The demon trio were now assembling themselves to composure as they had been revived. And as soon as I saw they were conscious once again, I succumbed to Muna's pull and ran after her.
They now saw a reason to believe. Dissipating was their master's way of destroying their lives forever. It was a punishment that meant their essence would scatter into nothingness.
Yet, here they are... breathing, kicking, and so much alive because of me.
It was ironic, wasn't it?
These same demons who once viewed me as prey now owed me their existence.
They suddenly forgot all the good things they had enjoyed in the hands of the demon Master, and recounted this particular bad deed of whomever he might be.
It was natural, however. The street takes advantage of your good deeds and crucifies you the moment they smell a little mistake in your actions.
That's the truth of both men and demons alike.
Anyway, that was all I wanted. It was to my advantage that the trio joined as we ran after Muna.
But something caught my attention, and I halted in my steps and almost turned my back.
The bright space of this dimension within the spatial tear had suddenly turned dark. Specks of dust rained down on me from the surface above, and I almost thought I had lost the demons behind me.
As I made to return, my legs were suddenly swept from beneath me. The ground rippled like liquid, and I thought I would somersault before I fell to the ground. But before I knew it, I was no longer falling — I was floating.
It was Bonnie.
She had half-transformed into her dragon self, her scales glimmering faintly with a dull blue sheen. Her wings were stretched majestically wide, yet scarred.
She caught me effortlessly in her grasp and carried me on her wings through the toss of the air. At first sight, I had thought the wings were too frail to bear a weight as mine, but now that I rested on them, they felt turgid.
I looked down and saw that Vera was also in her wolf form, her grey fur brimming in the darkness and on her back was Muna, gripping tightly to avoid being thrown off as she swiftly escaped the raining rocks.
"Speed up! Everyone, speed up!" I yelled, my voice echoing through the crumbling dimension.
'Thank goodness everyone is safe,' I thought, and a faint worry tinged into my mind — I hadn't seen Linda.
As if reading my thoughts, she identified herself from my shadow.
'I am here, young master.'
Relief eased my chest, but it was short-lived.
"And Lovina?" I asked, expecting a response from Bonnie.
But she didn't respond before the rocks from the ceiling above shattered and began to break one after another. Crashing onto the floor as boulders to release clouds of dust.
"So, she sacrificed herself for the sake of others?" I asked quietly. "I see."
"She would be fine," Bonnie's tiny voice replied from below her wings.
Before we were able to cross over to the next dimension of the tear, a massive boulder broke free and crashed directly in front of us. The explosion of the force from it sent ripples through the air, and I shielded my eyes from accepting dust debris into them.
With skills and quick reflexes, Bonnie veered sharply to the left side, dodging the attack, and that was also when I noticed her invisible collaboration with Vera, the wolves.
It was as though she foresaw that the boulder was going to crash before us.
From nowhere, Bonnie had thrown a rope down, its dark length unraveling through the air. Vera caught it with her clawed teeth, leaping upward in one mighty jump.
Her weight swung beneath us, and in that wild, coordinated movement, we soared together into the next dimension of the tear.
I watched them, astonished. Demons rarely worked together unless forced.
For instance, I had wondered how demons really thought of each other. In reference to Lovina, it wasn't right not to care about a colleague's well-being, but here, Bonnie doesn't seem to want to care.
Even Vera didn't look like she had noticed their colleague was missing.
'But Bonnie said Lovina would be fine, so she should be fine,' I reminded myself, clinging to the faintest spark of reassurance.
Yet, curiosity got the better of me, and I turned my back to meet my eyes with the dark, curtain-like barrier that divided the dimensions.
That was when I understood how huge a mistake it is to turn your back when fleeing chaos.
Out of the darkness came that same weapon that had attacked us upon entrance into the Spatial tear — the huge log of wood tied to a rope flung towards my head with a shriek that tore the air apart.
There was no way I could have dodged its speedy attack, but Bonnie unexpectedly moved like lightning, diving downward in the last minute.
'Her senses are sure still intact.'
Except for the attack of the massive log of wood, this first dimension of the Spatial tear was oddly peaceful.
Then, my eyes widened. Spread all across the barren floor below were hundreds of shining crystals — demon cores, each glowing faintly like captured stars.
These were the cores of the 4-star demon wolves from earlier, meaning that being able to refine them into one's mana Core could bring a great effect.
Or, there might be more use for them. I mean, there were too many to be refined by three mages.
"Drop me here," I commanded Bonnie, who seemed to ignore my order, perhaps thinking it unsafe. "I said drop me here."
She lowered herself, and I alighted from her wings to the glittering crowd of demon cores on the ground.
"We will gather as much as we can before the collapse transfers to this safe region as well," I said, taking the lead by scooping the cores and tossing them into my Spirit Pouch.
Soon after, the collapse had transferred to this safe dimension as expected. I, including my companions, took the cores we were able to collect and faced the glowing entrance of the tear.
Before we were able to exit through the entrance, we suddenly got spat out from the Spatial Tear with a violent gust, as though rejected by the dimension itself.
The cold, foggy air outside bit at my skin as if to remind me that I had crossed over to a different environment.
Getting off from Bonnie's ride, I stumbled to my feet, coughing out the faint taste of mist that lingered on my tongue. The two demons retransformed into their human selves.
But... my heart wasn't at ease.
Lovina was yet to be out.
I turned back towards the crumbling tear and carried my heavy legs forward.
"Mobix, don't tell me you are planning to act outrightly stupid," Muna called out.
'Young Master, you know you can't,' Linda said from my shadow.
'You can leave if you wish not to share in this chalice of wine,' I retorted to Linda.
The other two demons seemed unshaken. They weren't trying to stop me from making moves forward.
I took another step forward, then another.
Muna wasn't trying to stop me anymore. Linda still sticked to my shadow, consistently begging me to think over my actions.
But, before I could take another step, a curling smoke rolled out of a narrow opening of the tear.
"Huh? Snakes were also in the Spatial tear?"
I turned and looked at Vera for an explanation. Instead, she muttered. "She is out."
Turning to the tear, I saw no one and returned my gaze to her, not wanting to believe what was creeping into my mind.
"Lovina is out," Vera repeated, with a clear voice.