Everyone knew they were in an enclosed space; however when they looked up, instead of seeing the ceiling, what they saw was the sky. It was a Bewitchment—they knew it—but they didn't think much of it.

They believed it was made that way to fit the vibe, so they had never expected there would be a danger coming from there. It was much to their utter bafflement, however, when they saw the "sky" split, and spew Demons out of it.

All of the Demons could fly, and many of them even carried more than one Demon that couldn't fly on their back. Not stopping there, the Aquatic Demons had also come up to the surface; they were climbing up the bridge.

All of the people were smart enough to know that stop moving equals to getting themselves killed. They kept running as the Demons were chasing, while, of course, attacking the Demons that got too close for comfort.

Slash! Slash!

Whoosh!historical

Ione, who was at the front swung her sword left and right gracefully. She imbued each one of her attacks with Wind Magic, so her sword cut through Demons as easy as a hot knife through butter.

Her Sword Style wasn't as destructive or elegant as Basil's, however, it was still better than most of the Legion Commanders'. It was really saying something since sword wasn't the weapon of her choosing.

Good as it was though, anyone who knew Basil well, would still be able to notice how uncanny the way Ione used her sword. Basil's swing was always soundless, whereas hers was screechy due to the Wind Magic she imbued her sword with.

Fortunately, the people's knowledge about Basil was too shallow to allow them to notice it. None of them found anything strange from Basil; Ione's impersonation of him perfectly fooled them.

"Hmm... Clearing this place will surely take a long time." Ione looked at the way in front of her that was filled with Demons. "Luckily, clearing this place has never been our intention."

Slash!

Swinging her sword once, Ione's sword produced a wind blade. Said wind blade traveled in the air so quick, by the time the Demons in front of her blinked, they were immediately bisected.

Picking up her pace, she cast a Fire Element Spell and sent it towards the crowd of Demons coming at her. The fire she had conjured immediately disappeared as soon as it touched their body, prompting her to click her tongue in annoyance.

Although the Spell she had just cast was by no means a High Grade one, she still didn't expect it to not work against the Demons. She was aware they were Aquatic Demons, but she had never thought they would have such a high fire resistance.

Obviously, she also couldn't hurt them with Water Element Spell, so she decided Wind Magic was the best way to hurt them. She wasn't an abnormality like Basil; she couldn't use Lightning Magic, which was actually the best way to hurt the Aquatic Demons.

Unlike the Four Main Elements, one needed to posses the Affinity towards the Sub-Element, whose Spell was going to be cast.

Lightning was one of the many Sub-Elements—Ione didn't possess the Affinity towards it—so she couldn't cast any Lightning Element Spell.

"Tsk. It will be easier electrocuting these trash to death than cutting them one by one with my sword." Ione clicked her tongue, exasperated.

Although her main adjective was to reach the Secret Chamber while the others were busy fighting Demons, Ione still had to race against time. She had to be there before Basil did, and she thought it would be hard given the situation.

As the frontmost person, her role was currently no different from a way opener; she had to deal with the Demons blocking the way. They were too many for her to get rid of them in a relatively short time.

Her current goal was to reach the gate before anyone else. In the current situation, casting a wide scale Spell was the fastest way to clear up the way to the gate.

The two Elemental Magic she mastered the most were Fire and Wind. She could cast any wide scale Spell of these two Elements, however she wasn't willing to do it for an obvious reason—great Mana consumption.

One of the most effective wide-scale Wind Element Spells Ione could think of was [Dancing Cyclone]. It was a Spell that produced a massive and controllable cyclone, but consumed a very large amount of Mana to maintain.

She could think of many low Mana consuming, wide-scale Fire Element Spells; however none of them would be able to leave a mark on the Aquatic Demons due to their fire resistance.

To be able to hurt the Aquatic Demons, she had to increase her Mana output, which means, she had to use yet a great amount of Mana.

"The only wide scale Arts I know are those of the Pacifer. I can't possibly use them."

The only way for her to clear the way in a short time was by utilising her Pacifer Art. She couldn't expose herself, as well as Basil however; in the end, she relied on her swordmanship and Wind Magic.

"Beware of the aerial attacks!"

