Chapter 59: The Third Evolution
"How dare the dogs of the Temple!!!"
A massive flame erupted along with the sharp voice.
It contained an amount of energy so terrifyingly large that Chloe had never experienced it in her entire life.
Fortunately.
“Danger……!”
Kabooooooooom!
At that moment, Maier, who had jumped in front of her, blocked the flames with his entire body.
“Keuhhh……”
But that alone was enough to deal a severe blow to Maier.
Through the dying flames, an old woman emitting a chilling aura could be seen.
At a glance, she seemed no less than the witch from before.
On top of that.
“It’s that bitch!?”
Behind her was the very witch they had been chasing.
‘Damn it, what should I do?’
The moment she gritted her teeth, the Holy Knights came up from the floor below.
“The witch……!”
“Kill her……!”
“These mongrels!?”
As various voices chaotically intertwined.
Chloe saw a decrepit old woman, who looked as if she had been drawn straight out of a witch's tale, once again spewing giant flames toward the Holy Knights.
And behind her, the figure of ‘that pretty administrator’ extending her hand toward her.
And another terrifying explosion erupting from that pretty hand.
‘I have to dodge…….’
The moment she had that thought, she urgently grabbed the scruff of Maier's neck, who was blocking her way.
At the same time, she bent the joints of her entire body, including her ankles, and used the recoil to fling herself backward as if by magic.
A ghostly movement as if she had switched the front and back of her body in an instant.
The moment Chloe’s characteristics of maximizing her body's flexibility and agility were manifested.
Bang!
She and Maier crashed through the 4th-floor window and threw themselves into the air.
But as she was falling, she saw Muno on the floor below, blankly looking up.
For some reason, the muscles of his entire body were excessively swollen as if they would burst at any moment, and he was just standing there stupidly.
‘What the……?’
A moment ago, when the 5-Star Magic Knight with ghostly skills, whom she had been fighting with Maier, suddenly lost his strength and died in vain.
Seeing the chain wrapped around his foot, she had guessed that Muno had pulled some trick again.
And that he was on the floor just below.
But the explosion that had just occurred on the 4th floor would definitely not end with just destroying that floor.
At this moment, she had no way to do anything about Muno.
Just.
“Eveeeeryooone, dooodge……!”
Hoping that the voice of Maier, who had been dragged along with her and jumped, would reach the other Holy Knights and Muno.
Chloe barely managed to twist her body in mid-air and land on the ground.
No, she tried to.
Kaboooooooooooom!
If only a larger explosion hadn't blown away the entire massive market magistrate's office.
“Ack!”
Just before landing, she grabbed Maier and instinctively spun him to the ground, using him as a cushion as she tumbled.
Kabooooom!
Clatter, clatter.
Thud.
Bang.
“Oh no! Are you okay!?”
Maier, in heavy armor, had been forcibly back-flipped from a height of four stories and had landed on his stomach.
And she had even added her own weight on top of that.
Of course, considering the resilience of a Holy Knight, he was likely to be fine.
“Keuhh……. Are you trying to kill me……. Cough.”
His thoughts, as he coughed up blood, seemed to be a little different.
But there was no time to consider his circumstances right now.
“Hup!”
At that moment, all she saw was a yellow light flashing in the dust and dirt where the market magistrate's office had collapsed.
She unhesitatingly threw herself along with Maier.
And that judgment saved their lives.
Kabooooooom!
From the bright yellow lightning that burned the spot they had been in black and started a fire.
“Damn it, magician!”
Swish, swish, swish.
Chloe, who had instinctively drawn her bow as soon as she righted herself, shot a series of arrows into the dusty air where the enemies were likely to be.
The enemies' figures were hidden and not visible, but her intuition and experience, which had brought her to 4-Star at the young age of thirty, seemed to have roughly guessed their location.
- You’re being a nuisance!
Kabooooooom!
At that moment, a giant fireball crashed down on the spot where she had been.
A demonic attack that created a crater the size of a decent building in an instant.
She was once again trembling at the horror of magicians.
‘Damn it, what on earth should I do…….’
The reality was that it was difficult to deal with a magician of the same level one-on-one, but ‘those things’ seemed to be monsters one or two levels higher, no matter how you looked at it.
‘No, I have to see them as two levels higher.’
Even that witch, who had been injured, had been difficult to face alone.
But now, another monster of that caliber, in perfect condition, had appeared.
“Cough, cough. You really are trying to kill me……”
Oops!
She had forgotten about Maier while dodging.
She hurriedly pulled out the half-cooked Maier from the fireball.
Maier, who was covered in burns all over his body, glared at her with blazing eyes, then soon closed his eyes and muttered a strange prayer.
And immediately.
“O, God.”
Whoosh.
Maier’s body, whose armor was half-destroyed and was covered in burns, was mostly healed in an instant.
‘As expected of a Holy Knight.’
But in return.
- Holy power!? There you are!
Kabooooooom!
The enemies, who had not shown themselves in the dust, knew their location and poured magic on them again.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Crrrunch.
Bang!
“Keuaak!?”
Chloe, who had grabbed Maier's scruff again, ‘blocked’ the barrage of lightning, black vines, and cold in succession.
And immediately counterattacked with an arrow.
However.
Swish, swish, swish.
- Annoying……!
All that could be seen was a whirlwind raging, clearing away the dust.
