Ch.85440 seconds later

Forty seconds.

A time so brief one couldn’t even finish a cup of tea, yet to Meiharin now, it felt like an eternity.

Against a monster who could deliver fatal wounds with just a single successful attack, her ability to endure for so long was nothing short of miraculous.

Perhaps she should be thankful that the battlefield had shifted to the Barun River.

Though her body was weakened to the point where recovery was difficult as the life force she could absorb had finally been depleted, water magic performed in a place with water was fundamentally different from casting it where there was none.

Meiharin pulled the river water with her sorcery, using it as spears and hammers, shields and chains, desperately holding on.

“Such ugly struggling to the end…!”

Hersella, now completely soaked, spat out curses filled with irritation.

She had every reason to be annoyed. It was obvious that Meiharin had weakened to the point where she would perish after just a couple of hits, yet she couldn’t land those hits, causing the fight to drag on.

Unable to use rune seals, she had lost her ignition and flight abilities, and while maintaining her Monstrous Limbs, she couldn’t deploy other Karma of Murder techniques.

Without a way to fly, Hersella found the battle over water, with no place to stand, particularly troublesome.

When she would leap from the riverbank or riverbed toward Meiharin floating in the middle of the river, Meiharin would extend water chains to momentarily slow her charge and hastily dodge.

And then, unable to change direction mid-air, Hersella would helplessly slice through empty space before plunging into the river.

“How about this!”

After several failed attempts, an increasingly frustrated Hersella struck the riverbank, shattering the bedrock, then lifted the broken pieces and hurled them like catapult projectiles.

– Whooooosh—!

A sound like a whirlwind raging. A boulder the size of a carriage cut through the air with a terrifying roar and ferocious momentum.

“…Throwing stones? You’re no better than a monkey now!”

Yet Meiharin, despite blood trickling from her mouth due to the forcibly squeezed mana, smiled with feigned composure and put on a show of bravado.

It wasn’t entirely baseless bravado. Direct attacks like thrown rocks, no matter how fast or strong, weren’t impossible to counter.

To be frank, both the boulder and Hersella were flying at eye-blinking speed and power. In fact, the boulder was actually simpler to deal with than Hersella’s human projectile since it would break apart when struck.

“Throw them all day and night. See if they ever reach me!”

Meiharin extended her left arm—missing two fingers and with the outer flesh completely torn away—toward the boulder flying like a projectile.

The drawn mana mixed with blood and river water transformed into destructive power.

A strike that coated the claws of her martial technique with river water to enhance its power with weight, and added her flowing blood to give it explosive force. Its power was enough to easily shatter the moisture-softened bedrock into pieces and more.

– Kwagagagagak!

The bedrock, sliced into pieces by the water blade, was caught in the subsequent explosion and burst in all directions before it could reach Meiharin.

A perfect defense. Had others witnessed this scene, they would have found it hard to withhold applause.

…If the purpose of throwing the rock had been to crush Meiharin with it.

“Ha, I knew it!”

Hersella burst through the scattering rock fragments like lightning. The claws of Frosting shot toward Meiharin’s abdomen. Meiharin’s eyes widened.

“Kuh…! How dare you!”

River water surged up like a waterfall, wrapping around Hersella’s body and lifting her, while a teleportation spell threw Meiharin’s body several meters to the side.

The distance she could move had been reduced to less than half of what it once was. However, thanks to this, she was able to avoid Hersella’s surprise attack—a blessing for Meiharin.

“Phew…, that was quite—”

Just as Meiharin exhaled in relief after barely avoiding the attack.

“Not yet!”

With a roar mixed with the joy unique to someone certain of victory, Hersella shook off the river water and shot like an arrow toward Meiharin, kicking off with both legs against the empty air.

– Kwaaang!

No, not empty air.

Stone dust exploded like smoke behind Hersella. What she had kicked off from wasn’t empty air, but fragments of the shattered bedrock still falling!

“What…!”

Meiharin exclaimed in shock at the sight of her enemy suddenly changing direction and charging at her. Her entire nervous system rang alarm bells warning of mortal danger.

‘Teleport—! No, I can’t…!’

Escaping with teleportation was impossible. Using it one more time would lead to death from the backlash alone.

Gritting her teeth, Meiharin abandoned evasion and tried to somehow shoot down Hersella by pulling up river water and wielding it like a whip.

– Whoooong!

