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Lyell arrived to the Tau village that was close by with Maxwell’s Flight spell. However, the village was already rolled up in a battle turmoil, some of the buildings burned to the ground.

Seeing the state of the village, Lyell ground his teeth to suppress his furry. Then he called out to people around while holding down his feelings.

“Is anyone safe around here?”
“Could it be… Lord Lyell!?”
“Are you the village’s guard? What’s the situation?”
“We received an attack from a small number of Devils and half-demons early in the morning. Some of the buildings got burnt down, and they are wreaking havoc in the western side now.”
“What about the evacuation?”
“General citizens have already been evacuated. However, there are several people whose safety has not been confirmed. They are mostly girls, so there is a chance that they have been taken captive…”
“Got it. West side, yes? Maxwell and I will handle that side. You guys dedicate all your power to searching and securing the missing people.”
“Yes sir!”

There was no one nearly as strong as Lyell around here. Since he had been dedicating himself to maintaining public order, he had been visiting this village quite frequently. Given their familiarity, the guard immediately accepted his instructions.

After that, he and Maxwell quickly headed to the western side where the battle was taking place. There, around a five meter tall Devil was engaged in a combat with the guards, at times spewing flames that only made the fire grow.

“That’s as far as you go, you damn pyromaniac!”
“Hmph, more small fries have-…what, Lyell!?”
“You seem to have been scheming something, but your plans end here. Don’t resist and I’ll at least let you keep your life.”
“Could it be that you abandoned the investigation and were waiting for this surprise attack…? Damn you! But I will not go down so easily. Sokram, hold him back!”

In reality, he was simply standing by since Nicole had already taken care of the investigation, but the half-demon man had no way of knowing it.

At any rate, if he managed to hold Lyell down here, he could gain enough time to escape with the captured sacrifices. It was a miscalculation that Lyell would appear here, but even so, he had to fight to the best he could.

The Devil called Sokram raised its hand and rushed at Lyell. A first swung by a giant over five meters tall had enough pressure to petrify everyone who saw it. But that was only talking about ordinary people. It had no effect on an experienced warrior like Lyell.

“You don’t know when to quit…”

Along with exasperated words, he swung his holy swords sideways as if he was swatting away a fly. With just that, Sokrams right arm went flying.

“GUGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

It raised a shriek, unknown whether from anger or pain. Lyell didn’t even lend an ear to its scream, brandished his sword and slashed at its feet. The reason he did not aim for its body was because it was far too tall.

The Devil immediately avoided it, but that caused its posture to break greatly, making it step back.

“Impossible! Sokram’s skin should be as hard as steel…”
“If that’s the case, the Evil Dragon’s one was far harder.”
“Khh! So even weathered, you’re still a Six Hero!”
“Who’s weathered? I’m still active!”

While he reflectively retorted to it, this time Maxwell released his spell. The spell he used was Fire Javelin. He chanted it quickly and silently, and it pierced through Sokram, having enough power to melt even iron.

Seeing Sokram crumble away with a big hole in its chest, the half-demon man yelled in despair.

“How can this be! How could Sokram, who has fire element, be defeated with fire magic… It could even rival Fire Giants…”
“Please, that is nothing big.”
“You damn monsters!”
“So, what now? You can keep your life if you get captured obediently. Though you’d be paying for the damages.”
“To hell with it!”

The man yelled and charged at Lyell with a dagger. Naturally, everyone present was well aware that he was no match for him. The reason he did it was also to seal his own lips. They had already taken several people that could serve as sacrifices. Ideally they wanted more, but it was still not a loss.

He just needed to escape now, but with Lyell and Maxwell both present, that was nearly impossible. In that case, he had to gain whatever time he could for the kidnappers to make their escape. If he was captured, Maxwell could probably make him talk against his will using various spells. Thus he needed to seal his own mouth. He made this action after judging and resolving himself.

“Meaningless struggle…”

Lyell naturally had no way of knowing that. He did not know what kind of counterattack someone who could summon and control Devils would have up his sleeve. Even if he cut his arms or crushed his throat, he did not know whether he could communicate with the Devils with some other means and give them commands.

As such, he had to make sure nothing of the sort happened, so he mercilessly slashed down the man over the shoulder.

“Khah!”
“Sorry, but I don’t know what kind of trump card a Devil user could have. I’ll be putting you down here.”
“D-Do your worst… I curse you I c-ugh…egh…”

The man spoke in resentment as the deep red blood bubbled out from his mouth. The color of that blood suggested that his lung was cut. It was a wound that was most certainly fatal if he was not healed. And it was a grave enough injury that even Maxwell’s healing arts would not make it in time.

Seeing the man draw his last breath, Maxwell heaved a deep sigh.

“No holding back, huh. It would have been better to leave him alive to gain information.”
“It would be too difficult to take someone intent on dying alive. We unfortunately have no time for that now.”

The village was still wrapped in flames. This place where the battle was taking place did not seem like it had been completely evacuated. There might have been more villagers requiring help.

“Maxwell, search for the survivors. Also, it would be great if you can find the culprits that have fled.”
“Magic is not all-powerful. It cannot do whatever I want.”

Maxwell shrugged his shoulders while casting Life Search, trying to find survivors. Seeing that, Lyell also started to wordlessly dig up the rubble.