Fortunately, all the effort she had put into learning to release her healing power from a distance had not been in vain.
A mass of light stretched out like tree roots and wrapped itself around the knight's ankle.
“...!”
Fresh flesh began growing over the ankle where blood had been gushing out like a fountain.
The watching knights stared with wide eyes.
Slash!
Just then, the werewolf, which had been tilting its head in confusion as it watched the ankle heal, suddenly lost its head.
“...What exactly do you think you're doing?”
Kallian barked in a chilling voice as he roughly grabbed Evelyn's arm.
His black hair, stained with blood, whipped wildly, reflecting his fury.
The strength of his grip was far greater than before.
Evelyn winced.
“Wh-What...? Why are you acting like this?”
She couldn't understand his sudden anger.
No matter how hard she tried, he refused to let go of her wrist.
She struggled to pull free, but his strength completely overwhelmed hers.
Does he still not trust me?
The unfairness of it rose to her throat.
“You told me to make myself useful! I'm only doing what I can! I can do this too! If my healing works on other people—!”
“Who told you to become a cure for all mankind?”
“...”
“Reckless actions are forbidden on a battlefield under my command.”
After muttering those words, Kallian finally loosened his grip.
Looking at the red marks left on her wrist, Evelyn was just beginning to understand what he meant when she suddenly cried out,
“Kallian! Behind you!”
But his sword was faster than her warning.
Whoosh!
The werewolf charging toward him was torn apart in midair.
Its limbs flew in every direction.
Dark green blood splattered across Evelyn's entire body.
“Ah!”
The werewolf's severed head rolled to her feet.
Its horrific cry echoed from the detached head before fading away.
After shaking the blood from his sword, Kallian extended a hand toward her.
“Someone who trembles before nothing more than a werewolf shouldn't be trying to throw herself into danger.”
Helping her to her feet, he reached out with his large hand and gently wiped the blood from her cheek.
She hadn't been looking for praise.
If she had truly been trembling in fear, she would never have run to help the knight in the first place.
Biting her lip, Evelyn looked toward the knight whose ankle had been bitten by the werewolf.
But before she could take a step, Kallian wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Stay hidden.”
Lifting her slender body into his arms, he carried her behind the collapsed rubble and set her down in a safe spot.
“You can help people after the fighting dies down.”
“But...”
“Answer me.”
She wanted to help.
But what he said made sense.
Just yesterday, she had frozen in fear before a monster that had suddenly appeared.
If she possessed combat abilities, it would have been different.
But rushing into battle recklessly might only put herself in even greater danger.
It was only natural that he wanted to protect her.
Just as she nodded with her lips tightly pressed together—
Boom!
A tremendous explosion echoed from somewhere nearby.
The swarm of bats completely covered the sky, plunging everything into darkness.
After scanning the heavens with sharp eyes, Kallian looked directly at her.
“I understand your concern. But remember, this isn't the time to show needless mercy.”
“Yes, I wi—”
Evelyn nodded once more.
Then her eyes suddenly widened.
Something that should never have appeared came flying toward Kallian's back like the wind.
“Ah! Kallian! Look out!”
Slash!
A sharp claw sliced through the air.
It raked violently across Kallian's upper body.
The flesh of his unarmored side was torn open.
Blood burst out like a fountain.
“Ghk!”
“Ah! What do I do? Wait, let me heal you!”
Frozen in shock for a moment, Evelyn immediately released healing aura toward the wound pouring blood.
“Stop! Stay where you are!”
Ignoring her, Kallian grabbed the hand emitting healing aura.
The light surrounding his wound vanished instantly.
Tearing a long strip from his cloak, he looked directly into her trembling eyes and tightly bound the wound.
“No matter what happens, you are not to come out until reinforcements arrive.”
The moment he finished speaking, Kallian shoved her farther into the shelter.
Then he disappeared into the cloud of dust.
Rolling helplessly across the ground, Evelyn finally came to a stop when she slammed into a dirt wall.
Remembering his injury made her chest ache.
Her eyes burned with tears.
She had to wipe them away for quite some time.
But she couldn't simply sit here waiting helplessly.
Curling herself into a ball for a moment, she forced herself to think clearly.
There's no meaning in surviving alone.
Then think.
What can I do?
Hiding behind the rubble, she carefully observed the battlefield.
The situation had become even more desperate than before.
The monster that had wounded Kallian was flying across the battlefield with enormous wings spread wide.
That's...
The body of a man.
The head and wings of an eagle.
Gargoyle horns.
Legs covered in pitch-black feathers.
And claws so massive they could grab a human with one hand.
