“Master!”

“Master!”

Startled, Oscar and Damien swiftly rose to their feet, instinctively swinging their limbs toward Elliot at Rachel’s flank.

It was only Rachel, hampered by the extinguished campfire, who struggled to see properly. Amidst the darkness, the yellow and red eyes appeared to connect, resembling a line. In an instant, she sidestepped and evaded the motion while simultaneously sensing a grasp on her shoulder.

Even though she couldn’t see, she could feel the rush of air around her.

“…Saint.”

As Paul called for her, the dark brown eyes that looked dark during the day gave off a faint light.

“I’m okay.”

She replied to Paul, who looked very worried. Even though she was literally just surprised, she wasn’t worried.

Even though the same place and person as when she was kidnapped when she was young, the situation was very different. There was no need to run away as blindly as before, and this time, she had to properly shake off that persistent trash booger king.

“Child, do you want to lose all your limbs?”

Elliot asked in a mocking tone. The spirit of darkness seeping among the darkness strangled Oscar’s and Damien’s ankles.

“Who said that!”

Rachel blew her breath, chasing the enchantment in her blurry vision. The breath flowing from her lips flowed to the dark spirit at her will. In the meanwhile, although he felt a foreign energy, Elliot couldn’t back down easily.

Rachel was right in front of him, so why did he have to back off?

Perhaps because he had been waiting all this time, the dam of his patience had collapsed and his impatience had reached its limit. It was all the more so because the child was within the reach of his hand. When he dashed off, Oscar cut off the suspicious thing that was trapping his ankle with the magic orb.

“You b*stard!”

He didn’t think to cut off the thing that wrapped around Damien’s ankle and ran right in. Since he remembered that the master was a weak being, Oscar decided that it was right to save the master first.

As he took out his magic orb and swung it around, at the same time, Elliot protected his body with the spirit of darkness.

Rachel was able to distinguish the two with their dark but bright eyes. Before her breath could reach the spirit of darkness, Paul stood in her way, and he took something out before she knew it. In his hand was a huge bow. Just as he drew the bowstring with a slow gesture, an arrow was created spontaneously.

“What is this again?”

Elliot muttered in an annoyed voice as more disturbance came. Why were there so many obstacles? He wanted to kill everyone, from the Emperor to the previous Duke, the current Duke and the shapeshifters, but now, it seemed like one more person had been added.

A negative mind was the source of the spirit of darkness’ power.

Even the master, Elliot, was no exception. The darker his heart was, the more the spirit liked it. The power of the spirit spread widely beneath their feet.

Confirming that, Damien belatedly shook off the trapping on his ankle and flew up.

Damien, who was separated from his master once, was still suffering from separation anxiety. Even though he didn’t want to experience the terrible feeling he felt then, why did this situation happen again?

At the same time, a bright light suddenly came into the dark place. The bowstring Paul was holding was pulled tight and pushed back with a hook. Elliott stopped in front of it with the power of the spirit, thinking that he didn’t know why that seemingly insignificant arrow felt so uneasy.

Bang—!

Even though he firmly blocked it, he was pushed by the force and staggered. Elliot was quite amazed at the strength of this figure he had never seen before.

“F*ck, everything…”

Although he wasn’t hit, Elliot, who was bothered by Paul, quickly tried to run, taking Rachel with him. As the black grip, which extended like a hook, flew towards her, Rachel glared at the shimmering blackness that approached her before blowing her breath.

For a moment, she saw a faint but blue glowing part.

It was so clear and shiny that her eyes opened wide. However, the shiny part soon faded to black and drew closer to her.

Just as she tried to get back, she could feel a strong grab on her shoulder.

It was Damien who hugged his master and flew up. There was a strong desire to get her out of this mayhem and evacuate her to a safe place.

“Damien!”

At the same time as her call, Damien flew up. The wide-spread wings flapped their wings toward the sky. Every time he flapped his wings, a strong wind blew, and the more he flew, the higher he began to fly.

