“Anastasia, is it just the two of you here?” While keeping an eye on the four giant jellyfish floating in the hall, Fia moved to join Anastasia.
Even though “Spirit Fire” hadn’t managed to kill these four massive energy jellyfish, it had still done some damage, and as long as she could hurt them, Fia wasn’t worried about not being able to finish them off.
Up to now, Fia had never experienced what it felt like to run out of mana.
“Yes.” Anastasia nodded hard.
Seeing Fia arrive, she visibly relaxed, sweat running down her cheeks and her golden bangs damp with moisture—a sign she’d been fighting hard for a while.
“Your Highness, how could you come to such a dangerous place!”
“Don’t talk about me for now, answer my question.”
Anastasia still wanted to say more, but her duty made her answer Fia first.
“My subordinate and Kirill originally wanted to investigate who controls the Unsinkable Moon, but while investigating, we found traces of Princess Liti and followed them here.
We didn’t expect to run into the Darkspawn invading the temple.
The Darkspawn of the New Moon are at their strongest this month.
Your Highness, we need to deal with these four Nether Hunters quickly and go find Princess Liti.”
The so-called Nether Hunters must be the four energy jellyfish floating in the hall.
Fia looked around the hall.
The jellyfish called Nether Hunters were all staring at her, their human-like faces twisted with wariness and hatred, enough to trigger the uncanny valley effect.
“I know where Liti is being held.
Let’s go find her now.”
“Nether Hunters can pass through walls.
Once we enter a narrow corridor, it’ll be hard for us to fight at full strength.
That’s why my subordinate and the church’s paladins are staying in this main hall—to avoid getting trapped in tight spaces.”
“Even your ‘Calamity Red Lotus’ can barely hurt them, Captain.
We can only hope that cardinal over there can help.
The church’s faith magic can counter these ghosts.”
Fully armored, the male elf named Kirill pointed to the ceiling in the center of the hall.
In the middle of the circular training ground, a huge droplet-shaped sphere made entirely of chaos hung from above.
Directly beneath it was a man in red robes, his head swallowed by chaos, only the lower half of his body visible.
Since the man wasn’t moving at all, Fia at first thought he was dead, but “Wind of Detection” showed a strong mana reaction, meaning he was still alive.
That must be the cardinal Kirill was talking about.
Can we really count on him? Fia had a big question mark in her mind.
Rather than trusting a cardinal whose combat ability was unknown, she trusted herself more.
The concept of energy beings wasn’t new to her; to deal with them, you just needed a plasma lightsaber or an electromagnetic vibration blade.
Even if she didn’t have those tools on hand, she had other options now.
“Now’s the time! Paladins, block the demon wolves and chaos! Priests, use prayer magic to restrict the Nether Hunters! I’ll finish them off!” A paladin’s booming command echoed from the other end of the hall.
Like a battle horn, the voice shattered the brief calm after the explosion, and chaos erupted again.
Packs of demon wolves and chaos creatures charged straight at Fia and Anastasia, barely any bothering to slow the paladins down.
Clearly, Fia was seen as the top threat.
Also, as if commanding the demon wolves and chaos, the four Nether Hunters let out deep-sea whale-like calls that made everyone’s skin crawl.
Anyone with thalassophobia would probably be scared out of their wits by that sound.
“They’re coming for us! Kirill, protect Her Highness!”
“Yes!”
Anastasia bent her knees slightly, lowered her center of gravity, and stepped forward with her straight sword.
What caught Fia’s attention was the deep blue glow on Anastasia’s blade, much like the “Enchanted Blade” Claire had used, only a different color.
At least fifty demon wolves charged at Anastasia, with chaos attacking from both the ceiling and the floor.
But Anastasia just quietly chanted a spell, and when the wolves and chaos were less than five meters away, she unleashed the deep blue mana she’d gathered with a horizontal slash.
“Dragon-Serpent Slash!”
The deep blue blade of energy shot from her sword and exploded in size, spanning most of the training ground in the blink of an eye.
The sizzle of melting ice and the wolves’ screams rang out one after another, but most of the wolves didn’t even have time to scream before being sliced in half by the blue blade.
Anastasia’s attack was like hitting the delete key, wiping out the chaos and demon wolves charging at her.
The chaos attacking from the ceiling were frozen by Kirill at Fia’s side.
But Kirill was clearly not as strong as Anastasia; he could only freeze the chaos, not destroy them.
Fia finished them off with a few fireballs, clearing the ceiling.
