Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

Kyle opened his mouth, wanting to turn around and look.

The hand that had pierced his chest suddenly pulled out a dagger.

He knelt down, his body leaning forward uncontrollably.

Before he collapsed, he finally turned his head and saw the face behind him.

Black hair, black eyes.

That face that remained quiet and unobtrusive throughout the journey.

"you……"

His lips trembled, and his voice sounded like it was being squeezed out of a broken bellows.

"...Why?"

The girl looked at him coldly.

Blood dripped from the dagger's tip, falling onto her simple robe.

She still held the undecorated staff in her left hand.

The tip of the staff still retained a faint glow from the invisibility spell that had been used to maintain its position.

"I hate the Ross family."

Her voice was flat and monotone.

"I also hate all the mages in the Thousand Towers City."

She watched Kyle's pupils gradually dilate.

There was no anger or pleasure in those dark eyes, only a calm, even indifferent, statement.

"You have always been ashamed of me."

"And I have never thought you were any more noble."

She grabbed Kyle by the shoulder and pushed him out of the hole.

Kyle's body fell backward, crashing heavily onto the grass outside.

The cave fell silent.

The girl stood there, holding a still-dripping dagger in her right hand and a simple staff in her left.

Black hair fell from her shoulders.

A few drops of blood splattered on her cheeks, making her dark eyes appear even sharper.

Then, she turned her head and looked at the boy huddled in the deepest part of the cave.

The boy remained in that position, his hand tightly gripping the already lifeless green-skinned imp.

His blood-red eyes were wide open, staring at her warily and with hostility.

He was as tense as a string about to snap.

Her gaze softened.

That sharpness gradually faded from his black pupils.

She neither approached nor lowered the dagger.

He simply lowered the hand holding the dagger slightly, so that the tip of the blade was no longer pointing at him.

"Feel sorry."

Her voice was very soft.

"Did I scare you?"

The half-demon boy remained huddled in the deepest part of the cave.

Those blood-red eyes were still fixed on her.

Hatred has not subsided, and vigilance has not been lowered.

He was like a young animal trapped in a snare.

Even if the hunter dies, he will never easily approach any outstretched hand.

The girl looked at him but didn't take a step forward.

She knew that if she forced him to leave, he would definitely resist.

She paused for a moment, then spoke, uttering a name.

"Levy Chris".

Do you know him?

The half-demon boy's body jolted violently.

In those blood-red eyes, the wariness and hostility were briefly dispelled, replaced by shock.

But he didn't answer, and continued to stare intently at her.

The vigilance remains undiminished.

"Who are you?"

His voice was hoarse, filled with hostility squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Are you here to arrest us too?"

The girl looked at him and breathed a soft sigh of relief.

"No, I'm not." She paused.

"In fact, I've come to ask you for help."

She raised her hand, and the tip of her staff glowed with a pale blue light.

She began to chant, the incantation flowing from her lips.

That's a water-based healing technique.

Pale blue mist gushed from the tip of the staff, wrapping around the deepest wound on the half-demon boy's arm.

The skin and flesh slowly closed up under the moisture, and the bleeding stopped.

During the chanting, her eyes would occasionally glance backward, but she did not turn her head.

The chanting ended, and the mist dissipated.

She withdrew her staff, reached out her hand, and tried to help the other person out of the narrow, man-made cave.

Snapped.

The outstretched hand was forcefully pushed away.

The half-demon boy stared at her menacingly, his hand, which had just been healed, still hanging in mid-air, his fingers curled into claws.

"Don't touch me!" His voice echoed in the narrow cave.

"Who knows if you're not lying to me! You human mages are the most hypocritical people I've ever met!"

The girl frowned.

She looked into the boy's bloodshot eyes, now filled with hostility once again.

There was a barely perceptible urgency in his voice.

"I don't have time to waste on you. Listen carefully, do you know Levy Chris?"

The half-demon boy snorted coldly.

"know."

A mocking smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"She was captured by you human mages and taken to the City of a Thousand Towers."

"Just a short while ago."

"I was captured by you human mages while searching for food!"

He stared at the girl, his bloodshot eyes filled with undisguised hatred.

"They were taken to the City of a Thousand Towers."

"Like those demons that became magical materials for magicians."

"Dismembered, soaked."

