Nobina and Lila followed the path of destruction back to where Nobina and her party fought the troll-wolf. Heading back there made Nobina feel a bit nervous, considering it was just the two of them, but she knew that Lila was an S-rank adventurer. If there was anyone who could handle the unexpected, it would likely be her.

During the walk, she was relatively quiet, her eyes scanning over the destruction and its surroundings. It was quiet enough that Nobina tried to make some small talk to lighten the mood, but Lila brushed it off. Her concentration made it clear to Nobina that she was focused on the mission at hand.

“We are here,” said Nobina once they reached the end of the area. To her surprise, she noticed that the area had at least twenty goblins that were handling the cages. Amongst them was a hooded figure that Nobina thought she heard about.

“Is that… the person that attacked Mimiki and her group?” asked Nobina to herself.

“Hm,” said Lila, seemingly in thought. “Goblins, a troll-wolf and a wolf- troll. Rather tricky to deal with.”

“What do you…”

As Nobina spoke, she felt herself get a headache. She experienced this feeling once before, making her worried that the headaches were something bad.

“Are you alright?” asked Lila.

“Yeah… Don’t you…”

Nobina was about to say "see the hooded figure", but now she saw merely goblins, the troll-wolf, and what she guessed was the wolf-troll.

“Huh… It’s the summoned creatures.”

Lila grinned her teeth, seemingly excited by the thought of fighting.

“Wait here. I’ll show you the power of an Alpha Magical-Wolf!”

Nobina was surprised to hear that she identified herself as an Alpha Magic-Wolf. From her own research on animals, a Magic-Wolf was a rare, yet powerful species of wolf. This was due to their natural aptitude for magic and their likelihood to obtain a magic-based Path.

Unlike most monsters, they were highly intelligent and considered protected as their species had representation on the Nation of Arren’s Animal Council. It made it so that people didn’t try to hunt them down for the sake of getting stronger, which was a growing concern in Arren. At least, that’s what Nobina had read about. Arren was one of the three major nations and had a vast history Nobina hadn’t even scratched the surface of.

As Nobina was thinking about Lila’s race, she wasted no time attacking the troll-wolf. Unlike when it fought Nobina and Mimiki’s party, it seemed to react the moment it sensed Lila’s movement. It gave a powerful side-swipe in order to hit Lila, but even acting in advance didn’t help the troll-wolf land a hit. Lila easily hopped over the swing and used the troll-wolf’s arm to let her reach its head.

When she was close enough, Nobina heard Lila yell her ability, Lightning Claw, which was a swipe of claws made of lightning. It wasn’t too large, but the impact easily tore into the troll-wolf’s head, which screamed in pain. In response to this, the wolf-troll tried to jump and land its own jumping-slash on Lila with its claws. However, it was also easily dodged as Lila jumped off, landing right behind it.

“So slow,” she laughed. “Nothing compared to a hero I’d imagine.”

“What are you…”

Before Nobina could say more, Lila charged at the troll-wolf’s legs. Still in pain, it was unable to react to Lila’s approach, allowing her to use an even more brutal ability.

“Magical Bite,” she yelled before chomping into its legs.

From Nobina’s end, it looked like she had created a mouth of magic that bit and easily ripped into its leg. To Nobina’s surprise, when she pulled away after biting, the wound seemed to not regenerate at all, making her wonder if the bite had magical properties.

Seeing this, the wolf-troll seemed hesitant to continue its attack. However, that only lasted for a second before it put pressure on its back-legs before pushing off in a crazy fast charge. Lila, who was still relaxed, seemed to react a bit as she stepped aside and easily dodged the wolf’s bite as it went flying past her.

“Maybe in another hundred years with a bit more evolution,” said Lila, shaking her head.

It was clear to Nobina that this was a one-sided fight, but she was interested in seeing what would happen next. So far, both abilities used by Lila were strong, but Eric had told her many adventurers who reached S-rank had a signature ability. It was usually reserved for dire need, but Nobina still wanted to see one in her lifetime.

