As we came out of the portal, we were immediately greeted by a large eye staring straight toward us.
“…!”
A large hand was coming down on us from above.
Igni quickly went forward and flew toward the large hand, letting out a kick to intercept it. However, the hand didn’t budge an inch. The monster was strong, probably around the 8th level in power.
“Fang!”
Before I even commanded her, Fang was already casting [Shadow Skip] as she reappeared right in front of the large eye of the gigantic monster.
“Get your dirty hands away from us!”
She roared in anger as she used her claws, clad in darkness, towards its pupil, which was as large as Fang herself. The large demon, which largely looks similar to a cyclops based on myths, cried in pain as it lifted its two hands to cover its damaged eye.
“Now, quick!”
Taking this chance, we immediately retreated. With the power of recovery of an 8th-stage demon, a scratch from a 3rd-level tamed beast would be nothing. At most, the Cyclops probably felt like getting sand into its eyes. It was painful, but nothing that a few seconds of rest couldn’t fix.
As the cyclops was temporarily blinded, Ember used her portal once more and moved us a kilometer away from the previous spot. Right after, Fang used a concealment veil to hide our presence from the surrounding demons.
“Phew, that gave me quite a scare.”
I sighed as we were finally in the clear. The other three were similarly relieved.
“For now, Fang and Ember, you two take charge of reconnaissance. To have an 8th-ranked demon this close to the base… Something must have happened.”
The two quickly nodded and went to work. Ember sent her remaining clones ahead to scout, while Fang kept her ears perked up to pick up even the slightest noise coming from demons or monsters around her.
“Igni would be guarding the two. Protect them in case of a surprise attack.”
“As you wish, My Lord.”
With our plan ironed out, we carefully headed south, back to the base camp.
Whenever Ember’s clone found demons ahead of us, we would make a detour and take a safer route. When Fang detected the presence of invisible or flying enemies, we would stand still, relying on the hiding function of the veil.
I, on the other hand, watched out for attacks from underground. With my eyes, I could see demons hiding under the rocky surface of the ground. Igni kept her vigilance at all times, watching out for long-range attacks—attacks outside of our perception range.
It took us an hour just to cover about 20 kilometers. It was pretty slow given that the camp was still over 100 kilometers away from us. At this pace, by the time we reach the base camp, the sun will be setting. ．
However, our safety was the top priority. If we need to move at a snail’s pace for safety, then that’s what we will do.
A few hours later, we could finally see the base camp in the distance. However, as expected, something did happen. All over the camp, demons were running around, causing damage and chaos. Skills of various colors danced in the air as they fought back against the flooding demons.
Even from a distance, it was obviously a losing fight. The demons outnumber them ten to one. Furthermore, the levels of the attacking demons were at least 6th level. It was a hopeless scene, to the point that I just wanted to pass through and return to the lands beyond the border, escaping responsibility.
From the fact that there were only a few mercenary teams left, most of them probably had the same idea as me and had already ran away. The closest one to our location, about three kilometers away, was the familiar all-girls group, the Lily Knights.
They were fighting in the middle of a wolf-like demon swarm, maintaining a delicate balance of offense and defense against the enemy. However, their faces show that they were already nearing their limits. If we let them be, then they would probably fall to the wolves in half an hour at most.
“…”
I hesitated to help them, however. Since they were suspecting me of having Seimei blood earlier, I honestly don’t know if doing so would be a plus or a minus for me in the future.
“Master…”
But as usual, Ember’s compassionate nature forced me to go. Although we were only acquainted with them for a short while, even I would feel awkward leaving someone I even bothered introducing myself to, albeit with a fake name, to die.
“Alright, alright. Same formation as before; let’s go!”
As I commanded, the three of them smiled at the same time. Although I don’t know what they were thinking, the emotions passed to me from our links were mostly admiration and happiness.
We charged straight through the middle, sending the wolves along the way to hell. With Fang’s and Igni’s claws, the wolves got cut up like potatoes as they were sent away one by one.
“Yulia! We’ve come to help!”
I shouted as loudly as possible toward the group of ladies.
“This voice… Leon?!”
Yulia sounded surprised.
“I thought you guys died! At least, that’s what the leader of the 13th said.”
We cleared the remaining wolves in front and managed to reach their circle. Fang quickly went around, passing through the shadows and slashing the vital organs of unsuspecting wolves. Igni held the rear and slayed any wolf that dared to approach from behind. Ember went to the middle and set up for long-range support and healing if needed.
“It’s a long story, but let’s just say that we survived in the end.”
I shrugged my shoulders as I waved the sword in my hand, cutting off an incoming wolf’s head.
“Rather than that, what’s this situation? Just what happened while we were away?”
I asked as I fought. Yulia dodged a wolf that pounced on her and stabbed her lance into its abdomen.
“We don’t really know. They just appeared all of a sudden and attacked the whole base. Even the military guys were having a hard time against three 8th-stage demons.”