Chapter 66 : Ambush

Early the next morning, the Silver Falcon Squad gathered in front of the Adventurer’s Guild. Milly, cloaked and hooded, stayed close to Tifna. The streets were quiet, but she still kept the cloak tight, afraid of being recognized.

The usual lively atmosphere of the squad was gone, replaced by a tense silence.

“So sudden, first thing in the morning.”

Idis was the first to break the silence, snatching the quest scroll from Tifna. Last time, it had been a sudden summons too, and they had ended up stuck in the forest for half a month.

Back then, she had just been worried. Now, with what had happened, she was afraid Tifna was pushing herself too hard, taking on a dangerously difficult quest.

She opened the scroll, paused, then stuffed it back into Tifna’s pocket and pulled Milly aside.

“How has she been these past few days?”

Idis’s voice was low, as if she didn’t want Tifna to hear.

“She’s okay.”

“Good. I just looked at the quests. She took several, but they’re all low-level monster cleanups. We’ll probably spend more time on the road than on the actual missions.”

Ignoring Idis’s muttering, Milly thought about it. Tifna had said they needed real combat experience, but now she was only taking on easy jobs. Was this less about training and more about… distraction? Or was she trying to ease Milly into the team?

…

By evening, the camp was set up.

Milly, though inexperienced, found things she could do—gathering firewood, passing tools.

Small tasks, but it was good to move after a full day in a rattling carriage. She was starting to hate long-distance travel. Was there no faster, more comfortable way?

But she kept working. Then, she noticed something.

“Tifna, is someone missing?”

Tifna looked around. Joseph, the axe wielder, was gone.

“There’s a small river not far from here. He went to get water.”

As she said it, her brow furrowed. “He’s been gone a long time, though. He should have been back by now.”

She stood, looking in the direction he had gone. The wind carried a strange sound.

“Milly, can you go check? If you see anything, come back immediately.”

She was about to agree when a noise echoed from the distance—the sound of a fight.

“Everyone, on alert! We’ve got a situation!”

The team stopped what they were doing and grabbed their weapons, following Tifna toward the sound.

The scene at the river made them all gasp.

“How could…”

Idis clutched her staff, nearly collapsing.

Joseph’s heavy axe was broken in two, the cross-section clean, as if cut by a razor-sharp blade. Joseph himself lay unconscious by the riverbank.

His chest was rising and falling faintly. He was alive.

“I’ll get him.”

“Wait.”

Tifna stopped Alva. There was no sign of an enemy. They were in the outer forest. A low-level monster couldn’t have done this to Joseph. Unless…

“Alva, shield up, be ready. I’m behind you. Sion, watch the trees on the other side of the river.”

Sion drew his bow, aiming at the opposite bank. Any movement, and he would fire.

With the plan set, Tifna and Alva cautiously approached. The moment Alva raised his shield in front of Joseph, Tifna shouted.

“Watch out!”

A whoosh cut through the air. An unknown projectile slammed into Alva’s shield. The force sent him flying, shield and all.

The attack came from the trees across the river, about two and a half Josephs away.

A few strands of hair drifted to the ground. Tifna touched her neck. She had dodged at the last second. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been just a few hairs.

She had seen it. A figure, like a ghost, hidden in the trees. The Shadowblade Beast. An extremely dangerous monster, known for wandering the outer regions.

Their luck was terrible. Tifna knew they couldn’t win. They had to get Joseph and retreat.

“Alva, your status?”

“Not dead.”

“Then again. Layn, get ready with the holy shield… wait…”

A black mist rose from the trees. Tifna’s face grew grim. Her brother had taught her about this beast. It liked to play with its prey, torturing them before the final kill.

But the black mist meant it was serious. It was going for the kill.

Something here had made it feel threatened. But what? Her own strength wasn’t enough to challenge it.

“Careful!”

Distracted, she didn’t see the bone blade until it was right in front of her.

A flash of lightning. The blade was knocked off course.

It was Milly.

Tifna looked back, a hint of approval in her eyes.

That was a good shot. But Milly’s expression remained grim. Her lightning, which could shatter the Horned Lizard’s scales, had only left a faint white mark on the beast’s tail.

Weaker than Stacy. But with Broken, she could fight it. The only problem was, would summoning it expose her?

She could only hope Tifna could handle it.

“Milly, can you hit it accurately?”

The lightning hadn’t just deflected the blade; it had made the tail pause for a split second.

It was enough. To defeat a Shadowblade, they needed a fatal blow. Even if they couldn’t kill it, if they could scare it, it would flee.

“Layn, bless my sword. Idis, Sion, support Milly, create a diversion.”

The moment she gave the order, a black figure leaped from the mist.

It dodged Idis’s and Sion’s attacks with ghostly speed, but they were just feints.

Milly locked on to where it would land. Another flash of lightning. The beast froze.

Tifna closed the distance.

Just as the beast was about to move, a powerful voice roared.

“I’ll take it!”

Alva leaped in front of Tifna. The tail whipped out, sending him flying again, but he had bought her the time she needed.

If she could cut off that tail, its strongest weapon, it would lose its will to fight.

With Layn’s blessing, she put all her strength into the strike.

A flash of silver. The Shadowblade shrieked as its tail was severed at the root.

It should run now.

But the next moment, a new bone blade shot out from the stump, straight at Tifna.

“What?”

She tried to block, but the attack was too fast. Her sword was knocked from her hand, and she was sent flying.

The Shadowblade shrieked and leaped at her airborne form.

“I can’t dodge…”

She couldn’t move in mid-air. She could only watch it come.

She hadn’t even gotten her revenge…

In that split second, she thought she heard a voice, maybe Idis. Before she could make it out, she saw a figure冲 toward the Shadowblade.

“Milly!”

Idis’s cry was cut short. She had seen the sword in Milly’s hand.

It was the Holy Sword, Dawn.

How was that possible?

The figure holding the sword overlapped with a memory. Her vision blurred, and Tifna unconsciously called out a name.

“Brother?”