"Hm? Running away… My combat strength is still lacking…"
Leonel was a bit disatisfied with his performance. In truth, he could have caught up with the Demon Lord had he truly wanted to. The main issue was that the mission he was assigned was to bring these escapees back with him.
It had been about half a month since the battle at the Large Barracks. As Lancelot had feared, the Demons had indeed begun a large scale offensive. As a result, many of the Small Barracks had been taken out.
Due to this, the knights and mages that had been posted at these Small Barracks were forced into retreating, leading to the situation here today.
What was surprising, though, was that a Demon Lord had actually personally come to chase them. Leonel didn't know if this Demon Lord was just bored or if there was another reason, but he couldn't fathom a true reason why a Demon Lord would chase after a group of 30 or so like this. What was the point?
Leonel looked back to find the old and young knight looking at him with incredulous expressions..
How could they not be shocked? This was a Demon Lord they were talking about. Even battling one to a standstill was impressive, let alone forcing one into retreat. But, from Leonel's words, it sounded like he wasn't satisfied with this?
"Let's go, I'll bring you out of here."
Leonel put away an ordinary wooden spear, facing the two knights.
"… Y-yes…"
The young knight managed to eek out.
Compared to his Captain, he was even more shocked. That was because he had been caught by Leonel earlier.
According to common sense, being thrown with such force and stopping so abruptly should have hurt at least one of them if not both. Even if Leonel's strength was beyond the point of allowing him to be hurt by such a thing, at the very least, he alone should have been hurt.
Yet, not only did Leonel fully stop his momentum without issue, but neither of them were injured. In the moment, he only felt that he was enveloped by a soft force. Then, he came to a stop and was rested on the ground.
Such a boundary of strength… he couldn't even comprehend it.
There were no limit to knights that could stop his momentum and leave unscathed. But… doing so while allowing him to remain uninjured at the same time…?
Even his Captain was nothing but an ant before these things.
The young knight blankly followed behind Leonel, his mind lost in the clouds.
"Captain!"
A group of knights ahead sighed a breath of relief when they saw their Captain return safely. Numerous thankful gazes landed on Leonel.
"There's no time right now." Leonel waved away their thank you's. "It's highly likely that there will be more enemies coming. I've cast [Silence] on our surroundings. Don't mind the noise you're making, just run with all you have."
Leonel spoke quickly.
'[Silence]? Isn't that an immobile spell? But the way this senior is talking about it, it's as though it will follow us around? How is that possible?'
The young knight was dumbfounded.
Though he was a knight, he had trained with mages many times before. After all, knights and mages needed to work together to defend the Barracks. A common spell like [Silence] that could be used by any Official Mage was definitely something he was familiar with.
Leonel didn't bother to explain. His Internal Sight had already stretched out. He realized that his previous speculations had been correct. This Demon Lord chased after this group alone for his own sadistic reasons, but now that Leonel was here, he had retreated to regroup with his men. It could be said that the true chase was only starting now.
"[Trace: Arrow]."
A surge of wind surrounded Leonel. Soon, a pale blue arrow was formed, hovering about his palm. In the darkness, it was particularly striking. But, it was also dim enough that it couldn't be seen from too far away.
"Follow this arrow and you'll be able to meet up with the others."
The Captain's expression changed at these words.
"But…"
"I know what you want to say. You split up to begin with so that you'd be more difficult to find. But, you don't need to worry about this anymore. Sir Peirce is leading his troops toward the region of your #19 Small Barracks, so they won't be able to continue chasing you for long. I'm just the vanguard."
The Captain's eyes brightened along with his small squadron's. They thought they were finished. But it seemed that they had hope now.
There was one among them that only grew more and more shocked with every word Leonel spoke, though. And that person was the young knight.
'[Trace: Arrow]? That spell should only be able to work if the mage is present, but the way senior is talking about it, it's as though he doesn't need to be here at all.
'The range of [Trace: Arrow] is extremely limited as well…'
[Trace: Arrow] was a tandem spell, meaning it had a partner. [Trace: Target] was a seal type spell that [Trace: Arrow] was able to home in on.
The issue was that the maximum range of this tandem spell was one mile. But the distance between the separated group was at least ten times that, or else what was the point in running separately?!
The young knight didn't believe for a moment that Leonel didn't know this.
'Just who is he…'
At that moment, the sight of several torches approaching from the distance lit the night skies.
"Go, now." Leonel said sternly.
His carefree demeanor had vanished. Facing just one Demon Lord wasn't a problem. But, facing one leading a squad of 50 or so was a completely different matter.
However, this was the kind of challenge Leonel wanted.
Without waiting for the knights behind him to respond, he shot forward.
In his hand an odd spear appeared. It was about two meters long, a normal length for such a weapon, albeit shorter than Leonel's Spear Peak black spear.
However, this wasn't the true oddity. Normally, a spear's blade would only be a small percentage of the length of the weapon. But, this spear was vastly different. Its blade was a third of the length of the spear!
Leonel brandished the spear, casting [Shining Eyes] on his irises.
In that moment, his vision and Internal Sight superimposed, giving him a clear vision of everything happening on the forest floor that night.
His gaze flashed with determination, his Dreamscape flashing with arcs of lightning as several spear styles began to coalesce in his mind.