Chapter 46: We Can’t Win—Absolutely Can’t Win!

Yes, today just wasn’t Serena’s day.

No—more accurately, the newly formed Rainbow Bond hadn’t had a single day of good luck since its creation. It was just particularly obvious now.

Between A-rank and S-rank, there existed a fundamental gap—a qualitative difference in both equipment and raw strength. No matter how many people you had, you simply couldn’t make up for that. Just like Redwolf’s party—no matter what they did, they couldn’t inflict any truly threatening damage on Regilif.

But despite clearly holding the advantage in power, they still couldn’t win.

It was bizarre. Serena’s attacks missed at the strangest angles for no reason at all, and Regilif’s and Paluma the rogue’s attacks somehow failed just as absurdly.

Serena felt off—completely off. It was like having strength and nowhere to use it.

Regilif’s taunts always landed on the wrong targets, messing up the aggro and putting Roswither, their backliner, in constant danger.

Roswither kept messing up her incantations—sometimes biting her tongue mid-chant—causing blessings and healing spells to miss their timing, leaving the frontline hanging by a thread.

Paluma had it even worse. She activated Stealth and sneaked forward only to have the enemy break it with… a sneeze. Then she got flipped over a monk’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

What the hell did these demons do?!

Under normal circumstances, the fight would’ve been over by now. But every time they gained the upper hand, some bizarre mishap would occur.

It was driving Serena insane. She had never experienced a battle like this before.

She clashed swords with Redwolf again, and just for a second, her gaze met Eileen’s—and in that moment, she understood.

Eileen… no longer saw them as comrades.

In Eileen’s eyes, it was possible—no, likely—that the demons were her real allies now.

That pre-battle Luck Blessing Serena used to scoff at? She had to admit now—begrudgingly—it was very effective. Effective enough to flip a hopeless fight on its head.

We’re not fighting these lowly A-rank demons… we’re fighting Eileen!

In Serena’s eyes, Eileen’s figure seemed to grow taller, more imposing. Though she hadn’t cast a single spell, hadn’t thrown a single scroll—she was just standing there.

And that was enough to become an insurmountable mountain.

So this… is what it’s like to fight Eileen? How terrifying…

As the realization dawned, Serena’s fighting spirit began to wane. She subconsciously loosened her grip—her sword was knocked flying by Redwolf, and the next moment, his greatsword was pressed against her throat.

The battle was over.

Gritting her teeth, Serena snapped, “Just kill me already, you demon!”

But Redwolf simply sheathed his sword and looked at her, puzzled. “I told you—we’re not demons. We were just defending ourselves. No one here ever planned on killing you. That said… we will tie you up, just to stop you from getting in the way again.”

“Ladies, calm down. We don’t have any deep grudges here—it’s clearly all been a misunderstanding!”

His open, matter-of-fact tone threw Serena off. For a moment, she hesitated.

Could we… really have gotten it wrong?

No way. That’s impossible… right? After all, how could the guild’s intelligence network be wrong?

Chapter 46: We Can’t Win—Absolutely Can’t Win!

Yes, today just wasn’t Serena’s day.

No—more accurately, the newly formed Rainbow Bond hadn’t had a single day of good luck since its creation. It was just particularly obvious now.

Between A-rank and S-rank, there existed a fundamental gap—a qualitative difference in both equipment and raw strength. No matter how many people you had, you simply couldn’t make up for that. Just like Redwolf’s party—no matter what they did, they couldn’t inflict any truly threatening damage on Regilif.

But despite clearly holding the advantage in power, they still couldn’t win.

It was bizarre. Serena’s attacks missed at the strangest angles for no reason at all, and Regilif’s and Paluma the rogue’s attacks somehow failed just as absurdly.

Serena felt off—completely off. It was like having strength and nowhere to use it.

Regilif’s taunts always landed on the wrong targets, messing up the aggro and putting Roswither, their backliner, in constant danger.

Roswither kept messing up her incantations—sometimes biting her tongue mid-chant—causing blessings and healing spells to miss their timing, leaving the frontline hanging by a thread.

Paluma had it even worse. She activated Stealth and sneaked forward only to have the enemy break it with… a sneeze. Then she got flipped over a monk’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

What the hell did these demons do?!

Under normal circumstances, the fight would’ve been over by now. But every time they gained the upper hand, some bizarre mishap would occur.

It was driving Serena insane. She had never experienced a battle like this before.

She clashed swords with Redwolf again, and just for a second, her gaze met Eileen’s—and in that moment, she understood.

Eileen… no longer saw them as comrades.

In Eileen’s eyes, it was possible—no, likely—that the demons were her real allies now.

That pre-battle Luck Blessing Serena used to scoff at? She had to admit now—begrudgingly—it was very effective. Effective enough to flip a hopeless fight on its head.

We’re not fighting these lowly A-rank demons… we’re fighting Eileen!

In Serena’s eyes, Eileen’s figure seemed to grow taller, more imposing. Though she hadn’t cast a single spell, hadn’t thrown a single scroll—she was just standing there.

And that was enough to become an insurmountable mountain.

So this… is what it’s like to fight Eileen? How terrifying…

As the realization dawned, Serena’s fighting spirit began to wane. She subconsciously loosened her grip—her sword was knocked flying by Redwolf, and the next moment, his greatsword was pressed against her throat.

The battle was over.

Gritting her teeth, Serena snapped, “Just kill me already, you demon!”

But Redwolf simply sheathed his sword and looked at her, puzzled. “I told you—we’re not demons. We were just defending ourselves. No one here ever planned on killing you. That said… we will tie you up, just to stop you from getting in the way again.”

“Ladies, calm down. We don’t have any deep grudges here—it’s clearly all been a misunderstanding!”

His open, matter-of-fact tone threw Serena off. For a moment, she hesitated.

Could we… really have gotten it wrong?

No way. That’s impossible… right? After all, how could the guild’s intelligence network be wrong?

Only a select few entered the White Tower—just Eileen, Froyah and her servant, along with Red Wolf and four others including the thief. Red Wolf’s team had left behind the heavy warrior, the ranger, and the monk. Clarette also did not enter the White Tower, nor had she taken part in the earlier battle.

She was still a rookie adventurer, and the White Tower was undoubtedly more dangerous inside. If she rushed in recklessly, she’d only be a burden.

Besides, she really hated those wretched women from “Iridescent Bond.” Perhaps it was because of what had happened that night in the library—by now, she had completely aligned herself with Eileen’s perspective.

She wanted to “interrogate” those women! Surely, that would be a lot of fun, right?

Just as that thought crossed her mind, she saw Serena’s expression suddenly change drastically as she shouted toward her, “Look out!”

What?

Clarette turned around in a panic, raising her sword to block—only for the monk’s iron fist to slam into her blade. The force of the blow sent her flying, slamming hard into the wall of the White Tower. She lost consciousness on impact.

“Tsk. I’m rusty. Can’t believe I failed to kill such a low-level brat in one hit.”

With Eileen gone, the monk and the others finally revealed their true identities as demons.

“These ones are S-rank adventurers. If His Majesty the Demon King ever plans to invade the human world, they could become quite the nuisance.”

“Let’s take care of them right here.”

“Won’t Miss Eileen be upset? I actually like the meals she cooks.”