Abandoned Fort

The experience of having sex with Katherine this time was completely different than last time.

With our souls sharing feelings, the pleasure we both felt was amplified. Moreover, we felt much closer than before. So close that Katherine was glued at me even when we finished.

"Are you happy?" I asked Katherine with a smile.

The green-haired girl did not reply. And instead, she sighed satisfied and rubbed her head on my chest like a kitten.

I could only smile wryly.

"Girl, you remember we need to prepare for the attack of the Daemon Army, right?"

Katherine was startled. She hesitated slightly before sighing and standing up.

"… I wanted to be like this a bit longer."

"Unfortunately, we will have to leave it for later."

Katherine nodded reluctantly and then looked at me with a complicated expression.

"… Claus, about the memories I saw…"

"I will tell you about it later." I kissed Katherine's nose and smiled. "For now, though, we should get ready for the daemon's attack and you should get used to your new strength."

"My new strength?" Katherine tilted her head. Then, she finally remembered the original reason we were here.

To make her stronger.

"Wait a moment, my mana…!"

At that moment, Katherine noticed the changes in her body.

Feeling the powerful mana inside her, Katherine could not help but put on a dumbfounded face.

"H-Hey, Claus, t-this mana... A-Am I stronger than my teacher now?"

"What do you think?" I asked with a smile.

Katherine was stunned. For an instant, she did not know how to react.

In less than one hour, her cultivation had advanced almost ten layers!

This did not make sense!

"… I wonder how teacher is going to react when she learns about it."

"Hahaha, I also want to see her face."

I chuckled and imagined her expression seeing her student's strength.

She surely will be dumbfounded.

Katherine was still dazed. She could not believe that she had become so strong all of sudden.

However, we did not have much time already.

"Okay okay, there will be time later for that. Now, we need to prepare the formations."

"O-Oh, right."

I sighed softly and grabbed Katherine's hand. Then, we went to install the formation.

Despite Katherine's surge in strength, her lack of experience meant that she could not install the magic formation for herself. Thus, I helped her.

Moreover, I also did some small tricks to hide the mana fluctuations of the formation. After all, this formation will be used for a surprise attack. It will be bad if the daemons notice it beforehand.

Right now, not even a fifteenth-layer mage should be able to notice the formation before it's activated unless it's someone with a special talent.

Unfortunately, none of the daemons I saw seemed to have that kind of talent.

One hour later, the magic formation was finished.

Afterward, General Anson and the remaining men in the fort started the last part of the preparations.

Three hours after midnight, everything was ready.

Now, we only needed to wait for the daemon army to walk into the trap.

…

At dawn, the daemons started to move.

Daemon soldiers after daemon soldiers advanced bravely, ready to assault Fort Mist and finally take it down.

By the time the sun started to rise, the daemon army was already in front of Fort Mist.

At that moment, the daemons noticed that something was wrong with the situation.

"General, it looks like that fort is… abandoned?"

The daemon general listened to the words of his subordinate with furrowed brows. He looked towards the Fort that had stopped the daemons' advance for years and his expression turned suspicious.

"Strange… What happened?"

"The humans ran away." The cardinal said with a sneer. "I'm sure they were afraid after that woman was injured and abandoned the fort to save their lives."

The daemons around the cardinal seemed to agree with that opinion. In fact, even the daemon general was thinking like that.

However, he still felt a bit suspicious.

Just at that moment, someone else spoke up.

"Something is wrong. The humans should not abandon the fort so easily."

Following the direction of the voice, the daemon general was a beautiful daemon woman walking towards him.

"… Princess, what are you doing here?" The general asked with a frown.

"Why? Can't I? I think that as a princess, I have the right to be here if I want."

The daemon general snorted, but he did not deny it.

Instead, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the daemon girl.

"Then, princess, what do you think about the current situation?"

"It's a trap." Princess E'Athar said without hesitation.

"A trap?"

"It should be. Otherwise, why the humans left the fort so suddenly?"

The daemon general thought for a moment before nodding.

"That is possible. M'Arcol, Diec, come here."

"General." A fourteenth-layer daemon mage and a thirteen-layer daemon warrior took a step forward.

"Go to the fort and check the situation." The daemon general said. "With your strength, you should notice if there is a trap."

The daemon powerhouses nodded and flew off.

Meanwhile, the cardinal of the Daemon God Church snorted. "This is a waste of time. The humans must be running away right now. If we don't hurry, they will escape."

"No, something is fishy here. My intuition is telling me that." Princess E'Athar glared at the cardinal coldly. "Cardinal, if we are not careful and fall into a trap, many daemons could die."

"Intuition? Is that your argument? Hah, I did not expect less of a spoiled princess like you."

Princess E'Athar's expression turned angry. But inwardly, she was very nervous.

Obviously, she knew that the empty fort was a trap. it was part of hers and Claus's plan.

The problem was that she was not sure if the daemons could discover the trap.

The success of the plan depended on it.

Right now, she could only pray that nobody discovered it.

And fortunately, her prayers worked.

Five minutes later, the two daemon powerhouses returned with weird expressions.

"What happened?" The daemon general asked with a frown.

"… The fort is empty, general. The humans truly left. Moreover, I did not find any sign of a trap."

The daemon general's eyes immediately shone with a sharp glint.

At the same time, Princess E'Athar's lips curved up in an imperceptible smile.

It seemed that the plan was going to be successful.

....