...

"Urrghhh!", I groaned as I woke up.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I was greeted at the sight of the sun slowly rising up from the East.

"Huh? Have I been asleep for... a day?"

"Yes you have". A voice suddenly came from beside me, making me jump up in surprise.

However, I soon calmed down when I realized that it belonged to Reiner, who had bandages wrapped in layers around his wounds.

"Reiner, you're fine...?"

"Yep, and it's all thanks to you"

I heaved a sigh of relief before taking on a serious expression. "What happened when I was passed out?"

Closing his eyes, Reiner sighed. "The monsters' number was greater than anyone could ever imagine. So of course, the South was completely lost a few hours after you passed out"

"..."

"Well, if it wasn't for the guard captain's decision to send men to kill the Goblin shaman that controlled the monster horde, the North would have been lost too"

"What a relief!"

However, his next words poured cold water over me.

"Yes, it was a relief. But only until the monsters decided to still attack the town, though much less efficiently. They thinned their numbers around the town walls instead of concentrating on one place"

"Doesn't that mean the monster horde is almost over...?"

After all, with the monsters thinning their number to cover more area, even I could defeat them all if given enough time, let alone the trained guards of a town this big.

At my words, however, Reiner shook his head. "No, those bastards still formed a large group in what used to be the South... maybe there's 2 thousand of them or something"

"I- I see...", I broke out in cold sweat.

If that was the case, then we were thoroughly fucked. Well, not me, but everyone else... except Aryl.

As such, I urged Reiner to follow me. "Reiner, we have to call Aryl!"

"Araceli...", Reiner sighed. "...I know you trust her a lot and all but... I don't think she can resolve this situation"

'What a bunch of nonsense!', I thought. After all, I had absolute faith in Aryl.

Seeing that Reiner was still reluctant, I tried to convince him. "Reiner, you said the exact same thing before you got beaten up by Aryl yesterday"

"I- I guess I did...", Reiner scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

I smiled at this. "Then let's go!"

Although still unconvinced, Reiner still followed me to our inn.

...

Now standing in front of the door to Aryl's room, I gulped a mouthful of saliva in nervousness.

Reiner, now caught up with me, caught his breaths before looking at me in confusion. "What are you waiting for? Call her!"

At Reiner's words, I tried to bring my hand up to knock on her door. However, a chill ran up my spine as soon as I tried to do so. Trembling in fear, I slowly turned my head back towards Reiner and spoke up again. "I- I can't"

"Why?"

Gulping, I answered. "I- It's because Aryl told me not to disturb her..."

Reiner nodded in understanding at my words. "Then let me do it"

"Huh?"

"She didn't tell me to do it, remember?"

I was about to let Reiner get her out of her room, but then I realized that if Aryl was going to get mad anyways, it was better for her to get mad at me.

'E- Even she can't touch me... I- I think...'

As such, I mustered up all my courage and knocked on her door.

'M- Maybe she won't get mad since this concerns her life too...'

Knock—! Knock—!

My breathing became ragged in fear. "Ah, I did it..."

It was then that I could hear clunking noises inside of her room, along with—

-WHO THE FUCK!?

—A very, very angry shout.

Simultaneously, both Reiner and I gulped a mouthful of saliva as we stared at the wooden door with anticipation and fear.

Before long, the door creaked open, revealing a very sweating and pissed Aryl. "What did you—"

She then glared at me. "—CALL. ME. FOR!? I EXPLICITLY TOLD YOU TO NOT BOTHER ME!"

Shaking in fear, I stuttered as I tried to endure Aryl's intense glare. "I- I have a good reason to do it!"

"YOU'D BETTER DO!", she shouted as she gritted her teeth in anger. She tightened her grip on the door, almost crushing it. "GOOD GOD I'M MAD! I WISH I COULD FIND SOMEONE TO CRUSH RIGHT NOW!"

At her dangerous words, Reiner quietly retreated outside, leaving me to deal with Aryl alone.

'Traitor!', I scowled inwardly.

However, I soon focused my attention on Aryl again as I sensed that she was getting angrier by the moment. "I- It's the town! There's a dungeon break nearby!"

"WHAT!?", she widened her eyes in disbelief.

