In the central region of the Aldridge Empire, in the airspace near Angus City, Bella and the others, who were flying towards Angus, encountered a strange cloud layer at high altitudes.
Before reaching the Investigation Army Camp outside Angus City, the Forest Great Eagles, which Bella and her group were riding, started hovering unsteadily. They instinctively felt that the colorful clouds had a huge problem.
“Retreat. Take the passage on the ground. Let’s go to Andorra Town, which is closest to Angus City.”
President Angelia arranged for the retreat of the Forest Great Eagles from her academy while waving the liaison commanding flag to send the retreat signal to the other Forest Great Eagles of the nearby academies.
Princess Effie, who was sitting in front of Bella, participated in this mission because she wanted to confirm the situation on behalf of the Aldridge Empire. The emperor’s original intention was to send Princess Ariel as the representative to take a look. However, Princess Effie had a premonition that this mission was perilous, and the high-level empire officials wanted to send Princess Ariel, who had not been able to be married off, away like an unwanted child.
Princess Effie was unwilling to do that. She hid the imperial decree and set herself on the back of the Forest Great Eagle. Bella greatly admired her true sentiments and decided that she would ensure the safety of Princess Effie and President Angelia in this operation. Lisha and Kriss would have no problem protecting themselves. Their dark transformation was in a sober state. If they encountered any danger that was difficult to deal with, their dark transformation could come out and replace them anytime.
The surrounding Forest Great Eagles followed the Forest Great Eagles of the Olsylvia Academy and flew towards Andorra Town. The commanders were basically considered the top in their own academy and knew how to adapt accordingly.
“Those clouds… they are Cloud Dragons, prehistoric demonic beings…”
Princess Effie looked at the clouds anxiously. Bella followed her line of vision and saw that each of the formerly colorful clouds had changed into a snow-white flying dragon. Those flying dragons seemed to be alive, and they were all chasing towards the direction of the Forest Great Eagles’ escape route.
Bella miscalculated. She didn’t bring the magical professions like Mage Ariel or Marionette Master Elaine. Kriss and Lisha, who followed her, relied mainly on physical combat. Although they practiced demonic arts, Bella requested Lisha and Kriss to be low-profile, and magic attacks would temporarily cease to be used.
Without magic attacks, those Cloud Dragons were inscrutable. The combat power of the Great Forest Eagles was basically negligible, not daring to draw near to the demonic clouds. If they didn’t get close, it would be hard for Bella to display her inherent powers in the presence of so many people.
Princess Effie twisted the black magic scepter in her hand, sending out a series of dark energy balls. The magic missiles were shot towards the chasing Cloud Dragons in a bid to make some time for them. The destructive power of the dark magic was much greater than the other magics. At the same level, a dark energy ball would have finished the Fireball.
However, the dark energy balls directly passed through the Cloud Dragons’ bodies. Other than leaving behind a few holes, there was no energy explosion. Very quickly, the holes were automatically filled up by the surrounding clouds.
“Magic immunity… It looks like physical attacks might also be useless! Is this monster unsolvable…”
Lisha and Kriss, who were awake much earlier, were stretching themselves and appeared as if they had just woken up. The two of them looked like they were there to play some games. They indeed had the capability to relax like that, the main reason being Bella’s presence; hence, they had a sense of security. No matter how bad Bella was, she still cherished her close friends very much.
Princess Effie’s expression did not look good, and President Angelia’s face was no better either. Mages were most afraid to encounter monsters who had magic immunity attributes. When Princess Effie was attacking, President Angelia was not idling around. She shot a few space isolation wall magics, but it was useless. The Cloud Dragons directly went past the space isolation walls and continued chasing the Forest Great Eagles.
Fortunately, the speed of the Cloud Dragons was not too fast, and the Forest Great Eagles were slightly faster than them. The two forest eagles next to Olsylvia Academy were boarded by students from two magical academies, Listabel Academy and Dimiost Academy. Leading the groups were the student president of the magic academy, Alephia, and the student president of the wizarding academy, Gladys.
