A Beacon of Hope in the Rubble
Akemi asked with a flustered look on her face. "I don't know either. Who on earth is she...?"
It wasn't something that could be dismissed as a mere resemblance. The girl possessed the exact same face as Rosamy.
'What on earth did they do to me?' Was this some kind of conspiracy orchestrated by Mamon?
Either way, they had to rescue the people of Ashubal, but they had run into an entirely unexpected variable.
"Ugh..." When Rosamy grimaced, clearly in agony from her stab wound, Akemi—who had also been injured in the leg—looked equally grave.
"Anyway, we have to get out of here! She's strong!"
If Rosamy were in peak condition, they might have stood a chance, but now was not the time for a fight. Having suffered a severe wound from a surprise attack, a single misstep could mean dying here together without accomplishing a thing.
"But..."
There might still be survivors in Ashubal. And they had to bring Mia with them. For Rosamy, who believed she had to atone for her past sins, saving Mia was the absolute bare minimum she had to achieve.
"Where are you hiding?"
Meanwhile, the girl's voice, laced with cruel amusement, echoed once more.
"...We must at least save Mia."
At Rosamy's resolute words, Akemi bit her lip and nodded. "Right!"
But the problem was that Mia had ventured deep into the heart of Ashbal Castle, and they had no idea where she currently was.
"She's probably hiding in the rubble anyway. I'll just blow the whole place to pieces!"
Considering she was the one who had hurled Elysium toward Earth, the girl was undeniably ruthless.
Whirrr! As a massive purple sphere materialized in the air, Akemi shouted, realizing they had to divide and conquer if they wanted to save Mia, despite the danger. "We have to find her quickly!"
"I'll find her! Just buy me some time, Rosamy!"
"Don't worry. I'm not human." Rosamy nodded, her wound having closed slightly in the meantime. "I won't go down easily either. Once you bring Mia out, I'll open a portal immediately."
Akemi nodded at those words. She felt a pang of guilt leaving Rosamy behind, but there was no other choice. They had known from the very beginning that this would be a perilous mission.
"But promise me you won't overdo it."
Having grown quite fond of Rosamy in their short time together, Akemi spoke with genuine concern. Rosamy let out a weak chuckle, her face pale. "I promise. Now go, bring Mia back."
Whirrr! Rosamy opened a portal and dashed out to act as the decoy!
"Blow it all—"
Flash! In that split second, Rosamy materialized behind the girl, unleashing a surprise attack with a brilliant blue flash.
Whirrr! Without even turning around, the girl slipped through a portal to evade the strike. She spun back with a smirk. "So you're the decoy."
Reading their plan like an open book, she let out a dark chuckle and snapped her fingers. "Then I guess I'll just blow up everyone else besides you."
Rumble! The colossal purple sphere hurtled straight toward the ruins of Ashubal.
"Damn it!" Realizing her decoy plan had failed, Rosamy hastily opened a portal beneath the falling sphere.
"You're a failure."
With a cold, expressionless face, the girl closed the distance to Rosamy and raised her knife once more.
Stab!
"Cough...!"
A pained groan echoed through the ruins.
"Rosamy!" Akemi, who had just returned, screamed her name in horror.
"...Oh dear." The girl looked down at the arrow piercing her abdomen, then turned her gaze to Mia, who was already drawing her bowstring for a second shot. "Right, you were an elf."
Before she was a Saintess, Mia was an elf!
"You... I will definitely...!" Having salvaged a bow and arrows from the collapsed ruins of Ashubal, Mia pulled back the string with a vengeance.
"Hmph, as if the likes of you could—!" Even with an arrow through her stomach, the girl seemed entirely unbothered as she tried to dodge the next attack. But—
Flash!
"I haven't paid you back yet!" Rosamy's flash of light surged toward the girl.
Whirrr! A portal opened just in time, causing the attack to miss.
Thwack!
"Grudge Kick!" Despite her injured leg, Akemi delivered a powerful side kick straight to the back of the girl's head.
"Ugh! You pests...!" Faced with resistance far fiercer than she had anticipated, the girl's expression faltered.
It was a difficult combination to handle: Rosamy, who shared her portal abilities; Mia, who boasted exceptional physical stats and ranged attacks; and above all, Akemi, who possessed the incredibly troublesome power of teleportation.
"I'll get rid of you annoying bitch first!"
Flash!
"Ngh!" Deciding to eliminate Akemi first, the girl unleashed a burst of violet light.
Whirrr! Rosamy instantly opened a portal, redirecting the entire blast elsewhere.
Swoosh! Once again, Mia's arrow flew with deadly precision, aiming right between the girl's eyes.
Snatch! "Do you really think something like this would work on me?"
Thud! At that exact moment, another arrow shot out of a portal Rosamy had opened, burying itself deep into the girl's back.
"Argh!"
Rosamy had redirected the arrow Mia fired earlier, sending it straight into the girl's blind spot.
"We're not done yet!" To think they had lost Ashubal, the last sanctuary of her people! Fueled by pure rage, Mia drew her bow and charged forward.
"How annoying." The girl scowled deeply.
Flash!
"Danger!" As blinding light erupted in all directions, Whirrr! Rosamy opened a portal.
Shuck! Akemi grabbed Mia and teleported both of them straight through the portal in the blink of an eye. Once Rosamy also dove into the portal, escaping the blast radius, the girl pulled the two arrows from her body, her wounds already completely healed. She cast a chilling gaze toward the empty space.
"I've wasted far too much time on the likes of you. Erase them."
The moment she spoke, portals began to tear open. Whirrr! The bizarre monsters that Yunjae had never seen before began to pour out. At a glance, there were easily hundreds of them emerging from the rifts.
