THE LORD IS TOO OVERBEARING

The Mages and Knights moved at a slow but steady pace to let the civilians keep up with them. Despite so however, the civilians barely able to keep up due to their fatigue.

"We are moving too slow. I won't be surprised if the Monsters catch up to us anytime now." Cray glanced behind him at the civilians, and couldn't help clicking his tongue in annoyance.

Turning his head to Iliana, he looked at her incomprehensibly. "I'm surprised we had a hard time regrouping with you even though you were moving at this speed."

"Basil helped us."

At Iliana's simple answer, Cray's eyes widened in surprise. "So this place is really...!" He sighed, then shook his head. "What are you and Basil actually planning to do?"

"I don't know," Valeria answered simply. "As you can see, we have now regrouped. That only means one thing: it is all thanks to Basil."

"I mean, why did you even agree to enter this place with these useless meat?"

"Basil didn't tell me to do it—he forbade me even. I decided to enter this place with them on my own accord."

Cray hummed to himself as he found Iliana's decision was rather unlike her. Usually, she wouldn't even care about leaving people behind, after all.

"Did you have any specific reason to do that?" Iliana didn't immediately answer Cray, and he didn't urge her to do it. He waited patiently, until Iliana decided to open her mouth.

"These people have a Silencer's scent on them, which makes them the main target of Low Grade Monsters ... Basil initially used them as a bait to distract the Low Grade Monsters, so everyone out there can easily wipe the Middle Class Demons out."

"Ah, so that's the case..." Cray nodded his head in understanding, and said nothing else.

He didn't need Iliana to explain herself for he knew what Iliana meant. No matter how many times the useless Nobles had tried to undermine Iliana, she was undoubtedly an outstanding Mage.

As a fellow commoner, she was also someone Cray and every student of Rehearsal Class respected heavily. They treated her like their family, and she treated them likewise.

Therefore, all of them knew of Iliana's one unique trait: she wasn't very fond of Mages despite being one herself.

She didn't like the way they treated lives, and she didn't want to be like them. Sure, she was a cold person who wouldn't mind killing people, but she had never toyed with someone's life, unlike the majority of Mages.

The way Basil treated the civilians were the same as the way most Mages treated them: just another sacrifice for the greater good. Cray could immediately conclude this was the reason why Iliana had insisted to go with the civilians.

'She is too soft.'

Cray shook his head bitterly at the thought of Iliana. He, like the others, had realized it long ago that Iliana was just naturally a softhearted individual—unbefitting of a Mage—but he never dare to say it to her, just like the others.

'She would treat what I say as nonsense, and her fist would come right after.' Cray shuddered at the thought, and decided to drop the matter entirely. 'Nonetheless, Whitney and I are here to make sure nothing bad would happen to her.'

Cray was aware that they were far inferior to Iliana in terms of power, but he believed they would still be able to save her when things turn south.

Just like that a few minutes passed, and the dreaded moment finally came not long after.

"They are here!"

"Everyone, stay in your place!"

Thompson and Steven glared at the incoming Demons in front of them, and couldn't help gulping nervously. Although the Mages were quiet, unlike them, they knew without being told that they were perfectly sandwiched from two sides—the front and the back.

"O our benevolent Gods, save us from this predicament!"

"May thou bestow upon us mercy for sins, venerable Gods!"

"Ah, are we going to die here?!"

"Grandpa, I'm scared!"

Despite being utterly spent, the civilians could still react to the predicament rowdily on the ground, and the Mages and Knights alike couldn't help clicking their tongue at that.

The civilians understood their position well in this matter: they highly likely would be left behind if things turned south.

There was nothing wrong in their thought, and because of that the Mages and Knights clicked their tongue. They were annoyed that the 99 people had immediately decided that they would lose the battle—their pride was hurt.

"Whitney, support us!" Thompson dashed forward, followed by Steven who said the same thing.

Whitney didn't respond them out loud, but still muttered under his breath. "Instruction is unneeded." Extending his hand, he materialized his Grimoire, and cast an Earth Element Spell. "[Earthen Wall]!"

Immediately, the earth rose behind him, creating a thick wall that separated him and the civilians. "[Field of Shackle]!" Casting another Spell, he successfully bound a few hundreds unfortunate Low Class Demons with it.

Looking at the immobilized Demons, Thompson and Steven were naturally excited. Activating their Aura Ability at the same time, they used it on the immobilized Demons, while still charging at them.

"[Matter Augmentation: Elongation]!"

Thompson's sword elongated at a high speed, and it was heading towards the Demons standing in its way. All of them were skewered helplessly; very few of them managed to move out of the elongating sword's way.

"[Gravity Center: Repulsion]!"

Unlike Thompson, who was skewering the Demons, Steven swung his sword at the Demons once, blasting all of them away.