“Mors of the Plague?”
She doubted her own eyes.
The reason was simple.
The Mors of the Plague was an intermediate-class monster that only appeared on the third floor or deeper of the Bellatra Dungeon.
It was the strongest of all darkness-attribute monsters and hated light.
However, flying monsters rarely displayed their true strength inside dungeons.
After scattering plague spores from their wings to incapacitate enemies, they normally snatched them up with their claws to fight in the air.
But dungeon passages were far too cramped for aerial combat.
Furthermore, their defenses were relatively weak.
They were usually cut down by the knights' sword aura before they could do much.
As though venting all the frustration it had suffered until now—
The Mors ran completely wild.
[Kiiiiaaaah!!]
The gusts generated by its giant wings turned even tiny clouds of dust into deadly whirlwinds.
The knights caught inside were blown away without being able to resist.
They slammed into rocks and lost consciousness.
[Kihihihihik—!]
Even sword aura was useless.
With plenty of room to maneuver, the Mors effortlessly dodged every attack.
Its piercing shrieks seemed to stab directly into their minds as it toyed with them.
For knights unable to wield aura...
A flying monster in open terrain was their worst possible opponent.
“What... what should we do...?”
Her chest tightened.
But Evelyn forced herself to think.
There has to be a way.
Then—
She saw a single figure leap high into the sky toward the Mors.
It was Kallian.
The master of the demonic sword wrapped in black aura.
“Ah! No!”
Landing atop the rampaging adult monster, he drove his sword deep into its shoulder and severed one of its wings.
He immediately followed with a precise thrust toward its spine—
Its greatest weakness.
But...
The Mors didn't even flinch.
Its size alone was vastly different from the adult Mors found in the dungeon.
Even after repeated strikes to its vital points, it remained completely unharmed.
Just as everyone began wondering why—
[Do not interfere!]
The Mors imitated human speech.
Its piercing voice shook the battlefield.
At the same instant, the massive claw at the tip of its wing seized Kallian's body.
Their tangled forms shot high into the sky.
Blood—no one could tell whose—rained down onto the battlefield.
Boom!
Kallian's aura-covered demonic sword clashed with the Mors's claw.
A blinding flash burst across the sky like lightning.
Meanwhile—
Evelyn calmly observed the Mors's movements.
Every time lightning flashed...
The Mors writhed in pain.
But the moment darkness returned...
It resumed its savage assault as though nothing had happened.
Its greatest weakness is light.
Then it all made sense.
The reason the swift vampire bats weren't attacking the knights.
Instead...
They had blackened the entire sky.
Just like the conditions inside a dungeon.
They were creating darkness for the Mors.
Then Evelyn noticed something else.
Here and there, knights began twisting their bodies unnaturally.
The plague!
They hadn't even come into contact with the infected.
So why were they showing symptoms?
Maybe... the green spores released from the Mors's wings are causing the plague.
It was only a guess.
But destroying the Mors might also be the key to saving the infected.
I need something that can create light!
Hurriedly looking around, Evelyn found a bundle of supplies that must have fallen from one of the horses.
Inside were torches and fire-starting tools.
She immediately lit one.
The instant she swung the burning torch through the air—
The swarm of vampire bats clustered together let out eerie screams and scattered.
Several knights who noticed what she was doing also lit torches.
But...
It wasn't enough.
If Kallian continued fighting with wounds that severe...
Even someone as strong as he wouldn't last much longer.
If he lost control and entered a berserk state...
Destroying the Mors would be easy.
But Richev Village would likely be reduced to ruins as well.
To heal his wounds...
To save him, even if it costs my own life...
I need a greater light... something powerful enough to incinerate the Mors in a single blow...
As she stared at the battlefield where Kallian and the Mors fought desperately—
It happened.
Piiiiii—!
An agonizing pain exploded inside her head like lightning.
At the same time, a strange sound wave tore through her eardrums.
『Will you sacrifice your life for that man?』
She couldn't understand the language.
Yet somehow...
Its meaning reached her perfectly.
“Ugh!”
Clutching her ears, Evelyn collapsed to her knees as unbearable pain burned through her eardrums.
“Ah... Aah!”
Then her mind suddenly turned cold, as though icy hands were kneading her brain.
The next instant—
Agonizing pain shot through her entire body like electricity racing down her spine.
“Aaahhh! Aaaaah!”
At the same time...
Every cell in her body awakened, becoming unnaturally sensitive.
It was not by her own will.
And instinctively—
Evelyn understood.
『Pray, foolish child.』
The powerful light capable of destroying the Mors...
The only one who could bring it forth—
Was herself.
