Ch.250250. Unexpected Fortune (5)

The cloaked and masked figures each pushed Renias in their own way.

But how many aliases did she have? How many nicknames was she known by? It would be strange if she simply gave in without a fight.

Would Renias, who had trained without missing a single day, be unable to handle even magical beasts?

Moreover, hadn’t she, as part of the Arcab Party with only two members, experienced facing far greater numbers of enemies?

Would she have been flustered and stammered when caught in an unexpected ambush?

All of these assumptions are wrong.

For someone who had already treaded countless battlefields, this situation would have felt rather familiar.

Therefore, she doesn’t just passively take the attacks.

In magical duels, when engaging in a war of attrition, the measure of innate magical power is most effective, so she keeps in mind that there are ways to counter even when magic comes flying from opponents.

Though she’s dealing with far greater numbers, she doesn’t falter and fail like they expect her to.

Even when ambushed, she can respond appropriately without losing her composure.

Tiing-!

A streak of white light intercepts the incoming magic, piercing through it like a skewer through meat.

Rocks flying through telekinesis, various elemental projectile spells, weapons using mana as a medium—

Renias’s white light delicately deflected, pushed away, and shot down everything flying through the air without missing a single one.

She’s slowly letting the enemy attacks flow past her, leading them into her specialty: a battle of attrition. All while occasionally launching attacks at her opponents.

However, currently, she’s so busy defending that she can’t utilize opportunities to counterattack even when they arise.

‘Of all things, the arrow had poison that suppresses magical circulation…!’

The mana wasn’t flowing near where the first arrow had pierced her shoulder.

The poison on that arrow was the troublesome factor preventing Renias from exerting her full power.

If she had been at full strength, she would have released such tremendous magical power that the attackers would have collapsed from the shock before they even had a chance to die. Even without that, it wouldn’t have been difficult to fire a large beam to annihilate the enemies.

She should have been able to easily sweep away the dark assassins who suddenly barged in without a single casualty, and by now be tending to the injured.

In other words, she was unable to do so.

With her internal magical power unable to circulate, her body felt frustratingly foreign.

Mana that doesn’t circulate properly can’t exert its full power and can’t be concentrated enough to activate high-powered magic.

The persistent attacks targeting her blind spots were draining her strength as she fought while suppressing the poison. She could even feel her body gradually growing heavier from the blood soaking her clothes red around her shoulder.

With all her advantages erased, a battle of attrition had become a disadvantageous tactic for her in her current state with the poisoned arrow.

‘What should I do? I could open a path like this, but even if I run right now…’

She had clearly seen their forms changing.

She could be certain.

‘…No doubt about it. It’s exactly like that person.’

The reddish muscles blooming reminded her of the scene she had witnessed at the Dubevan Shelter.

They emanated magic similar to the man who had kidnapped Sister Adel and attacked Senior Junon.

Rather than mana, it was mostly raw, turbid magical energy. Like the vapor of flammable material, unstable and murky, ready to explode at the touch of a single match, filling their bodies.

Like a magical beast.

That’s why she had a vague sense and didn’t move carelessly.

With their monstrous reflexes, they would quickly close the gap. A human body couldn’t outrun them.

But the girl makes one decision.

Knowing this can’t continue, despite knowing it’s impossible, she watches for the slightest opening while hoping for a thread of possibility.

-‘Light is useful on its own, but surprisingly, it has many applications and exerts great power when mixed with other elements.’

Recalling a senior’s words, the girl gathers magic at a single point and bursts forth light.

Wiing-!

A dazzling light source accompanied by hot heat instantly blocks the monsters’ vision.

Though they’ve lost their sight, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to pursue her.

However, they all flounder, unable to gauge Renias’s position.

After robbing them of their sight, she wisely created vibrations on the ground in that instant, paralyzing their hearing as well.

And soon after, by someone else who had rushed over,

“Graaagh…”

Their magical circuits malfunctioned, and they lost consciousness, collapsing on the spot.

As she relaxed her furrowed brow from the flash, her blurred vision returned, and before her eyes stood a sturdy young man with wide eyes.

“Senior…!”

A cheer spontaneously burst from the girl’s lips.

“Well done, Renias.”

Along with that single word of praise she had so longed to hear once everything was over.

***

A point explosion spell that deploys a coordinate-type formula combined with fire magic to concentrate magical power at a single point.

It’s a simple magic that applies heat to a designated coordinate while causing an explosion, but he had previously hinted that it could produce various effects when combined with other magic, especially those with good compatibility.

Renias had beautifully incorporated her unique power of light to turn the point explosion into a grenade.

That’s why he could hear everything and see clearly even in this deep location, finding her at once.

Crack!

A monster collapses as its magic twists within its body.

Probing directly with Anti-Cast, he got a sense of it.

‘So they are those things after all.’

As if Mirpark’s laboratory would have been researching magical beasts. Those nobles were trying to kill all the key figures who stood in their way to seize power.

The result was these beings wrapped in black blankets.

They were monsters created by combining the power of magical beasts with humans—beings once called Mein in the past.

‘But they shouldn’t be that strong.’

She could sweep them away if she wanted to. The fact that she sent a light signal means another variable must have arisen.

“Renias. Are you unable to use your full power?”

“Yes… because of the poison…”

So that’s it.

Poison from the arrow lodged in her shoulder.

Renias’s attack patterns are well-known to the public, so they used this underhanded method knowing they couldn’t face her head-on.

‘I can tell just by the order they died in. They took care of those weakened from using dragons to destroy the colony first.’

Many of the corpses with heads separated from bodies had been taken down without putting up proper resistance against these monsters’ ambush.