<[F - Emotionless]>

Her emotions then calmed down. However, they calmed down too quickly for me to call it 'natural'. However, I shook such thoughts aside.

Now looking at me with eyes full of indifference, Aryl spoke in a cold voice. "You said that's a dungeon break, correct?"

I nodded my head.

Seeing this, she continued. "What's the situation?"

"Th- The South is lost. And judging by what Reiner told me, the Southern walls are going to be breached in just a day"

"I see...", Aryl muttered.

Then, the coldness Aryl exuded from before disappeared without a trace. And she returned to her previous demeanor, that was, extremely pissed.

"I'll have to see the situation for myself then". She then glared at me. "Just so you know, I'm still pissed at you"

"Ah, I get you. It must be that time of the month", I inadvertently said my thoughts out loud.

By the time I realized my mistake, it was already too late, as Aryl was looking at me with more anger than before.

However, she quickly calmed down this time. "No, it's not. I'm just frustrated because you interrupted my training"

Seeing that I had an extremely guilty look on my face, Aryl sighed. "Look, you don't have to feel bad. I've been stuck trying to figure out what I'm missing for the 4th movement anyways. And I doubt sitting in my room alone for another day would do anything"

She then walked into her room again. "You go on top of the town's walls first. I need to prepare something"

...

Heeding to Aryl's words, I got on the town walls with Reiner.

Looking over the South, I couldn't help but to frown.

"Reiner... your information... it's wrong..."

"Huh?", Reiner looked genuinely surprised by my words. "How could it be? The town's guard captain said it himself! And can't you see this for yourself?", he pointed towards the thousands of monsters trying to break in through the Southern walls.

As I was about to explain my reasoning, however, Aryl had already caught up to us.

She spoke loudly with a frown as soon as she saw what was happening. "What the fuck are you guys doing?"

Unexpectedly, those words weren't directed at me nor Reiner. Instead, they were addressing the guard captain, who was overseeing the defense on the same part of the wall as us.

Hearing Aryl's rough voice, the guard captain quickly turned around and shot Aryl a disgusted glare. "Who are you, filthy Halfling?"

Frowning, Aryl spoke. "Who I am is not important. What's important is that you're fucking incompetent!"

"What a—"

Aryl spoke up again, not letting the captain speak. "Why are 90% of your forces on this side"

"Are you stupid? Can't you see how many monsters there are?"

"They're ranked!", Aryl shouted. "Even a farmer can kill them! You should have only left 25% of your forces at most here!"

She then pointed towards the West. "The real problem is there. Although there are only about 400 monsters, they are all and ranked!"

"How dare you talk to me like that!"

Deepening her frown, Aryl reached into her pocket to presumably try and take out her brooch.

However, the captain had enough of her and shoved her down the wall before she could do anything. "Shut up! What do a fucking Halfling like you know?"

THUD—!

With a loud thud, Aryl fell butt-first onto the ground.

Reiner and I quickly jumped down the wall to check on Aryl's well-being.

'Well, it seems like I was too worried...'

After all, she wasn't injured in the slightest. Instead, there was an unmistakable expression of rage on her face as she glared at the back of the captain.

However, her glare soon turned into an evil smirk.

"Fine then!", she shouted. "Let us all be dead!"

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She then took out a sunbed from thin air, put on a pair of sunglasses, and sat down on it.

"Celi", she suddenly spoke. "If you want to help them, do as you like. I'm not doing anything, not after being treated like that"

I frowned at her words. "But you'll die too if the monsters break through the walls"

"Pffft! HAHAHAH!", she laughed hysterically at my words. "Celi, you haven't figured me out even after all the time we traveled together, huh?"

She then light pushed her sunglasses up. "I wouldn't be leisurely lying here if I'm not confident that I can escape"

And with those words, Aryl completely laid down on the sunbed and ignored everything Reiner and I tried to tell her.

...

A few hours had passed since then.

And like Aryl had said, the situation only got worse.

Although the monsters outside the Southern walls were still numerous, the wall hardly suffered any damages; Instead, the Western walls were on the verge of breaking down.

As such, I hurriedly ran towards Aryl, who was still lying on her sunbed.

"ARYL!", I shouted. "PLEASE DO SOMETHING!"

