The Sword and The Shadow

The sight that greeted her eyes forced the glacier girl to reveal a look of shock. There were five enemies in total. Two weren't that powerful but two were — a high-order magus and a high-order knight. The two low-order warriors were dead and the high-order knight taking his last breath?

The combination of a knight that specialized in defense and protection and a magus that excelled in dealing damage was troublesome. Faced with such a combination, even Annelotte was sure there would be nothing she could do. She didn't think Leguna would be so daring as to face them all alone and even manage to kill the high-order knight. Had he really just suffered a few mouthfuls of blood in exchange?!

If the usual Leguna were to fight, even if he pushed himself to the limit, he wouldn't be a match for either Nabir or Kratt. This was nothing short of a miracle. Truly wondrous; it was too extreme! How could an 11th-stratum assassin possibly rise up to the 15th stratum in a few moments? There was no such technique in this world!

Even more frightening was Leguna's combat style. No assassin or rogue could enter stealth right in front of his enemy. But Leguna did just that! He did it unbelievably fast as well. He disappeared, struck the magus, vanished, and attacked the knight in an instant. He had launched his most savage strike before anyone could react. He had launched a surprise attack despite having been seen, and it had succeeded!

"Innilis is in the house! She's badly injured! Take her away!" yelled the boy frantically the moment he saw the girl appear.

He spat out another mouthful of blood and half-knelt on the ground.

"But you…"

Annelotte could tell his injuries were quite serious.

"Don't bother me! I can handle it!" he howled hoarsely, "Innilis is in danger. Take her away and save her! I beg you!"

Annelotte was a little taken aback; this was the first time he had raised his voice at her. It was also the first time he had begged her to do anything. She didn't know what was going through his head but she could hear the determination in his voice.

She didn't say anything. She quickly dictated two magical barriers on him before turning to enter Jaehart's house.

The scene within made her face pale. She had already guessed something bad had happened but she didn't think it would be this horrifying. The girl lowered her head slightly as she gazed at Jaehart and Minnie's corpses. She picked the faintly breathing Innilis up and dictated a transference spell.

……

Vera looked at the loudly snoring Kurdak. She couldn't help but snap.

"No matter what form you're in, you always snore like a pig!"

A magical glow appeared nearby. Annelotte stepped out of it — Innilis in hand.

"You're back? Where's Ley? What're you carrying?" asked Vera as she approached.

She covered her mouth, eyes popping, when she noticed the pale girl in Annelotte's arms.

"Her family is gone. She's the last one. Quick. She needs treatment!"

Annelotte ran to the camp. She placed the girl on the grassy ground beside the fire.

"What's going on? What in the world happened? Where's Ley?" asked Vera hastily as she prepared the medicine.

Annelotte was much calmer than Vera. She explained as stripped the girl.

"I don't know. She was already like this when I arrived. I think the Eye did this. Maybe they went to look for Jaehart to investigate Farsi's death."

She had only snuck a quick glance but had noticed the emblem on the magus's chest and her guess was spot on.

"Eye of Arcana?" Vera recalled the incident and asked, "What about Ley? Where's he?"

"Leguna killed a high-order knight before I arrived. He's facing the high-order magus now."

"What?! Does he want to die?! How could you leave him there all alone?!" exclaimed Vera as she handed over a bottle of healing potion.

She knew more or less how powerful Leguna was. Fighting a high-order magus was completely suicidal. As Annelotte mixed the potion with bloodclot grass and trigreen leaf, she continued.

"It's more complicated than you think. I can't describe his current state. While he's in great danger, he won't die so easily."

"Roar!"

Kurdak had long been roused from his sleep. He looked at the two women working away and soon caught a whiff of Innilis's blood. It excited him enough to let out a few growls.

"Shut up and sleep like a good boy!" cried the two women.

The killing intent in their eyes was almost enough to do the werewolf actual damage. Kurdak whimpered when the glares hit him. He retreated two steps fearfully and didn't make any other noises. He had been trained to fear Annelotte. Though he wasn't quite sure why, Kurdak could somewhat remember the blue-haired girl possessed fearsome amounts of power. The girl could easily toy with a huge beast like him. If he angered her… The thought made the furs on its back stand on end.

As for the other woman, though she wasn't nearly as strong, somehow he also felt some degree of fear. It was a primal fear that came from the depths of his soul. He didn't doubt in the slightest that if he angered her, the result would be far worse than if he angered the blue-haired woman. So he made the rational decision to stay quiet. He couldn't help but wonder what other werewolves would think if they saw him like this.

Innilis's abdominal injury was garish. Vera carefully cleaned her wounds and started tearing up.

I wonder how badly this hurts. She's only a small girl, she knows nothing about the world. She can only skip about naively… What kind of dipshit would hurt her? Are there people who don't have a shred of conscience?

Annelotte didn't look any better either. Seeing Innilis's face - pale as paper - and the horrid sight of Jaehart's house, she could more or less understand how Leguna felt. The girl didn't express it, but she had immense anger pent up. Maybe after the time they had dessert, Innilis and Minnie got along much better with Annelotte. While the girl was usually rather cold, she was rather delighted by the cute, energetic girls. Naturally, she was incredibly angry.

Innilis's injury wasn't too much of a problem thanks to the effects of the healing potion. But as the magus had used a frost blade, she was truly in danger from the frost aspect. Such a magic would linger and keep freezing and damaging her wound. Leguna couldn't do anything about it. He had no choice but to call Annelotte. As a water swayer, she had great control over frost spells. Thanks to both the effects of the potion and her, Innilis was no longer in danger of dying.

The girl's eyes slowly opened. Grief and sorrow filled her formerly energetic eyes. Annelotte and Vera's hearts ached.

"Sis Annie, Sis Vera…" Innilis said dazedly.

Her eyes widened like she had suddenly remembered something. After seeing that she was no longer in that hell, she calmed down.

She burst out in tears.

"Brother… Sister… They… Waaaah…"

Tears streaming down her face, Vera hugged Innilis tightly.

"It's okay. Don't be scared. You're okay. I'm here, I'll always stay with you. I won't leave you alone. Don't be afraid."

The silent Kurdak started moving about as if he was protesting having his rest disturbed. But after being glared at again, he turned his body around awkwardly and continued to sleep. He swallowed the growl he had been preparing.

Annelotte dictated a slumber spell. Innilis was crying too badly. The little girl gradually calmed down and fell into a deep sleep.

"Sis, please look after things here. I will go look for Leguna," said she, seeing Innilis fall asleep.

"I'll go with you," said Vera, standing up.

Annelotte shook her head.

"You need to stay here and look after these two."

"But…"

"Don't worry, Sis. I'll be back soon."

Annelotte left before Vera could say anything else. Seeing the girl leave, Vera swallowed her words. She shouted to Annelotte to be careful and forget revenge.