“Prince Mikel. How did this happen?” One of the black-robed mages asked. 

He had already taken out a golden halberd from which sparks of lightning were sizzling. 

Clearly, this mage was also a lightning expert just like the Quilin beast.

“I have no idea.” Mikel sighed and shook his head. “I was just out here training little Cassius.”

Others might have to respect and bow to the high council mages, but he had the royal blood coursing through him, so he just answered curtly.

“Oh! I see. In that case, we got extremely lucky.” 

Another black-robed mage nodded, agreeing with him. “If this bastard had breached the cities or the villages nearby, there would have been a massacre by now.”

“Let’s talk about it later. We still need to deal with this troublesome beast.”

The black-robed mages quickly shuffled their feet and surrounded the Quilin forming a circle of sorts.

The Quilin warily eyed the many powerful experts it had to deal with now. Its deep jade eyes crackled in anger and annoyance.

The weak insects who were powerless against it individually dared to stand with so much confidence only because of their numbers.

It let out a loud growl stomping its hooves on the moist forest ground.

KARAKA BOOM! KARAKA BOOM!

The air around it immediately crackled and sizzled, brimming with electricity.

Lightning bolts started raining down on the black-robed mages surrounding the Quilin beast.

But the mages were no amateurs. 

They were well aware of the beast’s attack pattern and quickly started casting a multitude of spells, drowning the beast with various attacks.

Fireballs, ice lances, earthen spears struck the Quilin beast from all directions. 

Dozens of runic symbols danced in the air as the battle slowly grew more and more intense.

Handling so many mages at the same time, the Quilin’s strength was truly applaudable.

While these two sides continued clashing with each other, Mikel and Theodore silently withdrew themselves from the fight and stepped back in order to avoid being injured in the crossfire.

Cassius as well shakily followed them, clinging very close to Mikel. All of his bravado from earlier had now completely disappeared.

He was just a small kid in the Kingdom’s academy, and he had never experienced something like this before.

“It’s alright, Cass. We are fine now.” Mikel comforted him.

He then turned around to check on the other troublemaker who they had brought over to the forest.

But just as he turned, his black irises froze, realizing something very important.

Sylvia was not to be found anywhere near them. In fact, he couldn’t recall seeing her for a while now.

The damned girl was missing!

After confirming his fear by looking around thoroughly, Mikel lowered his head, his thin lips curving upwards with hints of cruelty.

The girl who had been acting, playing the scared cat all along, had daringly taken advantage of this unexpected situation!

She had given him the slip when he had least expected it! 

“Theo…” Mikel muttered, his voice laced with a freezing chill. “Find her. Now.”

“Yes, your highness.”

…

…

…

Meanwhile…

A few meters away from the site of the intense battle…

A slender woman clutched the edges of her dress as she ran helter-skelter towards the border market.

Sylvia’s injuries from the tree-climbing incident of the previous night had already faded.

That coupled with the fact that her body was now coursing with adrenaline and fighting instinct, she made good distance at a good speed.

She even felt as if she was much faster compared to her usual capabilities but Sylvia didn’t have the time to stop and wonder why.

She dashed forward madly without thinking about anything. This was her one and only chance.

She shuddered to even think about what might happen if by chance she gets caught.

After all, the man had repeatedly warned her about one thing and only one thing and that was not to run away from him!

But she was currently doing exactly that!

Others might not know it but Sylvia knew exactly how scary Mikel was. There was a deep darkness within him that scared the living daylights out of her.

Just the thought of his wicked grin made the hair on her back stand up and she mustered even more of her strength to pick up the pace and run faster.

Huff. Huff. Huff.

Sylvia panted loudly as her thin figure ran nimbly through the woods.

The forest was now a lot more crowded than how it was before. The word about the sighting of the Quilin beast had spread wide.

Several warriors, hunters, and mages daringly hurriedly over to witness the ongoing battle.

And thankfully, this worked in Sylvia’s favor. 

While everyone was running forward, heading deeper into the forests, she alone was running in the other direction.

Normally, the sight of a woman, especially someone as beautiful as Sylvia, dashing through the forests all alone would have caught the eyes of many bystanders.

But today, no one noticed her and paid any attention to her as she ran past them without stopping.

No one even gave her a second glance.

And very soon, Sylvia reached the border market without any hitch!

She was ecstatic. She didn’t think that she could come so far so easily. She could almost taste the sweet sweet freedom.

Here, she paused a while and took a second to catch her breath.

Her clear blue eyes scanned the crowded market, trying to look for carriages.

The running part of her escape plan was already over. 

She now only needed to get a carriage ride to one of the neighboring kingdoms and she would be finally free!

The Kalindor Kingdom might have close ties and allies around it, but not all Kingdoms were at complete peace with each other.

There was plenty of friction between some of them and Sylvia planned to use this to her advantage.

If she could somehow get into a rival kingdom where Mikel did not have a good standing, she would be completely free!