Chapter 220 Moving Forward
p
"Esteemed Mage, can we rest a little bit? Everyone is already at their limit."
"Mage Lady, please give us some time to rest."
"Benevolent Mage, pardon us for our weakness."
Civilians naturally had a weaker body compared to Battle Mages whether they were physically trained or not. Therefore, it was normal for the civilians to feel tired after running for more than half an hour, no matter how slow Iliana was actually leading them.
Iliana was aware of this fact, but, of course, she didn't like hearing the people whining. They had actually requested the same thing for the last 10 minutes, but Iliana had kept ignoring them.
There weren't many who were vocal in expressing their tiredness at first, but their amount was gradually raising in each passing minute. Iliana would've still ignored them, if it was not for this fact.
Stopping abruptly, she spun on her heel, then turned to the civilians following closely behind her. "5 minutes! Whether you are ready or not, I'll take off after 5 minutes!" She crossed her hands and glared at the crowd irritatingly.
"Thank you for your benevolence, Esteemed Mage!"
"May Gods bestow upon you an endless fortune, Benevolent Mage!"
"You are the best, Mage Lady!"
Despite the lack of warmth in Iliana's time, the civilians still rejoiced at the fact that she still let them rest. They immediately sat themselves on the ground, and heaved a deep breath to fill their lungs.
Iliana looked at the scene neutrally, then clicked her tongue helplessly. She had a strong urge to leave the people behind, but she couldn't just take the little girl away with her—even though she entered this place only to save that girl.
'Besides, I will have no face to face Basil if I leave them behind. He, like the other Mages, believe that Mage is identical with sacrifices, and I want to prove him wrong.'
Moreover, she had her pride that prevented her from leaving the people behind. Although she knew Basil wouldn't look at her strangely if she did so, she didn't want to break her principle—her naive principle.
'I am different from the rest of the Mages.'
She was cold, but never had she uselessly killed people. She didn't like all of the Nobles approaching her, but never had she killed them in a Duel; sending them to a Recovery Chamber in the Church was the only thing she did to them.
She didn't mind killing people, but she believed killing was not the only solution to a conflict—an usual opinion that deviated from what actually happened in the world. She realized she was a little bit naive, but she liked to call her trait "realistically idealistic."
'Things won't go as beautiful as I imagine it ought to be, but that's how this world works, and I don't have a plan to change my mind ... Yet.'
Shaking her head to clear the thought off her mind, she squinted her eyes the moment she detected two presences coming her way. The two presences were surrounded by many Mana Signatures, and she couldn't tell which belonged to the two presences.
"They feel somehow familiar though..." Iliana mused to herself, then turned her gaze to the resting civilians. "There is something coming, and you have to run when I signal you to."
Hearing that something was coming from Iliana, the reaction from the civilians was as expected—chaotic. They quickly stood up and urgently told the others to prepare themselves to run.
"Quick! We can't let the Esteemed Mage's effort to save us end up in vain."
"Everyone, prepare yourself!"
"Hurry up, don't bring anyone else down with you!"
Since they were the only people in the tunnel, their loud voice was echoed through the whole tunnel. Normally, Iliana would've told them to shut their mouth, but she didn't do anything to make them keep everything quiet this time.
"Since the enemies have already caught up to us, keeping them quiet is useless," Iliana muttered as she walked to the direction where the presences were coming her way. "Furthermore, the more panic they are, the faster they can run."
Tightening her hold on her spear, she infused Mana into it. She was about to attack the two figures the moment she could faintly see them, but she stopped herself entirely when she realized she actually knew who the two figures were.
"Ah, Sister! We have finally found you!"
"Darn it, Iliana! How could you run so fast with the civilians!"
Iliana blinked her eyes at the unexpected appearance of the two people. "Cray, Whitney? What are they doing here?" She was about to let her guard down, when she noticed there were another two presences approaching. "Whitney, Cray, move out of the way!"
Upon hearing Iliana's shout, Whitney and Cray quickly waved their hands wildly. "No, Iliana, they are friends!" They knew what she was going to do, and they didn't want it to happen. "They are Thompson and Steve—the Knights who are helping us!"
They arrived in front of Iliana a few seconds after, and they immediately heaved a sigh of relief the moment Iliana put her spear down. Turning to the back, they gazed at the incoming Knight duo together with Iliana.
