Chapter 81: A Brief Respite and a Shadowy Interruption

After Imeline unleashed a fireball, clearing the last wave of Specters before them, she leaned on her wand, catching her breath. This year marked their fastest progress in the Monster Hunt Exercise.

Each year, their strength increased, and their advance quickened, allowing them to eliminate more Specters than ever before. However, the brunt of the offensive fell upon Imeline, rapidly depleting her magical energy.

“Lucia, Thor… let’s take a short break. I’m a little tired.”

“Alright.”

Hearing Imeline’s request, Attestor nodded, halting their steps. Together with Lucia, they positioned themselves to guard Imeline.

The Monster Hunt Exercise spanned ten hours, from nine at night until six the following morning. Though they had already covered a significant distance and defeated numerous Specters, it was not yet eight in the evening.

They had ample time remaining, and a brief rest for Imeline to recover her magic would allow them to press on.

They found an abandoned wooden hut that seemed relatively intact. After clearing out the Specters inside, Lucia retrieved a clean blanket from her Holy Ring and spread it on the floor, providing Imeline a place to rest.

“You even brought a small blanket. How thoughtful, Lucia. It’s always been like this, hasn’t it?”

At Imeline’s playful jab, Lucia simply offered a faint smile.

Imeline said no more, settling cross-legged on the blanket to begin meditating, restoring her magical and spiritual energy.

While Imeline rested, Lucia and Attestor had little else they could do. If one of them were to continue hunting Specters, the situation would become precarious.

The risk of an unforeseen incident, with only one person guarding Imeline, would be too high. It was better to remain nearby, keeping watch and taking a short rest themselves.

“Lucia, what do you think of your teacher?”

While Imeline was resting, Attestor suddenly brought up Lovelenica in conversation with Lucia.

“Huh? Thor, why are you suddenly asking about this?”

“No reason, just curious.”

From their recent interactions with Lovelenica, Attestor believed that Lovelenica truly seemed different from before. However, she remained skeptical of this change.

How could a person transform so drastically overnight? Attestor suspected Lovelenica was either feigning it, or something significant had occurred to alter her.

“I heard you gave up two-fifths of our score just to visit the ailing Lovelenica. So, I want to hear, what exactly does she mean to you?”

“Hmm…”

When Attestor mentioned the score, Lucia’s first feeling was a pang of guilt. At the time, she hadn’t considered Attestor’s opinion before using their shared score for a transaction. This was a score earned by all three of them.

Moreover, their performance score was exceptionally crucial for Attestor, even more so than for Imeline or Lucia.

Though Lucia was an orphan, she was the Saintess personally designated by the Pope. Regardless of her performance, she would always receive resources and preferential treatment from the Church; only Lovelenica would pay particular attention to her scores.

Imeline, on the other hand, was royalty. Even if her scores were subpar, her family would always provide a safety net.

Attestor was different. She belonged to a collateral branch of her family, and while she could receive support for her performance from the family’s schemes, she lacked Lucia’s special privileges.

All her resource support depended entirely on her scores. She didn’t have Lucia’s blessed life, nor Imeline’s mastery of Spatial Magic. All she possessed, in the eyes of others, was her own strength, and the further she cultivated, the smaller her advantage seemed.

If they were all high-ranking, she wouldn’t even be able to touch Imeline, who wielded spatial magic, nor withstand a few high-tier spells. In a true battle, how could her physical body possibly endure the scorching Holy Fire of Lucia?

Consequently, Attestor didn’t truly believe herself to be strong. Her strenuous training was partly to rescue Lucia, and partly to avoid being left behind by Lucia and Imeline.

Her only value in the eyes of her family now lay in her superhuman physical strength and her scores. Without these achievements, as a collateral member, she would quickly lose the resource allocation from the Knight Order.

Thus, for Attestor, scores were exceptionally important.

“I’m sorry, Thor, I…”

“It’s alright. I wasn’t blaming you. I actually don’t care about the score; I just genuinely wanted to know your thoughts on Lovelenica.” Attestor shook her head, cutting off Lucia’s apology.

In truth, she was lying. She deeply cared about her scores, about her family’s esteem, and the resources allocated to her. Yet, more than any of that, she cared about Lucia.

“Teacher… she used to be very strict, but recently she’s become gentler…”

Whoosh—

“Look out!!!”

Just as Lucia was deep in thought, a strange sound echoed from the street. Attestor cried out, lunging towards Lucia, shielding her and pushing her behind Imeline.

She then positioned herself in front of Lucia, raising a Holy Shield to protect both Lucia and Imeline behind her.

Boom—!

The impact and heatwave from the explosion swept through the wooden hut, utterly obliterating its dilapidated walls and ceiling.

As the smoke and dust cleared, the Holy Shield remained steadfast. Through a gap in the shield, Attestor’s gaze grew increasingly frigid.

Although the sudden fireball had destroyed the hut, it failed to breach Attestor’s defenses. Neither Lucia nor Imeline sustained any injuries.

Imeline was startled awake from her meditation; fortunately, she had only been recovering magic, not in a deep meditative state, or the attack might have been fatal.

“What… happened?”

The startled Imeline scrambled to her feet and moved closer behind Attestor. She knew they had been attacked by magic, but why would anyone use magic to attack others here?

Clap, clap, clap—

“Completely unharmed, I see? Truly a prodigy among the Knight Order’s younger generation. It would be such a pity to kill you.”

The three looked up towards the sound, spotting a figure clad in dark, concealing night clothes, standing lightly on the rooftop, clapping and praising Attestor. Behind this speaking figure, several more black-clad individuals stood in similar attire.

“Who are you?”

Attestor asked coldly. All three of them could tell that these black-clad figures were certainly not participants in the Monster Hunt Exercise. Imeline leaned further behind Attestor, while Lucia slowly crouched, poised to launch a surprise attack on the black-clad figures at any moment.

“Heh heh, who we are is unimportant. Senseless slaughter holds no interest for us. Hand over Lucia, and we’ll spare the two of you right now.”