Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 563: A Narrow Escape

With a horde of succubus fighting against the imps, Raven and his group were allowed just enough time to escape from the hells. Their bodies burned once more, and as they were spilt out on the other end, the group was met with clapping echoing inside the ’Phordite mansion’s meeting hall. Turning to the sound, Raven, who’d just been healed by Erika before escaping, found the mistress smiling from a corner of the room while looking at them as a whole.

”You might’ve doomed the army I sent to help you but otherwise that went as flawlessly as it could’ve,” smiling ear to ear, she began stepping towards the group. However, with a firm hand held up between her and his party by Raven, the devil was stopped in her tracks.

”How about you leave us alone for a bit? None of us is in a particularly cheery mood,” having faced devil after devil just trying to escape the hellscape, the last thing Raven wanted for his group was to listen to a cocky succubus talking about what happened as if it was mere entertainment.

”I-is something wrong?” She asked, her head tilted to the side.

But after noticing the numerous glares in her direction, the Mistress finally got the memo and decided to walk away. Turning his attention back to his group, Raven first placed a hand on Erika’s shoulder and planted a brief kiss on her cheeks.

”Thanks for healing me up, now if you can look after Maine?” Taking the bracelet off of his hand, he handed it to her. Patting her on the back while she was smiling at the light compliment, Erika did as she was told and rushed to the upper floors where she could nurse Maine better.

In the meantime, the party leader gauged the damage done to everyone. Injured to some degree or the other, none of them had made it out unharmed, but curiously enough Amedith who’d been mostly unconscious garnered most of his attention.

”You said Asmodia helped him unlock his potential?” Getting to his knees, he pressed two fingers against the warrior’s neck. Then glancing up at Liliyana, he added. ”He’s still burning up, I wouldn’t trust the devil’s magic even if she’s supposed to be an ally. You should show him to Darius and have him check if any curses have been left on him.”

”Curses?” Wide-eyed, it was Liliyana’s first time even considering such a possibility. But after what they’d gone through, nothing seemed impossible or beyond what a devil would attempt. ”I-I’ll go show him to Darius right now!”

Lifting Amedith’s body, Liliayan grew fairy wings and turned both of them as small as flies. Fluttering away, she wasted not a breath as she made her way to the inscription mage.

”She’s still back in the hells, by the way,” speaking up, her voice still sombre, Linkle left those words hanging in the air. Even as everyone turned to her voice, she stared blankly at the floor before walking towards the hall’s entrance. ”I…I need some time to think of what I’m gonna do now.”

Having heard just barely as to what she’d found, nobody disturbed her for losing something so precious must’ve felt akin to losing a loved one. Watching her walk away, the group grew quiet. Their minds were still racing with thoughts about what they’d done, however, how could you accept the deranged reality that was slowly setting in?

They’d done it all for nothing. Their acts of goodwill have been purged and so were their sins, nothing was left of them in a way, leaving a blank slate to be rewritten over. It was as terrifying as it was liberating, and yet the horrors of the living layer of hell, the absurd giants that melted minds by being gazed at alone, to recover from that was bound to take time.

”Someone get Tan to prepare our rooms and inform the others that we’ve come back…” Looking towards Aria, Raven nodded and she nodded in response. Heading out to get Tan despite being tired herself, the elf quickly spread the news through the mansion.

The first task given to the maids once everyone had settled in their room, was to collect all the stolen jar of souls and place them somewhere safe in the basement. Not knowing what the light orbs were, served to preserve their importance, for as far as the maids were concerned they were nothing more than magical ornaments.

And while Maria wanted to look through the jars to find her own soul, that had to wait for the journey back and forth had her beyond tired. Even her companion Machina, Hayley, was feeling sparks in her system from stressing herself too much on the very first operation.

’I’m glad I became a ghost and didn’t end up in hell!’ Were the thoughts of the spirit girl turned machina. Experiencing hell had opened her eyes as it did for everyone else. They lived in the luxury of a world full of life and joys that can’t be stripped away if they just try and fight. But hell? Most were powerless against the endless stream of imps, unless, of course, you were as stubborn and deranged as the now truly dead Lamian queen.

Tired to the bones, the party slept. And they slept, and they slept some more. A day would pass and then a few more. Nobody would wake them as nothing seemed wrong with them at all. Watched closely by Amelia and Ophelia, the entire group was under the strict watch of a local healer. She would come every day and make sure that they were all alive. And once her job was done, she would stay in a room nearby in case any emergency emerged.

A week would’ve passed as they finally rose from the bed, but even then, only a handful did so on the seventh day and the others still slept. Being one of them, Raven decided it was time for them to rest up in their home city and once they felt ready, the battle against the demon lord’s servants must be put to an end as soon as possible. Which reminded him of… Continue your saga on

’I need an army…’ Under the watchful eyes of the djinn sisters, his army was gathering, but before heading out to check on them, he needed a few more days to settle in.

Needless to say, everyone felt like they’d change in a strange way. They’ve grown from young adults to the bearer of hope too big for their shoulders. But how could they disappoint when their failure meant the annihilation of their people which might then end up in that abyss called hell? No, failure wasn’t an option and they knew it well.