At this moment The group of Marshall and the others were running with their full speed.
"Huff... Huff... will Sir Marco be fine?" Panting lightly, Gadjah asked the group as he carried Lolopechka on his back.
"We can't say for sure... but! I believe in him, he can pull through. So let's focus and keep moving to where he said we can escape to." Marshall said as they recalled what Marco said to them earlier.
Marco didn't have time to lead them, because in order to stop the Mage Warriors from noticing the lack of personnel in the prison area and alerting the outpost, he immediately headed out to eliminate them, so he just told Marshall and the group the location of this outpost's weak spot. This weak spot is where there are few guards and can be used as their breakthrough point to escape.
"...Gadjah, give Little Lolopechka to me, I can carry her." Marshall said as he slowed down to match the teen's speed. Given Marshall's physique he can carry the small girl without any problems, while Gadjah's current physique required him to exert more effort in moving while carrying Lolopechka.
Gadjah hesitantly looked at Marshall before feeling Lolopechka's grip on his shoulder tighten. Hearing their words, Lolopechka didn't feel good as she couldn't help thinking that she is useless.
"Don't worry sir Gadjah, listen to sir Marshall. You need to be able to freely move if there are enemies." Lolopechka said in stern voice as she has to keep her bearing, being the future Queen of Heart Kingdom, yet a tinge of guilt and sadness could be heard from her voice.
It pained Gadjah to see Lolopechka like this, so he nodded at her, and prepared to give her to Marshall.
"Don't worry kid, even if enemies come, carrying Lolopechka is nothing. For me, she weighs just as much as my boots. Haha!" Marshall attempted to lighten the mood and assuring that the both can be at ease in his care.
The two then slow down for Lolopechka to climb on Marshall's back. But as soon as they slowed down their feet was suddenly stuck to the ground, slowly sinking.
Gadjah was immediately alerted, as his eyes widened and immediately prepared to attack, generating a ball of lightning in his palms. He scans his surroundings only to see Chris and Ali standing far away, not affected by the quicksand since he and Marshall slowed down. He then saw Marshall creating an iron chain as he prepared to throw it at Chris.
"Sir Marshall!" Gadjah suddenly screamed.
"What?!" When Marshall turned to the teenage boy he froze.
"Where is Lolopechka?" Upon hearing those words he quickly looked around and saw nothing.
In a panic, Gadjah hastily pushes himself on the quicksand while having the lightning ball active. When the lightning ball made contact with the quicksand, it quickly conducted electricity and produced two distinct grunts. One was from a familiar tone, Marshall, while the other sounded foreign.
When Gadjah heard this, he saw a figure rising from the quicksand. This figure was wearing a Mage Warrior attire, and grey hair. In his arms was the bespectacled girl, Lolopechka.
"That stings." He said while staring into Gadjah. He suddenly stretched out his hand, when a grimoire with a diamond insignia and different colors appeared.
"Terrain Magic: Mountain Vault Seal!" He quickly casted a restraining spell on the two. The quicksand suddenly shifted in its form, it rose as it began to swallow Marshall and Gadjah.
But the spell was interrupted as Chris suddenly went into action, "Water Magic: Stream Whip!". In the year that passed being trained by Randall, this was Chris' newly developed spell.
A stream of water suddenly appeared and whipped the grimoire that cast the terrain spell.
"Bastard!" The grimoire's pages quickly flipped.
"Terrain Magic: Dry Ground!" The ground then began to heat up, as it quickly solidified the quicksand and weakened Chris' water spell.
While stuck in the ground, Marshall effortlessly created iron knives, which he threw at the Mage Warrior with precision. To which the warrior jumped back to dodge. He then looked at Gadjah in anticipation of his move.
Although some time has passed, the group didn't exchange any words. They just attacked until the Mage Warrior put some distance between them. Now they have the time to analyze their situation.
"Give her back!" Gadjah screamed in a height of emotions, as all the worry and anxiety he feels right now are different from the past. Now the reality is that he couldn't, and can't protect Lolopechka. She is now in danger, with the possibility of losing he life.
"Hehe, no thanks!" This Mage Warrior sneered at the teen in front of him. Since the Dry Ground spell was active Gadjah and Marshall are essentially being cooked alive since they're stuck in the solidified quicksand that was rising in temperature.
He then monitors Chris and Ali who were far away. He already identified Chris as a water mage, while Ali was a mystery to him. But he concluded that Ali doesn't possess and offensive spell since he hasn't attacked until now.
Suddenly Marshall and Gadjah jolted as they glanced at each other, obviously having the same thought, 'He must have heard it'.
["I'm close by, get ready!"] Although they were surprised they quickly composed themselves as they heard Marco's familiar voice. So they slightly nodded at each other, while preparing their spells.