A scene like an eight-headed water snake rampaging in drunkenness. Whips of water flow as thick as pillars raised water spray as they covered the river surface with massive trajectories.

“How pathetic!”

However, around the two women were still plenty of debris that hadn’t yet fallen into the river.

Hersella kicked off and navigated through the rock fragments, avoiding all the surging streams of water. Like Haschal flying through the air from the recoil of Karma Fire.

And then.

“Haschaaaaaal—!”

“Your journey won’t be lonely. Your son will be with you!”

Just as ten small starlike lights were about to dig into Meiharin, who was roaring with a face distorted like an evil spirit—

– Swaaaack!

‘A spear?!’

A spear shot like a bullet from the riverbank blocked Hersella’s movement, saving Meiharin’s life.

—-

A thrown spear aimed at the temple. Sensing danger, Hersella bent her upper body backward to avoid the flying spear blade instead of tearing Meiharin apart with her claws.

She was throwing away a perfect opportunity to end Meiharin’s life, but she had no choice.

The force of the spear that reached her vicinity in an instant was not light enough to leave vital points unprotected, even with the protection of the Dragonborn’s blessing and the defense of her Monstrous Limbs.

– Whoooong!

The next moment, the spear blade wrapped in dark blue airflow passed before her eyes like lightning. It was clear. A strike from a hero who had crossed the Wall. And one with some kind of sorcery added to it.

‘A new enemy? To launch such an attack without any killing intent….’

An interference at the perfect moment. Hersella’s eyes, filled with anger, turned toward the direction from which the spear had been thrown.

And.

“…Huh?”

Her face froze like stone. Not just her face, but her entire body. Even her mind.

“This… can’t be.”

A single phrase full of disbelief. An emotion that couldn’t be fully explained by the term “shock” was clearly contained in her trembling voice.

Even though her body was falling toward the river water having lost its momentum, Hersella didn’t even realize it, staring fixedly at the riverbank.

Her mind went blank.

Hatred toward her enemy, intoxication with her own dramatically increased power, regret at missing the perfect opportunity—all vanished as if bleached clean… and shock, disbelief, and impact rushed in like waves to fill the empty space.

– Splash!

Hersella’s reason returned only after the cold river water enveloped her entire body and choked her breath.

‘…Ah.’

Gulping river water and coming to her senses, Hersella looked up at the water’s surface and shook her head convulsively.

‘It can’t be. It can’t be. It’s an illusion. It’s impossible.’

Although her reason had returned with the coldness of the river water, the bewilderment filling her mind did not disappear.

‘Yes, I need to confirm. I need to check first…!’

Biting her lips tightly, Hersella kicked the river water with all her might and shot up like a salmon, bursting above the water’s surface.

– Splash!

Water spray burst forth. Her red-tinged eyes swept across the riverbank and—

“…How.”

They fixed, as if nailed, on the person still standing there—the hero who had thrown the spear.

A woman with long black hair. Perhaps slightly shorter than herself.

In her empty eye sockets, instead of eyeballs, blue mana light swirled, and her elegant jawline and refined appearance strangely resembled someone.

Someone who appeared whenever she looked in a mirror.

“How on earth……”

Hersella’s fingertips trembled as if in convulsion.

It was something she simply couldn’t believe… no, didn’t want to believe, but the appearance of the “enemy” reflected in her eyes—

“Mother…?”

It looked exactly like her biological mother, Imelia de Median, who had been murdered ten years ago.

—-

‘This can’t be happening.’

The moment she took in the appearance of the “enemy,” Hersella’s first thought was a firm denial of reality—that this couldn’t possibly be true.

‘Is it… an illusion? Mother can’t possibly be alive…’

She had confirmed her death ten years ago, personally prepared the body and buried the coffin in the grave, and just a dozen minutes ago, had dug up the coffin for relocation and moved it to the flying ship.

And now, so suddenly, so unexpectedly, to appear before her eyes. How could this be possible? It was something that could only be explained as an illusion.

However, Hersella already knew. The scene before her eyes was not some curse of illusion. Her unresponsive Monstrous Limbs proved this.

But if not an illusion, what exactly was she seeing?

The woman standing blankly at the riverbank, though her hair was dyed black and her eyeballs were gone, was otherwise identical to Hersella’s memory of her mother in every detail.

…As if Imelia de Median, who had lost her life, had returned from the dead.