“You can’t be serious!” Emilia protested.

“Why? It’ll just take a few hours at most. We probably have a full day till they reach Hedonia, that’s plenty of time.”

“Don’t you hear yourself?” Denmac protested as well. “You’ve just learned that the enemies will attack Hedonia, and your solution is to yet again pillage more of their cities?”

“Yeah, it’s the best course of action, believe me.” James sighed, slightly annoyed that they still doubted the usefulness of his insanity.

“How could that possibly be a good course of action?!” The dwarves nervously asked as well.

“Well, it’s simple!” James replied cheerfully. “We’ve gotten rid of the enemies that are following us, right? Even if they do somehow send some other elite units after us, I doubt it’ll be something I can’t handle, since I’m only getting stronger with every city I pillage. Now imagine this: not only have I gotten much stronger, but I’ve gotten faster as well. We can just pillage a bunch of their big cities in a flash, and then head back home before their army even arrives!”

The group silently stared at him, not knowing how to react. They’ve been through this rodeo several times before, so it’s not like they didn’t have faith in him. But the stakes now were so much higher that they couldn’t bring themselves to even nod.

“You heard him, people!” Helios shouted enthusiastically. “Let’s go!”

“Hurry, get to the carpet!” Lunaris added. “We’ve got no time to lose!”

Seeing his two best friends fully on his side even when he was spouting clinically insane ideas made James’s heart flutter for a second. But that was all the time he could spare for emotions. Every second counted.

As soon as the group took their places on the carpet, James began pushing it with a speed just below the point where his friends’ flesh would start melting.

Lunaris could probably heal them back even if they did lose a bit of flesh, but James was only insane when it came to himself. He didn’t want to put his friends through any pain at all.

Besides, they were fast enough anyway. In less than five minutes, they were already at the next big Stygian city.

“Sorry about this, but I’m afraid you guys won’t get a chance to receive xp this time around.” James sighed while already sacrificing and casting Javelins.

“Don’t worry about us!” All seven of them shouted in unison.

James flashed them one last smile and disappeared.

He didn’t even bother reinforcing their barrier.

“Wait, are we basically defenseless against hordes of agents?” Emilia turned white.

But before anybody could even answer, they realized why James didn’t bother with the barrier.

Thousands of explosions rang throughout the city all at once. The dark sky was instantly illuminated by the inferno that was ravaging through the city.

It had only been a few seconds, and yet the city looked like it had been the victim of artillery strikes for weeks. There was hardly any building left standing.

And with each passing second, hundreds of other explosions rang out, creating earthquakes that crumbled even the few buildings that were still relatively intact.

The group could feel waves of agents coming towards them, but not even five seconds passed before they felt their energy signatures being wiped out.

James was right, he didn’t need to bother with the barrier. Because any agent that would pose a potential threat to the group was dead long before he got anywhere near them.

The energy signatures of the superiors and the leader of the city suddenly appeared out of nowhere, all rushing towards James simultaneously.

“Do you feel that?!” Emilia gasped. “These guys are stronger than any other agent, I’ve never felt any energy signature like this!”

“I know James constantly surprises us, but I’m not sure if even he can handle these guys without seriously injuring himself.” Denmac expressed his fears.

But Helios grinned and shook his head at their reactions. “You never learn, do you?” He laughed.

Before he could even finish laughing, the energy signatures disappeared.

Helios began laughing even harder, while those who had been concerned were standing motionlessly, unable to move a muscle.

“Remember your promises, don’t gasp or anything!” Helios chuckled.

There was now no trace of any other agent within the city. But just for good measure, James peppered the charred remains of what recently used to be a majestic city with another thousand Javelins. If some straggler had indeed survived, they were surely dead now.

“What do you think he’ll do now?” Emilia asked sheepishly.

“Well, seeing that it hasn’t even been five minutes and we’re already almost done with this city, I suppose we’ll just repeat this process until James feels like it’s enough.” Lunaris answered with a proud smile.

As soon as she finished her sentence, James reappeared.

“All right!” James grinned happily. “Buckle up, buckaroos. We’re just getting started!”

The group immediately noticed that James was in an exceptionally good mood. He couldn’t wipe his smile off his face.

“What happened, brother?” Helios asked.

“You’ll probably find this hard to believe, but this city’s energy reserves were worth that of 30 smaller cities!” James announced gleefully. “30! Can you imagine? By the time we’re done, I’ll be unstoppable!”

As they were flying towards the next city, James couldn’t stop cackling.