Chapter 34.

He blinked in surprise as he saw that the man still had more than half of his HP left and that he was level 63. Adrian frowned and quickly checked that man's stats, if they were too high, he would have to kill him here and now, and blinked in shock as he realized that while they were a little higher than Raphtalia. His filolials had stats that surpassed this man. Hell, none of Rabier's stats was even half of his, not even defence which was his worst stat and Adrian's attack was over ten times what the man had.

Adrian shook himself and drew out a powerful sleeping drug from his sword and walked up to the man who was struggling to breathe and poured the drug on his face, the man tried to shake his head and opened his mouth to scream, a mistake as it allowed the drug to enter his mouth and take full effect even as he roughly pulled out the four swords that he had embedded in the man and slammed down with a sword on the man's stomach.

Rabier choked and then began to cough. Adrian activated the Cursed Seal's punishment feeling a cold sense of satisfaction as the man began to writhe in pain before the drug fully kicked in and sent him off to sleep. It was quite impressive how despite the pain and limited amount, the drug had worked quite quickly. Then again the blood loss probably played a part in that.

Though the fact that the man still had half of his HP was a terrifying reminder of just how effective the level system of this world was.

Adrian quickly started moving the disc towards the basement from their position above the mansion. Blindsight guided him in the matter, while Adrian himself dragged the nobleman by the nightgown the man was wearing, grimaced at the blood coating the fat man, and pulled him out of the room using the circular hole that he had entered from, the meter diameter hole proving its' worth. He made sure to leave most of the projected Swords in there and changed their forms to a more explosive configuration.

Then he quickly moved nearly two kilometres up in the sky with Rabier in tow. The man's bleeding had already stopped which made Adrian a little nervous but he ignored the man's quick recovery and drew out one of his older wooden platforms and projected the Swords into the structure, dropped the man on them, tied him up as best as he could and then let the man hang from the edge. If the fool woke up and struggled he would get a one way trip to the afterlife.

Adrian took a look back on the ground and Dashed back to the surface as soon as he could. His party being outside of his Blindsight was making him very nervous.

It was a relief to find that they were waiting near the basement.

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Raphtalia

Raphtalia had not known what it would feel like to see this place again. She had assumed that she would feel scared or sad or something but it looked very different at night when she was floating so far above it that she could barely even see the buildings properly.

"Raphtalia," she heard Isis speak, "Please calm down. Father promised that things would be fine and he always keeps his promises."

She looked to the silver-haired girl and nodded, trying to follow her advice. had kept all his promises and despite what he had said he had always helped her but Rifana was right there she could almost imagine that she could hear her. Raphtalia tried to keep her tail from swishing about. It was an embarrassing habit.

Then the disc started to move, slowly at first but faster as time passed. Raphtalia quickly held onto one of the supports that were embedded onto the edge of the wooden carrier, the filolials did the same. She took a deep breath and held onto the bag in one hand and a small dagger in the other. Not for the first time she envied Isis and Trystan. They could both fight.

It took them a very short amount of time to get to the ground and as they descended Raphtalia found herself beginning to shake as the features of the buildings around her slowly transformed into something familiar. Raphtalia couldn't help but remember the cage she had been in before. She swallowed and quickly jumped off the disc once they had reached close to the ground.

"The basement is there," she said after taking a deep breath, pointing at the small stairway that led to where Rifana was.

Trystan nodded, "Got it!" he said and transformed into his filolial form and ran down the stairway before slamming into the door with a loud clang. Raphtalia looked around but didn't see any guards...though she was sure that even if some did show up Isis would destroy them.

The door shattered like it was made out of glass and the Filolial quickly looked up and said, "Come on,"

"Yes, let's go," said , "and try to keep the noise down Trystan."

Raphtalia staggered back at his sudden appearance before noting that the disc was gone, probably absorbed by the Sword but she felt a sharp surge of relief. He was here which meant that Rabier no longer had any chance of killing Rifana. They were safe.

No. That wasn't true, she still had to get her out of this place.

"Let's go," he said, changing his sword into a form that radiated light, "Raphtalia please take the lead. Rifana is the first person you should see, please give her some medicine and then get her out as soon as possible. Isis, Trystan take care of the other two while I stand guard. Please make it as quick as possible."

Raphtalia nodded and quickly ran down the staircase and then stopped, stunned, as the smell started to make her hand shake, it was just like before. Suddenly she was hanging from a wall as he hit her again and again and again. A pain-phantom pain- she tried to remind herself, struck her side and her mind slowly slipped away.

"Are you okay?" asked Isis, breaking her out of her mental prison. Raphtalia didn't know how long she had been standing, frozen, in front of the door.

"Y-yes. I'll be fine," she said.

The girl looked sceptical but nodded and said, "Give us some medicines," pointing to herself and her brother who was back in his human form, "we'll need to heal the other two."

