After the Hero pushed herself to her absolute limit to reach the rendezvous point, the figures of two girls appeared within her line of sight.
Hadia immediately recognized them as the Mage and the Scout from her party.
‘Is Lady Emily not here?’
Upon realizing that Emily was missing, the Hero’s pace quickened even further.
As Hadia drew closer, the two girls naturally spotted her and cried out in alarm, “Lady Hadia, are you all right?!”
In the eyes of the other members, there shouldn’t have been any possibility of her surviving.
The Hero, who should have died at the hands of the Demon King, had suddenly appeared before them.
It was impossible for them not to be shocked.
Hadia completely ignored her companions’ cries.
Once she was close enough, she demanded, “Where is Lady Emily? Has she come back yet!”
The two girls looked at each other, then responded hesitantly, “No… the Saintess hasn’t returned yet.”
“Tsk, so that’s how it is!”
Hearing the Mage’s words, Hadia finally understood why she had been allowed to return alive.
Under normal circumstances, Hadia, as the Hero, would definitely be the Demon King’s primary target.
However, considering the Demon Race’s hatred for the God and the Church, it was entirely possible for the Demon King to shift her focus to Emily, the Saintess.
After all, Emily was known as the only existence in the world capable of communicating with God.
The Demon King had every reason to target her.
‘Dammit! Why did it turn out like this!’
Hadia roared inwardly.
In particular, when she recalled how she had just been feeling lucky to have survived, Hadia felt a wave of self-loathing.
Realizing that Emily had most likely been captured by the Demon King, Hadia’s first instinct was to return to the Demon King’s castle to rescue her! The moment she turned around with that intention, the Mage and the Scout immediately grabbed her arms.
The two were no fools.
Seeing Hadia’s expression and reaction, they understood that Emily was the one who had been caught.
They knew all too well how Hadia would react upon learning this.
“What are you doing!”
Hadia’s voice was laced with fury as she found herself restrained.
In her eyes, these two were not only failing to help her rescue Emily, but were actually hindering her!
“Lady Hadia, please, calm down.”
“She’s right! I know you want to rescue the Saintess, but in your current physical state, it’s impossible!”
“I don’t care! Lady Emily is being tortured by the Demon King right now! I have to go save her immediately!”
Seeing that Hadia had completely lost control, the Mage knew that words were useless.
Reason no longer existed for the current Hadia.
After a moment of thought, the Mage decided to use hypnosis magic.
Once Hadia was asleep, they would forcibly take her to a safe place to recover.
It was the only way to stop her from throwing her life away at the Demon King’s castle.
With that thought, the Mage cast the spell.
Under the influence of the magic, Hadia, who had been struggling to break free, gradually lost her strength.
Her eyes glazed over, and she collapsed to the ground.
Under normal circumstances, such hypnosis magic would never work on the Hero.
However, Hadia was severely injured, and her resistance to magic had dropped significantly.
If anything, the fact that she had managed to drag her mangled body over 10 kilometers to regroup with her companions was already beyond the capabilities of a normal human.
Seeing her magic succeed, the Mage breathed a sigh of relief.
She knew that once Hadia woke up, she would surely be scolded.
The Scout looked at the sleeping Hadia and asked worriedly, “Is it really okay to do that?”
“How could it be okay! But do we have any other choice? We can’t just stand by and watch Lady Hadia go to her death!”
“…Then what about the Saintess?”
“…”
The Scout’s question left the Mage speechless.
Emily was incredibly popular within the Hero’s party.
If they could, the two of them would have rescued her as well, but the reality was that they lacked the strength.
Going there would truly be a suicide mission.
“We have to give up for now… with our combat power, going there is just seeking death. The only way we can save the Saintess is to heal Lady Hadia first!”
As she spoke, the Mage could only pray in her heart that Emily could endure the Demon King’s torture and suffering.
***
At the same time Hadia was being put to sleep and taken away by her companions, Natalie, the Demon King, sat on her throne with a look of displeasure, staring at the person kneeling before her.
Having her intimate moment with her beloved interrupted, there was no way Natalie could be in a good mood.
The person kneeling before Natalie was Daffier, the Demon King’s executive who had ordered the soldiers to summon her.
Unlike Natalie, Daffier was not a member of the orthodox Demon Race, but a dark elf with dark skin and white hair.
Normally, dark elves were considered demi-humans and had nothing to do with the Demon Race.
However, in human belief, elves were considered the race closest to God.
Because of this, dark elves—the complete opposite of elves—were regarded by humans as the race closest to the Demon God.
For this nonsensical reason, dark elves became targets of human persecution.
To survive and avoid genocide, the dark elves, who originally had no connection to the Demon God, were forced to actually join the Demon Race under the Demon God’s banner to ensure their race’s survival.
Because the dark elves joined the Demon Race, the humans became even more convinced that their crusade against them was righteous, completely mistaking the effect for the cause.
Of course, the dark elves were not the only race forced to join the Demon Race due to human persecution.
The mindset of ‘those who are not of our kind must have different hearts’ was deeply rooted among humans.
In the current Demon Race, pure demons like Natalie only made up half the population.
The other half consisted of various races who had sought the protection of the Demon Race.
As Natalie watched Daffier, she subconsciously clicked her tongue upon seeing the two enormous mounds on the woman’s chest.
After all, those were something Natalie desperately desired.
Daffier’s curvaceous figure truly made Natalie envious to no end.
“So, Daffier, what do you want? If it’s not something important, I’ll punish you just as I promised.”
Facing Natalie’s reluctant inquiry, Daffier replied with utmost seriousness, “Demon King, the human army has begun its invasion.”