The two academies were under the system of having a single student president. President Gladys and President Alephia were at the same level as President Angelia, who was on Bella’s side. Their magical attacks were much more elaborate than that of Bella’s Olsylvia Academy since their institutes were known for their magics.
At this trying moment, uniting as a group seemed to be of more importance. Probably because they had an intimate night with Bella before, President Alephia and President Gladys were directing their respective Forest Great Eagles to fly closer to Olsylvia’s Academy’s. The Cloud Dragons were also immune to their magical attacks, but the two presidents were more proficient in magic and witchcraft, directing the students to change to the Gale magic attack as one.
The Gale magic attack had a special effect. Although it still couldn’t kill the Cloud Dragons, the wind blowing effectively delayed the movements of the Cloud Dragons, which was regarded as a speed deceleration magic. Under the liaison of President Alephia and President Gladys, the Forest Great Eagles gradually got rid of the Cloud Dragons’ pursuit and flew towards Andorra Town, which was not far away from Angus City.
The academies which accepted the mission delegation were not limited to the Human Empires’ Twelve Ivies. Some small and medium-sized colleges, which were not part of the Twelve Ivies, had also received this invitation. The difference to their reward was only changing the 30 points to a chance for a college promotion plus 3 million gold coins. Those rewards did not have much appeal to the Twelve Ivies, but they were very attractive to these institutes as this might be the only chance for them to be promoted.
Only Olsylvia Academy, Listabel Academy, and Dimiost Academy belonged to the Human Empires’ Twelve Ivies amongst the formation of the Forest Great Eagles flying towards Angus City this time around. The rest were all different colleges that were not part of the Twelve Ivies, commonly known as the “Cannon Fodder Colleges”. The rest of the Twelve Ivies had not arrived, so there was not enough combat strength. Therefore, this mission was a bit dubious.
The Andorra Town was not far away from Angus City, a small village town attached to Angus City. It was situated at the rear of the Rofsky Camp, which was used as the investigation army camp for the Angus City incident, and it could provide the necessary supplies for the people who arrived there.
However, this idea was a bit naive. When they were approaching the small town of Andorra, Bella had a strange feeling in her heart, so did Lisha and Kriss, who were beside her. They kept quiet and turned their head towards Bella with an inquisitive look. It was a feeling that was aroused by the smell of their same kind. The existences at their level and above were very sensitive to the aura of the same type. The dark transformation of Lisha and Kriss surpassed that of normal demon kings. Thus, it was only natural that they could feel the strange aura.
Not far from the small town of Andorra, the Rofsky Camp was filled with smoke. The entire camp seemed to be on fire, and the situation was critical. If the Rofsky Camp was destroyed, it meant that Angus City’s danger level had escalated.
Bella was overlooking the entire Andorra town from a high altitude, and not a single shadow of a living person could be seen. There were strange crypts on the ground, however. This abnormal behavior caused her to be alerted. There were at least a few thousands of residents in the small Andorra town, so there would be no reason not to see at least one of them. Judging from the situation, the crypts on the ground were most likely traps.
Just when Bella was hesitating whether to remind President Angelia to pay attention, the crypts revealed their true appearance: Human-faced spider monsters, which were six meters long, climbed out from the crypts one by one. Those spider demonic beings belonged to the same abyss species as the Black-Widow Empress Ulysses, one of the abyss demonic beings under Bella. They could only be humble little subordinates under Ulysses.
“Crypt spiders… Damn it, the flying altitude is too low…”
The combat power of the Forest Great Eagles barely reached the demonic beasts’ D-grade. In comparison to those A-grade and above crypt spiders, they were worlds apart. Countless spider webs were shooting up from the ground, dragging the flock of eagles flying near the Andorra town to the ground. The students riding on the Forest Great Eagles were busy guarding their backs against the chasing Cloud Dragons previously and were not paying attention to the ground. Based on visual estimation, there were hundreds of crypt spiders in the small town of Andorra. It would only take a while before they wiped out the formation of the Forest Great Eagles.