“Tsk.”

On the other hand, Elliot was not taken aback, that was why he had tied the two shapeshifters together at the beginning. He gave strength to the trace of the spirit of darkness he had attached to Damien’s ankles.

Crack.

“Kugh!”

Damien groaned in pain as if he had been burned. Even though the sound that came out of him was weak, Rachel, who was in his arms, didn’t miss it.

“What’s the matter?”

She couldn’t see properly because it was dark, so she was frustrated. Why did he track at night?

‘No, he must have attacked at night for this.’

Anyway, he really didn’t have a single likable corner.

She couldn’t understand why that person was obsessed with her. She had only met him when she was young, and even then, they didn’t take off well. There was no way that the relationship that started with kidnapping in the first place would improve, but why did that person come to like her?

That was the part she couldn’t quite understand.

In the meanwhile, Damien felt his ankle completely turned, but neither his voice nor expression showed it.

It was because it was obvious that if the master knew, she would tell him to put her down. Hated having to part with his master even more, he flew up without caring about his ankle being ripped off, but Rachel noticed right away.

The smell of blood was a smell she never wanted to smell again.

“Stop it, Damien.”

She commanded, and Damien could only listen to her. He stopped flapping his wings and stared at his master.

“What happened to you? Why are you in a cold sweat? Where did you get hurt? Ha, I don’t know what to look for.”

Although Rachel scanned every area she could see up close, her eyes couldn’t reach his ankles. However, she didn’t order Damien to move because she could smell the blood.

“Master…”

“Where is it? Tell me properly.”

“….”

Damien didn’t listen to her orders for the first time. It was because he didn’t want to create a situation where he had to be separated from her again, just by telling her the truth.

“Damien, it’s okay…”

Even before she finished speaking, Elliot couldn’t leave the two of them alone.

Grit.

As soon as she heard something snapping, they started to dive down. Elliot moved swiftly at the two that were falling from above as Oscar and Paul ran at him.

“Huht!”

Rachel, unable to open her eyes from the wind, grabbed Damien’s arm. The feeling of falling to the ground couldn’t be said to be good.

As Damien encircled her with his wings and redirected their position so that he would fall first, Elliot pulled her out with the power of the spirit. In a split second, despite the fact that Paul shot an arrow, the spirit of darkness was faster.

“Master!”

Together with Oscar’s cry, Rachel felt that the embrace was unfamiliar, and at the same time, she met purple eyes.

“You!”

“Child. If you mess around, your men will get hurt.”

With his words, something twisted again and Damien screamed impatiently this time. Oscar shouted as he witnessed Damien’s feet being ripped off mercilessly.

“You d*mn bastard!”

“Look, the feet of your favorite shapeshifter is gone.”

Rachel, unable to discern because of the darkness, didn’t immediately understand what he was saying in a plain tone. However, as she understood a beat later, she thrust her head into Elliott’s face.

“Hey, this—! You b*stard!”

Elliot whispered, blocking even that.

“Why, I didn’t kill him? He’s the one you care about, so I spared his life. What’s the problem?”

“…Are you really crazy? Why are you doing this to me? If it’s because I sprinkled hot sauce on you, then I’ll apologize.”

“Haha—!”

“Are you really crazy? Are you laughing now?”

Rachel couldn’t wait to get to Damien. She was in a hurry because she thought she could fix him with her own ability, but why was this guy’s arm so strong? Even though he didn’t seem to have much muscle, even when she jerked around, he didn’t budge.

“The hot sauce hurt a lot. I think I experienced hell then?”

“I can still let you experience it. Would you like to try it?”

As she chewed and spat out the words, Elliot felt a thrill run down his spine.

Aahh, this was the moment he had been waiting for.

“Then, I’ll leave your man as it is. Can I cut off his ankle?”

While Elliot murmured in a voice that was very lively, Rachel’s face was completely crumpled after listening to his words.

He was truly a crazy b*stard.

__