“FUCK THIS SHIT!” I punched a tree. The tree exploded and its splinters penetrated the other trees, while the upper half of its trunk fell another tree.

“What happened?” Dred took up his humanoid form.

I grabbed his horns and pulled him closer to my face, “Today, we get a message from Jake and we find out that the Abyss decided to interfere and fuck around! Considering that it took three days for the bird to get here, we have only one week and four days left to open the seal and kill Padinyss at the same time.”

“Now Ekrok contacts me and tells me that Jake and Cor has been caught. Although he doesn’t know that they don’t feel pain if they don’t want to, the fact that they were ‘tortured’ is still there and it’s making me enraged!”

“I can see that,” he grabbed my hand and freed his horns.

“I’m sorry, I really wanted to grab it and be forceful with it. It just came to me.”

“I don’t mind it. And what’s going to happen to them?”

“Ekrok said that they’re tied to a pole in front of the palace. Padinyss is waiting for our arrival, but if we don’t come, he’s going to kill Jake and Cor. I definitely don’t want that and although I could force Audrey to ignore her feelings, it’s not something I’d ever do. Well, not in this sort of situation.”

“To make sure that Padinyss won’t kill them, I’ll send one of our lesser blood servant’s servant on a smaller mission. He’ll just have to report a few things to ‘his master Ekrok’ in front of Padinyss,” I muttered.

“I plan to tell Audrey, but she should be excluded for now. She should continue with her task. We need to prepare for the battle against the kobolds as well and I have no idea what sort of condition we are going to be in if we manage to kill Padinyss and the other leaders. It’s not just Padinyss who is our opponent, after all. Why is everything turning for the worse? Maybe we should have gone instead of Cor and Jake.”

“Hey, Elena. I don’t think it’d have been a good idea. We too could have been caught, though I don’t know the reason and I don’t think Audrey should continue destroying kingdoms. I’m sure she won’t want to do it either, not to mention we’ll need all the help we can get,” Dred shook his head. “The only good thing is that they still don’t know about Hector on the other planet. He can help us from the shadows.”

“But if Audrey stops, then the other kingdoms won’t be prepared for the invasion. Who knows how strong these kobolds are or how many of them are down there,” I pointed at the ground.

“I don’t know and I don’t even care. I wouldn’t be happy to see the places we worked hard to create being destroyed, but I’d rather see it than to see either of the dark scars or our friends die. Even more so if the person in danger is you,” he put his hand on my face.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” I turned away.

“Yeah? Are you sure?”

“...”

“I feel the same, but we still have things to do,” I sighed as felt him coil his arms around my chest. “Come here, you big bear…” I turned around and returned the favour.

“I’m not a bear, but I’ve got an idea. Let Audrey decide!” he put his hand on my head.

“But she’s going to side with you for sure. She won’t choose her original task over Jake,” I rolled my eyes. Seeing his grin, I felt like punching him.

“Come on, let her decide what she wants to do. Or do you want to force everything on her all the time?” he raised his brows.

“You jerk. You’re twisting everything to make me agree, but fine. I’ll let her decide. Hopefully, the kobolds aren’t as tough as I expect them to be,” I shook my head.

“I knew I could count on you, I love you,” he kissed my forehead. Knowing that he won, I hit his chest.

“Guh, why?”

“Because you are a jerk like I said.”

“Hehe, I sure am. Anyway, let’s move. We still have to devour many monsters and become stronger. We have no more than a week to reach a higher level,” he transformed into his panther form.

“Fine,” I jumped onto his back and grabbed a patch of his thick fur. I hope they’re going to be fine. Audrey will be angry, I gritted my teeth.

---

An hour later, we entered a city and went straight towards Audrey. Since she was our blood servant, we were able to sense her, no matter where she went. Dred stopped in front of an Inn which was located in a fourth-ranked kingdom. As I entered, I inspected a few people and realised that most of the people present were around the four hundredth level. They were pretty much a hundred and fifty levels below me.

Seeing some ‘interested’ stares, I released my aura and walked past everyone. Seeing their expressions and that they froze in fear, I knew I neither of them would bother me in the future. I soon found Audrey’s room and entered without any warnings.

“Damn it, Elena! I almost used lightning magic,” she heaved out a sigh of relief and then let down her right hand, which had lightning flickering around it.

“I’ve got bad news, but you shouldn’t shout. Can you restrain yourself?”

“What is it?” she wrung her hands.

“Well, you see, Jake and Cor had been caught. We also have only one week and three days to kill Padinyss or we’re going to be killed by the abyss. That’s all.”

“That’s all?!” she gripped my wrists and said through gritted teeth.

“Yes.”

“Are they still alive?”

“Yes.”

“Then we must go and save them.”

“Wait. I’ll explain everything, okay?” I soothed her. She let go of my wrists and I sat down beside her, while Dred laid down on the ground.

After telling everything to her, she was enraged once again, “Do you plan to leave them to their fates for a whole week?!”

“Why are you putting it like that? We both know that nothing is going to happen to them and if we go now, we’re going to die. If we die, they too die, so it’s even more pointless!”

She leaned forward and sighed, “Let me calm down a bit, it’s not your lover who has been captured…”

“Yeah? They’re both important to me too, you know?” I frowned, a bit annoyed with her. It’s not like she was the only one who felt worried.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered a few seconds later.

“It’s fine.”

“So? What do you want me to do? I imagine you didn’t come here to tell me nothing but bad things and then leave me alone once again to deal with these stupid kingdoms,” she spread her arms.

I looked at Dred and shook my head. It was way too obvious who she was going to side with. “Well, I was planning to tell you to stay and continue your task, while I and Dred would continue our training. But Dred didn’t agree with me and said that you should stop with this and join us, along with the dark scars.”

“Dred, I’m happy you’ve got some brains, unlike your girlfriend.”

“Okay, that’s just rude!” I shook my head.

“You can’t possibly think I’d do it, right? You’d have had to force me and command it because I sure as hell wouldn’t have done it otherwise. These people can die, I want Jake and Cor back instead.”

“Aren’t you all a bit too evil?”

“We aren’t,” Audrey and Dred said at the same time.

I kept staring at them silently.

“But I want to preserve the kingdoms we created,” I muttered.

“Look, we don’t know anything about the kobolds and I’d rather use all we’ve got to save our own at first and worry about others only after,” Audrey crossed her hands.

“Alright, alright. I’ll do as you two wish. Let’s call the others then. We’ve got to prepare,” I waved my hand.

“Yes!”