Chapter 52: Found It

Downstream, Desolate Riverbank.

Ophelia sat leaning against the rock wall; though her ice-blue eyes were slightly narrowed due to pain, her gaze remained clear and sharp.

“We must leave here as soon as possible, the commotion from the previous battle was too loud, it will definitely attract magic beasts.”

“I know.”

Camilla nodded, checking her supplies while communicating with Rimuru through the Mental Link.

The little guy had consumed quite a bit of energy in the previous battle and was currently resting on her shoulder, but its sensory abilities were still active.

【Surroundings… temporarily safe…】

A faint thought came through.

“But it won’t be safe for long.”

Camilla said, shaking her head.

“We can’t go upstream; there are definitely magic beasts searching for us there. We’ll head downstream, find a place that’s easy to defend and hard to attack to rest temporarily, and then regroup with the main force.”

Ophelia did not object, and after moving her newly healed arm, she led Camilla downstream along the riverbank.

The riverbank was narrow, with near-vertical rock walls on both sides that soared into the clouds; sunlight could only filter through a thin sliver of the sky.

After walking for about half an hour, a naturally formed cave appeared ahead; the entrance was about two meters high, and its depths were dark, with the faint sound of flowing water—it should be the exit of an Underground River.

“Let’s go here.”

The interior of the cave was deeper and more spacious than expected.

Camilla condensed an Illumination Light Ball at her fingertips, its soft white light barely illuminating the path ahead.

The cave walls were covered in slippery moss and some kind of glowing crystal clusters, and the ground was covered in puddles of varying depths, the deepest reaching up to the shins. The sound of flowing water came from deep within the cave, the echoes overlapping and making it difficult to judge distance or direction.

“There is the scent of a magic beast.”

Ophelia suddenly stopped, her left hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Although the fracture in her right arm had healed through a potion, the soreness after the intense pain remained, so she switched to holding the sword with her left hand.

Almost simultaneously, Rimuru bounced up from Camilla’s shoulder and let out an urgent warning.

【Something is in the water… very fast…】

As soon as the words fell, the water ahead suddenly exploded!

A creature about three meters long with a bizarre form leaped out of the water; it had the streamlined body of a fish, but where fins should have been, there were four pairs of thick, sharp hooked claws.

“Abyssal Stride-foot Fish, a Tier 4 water-attribute mutated magic beast; it is slow on land but extremely fast in water.”

Camilla quickly reported the information while taking a half-step back, suspending the Illumination Light Ball above her head as her hands gripped her longsword.

Ophelia did not respond; her figure was already in motion.

Although she was not as skilled with her left hand, her speed was still astonishingly fast; the ice-blue sword light flickered like a viper’s tongue, accurately piercing the open mouth of the strange fish.

“Guh!”

The strange fish’s movements suddenly froze, its massive body twitched twice, and then it collapsed with a crash, its dark blue blood quickly staining the surrounding water red.

From beginning to end, the battle lasted less than three seconds.

“It’s settled.”

Ophelia sheathed her sword, her ice-blue eyes calm and undisturbed.

If it were Camilla, without using her trump cards and fighting only with her surface-level strength, it would have taken her at least two or three minutes and quite a bit of maneuvering to defeat this Tier 4 magic beast.

But in front of Ophelia, this thing was nothing more than a speed bump in front of a heavy truck.

“Continue further inside? Or rest here?”

Ophelia looked toward the depths of the cave, her brows furrowed slightly.

“The sound of water is getting stronger; there might be an Underground River or a waterfall inside. Let’s rest here; the ground is relatively high and it’s quite concealed.”

The two sat down on a dry rock a short distance from the fish’s carcass, and Camilla pulled some dry rations and fresh water from her storage bracelet, handing a portion to Ophelia.

They ate in silence, the cave filled only with the faint sounds of chewing and the echoes of flowing water.

After a while, Ophelia suddenly spoke, her voice much lower than usual.

“I’m sorry.”

Camilla was stunned and turned to look at her sister.

Ophelia didn’t look at her, only staring at the waterskin in her hand, her ice-blue eyes swirling with complex emotions.

“I failed to protect you, even though… even though I promised Father that I would take good care of you.”

She gripped the waterskin tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white.

“I’m so foolish, really… to be tricked into the academy by that old hag’s few words, and to naively think it was safe here, thinking that as long as I was around, you could study and live peacefully…”

She looked up at Camilla, her eyes filled with guilt, self-reproach, and a rare trace of confusion.

“But I was wrong; there is no such thing as an absolutely safe place in this world. Whether it’s the academy or the Royal Capital, as long as you look, danger lurks everywhere, and I brought you to the most dangerous place of all.”

Camilla opened her mouth to say something, but Ophelia didn’t give her the chance.

“If you really don’t want to be here, after this incident is over… I can help you apply for withdrawal. The academy shouldn’t make it difficult; you can return to the Royal Capital or go anywhere you want and live the life you desire.”

She paused, her voice becoming even softer.

“I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do anymore.”

The cave fell silent once again.

Camilla looked at her sister, who was always strong, always calm, and always standing in front of her, but who was now bowing her head like a child who had done something wrong, waiting for her “judgment.”

Somewhere in her heart, she softened.

She did indeed want to lie flat, stay away from trouble, and live a peaceful life.

But she also knew that in this world, true “peace” was never given by others; it was something one had to fight for themselves.

Without power, even if one hid in the safest corner, they would be powerless to resist when disaster struck.

In fact, when she first arrived in this world, Camilla had indeed exerted everything to pursue power.

Relying on the knowledge and experience of her previous life, she had already begun her “self-discipline” while other children were still playing in the mud—practicing martial arts, learning magic, establishing chambers of commerce, hoarding equipment… even turning into a demon.

However, since her battle with her sister at the age of twelve, Camilla’s dao heart had shattered, and she had completely lost the motivation to continue growing stronger.

She sighed helplessly, just as she was about to speak.

“Puji!”

Rimuru suddenly let out a sharp, ear-piercing alarm, its small blue body instantly inflating into a ball and trembling violently.

【It’s coming… very terrifying… very close…】

Almost simultaneously, Ophelia stood up abruptly, her left hand instantly pressing onto her sword hilt, her ice-blue eyes staring intently toward the cave entrance.

Camilla also rose immediately, her longsword unsheathed, as her spiritual perception expanded to its full extent.

Then, she felt it too.

That massive, distorted magic fluctuation, filled with malice and a sense of destruction, was rapidly approaching from outside the cave.

It was the Dark Chimera.

How did it find this place?

At the entrance of the cave, the light suddenly dimmed.

A massive, distorted shadow slowly blocked the entrance.

The Dark Chimera did not enter completely—its body was too large—but simply poking its head and several tentacles into the cave was enough to make the entire space feel cramped and oppressive.

Six pairs of compound eyes gleamed with an eerie luster in the dim light, slowly rotating and scanning the interior of the cave.

Finally, they stopped on Ophelia.

More accurately, they stopped on the simple, seemingly unremarkable Silver-white Necklace around Ophelia’s neck.

Time seemed to freeze.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Then, the Dark Chimera opened its massive mouth, which was split almost to its ears.

“Found… it…”