As I ascended to the surface, I was puzzled by the sight of the clear blue sky.
The place we had entered was a hole created inside a building.
I was flustered to see something that shouldn’t have been visible, but I quickly understood the reason.
“You must hurry. The village is under attack.”
“Monsters?”
“I don’t know. The opponent is one person.”
It was hard to comprehend that a single person was attacking the village.
The village’s guard included some skilled fighters as well as members of the Raid Team.
They were not people who would easily be defeated.
We escaped the ruined building and headed towards the village shelter at Rock Mountain with Isabel.
Bang! Bang!
Sounds of battle erupted not far away.
As we reached the entrance of the back mountain, the captain of the guard appeared.
“You’ve returned. I have some bad news.”
The captain opened the door of the cave in the shelter to reveal the interior.
Several members of the guard and the Raid Team were strewn across the floor.
“Currently, one woman from the Raid Team and a magician have gone to confront the enemy.”
Aila had stayed behind to guard the shelter rather than following us downstairs.
The accompanying magician was undoubtedly Jere.
When I asked which direction they had gone, he pointed in one direction.
To the top of Rock Mountain.
The Raid Team members who had gone underground remained to protect the shelter.
In the end, the only people who could go were Isabel, Tenji, and me.
It was unbelievable that some members of the guard and the Raid Team had fallen to just one person.
With Tenji’s guidance, we quickly reached the mountain’s summit.
A rocky mountain devoid of forests or trees.
Aila and Jere were facing someone.
“Isn’t it wonderful to be overflowing with power!”
Clang!
An unknown figure, clad in pitch-black armor, clashed with Aila’s sword.
After momentarily holding her ground, Aila hastily created some distance.
As Aila stepped back, the opponent’s sword got stuck in the ground.
Thud.
He easily pulled the sword from the ground and shot magic from one hand.
When the magical attack flew towards us, Jere intercepted it.
In a short time, the two worked together to fend off the opponent’s attacks.
The opponent appeared to be at least equal in skill to both Aila and Jere.
He was definitely much stronger than the demons who had stolen Ksaham’s armor.
Tenji levitated a sword and spear, launching them directly at the opponent.
The opponent effortlessly reached out and deflected the sword and spear coming from the front.
Without showing any surprise, Tenji quietly recalled the weapons.
In the meantime, Isabel struck from behind the opponent with a single slash.
“Huh?”
“Trivial tricks.”
The opponent quickly kicked Isabel in response.
She seemed to minimize the damage by curling up, but she did not look unharmed.
“You brat!”
At that moment, I could see someone else’s image overlapping.
“You, perhaps…”
“That face… I’ve seen it somewhere before?”
When the opponent glanced at me and removed his helmet, I couldn’t help but be shocked.
“You’re definitely the one from that time.”
“Oh, it was a hellish time.”
It was Juan.
At that moment, I remembered my arm had been severed by Jema, making it impossible for me to rise again.
“How did you survive?”
“I am no longer a pathetic being like a human!”
A crimson aura slithered out from Juan’s body.
The ominous energy was enough to make me feel nauseous just by looking at it.
“This time, I will definitely capture that brat and tear her apart!”
“Is that a demon?”
“I don’t know.”
One thing was certain: Juan had the strength to take on both Aila and Jere at the same time.
“If I don’t kill that brat, he’ll seek out Jema?”
“That’s likely, right? But who are you…?”
Finally, Aila, seeing me, asked who I was.
“It’s me, it’s me. There’s no time to explain now.”
As I drew out two daggers, Aila finally seemed to recognize me.
“Hey! Girl over there. Are you thinking of fighting me?”
“No.”
“You’re scared, huh? Who would dare think of fighting me now?”
“I will kill you.”
That guy must not be allowed to live.
Gripping the daggers, I closed in on Juan.
I plunged a dagger into Juan’s abdomen and dragged it across.
“Hahaha. Isn’t this fun?”
My dagger pierced through Juan’s black armor.
Surprisingly unfazed, Juan took a step back without any visible injury.
Whack!
Juan’s fist struck my face quickly.
A numbing pain spread as if I had been hit with a sledgehammer.
As I glared at Juan, he drew his sword and swung it at me.
I twisted my body to avoid the attack aimed at my shoulder, but I was soon shoved back several meters by a follow-up kick.
“Your skills are dreadful.”
I dropped the daggers and levitated them on either side.
“Blade of Wind.”
By swinging the sword to create a strong wind, Juan once again donned his helmet.
While it seemed he could withstand the wind, his body suddenly transformed into black mist, escaping through the gust.
“I really don’t like that look in your eyes.”
I threw one of the daggers to attack Juan.
Whoosh!
Though slow, this was merely a trap to divert his attention.
I quickly closed the gap and delivered a long slash to Juan’s flank with the Blade of Wind.