Kirill, helmeted, looked like he wanted to say something in response to Fia’s help, but before Fia could ask, the paladins at the other end of the hall finally clashed with the wave of chaos and demon wolves.
If Anastasia’s response was overwhelming, the paladins’ side could only be described as a hard-fought struggle.
The demon wolves were incredibly strong.
Even paladins with tower shields as tall as a person were forced back a step when a wolf hit them head-on.
Not only that, the wolves’ defense was impressive too.
Unless they were stabbed directly in the throat or eyes, the long spears thrust through the gaps in the shields could only push the wolves back, barely hurting them.
When the spears struck the wolves’ black scales, Fia could even see sparks fly.
As for the shapeless chaos, the priests behind the paladins handled them.
Priests were usually faith magic casters, but since they were out of mana, they didn’t attack.
Instead, they used a defensive spell called “Wall of Prayer” to create a golden barrier just big enough to enclose their group, separating the chaos from the paladins.
The demon wolves could pass through the barrier easily, but the chaos was blocked outside.
It was pretty amazing.
Now it was just a matter of seeing how the commander performed—or maybe not.
Under the “Illumination” spell, Fia saw the commander get smacked into a wall by a jellyfish tentacle.
Even though a priest had used faith magic to restrict the jellyfish, the difference in strength was obvious.
Still, the commander’s attack wasn’t totally useless.
Fia clearly saw that just before the giant jellyfish smacked the commander, its color changed from translucent to white.
And since it was an energy being but could touch the physical commander, for that moment, the jellyfish must have turned into a physical monster.
Before it could turn back into an energy being, Fia decided to test her theory with a “Flame Storm.”
She set the coordinates under the floating jellyfish and triggered “Flame Storm.”
Orange-red light and a ground-shaking boom filled the hall again.
But unlike before, when it only disrupted the jellyfish’s dive, this time the giant jellyfish was blown apart like chunks of meat, its watery white remains splattering against the walls with a wet smack.
The mana reaction vanished completely.
The four jellyfish in the hall were now three.
The plan worked.
“Cough, cough—hey, elf princess, thanks! But that kind of spell uses way too much mana.
These Nether Hunters don’t have any defensive magic, so you can take them out with lower-level spells! I’ll make them visible, you finish them off, and we’ll break out together!”
Even after being slammed into the wall by a jellyfish, the commander’s voice was still loud, though the blood at the corner of his mouth showed how bad his condition was.
He couldn’t take many more hits like that.
Better to do it myself.
The paladin’s words made Fia like him, but she had no intention of following his plan.
She already knew the jellyfish’s weakness, but waiting for them to become visible before attacking—who knew how long that would take? She had more than just “Spirit Fire” at her disposal.
While Anastasia and Kirill held off the chaos, Fia quietly began chanting a spell.
The death of their companion clearly enraged the three remaining jellyfish.
With furious expressions, they dove at Fia from three directions.
They didn’t even have physical bodies, but the sound they made was like artillery shells whistling through the air.
“—‘Psychic Shock.’”
Much like Claire’s “Magic Break,” an invisible wave only Fia could see rippled out.
The jellyfish hit by it only paused for half a second, then kept coming, shrieking as they dove at Fia.
But Fia had already achieved her goal.
“Psychic Shock” really did work on energy beings.
First, use “Psychic Shock” to weaken them, then finish them off with “Spirit Fire.”
“Super Calculation” once again simulated “Psychic Shock” in Fia’s mind.
Unlike the elemental magic she’d learned before, “Psychic Shock” didn’t combine mana with elements.
Instead, it converted mana into another kind of energy, compressed it, and then released it all at once.
Then…
Anastasia and Kirill’s anxious shouts echoed in her ears.
Fia quickly calculated the angle and radius for “Psychic Shock” in her mind and raised her right hand.
“Psychic Shock.”
Bang—
If anyone had been watching the dust swirling in the hall, they would have noticed it suddenly whipped up like waves in a storm, as if blown by a powerful wind.
Corresponding to these waves was a spreading shockwave.
The energy was so concentrated that the usually colorless and transparent “Psychic Shock” flashed as a burst of white light before their eyes.
By the time the three giant jellyfish realized something was wrong, the “Psychic Shock” had already reached them.
Three crisp pops as the water spheres burst.
It was as if they’d been sliced by a sharp blade—each jellyfish exploded from the middle, sending their clear blood flying everywhere.
Hmm…
Fia, who had been preparing to use “Spirit Fire” to finish off the jellyfish, looked a little conflicted.
