“There they are!!”
When Lee Hyun’s group had walked a bit to escape the forest, the Asura Church followers revealed themselves.
Their strength was at a different level from the Asura Church followers they had faced until now.
Every single one of them looked skilled.
“Lord of Wind.”
As Lee Hyun pointed his sword, massive blade-like winds engulfed the enemies.
When the Asura Church followers who couldn’t withstand the wind fell and were cut to pieces, Lee Hyun spoke to Lena, who stood behind him.
“Stay close and follow carefully. They’ll be too difficult for you to handle at your current level.”
“What? B-but.”
She had mastered intermediate magic.
Lena thought she could help with multi-magic and silent casting, so she used magic against those who emerged again.
But surprisingly, her magic never hit the Asura Church followers.
The magic had disappeared mid-way.
When Lena widened her eyes in surprise, Lee Hyun swung his sword and struck them down.
“Quite a few of the Asura Church elites have magic nullification artifacts. Since intermediate magic and below have a high chance of being nullified, you should conserve your mana.”
“B-but then you’ll be fighting alone, Master!! I-I’ll call Sylphid…”
“There they are!! Over there!!”
Another rough shout was heard.
Startled, Lena hastily tried to summon Sylphid.
But Sylphid didn’t come.
As Lena looked on in greater surprise, Lee Hyun cut down the approaching enemies.
“This is the Asura Church’s Heaven’s Net. They’ve put up a barrier around this forest that makes spirit summoning difficult too.”
She couldn’t summon spirits, and magic was useless.
That meant she was nothing but a burden.
As Lena’s face turned pale, Lee Hyun smiled gently and patted her head.
“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely protect you.”
Like hunters trying to catch a surrounded tiger, the Asura Church followers continued to attack Lee Hyun and Lena.
Though he repelled them each time, it was inevitable that Lee Hyun’s wounds gradually increased as time passed.
“Master…”
Seeing this, Lena could only wear an infinitely dejected expression.
She thought she had changed.
She thought she had gained power.
But that wasn’t true.
She was still far too lacking.
To stand beside Lee Hyun.
“Huff… hah… hah…”
Having repelled more attacks than he could count, Lee Hyun breathed roughly.
Then he staggered.
When Lee Hyun was about to collapse, Lena caught him.
“A-are you alright?”
“Whew… Yes. I’m fine.”
Damp blood touched her face.
Lena supported Lee Hyun with a tearful expression.
She couldn’t let him keep fighting in this state.
“Th-there’s a cave over there! Let’s rest there for a little while…!”
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
Supporting Lee Hyun, Lena headed for the cave.
It was a cave she had discovered while gathering herbs before.
Though small, it should be enough to hide in briefly.
Thinking this, fortunately, no one was in the cave when they arrived.
After entering deep inside and laying Lee Hyun down, she treated his wounds with the medicine bottles she had brought.
‘Th-there are too many wounds…’
Though none were deep, they were plentiful.
Lena shed tears as she applied medicine to the burns and cuts all over.
“I’ll use Heal… save the herbs.”
“But th-that uses mana… and you’ve used so much mana already, Master…”
How many times had Lee Hyun used advanced magic to get here?
No, not just that, mana is consumed when using swordsmanship too.
Even Lena could tell that Lee Hyun must be low on mana after fighting alone continuously.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
“Why are you sorry?”
“Be-because… sniffle… B-because of me… Master…”
“It’s not because of you.”
Lee Hyun stroked Lena’s cheek and wiped away her tears.
Perhaps because of that touch?
Lena could feel her flowing tears subsiding slightly.
“The Asura Church followers are the bad ones. You’re no longer their test subject or anything else. You’re just Lena, my proud disciple. The Asura Church attacking you is wrong – you’ve done nothing wrong.”
Lee Hyun firmly denied Lena’s thoughts.
But there was no denying that his words made Lena’s tears flow even more.
Now starting to shed pearl-like tears, Lena hugged Lee Hyun.
“B-but…! Waaah! To protect me, Master… Heuk…”
“What’s wrong with a master using his strength to protect his disciple? I’m just doing what I should naturally do.”
Lee Hyun spoke gently while patting Lena’s small back.
Hearing those words, Lena couldn’t hide her feeling of shame.
‘I-I’m such a fool…’
Master is working so hard for me like this.
Master is putting in so much effort for me like this.
If only I had tried harder.
If only I had put in more effort.
If I had mastered advanced magic, Master’s burden would have been lighter.
Her self-reproach began to grow stronger.
As if noticing this, Lee Hyun comforted Lena while patting her.
“You’ve always done well. Mastering intermediate magic in just a year is an amazing achievement. So don’t look down on yourself.”
