The Demons
The Demons
The demons angrily roared and it was forced to give up the pursuit of Lightning. It rolled over and dived down straight toward Maggie. The arm that had not yet fully recovered once again raised the spear and quickly swelled up, the skin cracking and blood spraying out.
The strike was still strong, however, the spear that was thrown out was not as powerful as before, at least Nightingale could catch the path of the flying spear a little.
"Maggie!" She patted the giant beast, spread the Mist, and stepped forward.
"Owh... coo!" Maggie's body quickly shrunk into a pigeon once again.
The gigantic target suddenly disappeared, and the spear flew by both of them, making a whistling sound and fell into the sea.
And the next moment, Nightingale appeared from the mist and returned to Maggie's back who was in her demonic beast form. The entire dodging process went smoothly.
The demon was crying in pain, and its arms were shrinking inward, finally even collapsing inch by inch, like a dry bark. However, its left hand was still clenching the reins and manipulating the mount to collide into both of them as if the demon wanted to kill the witches along with itself.
Maggie obviously would not do as it wished. She suddenly descended and flew across the enemy when they were about to collide. When she restored her balance, Nightingale on her back had disappeared.
The latter appeared behind the demon like a ghost.
The enemy was scrambling to untie the rope that fixed its body, and Nightingale would definitely not give it the chance.
She angrily pulled the trigger and shots rang out continuously.
The shooting this time not only broke the shell on the demon's back but also through its chest. The enemy loudly roared, and soon fell into the blood fog.
Finally, the demonic beast which lost its master was killed by Lightning. It fell into the sea and soon disappeared.
Cloud Gazer slowly landed by the shore.
"What should we do next?" Nightingale looked anxiously at Anna who probably was the only one to stay calm at this time.
"It has been delaying for so long. The hot air balloon would only arrive Border Town at midnight even if we're flying in the night," Anna slowly said, "Prince Roland must be carried by Lightning and Maggie and depart first."
"No problem, owh!" the beast opened its gigantic mouth and said.
"I have... no problem. Just leave it to us." The little girl looked a little down. She probably felt bad that as an explorer, she was afraid of fighting with the enemy leading everyone into trouble.
Nightingale patted her head and said, "No one is born to do this. This isn't your fault."
The witches tied the unconscious prince on the back of Maggie, and the broken arm would be carried by Lightning. Both of them quickly flew into the sky towards the town along Redwater River.
"What about us?" Wendy asked, "My magic power is running out."
"Continue to fly, and we have to fly as far as we can. The enemy may send a second team to search for us, and it's too close from the snow mountain here. We have to leave as soon as possible," Anna said, "We'll find a hidden place to camp after we reached a safe place."
Her decision was unanimously agreed by the other witches.
Cloud Gazer rose up again, and there were only five people left in the basket.
"How did the demon find us?" Soraya said with puzzlement, "The hot air balloons and baskets are painted with sky-like camouflage, and it's hard to discern at a height of more than 2,000 meters even with a telescope."
"A huge demon." Sylvie frowned. "It crouched on the top of a black spire with a head bigger than the body and it was covered with countless eyes. I just took a glance at it... All its eyes looked at me, and then hundreds of demons came out from the ground as if the whole area was boiling."
"There's still such a monster?" Soraya gasped.
"Not only that, both of the flying mounts are also very strange," Anna said while thinking, "The blood that gushed out from their body after getting shot wasn't black like the ink but dark-blue colored, and it was completely different from the demonic hybrid we encountered in the Months of Demons."
"It's similar to the demon instead," Soraya added, "I saw that the first demon Nightingale shot had blue blood."
"Are they not demonic beasts?" Sylvie asked.
"I don't know... However, it's good that Maggie can transform into them," Wendy emotionally said. "If it's not for her to save Nightingale, we're probably going to be in danger."
"She's able to evolve," Nightingale who was quiet suddenly said, "I could see the magic power in her body is no longer a mass of rotating cyclone but has turned into a fixed appearance. It looked like a pair of white wings when I was in the Mist. "
***************
Lightning was hugging His Highness' arm, feeling extremely guilty.
The demons simply looked ferocious, but they were not undefeatable in the air. His Royal Highness would not be so seriously injured if Lightning left the basket to stop the enemy from the beginning.
To come forward to protect the companion was an obligatory responsibility of the explorers. Thunder would be the first to lead the soldiers to break through all the dangerous during the Fjords sea adventure. He would never step back whether it was against the pirates or the deep sea monsters.
For the first time, Lightning realized that the distance for her to be an outstanding explorer was still very far.
However, she remembered her father also mentioned that fear could be resolved through the understanding and familiarity, while the skills could be mastered through the repeated training.
She determined to beg His Highness to give her a special pistol when he recovered, and she would ask Nightingale to train her on the shooting and fighting skills.
"How's His Highness doing, owh?" Maggie muttered. Her voice was hoarse and muddy as compared to when she was a pigeon. It felt like the wind that blew out of the stone cave. "I could feel his body getting colder, owh."
The little girl tightened her fists, turned around, and flew to Maggie's back.
Roland looked totally lifeless with his eyes closed, pale lips, and messy gray hair. The blood on his clothes was solidified, and the burnt black wounds looked extremely horrible. She gently put her hand on his neck, a weak beat proving that the prince was still alive but his fingertips were scarily cold.
"How much magic power do you left with?" Lightning estimated the journey and said, "We have to move forward at full speed."
"Sure, owh!"
When both of them arrived in Border Town, the little girl was already feeling dizzy. The extremely high speed not only quickly depleted her magic power but also was a great burden to her body. She clenched her teeth and used her final effort to fall directly into the parvis of the castle, and shouted at the guards who were rushing into the parvis after hearing the noise. "Quickly summon for Miss Nana. Prince Roland, His Highness is wounded!"