She definitely heard my words. However, she deliberately ignored me.

I was starting to get more desperate. "Please! There are many innocent children in this town! You won't let them die just because you met one bad person, r- right?"

It was then that Aryl suddenly spoke up, giving me the slightest hope that she was compassionate enough to care about the children; However, my flickering hope was immediately extinguished as soon as I heard her next words.

"I don't care"

Biting my lower lips so hard that they almost bled, I got down on my knees and begged. "P- Please!"

"..."

"I- I'll do anything! I'll give you all my savings, so please!"

"..."

"I- I...", I hesitated to say my next words but eventually, I decided to say it anyways. After all, I couldn't bear seeing any more people getting killed. "I'll undo my [S - Polymorph] and give you my feathe—"

<[Splice]>

BAM—!

Suddenly, Aryl appeared right before me and swung her fist at the barrier protecting my face.

Startled, I sub-consciously took a step back.

Ignoring her bleeding fist and my frightened face, Aryl spoke with a threatening tone. "Don't"

"D- Don't what...?"

"Don't you fucking dare undo your [S - Polymorph]"

"Wh- Why?"

"Because it will accelerate your progress of becoming a V— you know what? Nevermind"

She then sighed as if she was a middle-aged man regretting her life decisions, before looking up at the Western walls with lowered eyes.

"I'll do it..."

"Wha—"

"Dammit, I'll do it, alright! Is that good enough for you!? Just don't you fucking dare turn into your Phoenix form"

And with those words, Aryl ran up the Western walls.

...

Although I followed Aryl immediately after she departed, it still took a while before I caught up to her.

As soon as I did though, I was met with the sight of her standing arrogantly atop the wall, coldly gazing at the hundreds of monster that were outside the town.

"Let's make this quick", she muttered.

"Lyra!", she then shouted.

As soon as those words left her mouth, a gray raven flew down from the sky and onto her head.

"Help me for a bit, Lyra. I need to use the spell you taught me before right now"

The raven titled its head in confusion, before pecking Aryl's head as if it was reprimanding her for something.

"Dammit", Aryl scowled. "I know you're busy and all but help me just this once"

Hearing this, the raven stopped pecking Aryl's head with reluctant eyes.

<[S - Monarch of the Storms]>

Aryl then closed her eyes and stood completely motionless for a couple of minutes; During which time, the raven left the top of her head and flew a few laps around her.

Getting impatient, I was about to ask Aryl what she was doing instead of killing the monster. However, I suddenly noticed something strange. "Huh?"

'This feeling... it's definitely Mana...'

No, it wasn't a feeling anymore. Instead, I could see Mana now.

"Wh- What!?", I stared at the scene before me in disbelief. After all, I wasn't a Dragon, so I couldn't visualize Mana under normal circumstances. However, the fact that I could see Mana now meant that Aryl was indeed... preparing a Great magic.

Pausing my thoughts, there, I looked at the agglomerating Mana in astonishment.

Swirls of Green mana formed in the sky under the dark ashen clouds that were slowly converging.

Streaks of molten red Mana shot up from around Aryl into the rotating clouds, waiting to fall back down as Lightning bolts.

"[Father of Storms]—", Aryl suddenly chanted. "—[Bring forth divine judgement onto these sinner!]"

She then lets out a long sigh as she finished her chant. "What an absolute waste of Lyra's power this has been..."

Unlike what I had expected, there were no big explosions, nor were there asteroids falling down the sky to eliminate all the monsters.

Instead, what filled the battlefield full of monsters and screaming guards was... overwhelming silence.

Everyone, even the monsters, looked at Aryl in fear and anticipation as they felt the huge surge of Mana from before.

'It's almost like... the calm before a big storm...'

Under the sky full of dark clouds that blocked even the tiniest of Light from the Sun, Aryl took a heavy step forward.

Bzzzzzzt—!

Red lightning crackled on the sky as bolts of Lightning poked out of the clouds, tracing the monsters' movement.

Unaware, or rather, uncaring of the pandemonium she had caused among the monsters and guards alike, Aryl raised her right hand up and brought it down.

BOOOOOM—!

Simultaneously, Lightning fell down from the sky, reducing dozens of monsters into nothing more than a pile of charred flesh.

