Behind her, the tail that followed was indeed remarkably obedient within the Grand Duke’s territory.
Under Qin’s watchful eyes, these Grand Duke’s Followers behaved as if they were unwilling to cause the Grand Duke any trouble at all.
Even after the carriage had left the Grand Duke’s domain, they still followed at a leisurely pace, showing no desire to attack.
Via almost felt as if they were merely there to secretly protect her as she left human territory.
The carriage traveled along a forest path.
This newly opened road still saw very few vehicles.
For caravans, it was a dangerous and difficult route, but for Via, it was just right.
Here, she finally sensed the magic fluctuations from the tail behind her growing stronger and stronger. It seemed they had finally decided it was time to make their move.
“Prepare inside the carriage. Suppress your aura; don’t let them detect your identity,” Via said, leaning her head out the carriage window and addressing Cecilia.
“It looks like they’re ready to attack.”
The carriage continued racing forward, its speed increasing.
“Wait, senior, then you…”
Cecilia reached out, trying to pull Via back into the carriage.
She could feel the presence of those warriors behind them—at least three mages among them, plus six armored soldiers.
Without a doubt, this was a standard military tactical formation.
Via was confident she could kill these warriors, but if she did, the cooperation recently negotiated with the Grand Duke might be damaged by this conflict.
True, the problem began when the Grand Duke’s men attacked them without permission, but even so, if Via killed them, the trust between the two sides would suffer.
“Well, I’ll of course fulfill my duties properly.”
Via’s eyes fixed tightly on the fast horses behind them.
These pursuing soldiers were well prepared; their weapons were standard-issue equipment, clearly taken from the armory long ago.
Only now did Cecilia realize that the driver at the front, responsible for guiding the carriage, seemed completely oblivious to the situation behind them.
He hadn’t said a single word the entire time, only constantly urging the horses forward.
Suggestion magic.
A fundamental skill for learning magic, suggestion spells are somewhat similar to hypnosis.
They can briefly control a target or subtly influence their psychology.
However, such spells are useless against powerful mages.
It seemed the driver had been placed under a “make the carriage go as fast as possible” suggestion.
The carriage’s speed continued to accelerate.
The pounding of hooves was dense and forceful.
Trees outside the window rapidly blurred by.
The carriage’s jolting made it nearly impossible for those inside to stay seated.
Just as the carriage reached a bend ahead, Via suddenly leapt out.
Facing her were the “tails” who had been tracking them for a long time.
“Everyone, were you waiting for me?”
In midair, Via wore a nearly mad smile. Her sharp demonic fangs were fully exposed, and she raised her magic staff.
The wind, which had once gently caressed the trees, suddenly turned violent.
It rapidly condensed before her, then, with a boom, slammed into the pursuing soldiers.
Even the surrounding trees along the road seemed to break under some terrible impact.
The armored figures were thrown back, their pained cries echoing.
However, driving the warriors back did not mean the danger was over.
Before Via could even land steadily, the mages’ spells came raining down one after another.
Dense magical projectiles engulfed her figure in an instant.
These stones-piercing magic droplets pelted her, while those that missed struck the ground nearby, kicking up dust.
“Is this the kind of magic you use against me?”
Via’s petite figure stepped out from the hail of projectiles.
The magical missiles continued to pour down, but as they neared the seemingly fragile demon lord, they were blocked by tiny magical shields—small enough that Via didn’t even face them head-on, instead angling each shield just right to deflect most attacks.
The mages who witnessed this instantly realized that this demon was not on their level.
Although magical shields are a basic spell, mastering them is no easy feat.
Maintaining a sufficiently stable shield is already difficult.
Normally, under such an intense magical assault, a mage would cover themselves in a large shield.
But this woman dissolved a dozen fist-sized shields, using them to “deflect” the attacks aimed at her.
Both her precise control over magic and her reaction speed to incoming spells had nearly reached perfection.
Even among demons, few could compare in this regard.
The hail of projectiles gradually ceased.
The demon lord’s body was spotless, but the ground around her was devastated.
It appeared she had only blocked the projectiles that would have hit her; the rest she allowed to strike freely.
“Had enough? Or do you really want to cause some unnecessary trouble for your Grand Duke?”
Via spoke to those around her.
The warriors she had repelled now stood, and the mages were already gathering their magic again.
They seemed unwilling to respond to her words, instead preparing to launch another attack.
“You know full well you’re no match for me. Elite soldiers like you are indeed enough to deal with ordinary demons, but to defeat me, you’d need at least several hundred.”
The legend of a single demon lord standing against an army was no exaggeration.
Back then, every human who killed a demon lord paid a heavy price.
Even the Grand Duke’s personal soldiers—seasoned elites—could not truly believe they could slay one.
“You must have prepared to be killed in my counterattack, haven’t you? Soldiers of the Grand Duke?”
She raised her hand, ready for their second wave.
Hearing this, the soldiers’ movements clearly faltered for a moment.
“I don’t want your Grand Duke to be implicated by a demon, but since you can’t persuade him otherwise, you’ve decided to sacrifice yourselves to break our cooperation. That’s the only explanation. Otherwise, I can’t understand why such capable fighters would deliberately rush to their deaths against a demon lord.”
Those continuous, dense magical missiles were no ordinary spells. Moreover, their release was almost seamless—like raising a hand and firing.
A mage of this caliber could not be unaware of the gap between themselves and a demon lord.
“The Grand Duke is wading into murky waters. Perhaps cooperating with you, demon lord, would bring better prospects, but we don’t think the Grand Duke should gamble on this.”
A mage with a covered face spoke in a low voice.
“So you’d rather forcefully ruin this cooperation with your own lives.”
Their men had been killed—and these were clearly trusted, devoted veterans of the Grand Duke.
Such a thing made a rift between the sides inevitable.
At that point, the Grand Duke might even terminate the cooperation.
They must have thought that by doing this, they could pull the Grand Duke out of the whirlpool of “collusion with demons.”
“Such loyalty, it makes me envious.”
Via sighed helplessly. But quickly, she put away her staff.
“I am confident I can render you incapable of fighting without taking your lives. But if you still insist on rushing headlong at me, don’t blame me for delivering you unconscious to your Grand Duke.”
“Loyalty is a good thing, but don’t throw your lives away just for loyalty.”