After some time, silence returned to the forest.
“They have stopped attacking.”
“……So it seems.”
To the words spoken by the magician beside him, Corvus replied.
The search party led by Corvus to the Fairy garden to find the fountain of light had, as expected, entered into a fight with fairies.
Till just now, both sides were attacking each other with magic and the sounds and flashes of explosions had been shaking the forest.
But, for some reason, the fairies suddenly retreated back inside the forest.
The fairies had run while showing their backs, but their flying speed was not something humans could keep up with especially in this forest where the footing was bad.
“Could it be a trap?”
“It’s difficult to think that fairies can set up a trap. It might be simply a way rebuild their attack force by pulling back for now.”
Corvus himself had no experience of fighting against fairies, but he had some knowledge.
Comparing the knowledge in his head with the current situation, he guessed their actions and behaviours.
“As we go deeper inside, the thick magical energy would make them stronger, so they might be waiting to ambush us deep inside. It’s hard to think that they’ll use a trap or surprise attack though. We’ll advance in as planned, but don’t drop your guard and keep a check on the surroundings.”
“Roger!”
The soldiers spread out give their assent to Corvus’s order.
The many magicians and the few soldiers here were the elites chosen from the subjugation army led by Kievan.
Even in this forest with bad footing, under Corvus’s instructions and orders, they maintained a perfect file without any disorder and kept moving forward. Their abilities were also shown when they came out of the battle with the fairies with only slight injuries.
Of course, the rain of magic attacks by fairies will only get stronger and harsher from here onwards, and even they will not be able to finish this without a few causalities.
But, there was not a single one who showed fear on his face. They simply moved towards the centre in silence while keeping the surroundings in check as ordered.
And as they continued moving, deep inside the forest a huge flash was seen accompanied with a loud sound of an explosion, and suddenly the soldiers were filled with tension.
But in the end, the attack did not come from anywhere.
While in doubt, they finally passed the forest and reached the fountain of light.
“oo, this is the fountain of light!”
“Yes, no doubt about it.”
In front of the mystical scene in front of them, all of the soldiers gulped.
The fountain was round in shape, and was so clear that it was completely transparent.
And, wondrously, there were no trees around it. Instead, multi coloured flowers were blooming.
Certainly, it was the living place of the fairies only seen in fairy tales.
But rather than the scenery, considering that all the water there was holy water, for a believer of the church it was nothing less than gold itself.
A quantity that was invaluable for a single soldier or magician.
“…..This is strange.”
But rather than relief on finding it, Corvus was having an extremely uncomfortable feeling right now.
Strange, when he spoke so, the magician beside him also realized it.
“We are not being attacked.”
Could it be, that they were surrounding us without us even realizing? Or so they suspected but they could not sense any presence from the surroundings no matter what.
Just where did those fairies disappear to?
“What should we do?”
“Let’s see, check the surroundings—–“
The moment Corvus said that, the centre of the fountain suddenly started shining red.
Due to the sudden change, they all entered battle positions, and put all their concentration towards it.
The red light seemed to be ascending towards the surface of the water.
A feeling of something with an immense magical energy was rising to the surface could be sensed by not only the magicians but even Corvus as well.
With ripples, and shining brilliantly, finally that ‘something’ appeared.
That moment, the Crusaders forgot everything and had been captivated by the person in front of them.
“””Beautiful.”””
Someone, no, everyone spoke so.
Yes, the person that appeared from the lake was beautiful.
A bishoujo with shining platinum blonde hair and emerald green eyes.
The 2 pair of wings on her back shone in 7 colours, and every time it flickered, a rich wave of magical energy was spread out.
Her faintly shining white body was covered with a cloth that was as black as the night itself. The contrast between the black and white further supported that existence and its beauty.
And on her chest was a red gem that was giving a off a deep crimson shine.
“It’s a goddess.”
There was no better word to describe her.
The goddess appearing from the lake was something that appeared quite a lot of times in the culture of Arc continent.
A lost traveller, a hero seeking a holy sword to defeat demons, a pair of brother and sister abandoned by their parents, inside the fairy tale, they would meet her.
And the goddess that appears in any fairy tale or story, the most common feature was her unparalleled beauty.
At this moment, it was only obvious that they would associate her to the goddess that appeared in their stories.
“You people are the Crusaders——-“
The girl spoke towards the dumbfounded soldiers.
It was a voice so transparent that it reached the depths of the heart but,
“Greed filled filthy humans, ufufu, you’ll make a good opponent for a trial run.”
Different from the stories, she will not be compassionate towards them,
“Die without leaving even a single piece.”
She simply cruelly sentenced them all to death.
“All members, take defensive measures!!!”
Corvus shouted while raising his sword.
