CHAPTER 83.

Zodos swung his staff, hitting a mage that had dared target him. The weakling fell to the ground, his neck snapped. Ner, on the other hand, was fighting a level 157 Naraka Cerotidae. It was taking awfully long for some reason.

“Splatter!”

And purple flashed as the monster exploded all across the corridor they were in, and Zodos nodded in approval. He wasn’t a huge fan of Ner playing with his opponents, but in this case, he knew that his partner was trying to keep it to himself.

“No clues on the woman yet, huh?” Ner asked.

Zodos looked down at the compass, it was pointing in a set direction now. “We will find her soon enough. Let’s go.”

The two of them set off, walking past the corpses of the people that they had just killed. They weren’t seeking battles, but unfortunately, they came for them. Zodos and Nel quickly made their way into a building, intending to short-cut to the next street from the rooftop. They broke the door and ignored the cowering civilians, instead solely focusing on their mission.

It took them mere seconds for them to arrive and look at their surroundings, even though the chances were low, both hoped to be able to spot the person they were after. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Zodos and Nel prepared to jump down from the railing, when they took notice of a figure.

He had long hair, and his long ears were twitching. It was an elf, and surprisingly⁠— he had his head craned in the same direction as the compass was pointing, even though he was staring at a wall. It was a detail that neither of them missed, and the elf⁠— his eyes were wide with shock.

“Just how much have you grown, Amber?” the elf asked.

It was a barely audible whisper. One only Zodos could hear, and all because his class also enhanced his senses⁠⁠— he was the pseudo-tracker of the group after all, and at a very high level at that.

The elf nodded to himself and ran.

“I can’t wait to see.”

His whisper reached him, and Zodos grinned widely. Then he turned to Ner, who was looking at him attentively.

“So?” his companion urged.

Zodos looked towards the running elf, laughing to himself. “We might have just found the easiest way to end this mission. He knows Amber.”

“Then, what are we waiting for?” His companion laughed. “Let’s get that elf.”

And then, the two set off once more.

* * *

Cecile couldn’t believe her eyes. It was Amber. She was real, it wasn’t some sort of apparition but rather her companion, her real companion. After two weeks of being missing, she returned as if nothing had happened. She had so many things to say to Amber ⁠— to scream at her, and yet she couldn’t find it in herself to be angry anymore.

“What, cat got your tongue?” she teased.

And yet, Cecile had no words for the woman, and that was because she could no longer see Amber’s level.

[Warrior. Lvl ???]

“Amazing,” Cecile whispered.

Amber had crossed the barrier to level 150, Cecile was sure of it.

But her awe didn’t last long as she saw the two shadows looming over her friend. Amber wasn’t even looking in their direction, which made Cecile scream out her name.

“Amber!”

And the two gigantic simiasani punched before she even turned, Cecile winced and Amber⁠— slid across the ground all the way to in front of her. Her boots breaking across the sandstone. And finally she turned facing the two monsters that were growling at her.

“You know, I didn’t really get the chance to see how useful the repeated attacks thing actually is.”

And in response, the two monsters roared in anger, and Cecile blinked.

Did Amber just take the attacks of two level 180 monsters and brush them off…? It was something that had just happened, and yet something that she couldn’t understand. Wasn’t she barely level 150? Even if she was their level, she should have shown some sort of reaction…

But that didn’t make sense, when she left her side, she had been level 125, and now… was she way over level 150? It barely made sense if she was barely over 150, but now, Cecile wasn’t so sure.

In two weeks, not only had Amber surpassed one of the biggest hurdles of the Warrior class, but she could rival such strong monsters. It was hard to believe, and yet the proof was right here. The wyvern was tense from her presence, and something about it just seemed immovable. There was also the fact that she wasn’t fazed by the monsters coming after her. Instead, she seemed disappointed.

And the two primates arrived, punching again. Cecile winced as a loud bang echoed along with an explosion of dust, and yet, as her eyes re-focused she saw that Amber remained unmoving in front of her, this time she hadn’t moved an inch. She was wholly uninjured, her body lightly shining with some level of light.

