Inside the Abyssal Ancient Battlefield.
After a strong bout of dizziness from the teleportation, the Rose Knights were released from the transfer array, landing heavily on the hard, scorching earth.
In contrast, Isavel’s toes lightly touched the ground, her landing as graceful as a butterfly.
Her posture was far more elegant than the others.
At that moment, she immediately released her magic perception, her deep eyes filled with caution and doubt.
The sky here was a terrifying dark red, like indelible stained blood.
There were no sun, moon, or stars in the sky, making it feel exceptionally monotonous and lonely.
The ground was the same dark red. It seemed a battle had erupted here recently, as the soil was scorched and cracked.
Giant craters were visible everywhere, along with scattered white bones and decaying weapons.
At the same time, the air was thick with the smell of blood and rot.
There was even a lingering sense of resentment that whistled through the air like a gale.
‘The environment here… is quite different from the “vicinity of the stronghold” Kurt described.’
Not only that, Isavel recalled the flash of Abyssal Magic she felt during the teleportation.
If nothing went wrong, the teleportation magic circle must have sent them to a location very far from the stronghold.
If she were to be more pessimistic, they might even be right inside a demon’s Nest.
Feeling the Abyssal Magic flowing like water around them, Isavel narrowed her eyes.
Leanna gripped her sword hilt, her sharp gaze scanning the dead, oppressive wasteland. “Is this the Abyssal Ancient Battlefield?” she asked in a low voice.
Teresa’s brow was furrowed as Cleansing Magic flowed continuously over the surface of her body, seemingly trying to dispel the sticky scent of blood in the air.
“It’s truly uncomfortable. The Demon’s Aura is everywhere…”
Meilin unfurled a simple Positioning Scroll, only to find the magic needle spinning wildly, unable to identify a direction at all.
Seeing this, her expression turned worried.
“Where is the stronghold the Tower Master mentioned? Why can’t I sense any beacons left by the Archmage Tower or the magic fluctuations of a stronghold barrier at all?”
According to the design of the strongholds, once one was established, it would continuously release a special magic signal to guide lost travelers back.
Tower Master Kurt had given them magic equipment capable of identifying these special signals before they set out, but now that they were officially using them, they found them to be completely useless.
The most likely reason for this was that the stronghold was very, very far away from them.
Just then, a hurried set of footsteps came from behind a jagged rock formation ahead, interspersed with heavy panting and suppressed groans of pain.
The group immediately entered a combat state. Weapons were unsheathed, and magic incantations began to be chanted.
A second later, a blood-stained figure wearing a tattered mage robe staggered out from behind the rocks.
He looked young, but his face was covered in soot and blood, and his eyes were filled with terror and despair.
He saw the group of girl knights at once, especially Isavel, who stood at the center with her extraordinary aura. His dim eyes suddenly lit up.
With a thud, he collapsed to the ground, blood flowing from his wounds onto the earth.
However, he ignored it entirely, as if he had caught his final lifeline.
He cried out hoarsely toward Isavel, “You… you must be the Saintess and the Rose Knights, right?! Please… save…”
Leanna took a step forward, slightly shielding the knights behind her, as she calmly scrutinized the sudden stranger. “Who are you?”
The mage seemed to have exhausted his strength, looking as if he might faint right there on the ground.
He clutched the bleeding wound on his abdomen and spoke haltingly.
“I… I am the resident mage of the Archmage Tower’s Seventh Stronghold… But, just a short while ago, the stronghold suffered a sudden attack by a large number of demons…”
Deep fear appeared in his eyes as he pointed toward the distant horizon behind him, where rolling thick smoke and abnormal red light were faintly visible.
“Now… now it has turned into a sea of fire! Only I… only I managed to escape…”
The wind howled, carrying wave after wave of the scent of blood. Leanna did not move her hand from her sword hilt.
Instead, she continued to stare sharply at the mage and asked in a heavy voice, “Is that so? Where is the stronghold?”
The mage pointed urgently behind him, his wounds tearing further from the movement, causing him to grimace in pain.
“It’s… it’s right behind me! If you hurry, you can get there in about half a day!”
“Oh? Those demons that attacked you, what was their approximate strength?”
Leanna narrowed her eyes slightly and continued her questioning, her tone unreadable.
As she spoke, she moved in front of the mage and drew the longsword from her waist.
“They were all at Level 60 or higher!”
Though he didn’t know what Leanna intended to do, the mage continued to answer her questions, his face showing a timely mix of resentment and lingering fear.
“But there were no Demi-God Level ones! It’s a pity… it’s just a pity that the strongest Saint Guard in the stronghold happened to be out on patrol. Otherwise… it would never have happened…”
The moment his words fell, Leanna moved.
Her movement wasn’t fast, but the sharp blade slashed across the mage’s arm, opening a long, thin cut. The mage couldn’t help but let out a scream.
He tried to jerk his arm back, but Leanna held it down firmly.
Sweat poured down his forehead again due to the pain. His eyes were full of shock and confusion, as if he couldn’t understand why the young woman before him would attack him.
“Saint! Saint, what are you doing?!”
Leanna’s expression remained unchanged. Seeing that the mage’s arm showed no signs of transformation, she sheathed her longsword, pressed her hands together, and apologized to him in a calm voice.
“I apologize. Since this is the Abyssal Ancient Battlefield, demons are everywhere. Even you… could have been a demon in disguise.”
“So, to be safe, I had to test you first to see if you were actually human or if you had been corrupted by Abyssal Magic.”