Raphtalia did so, fumbling with the bag a little but quickly giving out four doses of each type of medicine, the filolials took them and ran into the depths of the dungeon without hesitation. Raphtalia felt a bitter feeling emerge at their bravery. She cursed herself. She had failed her parents and everyone in the village and now she was failing her friend as well. Rifana was just a few steps away and she couldn't even walk up to her.

Then she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned quickly, half expecting a guard but when her punch was casually dodged she saw that it was Mr Adrian.

"S-sorry." she said, "I didn't-"

"I know. Let's go help your friend," he said and started to lead her by the hand.

"But you need to stand guard!" she said, "The plan-"

"The plan was overly cautious it is optimal for me to be here," he said, "rest assured that no one will come anywhere close without me knowing about it. As of this moment, none of the guards are even slightly wary."

Raphtalia silenced herself. Not willing to admit to how comforting it was to have him here. She knew that even if that man showed up Mr Adrian would defeat him in an instant. He was a lot like Sadeena. Ridiculously strong and very kind.

It didn't take them long to get past the empty cages to reach the familiar place where she and Rifana had been kept in, she winced a little but all her attention went to the girl who was lying in the filthy, wet straw. Her eyes were open but she wasn't looking at anything.

The Sword Hero slashed through the door without even trying, the two halves of the door started to fall before he caught them and gently put them down, he then walked towards Rifana, Raphtalia followed but he seemed to just disappear and reappear, one moment he was in front of the now-destroyed gate and the next he was kneeling at Rifana's side with a bottle of medicine in hand that he was carefully pouring into her mouth.

Raphtalia winced as she noticed that Rifana hadn't even tried to resist as moved her and slowly emptied the bottle. She knelt down beside them and said, "Rifana, can you hear me?"

Raphtalia waited for a long moment. "Rifana," she said again, her voice a little louder, but the girl didn't respond at all. Her vision blurred when Rifana didn't respond, she wiped away with her sleeve viciously. "Rifana! Please say something…"

"She's healing and needs some rest and food," said, withdrawing another bottle and some cloth from his sword which he slowly poured over her wounds after tearing off the rags that Rifana was covered in. He gently picked her up after wrapping her in the cloth once all her wounds had been drenched in the potion which had instantly been absorbed.

"Father!" she heard Isis say, "We've got them!"

Raphtalia turned to see Isis, Trystan and two other Demi-humans who were standing behind them, looking scared. Neither of them were badly injured and Raphtalia felt a small surge of bittersweet emotion. Why was Rifana the only one so badly hurt?

Mr Adrian stood up, she quickly did so as well, and nodded, "Good job you two," he said, "Any emergency concerns?" he asked Isis.

"No father," she replied quickly, "their injuries are healed and they are good enough to move."

He nodded briskly and then looked to her, "Please hold her. I'll take the lead and give you a signal once we're in the clear."

He handed Rifana to her and then a large Sword appeared in the cell, "when that changes form please come on out. Okay?" he asked.

Raphtalia quickly nodded as she adjusted her friend, feeling a sense of disorientation as she realized that she could hold her friend in her arms so easily.

Mr Adrian walked out of the cell, gave Isis and Trystan a pat on their heads, ignored the flinch that the two demi-humans performed and vanished. Less than ten seconds later the sword changed form and all of them started to move out. Trystan in front, Isis in the back and the rest of them between them.

When the got up the staircase they found the wooden carrier floating slightly above the ground while the Sword Hero stood up on top of it. Carefully scanning the surroundings.

Trystan jumped on without hesitation but one of the demi-humans hesitated and that made the other hesitate as well.

Raphtalia moved past them, carefully lay Rifana down, and then spoke to them, "Please don't be scared. I promise that we just want to help you. I was hurt, just like you were, by that man."

The looks turned from fear and wariness to confusion.

"Look, you can stay here and get hurt again or come with us," said Isis bluntly as she jumped onto the disc, "you're wasting time. Come on."

That got them moving and soon enough they were on the disc and were flying away from that place. Raphtalia sat down next to Rifana and moved her friend's head into her lap. Not quite able to believe that Rifana was still alive, that she would be okay.

It took them no time at all to reach high above the city and an even lesser fragment of time before they had started to move away from it but when they had just reached the edge of the town, right above the walls, she heard a massive explosion and turned to see that a bright orange glow was coming from the mansion.

Raphtalia turned towards Adrian after the sudden burst of colour reduced in intensity and saw him smiling. It wasn't the same smile that he offered Trystan or Isis. He didn't look happy. It was more like a baring of teeth. A promise of pain.

A guilty sort of joy flared up at watching the destruction from afar but soon any thought of it vanished from her mind as she slowly traced the features of her friend.

Rifana was safe. What more could she ask for?