“Now then,” said Lila, putting one of her fists into her palm. “Let’s show you why I’m an Alpha Magic Wolf.”

Watching Lila, Nobina was in awe as she saw her gathering energy up. Her robes started to burn up, revealing a high-quality adventuring outfit underneath. Nobina could tell the quality merely by look at this point, as Mimiki had drilled into her the differences between adventuring outfits and how to tell someone was a high-rank merely by outfit.

Lila’s outfit, in particular, looked modified to fit her fighting style, that being of a wolf. It offered a lot of flexibility for her arms and legs while also giving a decent amount of protection. Nobina wasn’t too familiar with the gear, so she couldn’t confirm if the magical writing she glimpsed on the outfit was an enchantment. Besides that, there was a beautiful silver and purple tail that instantly made her want to pet it due to how soft it looked.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Stage One. Roar of Magic,” said Lila, her confidence soaring.

As she finished saying that, she gave a powerful roar that echoed far and wide. It forced Nobina to cover her ears while both the troll-wolf and wolf-troll seemed to stop immediately. When Nobina looked at them, she could tell they were showing signs of fear.

Before Nobina could say anything, Lila was rushing towards the troll-wolf. It made one more attempt to stop Lila with its bare hands, abandoning its slow, massive club, but it was unsuccessful. The grab wasn’t even close to reaching Lila, who reached the wolf’s neck. In a powerful kick, the troll was sent flying as she kicked it, causing a massive crash. Looking at her foot, Nobina could see her kick was magically enchanted, making Nobina wonder if all of Lila’s attacks would be magical from here on out.

Looking towards the troll, which had skidded across the ground before being partially buried, it started to fade away in magical dust. The was the clear sign of a summon being defeated and returned to its special realm.

“Guess that summon will be out for a few months,” said Nobina.

She didn’t have too much knowledge of summons, but from what she knew was that summons were being that, once defeated, required time to regenerate before coming back. The stronger the summon, the more time required. That and the condition of the summon mattered a lot. One horribly defeated would take way longer to regenerate over one merely stabbed once and killed.

Lila’s attention turned to the wolf-troll, who attempted to flee into the forest. However, Lila wasn’t having it. She braced her feet against the ground and charged the wolf. It felt like it was an instant since Nobina was shocked that Lila was right next to the troll moments later.

“Lightning slash,” she yelled.

Unlike lightning claw, Nobina could see a lightning form onto the dagger Lila had taken out. She then slashed into the wolf, defeating it instantly. Like the troll-wolf, it turned into particles, the clear sign of its defeat. Upon it disappearing, Lila turned to Nobina.

“Now! Let us have our duel,” said Lila, who looked ready to do anything.

“What are you talking about,” yelled back Nobina. “We are on a mission you idiot! We have no time to waste.”

Nobina wouldn’t have normally reacted so aggressively towards another adventurer, but she was flabbergasted by Lila completely forgetting their mission and earlier deal.

Hearing that, Lila’s aura started to fade as it seemed her first stage was removed. When she returned to her normal self, Nobina could see a guilty look on her face.

“My bad…” she said, looking as guilty as a puppy who had done something wrong.

“Can you… hold it together until we are back? Unless you want to cause everyone problems,” asked Nobina, shaking her head.

“Of course… Let’s finish up here,” said Lila.

With the incident handled, the two began discussing what exactly happened. Nobina had basically confirmed that there were two summoned creatures invovled, likely from the demon. The presence of the goblins made it also likely the same demon was somehow involve with them. However, deep down Nobina feared that that her Path was playing a role somehow.

“Hm…” said Lila. “So the good news is we confirmed a demon summoner is likely involved. However, the demon didn’t show itself unfortunately. I wish that demon showed itself. I can only imagine how powerful it might be to directly fight. Oh, I hope I get a chance to sink my teeth into something even more deadly.”

