* * *
Anakin, who smiled as if nothing was wrong, prompted Gilbert to speak in a resolute voice.
“…When I return, I will definitely buy a healing potion.”
Anakin barely held back a laugh and said.
“It’s okay… Haha. I’ll use it gratefully.”
At that moment, Hilde approached the only assassin who was still breathing.
He stood in front of him and quietly asked.
“Who is the mastermind? What is your purpose for interfering with the request?”
Even when asked chillingly, the assassin grimaced and said with difficulty.
“…Kuk. Seeing that crazy magic, you must be from the Astar family. Are you Hilde Astar?”
“You’re not talking sense. I will cast a Confession Spell.”
“…Try it. You really are… Cough!”
Hilde choked the man without showing any expression.
As he gradually applied more force to the hand he was holding, the assassin struggled violently.
Only then did Hilde let go of his neck.
“Gasp… huff. Cough, cough.”
Hilde spoke to the assassin, who was coughing and gasping for breath as if he were about to pass out.
“So, I asked a second time, who sent you?”
As there was still no answer, Hilde had no choice but to attempt to cast the Confession Spell.
Rumble.
A deep vibration in the ground that everyone present could feel.
Gilbert and Anakin, feeling an ominous, calm-before-the-storm chill, looked around.
A bad premonition is sometimes accurate.
An attack appeared from somewhere and was shot towards Anakin and Gilbert.
Whoosh.
The attack sliced through the air, then curved its path like a snake and returned.
Anakin erected a mana shield and confronted it head-on.
Crrrackle.
The force was so strong that Anakin’s back foot gradually slid backward from the friction with the ground.
Anakin clenched his teeth.
Mana was being consumed at a frightening speed.
The shield cracked at a speed incomparably faster than any attack it had faced so far.
The terrified children bolted out of the forest.
What… is this?
The force was getting stronger and stronger, as if someone was pouring more power into the attack.
Hilde looked at Anakin, who was holding on, and quickly shifted his gaze to the top of the trees.
He could faintly feel the flow of mana.
Hilde immediately cast a spell in that direction.
“Hell Fire.”
The trajectory of the fire shot up into the sky.
And without hesitation, he shot it towards the branch of the big tree.
Whoosh.
Then, a dense mana shield was generated above that branch.
“What? How did you know?”
A playful female voice.
The ruthless intimidation and bloodthirsty atmosphere carried in her voice overwhelmed them.
Her relaxed attitude made it clear that she was the master of these assassins.
Her legs and a face covered by a veil slowly came into view.
She was wearing a pitch-black hood, but her figure was accentuated, giving off a subtle sensuality.
“How did you know? Big boy.”
She asked Hilde, but he remained silent with a hardened face.
Then, the corners of her lips, visible through the veil, slowly curved upward.
“You were holding my subordinate. Why didn’t you finish him off?”
Neither Gilbert nor Anakin dared to move under her pressure.
They didn’t even need to fight to know.
The difference in power between them and her was vast.
With an animalistic intuition that any reckless movement would get his neck severed, Anakin quietly held his breath.
“You’re really quiet. Are all kids these days like this, or is it because… you’re a noble child?”
“…”
Where on earth did such a monster appear from?
At least a high-ranking student of one of the five great schools… no, maybe even more than that.
Her composure in this situation suggested she had a lot of combat experience.
The feeling and atmosphere suggested she wasn’t affiliated with a school… and a person affiliated with a school wouldn’t use such a cruel tactic as taking children hostage.
She slowly descended from the tree and set foot on the ground.
The still-raised corners of her mouth indicated that she was actually enjoying this situation.
“I’ve killed so many nobles, you see. They’re definitely different from commoners. Sometimes the little ones beg for their lives, but most adult nobles never did.”
“…What do you want?”
At Hilde’s words, she widened her eyes in surprise and then began to laugh.
“Puhahaha! Look at this. How bold.”
While she was laughing, Hilde glanced back at Anakin.
Recognizing the signal, Anakin subtly nodded.
“Excuse me. Why are you trying to steal this item? What on earth is inside…”
Gilbert spoke to her with a trembling voice.
Then she said.