Briefly glancing at me with haggard eyes, Aryl focused on the battlefield again.

Taking another step forward, she brought both of her hands up and swirled her fingers like a conductor.

BOOOOOM—! BOOOOOM—! BOOOOOOOOOM—!...

Bolts of molten-red Lighting rained down onto the monsters like it was ripping the sky apart.

Woooooosh—!

Torrents of high-speed winds raged through the battlefield, cutting the monsters up. Before long, the winds converged with each other, creating several ash-colored tornadoes.

KRIEEEEEEEEEEK—!

Screams of pain and despair could be heard from the monsters, who were suffering the full brunt of Aryl's Great magic. They were smote by Lightning, cut up by Wind, dropped from great heights and had their flesh torn between Tornadoes.

During all of this, Aryl had a slight smile on her face despite her looking absolutely exhausted.

GULP—!

I gulped nervously as I once again looked at Aryl after seeing the prowess of her Great magic.

Similarly gulping, Reiner, who was standing right next to me, stuttered. "R- Remind me to never be her enemy in the future"

"I think it's already a bit too late for that"

Reiner trembled in fear at my words, but I paid it no mind, as I was busy admiring the figure of Aryl.

Not caring about my gaze, Aryl brought her hands together in one quick motion.

As soon as she did that, all the Tornadoes converged into a massive one. Not just that, the Lightning bolts had stopped striking random places. Instead, they were assaulting the ground ahead of the massive Tornado, killing any monsters caught up in its path.

Anything not killed by the Lightnings was instead not sucked in, but simply crushed under the great pressure of the Tornado.

Watching the massive Tornado rampaging through the battlefield, I looked at Aryl in awe and respect.

'I really made the correct choice back then. My mentor is such a cool and powerful person!'

In fact, she would have looked much cooler—

GLUG—!

"Haaah... dammit! It's the 14th potion already!"

—If she wasn't chugging Mana potions down her throat like water.

Wiping her lips, Aryl directed her molten-red eyes towards the battlefield, once again controlling the massive Tornado; All the while, the gray raven from before was holding another Mana potion by its beak and positioning it near Aryl's mouth.

After a few more minutes, the monsters outside the Western wall were all wiped out. Not just that, monsters that were outside the North, South, and East ran into the forest in collective fear upon seeing her Great magic.

With the outsides of the town now devoid of monster, the monster horde created by a dungeon break was now basically over.

Sensing this, Aryl dissipated the massive Tornado into thin air, before lethargically walking back to our inn.

"Thanks Lyra... I'll make sure to pay you back later. Now, I need to sleep..."

...

Aryl holed up in her room, presumably sleeping for a week straight.

During which time, the town mayor and the guard captain had tried to barge into her room with angry looks on their faces, but I quickly stopped them each time.

And, as dawn broke on the 8th day since the dungeon break, Aryl finally came out of her room.

"Huammm! That was a good rest..."

Stretching her arms, Aryl suddenly noticed me, who was standing right besides her door. She then gave me a smile. "Ah, you're here?"

I nodded and smiled back at her.

Briefly checking the insides of her room, Aryl yawned yet again before speaking up. "Prepare your stuff. We're leaving in an hour"

"Again? Why?"

'Does she really hate staying in one place for too long that much?'

However, her next words didn't answer my question.

"You don't need to know. Just pack up and get ready in an hour"

CLANK—!

Sighing, I decided to just follow her orders and went to pack things up.

...

"Crossbow... shovel... the limited-edition book... all done!"

I looked at my squeaky clean inn room with pride.

"Even if I may never return to this town ever again, I should do a favor for the inn owner by cleaning my room"

Speaking of the inn owner, I haven't seen him in the past week.

'Something's definitely strange...'

After all, he hadn't came up to our room to demand us to pay for our lodgings; So I just left a few Silvers down at the very empty counter for him to collect.

However, I soon put such thoughts aside and quickly left my room as it had almost been an hour since I got back to my room.

CLANK—!

As soon as I stepped out though, I was met with a fully-healed Reiner.

"Reiner? Why are you here?"

He titled his head in confusion at me question. "To travel with you, obviously"

"Is it because of Aryl's threat?"

Before Reiner could answer, I hurriedly glanced around the hallways.

