n

n

n“Dammit…!”

nStiel grew angry at the Fourth Elder. The spirit inside was strong, but it was reborn into the body of a Grand Bander so she thought it was going to be easy to manage. She was wrong. The regeneration was just too fast to keep up with.

n‘This regeneration doesn’t make sense… what is Sian doing?”

nStiel glanced around to look at Sian. To her surprise, Sian seemed to be troubled.

n‘Huh?’

nThose two were very powerful, but Sian was stronger than them, so Stiel wasn’t worried.

n‘Are they stronger than I expected? It doesn’t look like it though…’

nAt that moment, Sian began flying toward Stiel at an incredible speed. Stiel was so surprised that she missed her opponent’s move.

n‘Dammit…!’

nShe readied herself to lose her arm as she saw the attack coming, but it did not come. Sian came over and smacked the Elder before he hurled him toward the other Elders.

n“Sian, you came to save…”

n“Miss Stiel! We don’t have time!”

n“Huh?”

nSian snatched Stiel’s hand and put on a ring on her hand. She was dumbfounded, but she soon smiled.

n“Oh, are you proposing here? How romantic. You don’t need to do this in such a hurry.”

n“What are you talking about? Take care of my brother, will you?”

n“What?”

nStiel was confused, but a green light encased her and she was gone.

nSian then felt relaxed. He wasn’t sure what happened, but Stiel would probably be enough to save Rian and run away.

n“I’m done. Let’s play, you bastards!”

nSian then charged at the three Elders.

n“Stay strong…! Just a little longer!”

nRian was getting tired from the skeleton attacks. He was barely managing due to the necklace that Sian gave it to him. He thought he was a goner when he was struck by a skeleton. However, the necklace began to shine and created a weird cloud around Rian’s body.

nIt wasn’t just a cloud. It began to form electricity on Rian’s weapon and it even shot lightning out toward the enemy. Rian moved forward to the front line to fight. He needed to save at least one more.

nBut it was too much. The Fith Elder wasn’t much help since he was still struggling from his headache and the others were too weak.

nThen an attack followed. Rian saw the sword coming to him, but it was too late.

nAt that moment, green light exploded from the necklace. The light reflected the sword and lingered for a while. When it subsided, a thin and long slender arm came from within.

n“Ugh… what is this?”

nStiel could’ve rejected the Exar that worked on herself, but Sian wouldn’t do anything strange and he looked like he was in a hurry so she accepted it.

n‘It was a short-distance teleportation rune…’

nShe turned and saw Rian next to her. It was then that she realized the ring was the artifact that Sian was so happy to acquire.

n“Ugh. I got happy for nothing.”

nShe looked around and found weird skeletons attacking Rian and the others. She wasn’t sure what these skeletons were, but she knew what she needed to do. She ranted and casually knocked the skeleton that charged at her.

nThe result wasn’t light.

nThe skeleton was thrown all the way out, crashing into all other skeletons in the way and on to the ground.

nRian was shocked. The woman Sian introduced to him a while back had jumped out from the necklace. She wasn’t lady-like anymore. She was more like a ferocious beast.

n“Don’t worry, Rian. Oh, I can call you Rian right?”

n“Uh… Yes. Miss Stiel.”

n“I guess I am… a Guardian Angel sent by your brother to save you.”

nStiel then turned with an irritated look toward the skeletons.

n

nStiel turned to Rian after throwing the Fifth Elder away.

n“This will do, right?”

n“Uh… Yes. Thank you.”

n“But why is that old man charging at me like that?’

nIt was after she was almost done taking care of skeletons when the Fifth Elder suddenly charged at Stiel. She was weary if the Fifth Elder had changed spirits, but he simply just lost his mind. The Elder kept coming back after regenerating so Stiel destroyed all the Elder’s bones and threw them away.

n‘Hehe… I’m still strong, right?’

nStiel suddenly became sad. She had to run away so many times lately that she had to feel proud while being looked upon by such babies.

n“This will do.”

n“Thank you, Miss Stiel. But where did they come from?”

nThere were the skeletons, the mindless Granine, and the revived Ra-Bander. Everything seemed to be connected and there seemed to be a reason behind all this.

n“Sir Rian.”

n“Yes, Khutil?”

n“Shouldn’t we take a look at the hole they came out from?”

n“Did you see where they came out from?”

n“Yes… it was from the hole behind Reynold’s body.”

nKhutil pointed toward Reynold’s headless body. There was something red inside.

n“What is that? How did we not know?”

nRian spoke as he saw something suspicious buried within.

n“That… is supposed to be miles deep. It’s visible only because the mountain was dug up in the last war.”

n“I see.”

nSomeone from the Lagran Region explained the situation.

n“Let me look at it.”

n“But, Sir Rian…”

n“Yes.”

n“If the Fifth Elder lost his mind like that… will the Granine village be okay?”

n“!!!”

nRian realized he had missed something important. If the Fifth Elder lost his mind, there was no guarantee that the other elders were holding off.

n“We should go right now. And… Miss Stiel.”

n“Yes?”

n“If it’s not too much… can you lend us a hand?”

nStiel had no interest if the Granines and humans fought against each other and killed one another. She was more interested in that suspicious red object. On the other hand, it was Sian’s loving brother who was asking her.

n‘I should gain some credit here.’

nThe Third and Sixth Elders were probably at the village right now, and if they lost their minds, the village was probably very dangerous. And if Rian was to be sent alone…

n‘He wouldn’t kill me… would he?’

nShe couldn’t say for sure, so she decided to play it safe.

n“Okay. Tell your brother that I helped you later though.”

n“Of course. We are alive because of you.”

n“Sir Rian, there’s no one in the village.”

n“Right. Where did they all go?”

nRian and the others were confused. If they had gone mad, then they should’ve run toward the city. Rian had already gone to city first, but there were no Granines there either.

n“hmm.”

n“Miss Stiel, do you suspect something?”

n“Yeah… but you should return to the city. I’ll look into it myself.”

nStiel then disappeared from the spot.

n