Chapter 67: The Unexpected Rescue and a Familiar Face

“Clang!”

The familiar, thunderous crash had once left a profound impression on me.

Alfred, a Swordsman of the sixth rank, proved his prowess by easily evading the Bone Dragon’s assault with a backward leap, his longsword clutched firmly. In a swift motion, he sprang onto the creature’s jawbone, raising his sword to strike furiously at the bone beneath his feet.

“Clang, clang, clang, clang…”

Each strike left deep gouges on the jawbone. Yet, the Bone Dragon registered no pain; as an undead creature, it seemed devoid of even vocal cords, incapable of roaring.

Nevertheless, having a human leap onto its maw was undoubtedly infuriating. Realizing that no amount of violent shaking could dislodge Alfred, the Bone Dragon threw its head back and surged into the sky, intending to leverage its aerial advantage against its adversary.

“A lack of intelligence truly is troublesome,”

The Vampire muttered, gazing up at the human and dragon locked in struggle above. He seemed utterly speechless.

Amos had previously mentioned that Val City likely controlled these Bone Dragons through its towering structures. However, it was clear this control wasn’t manual; rather, it merely coerced these mindless undead creatures into their service. Their combat style remained fundamentally instinctual.

Thus, despite possessing the power and speed of a rank 6.5 creature or higher, their actual combat effectiveness was severely limited. From my observations, Bone Dragons were best suited for large-scale, head-on engagements. In smaller skirmishes, their massive bodies and lack of intelligence rendered them quite unsuitable.

‘If it were up to me, I certainly wouldn’t deploy war machines like Bone Dragons to pursue us,’ I mused. ‘I wonder what Val City is thinking. Last time, they sent two, and Amos and I ended up getting them stuck in the city walls, where they remain unretrievable.’

‘Do they truly have no other flying combatants of Rank 6?’

“It doesn’t matter,”

The Vampire lowered his gaze to us, a smirk playing on his lips as he licked them, as if planning to capture us all in one fell swoop.

Without further preamble, he lunged towards us with astounding speed. The dozens of meters separating us vanished in the blink of an eye, bringing him directly before our group.

Hayden, at the forefront, raised his shield to block the assault. A crisp, resounding “Clang!” echoed, and the shield shattered. The immense force sent him reeling backward, and Amos and I, along with the others, quickly moved to catch him, preventing him from being hurled even further.

Such power! A casual strike had nearly pierced a sturdy shield. The group collectively gasped, drawing in sharp breaths. As mages unsuited for close combat, Sally and Erica were instantly exposed before the enemy.

‘Hmm?’ I pondered. ‘Although the Vampire’s attack was incredibly fierce and overbearing, there was a profound sense of incongruity about it.’

I soared upward, raising my longsword to strike down at the Vampire’s head from above, simultaneously unleashing a sphere of Purification Spell light.

As expected, the Vampire flinched from the Purification Spell’s radiance, retreating instantly. Having anticipated this move, I immediately brought my sword down with force in the direction of his evasion.

“Clink!”

A “Clink” echoed, as if striking stone. Intense pain and numbness surged through my sword-wielding hands, the blade snapping instantly. The hilt nearly flew from my grasp.

Fortunately, the Vampire wasn’t entirely unscathed; a fine cut appeared on his raised arm.

With one successful strike, I immediately flapped my wings, ascending to hover in mid-air.

The Vampire paused, glancing at his arm, but made no move to retaliate or pursue me into the sky.

‘He really can’t fly! A Vampire who can’t fly!’

I suddenly understood why he had pursued us in this manner. According to Amos, Vampires in their true bat forms are somewhat akin to angels concealing their wings; they possess almost no abilities, and thus likely cannot fly very fast. Without a Bone Dragon to carry him, it would have been nearly impossible for him to chase us from the city.

Though Alfred and the others could only run on the ground, unlike me, every one of them possessed strength above Rank 4. Their speed and stamina were simply incomparable to ordinary humans.

“Come on, hit me! Or turn into a bat and chase me! Do you dare to jump up here?”

I provoked him, not out of arrogance, but primarily because I feared that if he couldn’t reach me, he would attack the others. In that scenario, I would be utterly helpless.

As I spoke, I deliberately continued to hurl spheres of Purification Spell light downward. Strangely, this time, the Vampire made no attempt to dodge. Every single light sphere struck his body, sinking into him without eliciting any adverse reaction.

‘No way! Why isn’t it working anymore?’

I focused my gaze, noticing a layer of dark light shimmering across his body. These black tendrils seemed to be repelling the Purification Spell, appearing to be of the same nature as the black orb the Succubus had used to counter this very technique before.

‘That dark light appears to be highly pure dark elemental energy, while my Purification Spell is light elemental energy. Could it be that light and darkness are canceling each other out?’

“Do you think I have no way to deal with you just because you’re in the sky?”

While I was still secretly pondering the underlying principle, the Vampire, seemingly unwilling to merely stand there and take hits, looked up at me with a cold sneer.

