Chapter 137: Blasted Cat!!!

Chapter 137: Chapter 137: Blasted Cat!!!

Chapter 137: Blasted Cat!!!

Of course, he still needed to determine the spell’s limits, including how long he could maintain the effect and how much mana it consumed, but those were questions he could answer later, once he had finished dealing with the current situation.

With several clean strokes, Osborne sliced through the thick metal bars keeping her prisoner like a hot knife through butter. The heated blade passed through the metal with surprisingly little resistance as the severed pieces fell to the ground.

Sasha stared at the opening in her cage, her eyes widening as she struggled to understand what she had just witnessed, especially since the bars that had kept her trapped for so long had seemed practically impossible to break.

’I think I’ll call this spell Burning Blade.’

Osborne joked inwardly as he lowered his sword, feeling that the name was simple enough to remember and suited the spell rather well.

’He’s a magic swordsman?’

Meanwhile, Sasha was even more stunned by the spectacle she had just witnessed, as she had never imagined that someone could use magic in such a way, much less employ it to cut through thick metal bars with such ease.

She had heard stories about powerful knights who could coat their weapons with aura, allowing them to cut through objects that ordinary swords couldn’t damage, but the strange red flames surrounding his blade had looked nothing like the power she had heard about.

Whatever the case, she understood one thing rather clearly, which was that the man standing before her possessed abilities far beyond those of an ordinary person.

Osborne offered up his hand, which she took after a brief moment of hesitation, and he then led her through the passage he had created in the wooden wall.

Fortunately, the men were still busy dealing with the fire, and the shouting from the other side of the camp suggested that they had yet to realise that one of their prisoners had disappeared.

Osborne saw that the men were almost done putting out the fire, however, and he knew that they wouldn’t remain distracted for much longer, especially since several of them had already begun returning to their usual positions.

He was about to follow after her when he noticed something unusual, causing him to turn his head towards the cage where the shadow leopard was being held.

The demonic beast was looking towards him with a pleading gaze, its golden eyes fixed on him as though it were desperately hoping that he would understand what it wanted.

Osborne stared back at it for a moment, recalling how the creature had attacked him when he was collecting Moonlight Grass, and how it had eventually retreated after failing to land a decisive blow.

He still didn’t understand why the leopard had chosen to remain near the clearing instead of finishing him off when it had the opportunity, but he had already decided that there was no reason to take unnecessary risks over a beast that had nearly attacked him without warning.

"Sorry, but I’m running out of time."

Osborne felt no need to risk things, especially since he had already found the person he came here to rescue, and he wasn’t about to jeopardise the entire operation simply because he felt a little sympathy for a demonic beast.

The shadow leopard didn’t understand him, but it understood his body language, and the moment it realised that he had no intention of helping it, its expression quickly bristled with anger.

Before Osborne could react, it let out a loud roar.

"..?!!!"

Osborne was caught off guard, his body stiffening for a brief moment as the sound echoed throughout the camp, reaching the ears of every man who had been busy putting out the fire.

"Hey!"

"Who’s that?!"

"Why’s that woman gone?! Damnit! We’ve got a crook over here!"

The bandits immediately abandoned what they were doing and began rushing towards the cages, their expressions changing as they realised that someone had broken into their hideout and freed one of their prisoners.

Osborne could already hear the sound of hurried footsteps approaching from several directions, and he knew that the situation had gone from troublesome to downright terrible in the span of a few seconds.

’Damnit, are you kidding me?!’

Osborne grew agitated, turning towards the shadow leopard with the intention of giving it a piece of his mind, only to find the beast staring back at him with a calm look, as though it had already predicted that things would turn out this way.

For a moment, he almost wondered whether the creature had deliberately waited until he was about to leave before making its move, although he quickly dismissed the thought since there was no way of knowing what went on inside the head of a demonic beast.

Regardless, the result was the same, and he now had a group of angry traffickers rushing towards his position, with Sasha standing just outside the wall, and no guarantee that he could get them both away from the camp without a fight.

"Hurry up and get into that forest. I’ll catch up with you later."

"But—!" Sasha tried to speak, her face turning pale as she looked at the men rushing towards them, clearly unwilling to leave the person who had just rescued her behind.

"Forget me, just make sure you don’t stop running! Alright?!" Osborne yelled at Sasha, before turning to face the encroaching traffickers.

---

"I’ll get to you later..."

Osborne flashed the shadow leopard an annoyed side glare, making it clear that he wasn’t particularly pleased with what the beast had just done, before turning his attention towards the approaching traffickers.

He had already wasted enough time dealing with the situation, and although he could understand why the leopard had chosen to make such a move, that didn’t mean he was willing to forgive it for ruining his carefully planned escape.

Without hesitation, he reached out and touched its cage, and the next moment, both the beast and its cage vanished before the eyes of the men who were rushing towards him.