Disruption!

Around the same time at the Mage Division Building.

Alex placed his hand on his forehead as he realized that he had gotten far more trouble than what he could want to.

"Ugh, she is here... We are done…" Fred said as he continued on looking miserable. "How could we survive now?"

"…." Alex had no reply to that, as the memories of Teresa told him about the power of the General Class Monster that visited them.

Her name is General Draria, and according to rumors, she was the 'descendant' of True Dragons.

Of course nobody can prove her claim, but nobody can refute it either.

But it doesn't matter what her ancestry is, as her power can be considered to be the real deal.

From what Alex knows, General Draria channels Disruption Energy.

The role of Disruption Energy is just simple.

It disrupts any kinds of abilities, magical or physical nearby.

This means that Disruption Energy can easily weaken or destroy anything that was made up of Energy or Essence.

The effects of Disruption Energy were negligible to the Knights, since their power is concentrated on their bodies.

But for the Mages, Disruption Energy can be considered to be their nemesis.

Because of that, General Draria, who was the strongest wielder of Disruption Energy, can be considered to be the No. 1 enemy of the Mages.

.

"So that is why the wards and spells in this building did not work that well.." Fred said as he shook his head wryly. "With General Draria nearby, she can easily weaken those wards…"

"I think we should try to run away now." Alex said as he urged Fred to stand up. "If we stay here for any longer, she might detect us…"

"I want to run away, but I can't." Fred said as he shook his head. "I am still the apprentice of Master, so I cannot just abandon this place."

"But…"

"Don't worry Teresa, even if I stay here, there is no way that I will allow you three to stay." Fred said as he looked at the trio with a serious look. "I know a way that will let you run away from this place quickly. Once you have escaped this place, do your best to find some help."

"Fred…" Alex's words trailed as he tried to dissuade Fred's plan. But in the end, Alex did not say anything, as he saw the seriousness on Fred's face.

"Don't worry, I have ways to ensure that I will survive." Fred said confidently. "Right now, I think I have around 70-80% chance of surviving. So, just trust me when I say that I can let you three run away."

"Well, in that case, we shall go with your plan..." Alex finally relented, as he decided to trust Fred's confidence.

"Great!" Fred said as he took a deep breath. "You three will be out of this place in no time!"

******************

After he was able to convince Alex and his companions to escape, Fred suddenly looked at Simon, giving him a saucy wink as he said,

"Hey Simon, if I manage to survive this predicament, how about we get a dinner at a good restaurant? It will be my treat of course."

"Wha- ah, um yes?" Simon hesitantly replied as he saw the eager look on Fred's face. "I would love to do that…"

"Wohoo, Simon's gonna take a bombhead from Fred!" Asteria tittered in the background as she watched the development that laid out in front of her.

"Shush you." Alex muttered as she gave Asteria dirty look. "Don't use your innuendo here, it makes me feel weird…"

"Ok, let's forget about that dinner date for now." Alice, who looked to be happy for Fred, placed her hands on her hips as she glared at the two. "We still have to make our escape!"

"Right, right, here we go." Fred muttered as he pressed some books on the nearby bookshelf.

Alex then heard some rumbling sounds as the book shelf opened up, showing another magical formation that was etched on the wall.

"This is an emergency escape formation." Fred said as he placed both of his hands on the magical formation. "This allows a person to escape randomly teleport to a location 100 kilometers from the building. Because teleportation at that distance requires much energy, this emergency escape formation can only be used once a day, and its maximum capacity is around 3 people."

"I see." Alex muttered as he understood why Fred was willing to stay here. "So, do you have to use blood again?"

"Not really." Fred said as he shook his head. "This emergency escape formation had been here for ages, even before my Master owned his place. So, be rest assured that activating this will not require any kind of weird activation sequence."

"In that case, I think we should get this started already." Alice said as she started to look urgent. "The earlier that we escape from this place, the earlier it is that we can get help…"

"I'm activating it now." Fred replied as he gave an annoyed look at Alice. "Don't worry, this won't take long."

"Oh, sorry…" Alice replied as she realized that she had been rude. "I just got a little excited…"

"It's fine." Fred said as he gave Alice a smile. "Just call for help as early as possible, ok?"

"Un!" Alice replied as she nodded her head eagerly.

At this point, the magical formation began to glow brightly, covering Alex, Simon, and Alice with its pale red glow.

Alex started to feel a slight pull in front of him, as if it was about to hurl him at a new place.

"So, its about to activate already…" Alex thought to himself as he looked back at Fred, who was focused on activating the formation.

"Do your best to survive, Fred." Alex said as he gave Fred a hopeful look. "My fiancée expects a date from you after all. Don't try to disappoint him."

"Wha-?" Fred's words were cut off as the emergency escape formation activated fully.

Alex and his companions felt their surroundings blurring as the power of teleportation was about to blast them away.

But before Alex and his companions could feel their freedom, something wrong happened.

They heard some sizzling sounds, followed by the smell of ozone.

Alex then heard some shattering sounds, and before he knew it, he found himself back at General Imago's room.

