'I hope you are safe.' Max prayed in his heart and suddenly raised his speed.
Shua!
He appeared beside the little elf girl and picked her up.
The little girl was stunned by his sudden action before her expression twisted, and a green glow surrounded her.
Max's brows raised, seeing that she wanted to resist, and he said in an emotionless voice, "You don't have to worry. I'm just helping you to move faster."
The little girl looked at him for a moment and calmed down; the green glow receded.
Max nodded in satisfaction, and Mana surged out from his core which then enveloped his legs, causing his speed to increase several times.
Whoosh!
Belen and Leticia looked at each other and saw the shock in each other's eyes. Although they were also puzzled why he would suddenly grab the girl and run away, their surprise after seeing his speed almost stupefied them.
"Max, he... he is so fast," Leticia uttered, her eyes fixed on Max, who was gradually going away from them.
"Let's hurry up, or we will be left behind." Belen took a deep breath and said in a deep tone. After that, she raised her speed to her limits.
When Leticia heard her words, she understood another hidden meaning. Taking a deep breath to calm down the shock she felt just now. After that, Mana burst out of her, and her speed became 3-4 times faster, and she immediately caught up to Belen.
"Here, hold my hand." Leticia extended her hand toward her. After Belen held her hand, Leticia's speed increased yet again. However, it was still slower than Max's speed.
Fortunately, the path ahead was devoid of any vegetation, and they could see Max's silhouette in the distance, which made it easier for them to follow him.
...
After traveling in the desolate region for a few more hours, Max finally arrived in front of a valley. However, he had to stop there because, at the entrance, four people in black clothes stood guard, and each had a black hound similar to the ones chasing the little girl.
The little elf girl's body trembled in his arms after seeing them, apparently terrified.
"It's okay, little girl. You don't have to be scared." Max smiled at her comfortingly. Seeing his smile, the little girl's nerves calmed down.
She then pointed toward the valley and said, begging, "There... deep in a cave... my family captured. Please save."
"Hmm, I will." Max nodded, looking toward the valley with a hopeful and worried gaze.
However, he soon frowned. The path to the valley from where he was hiding was around half a mile and was completely barren, with nothing to hide behind. Even with his speed when using enhanced Mana, he won't be able to approach the valley entrance without alerting the guards.
While he was thinking of a way to approach the guards and kill them, Leticia and Belen arrived beside him. Leticia was completely out of breath.
"Why are you hiding-" Belen asked, but mid-speech, she stopped after noticing the people guarding the valley entrance.
"How should we proceed now?" She asked, noticing that if they wanted to enter the valley, guards would be alerted beforehand.
Max raised his head to look at the sky and said, "Let's wait for a while. When it is night, We'll directly charge inside."
He guessed that under cover of night, they should be able to move two hundred meters more without alerting the guards or hounds.
"Okay. We'll do this then." Belen nodded and sat down to recover her stamina and Mana. Leticia also sat down, but unlike Belen, she took out some Mana stones because she had expended a lot of his Mana to follow Max.
After less than half an hour, the night fell and visibility in the area dwindled. The little elf girl was getting restless. Max patted her little head and then said,
"Belen, Leticia. Remember not to make any sound until we are 300 meters away." He then directed them to ready their spells and attack when they were in their range.
"Let's move out." He said and moved toward the entrance while making sure not to make any sound. The little elf was following closely behind him. She seemed to have understood that he was the strongest of the three.
Crack!
When they were only a few meters away from the 300-meter boundary, Leticia stepped on a small stone that cracked.
'Fuck!" Max cursed in his heart. Although the sound was very faint, he knew that the hounds had definitely heard it. Without delay, he circulated his Mana and charged out.
Grrr~
Just as Max had expected, one of the black hounds suddenly growled while gazing in the darkness ahead.
"Hm? Something is wrong." The guard beside it immediately became alert.
"What can be wrong? Who would come to such a desolate area at this time? It should the hounds we sent to chase that little elf down." One other guard shook his head; however, even though he said this, he also raised his guard up.
Whoosh!
Suddenly a figure flashed in front of the guard who had just spoken.
Bang!
Before he could react, a punch had landed on his forehead, and his skull exploded like a water balloon. After killing him, Max turned toward another guard, ready to move toward him.
"RUN!"
However, they didn't stay still. After seeing that this enemy killed one of their brother in a single punch and coupled with his ghostly speed, they knew they weren't his match and immediately turned to run inside the valley.
Sou! Sou! Sou!
However, just at that moment, the wind howled, and two other heads were detached from the guards' bodies. Before the last guard could take another step, several vines sharp as spears sprouted out of the ground and pierced his head.
Growl!
The hounds were dazed for a second, seeing their masters being killed in a fraction of a second. Then they fearfully growled and ran inside the valley in a panic. But Belen's vines didn't let them move too far away before reaping their lives too.
Max looked at two women coming toward him and nodded. The little elf was following Belen. When she saw the corpses, her small body trembled in fear.
"Let's go." Max walked inside the valley. Inside, the valley was even darker since barely any moonlight was able to reach inside it. Because of this, they had to move slowly lest they alert the people inside.
Suddenly the little elf moved ahead of them, signaling them to follow after her.
Following her directions, they quickly arrived in front of a cave that sloped downwards. Surprisingly, there wasn't anyone guarding it.
"Are you sure this is the cave?" Leticia asked dubiously.
The little elf hurriedly nodded her head.
"Do you know how many bad people are in there?" Belen asked.
"Eight humans. They are… strong." The little elf said with a fearful expression.
Belen then turned toward Max, "Max, it could be dangerous if we just barge in there. After all, we only know their number, and who knows whether there are more now."
Max thought for a while and nodded. Following this, he raised his hand, and a small fireball appeared in front of him. He hurled his hand toward the entrance of the valley.
Boom!
It flew more than 400 meters before exploding and creating a loud noise.
Belen and Leticia were surprised when they saw him suddenly attacking. However, they quickly understood why he did this.
"Hurry up and hide." Max suddenly said and moved behind a large rock a dozen meters away from the cave entrance.
…
Inside the underground cave, a giant circular formation was established, which had nine pillars on it. Each pillar had a person tied to it, blood dripping down from their bodies. The blood didn't pool below them but flowed toward the center of the formation, where a middle-aged man sat with his eyes closed.
Eleven people in black clothes were standing in different parts of the formation, chanting something in an unknown language.
Apart from them, four other people stood out of the formation, looking at the middle-aged man in veneration.
"Argh! Why are… you doing this? Please let me go. I'll give you guys all my wealth." An obese man tied to one of the pillars cried out, his face pale.
However, no one reacted to his cries. Seeing this, he kept begging, offering everything he had.
"Tch, damn fatty. They won't let us go no matter what you offer them." A young lady covered in blood tied to the pillar near him said in a cold tone, despair flashing in her eyes.
