episode_0030

The storm swallows Leona’s body whole, raging violently. An attack like that would have reduced an ordinary person to dust, leaving not even bones behind. Daniel frantically calls out to Arina in distress.

“Noona!”

“You asked what happened? The Hero’s Party has fallen. Not only did they all submit to one man, but they even dragged me into this disgrace. That’s the truth about the current Hero’s Party—something the world doesn’t know yet.”

Daniel, who had been trying to hold Arina back, stiffens. Was she serious?

The story sounded unreal, but since Leona herself had just admitted it, he couldn’t dismiss it as delusion.

The revelation about how rotten the Hero’s Party—the one he idolized—had become from within left him too shocked to recover.

Leona bursts through the storm, emerging unscathed.

“That was a weak spell. You holding back?”

“And you still can’t drop the hypocrite act, can you?”

Neither answers the other’s question. Realizing there was no room for compromise, Leona makes a suggestion.

“Fighting here would be troublesome. Let’s move.”

“You think I’ll fight you wherever you want?”

“I’m saying this for your sake. You don’t want to fight while worrying about the kids behind you, do you?”

“Since when were you so considerate? If you were gonna be like this, you shouldn’t have started it in the first place.”

“So. No?”

Arina glances back. Ian, ready to jump in at any moment; Millen, arms crossed, lost in thought; Lillit, fidgeting and fussing anxiously; Daniel, refusing to meet her eyes.

‘That brat Daniel… must be disappointed.’

She wasn’t sure whether that disappointment was directed at her or the Hero’s Party.

Still, she couldn’t turn her back on them either.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

“Arina! I’ll come too—”

“Shut up and stay put. You saw my attack didn’t work at all, right?”

Arina cuts Ian off before he can finish.

The exchange they just witnessed was nothing more than a light clash between two beings in the realm of the supernatural, but for ordinary people, it could have been a matter of life and death.

The earlier spell had served another purpose—to clearly illustrate the gap between them.

Don’t interfere. There’s nothing you can do.

Showing it once was more effective than saying it a hundred times.

No matter how many times Ian ran simulations in his head, he couldn’t picture himself landing a single scratch on Leona.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, he falls silent. He had realized that if he went, he’d only be a burden to Arina.

Under Ian’s worried gaze, Arina gives a faint smile and lightly pats his chest.

“Why the long face? Don’t worry. There’s no one in the Hero’s Party who can beat me.”

“I won’t leave you alone.”

“I appreciate the sentiment. But leave this to me for now.”

The place where the two stopped outside the city was the middle of a vast plain. With the open surroundings, there was no chance of enemies lying in ambush. Even if someone were hiding, it was impossible to approach undetected from the distant mountains all the way here.

At a distance safe enough to prevent collateral damage to the city, they stop and face each other. Leona leans her sword—as large as her own body—against the ground and speaks.

“Liel, won’t you reconsider? I know what happened in the past is unforgivable. But our real enemy is the Demon King. Without you, we can’t pass through Raghnath Fortress. For humanity’s sake, can’t you bury the grudge for now?”

“Doesn’t it strike you as shameless, saying that yourself? And do you really think the only reason you’re looking for me is because you ‘need my help’?”

“Well, not just that…”

Leona blushes and fidgets, as if too embarrassed to say the rest.

Given what she and the others had done—things far more depraved than she cared to admit—Arina was downright baffled by the audacity.

“Figures. Leona, you’re insane. If you wanted the Carrier all to yourself, any sane woman would keep others away. But instead, you personally offered him more women? What kind of sick logic is that?”

Leona wasn’t blameless in the party’s corruption. Starting with Erwin, then Marika, and eventually Yuria—none of them would have fallen this far without her compliance.

“The Carrier wanted it. What could I do?”

“Is that bastard really that good? You willingly became a slave and even offered up other women to him?”

“Yes. He is. I love him—so much it drives me mad!”

At Leona’s passionate confession, the frost in Arina’s eyes deepens.

“Don’t sugarcoat it. Love? That’s not what this is. You’re just wallowing in cheap pleasure, clinging to him like a whore.”

“Well, the Carrier is just… really good at it… Liel, you resisted at first, but didn’t you end up liking it?”

Arina’s head spins. She’s so appalled, she can’t even speak.

I enjoyed being raped by that bastard?

All she remembered was pain and humiliation so vile that even recalling it made her want to vomit. The sensation of violation, the shame of being defiled in front of the woman she once loved—how could anyone, no matter how low, enjoy something so horrific?

