‘Seriously, that guy!’ As soon as Lyla saw Zich jump into the lake, she could tell what he was thinking. ‘He used me as bait!’

Positive feelings were blown away at once and were replaced by the emotions she usually felt about Zich: annoyance, frustration, and exhaustion; what angered her the most was the fact that his plan to use her as bait was clearly effective. Lyla felt Finel’s attacks diminish.

‘He should have at least warned me about it!’ However, Lyla knew that Zich’s response to this statement would be obvious. He would say things like, ‘I didn’t have time,’ or ‘If I explained it to you, the enemy could find out,’ or ‘Plans like this should be kept hidden from even your own companions,’ and so on. Although all these explanations had merit, it only ignited her anger more.

‘I know it’s not because he doesn’t care about me.’

She knew at least this much from his usual attitude. Above all…

‘He came to save me with all those injuries.’

Images of the wounds on Zich and the warmth she felt on his hands when he pulled her out of despair passed through her head. Eventually, Lyla stopped feeling annoyed. Even when she tried to cling to her anger, she couldn’t stop them from disappearing; it was like trying to contain water in a palm while it flowed down between her fingers. Lyla regained her balance. After lifting her body into the air with magic, she stretched out her hands at Finel whose vengeful face came into view and brought complicated feelings into Lyla’s heart.

Lyla clearly remembered the memories that Finel showed her, and the despair that Finel felt in those memories made her heart ache. Still, that didn’t mean Lyla could give up her body. Moreover, it didn’t seem like Finel’s rage would quell just by taking Lyla’s body. Lyla activated her magic.

Bam!

With a flash of light and an explosion, strong energy blanketed the area. To play the role of bait dutifully, she created useless but showy lightning magic. Of course, the attack didn’t inflict significant damage onto Finel, and her sturdy barrier blocked the magic. However, Lyla continued to shoot out spells to play her part. Finel knew this intention and continued to pay close attention to Zich while blocking Lyla’s magic.

Whoosh!

When Finel swung her hands, the lake wobbled. New fluid monsters ran on top of the lake and rushed towards Zich. Even after she lost strength and had to be on her guard against Lyla, Finel was still not an easy opponent. Lyla could not bide any more time. Zich ravaged through the fluid monsters constantly, but the way they mobilized in water was simply incredible; using the lake as their base, they besieged Zich again.

‘Now!’ Evading the fluid monsters, Zich slightly lifted himself off the lake, and Finel’s eyes shone.

Bam! Finel shot out lighting towards Zich. Due to that attack, Lyla’s attack almost reached her, but her efforts paid off.

Splash! Perhaps, her attack had hit the mark. Zich fell into the lake after getting hit by the spell.

“Zich!” Lyla shouted in shock. In comparison, a smile bloomed on Finel’s lips. However, she quickly calmed herself down. ‘There’s no way that cockroach died to that!’ At this point, Finel had complete faith(?) in Zich’s abilities, and her beliefs weren’t betrayed.

Shaaa! The lake’s surface exploded, and Zich jumped up.

—I thought so!

Although her predictions were right on the mark, Finel’s words didn’t hold an ounce of joy. Instead, it was severe loathing that could grind down not only her teeth but all the gums below her teeth. For a moment, Finel gave up on blocking Lyla completely.

‘It will become dangerous if that guy approaches!’ Then, Finel reaffirmed herself. ‘A blow or two is fine.’

Lyla was firing spells with silent incantations and faithfully fulfilling her role as a diversion. Finel could endure a couple of blows from this level of magic.

‘I have to focus on that guy first!’ she thought as she gathered a large amount of magic in both hands.

“Hmph!”

Zich swung his body like an arrow.

“Haaaaah!” While shouting, he threw Windur and it shot forward like an arrow, but Finel wasn’t in its trajectory. It was aiming for the tree’s root, an attack that no one expected. Yet, surprisingly, Finel moved as if she had prepared for this attack.

Craash! Her magic struck Windur. With its great abilities, Windur was able to endure the attack for a bit, but it couldn’t block the full extent of the Finel’s magic that was backed by the tree’s mana.

Splash!

Windur fell and futilely sank into the lake.

“All right!” Finel was locked in exuberance. She had been afraid of Zich approaching closer not only because of his superior fighting experience or skills—the biggest reason was the resonance between Zich and the tree. She thought Zich would try to use this resonance again.

‘According to Lyla’s memories, what resonates with the tree is that sword.’

Although she had been taken aback when Zich threw his sword at the tree, she was able to properly respond to it since she had been preparing for his attack.

‘Since the sword fell into the lake, he won’t be able to find it easily!’

The fluid monsters could maximize their abilities inside the lake. Thus, whether or not Zich entered the lake, she thought she blocked Zich from approaching closer. Yet, this was naïve thinking.

‘Huh?’ Finel was stunned to see that Zich didn’t slow down.

Splash! To escape any intervention from the fluid monsters, Zich made a wide kick at the surface of the lake, lifted his body up, and shot straight toward Finel.

‘W-Was the sword also a bait?’

Finel hurriedly fired a magic attack, hoping to block Zich slightly through it.

Pop! Pop!

–What!

Two holes pierced through Zich’s body. He didn’t block against the magic attacks at all, and this sight filled Finel with anxiety more than relief. She was certain that Zich was planning to pull another trick. As if to confirm her thoughts, Zich’s body began healing.

