---
Bawalia Beach, Bulma Town, Risen Kingdom.
Early morning had arrived in the Risen Kingdom. As always, the sky remained completely covered by thick black clouds, with lightning flashing intermittently inside those clouds... which caused darkness to prevail, but not so much that people could not see anything at all.
Although the twin suns never appeared directly due to the dense black clouds overhead, their light still penetrated the clouds to some extent and reached the ground. At this time, Lucifer along with the people who had come with him and the two captives were sitting peacefully inside the isolation illusion barrier without any particular motive, or some of them were sleeping.
Lucifer sat alone in one corner, calmly planning his return to his territory of Westirifer. More accurately, he was thinking about how exactly to transport Valdren, Galathor, and the captured monsters Flegris and Karzaha across the Sea Fionacracy.
If the group had consisted only of Lucifer, his shadow-daughters, and Vance, they would have already reached back to Westirifer long ago.
After concentrating hard for a little while longer, an idea finally came to him. He rose from his place and walked straight over to Vance.
"Vance... in my opinion you must have healed completely by now?"
"Yes, Master... I had completely healed during the night itself," Vance confirmed.
Lucifer gave a nod and continued. "I am going outside the barrier for a little while... it might take me around two to three hours to return... until then keep an eye on the captives. As soon as I return, we will immediately set off for Westirifer."
"Understood, Master. Go without any worry. I will take care of everyone," Vance assured him.
The moment Vance finished speaking, Mara and Zyrelia hurried over to Lucifer together.
"Dad, where are you going? Can we come along with you?"
"I am going to find the path to return to Westirifer," Lucifer explained. "Wait here for me a little longer... if my plan succeeds, then in the next three to four hours all of us will be inside the ducal palace."
He looked at both of them. "You both want to come with me? Then it is fine... go into my shadow."
As soon as he said this, both Mara and Zyrelia slipped into Lucifer's shadow, and he himself disappeared from inside the barrier.
---
After Bestie, Kita, and Dura had left Baron Quilos's cave residence, the meeting between Christopher and Baron Quilos turned out successful. Although Bestie's husband Toric had been murdered openly by a human, in Baron Quilos's eyes Christopher had already proven long ago that even though he was biologically human, he was no less capable than any monster.
Over the past thirty years Christopher had done everything possible to build good relations with the Risen Kingdom. He had continuously trafficked human females from the Human Alliance and other kingdoms for the orc and goblin tribes of the Risen Kingdom. He had supplied human males and occasionally elven males as sex slaves, toys, and livestock for the royal Malakar family. He had even engaged in infant smuggling.
In this way he had gained a strong standing in the Risen Kingdom. Slowly adopting the customs and traditions of the orc tribe, he had taken female orcs as wives, had sex with them, and impregnated them. The orcs had accepted him as one of their many husbands. Today he had sixty-three wives and seventeen children within the orc tribe.
It was this very connection that Purefield Duchy benefited from today. The previous day Christopher had asked Baron Quilos for two wishes as reward. The first was to have sex with Baroness Xandra and the baron's youngest daughter Fasia. The second was for Baron Quilos to support Purefield Duchy in the war against Westirifer.
True to his word, Baron Quilos had granted the first wish immediately. Once the matter of Toric's murder had calmed down a bit the previous night, he had also granted the second wish.
Although as a lower-rank noble Baron Quilos would normally lack the authority to make such a decision, at this moment he held leverage. He was not declaring war against the Human Alliance and Kingdom but rather helping Lustbound Kingdom and Purefield Duchy. This was the main reason the news had not yet reached the kingdom's capital city Grimancia. Additionally, Christopher was now part of their orc tribe, meaning he was family. Helping family did not require permission from the royal family.
For this reason, Baron Quilos had handed over four legions of his iron and knight forces, totaling forty thousand orcs, to support Christopher. After that, Christopher set off toward Dravok Town along with his father-in-law Farabuti and the orc knights of those four legions, where his entire orc family lived.
---
Taking Mara and Zyrelia inside his shadow just as he had done before when crossing the Sea Fionacracy, Lucifer dived deep into the sea once again and activated his Body Modification skill. His lungs rapidly transformed, with internal tissues restructuring themselves until they functioned like fish gills. Water now flowed freely through his altered respiratory system without causing the slightest discomfort.
Then he accelerated. The surrounding seawater detonated around him. Massive torrents erupted outward from his path as though an invisible spear was tearing through the ocean itself. Within moments he had descended nearly thirty meters beneath the surface. The darkness of the deep sea swallowed almost all traces of meager light, leaving only endless black waters surrounding him.
