Earlier, Dindora was the leading individual in the pursuit.

Her bloodline as the War Dryad, allowed her to boost the powers of those—who followed her and made her a literal natural disaster inside a forest. Anything she touches becomes a lethal weapon and everything about the forest listens to her will.

Breaking the branches the minion stepped on, controlling vines, and even stimulating deadly plants to hinder the minion's path. It was only due to luck that the minion was able to flee—it was purely because of luck.

Naturally, the minion was frustrated.

It wouldn't have been such a hard time fleeing had it not for Dindora.

On top of that, the still-bleeding scratches across its body were because of her.

Each painful throb was a reminder of the one who caused this.

Linthia slowly backed away, keeping Nadia right behind her as the minion bared its fangs.

It smelled Dindora's scent on Linthia, recognizing her to be someone close to Dindora.

"Once it attacked I want you to run like hell to the village and also, scream Dindora's name so she could hear you" Linthia whispered, trying not to make any sudden move that would fright the minion.

She also told Nadia to scream because the minion's aura was gone.

Just like before, its aura was hidden again.

Utterly terrified, Nadia clutched Linthia's hand, "But what about you...?"

"Don't worry about me, the most important thing is for you to be safe," Linthia replied, before she glanced over her shoulder with a smile. "Besides, it would take more than this to take me down. So listen to me, okay?"

Roar!

Seeing an opportunity, the minion lunged.

But Linthia already expected this, she threw Nadia away and dodged the minion.

Rolling to the side, she stopped and looked at Nadia, "Go! Call Dindora!"

Nodding her head, Nadia ran away in the village's direction.

She wanted to use her lightning element to boost her speed but with her entire body shaking—she couldn't control her mana properly. No matter how hard she tried, her spell didn't work, she could only summon small sparks.

Having no other choice, she ran using her raw strength, "Dindora!! Dindora!!"

Linthia nodded, she didn't fail herself and was able to save Nadia.

'Now I need to survive a couple of minutes until Dindora arrives,' She thought determinedly.

Just then, her eyes widened as she felt a presence on her back.

In reflex, she raised her arms and made the right choice as she was swiped from the right.

She was sent crashing, bouncing, and rolling across the ground before she came to a stop.

Despite the sudden attack, Linthia looked at her arms, with wide eyes—she could not believe what had happened, 'I blocked its attack but I'm only bruised?' She gasped and then she saw steaming red energy coating her entire body. 'Red force?! I reached it?!'

Growl!

Breaking through a large tree, the minion came in hot with its front paws sizzling with mana.

At the exact same time before the minion strikes—Linthia already used the Four Point Dream Lock spell to condition her mind, to the fullest potential. Gemstones rotated around her head as she dodged the strike and dashed back.

Now with the red force activated, her body felt a hundred times lighter.

So light that she could do acrobatic movements that she could never do before.

'I need to bring it away from here!'

Pivoting around, Linthia rushed in the other direction, "Come and get me, you ugly beast!"

Although it doesn't understand what Linthia said, it could tell that it was a taunt.

Growling in anger, the minion wanted to chase after her but it caged that intention abruptly.

Instead of chasing after Linthia, it turned its muzzle to another direction.

"Dindora!! Dindora!!"

Hearing the faint voice in the distance, the minion cast a knowing glance at Linthia, a playful, sly smile curling on its lips, before it darted toward the sound. Linthia turned in that direction, and her heart dropped.

She clawed the dirt to stop her momentum before she sprinted after it.

Despite having access to the Red Force, she was still slower than the minion.

It was natural as mutated animals have an advantage in terms of physique.

Running as fast as she could wouldn't be enough to reach Nadia, so her mind worked to find a solution before it was too late. Sweeping her eyes around, she listened carefully and found multiple hiding mutated animals around.

Even the minds of mutated animals were not free from her acute Dark Fairy senses.

'I'm sorry for doing this but I have to!' She apologized before she channeled her energy.

Gathering her energy into her hands, Linthia used a spell of hers called Storm of Mind, a very unique spell belonging to her race. It was a spell that would mind control those exposed to it, but the target must be weaker than her or in a bad mental state.

Since the Demon Moon was above, a lot of mutated animals went into hiding.

All of them were scared of the predators that ruled the night of the full moon.

On top of the minion's presence, the mutated animals around were in a gullible mental state.

Swoosh!

As she clapped her hands, an invisible mind storm expanded, influencing those around her.

Meanwhile, Nadia was still running in the village's direction.

It was only about twenty seconds from the moment she left Linthia and ran away.

But along the way, while shouting for Dindora, she couldn't help but glance back a couple of times to see if Linthia was fine. She didn't want Linthia to die saving her, die because of her, that's not a burden she wanted to carry.

Just then, however, she fell to her bottom when she saw the minion barred her way.

It came out of nowhere, coming out from the shadows.

Aiming to inflict a painful trauma—that would influence Linthia greatly, the minion wasted no time to strike Nadia. Considering the stark disparity between their strength, Nadia would die instantly, not even Lady Luck would be able to save her.

Seeing this, Nadia turned her head away and closed her eyes.

Even though a second had passed, the strike didn't come.

Opening her eyes again, she saw Linthia standing in front of her, blocking the attack.

She was helped by two mutated stoneback armadillos that were burrowed underground, the hardback of these two armadillos allowed Linthia to block the minion's attack. But even then—the minion's claws were melting through.

