Chapter 51: Just a beginning.

Louvenia carefully put Lucretia down, and the healers immediately used their skills to treat her internal wounds as the medic treated her visible wounds. Louvenia used the time to explain what happened to her team a moment ago.

"There's a powerful demon that could regenerate even after Lucretia burned it to ashes? What kind of demon was that?" Mihangel asked and looked at Louvenia who was sitting down and caught her breath.

"Yeah, it was a Vampire Lord," Louvenia answered with her eyebrows raised and eyes blankly stared at the distance.

"Vampire Lord? How did you kill that demon?" Violette asked with a confused look.

"We didn't kill him," Louvenia stared Violette in the eyes with empty eyes of hers. "The Vampire Lord left for some unknown reason, and we were lucky to be alive right now," Louvenia answered as she covered her face with her hands.

"The Vampire Lord left? There should be no reason for him to spare two lives when he was on a killing spree," Ando asked and looked at Nero.

"I thought the same thing as you when I saw him leave, but that wasn't a coincidence at all. I believe it has something to do with the modified quest," Louvenia nodded her head in agreement. "By the way, what happened to her?" Louvenia looked at Katya who was being treated next to Lucretia.

"She tried to protect everyone and took a fatal blow from a giant demon," Gratya answered and offered a bottle of water to Louvenia. "If you're curious, you can go and see her," Gratya continued.

"Like hell I want to see her, I might punch her to death if I get too close and see how vulnerable she is," Louvenia answered and grabbed the bottle of water.

Gratya laughed at the answer she got which confused the others since what Louvenia said didn't sound like a joke at all. She then left and went to accompany Katya until she woke up.

Ando went to check on the others and then he stumbled at Elenoir who was on her own thinking about something. He decided to go and check on her since he was worried that she would take a huge toll on her body from saving everyone's life.

"Hey, you good?" Ando asked as he walked toward Elenoir.

"Something is bothering me," Elenoir said with a troubled face. "After I heard what happened to Lucretia and Louvenia, this place suddenly became so quiet and peaceful because they're going to fight those two. I'm thinking if we should go there or stay here," Elenoir pointed out.

"Stay? Here? Are you being serious right now?" Louvenia asked and her voice could be heard by the others.

Elenoir and Ando looked at Louvenia as the others came to join the conversation. They wanted to know why Elenoir suddenly thought it would be best for them to stay.

"Yes, that's if you treasure your life. I'm saying this because none of you can survive if we keep moving forward. The only thing that awaits you out there is death, and I'm just thinking what's best for you, not for me," Elenoir answered straightforwardly. "We have lost a lot of Candidates with potential. Do you think this will end once we clear this vortex? Don't you think this is just the beginning?" Elenoir asked and looked everyone in the eye.

Ando, Nero, and Gratya had no problem with Elenoir, but the others showed their dissatisfaction.

"So what? We all agreed to get inside the vortex even though we know the risk. Most of us are ready to die trying, but then suddenly you try to waver our resolution?" Louvenia replied and pointed at the Candidates behind her. "We risked everything to get here, and we're not stopping," Louvenia continued and her eyes looked so determined by her own words.

Elenoir knew Louvenia's reason why she wanted to keep moving forward after her whole team got annihilated. She knew that it was her only opportunity to become stronger since she could tell by the number of EXPs that she got from defeating the demons. She could use the opportunity to raise her level and she wasn't the only one that thought that way. They all wanted to kill powerful demons with Sierra as their shield.

"Is that what you guys want? None of you want to stay?" Elenoir asked with her eyebrows raised. They all shook their heads without hesitation. "Since it has been decided, we will be leaving in an hour, and make sure everyone is prepared to leave before that," Elenoir said as she stood up and wrapped herself in her white coat.

Katya and Lucretia were awake and had been treated fully even though they both still couldn't do anything. They both listened to Elenoir and the decision the others took which surprised Katya but not Lucretia. Katya couldn't believe that everyone would be crazy enough to risk their lives for power.