The magic index clearly said Psychic Shock couldn’t kill, but now it had instantly wiped out fourth-tier monsters.
Either “Psychic Shock” was especially effective against energy beings, or “Super Calculation” had overpowered the magic’s effect.
She’d thought she’d gotten a nice non-lethal spell.
Until she figured out how resistant different creatures were to “Psychic Shock,” she’d better not use it on people.
If she lost control and turned a petty criminal into a vegetable, she’d be in trouble.
“Uh…”
“A-Am I dreaming? Your Highness, what kind of magic did you just use…?”
Anastasia and Kirill were both stunned, their outstretched hands awkwardly frozen in midair.
They’d been ready to shield Fia with their bodies, but she’d just raised her hand and resolved the crisis.
Three fourth-tier Nether Hunters—any fifth-tier holy magic caster would have had to struggle to take them down, but Fia had skipped the chanting and used a brand-new spell they’d never seen before to kill them in a blink.
Realizing she’d done something eye-catching, Fia forced down her surprise and kept her face expressionless and dignified.
“Don’t make a fuss.
Go save Liti.”
“Yes!”
At the mention of Liti, Anastasia and Kirill’s expressions turned deadly serious.
As for the paladins—Fia glanced at the other end of the hall, where they were still fighting chaos and demon wolves.
Since they’d agreed to cooperate, she might as well help them out.
Calculating the trajectory, Fia launched a total of five hundred fireballs at the chaos and demon wolves in the distance.
With the roar of explosions and dazzling firelight, in just a few breaths, only a bit of chaos clung to the ceiling.
The once-smooth floor was now pitted with craters and charred corpses, the stench making everyone wrinkle their noses.
The rescued paladins looked at each other in disbelief.
Considering the paladins were exhausted and would probably be intercepted by chaos before they got halfway out, Fia glanced at the red-robed archbishop whose head had been eaten by chaos on the ceiling, and casually released a wind blade to free the archbishop from the water droplet.
The stunned paladins and priests didn’t hesitate anymore, rushing to their archbishop.
The original commander finally snapped out of it, panting as he ran up to Fia, his expression complicated but his eyes full of gratitude.
“Th-thank you… We’re supposed to be enemies, but you saved us…”
“Get out of here.
This isn’t a place for you.”
“Wait, you’re looking for Princess Liti, right?” As Fia turned to leave, the commander quickly raised his right hand to stop her.
“Just keep going left down the corridor and you’ll find her.
The Inquisitor already took people down to rescue her, so you don’t have to worry!”
Fia didn’t answer the paladin and just led Anastasia and Kirill away.
The commander’s booming voice echoed behind them.
“The Church won’t forget your kindness! When we get back to the surface, I’ll report this to the archbishop so you two can sit down and talk properly!”
Even after saving their lives, they were still thinking about negotiations.
Fia curled her lip.
Once she got back to the surface, she’d have to extort a hefty reward from these devout believers and send it home as a feat for the elven princess.
Fia was serious about that.
With Kirill and Anastasia’s help, moving forward was much easier.
Fia cleared the way, while Kirill and Anastasia guarded against any chaos attacking from behind.
After two forks in the path, the three finally reached where Liti was being held—this was the end of the corridor, with nowhere else to go.
“Spirit Fire.”
Fia expertly burned away all the chaos in the corridor, revealing three tightly shut iron doors.
Just as the young nun had said, the doors were protected by powerful magic circles.
Even when swept by “Spirit Fire,” they only glowed with purple light.
But what puzzled Fia was that she didn’t see the Inquisitor the commander mentioned, and “Wind of Detection” showed that the people behind the doors hadn’t been taken away.
Either way, the people inside were safe.
That fact reassured Fia—she hadn’t arrived too late.
A blood-related little sister, huh…
As she stepped forward, Fia muttered to herself.
In her original world, she had no family, so meeting a relative for the first time made her anxious, unsure how to act.
She wondered if this sister she’d never met would accept her like Anastasia did.
Thinking about it made Fia uncontrollably nervous.
Her hand, capable of casting tenth-tier magic, was actually sweating a little.
“Hoo—”
Hesitating wouldn’t change anything.
She might as well prepare for the worst and go meet her sister.
Liti Alexia Yusil.
Hopefully she has a decent personality.
With that thought, Fia nodded to Anastasia and Kirill behind her, walked up to the room with the second-tier magic reaction, gathered a strengthened “Wind Blade” in her hand, and forced the door open.