The Forest Great Eagles were killed instantly the moment they landed on the ground. However, the trained students would not fall to their death at such a height. The magic-type profession had flight magic, while the combat-type profession had combat powers. The possibility of losing consciousness from the fall would be greater, though. Taking advantage of the favorable timing when the students were unable to react in time, the crypt spiders launched attacks.
Various silk threads and venom came from all directions. The majority of the students from those various academies were vanquished on the spot. The venom of the crypt spiders was lethal; once it touched human beings, it would melt them.
The spider should have hunted many times in the past since they were very experienced when it came to dealing with the human race. For the magical profession, they would spurt the silk thread from a long distance, pull them in, and kill them. For the non-magical professions, they would directly spray them with venom attacks in close range.
After landing, Bella they all quickly moved towards President Alephia and President Gladys. The two academies were all magic professions. If they were caught by the spiders’ silk threads, it would be game over. Many of the magic profession students from those different academies were directly dragged and killed by the crypt spiders because they had poor coordination.
The ground was also unsafe. Bella suspected that there were nests underground in the small town of Andorra as crypts appeared on the ground from time to time. Many students fell into the pits when they were not paying attention. As Bella and Lisha were knights by profession, they were fighting at the forefront, covering for President Angelia and Princess Effie as they retreated. Swordswoman Kriss wandered between the knights and mages to provide support, severing the spiders’ thread as they flew towards them.
Bella did not know much about abyss demonic beings, but she had a crypt spider under her and knew the steps to attack them like the back of her hand. She turned herself agilely and avoided several attacks of the spiders’ thread that were rushing for her feet. When the opportunity came, she reached out her hand and grabbed some of the spiders’ threads, which were in the air, pulled them with force, and dragged the crypt spider towards her.
The Demon King’s strength was not for just show. The crypt spider that was pulled over had yet to know what was happening before Bella directly hit its head with a heavy punch. The crypt spider was six meters in length when it stretched, but its height was no more than two meters tall. In addition, its head was human-shaped. Bella punched in, with the bonus strength of the iron fist glove. After the punch, its whole head exploded like a watermelon, greenish brain juice splattering out, making the scene very gory.
Lisha was even more violent than Bella. She had the added power of Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha. When it came to strength, it was far more superior than that of Bella in the state of the demon king. When the crypt spider’s thread wrapped her arms and feet, she directly pulled it towards her violently and tore it up. It was unknown if the Demonic Dragon Emperor had come out. The crypt spiders, which were grasped by her, were brutally torn and killed after she grabbed their head or limbs with a single hand.
Bella initially thought that she was violent enough, but little did she expect that her sister, Lisha, was even more so than her, directly ripping the crypt spiders up with her bare hands. In front of Lisha’s brute force, those A-grade level demonic beasts were torn and killed like paper maches.
Still, Kriss had the most impressive record. This plug-in swordsman carried tens of thousands of famous swords with her all the time. In the area near her, various famous swords would fall from the sky and go straight for the ground, splattering green blood all over. The crypt spiders that wanted to launch an attack from underground were killed by the sharp blades before they even got out of the ground.
Those swords seemed to have eyes and came with a tracking function, which accurately hit the vital spots of the crypt spiders. After all, they were swords with their own blade spirits. There would be no problem when it came to launching attacks automatically. If it weren’t for the presence of outsiders and not wanting to be too high-profile, Kriss would have managed to single-handedly challenge all the burrows of crypt spiders in the whole Andorra town with the command of those thousands of swords.
Bella was surrounded by a layer of special space defensive magic. Under the cover of the magical defensive array, the venom attacks of the crypt spiders completely failed. The liberator was Chief President Angelia. She found out that the damage caused by magic to the crypt spiders was too low, most of them not even able to create any sparks.