‘Uh, how? None of his companions are heal…!’

Then, Finel found something sparking from the hole in Zich’s body. She also saw that a different liquid other than his blood was also flowing out from it.

—P-perhaps, did he shove a potion inside his body?

Then, it would be understandable that his injury would immediately heal as soon as he received damage. However, Finel recalled that Zich’s body was covered in injuries when he came out of her flesh clumps. Thus, it meant that he shoved the potion inside his body after he came out.

‘When? I’ve never strayed my eyes away from him…’

Then, Finel remembered that Zich fell into the lake after getting hit by her attack; that was the only time that Zich had escaped her range of vision.

—That rotten bastard!

Finel could not help but scream out in frustration.

Crasssssh!

—Uacccckkk!

Lyla’s spell directly hit her body as Finel was distracted by Zich. Even though it was a spell from a silent incantation, Lyla was a powerful mage. The force of Lyla’s spell was equal or greater than an ordinary mage who spent a long time uttering each part of a spell. Zich did not miss this opportunity to rush towards Finel.

—Ughhhh!

Finel quickly made a barrier and blocked Lyla’s attack. However, Zich was already right in front of her. Without much choice, Finel had to make another barrier right in front of her. That ended up in failure. Since she had to quickly make a new barrier while maintaining another barrier to block Lyla’s magic, she could only make a barrier that covered her upper body. However, Zich’s target was not her upper body.

Blast! Zich exploded mana from his palm and shifted his trajectory; his body instantly fell down. Then, he fused a great amount of mana into his hand.

Pierce! Zich’s arm pierced into Finel’s lower body, which was made out of meat clumps. However, this was the extent of his attack, and Finel didn’t gain much damage.

—Stupid bastard!

Was it because he lost his sword? But it was not bad at all that her opponent’s attack was completely useless. She might have gotten scared of Zich more than necessary.

—Die!

Finel was about to end Zich, but he smirked.

“As expected, it was here!” Zich felt something burning from his fingertips. He tightly clutched onto this object.

—No way, you…!

Did Finel finally realize his intentions? Her complexion became pale in fear. She hurriedly tried to attack him, but Zich was a step faster.

“Hmph!” He stopped his breathing and put more strength into his arm muscles. He was trying to rip the object out of her flesh.

—Ack!

An abundant amount of mana that was in Finel’s hand scattered, and this wasn’t the only thing that happened. The barriers protecting her disappeared, and the liquid monsters rushing towards Zich also lost their shape and returned back to the water.

Drip! Driip!

As Zich’s arm emerged, the sound of something ripping apart in Finel’s lower body increased.

—Ah, n-o!

Finel grabbed onto Zich’s arm, but her resistance was extremely weak. As Zich’s arm was pulled out more, Finel’s appearance became stranger and stranger. She looked as if she was forcibly suppressing an explosion that was about to erupt. Her body swelled up in many areas, and her skin stretched out as if blood veins were about to burst.

‘As expected!’ Zich’s prediction was right; he stared at the object starting to appear from his hand. The object was a bright red color, and it looked familiar. Of course, the color of it was opposite from the one he saw before.

It looked like the Lake’s Tear. The Lake’s Tear he saw in the Adrowon Great Forest, and the object he was currently holding looked identical to each other. The first time he noticed it was when he blasted her her lower body off in their first fight. With his keen eyes, he saw a glimpse of it deeply etched into her skin.

‘Yeah, it was weird.’ From what Zich knew, the tree’s mana and power went beyond a person’s imagination. Then, even if she was connected to Clowon in some way, how was she able to control the tree’s power by herself?

‘There had to be some special method.’

—W-wait! Wait!

Finel’s appearance was bizarre and horrifying. Her whole body swelled up as if she was beaten up for many months. It was different from when her body swelled up to increase in size, and her current appearance was evidence that the tree’s mana was overpowering her.

“Hmm? Are you going to beg for your life after all this?”

—All I wanted was to just live! Fine! Take me instead! I’ll be your companion!

Finel’s voice was frantic.

—In the first place, you’re not connected to the princess by trust! You met her as an enemy and coincidentally started traveling together.

‘She’s pretty knowledgeable about us?’

Since Zich didn’t know that Finel had stolen Lyla’s memory, he was a bit surprised by this.

—But she committed all kinds of slaughter before she lost her memories! You also saw it in your dreams, right! The things she did in Shootuol!

Lyla approached closer, and she lowered her eyes. Judging by Lyla’s behavior, it didn’t seem as if Finel was lying.

—Right? This isn’t a bad deal, right? I can do better. I won’t even be like her and stop you from being a Demon Lord, something that she of all people shouldn’t be saying. I won’t even intervene in any of the things you do, and my abilities won’t be inferior to hers! Then, it’ll be fine if I join your group instead of her!

Finel’s voice sounded as if she was almost crying by the end. Zich realized that Finel was not lying. She really just wanted to live, and if he brought her along, their travels might become easier. However, Zich’s reply was to just put more strength into his hand. Finel also realized this.

—W-why…

“It’s simple really,” Zich replied without an ounce of hesitation. “You’re not Lyla.”

Riiip! Zich ripped out the red object from Finel.