“The good news is, you passed!”
Having said this, Leanna gave a slight smile.
Weapons forged from a Pure Heart were great killers of demons.
If a demon disguised as a human was wounded by such a weapon, the intense pain would absolutely force them to reveal their true form.
Although the mage understood her reasoning, his first impression of the Rose Knights had turned sour.
In particular, the Captain of the Rose Knights, Leanna, had already been quietly marked as a devil in his mind.
Swallowing hard, the mage clutched the wound on his arm, a forced smile squeezed onto his face.
“Since… since that’s the case, can you come with me to save the stronghold now? I beg of you! If we’re fast, there might still be companions alive!”
The gaze of every knight turned simultaneously toward Isavel, who had been observing in silence from start to finish.
Isavel was the true leader of this team.
However, Isavel slowly stepped forward. Her gaze bypassed the mage and cast toward the direction of the so-called stronghold. Her voice was ice-cold as she gave an unexpected answer.
“No.”
“Huh?”
The mage froze, seemingly failing to react. Even many of the Rose Knights were stunned, their fighting spirits dampened as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown over them.
Given their typical personalities, it was impossible for them not to help if they encountered such a situation.
But Isavel didn’t care what they thought. she explained coldly.
“The reason is simple. Since the demons had the power to attack and destroy your stronghold, it means that area is no longer safe. There might even be more demons lying in wait. If we rush there blindly, we can’t guarantee our own safety, let alone perform a rescue.”
“Furthermore, from the time you escaped until you met us, a significant amount of time has already passed. Combined with the half-day journey you mentioned… by the time we arrive, if there really was an attack, there would likely be no survivors left.”
Going now would be meaningless, other than potentially walking into a trap.
Those two reasons were exceptionally logical, but to the members of the Rose Knights, they felt severely lacking in human compassion. A few girls with an overwhelming sense of justice instinctively clenched their fists.
However, Isavel was the Villainous Saint after all. It was within reason for her to make such a choice.
“I beg you! Please! If you don’t go, they… they will all die!”
Prostrate on the ground, the mage crawled forward with tearful eyes, blood staining the earth.
This pitiful sight caused several girls to take a step forward, wanting to argue with Isavel.
Fortunately, the other girls were rational enough to reach out and stop them, preventing them from shouting at Isavel for her coldness.
Seeing that his pleas were fruitless, the mage’s face turned from pale to a flushed red.
He struggled to climb up from the ground, the pleading in his eyes replaced by a humiliated rage.
He pointed at Isavel, his voice trembling and shrill with agitation.
“I see! It’s not that you don’t want to go, it’s that you don’t dare to go!”
He screamed, as if venting all his fear and despair.
“What ‘Saintess of the Oracle Hall’! What ‘Rose Knights who save the world’! You’re all just a bunch of cowards! You fear the demons, you’re afraid of being killed by them, so you make up these absurd reasons to hide your cowardice!”
He coughed violently, yet struggled to stand tall, a near-obsessive fire burning in his eyes. “If you won’t go, I will! Even if I’m the only one, I’m going back!”
Saying this, he moved his shaky legs and slowly began to shuffle back.
Among the Rose Knights, a girl finally couldn’t hold back and stood up.
“Saint Isavel, we aren’t afraid of those demons! Please let us go!”
“That’s right, he’s a human, not a demon. How could it be a trick?!”
“If we can’t even save them, how are we supposed to save the world?”
Even Meilin stood up amidst the waves of the girls’ voices, a flash of pity in her eyes as she said softly to Isavel, “Saint Isavel…”
Isavel raised her hand, signaling them to shut their mouths.
She looked at the seemingly indignant mage and suddenly asked a seemingly irrelevant question.
“If you truly are so brave and single-mindedly want to save the stronghold… then why did you choose to flee the stronghold in the first place?”
The mage’s body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
After a few seconds of silence, he turned around and shouted his defense, though his eyes were darting.
“W-what are you talking about?! When demons attack the stronghold, of course I have to escape to seek help! Do you expect me to die inside for nothing, without even getting the message out?!”
His reasoning sounded plausible.
Isavel remained noncommittal and continued her questioning, like peeling back layers of silk. “Was the direction you fled toward another stronghold?”
“O-of course… what else?!”
The mage’s voice lacked confidence.
“Is that so?”
Isavel finally withdrew her gaze from the distance and locked it firmly onto the mage’s face.
Her voice remained calm, yet it carried an invisible pressure that made the surrounding air stagnate.
“Then why is it that in my perception, the direction you came from, as well as this entire vicinity… besides those hiding demons, there isn’t a single trace of any other humans, or the magic fluctuations that a stronghold should have?”
The mage’s face turned deathly pale in an instant, and even more cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
This time, it wasn’t from pain, but from terror.
He opened his mouth, trying to argue.
“The… the stronghold is probably just too far away? Even if you are the Saintess of the Oracle Hall, your magic perception couldn’t possibly be that powerful…”
“Enough.”
Isavel interrupted him, her voice growing colder. There was no warmth left in those dark eyes.
“You are lying.”
She took a step forward. Her staggering aura caused the mage to collapse back onto the ground, his entire body starting to tremble uncontrollably.
“You never intended to seek help, nor did you escape from an attacked stronghold. The truth is that you betrayed humanity and joined the Abyssal Demons.”
“The only reason you sought us out was that you were following the demons’ orders, wanting to lure us into a carefully prepared trap to wipe us out in one go, right?”