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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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“You’re late.”
“Well, I had to make myself presentable for our Lord, didn’t I?”
“….”
Lexa, striking a pose with one hand framing her face and batting her eyes dramatically, drew a frown from Devron, another high-ranking executive.
Lexa, the Azure Witch, was favored by God R’hell.
True to her moniker, her alluring yet flippant manner of speaking was infuriating.
She was four hours late, yet she appeared without a single apology, flaunting her beauty and taunting him.
How could he not be angry?
He wanted to take his halberd and chop off her viperous tongue, but he merely suppressed a growl.
If she were even slightly weaker than him, he would have ripped that serpentine tongue out of her mouth.
He swallowed his frustration.
“So, what’s the situation?”
“I found a suspicious entrance, but I haven’t figured out how to get in yet. It seems to be sealed with a rather powerful spell.”
“Hmm~ Really?”
They were fellow high-ranking executives, yet not equals.
That was the nature of the relationship between Lexa, Devron, and Gallidum.
And also the reason he had to swallow his anger.
Even if he and Gallidum joined forces, they wouldn’t be a match for Lexa’s silver tongue, let alone her power.
So, after reporting to Lexa, Devron approached the cave entrance.
A magic barrier sealed the entrance.
“Hmph.”
Devron stood before the entrance, took a deep breath, and,
Gripped his halberd with both hands and pulled it back.
Black mana coiled around the wickedly sharp blade.
And then,
BOOM!!
The halberd slammed into the barrier with a deafening roar.
The impact was so powerful that a shockwave erupted, sending dust and debris flying and knocked back several nearby villains.
But,
“…As expected, it’s unyielding.”
The barrier remained intact, without a single crack.
Only a faint scratch marred its surface.
“Damn it! Hurry up and find a way to break this barrier!”
Devron roared, retracting his halberd.
“Yes, sir!”
At his thunderous command, the villainous underlings scurried around and searched the area.
The barrier hummed mockingly.
Devron, with his orc-like face contorted in a grimace andmuttered,
“That lowly bastard. What tricks did he pull?”
The dead tell no tales.
Devron, having asked his futile question, slammed his fist against the barrier.
BAM!
His massive frame, like a sumo wrestler’s, sent tremors through the ground with even a light punch.
“Tsk.”
Devron clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Lexa approached him.
“Having trouble?”
“This is the strongest barrier I’ve ever seen. It’s impossible to destroy. We have to find a way to deactivate it.”
“Really?”
Lexa tapped her lower lip thoughtfully.
She stared intently at the shimmering barrier.
Then, suddenly,
Crack!
She thrust her fingertips into the center of the barrier.
Crackle, sizzle!
Sparks erupted violently.
As her long, blue nails dug deeper, the sparks intensified, and a powerful magical wind began to emanate from the barrier.
“W-what are you doing?! Lexa! You can’t destroy it!”
The spark-filled magical wind swirled around them as Devron raised a hand to shield his face and shouted.
But Lexa’s fingertips continued to penetrate the barrier relentlessly.
One knuckle at a time, they pushed through.
Her expression was calm, but thick veins bulged on her temples.
Even for Lexa, this barrier was a challenge.
Nevertheless,
Crackle!
Fizzle!
She pushed harder, her fingernails digging deeper, and when her fingers were fully through, she spread her legs, lowered her stance, and began to pry the barrier open.
Crack, rip!
At the same time,
Blinding bolts of lightning, like a sudden thunderstorm, erupted outwards, striking down any villains who hadn’t managed to dodge in time.
“Ugh!”
Even Devron wasn’t spared.
His clothes were torn, and his hair stood on end.
But Lexa, gritting her teeth, continued to tear at the barrier.
And then,
CRACK!
With an earth-shattering roar, a massive fissure appeared in the barrier, and the shimmering mana waves ceased their flow.
It was broken.
“Phew.”
Lexa exhaled, flicking away the sparks that danced on her fingertips.
The tension in her shoulders eased, and the veins on her temples receded.
And then,
“Hehe.”
She chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand.
“When the body is weak, the mind suffers. Ever heard that saying, Devron? It’s quite fitting for our monstrous world, isn’t it?”
