CH 78

We climbed the mountain in search of Milo. Occasionally, demons would appear like wild animals, but we easily defeated them with our magical powers.

“Kkaegang….”

The silver aura emanating from my body caused the D-rank demon, the Black Rabbit, to faint. Jed, who was watching beside me, praised me.

“You did well.”

“Are you only praising me for defeating a D-rank demon?”

I felt a slight blow to my self-esteem, thinking that Jed underestimated my abilities.

I can defeat C-rank demons even without using magic!

Next, a B-rank demon, the Heart Monkey, appeared.

Before the Heart Monkey could attack, I created a cuboid with silver energy. And thwack! When I hit it, the Heart Monkey was knocked out, its body crumpled.

Jed exclaimed in admiration.

“Impressive, May.”

I felt a surge of pride, and my shoulders lifted.

“It’s easy when you have magical power.”

Diego, who had been observing this, casually lowered his gaze to the approaching Heart Monkey. He lightly tapped its forehead with his finger.

Shwoong! Thud!

The B-rank monkey flew away and collided with a thick tree, causing it to lose consciousness.

“It’s not embarrassing to feel proud of such a simple achievement when you’re an official guardian knight, right?”

Diego started a needless argument with me. He didn’t even apologize for pouring whiskey on me. It seemed like he really didn’t like me.

“It’s just because it’s the first time I’ve defeated a B-rank demon. Of course, as a guardian knight, I should be able to do this.”

I coldly retorted and turned to Jed.

“Since the mountain is vast, it would be better if we spread out, right? That way, we can find Milo faster.”

“Do we have to go separately?”

Jed seemed reluctant to be separated from me.

“It might be dangerous to go alone. Let’s go together.”

“If it’s dangerous, the guardian knights will help us. Let’s search separately for now.”

However, I firmly rejected his suggestion because I was worried that we wouldn’t find Milo even if it got dark. If we considered efficiency, it was better to split up and search.

“I’ll go this way. You go that way.”

After pointing to the middle path, I indicated the left path closer to Jed. Diego automatically had to take the right path.

Jed reluctantly followed my words, seemingly having no other choice.

“Alright, if you spot Gliw-gon, blow the whistle.”

When we went separately, we each wore a whistle around our necks to communicate our positions to each other.

“Yes, you too.”

After seeing Jed off, I continued on the middle path, deliberately ignoring Diego, who kept staring at me as if he had something to say.

However, after only a few steps, my foot caught on a branch, causing me to stumble and fall.

“Ouch!”

Diego was startled and taken aback when he saw me fall.

I grimaced as I looked at my knee, which had hit the ground. It was slightly scraped and bruised.

As I looked back at Diego, who had paused, our eyes met. Diego’s pupils trembled for a moment, then he quickly turned his head and went on his own way.

I sighed and got up from the ground.

“Haah… I should have used magic to protect my knees when I fell…”

It happened too suddenly, so I couldn’t use magic. Using magic in unexpected situations required consistent practice.

“I should practice hard from now on.”

I brushed the dirt off my hands and continued forward.

* * *

An hour later, I found Gliw-gon instead of Milo. It was a huge dragon that appeared to be thirty times the size of my body, with a dark gray color.

Every time the demon took a breath, the wind stirred.

Nervously, I touched the whistle.

“I was supposed to blow the whistle when I found it…”

But when it came down to it, I couldn’t muster the courage. I felt overwhelmed by the imposing presence of the colossal Gliw-gon.

It seemed dangerous to face it alone. I had to gather the guardian knights. I searched for the nearby guardian knights.

There were only two guardian knights nearby. I quickly informed them of the situation, and the three of us decided to confront Gliw-gon together.

“If Gliw-gon spots us, it’ll be troublesome. Let’s try to make it faint in one blow.”

“That’s a good idea. If we aim for its neck with all our strength, we should be able to take it down.”

We approached the target quietly and gathered our magical powers.

“On the count of three, we attack. One.”

“Two.”

“Three…!”

Boom! Thump! Crunch!

With all our might, we aimed for Gliw-gon’s neck, but instead of breaking, its neck, as solid as a rock, was severed.

