The towering Magic Ark plowed through the ice, thundering forward, like a colossal beast awakened in the strait.
Rotissa sat in her chair, quietly watching row after row of Gold-armored Knights standing on the deck, without saying a word.
The Captain and Vice Captain stood guard on her left and right, silent as if they were wax statues on the verge of melting under the sun.
At last, someone broke the silence.
“Brave, please rest assured. As long as you give the order, we will not have a single complaint. After all, it was you, risking your lives, who earned us this chance to survive!” The old Captain wiped the sweat from his forehead, pounding his chest as he swore.
Even though he didn’t care much about the fate of those two passengers, for the Brave to take it so seriously, he wouldn’t dare go against her wishes. On this ship, he was well aware of who truly held the reins.
The value of a Brave was worth more than everyone on this vessel.
Rotissa did not answer, merely said, “Continue on the southwestern course. Keep the speed between the second and third setting, don’t go too fast.”
The Starlight Lily of the Valley had nine speed settings, with the first being the slowest and the ninth the fastest.
After speaking, Rotissa wearily closed her eyes, leaning gently against the back of her chair.
Ever since she was young, her greatest skill had been slaying Demons and protecting those unable to fight.
But.
At some point, what she excelled at had quietly changed. It became striking down anything unjust—Demon or human, it mattered not… In recent years, she had killed more humans than Demons.
So many, that even her own heart had begun to tremble in fear.
The gunpoint that once only aimed at Demons now often had to be raised against her own kind.
This was something she had never foreseen when she first became a Brave.
Back then… Rotissa’s eyes opened slightly as she gazed at the dim sky, feeling a strange sense of dislocation.
The year she was officially given the title of Brave, she had just turned seventeen.
When her Mentor draped the Sash adorned with the Medal of the Brave around her neck, the Glacial Emblem symbolizing [Reversal Hero] burned hot against her skin.
Laughter came from the audience, a certain Noble youth deliberately dropped his sword with a loud clang, and for a moment, she hunched her shoulders—until her Mentor’s cane thudded heavily on the ground.
“Rotissa.” The old man’s dry palm pressed to her trembling back. “The true weight is not in the Medal of the Brave itself, but in how many people’s fears you choose to shoulder when you take on that name.”
A Brave should be fearless, or so her Mentor had told her.
“So, it’s already been ten years since that day I first became a Brave…”
Ten years—enough to change a person, enough to destroy one.
Likewise, those comrades and Braves who once fought on the frontlines against Demons and danger had been replaced by a new generation. Even her Mentor had perished in some unknown night.
Had her authority not been more suited for support, keeping her on the second line for years, she too might have become just another name upon the Medal Stone.
How laughable—those who survive longest are always the short ones standing beside the tall.
“All right, relay my instructions to the Control Room. If you have nothing else, you may leave—no need to stand guard here,” Rotissa said calmly, closing her eyes to rest again.
“Yes, yes, I’ll go right away…” As for why the speed needed regulating, why not go full speed and rush to the rescue?
The Captain could not understand the Brave’s orders, but wisely kept his questions to himself. He gave the command to the Vice Captain and, after it was passed on, silently returned to his place.
No one knew how much time passed.
“Detected high-energy magical reaction ahead!” the thin Vice Captain announced through the communicator from the Main Control Room. “It’s the aftermath of two forces colliding and exploding! There’s fighting up ahead!”
In the Main Control Room, the thin Vice Captain relayed his findings, while the other technical staff and research operators grew grave. They all knew—the target of this voyage must be right ahead.
As long as they crushed the Demons, the Starlight Lily of the Valley could leave this accursed water and reach the final battlefield.
These Demons had delayed them far too long!
“Secondary Cannon preparing, targeting the front!” The operator was utterly confident in the ship’s Magic Secondary Cannon, his face alight with the excitement of certain victory.
“The magical tide from the explosion is disrupting our signal—we can’t contact the Captain for now. We’ll have to use wired transmission! Vice Captain, we’re counting on you!”
“Understood! Echo Resonance scan continues. The ice ahead is crawling with Demons. To avoid friendly fire, I request permission to use the Demon Toxin Bomb.”
“The Brave has already dispatched Knights to sweep the outer Demons—wait! Prepare the Secondary Cannon to intercept the Demons fleeing southeast!”
Reports flew in from all sides in the Main Control Room, but the Vice Captain could wait no longer. He spun on his heel and hurried up to the deck. Victory was so close he could taste it—he could barely contain the urge to report the good news.
That giant, silver-glowing deer-like ally was formidable beyond compare; even the most tenacious Demons were as fragile as newborns in her grasp. With such an ally, all they needed to do was support her and victory was certain!
