and unfair as it had nothing to do with them.
''Hope you're already on your way back. Don't die soon, young man. You are destined to do big things. You will surpass this old man soon. I got the same vibe from your sister.''
''Sigh! Let's end this mission, too many of our men have died for a stupid reason, damn you demon.''
After saying those words he continued slaying the strongest monsters, leaving the weaker for his men to finish, they must gain few XP after all.
As for him, if weren't because if he doesn't intervene, he would lose more men, he would have sit on the sidelines and watch his men fight, letting them accumulate a lot of XP to be able to level up, even with all his kills (since he came back) he didn't fill even half of his XP when one's level becomes higher, it becomes harder to level up, it's for this reason that higher Ranked adventurers are rare and priceless.