Meanwhile, after Marco used Sound Transmission, he was sprinting on the corridor walls. This was another application of mana skin that he had engineered. Now that he knew the opponent's magic attribute, he was now cautious in making contact with the ground, therefore he opted to control his mana skin to stick his feet on the surface of the wall. Now he can stand on any surface he liked, heck he could even stand from the ceiling should he will it.
As he moved at breakneck speeds, Marco was now near the location of Gadjah and the others.
With Marco's speed, and ability to mask his sound, he quickly approached Vill without him noticing. Marco then prepared his body to maneuvered into Vill's space to grab Lolopechka, and snatch his grimoire mid-air.
"Hmm?" Suddenly sensing that something was off, the mage warrior prepared to leave. But suddenly Marco appeared in front of him grasping Lolopechka by her collar, and his grimoire that Marco grabbed mid-air.
'What the?! Where'd he come from?!' Vill panicked when he recognized Marco as the person that single-handedly slaughtered his group.
Due to panic and Marco's sheer speed, Vill couldn't properly process what happened, as the speed demon gave another kick to the Mage Warrior's chest in order to create some distance between them.
Vill went flying back as he coughed out blood from Marco's kick. Upon seeing this Gadjah immediately cast his spell.
"Lightning Magic: Tenjiolia!" The spell generated a ferocious lightning bolt, headed towards Vill. Thanks to Marco, Gadjah had enough time to channel this spell.
When the lightning bolt struck Vill, he felt the electricity coursing through his body, leaving him shocked and burnt by the lightning.
Marshall followed this by wrapping the Mage Warrior in his iron chain. Right now no one knows if he is dead or alive. Except Marco who can hear his heartbeat, even though it was quite weak.
'This should be solved, but that guy was quite strange, why didn't he alert the outpost and went straight for Lolopechka after escaping? Since this guy is quite capable and can move around so much he's not an ordinary Mage Warrior. He must be quite special to not worry about alerting this place. He must have some reasons...' While Marco was brainstorming the reasons, Lolopechka who was in Marco's arms stared his face in a daze as she fixed the position of her glasses.
"T-thank you, S-sir Marco." Lolopechka stuttered as she was overwhelmed by emotions. After all her life, as well as her companions' life was risked as she was captured by an enemy.
But upon looking at his visage that was deep in thought, Lolopechka couldn't help but feel an admiration to his character and capabilities.
"Sir?" Marco who is now back to reality raised a brow at her words.
"Oh uh, Marco, thank you." Lolopechka was flustered as she corrected herself.
"You're welcome." Marco grinned at her while wiping some of the sweat that formed on his face. But when the girl saw this, she blushed like a tomato.
"Y-you can put me down now." Lolopechka said as she has been in Marco's arms for a while. Marco just nodded and complied.
"Lady Lolopechka! Sir Marco!" Gadjah immediately rushed to them as soon as he broke free from the ground.
"Oh, hey sir Gadjah. Nice lightning bolt!" Marco gave him a thumbs up, as he appreciated teammates that know when to act.
"It was all thanks to you Sir Marco." Gadjah said as he bowed slightly in gratitude for saving them and respect for his abilities.
"Um... M-Marco, why do you let Sir Gadjah call you 'Sir'?" Lolopechka suddenly asked.
Marco glanced at her, "Well we aren't exactly peers, and I also call him Sir Gadjah so..."
"I see..." Lolopechka nodded in understanding.
"Hey let's all talk later. Right now we have somewhere to go right Marco?" Marshall interjected,as he then glanced at Vill.
"Let me finish this guy." Chris said as he approached Vill's unconscious body.
"Wait!" Upon hearing Marco's voice, everyone quickly gave him their attention. While Chris asked what's the hold up.
"There's something strange about him. This guy actually escaped from me, but didn't alert this whole place about us. He just went straight to you guys. So there must be some way for him to alert the place without worry."
When Marco said his piece, everyone went quiet as the stared at Vill in thought.
"Maybe someone monitors the Mage Warriors life force." Ali said.
"No, I've already finished some of them off but weren't alerted." Marco quickly replied.
"..." When they heard that, everyone went silent as they thought about Marco could kill the Mage Warriors. Everyone had different thoughts about this, but quickly came to an understanding.
Marshall did not feel good about it, but he cares about is Marco's well being. Chris and Ali were impressed, and nervous as they put themselves in Marco's position. Gadjah and Lolopechka felt admiration for Marco's mental strength, they felt bad of course, but accepted their reality of Diamond Kingdom waging war.
"This... anyways kid, this Mage Warrior seemed stronger than normal grunts so he could be a lieutenant of some kind." Marshall offered his piece.
When Marco heard this, his mind began deducing the truth.
"...I think the leader of this place has the ability to see the life force of his lieutenants." Lolopechka who was silent for a while, muttered.
