The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 699: Rising the Curtain of Fire

[By his command]

The moment ’Valmeier’ said it, his slumped figure shifted. His back straightened, but his arms turned wobbly, almost liquidy, and smoothly escaped his shackles. Whether it was the agents and the magician, or the people in the Holy Empire--everyone was widening their eyes in shock.

"What?!"

"How could he use magic?!"

The shock was the same for everyone, and human reaction to such shock was inevitable. Their stance would change; the swords on Jin’s wrist and neck slackened slightly; the Pope turned his head to look at the screen with a frown--and the pouch left unattended for a second.

In that split second, Jin snatched the pouch. The paladins and the holy knights, trained for heightened sense, immediately returned their attention to the Hero. But that split second was enough for Jin to activate his skill and harden his skin, preventing the swords from hurting him.

Their biggest mistake, born from arrogance, was not sealing Jin’s mana.

But before the other holy knights and paladins even had any chance to pull their swords, their attention was once again diverted to what happened on the other side of the screen--which got slightly blurry because the mana flow got disturbed from the priests feeling too shocked.

The moment ’Valmeier’ escaped from the shackles, the agents immediately moved, only to get blasted away by a gust of strong wind that came out of nowhere. A spear shot out from the pile of luggage the group had been carrying, attacking the surprised agents.

Meanwhile, the impassive face of the former hostage shifted, turning into a snarl as the green eyes gradually became iridescent. It wasn’t really apparent for those who didn’t watch closely, however, because the man turned to the side at the same time and snatched the magician away from the agents, separating them.

The hand, clutching on the magician’s surprised neck, hardened like metal. But it wasn’t the hard clutch that hurt the magician--it was the wave upon wave of pain flowing from the choking hand to the magician’s body.

Instantly, as his eyes bulged in shock, an agonizing scream echoed through the bordering forest and the meeting room inside the church.

Everything happened in five seconds.

It was enough for Jin to throw both the box and the pouch inside his sealed storage ring.

"Stop him!"

The Pope roared and slammed his hand at the table, shattering it with a burst of chain-shaped mana that rushed toward the Hero. Jin did not retreat, however; he simply bent his knees slightly and raised his arms to brace the burst of mana. It was made in a hurry, so there was no real power behind the mana, and he shattered the magic chain trying to shackle him fairly easily.

Conversely, there was every bit of brewing anger inside the swirling storm of fire unleashed by the flaming lizard hissing on the Hero’s shoulder.

"Gaaah!"

"Fire! Fire!"

"Damn it--water barrier!"

"But the vision--"

"Who cares about the vision!" the churchkeeper Bishop screamed as the raging fire filled the room and incinerated the furniture--even the Pope was astonished. "Water barrier now!"

Fearing for their lives too, the priests shifted their staff and changed the mana sequence to create a huge water barrier to protect them, the Bishop, and the Pope--just in time as the furious flame struck the swirling water. The paladins and the holy knights, however, fell prey to the flame’s full attack, which seemed to ignore their defensive skill.

"It melts the armor!" the holy knight closest to the Hero said before screaming at the burning sensation of melted metal digging into his flesh.

The sword, made with a mix of mithril, withstands the flame. He wasn’t high ranking enough to receive an armor made with such metal, however, so he had to suffer. They were supposed to restrain the Hero, but before they could unleash any magic chain or sealing barriers, the flame’s mana struck their chant sequence.

Not only did they have to suffer from the burn, but they also had to endure the mana reflux from the failed spell.

But even before his warning, two of the paladins’ shields had already failed their defense, and once again, only the one made by mixing mithril and other magic-absorbing metal could stand against the pure fire.

"Shield! Use magic shield!"

The Pope shouted angrily, but it still took the paladins half a minute to create a magic shield in the middle of their pain and panic. Even then, the flame still raged persistently, until the holy knights staying behind the paladin let out anti-magic slashes to scatter the stubborn flame.

