"You guys should at least let me join the team before killing the enemy!" Aliyah's angry roar came from afar as I was still storing the Warcraft corpses into the ring. I turned my head and saw Aliyah, in her wolf form, charging up the tower. As she reached the edge of the bell tower, flames erupted from her feet and she transformed into a fiery wolf, slashing at another giant eagle in mid-air!

Unfortunately, it seemed luck was not on her side. The giant eagle, seeing its comrades dead, began to turn and flee before Aliyah could jump off the tower.

Unable to find a foothold in mid-air, Aliyah watched as the eagle turned to escape. She gritted her teeth and swung her weapon forward, and from her body a flaming wolf suddenly burst out, somehow alive, biting directly onto the eagle's wings.

Flaming flames exploded on the eagle's wings and its HP dropped by around 20%, acquiring the effect of [Burn].

However, instead of staying put, the creature immediately fled into the distance.

I drank another bottle of magic potion to slowly replenish my mana, then leaped into the air. The ice skateboard appeared under my feet. After a few uses, I had become proficient with it. With a burst of speed, I soared into the sky and chased after the fleeing eagle.

Of course, on my way, I also caught Aliyah, who had fallen.

"I told you, falling from this height would leave you half dead, at least," I said.

"Hmph, I didn't ask you to catch me. Geez!" Aliyah retorted, struggling to break free from my grasp. However, she willingly stood behind me on the ice skateboard. I smiled and pointed backward, extending the ice skateboard a little longer so that Aliyah wouldn't easily fall off.

"Hmph!" Aliyah noticed the lengthening of the skateboard but only grunted in response.

It seemed she didn't want to hold onto me, but whenever she let go, she almost flipped over. So, she quickly hugged me from behind.

"Don't get any ideas! I only held onto you because I had to!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah..." I could only shake my head helplessly. If you just crouched down, you wouldn't flip backward. Why couldn't she understand that?

"Hold on tight. That guy flies pretty fast," I said, then added a Storm and an Accelerate under the ice skateboard. We turned into a green blur and rushed toward the giant eagle with a swooshing sound.

"Ugh, this guy is really fast," Aliyah grumbled unhappily. I chuckled and said, "Well, it can't be helped. It's a wind element monster, so its speed bonus is definitely much higher than ours."

"Yeah, it's a Sandstorm Giant Eagle. It took our mercenary group a whole day to track and fight it before we brought it down," Aliyah explained.

"Is that so?"

"Not everyone attacks in such strange ways like you do. First, we have to track it, find suitable terrain, and organize manpower. My attacks are mostly melee-based, so I can't provide strong DPS."

"Right, your captain is also a knight, which means your long-range combat capabilities are lacking."

"We don't have a choice. After all, our members are mostly recruited by the captain according to their own preferences. The power levels vary, except for me hand-picking [Crimson Wolf Squad] to organize an effective fighting force, the rest of them are basically no different from regular mercenaries."

"Scarlet Wolf Squad? You're quite good at coming up with names."

"By the way, out of the total of 30 people in the team, 20 are members who escaped from our college, mostly mages, but there are also warriors."

"What? Why did they become mercenaries?"

"It seems that some civilian colleges used up most of their families' money to study in the college. When the college disappeared, they couldn't complete their studies and couldn't find employment in the country, so they became mercenaries. We found them about a week ago in the northern forest behind Grey Academy."

"That must be after the academy was bombed."

I nodded.

"Well then, I'm now a member of your mercenary group too, so you guys won't have to work so hard from now on."

"Well, don't always go all out in every battle, or they won't get any training and we'll end up working even harder in the future."

"You're already treating them as your own fighting force... Never mind, we'll talk about it later."

I looked ahead at the giant eagle.

"First, we need to make that guy in front of it stop."

"I think we can just keep following it."

Aliyah laughed.

"Maybe we'll discover their base or something."

"You're right..."

Suddenly, I thought of something and quickly shared a task with Aliyah.

"Oh..."

Aliyah gestured in the air a few times and her eyes lit up.

"I see, the Broken Jade plan. I've also heard about Snake Eye. Although I don't know its origin, it seems to have had an impact on the ruling class in various countries... Speaking of which, even though our captain seems passive in her family, she is much more popular than her father. Although her reputation in the aristocratic circle is not good, her family understands her difficulties, so she obtains a lot of information through them."

"That's good. Perfect, I'll share this task with you too."

"...This task seems difficult, though."

Aliyah smiled wryly.

"Are you trying to take down the captain's father?"

"I don't have that intention. I just hope that with the influence of your captain and Deste, Jans can step down from the position of duke."

"Well, I'm not good at that anyway, so you can take your time."

"Alright, alright. There's no time limit anyway. Take your time."

I looked around, it seemed that no one followed us, and the giant eagle showed no sign of stopping.

After thinking for a moment, I quickly picked up Aliyah and released the ice skateboard.

"What are you doing!"

Aliyah blushed and struggled while shouting.

I spread my wings directly and accelerated, continuing to chase the giant eagle.

"At this rate, I'll run out of magic power. It's faster for me to fly on my own."

"Jeez..."

Aliyah turned her red face to the other side and ignored me.

I sighed, activated the acceleration magic and continued to pursue.

Originally, the terrain along the way was a mix of grasslands and forests, but after half an hour of chasing, it gradually turned into a forest with no end in sight.

Could it be that we have already reached the Forest Sea of the Elves? But I don't feel like we've crossed the Fractured Mountain Range.

Is it because the forest has expanded in size?

Snake Eyes is actually researching technology for land reclamation and afforestation? Are you guys really that charitable?

"Huh? Fir, the giant eagle is starting to descend."

Upon hearing Aliyah's words, I took a closer look and indeed, the giant eagle was slowly descending towards a temple-like structure in the forest ahead.

"What a strange taste..."

I said as I slightly slowed down and followed suit.

------------------------Dividing Line------------------------

30 minutes ago, Blue Lake City

Watching Fir and Aliyah's figures disappear into the sky, Oyado sighed silently, crossing her hands behind her head and stretching lazily.

"Hey, big brother went off to play by himself again, bringing Aliyah along but not taking Oyado. Is that weird woman really that good?"

"I think it's because Master doesn't want you to get hurt that he didn't bring you along."

Pure White, who was next to her, smiled and responded.

"Oyado can handle something like this... Big brother is really something. By the way, why didn't you go with him? Aren't you supposed to protect him too?"

"Because Master told me before that if he leaves your side, then I am responsible for protecting your safety."

"Huh... Big brother is such an idiot."

"Don't mind them. That's just how he is."

Bai Yueguang and Hei Luoli came over from the side as well.

"He's probably gone to find the enemy's base, so we can't just sit around here either. After all, we still have tasks to do."

"Oh, so you really want to help that Deste?"

"Huh?"

"Big brother did mention it to me, but he didn't go into detail."

Oyado had a nonchalant expression on her face.

"Yeah, so let's pay a visit to the leader of the Crimson Roses."

"It's their own business to deal with."