A body enhancement skill? Cecile blinked. But… why is it so strong? Is it a one-time effect?

Amber looked down at herself, her armor was dented and she had some blood trailing down her mouth but other than that, she seemed unaffected.

“Man, you two are weak even compared to those level 170s after the Abyssal Briroar, are your levels inflated or something?”

Weak…? These level 180 monsters were weak…? Cecile blinked. They are anything but weak… Yet it seemed to her that she was almost toying with them, but this couldn’t go on because…

And the Darkness Artkil from earlier burst through the wall, followed by two more companions of its kind. The sight made Cecile gulp, there were now five monsters over level 150. Then, the third angry giant Simiasani returned, its face bruised. And all Cecile could do was pale. She was backed against a wall, her wyvern was unable to fight and Amber was the only thing standing inbetween all of these monsters.

[Darkness Artkil. Lvl. ???]

[???. Lvl. ???]

[???. Lvl. ???]

[Darkness Artkil. Lvl. ???]

[???. Lvl. ???]

[Darkness Artkil. Lvl. ???]

“We should run,” Cecile said hurriedly.

“And let your monster companion die?” Amber sounded confused. “No, also if we let these monsters go they’ll kill people I worked hard to save.”

“People you worked hard to save?” Cecile blinked, and then turned to the distance only to see a trail of monster corpses.

What the…

She then turned to the group of six monsters, which oddly enough were having a staredown contest with Amber, in fact⁠— they seemed tense. But it didn’t last long, the first one to act was the already injured Simiasani, the one that Amber had kneed. With a loud roar, it became enveloped in a golden light, and its speed tripled as it punched forward.

Cecile shivered and yet she could’ve sworn she saw Amber grin as a familiar gigantic sword appeared in her hands, and silver flames erupted. She didn’t so much as swing, but rather just let the monster collide with the edge of the weapon and⁠—

Blood exploded. The monster’s fist was sliced in half as the sword went past its arm, a large chunk of burnt flesh went flying hitting the wall next to Cecile. And the Simiasani shrieked in deep pain, reeling as its blood sprayed. Cecile paused, but before she could even say anything Amber swung her arm and⁠—

A flash of white hit the simiasani, it cut deep into its flesh before it exploded with a burst of blue fire. Pieces of flesh flew in the air, and the other five monsters reeled away from the explosion, and all Cecile could do was open her mouth in shock.

“But that’s not… flamethrower… that’s…” She swallowed before trailing into a whisper. “Magic…”

Amber wasn’t a mage, so why? However, the five monsters didn’t seem as impressed, instead they chose to rush at her all at once. The first simiasani had been badly injured pulled back clutching at its wound as it fell on one knee. But Amber didn’t focus on that, and neither did Cecile. Instead, she warned Amber.

“Behind you⁠—”

And Amber slashed, a Darkness Artkil was decapitated as it had just appeared; its head flying, and its corpse fell lifeless on the ground.

“What…”

It was the very same monster that had terrorized her for so long, and now it was dead just like that.

Cecile snapped her gaze to look back at Amber as she then did a spinning kick, hitting another Cursed Artkil as it went flying into a building. It was with a lot more strength than Cecile had ever experienced before, and Amber’s body remained shining with light, it was still enveloped by the enhancement.

However, it didn’t stop there, she smiled and moved her arm again⁠— but this time an iridescent slash came out one that exploded into purple flames⁠— sure it had been weaker than the other thing, but it still sent the other Cursed Artkil crashing into a wall; temporarily putting the two artkils out of battle.

“So I can replicate it with Inexorable Manipulation, good to know.” Amber smiled.

It must have been one of her new skills, but if she could now use blue and purple flames then⁠ Cecile couldn’t help but wonder what the hell was her class. She wanted to know, and yet⁠ as she clashed fists with one of the simiasani monsters and the monster lost the contest of strength, being pushed back multiple steps, Cecile realized something.

She realized that she couldn’t even ask about her class, because she had no right to. The person before her was still her friend, but…

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Amber headbutted the other simiasani away⁠⁠— causing a loud bang to echo as it was repelled away.