"Get this, you filthy fake Hero!" one of the holy knights yelled while sending multiple slashes wrapped in light magic. The other holy knights followed suit, hoping their attacks would strike Jin. After all, even that Hero shouldn’t be able to do anything but defend himself.

But when the room only got even more tattered by the attack, the Pope shouted in frustration. "Stop! Just focus on scattering this damn fire!" he raises his palm to blast his light mana through the water barrier, bad feelings crawling all over his body.

A lot of things had gone wrong, but he had no leeway to analyze them one by one for now. The most important thing was dousing this damn fire, which was so hard to do for some reason. It wasn’t like a fire made by a contracted flame lizard at all.

What is that lizard? How could a lizard do this much while away from its contractor?

The more questions he had, the more bad feelings kept piling up. And those bad feelings manifested in reality when the flame finally let up and they found no one in the middle of the room, where the Hero was supposed to be.

Instead, there was a melting hole on the ground, as well as on the ceiling--punching through the far-end roof and shooting to the sky.

The Pope stared at the three holy knights and two paladins writhing on the ground while gritting his teeth, before screaming loud enough to be heard across the floor.

"Sound the alarm!"

* * *

Jin landed on the floor below when the holy knights were still screaming from the mana reflux. He was sure the commotion would be enough to make the other paladins and priests come over but lucky for him, the room below was empty.

"Go! Run!" Ignis flicked its flaming tail against Jin’s shoulder. "To the plaza!"

"Plaza?" Jin stood up and went to the window instead of the door, yanking it open before jumping off the ledge. Ignis melted the frame so no one could open the window again as Jin jumped to the alleyway between the main church building and the east wing.

"Yes, the plaza," Ignis repeated. "Valen said the plaza--hurry!"

Jin looked to the south, where the plaza should be based on the floor plan. He frowned and hesitated for a bit. "But the others..."

"I already sent a signal--they should know we’re on the move," Ignis explained hurriedly.

"But how would they know where to--"

"Someone will call them!" Igniz whipped the Hero’s back with its tail again. "Hurry!"

Jin gritted his teeth and decided to trust his companions’ ability once again before turning south. He could hear the sounds of confusion from around the main building. What happened in the room might not be noticeable, but the ’signal’ that the Salamander sent should alerted some paladins patrolling outside.

They would most likely go inside the building, however, so if he could move quietly in the shadow--

A loud blaring sound suddenly resounded all over the church grounds, and Jin couldn’t help but curse under his breath. But then again, it was to be expected.

"What’s that?" Ignis asked.

"Alarm," Jin replied while taking out a pair of throwing daggers as he quickened his steps across the alleyway. There was no need to be discreet anymore if the guards were going to flood the church grounds anyway.

"Just go to the Plaza," Ignis repeated. "Valen will be here in five minutes, so just focus on going there."

Jin saved his breath and just nodded as he continued to run, before sliding down as he felt an arrow flying toward him. With a soft thud, an arrow struck the wall four meters in front of him, followed by a shout.

"There!" a ranger guard yelled from the eastern watchtower. "He’s on the East-two-six section!"

Why should they have a specific identification location system?! Jin grumbled inwardly as he stood up and continued running. There was no time to look for a safe place, so he just ran while sensing any incoming projectiles.

More arrows chased him as he flew away, avoiding each one. The one he couldn’t was swatted by the Salamander’s flame. But dam it--the place was like a labyrinth! The inner sanctum was like layer upon layer of buildings and corridors, like a slice of Baumkuchen seen from above.

"I don’t think we can get to the plaza in five minutes," Jin said. "I’m not even sure we could go past that inner gate."

Because of the archer’s yell, the inner sanctum members around the eastern ground were immediately rushed toward the aforementioned section. More archers had chased him along the wall, and he could hear the sounds of the priests and paladins coming from all sides.

"Do you remember the layout?" Ignis asked.

"I think so..."

"Then, we don’t need a fixed path."

The Salamander scoffed and blasted a condensed fireball that only a Salamander could make to the wall on their left, creating a wall big enough for a human adult to pass through.

"We’ll go through a shortcut."