Nobina began wondering if this was a sign she could remain in one place. It only invited more and more people to come to her town and cause trouble. That wasn’t to say that moving to another town would fix the issue, but she didn’t want to cause this town any more trouble.

“Damn it,” she told herself.

“So,” said Lila, looking at Nobina. “What should we do now? Meet with Aunai?”

Nobina shook her head.

“We should head back and report to Eric. Once Aunai is done with her mission, we can inform her of the news.”

“Got it,” nodded Lila, whose mood seemed much better now.

The two did one more check around to see if there was potential evidence of the demon, but nothing came up. As the two left, Nobina took one more look back, shaking her head.

“It’s never simple,” she sighed.

The two of them returned to the town at a decent pace. Lila wanted to run back, even offering to carry Nobina, but Nobina’s pride prevented her from accepting such an offer.

“Boo,” said Lila when declined. “Most people would kill to be offered a ride by an Alpha Magic Wolf. You are definitely as prideful as a hero should be.”

“I… Nevermind,” said Nobina, shaking her head.

She wanted to deny the hero role, but she had a feeling Lila would refuse to believe her unless Nobina actually lost in a battle.

Eventually, the two were back in town and Lila was drawing an insane amount of attention. Without her robes that were destroyed in the earlier battle, Lila was showing off how strong she was. Nobina could tell she had focused a lot on training merely by observing her muscles. Lila screamed ‘strong’ merely from a single glance. You didn’t even need to be an adventurer to recognize it, since even the civilians were greeting her kindly.

Not as much as Nobina though, who was still getting used to all the talk of her being a hero.

Once the two reached the guild, Lila was the first one in, calling out to the receptionist’s desk.

“I wish to meet with Eric,” she proclaimed, drawing everyone’s attention. Lare, in particular, gave a sigh, shaking his head.

“Lila,” said Nobina, entering right afterward. “You didn’t need to do that. Just follow me.”

Nobina made her way behind the receptionist’s desk into the back. Lare, who Nobina walked past, gave her a pat on the back.

“Thank you for handling her,” he said.

“Yeah,” replied Nobina, shaking her own head.

On her end, Nobina felt as if she was a dog owner trying to cover for her dog, even if Lila was vastly stronger than Nobina.

As soon as the two entered Eric’s office, he looked happy to see them.

“Ah. Lila. Nobina. Good to see you’re back safe and sound,” he said, motioning them to sit.

Nobina sat on the chair in front of Eric’s desk, while Lila was relaxing on the couch, grabbing an apple on the table and eating it.

“So… how did the mission go?” asked Eric to Nobina.

“Well… bad news Eric,” said Nobina. “It seems like you were right. A demon is involved and it summoned those two creatures. We’ll need to plan accordingly to deal with it.”

Her words caused him to go a bit pale as he looked at Nobina. He then turned to Lila, who seemed confused by his stare.

“What?” she asked, worried she had done something wrong.

“Can you give us a bit of time to talk?” asked Eric.

“Hm… Fine. But you owe me a match as well,” said Lila, taking a step out and closing the door.

As soon as she was gone, Nobina was shocked by Eric slamming his hands against the table. It was so out of character that Nobina froze in fear, worried about what Eric was going to do.

“Eric,” said Nobina, trying to get his attention.

Eric turned to Nobina and shook his head.

“It seems like you’ll need to go on an adventure after all,” sighed Eric. “Ideally, this demon is rogue and is unrelated to any serious organization. However… if the demon is involved with any of the powers of the Federation of the Great Gar Gar... Then this matter is out of our league and must be addressed to the Grand Guild Master.”

Nobina’s face went pale as she began worrying about what was going to happen to her at this point. Were things going to get more and more complicated as time passed? Was her life going to change forever, stalling her dream even further?

She took a breath, ready to discuss what the plan would be.