"Watch the sky! These bastards spit lava!"

As soon as Ione heard the warning, a smile decorated her face. She had found a way to reach the gate before anyone else.

Looking up, she found Aerial Demons looming above her, ready to strike her when she showed a gap in her defense. Ignoring the Demons coming at her from the front, she stopped in her tracks, and gazed upwards.

The people following behind her were bewildered upon seeing what she was doing. They shouted at her frantically when they saw one of the Aerial Demons swooping down at her.

"Head Commander Basil!"

"There is a Monster coming at you, Commander!"

"Get ahold of yourself, Commander Basil!"

The people who were looking at the motionless Ione thought that she had been somehow Bewitched by one of the Demons. They tried to wake her up, but their effort was all in vain.

The Demon was already just a few meters from grabbing Ione with its long hands. At this point, all of the people had already lost hope; they thought it was the pathetic end of the Hero who had defeated Cabalen and Lucilla by himself.

Slash!

"Got you."

Thud!

"Kyaaak!"

Much to the people's bewilderment, just a second before the Demon grabbed Ione, she she swung her sword, and cut off one of its wings. Said Demon screeched as it fell, meanwhile Ione immediately jumped on its back.

Touching its head, Ione chanted a simple mind controlling Spell; it was completely under her control in the next second. When its wings regrew, which didn't take long, Ione ordered it to take off.

There were still some obstacles in her way, but fighting the Aerial Demons were easier than fighting the Aquatic Demons. None of them had a high fire resistance, so she could burn them to crisp easily.

Leaving the people on the ground dumbfounded, just like that, Ione became the first person to reach the end of the bridge.

...

While the people on the bridge were already engaged in battle against the Demons, Basil, was still diving deeper into the water to look for the hidden door that was the entrance to the shortcut.

He was using Mana to manipulate his lungs, so they could extract the oxygen in the water and separate it from the carbon dioxide. It was a tedious and Mana consuming task—but it still allowed him to be hours underwater.

Normally, anyone would use Wind Magic to create an air supply for them to breathe in while underwater. The more air supple they brought, the longer they could stay underwater.

Resorting to this way, depending on how much air one brought, would create an empty space around oneself upon entering the water.

Basil needed a lot of air because he didn't know how long it would take him to find the entrance to the shortcut, so doing it would definitely attract the Demons' attention.

Stealth was his main focus; he wanted to be as undetectable as possible. Because of this, Basil resorted to the more tedious yet safer way. Sure, it was Mana consuming, however he had plenty of it, so he could easily shrug it off.

"Hmph! Look at these creatures." Basil scoffed as he looked at the Demons passing by. "None of them could detect me just because I wrap my body with a layer of water that doesn't reflect light."

Demons had a very sensitive sense. Because of that, many of them didn't need to rely on their eyes to fight.

Although Basil was hiding not only his body but also his presence, he still had expected some of them to glance his way, at least, once. None of them did, which proved how great his stealth was and how inattentive they were.

It was something to rejoice, of course, however it was as amusing as it was disappointing nonetheless.

"Oh, here you are."

Not even a few minutes passed, Basil finally found the entrance to the shortcut. He could see a human sized tunnel in front of him; he was slightly taller than the tunnel, but he could still fit in.

Stopping right in front of the closed entrance of the tunnel, Basil put his hand on the wall covering it. Infusing his Mana into it, the Rune Carved on it lit up.

The water surrounding the wall boiled up. Basil didn't react much upon seeing it; he just kept waiting until the Rune had done its job.

Slurp!

When the Rune lost its light, Basil was immediately sucked into the tunnel.

He knew that would happen in advance, so he had lowered his head before the Rune finished its job. In result, he didn't have to bump his head into the ceiling of the tunnel.

Upon entering the tunnel, Basil immediately looked around. He had expected it to be a dark place since the tunnel had a cave like structure from the outside; what he saw, however, was the exact opposite of what he had expected.

"It is pleasantly surprising."

Basil could see the water outside the tunnel as if the tunnel was made of glass. It was also very bright in the tunnel, so he didn't have to bother using any Light Magic.

Of course, no matter how beautiful it looked, it was still a dangerous place. He could already feel something coming at him at a high speed.