Chapter 65: The Watchman’s Challenge

Hay could only accept that cold assessment.

Then as now, he was terribly inept with words.

“Then I shall change it to a game.”

A moment later, Philly’s expression hadn’t improved in the slightest.

“Do children nowadays truly play such dreadfully tedious games?”

Hay slammed the *Wind* stones, hastily carved and improvised, onto the ground.

Neither Han Tae-hyun nor Hay had learned to play like children in their youth, leaving them with few games in their repertoire.

Still, he had taught her six different games, and she hadn’t shown an ounce of interest in any of them. Wasn’t that a bit harsh?

“Only a fight remains.”

Philly, who had been perched on the ruins of a brick house, resting her chin in her hand, rose to her feet.

Hay clicked his tongue inwardly, then pushed himself up, hands on his knees. Swiftly, he ran calculations through his mind.

‘Could he truly survive a battle against this Watchman?’

“Don’t you have much of a choice, do you?”

Philly suddenly remarked.

As Hay looked at her, puzzled, Philly gestured towards his body with a smile playing on her lips.

“You don’t have much time left, you see. Perhaps you haven’t noticed?”

Hay glanced down at himself, not understanding what she meant.

Then, his gaze fell upon his palms, and he belatedly realized the truth.

His clothes, entirely dark, had masked the change, but now their saturation had significantly faded.

‘When his time ran out, would he, too, become as colorless as this place?’

“You don’t have much time left to go outside. If you completely lose your color like me, you too will become a resident of this place.

You’ll be trapped here forever, living an eternal life, just like the kingdom’s people buried here, and the criminals and lost souls sent to this place. Eventually, you’ll descend into madness, losing your reason and forgetting who you are, trapped in waves of memory like them.”

Philly gestured towards the residents, who were all repeating the same singular action.

Her words about having no choice were true. Yet, Hay merely shrugged, his expression unconcerned.

“After all this, couldn’t you just tell me the exit? You could at least acknowledge my efforts,”

“That wouldn’t be any fun,”

Philly turned away indifferently.

‘Hay wished Stan would come looking for him, even now.’

‘As a mere intermediate, he had no ability to defeat this Watchman.’

‘Damn his mouth. If only he were better with words.’

“Just one thing,”

Philly moved away from Hay with a light, graceful gait.

Her black hair, which had been loose, was now neatly braided and swept up.

“If your attack leaves even the slightest scratch on my armor, I shall tell you the exit.”

Hay adjusted his grip on his staff, then rubbed his furrowed brow with his fingertips.

‘A mere scratch.’

“If a disciple of Hellheim can’t even manage that, shouldn’t you just go and die?”

“…”

‘To compare him to that crazy old geezer and tell him to die was a bit much.’

Hay launched himself forward.

In an instant, he had moved behind Philly.

Philly’s head seemed to turn in slow motion. Hay swung his arm.

The *Wind* struck Philly.

Or rather, it *appeared* to strike her.

However, the attack didn’t connect at all; it was stopped by a translucent barrier.

Hay stepped on thin air, employing *Wind* once more.

From beneath Philly’s feet, *Earth* spears erupted. Yet, not a single spear inflicted the slightest wound upon her.

Philly stood calmly, even leisurely, stepping on the spearheads, a faint smile gracing her lips.

Hundreds of *Water* blades instantly materialized high in the air, raining down menacingly.

CRASH—!

Capitalizing on the momentum, Hay conjured a whirlwind, trapping Philly within it.

It wasn’t merely a confinement; the whirlwind itself was composed of thousands of *Wind* blades.

“You’re certainly trying, but these are merely child’s play techniques,”

Philly stated.

Simultaneously, the whirlwind scattered as if exploding.

Philly, hands clasped behind her back, stepped over the crumbling *Earth* to land on the ground. It was then that a transformation began to ripple through her.

Black stains climbed from the base of her neck, covering her entire face up to her crown, gradually taking the form of a helmet.

Hay relentlessly pressed his assault.

Spears erupted from the earth, shooting towards Philly like cannon fire. Yet, bewilderingly, every single attack shattered helplessly before her.

Philly slowly raised both her hands. Hay initially thought she was preparing a spell, but he was mistaken.

As her fist met her palm, a light began to glow.

She gradually widened the gap between her palm and fist. Hay’s brows furrowed at the elongated beam of light.

It was a sword, appearing as though she was drawing it directly from her palm.

‘His opponent was a magic swordsman.’

‘Meaning, she could wield both magic and swordsmanship simultaneously.’

Hay had never faced a magic swordsman before.

His primary adversaries had typically been monstrous beasts or bandits threatening merchant caravans.

Or sometimes, rival mercenaries.

Moreover, while he had collaborated with mages, he had never truly sparred against one.

“Aren’t you going to take this seriously?”

Philly inquired.

‘He couldn’t predict what kind of attack would come next.’

Hay shot forward, using *Wind* to dart into an alleyway.

‘He intended to circle around and attack. Though the barrier was an obstruction, he would find a way.’

‘Just one scratch.’

‘That would be enough to find the exit. However, Hay quickly realized he had been complacent once more.’

“It seems peaceful outside these days,”

Philly’s voice echoed as if from within a cavern.

Hay was just then maxing out the spirit power amplified by his staff, preparing his next attack. A shiver ran down his spine.

“To be a disciple of a fool, yet your level is only this much.”

Hay instinctively braced himself. Simultaneously, a gray light flashed. And then—.

BOOOOM—!