“Is it dead…?”

However, the body of Gliw-gon, now split into two pieces, disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was as if it had been an illusion from the beginning. It turned out to be a clone, not the real body.

“Damn, was it a trap?”

Four Gliwg-ons appeared around me.

“Oh no…!”

The four giant Gliw-gons lifted their massive feet, intending to crush us.

Thump! Thump, thump!

I and the guardian knights threw ourselves out of the way, avoiding being crushed by Gliw-gon. The ground shook as if in an earthquake whenever Gliw-gon struck the ground, causing deep craters.

“We three won’t be able to handle this…! We need more guardian knights!”

Upon hearing that, I quickly avoided Gliw-gon’s sweeping front paw and blew the whistle urgently.

Beep, beep!

Upon hearing the sound from a distance, the guardian knights who had heard it started running towards us one by one.

We gathered our magical powers and defended against the attacks of the four Gliw-gons. When two Gliw-gons attacked simultaneously, we barely managed to block and evade. Then one of the guardian knights shouted at me.

“Leave it to us here, and please find the main body of Gliw-gon! It’s pointless unless we kill the main body!”

“Got it…!”

I quickly left the area to find the main body. As I ran through the empty mountain path, I thought to myself.

“This is why it’s S-rank.”

Gliw-gon could create an infinite number of clones. It was highly disadvantageous for us to have to face both the clones and the main body.

If we didn’t find the main body, everyone could die. We had to find the main body before wasting more magical power on the clones.

I looked around anxiously. Soon, a cave came into view. It was a shady cave that was difficult to see the inside from a distance.

It was an obviously suspicious cave, so I decided not to enter it, fearing that Milo might be harmed if Gliw-gon went into the cave.

This time, I didn’t falter when facing Gliw-gon. I had fought its clones and understood it well.

“Taking revenge and kidnapping the Duke’s son to turn him into this… There’s no other demon as cowardly as you.”

Gliw-gon snickered.

“You’re a laughable human. To use the word ‘cowardly’ against a demon.”

“I will personally kill you.”

I would save Milo and collect the bounty.

“If you want to challenge me, I will gladly accept.”

A tense battle ensued. I had no intention of losing in this battle.

“You’re mistaken. ‘Challenge’ is not a word for the likes of you. In a situation like this, it’s not a challenge, but an education.”

“You fool. Don’t you know that the Crown Prince lost his arm because of me? The Crown Prince was one of the most powerful individuals in the Third Knight Division at the time. Even he couldn’t kill me alone. So why would a small fry like you, a girl, think you can kill me?”

I laughed heartily at his words.

“Are you serious with those words? Now that I look at it, it seems like you’re the one who’s being dismissive. But what should I do? It doesn’t seem like the power I possess is something you can disregard.”

Earlier, while fighting Gliwgon’s clones, I realized something. The amount of power I currently possess is considerable.

While everyone else was getting tired, I was completely fine.

Whether it was because I had a lot of power or because my stamina consumption was significantly lower compared to others.

Silver energy emitted from my body.

“If you can’t believe it, then experience it for yourself.”

As I finished speaking, a wave of energy flowed from my hand and quickly attacked Gliw-gon.

Wherever the wave touched, long and thin wounds appeared, and blood flowed.

“You foolish human.”

Gliw-gon created clones that surrounded me in a circle, trapping me. Unfortunately, as the clones moved around, it became impossible to distinguish which ones were the real Gliw-gon and which were the clones.

“Leave now, human.”

The main body of Gliw-gon and the clones all gathered energy in their mouths. As soon as a grayish ball was formed, it was thrown at me, but I simply flew through the air and evaded it easily.

Bang, bang― Bang, bang―

The gray balls exploded in the air like fireworks.

As I floated in the air, Gliw-gon targeted me from above and attacked. However, I easily avoided it.

“Is this the best speed you’ve got? You’re too slow. That’s why you’ll receive a critical blow from the Duke with just one attack.”

I deliberately provoked Gliw-gon in order to find the main body.

‘The one who reacts first is the main body…!’