'Good... Aryl's not here yet'

I then turned towards Reiner with a serious look on my face. "Reiner, you don't need to come with us. In fact, you can hide for a few hours and it'll be fine. Aryl's rushing to get out of this town"

"No", he shook his head at my words. "I'll travel with you"

"Wh- Why?"

"Well, after seeing what Aryl's capable of, I don't think I would want to anger her"

"I- I'll try to convince her then!"

"Araceli, that's not the only reason", he sighed as he said his next words. "My family's gone. And I don't think I'm welcome in this town any longer"

"What do you mea—"

BAM—!

Before I could continue with my question, the door to Aryl's room was suddenly swung open.

Confidently walking towards us, she looked at Reiner with a smirk. "So you didn't run away, huh? Interesting..."

She then wrapped her hands around Reiner's neck and my barrier. "Let's get out of this accursed town already. I don't want any rotten tomatoes to be thrown at my armor"

...

As soon as we stepped out of the inn though, I could feel something strange.

-I- Is that them?

-They must be. They fit the description the captain gave us.

Murmurs and glares were directed towards us as if we were in the South again.

However, I knew that we were very much in the North, as the South was already destroyed a week ago.

Pausing my thoughts there, I asked Aryl with a low voice. "Aryl, why are they looking at us like that"

"You don't know?", she looked at me with her eyes widened in bewilderment. "Fucking hell, how naive can you be?"

Seeing that I was still confused, Aryl sighed before finally she gave me an explanation. "Remember the guard captain?"

"I do..."

"Alright, so basically, he's the one who 'saved the town' "

"Huh? Didn't you save the town?"

"I did...", Aryl sighed. "...But it wouldn't be beneficial for the captain if I was the one who ended the monster horde. So I'm fairly certain he made up some bullshit to make himself look good"

She then briefly glanced around our surroundings before letting out a scowl. "And by the look of it, that bastard made us look bad while he was at it too"

"I see...", I nodded my head in understanding at her words.

It was then that we were suddenly stopped by the guard captain along with several more guards.

"HALT!"

And unexpectedly, Aryl actually stopped in her tracks instead of knocking him out with her Skill or a simple strike to the nape.

Seeing that we had complied to his words, the captain smirked before speaking with a loud voice.

"Citizen! Here stands the three villains that released the monsters and attempted to flatten our town with the massive tornado!"

Aryl crossed her arms and looked at the captain with an amused smile... coupled with a threatening glare.

Unaware of what he had just provoked, the captain continued. "And as you remember, I - guard captain Delvin, have resolved the issue a week ago!"

As Delvin the guard captain said those words, the citizens broke into cheers.

Indulging himself in the cheers of the citizens, Delvin spoke up again with an arrogant tone. "Since I'm merciful, I will reduce the villain's punishment from death sentence to... exile!"

The citizens were less than happy with Delvin's words. After all, who in their right mind would let the villain that destroyed a part of their town go?

As such, Delvin sweated profusely as he tried to convince the townsfolk that it was for the best the Aryl was exiled.

Taking advantage of his, Aryl gestured for me and Reiner to slip out of the town.

...

Before long, we approached the gate, which had several guards stationed around it.

Unlike what I had expected, however, they didn't try to stop us. Instead—

"Thank you!"

"I'd have died if it wasn't for you!"

"That bastard Delvin! If only I had more authority than him!"

—They were openly displaying their gratefulness to us.

Aryl looked at the guards with widened eyes, amused. "So you didn't fall for the captain's lie?"

"Of course!", a guard exclaimed. "We would have had to be idiots to not recognize the ones who saved us, especially when we were so close to dying on the battlefield!"

"Well, that's one good thing, I guess", Aryl muttered.

As Aryl was conversing with the guards though, I approached her and asked the question I've been meaning to ask since earlier.

"Aryl..."

"...?"

"...Where are we going after this?"

Hearing my question, Aryl stared at me, speechless.

Before long, she recovered from her stupor and stuttered as she asked me. "C- Celi, don't tell me you have amnesia!"

"Of course not!", I instantly replied.

"Then how can you not remember our destination?", Aryl sighed.

She then spoke with a firm voice.

"We're going to Kerudark city. [Despair] awaits us there"