"Bingo!" Marco also concluded the same so he gave her a high five.
"So, since the leader of this place can monitor his lieutenants only, we should keep him alive until we get away-" Just as Marco spoke about their plan, he noticed something that will throw them off their plans.
He couldn't hear Vill's heartbeat anymore. His heart stopped beating.
"Fuck!" Marco rushed to Vill, removing the iron chains wrapped on his body and quickly did chest compressions.
'Damn it we don't have healers... we actually dealt more damage than expected. I thought he could live for a while but...'
"Screw it!" Marco immediately gave up as he saw no progress in prolonging Vill's life.
"Let's go!" He then went straight at Lolopechka as he lifted her, and carried her to his back.
"Wha-" That was the last sound everyone heard from the girl before vanishing.
"So fast!" Gadjah's eyes widened upon witnessing it.
"Sheesh, the kid is really built different." Marshall said as he whistled in amazement.
They then remembered the place they had to go, and immediately headed there.
While the others were tracing them, Marco and Lolopechka were already in the predetermined location.
"Let's wait for them." Marco said as he panted heavily, visibly exhausted as he has been quite active all this time. From their house to escaping the outpost, it was extremely hectic for Marco. He then sat on the ground to rest for a bit.
"Alright..." Lolopechka kept fidgeting in thought as she kept glancing at Marco.
Marco didn't pay heed to this, as he proceeded to sit in a meditative position. He then began to re-accumulate the mana he lost with his mana breathing technique.
Upon seeing this, Lolopechka had an idea, a she had been thinking of ways to help Marco.
"Hey, Marco."
When he heard that, he quickly opened his eyes and saw a ball of energy in Lolopechka's hand. To which he immediately identified as a ball made of pure mana.
"Take it." The bespectacled girl said in stern voice, without any intention to have Marco reject her help.
Marco stared into her blue eyes with a look of understanding and appreciation. He then took Lolopechka's mana to absorb it.
"Thanks!" Marco grinned at the girl for her timely support.
"Y-You're welcome!" Lolopechka was once again flustered, but this emotion was overcame by happiness as she finally helped her savior.
Soon enough Marco regained his mana reserves. Without wasting time he then place his palm on the ground, and began to cast a spell.
Sound Transmission!
After a while, Marco was once again tired, indicating that what he did was a task that took a toll on his energy. When he was about to fall due to his current weakness, Lolopechka quickly assisted him as she gave more mana.
***
In Forsaken Realm of Clover Kingdom, in Reon Village an strange phenomena occured.
"Sir Randall!" Marco's voice echoed throughout the village, as every villager looked for the source, only to discover it came from the ground. This continued until it reached the ears of Randall himself.
He was currently headed for Kelly's Tavern until he heard Marco's familiar voice, and stopped in his tracks.
'Marco? Why would he call for me?' This had Randall curious so he turned back and headed for Marco's house.
Upon entering the familiar place of the Hunters' houses he quickly noticed that no one was around.
He narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he raised his grimoire. Randall was quite cautious because of this bad feeling his guts has.
Soon enough, after looking around, he saw a note on the door of each house. He then approached one of the note.
'This is... Han's doing. Fuck!' As soon as he finished reading it he immediately pulled out a communication device used by Magic Knights.
"Requesting Backup! Diamond Kingdom forces spotted! Gather at Reon Village in the Forsaken Realm!" Although in a panic, Randall still spoke clear, and concise for his fellow Magic Knight to process.
'The note said they left some trails, so I should at least gather companions for this raid.'
Randall's communication device broadcasted it to other Magic Knights that possess that same device.
Far away in a forest at the Commoner Realm, two Magic Knights that were draped in a gray, wooly robe, that had a deer insignia were standing on their flying broom.
The voice of Randall echoed in the forest, as one of the Magic Knight that had teal eyes, and black hair tied to a ponytail turned to his companion.
"Did you hear that Yami? Let's help!" The magic knight said as he gave his companion an assuring smile.
The other Magic Knight had messy, swept back, black hair, and sharp grey eyes. He had a slim, muscular build and a distinct sword on his waist, he was wearing a white A-shirt, and black trousers underneath his robe.
"Oh come on Morgen, let's just grab a drink. We just finished off these bandits." Yami heaved an exasperated sigh.
"Come on Yami let's go!" Morgen once again "persuaded" his companion.
"...Fine." Even though he was hesitant, he couldn't bear to leave all the action to his friend.
"Good." Morgen raised his communication device and quick responded.
"Morgen Faust, and Yami Sukehiro from Grey Deer Squad are on the way."
To which they controlled their flying broom, and headed to the Forsaken Realm at top speed.
"Hey don't forget to report to Captain Julius." Yami reminded his friend.
"Oh right."