“Ugh!”
His reaction was entirely different from when I stabbed him earlier.
The attack had succeeded.
“You, who are not even a sword mage!”
Clutching his side, Juan let out a tremendous roar.
“Ugh, aah!”
Crack!
He charged at me while letting out a beastly scream.
I shot a dagger at his leg using mana, but he didn’t stop.
In a hurry, I extended threads of mana around to bind Juan’s body.
At first, he ripped through one or two strands with sheer strength, but as they began to overlap, his movements stopped.
“Do you think you can stop me with this?”
“Try to break free if you can.”
He had escaped swiftly from the wind before, so surely he wouldn’t be unable to untangle even one thread.
“I’ll rip it to shreds at any time!”
Crunch!
The more I exerted force, the more the threads tightened around Juan’s body.
Yet Juan continued undeterred, pouring strength into breaking out until his arms and legs were eventually severed by the threads.
Pieces of Juan’s body sprawled everywhere.
“It seems to be over.”
“Over? Not yet.”
The scattered pieces of Juan transformed into black smoke, merging back together.
“I am immortal!”
“Surely, you’re already dead?”
I had witnessed the unexplainable phenomenon several times now.
“I have died as a human. I’ve become an ancient being.”
“If you’ve died, then just disappear quietly.”
“That’s not possible.”
A creature that was already dead does not know how to die again.
But I had figured out how to dismember the physical form.
Swoosh!
I once again spewed forth threads of mana to bind Juan.
“Twice with the same trick!”
“It’s not the same.”
The mana threads were still in their form before converting into magic.
In other words, I could change it into the magic I desired in this state.
Snap!
As I snapped my fingers, flames ignited the mana threads, causing them to blaze brightly.
“Water!”
A stream of dark liquid began to flow out of Juan’s torso.
“Extinguish this fire.”
“It won’t go out.”
“Th-this is impossible….”
If it was magic from other magicians, the fire would have extinguished due to elemental incompatibility.
But my flames were currently in a state of very low mana purity.
To put it out, it needed to match the same purity.
Figuring this out in such a short time was impossible, and even if I did, I could just raise the purity.
Flames that do not extinguish and burn forever!
“Damn it! Girl! What’s your name?”
“Is a dead man playing knight here?”
Not even a semblance of respect towards the opponent, he had none whatsoever.
“You already know my name, so I won’t introduce myself again.”
“I’ll retreat for today, but next time I will definitely kill you.”
As Juan was engulfed in flames, his body turned into black smoke and vanished.
He had not died. He had simply retreated due to the situation being unfavorable.
After Juan disappeared, I checked the condition of the remaining group.
Isabel was collapsed on the ground, possibly having fainted from a single attack.
Jere seemed to be standing fine with no significant injuries.
Aila also did not appear to be severely injured, but she looked slightly different from usual.
“Why did you shrink?”
“I’ll explain later.”
As we descended from Rock Mountain, we returned to the cave of the shelter.
Upon returning to the cave, everyone looked visibly exhausted.
“Now you speak first. What happened there?”
I began to explain the story regarding the white dragon.
Naturally, they wouldn’t believe it if I recounted it plainly, so I added that I met it in a dream.
“How can you believe in a dream?”
“But the bracelet and gem really did exist.”
When Aila saw the olive branch bracelet and gem, she had no choice but to believe.
“Alright, now it’s my turn. Why did Juan appear again?”
“I don’t know, but it seemed he was looking for Jema. Before he took off his helmet, even I didn’t know who he was.”
Before removing his helmet, Juan had introduced himself as an apostle.
“Apostle?”
“I don’t know, but he said he was the twelfth.”
The implication that there were eleven others like Juan.
“That aside, why did you shrink?”
“I told you before; my magic has issues.”
Seeing that physical attacks were ineffective against Juan and that Jere’s magic seemed to work, Aila made an on-the-spot judgment.
She had intended to attack with a magically enhanced sword.
“But then you showed up.”
“I might’ve lost if I had attacked.”
“Exactly.”
Currently, Aila was of a size similar to Isabel.
If she had faced Juan in that form, she would undoubtedly have been overpowered.
“Anyway, once the situation here is settled, let’s head back immediately.”
“When will the side effects end?”
“About a week?”
“Will you be able to fight?”
At my question, Aila slowly nodded.
In the fight against Juan, Aila had indeed risked her life.
Had her attack succeeded, it would have been one thing, but had she failed, she would surely be dead.
Currently, the Raid Team and village guards had suffered severe casualties.
Moreover, with Aila in this state, our combat strength was sorely lacking.
The only potential backup nearby would be Ksaham’s main unit.
Otherwise, going to Kant to request support from Solche would be the most realistic option.
There was one more method.
I reached into my pocket and grasped the item I had treasured carefully.