"You never treat us as beings of Akara, no matter how hard we try and how humbly we try to integrate into your society."

"You all treat us like livestock to be played with at will."

His voice was deliberate and deliberate, like a dull knife being sharpened on a stone slab.

"You're planning to use me as a test subject too, aren't you?"

Upon hearing that Levy had been taken away, the girl closed her eyes in anguish and clenched her fists.

Forcibly suppressing the emotions that had been surging within her for a long time, she looked at the ferocious half-demon boy.

"I don't know if Chris told you."

"My name is Erin Rose."

The half-demon boy was stunned.

The girl spoke very quickly and in a low voice, as if she was in a hurry.

She recounted how she met Levy Chris at the magic academy.

The only girl who was willing to sit at the same table as "the stain on the Ashley family".

They exchanged notes in the library late at night.

Chris taught her how to use the lowest-level magical materials to replace the expensive experimental materials.

And the night he helped Chris escape the magical city.

The Alliance Council passed an agreement to expel the half-demons.

It wasn't just Chris who left; all the half-demons in the City of a Thousand Towers did too.

Including the legendary half-demon mage, Lord Morgan.

She stole the family elder's pass token and forged a permit to leave the city.

She escorted Chris to the city gate, watching her mount the borrowed wildebeest and disappear into the wilderness.

"Chris told me that the night she was sent away."

The girl paused for a moment.

"If I have nowhere to go even in that prosperous and dreamlike city, let me come to the barren wasteland to find her."

"Go to that sanctuary built by Lord Morgan, located within the forbidden area."

She looked into the half-demon boy's eyes.

If Levy hadn't told her fellow humans about her situation.

Eileen didn't know how to make the half-demon in front of her believe her.

"Now, do you believe me?"

The half-demon boy stared at her for a long time.

The hostility in those blood-red eyes was gradually replaced by another emotion.

It wasn't trust, nor gratitude, but rather a kind of almost absurd realization.

"...It's you."

His voice was a little dry.

"You are... the magical genius that Levy mentioned, the one who can overturn the magical world."

The girl breathed a long sigh of relief.

Without waiting for the boy to continue, she swiftly pulled him out of the cave.

The boy was as thin as a stick, almost weightless.

She placed him on the ground, laid her staff horizontally, and began chanting incantations.

"A light breath, ethereal feathers... Unburden yourself, rise with the wind..."

However, Eileen's singing abruptly stopped.

A blunt object pressed against her lower back.

A woman's voice came to my ear, languid and playful.

"Oh dear, it's the activation spell for levitation."

"At only eighteen years old, he possesses extraordinary lower-level strength and can even levitate."

"He's an incredible magical genius."

The voice paused slightly, carrying a hint of triumphant mischief.

"Your talent far surpasses that of my lover."

"I'm a little curious, what's your initial innate magical energy level?"

Golden hair cascaded down Eileen's shoulders.

A pair of golden eyes, with a slight smile, looked at her from the side and behind.

Eileen did not turn around.

Her hand remained in the position of holding the staff, suspended in mid-air.

Then, she loosened her grip, and the staff fell to the ground with a dull thud.

behind her.

Elvia tilted her head, looked at the staff that had rolled to her feet, and chuckled softly.

"A wise move."

"Be good, don't struggle."

With a flick of her wrist, the gray dagger danced between her fingers before she tucked it into her waistband.

Although the rank difference is a whole level.

However, for any extraordinary mage, being approached at close range by a physical class is fatal.

Not to mention a genius knight like himself who can withstand or even kill extraordinary beings.

Elvia curled the corners of her lips into a smile.

She could understand those battle maniacs a little better now.

This kind of genuine cross-rank combat is quite satisfying.

A certain knight lady who successfully defeated a magical genius by sneaking up on him with a veil of darkness.

I can't wait to put my hands on my hips and show off.

A sharp blade suddenly appeared.

Eileen gripped the dagger hidden inside her robe with her other hand and turned to stab Elvia.

Upon seeing this, Elvia almost burst out laughing.

A mage engaging in melee combat?

She deftly dodged the blade's flash, her tone full of amusement.

Are you insulting me?

She reached out and, with a swift movement, seized the wrist of the man holding the dagger.

The fingers were precisely positioned between the wrist bone and the base of the palm.

With just a twist, the dagger will slip from your hand.

