At the entrance of the cave, hearing the voices of two people, Diaton raised his hand above his head and started to emit magic towards the ceiling.

If the cave collapses, the traces of their hideout will also disappear.

Thud-! Rumble-!

‘It wouldn’t be too bad for you to die crushed under a boulder, Leopold Diaz.’

In the darkness, Diaton’s eyes sparkled. Starting from where Diaton attacked, the cave began to collapse rapidly.

A cloud of dust rose, and the ground shook with a loud noise.

“Well, that’s it.”

Right before a large boulder fell, Diaton disappeared from the space with teleportation.

***

Thud-! Rumble-!

A surge of evil energy erupted, and a great vibration occurred.

Evan called out to Leopold in surprise.

“Your Majesty!”

“Yes. This vile creature. Let’s get out of here quickly.”

The two turned around and moved their legs quickly. The cave collapsed as if it would swallow them.

They narrowly avoided the boulders falling at a rapid speed from the cave ceiling and escaped outside in an instant.

Boom-!

Evan turned around and looked back at the cave, a thunderous noise echoed through the forest.

The cave had completely collapsed, blocking the entrance.

If Leopold and Evan hadn’t been able to use mana, they would have already been swallowed up and turned into corpses right there.

Evan felt a chill down his spine.

“I can’t believe they got away like this.”

“Damn it!”

Leopold, unable to contain his anger, kicked the ground.

‘It’s not easy after all.’

The reason he left the dark mages alone until now was that they hadn’t directly harmed him.

But in this state, it seems they might even threaten his throne.

“I didn’t know you could use magic so skillfully.”

“It’s my fault for taking this matter too lightly. To think they even created and controlled demonic beasts. I must intervene personally.”

The dark mages’ magical abilities were far greater than he had thought.

“It’s good that I came to the border area.”

“Yes.”

Otherwise, they would have gnawed away at the Atlan Empire that Leopold had established.

‘How dare, how dare!’

Leopold’s red eyes flickered with anger.

“I will personally track down the traces of dark magic.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Evan bowed his head towards him.

***

As the basket filled with Ariel and Solviche’s game, collected through their efforts, was about to overflow, the interest of those who had been watching them curiously gradually faded away.

Having come this far, they were determined to catch at least one, no matter what.

“Ah… missed again.”

But those who had never hunted before had no chance of catching a monster, let alone demonic beasts.

“Monsters have sensitive hearing. Unlike demonic beasts, they don’t have any special attack abilities, so they must be good at running away.”

Ariel approached them with a sympathetic heart and explained how to hunt.

“You must make as little noise as possible with your footsteps, and when you swing your sword, you must strike quickly before they can run away.”

“Ah, Your Majesty. Thank you.”

Ariel pointed with her sword at a monster grazing under a tree.

“Watch.”

Ariel stealthily lowered her body and approached the monster.

The monster noticed her approach and raised its head, but it was too late. The moment Ariel’s eyes met with the monster’s, her sword had already cut through its neck.

“This is how you do it.”

“Seeing Your Majesty do it, it looks really easy. But when I try, I fail.”

A young lady complained, and Ariel laughed and patted her on the shoulder.

It was then. The movement from the central management center suddenly became noisy.

“Over here, over here!”

A man appeared, clutching his arm.

It seemed he was injured by an attack from a demonic beast.

“It looks like you’re hurt.”

Solviche approached Ariel and said,

“That’s right. I hope he’s okay.”

Depending on what kind of demonic beast attacked him, wounds caused by the demonic beast’s teeth or claws usually crushed his bone and took longer to heal.

“Ah-! Are you okay?”

Priests rushed over to the injured man.

“Please come inside.”

Liese Willington was also among the crowd.

‘I should connect these two soon.’

Ariel felt her heart constrict at the thought for some reason, but she missed the timing to recognize her own feelings.

Because she felt a surge of dark energy at that moment.

Similar to when she met the dark mage Diaton. She looked around nervously.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, no. I just felt something strange.”

Seeing the Empress on guard, Solviche also looked around seriously with a grave expression.

That was when.

“Creak-! Squeak-!”

Sounds from the demonic beasts came from the sky.

Ariel turned her head towards the source of the sound. A demonic beast, resembling a bat, flew towards her. But it collided with a magical barrier and could not enter.

Bang, crunch-! Bang, crunch-!

The demonic beast slammed its body against the barrier in an attempt to break through. People screamed in surprise at the loud noise created by the demonic beast.

Knights and priests guarding the area, as well as madam and young ladies, all turned their gaze towards the demonic beast.

They were frozen in disbelief at the reality before them,

“Kyaa!”

“A-a demonic beast has appeared!”

Soon, they all gathered at the central management center, shouting in unison.

People, consumed by fear, clung to each other’s arms and shoulders.

The knights did not dare to step forward and maintained a defensive stance, watching the movement of the demonic beast that kept flying back into the barrier even after colliding with it.

But the situation only worsened. More and more demonic beasts began to gather, one by one, two by two.

Bang, crunch! Bang, bang, bang!

Cracks formed in the barrier. The imperial magicians of Atlan were struggling to maintain it…

Soon, Ariel had a premonition that the barrier would collapse.

‘I must make a decision.’

Ariel’s brows furrowed.

“Imperial magicians! Open a portal to the capital!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

They opened the portal promptly, as though they had been waiting for Ariel’s command.

“Please enter the portal quickly.”

Ariel urged the people. But they looked at Ariel with worried eyes.

“May, May!”

May burst out from among the crowd.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

May’s slender shoulders trembled.

“Quickly take these people through the portal. I will follow once the situation here calms down.”

May shook her head vigorously at Ariel’s words.

“Your Majesty, please come with us. This place-!”

“This place will be left to me, the knights, and the mages. The barrier will soon break! Hurry, quickly!”

Ariel waved her arms left and right, as if to hurry them into the portal.

Tears welled up in May’s eyes at her master’s composed demeanor.

“Don’t worry. I’ll return safely.”

Ariel knew all too well that May was hesitant because she was aware that Ariel had been drained of all her mana.

“It’s an order, May. Quickly evacuate the people through the portal. I entrust the rest to you.”

Ariel had no choice but to speak firmly to May, understanding her hesitation better than anyone else due to the urgent situation.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Strength returned to May’s wavering gaze.

“Everyone, please follow my lead and slowly enter the portal!”

As May shouted, the madam and young ladies gathered inside the barrier started lining up and entering the portal.

‘I hope the barrier remains intact until everyone has evacuated.’

Ariel’s gaze turned towards the demonic beasts.

Knights who had not reached the level of Swordmasters went outside the barrier and cut down the demonic beasts with bows and swords. But a demonic beast that was sliced in half by a sword regained its original form, doubling their numbers.

“Your Majesty, did you see? These strange creatures do not die even when sliced by a sword.”

Solviche’s voice came from behind.

Ariel turned to look at her.

Solviche’s face, showing no fear, caught her eye.

“Hurry inside the portal. This place is extremely dangerous. Even imperial knights are powerless here.”

But Solviche did not budge.

“Now that everyone has evacuated through the portal, you should also take cover. It wouldn’t be strange if people started dying from how dangerous it is.”

Ariel pushed Solviche towards the portal.

Then a knight shouted,

“Your Majesty! The barrier is collapsing!”

Crack, clang!

Just as he said, the barrier shattered into pieces. Ariel gripped her sword tightly and stood up abruptly.

The demonic beasts poured down upon them.