If Yunjae were here, he could have slaughtered them all without breaking a sweat. But for the three of them, it was an overwhelming, impossible number. The girl smirked and shouted, "Kill them all!"
"Hehe!" The moment the command left her lips, the monsters surged forward, their tentacle-like hair whipping wildly through the air.
"Those things are so gross!" Dealing with the mysterious girl was already pushing them to their limits, and now they had to face an army of monsters.
Rosamy opened a portal. Whirrr!
"This isn't going to work. You two need to go back..."
"What?"
Shove! Without a moment's hesitation, Rosamy pushed Akemi and Mia into the portal leading back to Earth.
"R-Rosamy!"
"Why?!"
"I'll go get Yunjae!"
Staying here would only result in a meaningless death. Akemi and Mia shook their heads in protest at her sudden decision, but their bodies were already being pulled through the portal.
Whoosh! Rosamy closed the portal so they couldn't return, leaving herself entirely alone.
"I won't go down without a fight!" Flash! She resisted fiercely, unleashing bursts of blue light, but against the mysterious girl and an endless horde of monsters, it was a losing battle.
Her attacks were all absorbed by the girl's portals, and before she could even open another rift, the monsters' tentacles closed in from all sides.
Rip! "Ahhh!" Rosamy screamed in agony.
She had told Akemi she was fine, but in truth, the wound on her back had only grown worse. As the tentacle-like hair wrapped tightly around her body and dug into her wounds, tears welled in her eyes from the excruciating pain.
"You're going to die anyway, so why try so hard?" The girl sneered, mocking her with a cruel laugh. "Even if you send them back to Earth, you can't stop this. It's already over! Lupinus, all of you, and the Hero!"
At her declaration of absolute doom, Rosamy sobbed, her voice trembling. "...It won't end that easily."
"You just can't let go of your foolish hopes, can you?" The girl stepped closer, letting out a soft giggle as she pressed a mock kiss to the forehead of the writhing Rosamy. "I am Poe. Should I call myself your fourth sister? Or perhaps your fourth daughter?"
"What...?"
"Just know this before you die. Even though you're a failure, it's thanks to you that we were born."
"W-what does that mean?!" Rosamy's eyes widened in sheer shock at this revelation of a truth she had never even imagined.
Poe giggled softly. "Should I just kill you? Or should I let these things defile you one by one as you die? Which would you prefer?"
Poe clearly had no intention of explaining any further. "Yes. The latter suits a Saintess's end much better."
Poe snapped her fingers, and the squirming tentacles began to tighten their grip around Rosamy's body.
"Kyaaa! No!" A sickening, repulsive sensation crept over her skin, violating her senses and forcing a desperate scream from her throat.
Flash! At that exact moment—
"Huh?" Rosamy vanished right before Poe's eyes.
"W-what?" Akemi was definitely gone, so how could Rosamy have teleported away?
"Sonic Boom."
Sonic Boom
Boom! Along with a low, calm voice, a crimson wave of sword energy swept through the area, vaporizing the monsters in an instant.
"Ugh!" The sheer force of the blast sent Poe flying backward through the air.
"Damn it." Don't tell me Gainax, the former Hero and Great Demon King, has already been defeated?
As Poe reeled in shock, Yunjae materialized before her, cradling Rosamy gently in his arms. Rosamy was just as stunned. Having just escaped a horrific fate, she looked up at Yunjae with tear-filled eyes, her expression overflowing with overwhelming relief and gratitude.
"How on earth...!"
"Ah! Since Miss Rosamy is currently tamed by me, I simply recalled and summoned her again."
At the Hero's nonchalant explanation, Poe's face contorted with rage. "Damn game system!"
What could she even say to someone who had literally unsummoned and re-summoned a tamed target?
"Cure."
Cure
As Rosamy's wounds healed instantly before her eyes, Poe's expression grew even more venomous.
"What on earth are you doing with the exact same face as Miss Rosamy?"
This time, Yunjae didn't seem inclined to just laugh it off with his usual easygoing demeanor. Despite the ridiculous name Slender Forearms floating above his head, the overwhelming presence he exuded made Poe shiver in instinctual terror.
"It's over anyway! Give up your meaningless resistance!"
"We won't know that until the very end."
Poe sneered at the unyielding determination in his eyes. "You're all going to end anyway! Right here!"
Whirrr! Realizing it was impossible to win against someone who had effortlessly defeated the Great Demon King Gainax, Poe instantly vanished through a portal.
"Ah..." Rosamy, still cradled in Yunjae's arms, looked dismayed that Poe had escaped.
"First, I must destroy this." Yunjae spoke calmly, indicating that dealing with Elysium was the immediate priority. "Were there no survivors?"
"...Regrettably." Rosamy was still shaken by her near-death experience, and her voice was heavy with sorrow over failing to save anyone. Looking at her, Yunjae shook his head.
"It might not be over yet."
"What?"
"Finder."
Finder
He cast his search spell. Though time was running out, Rosamy watched him with desperate hope as he searched for any signs of life in Ashubal. If they were still breathing, Yunjae—who had just completely healed her own fatal wounds—would surely be able to save them!
"I found them!" Taking Rosamy's hand, Yunjae leaped toward the location indicated by Finder—the underground dungeons of Ashbal Castle.
Crash! Utilizing the raw power of his maxed-out stats, Yunjae swept away the massive piles of debris in an instant.
"...Beastmen?" Before his eyes lay a man with distinct horns on his head and a young girl with cat ears. Though they looked mostly human, their distinct physical traits clearly set them apart from ordinary people.
"They're alive! Still!"
"Cure."
Cure
It seemed being deep within the underground dungeon