The magic resistance of the abyss demonic beings was very high. Only magic of the holy and light rays would be able to harm and kill them. Only pure physical attacks would cause more damage to them. Now, all the mages were covering Bella and the other two. If the three “shields” stood tall, the team still had the hope of retreating.
The size of the Andorra town had yet to qualify for the teleportation of magical arrays. After the three from the Twelve Ivies joined up, they retreated together in the direction towards Ryder River outside Andorra Town. If they couldn’t teleport through the arrays, they could only retreat out from the town first.
After a fierce battle, the remaining students retreated to the Ryder River Basin. There was a small chapel along the river, which was restored by the Radiant Church. Bella and the rest decided to retreat there first.
The corpses of the crypt spiders were everywhere. Under the incredible combat power of the three of them, nearly one hundred spiders were butchered. Bella’s previous speculation might be correct—there were really underground crypt spider lairs in the small town of Andorra. If not, after killing so many crypt spiders, not only did their numbers not seem to have decreased, there were even more of them. Out of ten that had come out in the middle of the combat to replenish the quantity, at least nine or eight of them came from the lairs underground.
The students, who had escaped to the hall of the small chapel, were girls from the Olsylvia, Listabel, and Dimiost Academy. They were mostly in the magic profession. Only Bella, Lisha, and Kriss were the exceptions, with the rest all in the magic profession.
After Bella went to ask the three academies’ student presidents, she realized that the boys from the two magical academies had set off to the Rofsky camp one day in advance. President Alephia and President Gladys only brought the girls with them after they received the information from the boys that the Rofsky Camp was normal.
Now it seemed like everything was pointing to disaster for the boys. The Rofsky Camp had already caught fire, and smoke was rising there; what happened was self-evident. As for Bella’s Olsylvia Academy, under the leadership of the saviors, God Chosen Holy Swordsman Aksman and God Chosen Knight Scott, the boys were preparing to enter Angus City from another side. It was unknown how the progress was over there.
After Bella buckled the door latch from the inside, they were considered to be temporarily safe. There were various prayer inscriptions engraved by the Radiant Church on the small chapel’s main door. The abyss demonic beings had qualms about this kind of inscriptions and would generally not get close to them. After seeing Bella close the door, the crypt spiders, which refused to resign to failure, dug their way underground to ambush them.
“President Angelia, are you guys alright?”
“It’s okay, you guys have worked hard. If it weren’t for you…”
Bella stepped forward to ask President Angelia. Since Lisha and Kriss were there, she didn’t greet President Alephia and President Gladys. She only looked at them with eyes of consolation, which was meant as a form of greeting.
Alephia and Gladys recognized Bella, but they didn’t expose her, feigning unfamiliarity and coming forth to say hello to her. Bella looked at the presidents who were avoiding eye contact and did not dare to look at her. She was secretly pleased with herself. The two presidents can continue and pretend all they want. They have been seen naked by me; what else is there to be embarrassed about?
President Angelia looked at the other two student presidents with puzzled eyes. They were very different from the last time they met as compared to now. In the past, they were eloquent and confident and were not as hesitant as they seemed currently. The reaction they gave felt like little girls who had just seen their boyfriends. They appeared to be a bit shy. The problem, however, was that there were only girls and no guys. Who were they showing their shyness to?
This small chapel was not safe either; Bella could see blood traces on the chapel’s floor. Not even the corpses of the people of the church were left behind. They were all girls who had retreated here. In this depressive environment, Bella and the rest became their pillars for emotional support. As long as the knights were still there, the mages would be safe.
“Everybody, don’t wander off. Lisha, you and Kriss stay here. I will go and see if there is any survivor in the chapel…”
“Bella… Princess Effie is missing! She was still here just now. It seems like she has gone inside first…”
“What… This girl. President Angelia, you count the number of people. Don’t let there be any missing persons. I will go and find her…”
President Angelia counted the number of people and found out that only Princess Effie was missing. Bella had them stay in place and went inside the chapel to find Princess Effie herself. She was one of the few who could act alone here; hence, she took on this difficult mission.