The Elven girl was brimming with power from the Silver Deer, her body light as a feather, as if she had returned to the Forest of her homeland, sitting atop the highest branch, arms stretched to the sun, swaying in the breeze like a feather.
Crack!
Aiselyn lifted her foot, snapping the spine of a water-lizard-like Demon beneath her heel. It shrieked on the blood-red ice.
It wasn’t her first time borrowing this strength, but she still hadn’t mastered it. If her mind wandered for even a moment, she lost control of her force.
Haha, Aiselyn almost wanted to laugh—look at her, still getting distracted at a time like this.
Suddenly, she stopped, gazing at the Ark as it broke through the ice and glided nearer.
“My, that was quick,” Aiselyn said softly, watching the dark-blue Ark. “I almost wish I could play another tune of Elven Song for that little human cub…”
The words had barely left her lips when the starlit energy swirling around her began to accelerate. The Demons found themselves trapped, unable to move through the dense waves, as rolling silver tides battered their bodies. The air quaked with the sound of Demons grinding their fangs.
Aiselyn remained unmoving, ruthlessly harvesting the Demons’ lives with divine power.
One, two, four, eight…
Right now, she was like a snare built just for Demons, endlessly drawing these mindless beasts deeper into death’s abyss.
As long as she could maintain this state, every Demon in these waters would soon be reduced to ashes.
Aiselyn wanted to see—after so many of its Demon thralls had been slaughtered, would the Demon casting the Illusion Maze from the shadows finally show pain, finally erupt in fury?
“My god!” The Captain standing by the rail couldn’t help but exclaim. God, please forgive him for his previous scorn!
He’d thought that, surrounded by so many Demons, Aiselyn would be skinned alive if not outright killed—but now she was on the verge of wiping out the Demon horde like a rising tide!
At first, Aiselyn had simply relied on the sheer might of her half-elf, half-Silver Deer body, smashing Demons with brute force. The more she fought, the more skillfully she wove her power, her movements growing gentler.
In the end, she fused Elven magic with the silver energy around her, creating a terrifying vortex on the ice. The hard ice shattered into countless blades, spinning with the vortex to shred the Demons.
The Silver Deer’s sacred call echoed across the water, as if celebrating the Demons’ deaths.
“Brave, do we still need to help?” The Captain swallowed, asking carefully. In his eyes, this was the perfect chance to crush the Demons from both sides in one decisive blow.
Rotissa did not answer—this was an overwhelming victory.
She couldn’t see what hope the Demons had, unless the one hiding in the shadows revealed itself. Otherwise, nothing awaited these creatures but death.
“Wait a little longer…”
Wait for what? The Captain opened his mouth, wanting to ask, but held his tongue and turned back to watch the valiant Silver Deer.
Wait a little longer, Rotissa thought to herself. She still clung to one last hope—that if Aiselyn slew all these Demons, it would all be over. No new enemy would appear, and there would be no need… Hm?
No, something was wrong!
Suddenly turning, Rotissa spotted a shadow surfacing under the ice at Aiselyn’s feet. It was silent and vast, like an abyssal maw, appearing out of nowhere beneath her!
“Aiselyn! Watch out!” Rotissa leapt up and shouted.
But her voice was drowned by the winds. Aiselyn pressed on, singing in an ancient Elven tongue the others could not comprehend.
That unique melody—Rotissa was certain she had heard it somewhere before, but now was no time to recall.
While the Captain stared in shock, Rotissa unleashed her authority, pushing it to its limit and channeling it into her spear, then hurled the weapon like lightning at the heart of the battlefield, where Aiselyn stood.
Her authority was [Backtrack]: objects, life, events, even concepts could be backtracked, its scope and duration proportional to her level. Her Mentor once said this power was no mere reversal of time, but the forbidden weaving of causality’s threads. Like all other Braves, it could be overdrawn—but the danger was greater.
Aiselyn stopped abruptly, tossing the battered Demon corpse into the water. She looked up at the sky as the blue-glowing spear tore through the air like a falling star.
At that instant, the Demons surrounding her began to flee, as if they had glimpsed something far worse than death.
Rotissa saw it—the ice beneath Aiselyn’s feet began to bulge in massive slabs, as though something beneath was about to burst free.
Rumble!
Aiselyn reached out and caught the blue-lighted spear.
A colossal shadow exploded from beneath the ice, swallowing Aiselyn and the fleeing Demons whole.
On the ship, every Knight and sailor watched in horror as the battlefield’s soaring morale was plunged into dead silence.
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