Sensing the immense magical energy and bloodlust from her, he prepared for battle.
“fufu, too slow.”
As the girl elegantly dropped the hem of her one piece black dress, 2 white lights flickered.
*DON!!*
As Corvus thought that the flash had passed him, a splash blood spread behind him.
“Wha——-“
As he looked back, the two magicians that were about to use defensive magic on his orders had their heads cleanly disappear and their robes had been dyed in blood.
While he was surprised, the 3rd one, then 4th, one by one, the white light pierced the heads of the magicians and in an instant turned into headless corpses.
Before he realized, 1/3rd of the magicians had become corpses.
He had never seen someone who could use an attack magic as strong as this used without even a single reaction, chant or any other preparation.
Although young, Corvus could be said to have had a high amount of experience and skills, but this girl’s attack magic was completely outside of his knowledge and common sense regarding battles.
That common sense was that a magic required some sort of chant or preparation before using it and a magic that could instantly kill a human could be consecutively used only once or twice.
If magicians could all use one hit kill magics consecutively, there would be no use for soldiers or swordsmen.
“Weak. Humans really are of this low level.”
As the girl said so, defensive magic was finally activated, and the barrier deployed around Corvus and the others.
The white magicians deployed Holy mind protective wall – Lux Wall Defence and the other magicians casted Water stream protective wall – Aqua Wall Defence and Stone protective wall – Terra Wall Defence. A 3 level Tri Shield made by combining 3 defensive magics.
By using different elements, they covered the weakness of the elemental shields and also increased the strength and the defensive ability by 3 times.
On top of it, at the same time as the activation of the Tri Shield, the soldiers along with Corvus had been enchanted with Protect Boost. A magic that increased the physical defence of the person.
As long as the opponent could use insta kill level magic, defensive ability was the highest priority.
Quickly, or so it should have been, the defensive measures of Corvus and others had been used but in that little gap, the opponent had killed 1/3rd of the magicians.
While thinking about even retreating now, Corvus thought of his next move.
(“With this much defensive strength, we won’t get killed in a single attack at least, but the problem is whether we can attain attacking strength enough to kill that girl, no, that monster in the form of that girl…….to have lost so many magicians instantly has made it even difficult.”)
If she could use such high level attacks, then obviously she could also use high level defensive magics as well. And, to destroy a high level defensive magic, they need to use magic and not swords.
Thus, they were currently short on attack power due to losing the magicians so quickly.
“Oh, could it be that you are actually thinking of defeating me?”
But, Corvus had not yet realized that it was an extremely stupid thought.
Or maybe he simply didn’t want to realize and accept that fact.
“To not even understand the difference in strength, you are lower than even animals—“
The girl, as if reciting death itself, started to chant.
“تألق نجوم تحطم يهلك”
She had used one hit kill magic without a chant, now, if she was also using a chant as well then just what level of destructive power must be hidden in the attack, they could not even comprehend.
“Obstruct and stop the chanting!!”
On Corvus’s shouting order to attack, and the magicians as well as bow users began firing.
“——fufu, like I said, too slow.”
The arrows, magic, before they could even reach, the girl had completed her chant decided to first take care of the attacks coming towards her rather than instantly attacking them.
Although, all she did was wait as the attacks were blocked simply by the fairy barrier – Oracle Shield that she had already deployed.
The girl only watched as the flames or the arrows of light extinguished in front of her.
As the attacks finally ended, the girl opened her mouth to end this battle that couldn’t really be called a battle in the first place.
“Bye Bye humans, die while regretting the fact that you obstructed ‘us’.”
The girl raised her right arm and above the soldiers, a magic circle drawn with light appeared.
A complex design with a circle as the base, that the magicians below had never seen, appeared in the sky.
They did not know that it was a magic with strength similar to that of a dragon breath that had made even Sariel use her strongest defensive magic.
“—-Meteor Strike.”
The girl’s right hand swung downwards.
From the magic circle, a 7 coloured giant mass was released and fell on the squirming humans below to crush them.
The reinforced defensive magic, that will never break—-
Yes, everyone thought that, but at this moment there was no one who tried to insist on it again.
“aa, oh God…….”
They could only pray, for the lives that would never be saved, towards God.
And their greed, wishes, shouts, and pain were all swallowed by the 7 coloured light—
*DODON!!!*
Annihilated, without leaving even a single trace.
“un, nice shot ♪!”
With wide smile, the girl felt neither guilt nor regret in killing the men there.
It was truly a fairy like, charming smile.
“Now then, I’m worried about Kurono as well. Let’s go and help him. It seems it was too late for Irz village but whatever, it can’t be helped.”
And thus, after leaving a crater of diameter 50m, the girl left the fountain of light to meet her beloved man.