“Waaah…sob sob…sniff…”
After the treatment was finished and he recovered a bit, Lee Hyun and Lena left the cave. Though they moved carefully, as soon as they started moving, the Asura Church followers began attacking as if they knew supernaturally.
“Here they are!!”
“Kuk…!!”
Arrows flew in.
Just as Lee Hyun blocked them with his arm and was about to use magic—
Lee Hyun’s arm was deeply cut, and blood burst forth.
When Lena’s eyes widened in surprise, Lee Hyun glanced briefly at what had cut through his arm.
A circular blade. A chakram.
“Well, a strong one has come…”
Clicking his tongue briefly, Lee Hyun cast Heal on his injured arm.
While Lena was surprised by Lee Hyun’s different behavior from before, a man covered in black clothes walked out from the forest.
“This is surprising. Is it you, Lee Hyun?”
“Long time no see, Luxiar.”
“Lu-Luxiar…? M-Master, do you know him?”
“Yes. He’s the Bishop of Wrath of the Asura Church.”
Bishop.
Though she couldn’t know exactly, the opponent was from a religious organization.
If he held the position of Bishop in that religious organization, he certainly wouldn’t be a weak opponent.
‘What should we do?’
Luxiar spun his chakram while glaring at Lee Hyun as if to kill him.
And the black-clad Asura Church followers slowly revealed themselves behind him.
These were truly the elite.
“Len.”
“…Yes?”
“When I give the signal, run away.”
“…M-Master…”
Lena turned pale at Lee Hyun’s calm voice.
He was going to sacrifice himself to let Lena escape.
“It’s impossible for me to handle all of them alone. Run.”
“B-but…”
“You’re not thinking of disobeying your master’s orders, are you?”
Lee Hyun smiled gently and patted Lena’s head before spinning his sword to grip it.
Towards him, Luxiar threw the chakram he had been spinning round and round.
Clang!! Clang! Clang!!!
“Haha!! You’re weak, Lee Hyun! None of that old sharpness remains!!”
Despite his shout, Lee Hyun only moved to protect Lena.
Seeing this, Lena covered her face with her hands.
‘No! No! No! No! I can’t leave Master alone!’
This is because of me.
Because I’m weak.
If I were strong, if I were strong enough to stand beside Master.
Then, none of this would be happening.
Desperately suppressing her rising anxiety and self-denial, Lena moved her mana.
“L-Lord of Fire!!”
But what was created was just a simple fireball.
Naturally, Luxiar and his subordinates nullified that fireball using their magic nullification artifacts.
‘This isn’t it.’
I need to be stronger. More. More.
Desperation called forth concentration, and concentration increased magical precision.
More.
Lena closed her eyes and felt each flow of mana.
More.
She controlled the existing flow more finely and received nature’s mana more strongly.
‘This isn’t it. This isn’t it. This isn’t it.’
More. More. More.
I must become stronger!!
“Lord of…”
Nature’s powerful mana began flowing into her body.
She accepted it as is, processing it and heating up all the mana circuits in her body.
Advanced magic is different from intermediate and basic magic.
For that immense power, one must be able to continuously receive nature’s mana.
Slowly.
Without stopping.
Endlessly.
Lena opened her closed eyes and completed the final word.
“…Fire.”
At that moment, a huge mass of fire began forming from Lena’s staff.
One, two, four, eight massive flames that could hardly be called mere fireballs.
They kept multiplying.
“Wh-what is that?!”
“Incoming!!”
The giant flames that began increasing exponentially instantly flew and swept away all Luxiar’s subordinates.
Even the magic nullification artifacts were useless against those flames.
“Th-this…”
Though Luxiar tried to be shocked at seeing his subordinates turned to ash in an instant, he couldn’t.
Because Lee Hyun had already approached and slit his throat.
As he collapsed to the ground after flailing in the air a few times while clutching his spurting throat, Lee Hyun smiled gently at Lena, who had not only completed advanced magic but had even performed multi-casting.
‘Playing weak isn’t easy either.’
But for Lee Hyun, it wasn’t a bad result.
After all,
[Job Quest – Sage]
[Take two disciples and raise them to a certain level.]
(2 / 2)
The quest objective was achieved.
“… Let’s go.”
“Y-yes!”
With Luxiar, the center of Heaven’s Net, dead, the barrier could no longer properly fulfill its role.
Thanks to this, after breaking through those who blocked their way and escaping the forest, Lee Hyun patted the back of the heavily breathing Lena.
“Excellent.”
“Haa… haa… th-thank you…”
“I knew you would master advanced magic quickly.”
Lena was delighted at Lee Hyun’s praise before turning pale.
She remembered what she had been trying to ignore.
The moment she mastered advanced magic, Lee Hyun could no longer teach her.
And that meant the same thing as him leaving her.