“Hmm. Well, I received orders from above, so… I don’t really know. I was already annoyed because so many of the toys I was raising died while I was away recently.”
Hearing that, Anakin recalled the bandits he had encountered when he went to take the exam with Mikhail.
Could those bandits have been that woman’s toys?
If so, the arrogant attitude of those bandits made sense.
There would be few who could deal with that woman besides someone formidable.
She said she came down with orders from above…
What kind of place is it that commits such acts using bandits?
“If we hand over the item, will you spare us?”
Gilbert continued the conversation.
Only then did Anakin realize that Gilbert was trying to attract her attention to allow Hilde and himself to escape safely.
“Then what do I gain?”
Hilde slowly approached them.
However, Anakin’s gaze was still fixed on Gilbert, who was talking to her.
“Please tell us what you want.”
Sweat streamed down Gilbert’s back.
The chilling air felt like a premonition of death.
Currently, that woman didn’t know that Hilde could use Teleportation.
Teleportation Scrolls must be held in hand and the incantation spoken, which carries a high risk of exposure, but Hilde’s Teleportation had no such constraints and was unexpected, making the risk of detection low.
What crazy mage would think a mere 15-year-old could cast Teleportation?
A spell that even high-ranking mages can use only sparingly.
Therefore, if he sacrificed himself, the probability of them escaping would increase even more.
His life might have been unsatisfying, but he had no regrets about this death.
He had wandered aimlessly without purpose, and at one point, he had seduced innocent women and replaced his lovers daily.
He vividly remembered the day he got sick of that, too, and started using drugs.
Such a man was now trying to live a decent life, doing things like this.
But if he sacrificed himself for these children at the end, wouldn’t he avoid hell?
Gilbert hid his trembling hands behind his back.
‘Run away quickly, kids.’
“What trick are you trying to pull while trembling like that?”
Just as she was beginning to notice something suspicious,
A huge flash of light erupted from Anakin and Hilde’s side.
It seemed they had finally escaped.
Just as he was about to resign himself and take out the scroll, a sharp wind whip flew from the direction of the flash towards her neck.
Shhhrrk!
The whip left a deep wound on her neck.
Her eyes completely changed at the drops of blood falling down.
“Huh?”
The flashing in her eyes was terrifying.
Immediately after, Anakin threw the fireball he had pre-casted at her.
While she was dealing with the surprise attack, Anakin ran towards Gilbert. Gilbert looked at them with wide eyes.
“Let’s fight as much as we can and then escape.”
Behind them, Hilde was confronting her with all his might.
“Why didn’t you escape…”
Gilbert, who had clenched his trembling hands tightly, asked Anakin.
Then Anakin replied.
“We can’t just leave you alone, Mr. Gilbert.”
“…”
Anakin glanced at Gilbert’s face and then headed back towards her.
The magic of those who were desperately fighting her was indeed powerful enough to be called disciples of Pasadian.
So much so that they did not look their age at all.
Anakin’s flames surrounded her, and Hilde’s lightning bolts struck her like arrows.
The power was not this strong when they were dealing with the assassins.
Only then did Gilbert realize that they were giving it their all now.
The fact that he had only thought about dying while the children were fighting so hard and risking their lives… made him feel pathetic and ashamed.
Gilbert clenched his fist once more, drew his sword, and plunged himself into the fray without hesitation.
Hilde summoned a shadow spear made of mana.
As Hilde leaped off the ground, a thick vine shot up from her feet and coiled around her body.
She cut the vine off at once, but Hilde’s magic was faster than that.
Like a high-ranking mage, Hilde instantly brought down a massive, sparking spear directly onto her head in that split second.
Crash!
Anakin, too, without a moment’s rest, poured out his remaining mana onto her.
“Elemental Explosion.”
His hands were shaking, but the spell hit its target.
Her condition was hidden by the thick smoke, but he expected that she wouldn’t be unharmed after all that.
However, contrary to Anakin’s expectation, a powerful vortex was still swirling within the blurry smoke.
Eventually, she appeared, her clothes tattered and covered in wounds.
The corners of her mouth were still turned up.
“Cute little ones. Is this all you have?”
* * *
