Chapter 366: Another Encounter
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 366: Another Encounter
The night was exceptionally long.
Inside a building that appeared quite luxurious compared to the surrounding desolation, a long-abandoned fireplace had been cleared out. Freshly prepared firewood crackled within, its flickering flames struggling to ward off the biting chill of the night.
Yet, Seviel felt no warmth at all.
Setting aside the foul stench of unknown origin that made her feel like she might lose her dinner from the night before, what truly chilled her to the bone... was the monster.
It stood just a short distance away.
A massive creature, it looked as though it were woven from pure, twisted muscle. Its skinless body was exposed and blood-soaked, with several python-like arms serving as extra limbs for movement, while other arms flailed wildly, clutching various rusted weapons stained with black blood.
It was difficult to describe the creature's form. It resembled a coiled serpent, yet its body was covered in limbs so thick they were unsettling to behold. At the very top, two heads on incredibly long necks extended outward, wearing expressions of blissful happiness as they swayed, looking in different directions.
Seviel knew how powerful this monster was; she had been locked in combat with it for over ten minutes.
But...
She looked down at her trembling palms and her blood-stained Magic Sword.
In those ten minutes, she had clearly carved no fewer than a hundred wounds into the monster’s flesh... yet now, it remained seemingly unscathed, watching her with the predatory gaze of a hunter tracking its prey.
Those injuries were healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The magic imbued within her sword was utterly useless.
Furthermore...
Seviel took a long, deep breath, desperately circulating the Mana and Fighting Spirit within her body.
A certain frigid aura was relentlessly eroding her constitution. She felt that if she didn't focus part of her mind on resisting it, she might transform into something she could never accept.
In short, she was beset by crisis after crisis.
"But now is not the time for despair."
After a brief moment to catch her breath, Seviel used her sword as a crutch, forcing herself to stand tall.
Yes, it wasn't over yet. She wasn't fighting alone. She still had—
"So hungry..."
"Heehee, so hungry..."
"I want to eat..."
The monster suddenly began to emit irritating murmurs, but this time, they carried a genuine sense of joy that hadn't been there before.
A long tendril of flesh that had been snaking through the ruined floorboards suddenly retracted. At the end of that tendril... hung a person.
A living person.
Seviel’s eyes widened, her trembling pupils reflecting the man’s face.
She knew him.
Of course she knew him.
Because he was her companion—the one who had been hiding in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to launch a surprise attack on the monster.
Her last remaining companion.
"Sorry, Seviel."
The man spat out a mouthful of blood. He glanced at his pierced torso, then looked up to meet Seviel’s eyes with a tragic smile.
"You're on your own now."
A small Magic Scroll fell from his person. A faint glimmer of light erupted, and the man vanished from the spot.
Simultaneously, a spell was triggered, slamming into one of the monster's heads and tearing it into bloody fragments.
"You bastard!"
Seviel’s eyes instantly reddened.
She hadn't expected her usually reliable companion to be knocked out of the running so easily.
"You said you'd confess to me if you got a good score this time... and then you get eliminated just like that? What kind of man are you?"
"Keeping a confession bottled up like that, as if I didn't already know... you coward!"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
After a string of angry curses, Seviel no longer had the luxury to dwell on it.
The monster’s destroyed head regrew almost instantly. It looked at its empty flesh tendril with a confused expression, which quickly shifted into pure rage.
"Hungry..."
"So hungry!"
The monster roared. The man’s magic hadn't hindered it in the slightest; if anything, it had driven the creature into a frenzy!
Its thick limbs flailed, muscles twisting. Its rusted weapons, looking like torture devices pulled straight from a history book, rushed toward the prey before it, carrying a wave of cold and stench.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Blades clashed.
Seviel was like a small boat in a violent storm, desperately trying to withstand the monster’s onslaught.
What do I do?
She thought with a hint of despair.
On her own, there was no way she could defeat this thing.
As for help...
No, perhaps there was still help.
Seviel’s gaze flickered toward another direction nearby.
There, another fierce battle was taking place. However, compared to her situation, things over there seemed slightly better—at least, they appeared to have strength to spare.
Should she call out to them for help?
No, impossible.
Because those people... were enemies.
Seviel thought bitterly.
As elites of the Saint Pedro Kingdom’s National Magic Academy, they shouldn't have been this pathetic, even against such a terrifying monster.
But earlier, they had been fighting their nation’s sworn rivals—those barbarians from the Leopold Empire’s St. Maria Academy.
It was during that battle that they were suddenly ambushed by these monsters. Caught off guard, both sides had suffered heavy losses, leading to this disastrous state.
"Dammit, is this fate?"