Some were immediately dead the moment they bumped into each other's head, but they mostly survived it with a severe broken bones.

If they were humans, Steven would let them be that way, but since they were Demons, who had an absurd regeneration factor, he couldn't let them be.

Therefore, he hurled the small solid earthen balls Whitney had created at them with his Aura Ability to finish them.

On the front side, Iliana was the only person charging at the Demons as she was the only available Battle Mage. Cray's Magic Circles were still tired due to his prior encounter with the Demons, and he was entrusted with the task of protecting Jocelyn.

Looking at the usually airheaded Jocelyn, who was now supporting Iliana with her Spells, Cray couldn't help cursing under his breath. "Darn it! I feel so useless. There is nothing I can really do—oh, there is actually something I can do."

He was about to mock himself for mocking the airheaded Jocelyn who turned out to be useful, but he quickly grinned excitedly the moment he saw there were some sneaky Demons that managed to jump past Iliana.

Boom!

Materializing his barely recovered four Magic Circles, Cray Reinforced his whole body, and enveloped his hands with Wind Magic. Kicking the ground, he shot at the Demons coming his way.

"Welcome to hell, bastards!" He grabbed the head of the first Demon reaching him, then pulled it strongly.

Spurt!

The Demon's head was torn off its neck, allowing a fountain of blood to come out of its neck. Cray, as an avid battle maniac, was grinning the entire time, uncaring of how he looked like in another people's eyes.

"Cray, you are so cool!" At least, unlike the civilians, Jocelyn could still find the positive side of Cray's display.

"Hahaha! I am aware of it!" Cray became even more pumped up, and just like that, the battle continued until they decided to move again 10 minutes later.

...

In the secret underground bunker, Basil was close to end his fight with the Paladins. Using their lack of knowledge about him against them, Basil had managed to kill 8 out of the 10 Paladins acting as Eugene's escort.

All of them were extremely bewildered at Basil's prowess, and Basil exploited their bewilderment to the best he could. Of course, his experience as a veteran also played a big role in defeating the Paladins.

"Basil... Pacifer! You shall hand over yourself, and let the Church judge you!"

Basil quirked his eyebrow at the heavily breathing Caleb, one of the two remaining Paladins, and smirked disdainfully. "Do you think I will listen to you?"

"You shall do, for I have notified the Church of your atrocity!"

"You have notified the Church, you say?" An amused laugh slowly came out of Basil's mouth, before turning into a full-blown laughter. "How long have we been fighting for? 30 minutes? One hour? One hour and a half? Despite so, you haven't figured it out yet?"

Caleb frowned behind his helmet while taking a deep breath. He didn't get what Basil meant, and was about to ask Basil about that when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"He is prepared, Caleb. He has gotten us dancing in his palm for all this time."

Turning to the side, Caleb found Caaden had already taken off her helmet. "What do you mean, Caaden? It seems to me you are saying that we should back off."

"Our Insignia doesn't work—we can't notify the Church." Caaden smiled bitterly. "He has this place completely sealed with Magic."

"What?!"

Caleb couldn't believe what was actually happening, and decided to prove if by himself. The moment he took out the Insignia given to him by the Church, his eyes immediately widened in bewilderment.

"This is... How could he...?"

Turning his bewildered gaze at Basil, Caleb was greeted with Basil's sneer. Indignation overwhelmed him, and his hold on his Insignia immediately tightened.

"Basil Pacifer, we surrender! Please, spare our lives!"

"Caaden, what are you doing?!"

Caleb had been about to dash at Basil the moment Caaden threw her sword down the ground, and declared their defeat. Naturally, he was shocked by the decision of his fellow Paladin.

"I understand what you are feeling, but we have to back down, Caleb." Caaden turned to Caleb, and looked at him knowingly. "Look around you—he still has many Monsters he hasn't mobilized yet. We can never win against him."

Realization dawned upon Caleb, and he immediately played along. Gritting his teeth in rage, he shouted at Caaden. "Can you even call yourself a Paladin, Caaden?! Do you think you still deserve to be called Paladin?!"

"Yes. Living as a failed Paladin is better than dying as a nameless Paladin," Caaden answered without missing a beat. Turning her head to Basil, she bowed respectfully. "Basil Pacifer, will you be kind enough to spare us?"

"Step forward."

At Basil's immediate response, Caleb smirked under his helmet, and Caaden immediately walked towards Basil with a neutral face.

"Stay on your place, and kneel."

Caaden stopped just a meter away from Basil, and immediately did as what he said. She knelt down, then raised her head to look at Basil.

"Huh?"

The moment she did so however, her vision tilted, and she suddenly felt lightheaded; she was falling, and she didn't know how it could happen. However for sure, she could see Basil smirked contemptuously at her.

"Petty tricks."

Thud!

Caaden's beheaded head touched the ground, and followed by that, was Caleb's indignant scream.