He could roughly guess what happened next without Renias explaining. Unable to exert her power, she would have been busy defending, slowly waiting for an opportunity before sending the signal.

Snap.

Unable to immediately remove the arrow stuck in Renias’s shoulder, he broke it to make it less cumbersome and asked:

“Can you brief me?”

“…Yes.”

She meticulously explained how many there were, what their characteristics were, their remaining magical power, and their strength.

Under such conditions, there was no way they could lose. This was a battle they had fought hundreds of times before.

“Crack!”

As if unwilling to give time for strategic planning, a monster springs forward.

The magical power concentrated in its claws made them comparable to well-maintained claws in terms of hardness.

It’s a strength not unlike the lycans affected by Pimpert’s distortion waves.

If they were to touch weak human skin, claw marks would be imprinted like waffle patterns, causing thick blood to spurt from the wounds.

Clang-!

The collision of two objects filled with magical power.

Though it sounds like weapons clashing, in reality, it’s just claws against gauntlets protecting fingers.

The colliding gauntlet and claws grind with a creaking sound. But this friction was soon replaced by another sound and broken.

-Crumble.

“…!”

Human skin is weak, but until it’s torn apart, it’s never truly weak.

The mana that had collided with the claws had already penetrated the monster’s arm and burst its circuits.

The monster was already closer to a magical beast than a human. For magical beasts, magical circuits aren’t composed of tissues or organs like humans, but are simply lumps of magical energy, so disrupting them makes it difficult to maintain form.

The monster’s arm, which crumbled, had been burst from the inside by Anti-Cast.

‘I see. These monsters have all been transformed into magical beasts…’

Renias couldn’t hide her surprise at this sight, her eyes wide open.

Her senior’s unwavering voice reaches her.

“I’ll neutralize their magic. Don’t try to block those coming at me; deal with the ones you can definitely stop. Understand?”

Though she showed a momentary look of bewilderment, she nodded instead of asking if he would be alright.

Demonstrating the high-level technique of Anti-Cast while dealing with the monsters, he was already worth a hundred men.

The magical circuits covering the monsters’ bodies break one by one.

Distortion, backflow, dispersion. The monsters’ bodies crumble under Anti-Cast.

It’s no different even if they use magic or weapons. Magic circles that enter Junon’s sight are mercilessly shattered, some are reversed and lose control, and the mana in weapons disappears like dry ice when it touches his gauntlets or chains.

Despite their perfect ambush, the monsters, now shaken, were busy retreating.

Both of them know well that they can’t pursue those creatures further.

Junon took out a portable knife.

“Now that we’ve put out the urgent fires, we need to remove the arrow first. Renias, can you lie down for a moment?”

“…No, Senior. We need to move right now…”

“If we’re going to move, we need to remove the arrow first. If we’re going to rescue Ronelion, you need to be as healthy as possible, right?”

He already knew.

He calculated that the Arcab Party would be targeted and suggested removing the arrow first.

The girl finally understood and lowered her shoulder.

“Here. Bite on this. Don’t move even if it hurts. Understand?”

“Yes…”

Blood flowing down her shoulder had already soaked her clothes. There was no choice but to cut away the cumbersome clothing.

A sticky liquid was oozing from the arrowhead deeply embedded in her flesh. It needed to be removed quickly.

-Stab.

“Ugh…!”

The blade penetrating without any painkillers or anesthetics.

Renias closed her eyes tightly and swallowed her groans at the vivid pain.

-Clatter.

The arrow comes out. He hastily tears cloth to use as a makeshift bandage.

This will allow her to move for a while.

“It’s all done. You did well.”

“Hic. It hurts so much…”

How painful it must have been. The handkerchief in her mouth was twisted, and tears were trickling down.

Nevertheless, it showed remarkable mental strength. Having lost quite a bit of blood and having her flesh probed with a knife like this, it wouldn’t be strange if she went into shock.

She rises and points her index finger in the opposite direction.

“The same situation might have occurred in the colony on the other side. We need to move right now.”

“The colony on the other side?”

“The colony was divided into two… so the situation there is probably the same.”

“Hah… Alright. Can you get on my back then?”

She nods.

Junon, carrying Renias on his back, rushed to the opposite colony where Ronelion might be… but when they arrived, the disaster had already unfolded.

Corpses scattered everywhere and the remains of many monsters. Following the traces of a fierce battle, they came upon a boy covered in blood from head to toe.

“Ronelion!!”

“Ro, Ron…”

After putting Renias down, Junon immediately checks his carotid artery. Ronelion’s pulse can be felt, albeit faintly.

“He’s not dead yet. If we take him away right now…!”

“Yes, yes! I can walk on my own…! You should carry him on your back, right?”

“Yes. Hurry!”

As he urgently tries to lift Ronelion onto his back, Ronelion firmly grabs Junon’s arm and speaks.

“Bro… ther…”

“Tell me later. Right now, you need to get on my back!”

“…Ugh.”

Why isn’t he getting on? Though conscious, Ronelion just held onto Junon’s arm without trying to get on his back.

Renias, also frustrated, raises her voice.

“Why are you being stubborn here?! Quickly, quickly get on Senior’s back, Ron!”

Yet, Ronelion, breathing heavily, still refused to be carried.

“You mustn’t… let him meet Reni…!”

“…What?”

“That’s not what’s important right now!! Hurry… hurry!!”

“Please… Reni…”

Firmly.

Protect her.

Unable to make a sound even when straining his throat, Ronelion used his remaining strength to mouth those words.

After that.

-Thud.

Ronelion lost consciousness and collapsed.