A standard knight's grappling technique is more than enough to deal with a mage who doesn't even have armor.

However, her mockery did not last long.

A very strong sense of crisis erupted instantly.

Elvia instinctively turned her head to the side, and a black thorn grazed her cheek, severing a few strands of her golden hair.

Her pupils contracted sharply, and as she released Eileen's hand, Elvia performed a smooth somersault backward.

Looking around, I realized that I didn't know when it had happened.

Several black magic rings instantly rose around him.

They hovered in mid-air, surrounding Elvia.

The center of each ring was aligned with her.

Then, sharp black spikes emerged from the ring.

Black, translucent, with a cold, dark sheen.

The opponent's staff was lying on the ground, and they didn't make a sound!

How is that possible?

Elvia's pupils contracted sharply.

No-chant magic?

The rapier was drawn simultaneously, its silvery-white blade tracing an arc in mid-air.

The two black thorns that followed were cut off in one stroke.

The fragments of magic splattered on the back of her hand, causing a burning sting.

Her eyes sharpened.

Compared to her lover who could unleash hundreds of wind blades with a wave of his hand and had practiced for a week.

She knew all too well how troublesome spells without chanting could be.

It can even break the rule that getting close means certain death.

"interesting."

She stopped retreating, pushed off with her feet, and charged towards Eileen like an arrow released from a bow.

The rapier trailed behind him, its tip leaving a thin, slicing mark on the ground.

Black spikes shot in from all directions, but she dodged them perfectly, turning to the side, bending over, and tilting her head.

The black spikes grazed her shoulder armor, waist, and earlobes, but none of them actually hit her.

She grinned maliciously, her golden eyes burning with excitement.

Having passed through countless shadow assassins, Elvia reached the core.

"game over!"

The rapier was raised, its tip aimed directly at Eileen's throat.

Elvia was full of confidence until she saw Irene holding up the pale green magic scroll.

Eileen pinched the edge of the roll and tore it open.

The movement was without any hesitation, as if she had already grasped the scroll in her hand and was just waiting for this moment.

A blinding green light burst forth from the crack in the scroll, and a tremendous current of wind suddenly coalesced.

The air, compressed to its limit, is released in an instant.

It transformed into a roaring hurricane barrier, crashing head-on into Elvia.

Elvia's eyes widened.

"Holy crap—"

The rest of the words were drowned out by the roar of the hurricane.

Her body was lifted up by the enormous force, like a withered leaf in a storm.

He crossed his arms to protect himself, but it was no use.

He was forcefully pushed away and crashed heavily into the trunk of a dead tree.

The dead tree snapped in half, and sawdust and twigs covered Elvia.

She lay among the broken logs, her long golden hair scattered among the soil and fallen leaves.

In the distance, Eileen had already laid her staff horizontally.

She grabbed the bewildered half-demon boy and slammed him against her staff.

Hold on tight.

Her voice remained flat.

Then he raised his head and began chanting incantations.

It was not the long and tedious chanting of before, but an extremely concise and precise whisper down to every single syllable.

"A light breath, an ethereal feather."

"Relieve your burdens, and rise with the wind."

The staff lifted off the ground, carrying her and the boy.

Like a black arrow, it flew rapidly into the depths of the barren wasteland.

On the other side...

Elvia, who had been blown away, did not get up for a long time.

It wasn't that a single magic scroll from the opponent severely injured her, rendering her unable to recover.

A magic scroll that can remain effective for a week must be of a very low rank.

That gust of wind was at most mid-level; it couldn't possibly cause her any real harm.

The reason I didn't get up was simply because I didn't want to face the embarrassment of losing what I had almost obtained.

He was being reckless, but there were two spectators watching.

Lin Gui is alright, but Shadow Blade Lin...

Elvia lay among the broken logs, eyes closed, feigning death.

She could no longer face her terrifyingly famous ghost master.

However, what Elvia didn't know was...

In the air, on the flying boat shrouded in a dark veil, the two men's thoughts were completely elsewhere.

For the first time, Lin Gui's expression showed surprise.

Shadow Blade Lin, sitting on his shoulder, had a shifty look in her eyes.

Her gaze followed the departing figure, and she remained silent for a long time.

Then, she spoke.

"Your human talents always inspire my sincere admiration, even though I've lived for almost sixty years."