She taunted him, then patted out the sparks that had ignited his shoulder, and stepped through the gap in the barrier.
“….”
A thick vein throbbed on Devron’s temple, but that was all.
He couldn’t express his anger any further.
He could only grind his teeth in frustration.
And follow Lexa.
‘Bitch.’
He cursed her under his breath.
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Lexa entered the damp cave and wrinkled her nose, summoning a handkerchief to cover it.
“Ugh~ This is a fucking smell.”
It was a fairly large chamber.
A dome-shaped space with a radius of about 200 meters.
In the center, like an isolated island, was a small platform, and in the middle of that platform stood a statue.
An ordinary-looking statue.
A simple, cylindrical stone, without any markings or features.
But the small object floating above it seemed unusual.
A small orb, suspended within a faint blue barrier.
“Hmm, they put up a barrier to hide this?”
Lexa leaped into the air, effortlessly crossing the distance of several dozen meters in a single bound.
Hummm~!
“A double barrier? They really locked it up tight.”
It was a two-layered barrier.
Each layer was likely as strong as the one at the entrance.
First,
Crackle!
She thrust her fingertips into the barrier, just as she had done at the entrance.
But,
“Ugh.”
She couldn’t penetrate the second layer and had to pull back her hand.
She examined her hand, which was now emitting a faint smoke, and looked around.
There was nothing.
Which meant,
“Hmm, a barrier that recognizes a specific individual.”
This type of barrier was typically used to prevent access by anyone other than the designated person.
“Tsk. How troublesome.”
Of course, there were ways to deactivate it.
She just needed a little help.
“What?”
She turned around, but Devron was nowhere to be seen.
“Tsk, that muscle-brained oaf.”
It seemed he hadn’t been able to squeeze through the narrow gap in the barrier.
Lexa clicked her tongue and approached the barrier again.
And then,
“Devron. You could have at least broken through this yourself…”
She stepped back outside and spoke to Devron in a condescending tone.
But the unexpected sight that greeted her made her pause in confusion.
“…What? You guys?”
Devron lay sprawled on the ground, not even close to the entrance, with a gaping hole in his chest.
And behind him stood a group of people who looked like Hunters.
Two women.
One appeared to be middle-aged, and the other much younger.
The older woman had an injured left arm, likely from Devron’s attack.
She aimed an arrow at Lexa and asked,
“Was there anyone else here before us?”
“Your approach is rather rude. I believe I was the one who asked the question first.”
“I asked if anyone else was here.”
The woman remained firm, even in the face of the Azure Witch.
Lexa, unfazed by the arrow pointed at her forehead, didn’t flinch.
Instead, she channeled her blue mana.
Two powerful magical forces clashed.
The tension was so thick it was almost suffocating, and it quickly escalated into a full-blown confrontation.
BOOM!
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‘What?’
‘What the hell?’
‘What just happened?’
‘What is going on?’
Hidden 200 meters away, concealed by my Stealth skill, I watched the scene unfold, with my mind filled with questions.
Everyone else must have been just as confused.
Lexa tearing through the barrier that had withstood Devron’s attacks, one of the strongest high-ranking executives, with her bare hands was one thing.
But who were these Awakened who had suddenly appeared and defeated Devron?
Even if it was a surprise attack, these two women, who had inflicted a fatal blow on a high-ranking executive like Devron and were now attacking with seamless coordination, were clearly incredibly skilled.
“Who… who are they? Did someone else know about this place besides Illusion and us?”
I muttered to myself, and Hye-seo replied,
“That’s impossible…”
She whispered in disbelief.
Na-yeon, Renia, and Su-ah remained silent.
Anyway,
“Let’s go.”
We had to move quickly.
As the old saying goes, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Even if the combined power of those two women rivaled Lexa’s, they wouldn’t be able to defeat her alone.
If I were wearing a scouter from the old ‘Dragon Ball’ anime, it would probably explode from Lexa’s ever-increasing power level.
Therefore,
We had to join the fight.
This might be our only chance to defeat Lexa.
We all equipped our weapons and channeled our mana.
And then, we charged towards the source of the intense magical clash.
Just as the enemy of my enemy was my friend,
I can only hope the saying “no one stands a chance against a gang beating” holds true as well.
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[T/N: Mommy!?]
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