“I need to save my arrows……”
“S-Save me first……”
“Ah!?”
Crunch.
“Oh. O, God.”
Maier, who had healed his wounds with holy power again, began to throw himself this time, without relying on Chloe’s hand.
“Hap!”
Even though no magic was pouring down.
“What are you doing……?”
“……Ahem.”
The moment their awkward gazes met, Maier pointed to the sky.
“More importantly, over there!”
As the dust that had risen from the explosion of the market magistrate's office was swept away by the gust of wind.
Two women floating in the air revealed themselves.
While spreading a chilling aura all around that even those insensitive to demonic energy could feel.
“Damn it.”
“I, I only have ten arrows left.”
“I’ll try to lure them……”
The situation was twisted, but it seemed that the knightly spirit of finding a way somehow was not broken in either of them.
However.
“Huh?”
They hadn't thought that anyone else from their group would have survived.
- What……!?
When they saw the ‘knight in black armor’ leaping toward the monster magicians from the ground where the dust had settled, they couldn't help but doubt their eyes.
“Don’t tell me……?”
Whoosh.
A feeling of exhilaration filled my entire body.
The body, which had grown one step further, had become incomparably stronger than before, and the armor on the limbs had also become that much sturdier and more powerful.
But what was more reassuring than anything else was.
The armor on the limbs had grown as it was, turning into something like full plate armor that covered the entire upper and lower body.
Enough to more than replace the previously shattered armor.
The feeling of cutting through the air was different, so it seemed the form had also changed in a peculiar way, but there was no time to examine the design now.
But at least one thing was certain.
Since the armor now covered all the limbs and torso.
‘Now, against most magic attacks, I just need to protect my head.’
Of course, the problem was that the enemies I had to face now were not ordinary magicians.
The heightened consciousness and physical abilities gave me the confidence that I could do anything.
Also.
Crunch.
Thanks to the increased usable mana from reaching the 3-Star level, his ‘Blade’ had also become larger and harder.
‘Acceleration.’
In the midst of the feeling that the surrounding time was flowing slowly, a huge energy moving inside the body was detected.
Whoooosh.
He could feel the calories in his body being consumed and his body being depleted.
But it was not as severe as before.
It seemed that most of the energy was being created by consuming mana instead of calories.
And that feeling made him think of a new possibility.
‘This might be possible?’
He thought that he might be able to resolve the earnest wish of his father, of the Drasen family, but there was no time to focus on that right now.
Rather, he recalled the 4th stage secret art of the Drasen family that his father had shown him before.
It seemed that he could replicate it now.
‘I can do it!’
Squeeze.
He gripped the hilt of the sword strongly with his increased strength.
The muscles of his entire body bent his upper body backward to the limit of their elasticity.
And.
‘Space Slicer.’
Flash.
The black two-handed sword, swung like a ray of light, struck the shield that enveloped the two magicians.
Kabooooooooom!
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
As a black line was drawn on the transparent shield, a rough wind poured down from the sky to the ground between them.
The secret art of the Drasen family, which simply swung an iron sword with force to cut the wind, and with just that aftermath, cut steel several meters away.
That simple and powerful force broke through the shield of a 6-Circle magician.
But only one of them.
“How, how dare you……!”
When the shrill old woman’s voice let out her bewilderment.
The red-haired witch next to her had deflected the aftermath of the Space Slicer with her own shield and was once again creating a blue flame in her hand.
“Die!”
A blue flame pouring down with a voice full of resentment.
The moment he saw it, he could feel it.
That it contained a much more lethal power compared to the magic that had been pouring down until now.
And.
‘I can’t block this.’
And that it easily surpassed the limit of the magic power that his armor could accommodate.
At that moment.
Rattle.
Muno extended four chains from his limbs, wrapped them around the witch's shield, and used the recoil to make his body spin in the air.
Whoooosh!
A blue flame grazed past him.
At the same time, he could feel the mana filling his body as the chains instantly absorbed the witch's shield.
And the moment he approached the enemies again, he could be certain as he saw the witches' widening pupils.
- I am truly, the natural enemy of magicians.
In that thrilling certainty, the giant two-handed sword once again split space.
Flash.
But.
Kabooooooooom!
That all-out strike could not break through the ‘red’ shield that the hook-nosed old woman had suddenly deployed.
“Cough.”
He could see the old woman coughing up blood as a price and staggering in the air.
“If only I had my original magical tool, a thing like you wouldn't even……!”
Even hearing the excuse full of regret was not satisfying.
His body, which had failed to cut through the shield, was already being flung tens of meters away in the air.
However.
‘Kill.’
With that one obsession, Muno extended his chains once again.
The chains that cut through the air to catch the two witches were more than twice as long as before, boasting a range of almost 50 meters.
But.
Whoooosh.
It was not enough to hunt the magicians who were increasing their distance in the air in the meantime.
But he couldn't just stay like this.
“Hmph!”
Whoooosh.
The two-handed sword, thrown as if he were swinging his arm and shooting it, turned into a short spear and cut through the air.
But.
Bang!
As expected, that weak attack only made the old woman spit out a little more blood and did not cause much damage.
Muno, who was falling to the ground, saw a blue flame rise again in the hand of the red-haired witch he had been chasing.
‘Damn it…….’
The moment it became dizzying.
Flash.
A brilliant holy light that fell from the sky pierced through the space where the two witches were in a straight line.