"They hide their presence well," Iliana commented.
In the very first place, it was normal for a Mage to not be able to detect the presence of a Knight. They essentially utilized two different kinds of Energy, and the Energy they utilized was the one that indicated their presence.
Mages couldn't detect Qi, and Knights couldn't detect Mana—at least that was the case for most of the population.
There were still people like Iliana who could detect the presence of people that practiced a different Principle, despite not having a basic understanding of said Principle.
This is the reason why she was slightly amazed at how good Thompson and Steven could hide their presence.
"Well, we can't help it. Those Monsters acted like they weren't interested in us at first, but they quickly charged at us like rabid dogs the moment they lost their sight on you. We have to hide our presence to avoid fighting too many of them."
Iliana turned to Whitney, then quirked her eyebrow. "Why are they behind you?"
Instead of Whitney, Cray was the one who answered her. "Ah, that's because they are Knights—they are good at close combat."
"Then, what about you, Cray?"
Cray was a Battle Mage—he was also good at close combat. According to the reason he told Iliana, he should also be joining the two Knights instead of running side by side with Whitney.
"Kuhum! That is..." Cray scratched his head in embarrassment. "That's because they have Jocelyn to support them. So, I have to be by Whitney's side to protect him." He grinned brightly the moment he had found a perfect excuse.
Since Iliana had already been looking at the direction the two Knights were coming to look for Jocelyn the moment Cray had started to utter his excuse, his excuse actually went unheard.
She was aware that Cray had actually tired his Magic Circles out though—she knew that was his real reason for not joining the Knights.
Cray might not look like it, but he was quite a prideful fellow. Therefore, Iliana didn't call him out on that, and chose to look for Jocelyn whose presence she still couldn't feel at the moment.
"Where is—oh, so that is the case..."
Iliana could already see Jocelyn riding on her Transportation Artefact right behind Thompson and Steven, and she could also figure out the reason why she couldn't feel Jocelyn's presence.
"To think they cover her with Qi Shell... They are pretty creative."
Judging by the way Jocelyn was positioned, Iliana could tell she must be the one who faced the Demons while they were moving. The Knights faced the Demons when she was tired—when they stopped—and they repeated this cycle until they met her.
"They are different than most of the Knights we have ever met," Whitney remarked. "Not just any Knight would cooperate that much with a Mage."
"Indeed, that's why they are interesting." Iliana nodded her head simply.
The three people arrived in front of Iliana a few seconds later, and Jocelyn immediately jumped at Iliana to hug her tightly.
"Ah, I have finally met you!"
Iliana blinked her eyes at the unexpected gesture from the petite girl, but still patted her head to appreciate the gesture.
"Ah, sorry!" Jocelyn widened her eyes in surprise, and quickly let go of her hug. "I thought you were Alexandra!" She smiled in embarrassment, then bowed politely.
"Are you dumb? Do I look like a redhead?" Iliana looked at the petite girl rather weirdly, and quickly waved her hand. "Anyway, don't answer my rhetorical question."
Jocelyn scratched her head in embarrassment, and laughed shily. "Hehe... Alexandra has also told me a lot that I am dumb, so I think I don't have to defend myself."
Cray, who was looking at the exchange from the side, blinked his eyes in bewilderment. He was about to chime in, but Whitney immediately covered his mouth as he knew Cray wouldn't say anything good.
"They all look weary," Thompson commented while looking at the civilians. "Are you guys on rest?" He turned to Iliana.
"We were. But now that you have arrived here, it is better to move." Thompson was about to ask for Iliana's reason, but Iliana explained herself even before he could open his mouth. "You are bringing the Monsters with you, right?"
Thompson stayed silent, and Steven, who was beside Thompson, merely nodded his head in confirmation.
"I will take Jocelyn and Cray with me in the front, and I'll entrust the back to you." Iliana gestured her head at Thompson. "Is this acceptable?"
Thompson nodded wordlessly, and Iliana immediately faced the civilians. "We will be moving at the same pace as earlier!"
Iliana led the group with Jocelyn and Cray on her side, and the civilians moved once again with the Knights and Whitney guarding behind them.
'Something is happening. Cray and the others shouldn't be able to meet us.' Also at that moment, she realized that Basil wasn't helping her to escape with the civilians anymore. 'Basil, what are you actually planning to do?'