"What the hell?" Alex said as he looked around him, realizing that he was still inside the building! Form the looks of it, he and his companions were not able to teleport away!

Alex looked beside him, and there he saw Fred, who was looking at them like he had seen a ghost.

"No, this is wrong…" Fred muttered as he glanced at the emergency escape formation, that was now shattered. "The formation should have not malfunctioned like this…"

"What do we do now?" Alice wailed sorrowfully.

At this point, all of them realized that they cannot escape by using the emergency escape.

"S**t, how did this happen!" Fred shouted as he approached the destroyed formation in an attempt to fix this. "Teresa, give me some time, and I could get this back to working condition."

But before Fred could start with what he was about to do, a female voice suddenly interrupted them.

"Working condition? Hmph, with me here, all your magical crap is nothing!"

"Oh please don't tell me that's her." Alex thought to himself as he looked behind him, hoping that his guess was not right.

But unfortunately for him, his guess was right.

General Draria, who wore a smug look on her face, was currently standing in front of Alex and his companions.

Her tail was swaying freely behind her, as if it was showing her excitement.

"Mind you, finding this room was hard." General Draria said as she stretched her body. "That effing Imago placed warding, invisibility, and isolation spells in this room in order to hide it. Luckily for me, my Disruption Energy was enough to detect and weaken those spells."

"Oh, and I also Disrupted that teleportation formation that you were trying to use earlier." General Draria said as she stared at the destroyed emergency escape formation. "After all, I cannot just let my target escape in front of me…"

After General Draria said these words, Alex started to feel some panic as he had a faint inkling on who the target of General Draria was.

"Hehehe…" General Draria giggled, as she gave Alex an excited look. "My target is you, Teresa Glaivewood. Now, if you don't want to feel some pain, I suggest that you surrender peacefully to me already."

"And if I don't?" Alex asked calmly, as he stared back at General Draria's imposing image. "What will you do then?"

"Oh, I will kill your friends in the most painful way there is." General Draria said as she glanced at Simon, Alice, and Fred. "But even if you join me right now, I will still kill them, although I will make their deaths painless at that point."

"So you will still kill them no matter what I do?" Alex muttered as he looked back at General Draria.

"Yes, after all, they are not my targets." General Draria replied as she smirked at Alex. "Oh, and do not try to outsmart me. I will know if you try to fool me…"

"Sigh… I really do not want to do this, but it seems like you leave me without any choice here." Alex muttered as he loosened his tense body.

"???" After Alex said these words, General Draria's eyes narrowed, as she suddenly felt something foreboding was about to happen.

"Woosh~"

Alice, Simon, and Fred suddenly disappeared in front of General Draria. Even their presences were gone from the room, indicating that they seemed to have disappeared entirely.

"What?" General Draria exclaimed as she saw what had happened. "How could this be? I already destroyed the magical formations around here!"

"Well, what made them disappear is not magic." Alex said as he began to laugh. "So, do not try to look for them anymore…"

"Hmph, I don't care what you did to those three." General Draria said as she gave a witling look at Alex. "My only target this time is you, Teresa Glaivewood. So, even with them three gone, you will still stay in my clutches."

"Is that so?" Alex muttered as he glanced at Asteria, who immediately understood what Alex wanted. "Well, I am sorry, but your target is not me."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" General Draria inquired as she saw the mocking look on Alex's face. "Are you mocking me, Miss Glaivewood?"

"Oh, not at all, General Draria." Alex replied as he shook his head. "It's just that you had mistaken my identity."

"Quit your bullshit now!" General Draria shouted as he seemed to be irritated with what Alex was talking about. "You are coming with me now, whether you like it or not!"

"Sorry, but my answer is still no." Alex said before giving the signal to Asteria.

"Now!"

At the instant that Alex said these words, he felt the effects of the Fairy Dust temporarily deactivating.

His appearance as Teresa disappeared as his Tentacle Monster appearance came back.

"What the?" General Draria's jaw almost fell as she saw Alex's real form. "What the hell is this?"

"This is my real form, and you are one of the few that are blessed enough to see it." Alex said as he stretched his tentacles. "Now, are you ready for a fight?"

"A fight?" General Draria only paused for a second, before a challenging grin appeared in her features. "Well, I do not know how you managed to do what you did earlier, but I do not care about that. Since you want to fight, then I will give you a fight!"

"Great!" Alex replied as he began to raise his tentacle body higher. "Let's start this then!"

After Alex said these words, he tried to suppress a sigh as he remembered something earlier.

***********************

When General Draria threatened to kill Alice, Simon, and Fred earlier, the dumb fairy Asteria suddenly perked up as if she received a message.

Asteria then looked at Alex as she said,

[Bonus Mission No.2: Defeat General Draria. Reward, 2 Years of Lifespan.]

When Alex heard this notification, he threw out all the caution in his mind as he decided to fight General Draria.

Of course Alex knew winning will be difficult.

But with some special tricks, Alex was sure that maybe he can win.

If not, then he will be royally screwed.