Even from far away, the loud explosions that were caused by Lux's and Asmodeus' attempt to stop the Monster Army were heard by the refugees, who were making their way toward Aeston Town.
Boris glanced at the smoke rising in the distance and frowned.
When Lux had told him that he would try to delay the approaching monsters, Boris wasn't informed of the methods that the Half-Elf would use to do it.
Judging from the loud explosions earlier, he at least assumed that the Half-Elf had succeeded in his mission.
What they needed right now was an opportunity to increase the distance between them, and thanks to Lux's interference, the Monster Army had momentarily stopped their pursuit.
"Guthram, you sent me one hell of a helper," Boris muttered.
When he saw Lux for the first time, he didn't think much of the teenager. However, right now, it was the Half-Elf who was doing the job that he should have be doing--ensuring the safety of the people that had entrusted their lives to him.
The Rat Monsters came back from their scouting trip and found no enemies in the surroundings.
Because of this, the Pied Piper decided to send dozens of scouts ahead of the army, in order to detect hidden dangers.
Just to be on the safe side, the Pied Piper also changed the formation of the Rat Army so that there were only a hundred Monsters per group. Each group would travel several dozens of meters apart from each other, so that he could order them to escape if he saw another Flaming Skull descending from the sky.
At the beginning, the Monster's Army's pace was slower than before because the Pied Piper was being cautious. However, after an hour of not encountering any incidents, he ordered the Monsters to increase their pace once again.
The Pied Piper was a local of the Southern Regions of the Vahan Empire. Because of this, he was highly familiar with the topography, so he decided to take a shortcut by getting off the main road and traveling through the forest in order to recover the time he had lost earlier.
The Rat Monsters dexterously traveled the forest as they followed the command of their master.
The other beasts that dwelled in the forest were either massacred by the Rat Army, or had escaped the moment they sensed that a great danger was approaching. Even the Rank 5 and Pseudo-Deimos Ranked Monsters were not a match to over a thousand Rank 4 Monsters, so they chose to make their escape before the Monster Army arrived near their location.
While this was happening, Ishtar, who was perched on top of a tree, observed the approaching army with a sneer on her face.
'Master, they have come within range,' Ishtar reported.
'Thank you, Ishtar. You can return to my side now,' Lux ordered before taking a deep breath. All members of his Skeleton Army, as well as his Named Creatures, were gathered around him.
"Diablo, carry me later like a sack of rice if you have to," Lux said. "I don't think I'll still be able to ride properly this time."
Diablo nodded with a hint of amusement on his deathly face. "Understood, Master."
Lux took another deep breath before raising his right hand to start to use his latest skill once again.
"Skeleton Make!"
Hundreds of Skeletons merged together behind the Half-Elf forming a thirteen-meter-long cannon with a barrel that was four-meters-wide.
Asmodeus didn't stand idly and did the same, forming a cannon of the similar size as Lux's and aimed it at the forest that was right in front of them.
"Grand Cannon!" Lux roared.
Immediately, the two cannons unleashed two three-meter-tall Flaming Skulls that was headed towards the center of the forest.
A loud explosion ensued, creating a fiery blaze that started to burn the trees in the surrounding areas.
The Vanguard of the Monster Army was caught in the explosion and, although they were moving in groups, the trees around them that had been hit by magical flames started to burn, which spread like wildfire.
Two more explosions were heard in the distance as Lux and Asmodeus once again fired another round of bombardment. However, this time, it was aimed hundreds of meters in front of the Giant Rats, who had broken through the blazing flames only to find themselves facing two more Flaming Skulls of destruction.
"Fire!"
Lux ordered, and a third round of bombardement ensued, which landed in the center of the Monster formation.
After testing the cannon's maximum range earlier, they found out that it could hit targets three miles away.
Because of this, Lux was able to attack their enemy at great distances, making it so they were unable to launch a counterattack against him in a short period of time.
The Pied Piper gnashed his teeth in anger as he ordered his Army to retreat. Monsters were inherently afraid of fire, and even though he was forcefully controlling them using his ability, their animal instinct was kicking in, subconsciously causing them to flee even without his orders.
"Dammit!" the Pied Piper cursed. "Actually setting an entire forest ablaze just so that I can't pursue them. Just who is getting in my way?!"
The Pied Piper couldn't see beyond the sea of flames and smoke that had spread in the surroundings.
Lux was currently riding with Diablo on top of the Nightmare, as they made their escape from the scene of carnage.
Only Orion, Ishtar, and Pazuzu, were left behind to deal with any stragglers that managed to escape the blazing forest that had been around for hundreds of years.
Hundreds of Monsters fled from their homes and charged towards the Rat Army like crazed Beasts. In their minds, the Rat Monsters were the ones that had started the fire, so all the Monsters ganged up to fight against them, making the Pied Piper gnash his teeth in anger.
"Master, make sure to put the blame on our pursuer for the destruction of the Forest," Asmodeus teased as he rode beside Diablo.
"Huff... right... it's their fault... Hup," Lux replied through heavy breaths, as dark smoke rose up from the sky that could be seen for miles on end.
He had a feeling that once the local Nobles, who owned the lands between the territories of Bradford Town and Aeston Town, found out that their favorite hunting ground was set on fire, they would immediately put a bounty on Lux's head, and ask Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters to hunt him down and feed his remains to the fishes.
