“Stay still, the stakes are embedded pretty deep into the flesh, this will hurt, so brace yourself.”

In addition to chains, Arin Draco’s hands, wings, and legs were nailed with silver stakes. They took many precautions to weaken her without outright killing her. Dark Lord was confident she was force fed holy water as well, a substance that is outright deadly to lower level demons, but as she is a higher level demon, she is still alive but weakened.

“Wait! These stakes are silver! Are you going to be ok?” Silver burns any demon that touches it, she was worried that in the unlikely chance he was a demon he might hurt himself.

“It is fine. Bite down on this.”

Having her bite a piece of garment, Dark Lord proceeded to remove the silver stakes from her hands, wings, and legs one by one. Even if she wanted to scream out in pain as those metallic tools were removed from her body, she endured while biting down hard on the fabric when it became too painful not to yelp.

Now she was free from the restraints.

“There, that is done with. I assume you can stand up?”

Arin Draco looked weak and malnourished. By looking at her, Dark Lord could tell she was some kind of winged lizard type demon, as far as he could tell, maybe closer to dragon type… In addition to not being in the best physical condition, all six of her limbs are damaged, it would be a miracle if she could even move.

Trying her hardest to support her body weight, Arin Draco tried to stand up for the first time since she was imprisoned in this place. However, her body gave out underneath her, her legs could not support her, they painfully cracked, making her fall down, only for the Dark Lord to catch her in his arms.

“I guess that’s a no.”

“I am truly sorry about this.” She said humbly.

It appears she is different type from the Demon Lords who forced him to rescue her. Frankly, those Demon Lords pissed him off. Maybe he could get along with her.

“How long it will take your body to heal?”

“With my normal regeneration, it would have taken a couple of minutes, but inside here, with so much holy water in my system and my body in this condition, it will take me some time to recuperate.”

“Would you heal faster if we get out of the barrier surrounding this kingdom’s territory?”

“Yes, any demon whose aura is detected by the barrier is destroyed or weakened. Inside the barrier, the effect is not as severe, but the powers of detected demons are not as strong as outside. Getting out of the territory surrounded by barrier would help me heal faster.”

“Just saying, I cannot have you dying on me just yet.”

He was holding her up with his hands, preventing her from falling. She just realized that in a practical sense, they were embracing each other, talking in a way only lovers would do. Such realization was made even more embarrassing that she could feel his breath upon her face; their faces were that close to each other.

However, the Dark Lord was not even slightest bit embarrassed. Instead he proceeded to lift her up with a “Heave ho!” and put her on his back.

“Wa-wa-wait! What are you doing?!”

“I am just making it easier for myself; after all carrying luggage on my back is by far the easiest solution.”

“Luggage?” she couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed.

But as she focused her thoughts, her mind started thinking.

What does he mean luggage? I am a Demon King for crying out loud! Calm down Arin. I don’t even know who he really is or what he is for that matter. I wonder if he would notice if I examine him, just in case. He is not human. No human would help a Demon King. Then is he a demi-human capable of blending in with humans. Right now I am on his back, so I might be able to find out for sure, but wow his energy signature is so dim and it is disguised by witch’s energy signature as well. Witch’s signature, that means he is contracted to a witch, which means he is a demon. But what type of demon? I need to concentrate if I want to find out…

“Well then we are getting out of here now. You, what is your name?” Dark Lord addressed the Snake demon.

“Camilla Kumis, please call me Camilla, My lord.” The Snake demon replied.

“All right then, Camille, I assume it is safe for us to get out of here.”

“Yes, milord….Oh no!” Camilla cried out.

“What is it?”

“I sense an aura, a huge one, coming our way. Without a doubt, it is one of the heroes.”

“Heroes you say?” heroes were a class higher than the knights. Knights were already ridiculously powerful, Dark Lord barely managed to kill this many with superior weapon and element of surprise due to cloak of concealment.

But now the cloak was in tatters, the last few knights managed to graze him with their weapons before he killed them. Now he only had the crystal dagger and ring of death, but he was not about to resort to using the latter yet, he would have to save it for his real enemy, Chronos. If what he hears about gods is true, then just crystal dagger is not enough to beat Chronos, he would need power of Death god’s ring.

“Yes, they are extremely strong, much stronger than the knights I daresay. Oh, we are going to be killed…” Camilla was panicking, his cobra-like hood inflating and deflating as he was heavily breathing. Dark Lord couldn’t help but find it funny.

“How far away is he? How long is it going to take him to get here?”

“At the pace he is going, he would be here in five minutes.”

“I see, I don’t suppose either of you has any useful skills or abilities?” Dark Lord looked somewhat exasperated at his situation.

“I don’t have any strong offensive abilities other than poison, but I need to touch the target in order to inflict it, and I doubt the hero would let me get close enough. As for non-offensive skills, well, as a member of Kumis clan I specialize in disguise and concealment. I can also perform other miscellaneous skills…”

“Stop! Did you just say concealment? Can you really do it?”

“Uhm, yes. I can cast spells to cause invisibility. I can cast a spell that makes one perfectly invisible but it takes a while to cast, but I can cast an inferior version of the spell that takes shorter time but it is nullified if anyone touches you.”

“How long the perfect version takes to cast?”

“About half an hour.”

“Then we will have to go with the faster one.” Dark Lord nonchalantly replied.

Before Camilla cast the spell, Camilla asked

“Milord, wouldn’t it be easier for you to leave us be and escape by yourself? If you want to take her with you, I can buy time…”

“Rejected. I have other plans for you. Can you carry her? Contrary to her appearance, she is rather heavy.”

“I am not heavy! How rude!” apparently even a Demon King is offended when the matter involves her weight.

“I can try.” Camilla now was carrying Arin Draco.

“Now then, cast invisibility spells on all of us, I will distract the knight, and you guys head out. I trust you know how to exit the city, if you don’t, just head out of the barrier. Come to think of it, wouldn’t it kill you to cross the barrier?”

“That is not how it works, barrier only keeps things out without letting things in, it doesn’t affect those that exit it.” Arin Draco muttered.

“All right then, you head there. I will catch up afterwards.”

“Is this really ok? Milord, if you do this, your life will be at most risk!”

Camilla couldn’t understand why Dark Lord was choosing to put himself in danger instead of using Camilla as a scapegoat, Subordinates are merely tools to keep their masters alive, that was the truth whenever someone ends up being at the servant end of master-servant contract.

“Just think of it as an order. Now, let’s hope we meet again.”

With invisibility spell cast on all three, the two of them headed out while the Dark Lord went out to confront the hero.