Enemy forces have spread out all over the capital city. Enemies filled mostly with elites, and not so average knights. None of them could be undermined at all. Only the Wisterian knights were a decent match against these imperials. But all kinds of properties were getting destroyed in their battles.

However, there were also other forces that were more or less on a par with the Wisterian knights. Or at least, those were at a higher rank. Namely, the adventurers. There were several adventurers hanging out in their headquarters when the Empire began their attack. Some, of course, were drunk. But despite being intoxicated, they immediately made their move to find out what’s going on, and defend the city. There were also others that were sleeping in their lodgings, and had to snap awake once they heard the commotion and go into battle after seeing that the city was under attack.

Some had Serene, or Wisteria itself, as their home, while the others defended because either there was no choice, or because it was the right thing to do.

Adventurers spread throughout the city, helping the citizens, and fighting off the enemy. There was no particular safe place to bring the citizens to, considering that buildings were being destroyed and set on fire one after another. But there were plenty of safe spaces they could bring them. Large clearings, the grasslands between the city and the palace, or some distant warehouses. Each group of those helping the evacuation had to pick their own destinations. If only they could have evacuated the city beforehand. But it was pointless to dread something they could never control.

One particular party was trying to find civilians to evacuate or rescue. Facing the enemy directly was not their primary mission in mind, but if they do face one, they’ll have to fight.

Dune, the swordsman of the party, led the group up front, his sword held in both his hands, ready for any enemy that may appear. The large muscular man, Iruyu, sternly looked around, gripping his ax tightly. And the last member, the mage, Anita, warily walked behind the two, looking at the ruined surroundings with apparent concern and sorrow.

She held her breath and placed a hand on her lips at the sight of several dead. Normal people, crushed beneath the heavy rubble, burned to the point that they were unrecognizable, while others died by normal means, or to be precise, murdered.

A few more people were running away, and they had to point them in the right direction.

“Go that way!” Dune pointed.

“You’re gonna be alright, just keep heading to safety,” Anita said to one running civilian.

It would be safer to escort them, but there were still others out there that needed help. They’ll be safe as the enemy were facing the Wisterian forces. Although, even that was not completely for certain. In any case, they have to save as many people as they can.

And then, Anita spotted a man slightly moving while pinned down by wooden debris.

“Dune! Right there!” She pointed.

The party rushed to the man, and the latter slowly looked up.

“H-Help.”

Dune sheathed his sword and removed the debris pinning the man. “Hang on.”

Anita also helped removing more debris, but there was a larger wooden block. “Iruyu, if you would.”

“Right. Stand aside.”

Iruyu easily lifted the heavy wooden block as both Dune and Anita pulled out the civilian. The man groaned in pain as they carefully helped him up. They looked at his legs, he was wounded as expected, but not too terrible.

“Can you walk?” asked Dune.

“I-I think I can.”

“Alright, you need to get to safety. Meaning you must walk or run. Can you do that?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Good.”

Anita turned towards a man running away and called for him. “Hey you! Bring this man with you!”

The fleeing man paused and seemed to hesitate. But in the end approached the injured man, putting his arm on his shoulder. The adventurers and the man nodded at each other before both the civilians started fleeing together.

Dune smiled while Anita sighed in relief.

“Good man,” said Iruyu with a proud grin.

As they were about to continue onward, there was a lone civilian running away, but then suddenly was struck by a sword from behind. The adventurer party instantly switched and readied for combat, spreading apart and drawing their weapons.

“Oh, what’s this? Adventurers, I presume?”

It was a fully armored knight of the Empire, the invaders.

“I would prefer you stay out of this.” He casually brandished his sword.

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“Don’t be stupid,” said Dune. “You’re killing civilians.”

“So?”

“Bastard.” Dune was flabbergasted. To think there could be a formal knight who wouldn’t feel any kind of regret after killing a defenseless and innocent civilian. Unlike mere bandits or criminals, to be honest, he expected more from any knight.

Dune pointed his sword at him, and both Iruyu and Anita also got ready to attack.

“Really?” The knight arrogantly chuckled. “You don’t look so strong.”

Anita gritted her teeth in irritation. “Judging by appearance is stupid!”

“That so? Heh.” He held his sword with both hands and shifted his foot forward. “Your funeral.”

After a moment of stillness, the imperial knight charged towards them with a confident grin on his face. Anita used the spell Thunderclap, clapping her hands together. A large wave of lightning emerged from her hand, vertically hurling towards the imperial knight with tremendous speed. However, the knight was able to react quickly, and he swung his sword in the air, sending a slash of magic to intercept the lightning.

The two spells clashed, causing a shockwave to shake the air, dust scattering away. But the knight’s magic overpowered Anita’s, surprising the mage, and it kept on moving. As the slash got closer, Iruyu cast Armament Magic on his ax and struck the incoming magical wave, dissipating it.

At the same time, Dune and the enemy knight made contact. Dune swung his blade sideways, and the knight flicked the sword with his own. With that opening, the knight swiftly moved his hand forward from the bottom and swung upwards.

Realizing the incoming fatal strike, Dune simultaneously held out his one hand and cast his barrier spell. The sword instead struck the barrier first, protecting Dune. However, it instantly broke upon impact. Dune frantically stepped back feeling surprised at the sheer power the knight possessed. The knight himself was pretty irritated.