But now, Amber was on a different playing field entirely. Cecile felt a sense of inferiority pass through her as the simiasani that lost half of his arm finally acted. It pounced upon Amber and that’s when Cecile saw a figure come out of the alley, a mage.

“Why are you all taking so long⁠—”

And the simiasani was punched, hitting the wall right next to the mage as he blinked. Then he turned to Amber, and immediately paused.

“Y-You are alive even though we sent you to that monster?!”

Amber grinned, “Yep.”

And without pause, she slashed a Darkness Artkil⁠ that had just appeared. Blood exploded and its two halves went flying as the mage just stared in sheer shock. It had been the one that was injured earlier.

“What… your level is…” The mage gritted his teeth, raising his staff as it shone. “Use everything, kill her!”

The simiasani that was next to the mage let out a feeble roar and died, much to the shock of Cecile⁠— it had only received three attacks after all— meanwhile the two simiasani’s that were still injured from the short exchange seemingly snapped out of their stupor and immediately they used body enhancement skills. At the same time numerous roars echoed in the surroundings, indicated that more monsters were coming.

Cecile tensed at that. “Amber⁠—”

“It’s fine, just watch,” Amber reassured, completely unbothered by the worsening situation. “Focus on saving your pet.”

My pet…? Cecile was confused before she saw the wyvern whose head was still perched on her legs. And she immediately nodded⁠— she couldn’t let the creature of her scroll die like that. So, she summoned a healing potion⁠—

“Oh, and feel free to feed it as many potions as you want, I can remove the curse from others now.”

Cecile was stunned by Amber’s statement but didn’t question it, instead, she poured a healing potion into the wyvern’s throat. The creature accepted it, its gaze seemingly full of gratitude, and Cecile for a moment hesitated but ultimately chose to use more healing potions. Gradually improving its condition with each one.

Meanwhile, the two simiasanis pounced upon Amber, all while the last Darkness Artkil exploded from the walls they had been blasted through. It had been the one that was kicked away. In a single instant, she was surrounded and being attacked. The mage also pointed his staff and Amber raised her hand, and a spark of blue fire flashed.

“You know, if this was before I advanced, I would’ve struggled, but now.” She chuckled. “It’s nothing, Flamethrower.”

And a torrent of blue and purple fire exploded, consuming the monsters in a single moment.

Cecile winced, she didn’t understand why Amber’s voice carried an ethereal quality to it when she spoke the final line, but the heat was suffocating. Even the wyvern thrashed in fear when it happened in spite of being completely and utterly paralyzed, and when the fire cleared a panting mage remained. All of the surroundings however, were covered in a layer of char.

His clothes were half burnt and a ring on his hand⁠— shattered into dust. His eyes however, looked full of fear.

“Teleport⁠— Summon!”

The mage immediately appeared dozens of meters away, along with a horde of monsters, all while even more monsters from behind approached. This time, the monsters weren’t too strong, all were ones that Cecile could see the level of, but there had to be at least over a hundred of them.

And Amber frowned for a moment, and Cecile for a moment grew nervous, but then she spoke.

“I guess I can’t just keep doing it like this, I am a berserker after all⁠—”

Then she brandished her sword, and appeared in front of the crowd.

“What⁠—”

And she slashed, decapitating the mage, his barrier breaking in a moment. All of the monsters pounced on her, and what followed Cecile could only describe as a massacre.

Monster parts flew, heads⁠— organs⁠— blood. Everything that came her way was killed one way or another; sliced in half, torn by a kick, or even headbutted and killed. The monsters stood no chance, and when little remained and tried to run away, they got hit by a flash of white followed by a blue explosion.

The battle lasted thirty seconds, and yet what remained were nothing but entrails. Then, finally, Amber turned towards her. Cecile nearly flinched as her friend approached and pointed her finger.

And the⁠— wyvern screeched for a moment before it shivered and⁠— became mobile again. It hurriedly got off from Cecile, and also hissed at Amber, but her friend paid the large majestic creature no mind. Instead, she turned to Cecile.

“Where is Asil?”

Cecile blinked, parsing through her friend’s words. She had been momentarily terrified, but seeing her familiar and gentle resting expression relaxed her enough to think rationally.