"Keep going! Don't stop, I'll protect you!" Linthia shouted, her arms were shaking.

Nadia stood up again and ran with all her might.

Roar!!

Lintha grunted as she fell to one knee, the minion was now focusing on her again.

Not only that, its claws sucked the life out of the two armadillos, turning them into carcasses.

Noticing this before it was too late—Linthia was able to get out of the way right on time—as the claws pierced through and struck the ground. Both armadillos were killed but Linthia still has more animals under her belt.

Coming from above, five mutated monkeys glide and threw fireballs at the minion.

As these monkeys did that, Linthia took on a better position to protect Nadia.

Despite her desire to take down the minion herself, it was not realistic—she was the weakest in terms of offensive capabilities she was more of a supporting individual. And that is exactly what she did.

Other than making the monkeys think that this is a life-and-death battle, she also enhanced each one of them while simultaneously trying to break the minion's mind. Just like that—the five mutated monkeys threw themselves at the minion.

Each one of them was peak eighth-rank realm.

Adding to Linthia's boost, they were able to reach the entrance of the ninth-rank realm.

Not strong enough to overpower the minion but enough to be a nuisance.

Roar!

In an attempt to retaliate—the minion tried swiping at the agile monkeys but its claws weren't able to catch one. Every time it tried to attack, another monkey would throw a fireball or even dirt at its face, causing its attacks to miss.

All of them were controlled by Linthia, buying time for Dindora to reach them.

'Good... this will work. Just a little bit more!' Linthia nodded, watching this from the side.

On the other hand, Dindora followed by her team of Elves sprinted through the woods.

She was now already in her combat form, her entire body was covered in armor of wood, and her energy was already sizzling like flames. Using her left arm, which was already turned into a shield, she blasted through a massive tree, splitting it apart.

All the Elves around her also followed right behind, moving as fast as a gale.

Just being in Dindora's presence alone made them stronger.

Eventually, Dindora and her team of hundreds stopped, looking around with a frown.

"Where is it? It came from this direction earlier..." Dindora muttered in confusion.

For a fleeting moment, the minion's aura was flaring recklessly—it was there for everyone to feel but now it disappeared without a trace again. From atop a tree, an Elf Captain called out sharply, "It left a massive trail ahead, I can see it ahead!"

"Good, lead the way, it's getting reckless now..." Dindora smirked.

Based on the mighty roar from before coming from Shadow, she was sure that it was in a bad situation, Gistella, Adhara, and Flunra were wrapping up things there. So naturally, the minion became restless.

And once it was restless, it would be reckless like this.

Just then when they were about to move again, Dindora raised her hand, signaling to stop.

"What's wrong, Captain Dindora?"

"Shh... Did you hear that? Someone is calling my name"

Upon hearing this, the other Elves exchanged a look in confusion.

None of them heard anything and they thought Dindora was hearing things.

In the next second, however, the Elves around frowned as they too heard a faint voice.

And as Dindora said, the voice was calling her.

"Is it Captain Linthia? Is she in trouble?"

"No, but whoever it is, she knows me and is in trouble. Let's go!"

Swoosh!

Back to the battle again.

Linthia could feel that the situation was getting better—the minion was being handled.

Some of the sentry Elves and several of her team came to check the commotion and saw her fighting the minion. Naturally, all of them came to help—providing support from a distance by firing arrows with myriad explosive effects.

Of course, the minion knew who to aim, it ignored the monkeys and headed to Linthia.

But so far, she was able to survive with the help of the monkeys.

Crash!

As she leaped away to the side, her eyes lit up when she sensed Dindora's aura approaching.

'Just a little bit more...' She muttered with a smile.

However, she was elated too soon when a violent gush of energy knocked her backward.

Linthia fell to her back and once she sat up, she saw the minion's death mana was becoming chaotic once again, but it was different this time. She beholds as the minion's aura surged to a higher level, spiking rapidly.

Its aura increased so much that the ground cracked underneath its force.

Not to mention, sharp bones began to puncture out of the minion's body.

Under her gaze, its appearance morphed grotesquely, becoming more menacing than it was.

'Its... It's already at the ninth-rank realm and it still got stronger?'

'Shadow... Shadow must've done something!'

Sucking in a cold breath, Linthia sweated, her back was drenched from cold sweats.

As the minion lifted its gaze to glare at Linthia, its body blurred.

Linthia saw it lunging at her even faster than before—she reached her hand to the side—as a monkey grabbed her and threw her away to dodge the minion. Keeping her eyes fixed on the minion, she saw it cleaved the monkey into pieces and curved towards her.

Closing in rapidly, the minion then suddenly disappeared, turning into a shadow.

But Linthia gulped when she felt danger from behind her.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the minion, it made a savage flick—with its sharp bones, that were sticking out of its head like horns, tearing open her stomach. In an instant, Linthia's expression paled.

She rolled across the ground, grunting in excruciating pain coming from her stomach.

Her blood as well as life essence were being drained rapidly.

'I need to move! It's reaching the Werepanther level in strength!' Linthia screamed.

From the aura—she could tell that the minion had reached the Werepanther Rex fought back then, that was breaking through to the Knight class. But in her condition—she wasn't able to move fast enough.

Swoosh!

Linthia lifted her gaze as time slowed down, the minion claws were about to hit her. Your journey continues on empire

She would die and she accepted it with a smile on her face.

'At least... at least I managed to save Nadia, I'm not... useless'

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