Realizing that continuing this conversation would only make her angrier, Arina immediately casts a spell.

A freezing wind swirls around her. The name “Frost” attached to Liel—born a commoner—wasn’t a family name. It was closer to a title she earned as a mage.

As the name implied, her specialty was frost magic.

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear it.”

A blizzard engulfs the grassy plain. Flowers that had once bloomed vibrantly now bow under the deadly cold. Within her Absolute Zero domain, the only one who could move freely was Arina herself.

In the past, this would’ve ended the fight. She’d have dispelled the magic and draped a blanket over the shivering Leona.

But not now.

“Damn bitch. You never acted like this when I was around.”

Arina mutters curses under her breath as she sees Leona wreathed in flames.

The Empire of Hizan, the Kingdom of Gilnias, and the Holy Nation of Gaia—each of the three nations that divided the human lands had a unique specialty.

Hizan, the Empire of Fire, lived up to its name. Its warriors wielded flame-attribute mana with skill rivaling that of seasoned mages. These warriors, capable of awakening power strong enough to take on a thousand enemies alone, were known as the Flame Warriors.

“A lot of time has passed since you left. Isn’t that just natural?”

It was true. The Hero’s Party was assembled from the most promising talents across the nations. It was only a matter of time before Leona awakened her potential.

Now, wreathed in flame, she stands unfazed in the heart of the blizzard.

“…I see. It won’t be as easy as before.”

“Easy? No, Liel. This time, it’s your turn to lose.”

Leona raises her flaming greatsword toward the sky. A blade of fire pierces through the blizzard, soaring high before descending like a fortress wall.

The sheer mass of flame tears through the snowstorm, dispersing the white mist in all directions. With a wave of her hand, Arina clears the fog, revealing the plain once more.

‘So we’re evenly matched in firepower.’

“Seems you’ve gotten stronger.”

Had she not been idle all this time? Leona was far stronger than Arina remembered.

For a moment, she wondered if their lack of progress against the Demon King was truly because of her absence.

“Liel, you haven’t changed much from before. Have you been slacking on training?”

‘You fucking bitch. Going straight for the sore spot.’

During her teens, when she first fought the Demon King’s army, Arina’s talent had bloomed explosively like a fish returned to water. Battle after battle honed her, letting her observe and adapt countless spells from other mages, pushing her to unparalleled heights.

By the time she turned twenty, she had nearly reached her peak. After that, she trained her mana control, studied theory, and mastered miscellaneous techniques. Though her mana pool expanded slightly, it wasn’t enough to call meaningful growth.

She had concluded there was no further height to reach—or rather, any further effort wouldn’t be efficient. Her journey across the continent in search of the Philosopher’s Stone was an attempt to find another means of growing stronger.

Arina had been stagnant for a while now.

Still.

“Still more than enough to beat you.”

Arina closes the distance in an instant, striking at Leona, who defends completely with her shield and flames. Lightning, fire, water, ice, earth—spells of all elements explode against the massive shield in relentless succession.

“Fine. I probably can’t beat you alone. But you know what?”

Leona, having blocked every attack, shifts to offense the moment the barrage stops, swinging her flaming sword. Though Arina intercepts with an ice barrier—her signature Glacier Wall—the mismatch in attributes works against her.

Leona’s flames melt the barrier. As the defense crumbles, Arina prepares another spell, but the eerie whisper brushing her ear stops her cold.

“What if I’m not alone?”

“…What?”

A chilling premonition crawls up her spine. The vast plain seems empty except for the two of them—she thought an ambush impossible.

But the warrior before her had grown this much. If the others were the same… What if one of them—especially that bastard—was here?

Arina tears her focus from the flaming blade and scans her surroundings.

She realizes too late.

A streak of light shoots toward her head at terrifying speed. The distance closes to hardly more than arm’s length.

Considering its velocity, reacting at all would be a miracle—but Arina’s reflexes save her. A hasty mana shield materializes, deflecting the attack. Even layered, the makeshift barrier can’t fully absorb the impact.

Arina is sent flying, tumbling across the ground. A single arrow clatters weakly beside her face.

“Erwin…!”

She utters her former comrade’s name in horror.

Far in the distance—almost a speck—stands an elf, her hair fluttering as she nocks another arrow.

As if reading her mind, the elf murmurs her old companion’s name.

“Liel.”