He quickly stepped forward for a subsequent strike against the adventurer, but the ax wielder, Iruyu, stepped in beside him and already had his ax drawn back to strike. The knight took a step to the side as the ax swung down from where he was. It should have struck the floor, but then unexpectedly, it immediately moved sideways. The knight didn’t expect the man could do such a thing, and he resorted to using his own barrier, successfully blocking it. He thrust his hand shield forward, to push the ax back, and he extended his blade towards Iruyu.

Iruyu leaped back, and thus Dune came in to attack from the enemy’s flank. He went in for a strike, but the enemy knight received the attack with his sword. And then, they exchanged attacks, with Dune struggling, and the knight grinning, not even finding it difficult.

“Oh?” He swung to the side, but Dune parried it. “You’re somewhat good. I underestimated you a bit.”

Iruyu attacked from behind him, and the knight casually turned to the side and extended his left hand to cast a barrier, receiving Iruyu’s attack. While at the same time, he kept swinging his sword at Dune. He was attacking and defending on both sides. And they couldn’t believe it.

“But you’re not strong enough.”

A stream of mana filled and revolved around his blade and after parrying Dune’s attack, he triggered his magic pointed at the swordsman, firing a beam of magic.

“Agh!”

The swift and momentary beam hit Dune’s chest, burning through his armor, and reached his flesh. Dune bled and he fell to one knee, groaning in pain.

Anita, who has been searching for a clean opportunity to attack without hitting her own allies, fired a pair of firebolts at the enemy. The knight grinned as he widely swung his sword sideways, sending a wave of flames of his own, serving to counter the incoming bolts. The wave swallowed the bolts of fire and headed straight for Anita.

Quickly, Anita used as much mana as she could to use her ice magic, sending a large wave of frost to create a wall and clash with the wave of flames. The burning wave cut and melted the thick ice wall, and reached Anita, violently blasting her away, making her ricocheting on the floor a couple of times.

She moaned as she slowly got up with trembling legs, her clothes burned and letting off smoke. Thankfully, the flames was weakened, otherwise she could have died. But she did not come out completely unharmed, as she had terrible burns on her stomach. She heavily breathed through the intense pain.

Meanwhile, the knight switched his target to Iruyu. Iruyu swung his ax down at him with one hand, and the knight deflected his weapon. However, at the same time, Iruyu swung his fist at the knight, his arm powered with Physical Enhancement. Getting hit by such an attack would shatter the bones of any normal man.

However, the knight used his one hand to block the incoming attack, their wrist hitting each other.

“What?” Iruyu was surprised to see it.

“Apparently, I use Physical Enhancement better than you.”

He head-butted Iruyu, and as the man staggered, the knight dug his fist into Iruyu’s belly. Afterwards, he stabbed his blade through Iruyu’s right leg, causing the man to fall on one knee. But he wasn’t done yet, he pulled out the blade and extended his hand at him, and a ball of flame emerged, exploding on the adventurer and violently blowing him away.

Iruyu’s entire chest was terribly burned, but nothing fatal. Almost like killing him was not the knight’s intention.

“See?” The knight smirked. “You guys are pathetic!”

The party looked at each other, thinking about how to defeat the knight. He was way stronger than they had anticipated. He was likely to be on par with a Wisterian elite knight.

“Let’s see, who should I kill first?”

The party readied their weapons.

Then the knight’s eyes stopped at Anita. “Guess we’ll start with the mage. Casters from afar… are annoying.”

The party forced themselves to stand up as the knight slowly made his way to Anita.

But then a shining golden arrow came flying towards the knight.

“Huh?”

That arrow came suddenly, and was moving so fast that the knight was unable to defend himself properly. As he turned around, the arrow struck him on his side, and he was pushed away a couple of meters. But he kept himself standing as his feet slid to the ground.

The knight looked at the golden arrow that struck him through the armor before it faded away.

With a glare, he raised his eyes towards the one who fired that arrow. The adventurer’s party curiously stared as well.

There was someone standing on the rooftop of a damaged building, wearing a dark robe and a dark mask. From the looks of it, it was a woman. Short dark hair reached above her shoulders. In her hand was a magnificent divine bow made of golden light.

She drew back the string of her bow, and an arrow appeared within it. The arrow’s glow grew in intensity, and when she let go, the arrow soared forth, carrying a bright light so holy. It flew so fast that the knight had to fill his sword with magic and block the arrow. He slid back as he resisted its power.

At the same time, the archer jumped down and moved in closer. The moment the arrow faded, she extended her hand and fired a deadly beam of light at the knight, hurling him away into a building. Debris flew all over, and dust filled the air around him.

The archer pointed her hand at Iruyu, and a stream of golden light engulfed the man.

“Healing magic?”

Then she proceeded to the swordsman, completely healing him. And finally, to the mage. Once Anita was healed, she double checked the burns and recalled the golden light. She glanced at the archer, she was familiar.

“... Tina?”

The archer removed her dark mask, and it was indeed Tina, the priestess they know of. Their healer.

“Hi,” Tina said with an awkward smile.