Saint Pedro and Leopold were neighboring countries, and border conflicts were constant.
However, due to the difference in national power, Saint Pedro was generally suppressed by Leopold in almost every international arena.
The two academies also had a long-standing academic grudge. Seviel had thought that since the team Leopold sent this time didn't seem as exceptional as expected, it would be the perfect chance to reclaim some glory. She never expected...
"Fine."
In her despair, the Magic Sword in Seviel’s hand glowed brilliantly. She prepared to pour the last of her strength into a final strike.
She lifted her head proudly, a tragic yet beautiful smile on her lips.
"At least I fought until the very last moment. I wasn't saved by the enemy, so I haven't shamed my academy or my country..."
BOOM—
Before she could finish her thought, a massive explosion drowned out the monster’s roar.
Seviel and the monster both froze mid-attack, looking up blankly toward the source of the sound.
The ceiling had been blown open.
Moonlight spilled in, desolate and cold.
A golden-haired man descended from the sky. The night wind ruffled his short hair, which looked as though it had been styled by a top-tier professional. The high moon served as his backdrop, casting a cold, imposing halo around him.
Even from a side profile, his features were so perfect they seemed hand-drawn by a Goddess. Seviel, whose heart was already racing from the battle, felt her breath hitch for a moment.
"So handsome."
In that brief moment of distraction, the man landed squarely on the monster’s head.
He looked down at the hideous creature with a calm gaze and whispered softly:
"The ninth one."
With that, the Pure White Dual Daggers in his hands traced arcs more perfect than the moon itself. The monster’s two large heads fell away in response.
"ROAR—"
The monster finally reacted. Its severed heads continued to shriek, their expressions blissful but their eyes filled with rage.
Python-like muscles surged violently as its thick limbs gripped rusted weapons. Ignoring the risk of self-injury, the limbs whipped back toward the man.
"Watch out!"
Seviel couldn't help but cry out. At that moment, Muen was like a small white rabbit dropped into a pit of vipers, about to be devoured whole.
But Muen merely spared Seviel a glance, his expression remaining tranquil.
He spoke, his voice carrying the practiced ease of someone who had repeated the call a thousand times:
"Liya."
The moonlight was obscured once more as a massive shadow was cast.
A girl with exquisite, adorable features—the kind that could make even another woman’s heart flutter—stood beneath the moonlight.
The night wind caught her long dress. Even though she wore "evil" safety leggings beneath her skirt, her silhouette was so perfect it was beyond reproach.
She extended a finger and pointed downward.
Dark metal plates fell upon the frenzied limbs.
Then, she pressed down.
Specks of light appeared on the metal plates, tracing profound and mysterious lines in an instant.
"Is that... a Magic Formation?"
Seviel’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.
A Multiple Magic Combined Matrix, or "Magic Formation" for short.
As the name implied, it involved linking multiple spells together in a specific way to achieve powerful effects that a single spell could never reach.
They were generally used for setting up barriers, constructing secret rites, reinforcing weapons, or creating traps.
However, they were rarely used directly in active combat.
Because of their complexity, setting them up usually required far more time than a standard spell.
But in this moment, Seviel felt as though every magic class she had ever attended was a lie.
A Magic Formation so complex it was dizzying had been constructed in an instant. And what flowed through it wasn't just pure Mana, but also...
Holy Light.
"Aaaah—AAAAH!"
The monster’s roar turned into a scream of agony.
Its thick limbs were pinned to the ground, unable to move. A sizzling sound erupted from its body as it burned. Every inch of its flesh convulsed and struggled; one could only imagine the torment it was enduring.
The golden-haired man stepped down, crushing the monster’s regrowing heads and its screams back into the dirt, as if he found the noise unpleasant.
Then, he gripped his pure white blades and slashed.
Slash.
Slash.
Slash.
In that moment, Seviel couldn't even count how many times the man swung his blades.
She could only see that the monster’s flesh couldn't regrow fast enough before it was torn apart and scorched by the razor-sharp edges.
The splashing blood couldn't even touch the man’s perfect profile or his expensive clothes, unable to penetrate the dense curtain of blade-light that was tighter than a waterproof seal.
Another bright moon seemed to rise.
A Crimson Moon, constructed of blade-light and blood.
...
...
"Please... rest in peace."
Amidst particles of sacred light, another pained and fragmented soul was purified. Another thin thread of light was added to Liya’s crystal.
Seviel watched the scene blankly, then turned to look at the man who had been standing by her side.
Only after the initial shock to her soul had subsided did Seviel finally calm down enough to recognize the man’s identity.
The son of Duke Campbell of the Leopold Empire—Muen Campbell!
It was actually him!