“Asil?”

“An elf?” Amber inquired.

A sigh left Cecile. “It has been years since I met one, I have no idea what you’re talking about, Amber.”

In response, the brown-haired woman frowned, which made Cecile tense, but Amber simply looked off in the distance. There was not a single monster alive in the vicinity.

“So, he’s still around in the city, probably got tangled in some battles then.” She clicked her tongue.

“Right.”

Cecile wasn’t sure what Amber was talking about other than some kind of new friend⁠, she didn’t know if he was the reason Amber disappeared, but Cecile paid no attention to that. Instead she took a deep breath.

“Amber, we should run away from the city, there are way too many people and the army is probably reaching the city, we cannot stay here as powerful as you are.”

She winced saying that, but contrary to her expectations, Amber nodded.

“I know, thankfully we have the perfect escape route.” She gestured at the Wyvern of Destruction. “I’ll save Asil, and other people, then we shall leave.”

Cecile turned towards the wyvern, it was big but at most⁠— if people clung to its claws and other body parts, it’d be able to carry just over a hundred people. Yet, it was still an escape route, but Cecile didn’t want to just save anyone, not at first anyway.

“I know it’s selfish but can we save Narnt first? Unless you know where Asil is…” She knew it was selfish but⁠—

“Sure.” Amber nodded. “Let’s go then.”

Cecile blinked, before she was pulled by the hand at extreme speeds making her scream⁠— all while the wyvern followed after her in a panic.

* * *

The more that Amber traveled through the city, the more death and perdition she saw. Even though she was acutely aware of things, and tried to protect the people⁠— most were dead on the way towards the doctor’s house. But the ones that were saved, were left to escort by the wyvern.

Hopefully it’s not too late. She was barely used to death, but this much was getting to her, so she really hoped the doctor would be alive and thriving. And there was only one way to find out⁠—

Amber broke through the wall of his house, only to confirm what Crimson Sense was already telling her, the fact that there was nobody there, but just as she frowned she heard distant screams. They didn’t resemble the doctor’s but she still moved, all while Cecile asked her to wait, now on top of the wyvern.

She broke through a wall and she saw a group of people, and they were quickly getting killed by monsters and a mage, however amongst them she saw the person she was looking for, the doctor with dwarfism, Narnt.

Relief washed over her as she arrived and⁠— sliced a monster in half. Blood splattered over a civilian as he screamed.

Then, Amber modified her Essence as she used Fulminating Slash the bright blue blade cleaved through multiple monsters without exploding, which caught the attention of the surrounding monsters, and made them look in her direction instead. All while the civilians gaped.

“What the…”

“Is she a spellsword?!”

“An adventurer, we are saved!”

“Amber?!” the doctor called.

But she ignored everyone’s cries and instead chopped through the monsters, all while pushing all her body enhancements to the limit to dispose of them as soon as possible. She didn’t want to burn her Essence much, instead choosing to keep it full and only using it for finishing moves to gather the remnants of it on her core. So, she only used it on God’s Physique and Aspect of Crimson.

Her sword blurred as a bloodbath was made, and the civilians went from cheering to horror, all while Cecile arrived and terrified htem more as she hurriedly explained the situation.

By the time she was done, she turned to see a very scared group of people atop the wyvern, and the only one that wasn’t afraid was Narnt.

“Thank you, Amber.” He nodded before turning towards the other people. “I don’t know about these folk, but I’m certainly grateful that I was saved from certain death by you.”

It was clearly a jab, but it caused the rest of the civilians to hurriedly thank her. Something that Amber somewhat appreciated, though the admiration in his eyes was still present. Cecile also seemed to be looking at her differently, but while Amber would have normally teased her, she had better things to do.

She closed her eyes and listened to the monsters in the distance. There were many more people to be saved, she also wanted to save the members of the expedition if possible, and she mainly wanted to find Asil. Her heart began to race from all the noise.

So after a moment to calm herself down from all the chaos, she set off again.

* * *

She saved people on the way to the city center, and when she finally arrived, she saw a woman fighting a group of monsters, there was also a man. And they were protecting a small family, and both of the people were familiar. One was Kaz, the expedition leader, and the other was Riya, and both… both looked absolutely battered.