Yet Lucifer continued advancing northward, faster and faster. An immense tunnel of violently displaced water stretched behind him for miles. Sensing the upcoming danger, countless schools of fish scattered in blind panic. Deep sea monsters desperately tried to suppress their own presence as they retreated from their hunting grounds. Entire colonies of aquatic creatures fled from regions he had not yet reached, instinctively sensing the terrifying disturbance approaching through the depths.
Far above, the ocean surface underwent an astonishing transformation. A colossal trail of churning white foam stretched across the sea like a scar carved into the face of the world. Gigantic waves rose one after another. Water surged upward in towering columns before crashing back into the ocean with thunderous force. For hundreds of kilometers around, the sea remained in constant upheaval. It resembled the path left behind by something catastrophic.
This was the second time something like this had happened in the span of just two days. This time it did not go unnoticed. From very far away, a courageous Triton Guard of the Oceana Kingdom named Raptor witnessed it. Although he could not identify exactly what had passed by leaving that colossal trail, he clearly saw that whatever it was surpassed his comprehension.
After swimming straight for about two hours while still underwater, Lucifer's perception alerted him that various ships were sailing nearby. He slowed down and rose toward the surface. Seeing many streamliners and magic-powered ships sailing across the water, he reverted his respiratory system back to normal and stealthily boarded the one whose bow displayed a big red colored skull with "Red Death" written on it. Once aboard, he vanished once again.
---
On the molten-colored sandy beach, Valdren, Vance, and Galathor sat in a circle surrounding Flegris and Karzaha. Both captives sweated heavily while imagining their bleak future. For them it was natural to assume that being captured by humans meant certain death, since they would have done the same if they had captured a human.
Galathor glanced toward Vance. "Sir Vance, how much more time do we have to wait for Lucifer to return?"
"Where did he actually go this early in the morning?" Valdren added.
"My master went to find a way so that all of you can cross this sea in the minimal time possible," Vance explained. "He told me to wait for a maximum of three to four hours."
Valdren pressed on. "What will happen if he does not find any means to return back to his territory? Actually, how did all of you come here in the first place? Lucifer already admitted he cannot teleport all of us to his duchy at once, so how did you cover this vast distance? Did you use ether ships, mana ships or streamliners?"
Vance shook his head. "If Master cannot find the fastest way, then we will have to return just like how we came here. As for his teleportation spell, I am not qualified to comment since I know nothing about it. I am simply one of his loyal servants."
He turned his gaze to Galathor. "Sir Galathor, you should be grateful that Master himself arrived here and rescued you while rescuing Sir Valdren. If he had not come, the three of us would not have bothered, as our orders were only to rescue Sir Valdren. We did not care about anyone else."
A chill ran down Galathor's spine at the cold words. Still he asked, "What do you mean by that, Sir Vance? Isn't it the responsibility of the strong to save the weak? This is what chivalry is. How can you be so cold?"
"Cold or warm, chivalry or not, why does it matter to me?" Vance replied evenly. "For me, only my master's words matter. He ordered us to save Sir Valdren, so why should it matter whether we save you or not? Sorry to say this but I am always honest. Even if we had found you, remember the condition you were in. Princess Zyrelia told me you were just a head and torso on the verge of death, just like your other partner whose gut was opened and punctured, whom Master could not save. And none of us know healing or regenerative magic."
Galathor felt genuine gratitude toward Lucifer. Given Vance's cold attitude, it was entirely possible he would have died without Lucifer's healing.
While they continued talking, Valdren interrupted again. "Sir Vance, you still have not answered my question. You said initially only you, Princess Zyrelia, and Princess Mara came to rescue me, followed by Lucifer. Then how did you cross this vast sea and reach here so fast?"
"We crossed the sea by running on the water surface," Vance stated. "While running we also encountered a pod of kraken and killed the two that blocked our way. The entire journey took about six to seven hours at most."
Everyone reacted with stunned disbelief. They could not believe someone could cover such a vast distance by running on the water surface.
Karzaha, the dragonkin, gathered her courage and asked while trembling. "Running on the water surface? How is it possible? Doesn't your leg sink into the water? Even I, who comes from the water dragon clan, cannot do it. Then how could you?"
Before Vance could respond, a cold and emotionless feminine voice sounded from behind her. "Sir Vance, don't you think this lizard is asking for a beating?"
Vance turned around to see Lucifer, Mara, and Zyrelia had returned.
"We are returning back. Get ready," Lucifer announced.
He activated his teleportation spell "Void Transit" once again. A faint yellow circle formed above their heads and descended. In the blink of an eye, all of them disappeared from that secluded corner of the beach and appeared on the pirate ship "Red Death."
Before anyone could even notice their arrival, the faint yellow circle descended on everyone once more. The next moment, they all stood on Nikon Beach of Vitaclare City in Westirifer.