—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
While the trio pursuing Chrom and Regret was consumed by anxiety and astonishment, Chrom himself wasn’t exactly at ease.
‘Damn it, if the princess takes down Alphonse or that Grendel guy and heads straight for the finish line, we’re screwed!’
He briefly regretted not finishing off Alphonse’s team on the spot, but he knew that if they had continued fighting, they would have been easy prey for the princess’s team.
All he could do now was hope Alphonse’s team could buy them some time.
“Regret! How far?!”
“Almost there!”
“Then I’ll hold them off, and you—”
He didn’t finish his sentence.
KABOOM!
An explosion and a flash of light.
The ground trembled.
Chrom turned to see the muscular giant, Grendel, burst from the bushes.
“GRAAAAH!”
Grendel was in bad shape.
His right hand was mangled beyond recognition.
Lacerations and burns covered his bronze skin, and wooden splinters were embedded in his back.
He roared, spotted Chrom and Regret, and suddenly charged towards them.
Chrom and Regret gripped their weapons, expecting an attack.
But Grendel ignored them and slammed into the three members of the princess’s team who were pursuing them.
“You beast! How dare you!”
The knight’s rapier flashed.
A precise, practiced thrust, aimed at Grendel’s outstretched left arm.
The knight was certain it would sever the limb.
But, she was wrong.
Blood sprayed, flesh parted.
But that was all.
The steel blade penetrated a third of the way into Grendel’s thick arm, like sinking a knife into a log, but it stopped before reaching the bone.
Grendel’s massive hand closed around the knight’s neck.
A sickening crunch echoed through the forest.
The knight’s arms went limp.
If the two mages had reacted instantly, they might have overwhelmed the injured Grendel.
But the gruesome sight and the horrifying sound paralyzed them for a crucial moment, a fatal mistake against a wounded beast.
Before the fallen knight could be teleported away, Grendel’s kick slammed into the male mage’s chest.
Like being hit by a speeding boulder, the mage’s ribs shattered, his internal organs, including his heart, were crushed and mangled.
His bracelet activated before his brain could register the pain, sparing him the sensation of his insides turning into mush.
“Eek!”
The girl in robes screamed as Grendel turned his gaze on her.
Thoughts of this being a school exercise, of her fallen comrades not actually being dead, vanished from her mind.
Unable to even cast a shield, she collapsed and closed her eyes as Grendel’s fist descended.
—Then, instead of the expected impact, a fierce gust of wind swept over her.
A volley of mana bullets bombarded Grendel.
Each bullet resembled a Low-Rank Magic Arrow, but with ten times the mana concentration.
Dozens of them.
Even Grendel, who would shrug off normal arrows, couldn’t withstand this onslaught.
Before he could even fall, his battered body, reduced to a bloody mess, was teleported away.
Lyla Everblaze Barhardt gently stroked the hair of the stunned mage girl.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
“Y-Your Highness…!”
Watching from a distance, Chrom muttered in admiration,
“Wow, she’s like the main character in a play.”
“Enjoying the show? Shouldn’t we be running?”
Regret gave him a look that said seriously?
“With that crazy barrage of mana bullets flying around? Do you think we’d make it to the finish line?”
“…Good point.”
As the mage girl regained her composure, Lyla turned her attention to Chrom and Regret.
“Well then, shall we settle this, Chrom?”
“We’re practically at the finish line. How about a gentleman’s agreement? A race to the end?”
Lyla smiled.
“I’m sorry, Chrom. I’m not very fast. If we’re going to race, I’ll have to…clear the path a bit.”
It was a chilling declaration, implying she would flatten anything in her way.
Including people.
“Well…guess we have no choice!”
Chrom vanished into the forest, and Regret charged towards Lyla.
Her speed was unbelievable, considering she had been running non-stop all day.
While Grendel’s movements had resembled a wounded bear, Regret, weaving through the trees, was like a hunting wolf.
The distance between them closed in an instant.
Before the mage girl could even call out to Lyla, Regret’s Ancient Guardian’s Longsword swung down towards Lyla’s head.
Clang!
The potentially fatal blow struck a translucent barrier that had materialized around Lyla.
Regret frowned at the strange sensation, like hitting a thick wall with a knife.
For Lyla, this was the expected outcome.
The High-Rank Magic Barrier was an absolute defense.
Melee weapons couldn’t penetrate it.
It was proof that Combat students couldn’t defeat her.
‘She’s probably trying to distract me while Chrom takes out my teammates and escapes…’
But Regret wasn’t a threat.
The only thing Lyla was wary of were Chrom’s strange magic tools.
While rare, if he possessed a Gem of Attributes capable of replicating High-Rank spells, even she could be caught off guard.
Lyla’s focus was on Chrom, who was waiting in the forest for an ambush.
And because of that, she didn’t realize
What kind of opponent she was facing.
Regret switched from the Ancient Guardian’s Longsword to the Impact Amplifying Hammer.
Putting her weight and momentum into the swing, she struck the barrier.
This time, a booming sound, like an explosion, reverberated.
Lyla was slightly surprised to see a small crack appear in the barrier.
It was a decent attack, equivalent to two Mid-Rank spells.
Impressive for a simple hammer swing, but ultimately insignificant.
The High-Rank Magic Barrier required at least 500 mana, making it a trump card for most mages.
But for Lyla, with over 8000 mana, it was just a convenient utility spell.
Even if it broke, she could simply recast it.
And hitting something solid meant absorbing the impact.
Whether Regret’s body or her hammer broke first, it was clear she would give up before the barrier did—
BOOM!
Crack!
A large, visible crack appeared in the supposedly impenetrable barrier.
Lyla’s eyes widened in surprise, then in horror.
The third swing.
A wide arc, from upper right to lower left.
The inside of the barrier rippled like it had been hit by a cannonball.
Lyla instinctively cast Mid-Rank Magic Mace, colliding with Regret’s attack and sending her flying backward.
Lyla was unharmed, but the mental shock was immense.
“…Did you just break my High-Rank Magic Barrier? With a hammer?”
Regret, landing gracefully with a backflip, replied with a nonchalant shrug,
“Barrier or whatever, it’s still a wall, right? Hit it enough, and it breaks.”
It was absurdly simple logic.
If that were true, why would siege weapons like battering rams and catapults even exist?
Why would breaching the gate be so crucial in a siege?
Just give every soldier a hammer and have them hit the walls three times.
And it was the ability to make such absurd logic a reality that made high-ranking mana users superhuman.
They defied common sense, limitations, and conventional wisdom with their sheer power.
They were human in form, but superhuman in essence.
Just like Lyla Everblaze Barhardt herself.
And perhaps, like the girl before her.
The Heir of Red and Blue Blood asked,
“I am Lyla. May I ask your name again?”
The Nameless War Ghost replied,
“Regret. —The one who’s going to crush you”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