There were three dead mages around as well as dozens of monster corpses.

“Backstab!” Riya flashed behind a monster and pierced it with her dagger, yet all it did was do a shallow stab as she teleported out.

Needless to say, they were well on their route to die from how exhausted they were, but Amber was there. Thankfully.

She used the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash and landed on top of a monster, then she stabbed with her hand⁠— she dug into its spine and pulled, breaking its neck just before it could get to Riya. The familiar woman shrieked in shock.

“A-Amber?!”

But she paid it no mind, instead sending a modified Fulminating Slash to save the expedition leader, decapitating the other monster. All of the beings present were about level 140 and 150, something that they couldn’t easily defeat, but thankfully for Amber, it was all the same.

She immediately dashed towards the nearest monster, the one that was about to pounce on the small child on the family and kicked⁠— its head exploded and splattered across the walls, all while the family looked with wide eyes at what just happened. However, Amber wasted no time in trashing the next monster by breaking it in half with the Cursewelder.

“W-When did you get⁠— how did you get so strong?” Riya asked, not understanding.

And in response, Kaz put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

Amber of course, ignored it all. Instead she finished off the rest of the monsters in a few seconds, which caused a slight commotion amongst the family that was watching it all. And when she finished the last monster, the wyvern finally arrived. Which caused all of the people present to tense.

“Cecile will take care of everyone’s safety, and of course.” She turned to Kaz and Riya. “I hope you two can help protect the others after you recover.”

Kaz nodded, and Riya tensed. “O-Of course.”

“Where are the rest of the members?”

At that, the rogue woman went quiet, but Kaz shook his head.

“We found them dead.”

“I see.”

Amber felt a pang in her heart, but she didn’t let that linger too much. Instead, she said her goodbyes and departed.

There were about eighty people atop of the wyvern now, and it was practically full, meaning she couldn’t exactly evacuate more people from the city. But at least, she found people getting helped by guards too, and the mages seemed to be mostly targeting knights and adventurers ⁠— it seemed to her that Ofril’s main goal was taking over the city rather than razing it to the ground, which helped Amber focus on her last goal.

Finding Asil.

She ran out of sight, all while Cecile told her that they would linger around the city center now given it was the furthest away from the oncoming army, which Amber nodded in response to as she went into an alley.

Heading to a part of the city she had yet to explore.

Amber cut down through all the monsters in her way, saving people in the process, but she didn’t stop to chat, all she did was act.

She barreled her way through three more alleys before ending at a plaza, an empty one that seemed devoid of monsters or even humans.

Just where is he?

Amber frowned and looked in all directions, Torl was massive so finding Asil was going to be hard. And she had no way to track him. Finally, she turned towards the rooftops⁠, something that would allow her to see more of the city with greater ease.

And just as she was about to jump, she heard clapping from the side as she sensed a presence from one moment to another⁠— not even the blood had been sensed earlier.

Amber turned with a frown only to see a familiar mage, he had a necklace with the twin moons and his level was…

[Mage. Lvl. ???]

She still couldn’t see it, but she already knew it was a member of the Arcane Council.

“Tracking you proved rather hard, you have my praise for that.” He grinned. “That said, as interested as I am in your growth, we have more important manners to attend to.”

His smile fell.

“Hand me the cube or else…”

Amber frowned. “Or else?”

She expected the mage to make an empty threat, but instantly she felt two new presences and the other mage appeared out of the alley.

“Your friend dies,” the other one said with his husky voice, janking with a rattling of chains.

“Amber don’t!”

And Amber blinked seeing Asil bruised and chained up. It was as if he had been beaten until he was unconscious, his eyes were black, his nose was broken, and he was limping.

“You know, he seems to be quite close to you, it would be a shame if I killed him.” The hunched mage pressed his staff that shone in a purple light, making Asil scream. “He’s quite close to death already.”

It was a curse that did nothing but inflict pain.

Amber frowned as the mage holding Asil continued, his voice hissing.

“So, what will it be, your friend or the cube?”