"It's exactly as you predicted," Mihangel said as he looked around. "There are no demons around us anymore and they're all on their way somewhere," Mihangel pointed out as he looked at the flying demons in the sky in the distance.

"But that doesn't mean we will be safe out there. The closer we are to where Sierra and Alseace are, the more dangerous the situation is because we will be facing and seeing stronger and scarier demons," Elenoir replied as she looked around and made sure there wasn't a single demon or monster lurking around. "I'll warn you that our utmost priority is our own life because if we died, our world is going to end because there's nobody to protect it," Elenoir continued.

"We know. You don't have to say it," Louvenia said with her arms crossed.

On their way to the city square, they started to see giants and flying demons with big wings and tails. They had to hide and avoid an encounter with the demons because they knew it would be an impossible fight. They waited until there would be no demons that past them.

"That kid, Alseace. I wonder what's he doing right now. Is he hiding somewhere like us, or is he fighting the demons with Miss Red?" Hunter asked as he leaned against the wall and looked at the long alley he was in.

"You would be surprised by the answer," Gratya answered. "He cleared more vortexes and portals than some of you. He's different than us," Gratya continued as she stared blankly at the wall in front of her.

Sierra wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her right hand and then she looked down at the pile of demon bodies under her feet. She didn't know exactly how many demons she had killed, but the pile was as tall as the 7-story building.

"Still safe..." Sierra looked at her status screen and the remaining percentage to level up. She then turned around and looked at Alseace struggling to deal with the servants. "Still not enough, huh? Well, the good thing is that these demons are coming like a river. Just hang on for a bit more," Sierra said and looked at the demons in the distance that were flying and running toward the town square.

Alseace saw the same spear made of blood fly right toward his face as he was dodging the knight's sword. He leaned his head back and saw the spear fly right past his face and barely dodged it. He almost lost his balance, but he managed to recover after he pushed himself back up.

He was covered in bruises and cuts on his face and body from fighting just 2 of the Servants. Although he gained a lot of status points from his [Scavenger] skill, it wasn't enough and not to mention he didn't have anything that could protect him.

"I don't know if you're dumb or crazy," The red-haired woman said as she crossed her arms and stared at Alseace. "You came to this place with that fancy suit and cheap sword on your waist. But, I must admit that you're no ordinary Candidate, just like her," she pointed out and glanced at Sierra waiting for the demons to come.

Alseace wiped the blood on his lips and stared at the knight's feet because he noticed that the knight always positioned his feet before attacking. It gave him an opportunity to prepare and it was the only reason why he managed to survive all the knight's attacks. He knew the woman was trying to distract him, so he ignored the woman's words and kept focusing on the two servants in front of him.

"(Is there anything I can do?)" Alseace thought to himself, but then he looked at Sierra who was staring at him with a blank expression. "(She doesn't look concerned at all, and she doesn't come here to help. Does she want me to keep doing what I'm doing?) Alseace asked himself, but then he heard hordes of demons coming from the distance. "(They keep coming, so that means I'll get more status points. I see)" he sighed with a bit of relief since he realized that Sierra was trying to feed him status points.

The knight moved his right foot and immediately dashed forward as he swung his sword at Alseace. He knew that Alseace was deep in thought and could see the doubt on his face, but he was surprised when Alseace dodged his attack again. Not only that, Alseace was ready for it and already clenched his fist.

The knight scoffed which surprised Alseace and that made him hesitate to make a counter-attack. He decided to jump back, but then the other servant appeared right behind him with 2 big daggers in his hands. It was the daggers that had been cutting his suit and body that always caught him off guard.

Alseace was confused about why his [Affinity: Holy] skill that he coated around his body was useless against the man's attacks. He thought that the daggers were the reason why, and wondered if his skill rank was too low to stop those weapons from penetrating his skin and flesh.

"You must be thinking why your Holy Aura isn't working against my daggers. The answer is because my daggers aren't real daggers, they're made out of magic," The man said. "Looks like you're new to this kind of world, I don't think you'll survive this battle," he continued with a smirk as he readied his stance.

"We'll see. This is just a beginning," Alseace answered and didn't show any fear or nervousness.