“Teacher, please don’t use that thing anymore.”
“Please… let me go help Sister Isis!”
Lifa, who had been keeping an eye on Ron’s condition, refused to let go and shook her head repeatedly as she met his gaze.
She was very concerned about the way the Soul Dagger consumed flesh and blood to enhance spiritual power.
She had witnessed the aftermath of both Isis and Ron using it—even after entering the Magic Beast Forest, she had tried her best to contribute, but she always felt protected by Isis and Ron.
“Lifa… there are some things only I can do.”
With one hand firmly held by Lifa, Ron switched to his other hand and patted her on the shoulder.
“Be good.”
Ron signaled Lifa not to say any more.
“Wait, Teacher also has something he needs Lifa’s help with.”
Following that, Ron briefly explained some of the usage methods of the Thorn Blade to Lifa.
While speaking, he kept observing the intense battle between Isis and the Sword-Hunting White Tiger, and a hint of concern showed on his face.
Bang
On that side, Isis had just dodged a tiger claw that tore a huge fissure into the ground.
She gripped the Hero’s Sword in her right hand, a faint arc of light appearing on the blade’s surface. It landed on the White Tiger’s shoulder—a flash and a withdraw, leaving a neat blood-red cross.
“Hero!!”
For the first time in their clash, one side was injured. The Sword-Hunting White Tiger’s throat, covered in white fur, trembled and let out a thunderous roar.
Having evolved from an ordinary demonic beast into the guardian beast of the Origin Crystal, its strength and intelligence had increased, and it had been a long time since it last felt wounded.
“Let me take the Origin Crystal, and you won’t die.”
This round of combat was not over yet.
Isis hovered in the air for a moment, confirmed that her attack on the White Tiger’s right shoulder had been effective, then after half a second of freefall, she rose from a one-knee crouch in front of the tiger’s massive body.
“This is in consideration of the fact that you allowed us to leave earlier.”
Holding the Hero’s Sword horizontally in front of her, Isis bent her fist-clenched arm, and with a graceful pull of the blade, wiped the beast blood off the sword.
“Teacher, Teacher! Sister Isis is so cool…”
“At this rate, she should be able to defeat this beast soon, right?”
Lifa, standing nearby, had already let go of Ron, her excitement and admiration plain to see.
Ron’s reaction was exactly the opposite. He looked at the dagger in his hand and felt that his worries were gradually coming true.
The strength Isis could currently display was weaker than that of the Sword-Hunting White Tiger enhanced by the Origin Crystal.
Her current apparent advantage relied on an explosive output that burned through her stamina. This either meant Isis wanted a quick victory, or more likely, she intended to put herself in danger to force the Demon King to exert himself to protect this body.
“Is this what you humans call humor?”
The Sword-Hunting White Tiger swung its head, and the horn formed by the Origin Crystal emitted a faint glow.
Under Isis’s unreadable gaze, that light began to resonate with the Magic Ring around the tiger’s waist and belly. Soon, the wound on its shoulder showed no trace of blood or injury.
“You’ve exhausted your strength and energy.”
“As for me…”
“Those attacks just now were nothing but a tickle.”
The Sword-Hunting White Tiger raised its previously injured right arm and mockingly waved its claw at Isis.
Isis glanced at the Hero’s Sword in her hand. A flicker of helplessness and dimness passed through her eyes, but in the end, only determination remained.
Step forward, jump, raise the sword, slash.
Isis aimed at the horn of the Origin Crystal again for an attack. This time, the Sword-Hunting White Tiger did not dodge; instead, with the support of the special Magic Ring behind it, it tracked Isis’s movement and swung its claw.
“Isis!”
Ron couldn’t help shouting. In this situation, the best option for Isis was to immediately abandon the attack, which would only cost her some stamina.
But as Ron judged, Isis intended to use her body, already full of negative effects, to take the White Tiger’s counterattack head-on.
“You know I can’t bear to lose you, so you act recklessly like this?”
Ron gritted his teeth and shouted in his heart. He raised the Soul Dagger, activated the Exchange Array on it with magic, then immediately reversed the blade and stabbed it into his uninjured shoulder.
Thud—
Almost at the same time, Ron knelt on one knee, feeling an indescribable pain, while a fresh red flower of blood bloomed on Isis’s right arm.
“Mm…”
Having nearly lost control of her right hand, Isis silently took the Hero’s Sword with her left hand.
She was now standing on the White Tiger’s head—this was the opportunity to attack again, bought at the cost of a severely wounded right hand.
“Crazy woman.”
The Sword-Hunting White Tiger swung sideways toward the forest. As Isis grabbed its horn and tried to steady herself, the Magic Ring behind it expanded an invisible barrier outward from its body, sending Isis flying.
“Lifa.”
Ron called out Lifa’s name through the pain, just before Isis was thrown off.
Without needing further explanation, the girl quickly rushed to where Isis landed.
“You wounded my right shoulder earlier. Now I return that injury to your right arm.”
Aside from the Magic Ring being slightly dimmer than before, the Sword-Hunting White Tiger showed almost no signs of battle. Its attention had now shifted from Isis to Lifa.
“Sister Isis, drink this potion and rest for a bit.”
Lifa handed Isis a recovery potion without looking back. She gripped the Thorn Sword and looked up at the Sword-Hunting White Tiger, whose shadow now covered her.
“Lifa, get away. I won’t die.”
Isis, who had driven the Hero’s Sword into the ground to anchor herself, brought a finger-thick vial to her lips and downed it in one gulp.
Thanks to Ron’s Wish Magic, the remnant soul of the Demon King seemed to have quieted down in her spiritual world and behaved itself.
But Isis knew that Casalima must be able to hear and see everything happening outside. Closer than ever to obtaining this body, it was still scheming.
“The world of demonic beasts is one of the strong preying on the weak.”
The Sword-Hunting White Tiger paced around the two, no longer regarding Lifa and Isis as threats.
“It’s a pity I couldn’t fight you at your peak, Hero.”
“Farewell.”
At extremely close range, the ground beneath Lifa and Isis’s feet caved in from the explosive force of the White Tiger’s sudden attack.
Lifa knew that if she focused, she might still have a slim chance to dodge.
But behind her was Isis…
Lifa knew there was no time to hesitate. She wanted to turn around and grab Isis’s robe, but before her hand could reach it, the beast’s front paw already covered the space above both their heads.
“!”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.