‘No way, does he really intend to jump up here?’ I thought, recalling how Buck, the demon, had jumped when drunk, only to be kicked down by me mid-air because he couldn’t dodge.

However, I had truly underestimated him. While the Vampire indeed couldn’t fly, he *did* jump. His speed was many times greater than Buck’s; before I could even react, he was directly in front of me, swinging his hand.

A searing pain erupted in my abdomen as a powerful force slammed into me, knocking me directly from the sky to the ground.

“Flora!”

I vaguely heard the startled cries of Amos and the others.

I couldn’t help but cough up a mouthful of fresh blood. My vision was filled with the tiny white specks that appeared as blood vaporized in the air, and my back throbbed with excruciating pain.

This time, I truly believed I was finished. My entire body was wracked with intense pain, rendering me immobile as if I were about to shatter. My vision alternated between darkness and shimmering white flashes; I couldn’t discern reality from illusion, feeling my consciousness steadily slipping away.

“Do you think I am Buck, whom you fought before? He fell into my nephew’s house and was given a good beating by him. How could I possibly be compared to such an idiot?”

The Vampire seemed to have divined my earlier thoughts, landing before me and raising his hand, poised to deliver the finishing blow. But then, his body abruptly shuddered. A long, greyish-white, transparent sword pierced through him from behind…

“Flora!”

This time, the shout I heard wasn’t from Amos or Sally, or any of the others. In the instant before I succumbed to unconsciousness, I witnessed the Vampire cleaved in two, the entire sword blade revealed, shimmering with an unusual light as it danced in the air.

‘Such a familiar sword…’

When I awoke and opened my eyes, I saw many faces gathered around me. Besides Alfred and his group, and Sally, there was also an additional, familiar face.

“Angelina…”

I exclaimed, my voice filled with emotion, attempting to sit up with her help.

“What are you doing here?”

Indeed, I had been right; the sword I had seen earlier was the Qi-Condensed Sword.

“Don’t move yet! How are you feeling right now?”

Erica quickly interjected from nearby, stopping me.

“By all accounts,” Erica continued, “healing an angel with recovery magic should take many times longer than usual. Yet, you’ve recovered so quickly…”

“There’s such a thing?”

Hearing this, I assessed my own physical condition. Nothing felt particularly unusual; all the pain I’d felt before losing consciousness had completely vanished.

“I’m perfectly fine!!”

I declared, even moving my shoulders and body to prove it.

“That’s strange. How is your recovery speed even faster than a human’s?”

Erica scrutinized me with a suspicious expression, as if, much like Sally before, she believed I was some sort of imposter angel.

“It doesn’t matter, as long as you’ve truly recovered!”

Angelina dismissed all concerns, pulling me into a tight embrace against her chest, her voice trembling with excitement.

“I finally found you, Flora!”

“Hey! A little gentler…”

I waved my hands, wanting to push her away but feeling a pang of reluctance. ‘My dear friend, don’t you realize how substantial those two mounds on your chest are? You’re suffocating me!’

“Ah! I’m sorry!”

Angelina immediately released me. Freed from what felt like a crushing embrace, I saw her face flush crimson, which prompted me to quip:

“You’re not an imposter, are you? You feel so strange…”

How to describe Angelina today? Hmm… she felt exceptionally gentle, completely unlike her usual boisterous self.

“You’re the imposter!”

To my surprise, upon hearing my words, she immediately bristled.

“It’s this big, and you have no reaction at all? Confess honestly, have you been possessed by some female ghost?”

As she spoke, she even cupped her own chest with her hands.

‘Alright, I admit that what I just witnessed was entirely an illusion!’ I thought. ‘But there’s a whole group of people watching! Does she really have to be so over-the-top and make a fool of herself?’

I awkwardly turned my head away, unwilling to look at her. Several boys, their faces flushed, coughed a few times before quickly turning and walking away.

“Your affection for each other is still as strong as ever!”

Sally remarked from the side, a hint of envy in her tone.

“Could she be the one you mentioned…”

Erica’s mouth fell open, and she immediately began whispering into Sally’s ear.

“You’re all misunderstanding!”

Seeing this, I inwardly cried out, ‘Oh no!’ What was all this about? ‘Sally, just how many young minds have you corrupted?’

“Angelina, keep your distance from me!”

I quickly stood up. To prove my innocence, I needed to draw a clear line between us right now!

“Hmph, how heartless!”

Angelina pouted, her voice laced with grievance.

“Don’t you know how many days you’ve been missing? I finally managed to find you in this place, and this is the attitude I get…”

“That’s right…”

Her words made me remember. For Angelina, I had suddenly vanished for at least three or four days. If it were me, I would have been incredibly anxious too, which explained her earlier excitement.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. That day, while on a mission, I was suddenly teleported to this place…”

I explained apologetically to her.

“I already know,”

Angelina interrupted my repeated explanation. “Sally and the others roughly told me why you were unconscious.”

“And about those monsters…”

“Oh right! How did the battle end earlier?”

Only then did I remember to ask about what had happened after I lost consciousness.