Above Hay’s head, building debris exploded, soaring upwards.

It was a deafening roar, as if his eardrums would burst. Covering an ear with one hand, Hay lifted his gaze, seeing the cleanly sliced cross-sections of buildings all around him.

The debris from the severed upper sections defied gravity, suspended in mid-air.

Beyond the buildings, Philly lowered her sword, which she had apparently swung horizontally, and arrogantly lifted her chin.

“When Hellheim first sought me out, he was an intermediate spirit user, just like you.”

The building debris swirled, forming a circle in the sky, spinning continuously in place.

Hay swallowed hard, bracing himself with one hand on the ground.

“But unlike you, his preemptive strikes were quite threatening.”

The circling debris abruptly halted. Hay gripped his staff, its spirit stone emitting a white light.

“Is it poor application, or a lack of imagination?”

The sharp edges of the building debris pointed directly at Hay. And then,

“Unimpressive.”

CRASH—!

The debris rained down upon Hay.

Large and small stones plunged into the ground, kicking up gray dust.

Philly watched the scene with an air of composure.

A moment later, all the debris had fallen, and the dust gradually settled. Soon, a colossal pile of stones was revealed.

Philly let out a faint, dismissive chuckle.

“Still, your reactions are swift.”

Philly’s head moved sharply backward.

A black wolf, conjured from the earth, snapped its jaws around Philly’s arm.

Philly, without hesitation, swung her arm, flinging the house-sized wolf away. It flew a considerable distance, somersaulted in the air, then landed on a building, halting its momentum.

Grrrrrrr—.

CRACK!

Before Philly could even regain her stance, something struck her down.

It was Hay’s staff. Regrettably, Hay’s direct attack was also blocked by Philly’s hand.

Through her helmet, Philly gazed into Hay’s dust-covered purple eyes.

They were unwavering, indifferent eyes. Philly punched Hay, and the impact sent him sprawling to the ground.

He rolled several times, using *Wind* to decelerate and regain his posture before lifting his head.

‘Her words about his good reactions were no lie.’

‘He had clearly aimed for her head, yet in that brief moment, she had blocked it with her palm. Of course, she hadn’t entirely avoided the impact.’

Hay endured the pain, feeling the fractures in his palm and fingers.

“Application and imagination, huh…”

Hay muttered softly to himself, resting his staff across his shoulder.

“I can’t argue with that,”

He shrugged. From behind Philly, Nora charged forward. Simultaneously, the ground vibrated.

Philly tightened her grip on her sword and swung it towards Nora.

‘Her intention was to cleave Nora in half. And, as Philly intended, Nora’s form was indeed split in two.’

However—.

“Because I specialize in area-of-effect magic,”

Nora’s cleaved body transformed into a torrent of spears. And that wasn’t all.

The vibrating ground collapsed downwards with a thunderous roar.

At the same time, surrounding buildings shattered, their fragments taking on various blade-like forms as they flew towards Philly.

All of them were blocked and shattered by Philly’s barrier. Yet, their sheer volume seemed endless, continuously assailing her.

‘It seemed they wouldn’t stop until the barrier broke.’

An immense cloud of dust rose, obscuring their vision.

As Hay conjured wind to clear the dust, the ground swallowed Philly like a Venus flytrap, then gradually shrank and compressed.

‘As if intending to crush Philly to death within it.’

‘Of course, he didn’t believe he could defeat Philly with just that.’

Hay immediately prepared his *Wind* magic.

A thousand, two thousand, three thousand invisible blades encircled the mound of earth, then struck it simultaneously. The earth was shredded as the blades burrowed inward.

BOOM—!

But in a single instant, all of Hay’s attacks were pulverized.

A thunderous explosion, its shockwave reaching Hay, who was standing far away. Hay shielded his face with his arm, clicking his tongue.

“Insane.”

Philly, completely unscathed, now stood in the center of a crater.

Her armor still bore not a single scratch; his attacks had been utterly ineffective.

‘Hay clicked his tongue inwardly.’

‘Hellheim had said he lost to Philly.’

‘Had that damn old geezer also been unable to inflict even a single scratch on Philly?’

[“What should we do?”]

Nora approached from behind, asking.

Hay gently stroked Nora’s head and back with the back of his hand.

“Indeed. What *should* we do?”

Philly hadn’t even launched a proper attack against him yet. Hay watched Philly emerge from the crater, his expression wry.

‘Even if he poured all his spirit power into an attack, would he be able to make a single scratch?’

Hay ran a hand through his hair, steadying his breath.

‘Let’s be optimistic.’

‘Surely, one of his attacks would eventually land.’

[“We’ll figure it out somehow! Right, Hay?!”]

“Yes, we’ll figure it out somehow.”

*Thump, thump—.*

A presence stirred behind him.

Hay turned his head, puzzled. Someone inside was rattling the door of a ruined building, whose exterior wall with the front door was the only part left standing.

‘A resident?’

“Are you claiming what you just did was area-of-effect magic?”

Philly questioned. Hay turned his attention back to the Watchman.

Ten glowing orbs materialized above Philly’s head.

He had a bad feeling about this.

“Nix.”

Nix appeared, conjuring a stream of water in the air. Philly raised the hand gripping her sword high.

“I’ll show you what real area-of-effect magic is.”

*CRACK!* The door behind him burst open. Hay whirled around in surprise. His eyes met a pair of green ones.

“Huh? Master?”

“You…”

Simultaneously, Philly’s hand swept downwards.

The entire area was engulfed in light and explosion.