There was no doubt that dispelling the frost fortress spell made too much noise and alerted the nearby creatures, as the moment Paul put the ladies who were unconscious right now over his shoulders.
He heard that at least a few monsters were approaching their position.
Immediately, he ran for it, as fast as he could.
Unfortunately, the shadow cloak could not be cast on others, like the shadow jump spell, which he used as soon as one was ready to move five hundred meters closer to the city.
He was not sure if the pulse from the barrier would stop the monsters this time, as they seemed to be pissed off after discovering the bodies of their own, whom he had killed.
Another shadow jump spell sent the three of them within the pulse's range, but Paul didn't stop running even for a moment, as the creatures didn't seem to stop their pursuit.
He could have cast the transport spell, but it took a moment to do so without a ready-made spell, and he didn't have one of these made for three people, so he didn't even try it and instead focused on casting another shadow jump.
Two more jumps, added with all the running, allowed them to arrive at a kilometer distance from the city, and Paul could already see the walls.
Some of the beasts also turned around as he could not hear as many of them as before, but there still were some chasing after him, and what's more, they were closing in, despite the shadow jump spells he had used.
The main problem with using a shadow jump spell multiple times while taking two more people with him was the mana consumption, and Paul was starting to run out after all the magic he used this night.
What's worse, he could not drink another mana potion for a while, so he had to make do with what he had.
-One more, spell.
Paul said through his gritted teeth, as he was already tired as all hell.
Despite that, he cast another shadow jump, and just in time too, as the moment he disappeared, he heard something cutting the air behind him.
With that, he was almost out of mana, and didn't dare to use another spell, worried that he might lose consciousness, and that would be bad, considering that the creatures were still following him, despite their numbers falling to only four that he could hear.
Luckily, the last jump brought him a hundred meters or so away from the edge of the forest, where the reinforcements were waiting.
He didn't care how strong these creatures were; they couldn't survive so many bombs and arrows.
Especially after going so close to the city.
The moment the ladies heard footsteps, they all went on high alert, as it seemed that Paul indeed was being chased by some creatures.
Not long after, they hear him, the man rushed out of the forest with a woman on each shoulder.
-Throw all the bombs behind me and retreat into the city.
Paul shouted, not slowing down even for a moment.
As soon as he finished speaking, the bombs were thrown, hitting the trees and exploding with shrapnel and flames.
For good measure, the ladies also fired some arrows into the forest, and their reward was a shriek of the monsters chasing Paul as they got hit.
Unfortunately, that didn't stop the creatures, who followed Paul out of the forest and were still trying to catch him.
Unfortunately for them, they were all wounded now, and one of them was even burning, but they shrugged it off like it didn't feel any pain at all.
-Another volley.
Gu Man, shouted and immediately, another volley of arrows was fired at the creatures, turning three of them into pincushions filled with arrows.
The last monster, however, continued to chase Paul despite reseambling a porcupine.
-How the hell is this thing even alive?
Natalie asked, seeing the monster chasing Paul and ignoring everyone else.
-I don't know, but it won't be for long.
-Anna said and charged her next arrow with as much of her Qi as she could, making it shine with a red aura, before releasing it straight into the beast's back.
The moment the arrow struck its target, it released all the energy in the form of a qi slash, cutting the creature in half.
-What was that?
Lin Mei asked, seeing the effect of her attack, which ended the beast in one strike.
-It's an archery technique I'm working on.
Anna explained.
-I can explain it to you later, for now lets get out of here.
She added a moment later, hearing more monsters approaching from the forest.
It turned out that the rest of the creatures never stopped chasing Paul; they simply were affected by the pulse and slowed down considerably.
Added to the fact that the incendiary bombs started a forest fire, which slowed them down even more, made them arrive only after the women dealt with the faster beasts.
Seeing another dozen of them coming out of the forest, the ladies threw some more bombs their way and fired some arrows, which hit the beasts, and even killed two of them when the arrows pierced their heads.
By that time, Paul left the two women, whom he saved, to the ladies and turned to see the situation behind him.
-Everyone, retreat to the city.
He shouted and threw a few more incendiary bombs in the direction of the beasts to slow them down even more, as this group seemed to be afraid of fire.
As soon as he did that, he followed his own instructions and rushed in the direction of the city.
As soon as they were in range of archers, the women on the walls greeted the creatures with a rain of arrows, which dealt with them soon enough.
-Damn, I never thought that they would follow me all the way here.
Paul said, catching his breath as soon as the city gate was closed behind them.
-What happened out there?
Gu Man asked, approaching Paul.
-I'll tell you later, for now…
He never got to finish the sentence, as at that moment he fell to the ground, startling everyone present.
The ladies immediately brought him into the nearest house and laid him on the bed, before removing his battle gear, in search of any injuries.
Fortunately, there were no injuries to be found, and Paul simply fainted from overexerting himself.
-It seems that we will need to have a little chat with him once he wakes up.
Anna said after she confirmed that he was alright and just passed out from exhaustion.
-And Sei, you are also not off the hook.
I know that you can hear me, and if it were possible, I'd slap the daylights out of you right now.
-What are you so angry about?
Sei asked, manifesting.
-Do you even need to ask?
Su said before Anna could respond.
-He is simply tired, that's all.
Additionally, no one got injured, and he managed to save these two, not to mention that you got to kill some creatures; I'd call that a total win on all fronts.
The soul said, hoping to pacify Paul's ladies, who were looking at him furiously right now.
-The next time you want to save someone, find someone else to do the dirty work.
Natalie said, no less angry than the rest of the ladies.
They were all pissed seeing how close Paul got to getting hurt or even killed, and it was all that damn soul's fault.
-There won't be a next time.
Lady Peacock materialized as well.
-Sei, if you ever try something like that again, I'll tell Su how to seal you away.
The Ghostly woman raged.
-You have no right to ask Paul to sacrifice his life for us, and if you ever do that again, you can stop calling me your wife.
She shouted at him, making the male soul speechless, as he never expected such an outcome.