The "soft persimmon," the "little lamb" from the intelligence reports!
As a citizen of a neighboring country, Seviel had access to more information than most.
She knew his status and his history.
That was exactly why she found this so hard to believe.
Among the younger generation of the Kingdom, there was one figure everyone viewed as a rival but felt despair toward.
That was the Empire’s Ice Witch—the exceptionally talented, nearly perfect Third Princess who was beloved by the gods.
The fact that the Princess had a rather mediocre fiancé had always been a point of comfort for them, something they secretly mocked and felt relieved about.
But now, she realized that this "mediocre" fiancé was actually... this powerful?
This was a "little lamb"?
Have you ever seen a "little lamb" that casually slaughters a lion?
Was this really the playboy from the gossip rags who supposedly had his feet in too many boats, who wouldn't even spare his own teacher, and who looked like he could be stabbed to death by the Princess at any moment?
The tabloids have ruined me!
Seviel took a deep breath.
Even though she had seen him in the hall not long ago, for the sake of caution, she felt she had to confirm things.
She brushed the dust off her clothes, smoothed the wrinkles in her dress, and took out a small mirror to fix her hair.
Even though she had been saved, he was still a national enemy. Even if he was powerful, talented, and handsome—exceptionally handsome.
She absolutely could not lose her composure!
"Um..."
Seviel tucked away her mirror and looked at Muen, her face slightly flushed as she asked, "Hello, thank you for saving me. Just to be safe, may I ask for your name... and your Voice Transmission Stone frequency? I’d like to repay you..."
"Liya Angel."
"Eh?"
"My name is Liya Angel."
Liya, who seemed to have teleported in front of Seviel, extended her hand with a smile.
"And you are?"
"Se... Seviel."
"Ah, Miss Seviel. What a lovely name."
Liya took Seviel’s hand and shook it vigorously, her smile gentle.
"But there's no need for thanks. As a Saintess Candidate, helping others is only natural. My knight would be happy about it too, so please, put your mind at ease."
"...Oh, oh, alright. My mind is very much at ease."
Seviel’s mouth twitched.
She got the feeling that the Saintess Candidate didn't mean "put your mind at ease," but rather "give up on any ideas."
A bit scary.
...
"You two chat. I'm going to go help Senior Fanny."
Looking at Liya’s adorable display, Muen couldn't help but feel amused.
But now wasn't the time to calculate the girl’s cuteness levels. He had been watching the other side for a while, only staying back because he didn't want to leave Liya alone while she was purifying souls.
The battle over there was relatively stable, with Senior Fanny even holding a slight upper hand, but...
"Senior Fanny, why are there only two of you?"
A few minutes later, Muen flicked the blood off his blades and looked toward Senior Fanny with a heavy expression. Her hair was a bit messy, but she didn't look too worse for wear.
Behind her, the daughter of the trading company president, the girl named Vicky, was pale-faced. She clearly hadn't adapted to this gruesome scene.
The blood and stench were nothing short of a nightmare for someone who had lived a sheltered life.
As for Marshall and Aaron, who were supposed to be with Fanny, Muen saw no sign of them.
"Marshall and Aaron were eliminated."
Fanny’s expression was grim as she gave a bitter smile.
"We were ambushed. Those two didn't even have time to react before they were so heavily injured that their Magic Scrolls triggered, teleporting them out."
"Fortunately, their lives should be safe."
"Ambushed..."
Muen thought back to when he first encountered the monsters.
If he hadn't reacted quickly enough, Liya might have been ambushed as well.
After all, before these monsters appeared, no one would have imagined that this so-called "Golden Kingdom" would be such a hellscape.
The damn Church—the pit they dug was certainly deep enough.
Muen closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
"Even with an ambush, it's strange for both of them to go down at once. Did you run into anything else?"
"When we were ambushed, we were in the middle of fighting them."
Fanny tilted her chin, gesturing for Muen to look at Seviel.
"They were ambushed too, and they had it worse than us. They were also down to two... well, now they're down to one."
"Fighting at a time like this? That doesn't sound like your usual steady style, Senior."
"It was unavoidable."
Fanny continued her bitter smile.
"We entered this town quite early, so we did some scouting. we found this building, which is clearly more luxurious than the others. We thought it might be the residence or workplace of someone like a town mayor."
"Maybe a wealthy merchant?"
"In a place where people don't even need to farm, where would an objective 'wealthy merchant' come from?" Fanny shook her head.
"True."
"While we were searching the place, we happened to run into them, and a fight broke out."
"So..."
Muen’s expression sharpened.
"What did you find?"
"Well."
Fanny pointed at Seviel.
"She has the item."