A faint surge of mana could be felt from afar.
It had been so long since she last sensed it that, under normal circumstances, the memory of that energy should have long since faded into oblivion—yet instead, the image of a single person rose vividly in her mind.
As if a switch had been flicked on.
Or as if she were changing the mask upon her face.
Elisa’s entire demeanor shifted.
“Headmaster?”
The first to notice the change was her loyal aide, Wilford.
“What’s the matter?”
“Hmm. It seems the time has finally come for me to sever an old grudge.”
She called it a grudge, but her face bore a bright, almost cheerful smile.
Seeing that expression, Wilford simply nodded in understanding.
“I see. Then I’ll explain things to the others.”
Even without a detailed explanation, he seemed to grasp exactly what Elisa intended to do.
“Wilford, thank you. For always staying by my side and helping me. It must have been hard, assisting such a willful young lady like me, yet you never once complained.”
“Haha. How could it have been hard? You gave an old retired man like me work to do. I was rather grateful.”
“Oh my. Then I’ll have to make sure to work you even harder later.”
“I’ll prepare myself, then.”
Elisa gave him a bright smile, then suddenly leapt into the air.
A mighty pink radiance swirled around her, bursting forth with power—and in an instant, she was gone, flying far into the distance.
Everyone stared after her in shock at her sudden solo move.
But there was no time to stop her.
Elisa had already vanished beyond the horizon—into the battlefield.
* * *
Caroline Monarch, who had been supporting the Dreamwalkers’ guerrilla operation with Dreamwalker magic, abruptly raised her head.
Her pupils narrowed, and a wide grin spread across her face.
“What’s this? Don’t tell me you came in person?”
Following the faint traces she had left behind—someone was approaching from afar.
Her oldest grudge.
The one person whose smug face she most wanted to crush first.
Elisa Willow.
“Well, well. We never did have the chance to settle things properly back then, did we? And now the perfect stage has been set. What better time for a rematch than this?”
If that was the case—
Then she would gladly accept.
She was not one to turn away from a fight that came her way.
Caroline lifted herself into the air, mana surging.
“Eh?”
“Miss, where are you going?”
The Dreamwalkers around her looked confused.
The plan had been to retreat from here and trigger the next trap.
“Change of plans. Everyone, fall back.”
Caroline spoke to the Dreamwalkers gazing up at her in puzzlement.
“From this point on, this place will become the fiercest battlefield.”
The Dreamwalkers didn’t ask for further explanation.
Experienced as they were, they understood what she meant.
“Oh dear.”
“I thought it would take a little longer, but she’s fast as hell.”
“There’s no helping it. The weak ones are all gone now—only the real monsters will come swarming in.”
The Dreamwalkers quickly began to pack up, some patting their backs, others pushing off their knees to stand.
“Miss, don’t overdo it. Come back soon.”
One older Dreamwalker spoke in a kind, almost grandfatherly tone.
Caroline wanted to say she wasn’t a child, but she wasn’t rude enough to reject such warmth. She merely nodded in acknowledgment.
Once the Dreamwalkers had left, she could feel the approaching presence again.
“So. You’re giving me the courtesy of a private duel, huh?”
Caroline’s lips twisted into a crooked smile.
Still so fond of these pointless gestures of courtesy—same as ever.
With a feral grin, she faced the figure now visible to the naked eye.
“You could’ve brought those loyal little followers of yours along, like you used to.”
“Oh? I could say the same to you. I thought you’d bring that mercenary band you adore so much.”
“Ha! You think the Monarch Mercenary Corps needs to mobilize just to deal with one prim little lady like you? I can handle this myself.”
“I’ll give you credit for not running away.”
Suspended in the air, Elisa and Caroline traded provocations without an inch of compromise.
The longer they spoke, the stronger their mana grew—until their two auras collided, igniting fierce sparks in midair.
“Elisa, I’ve always wanted to smash that fake, smiling mask of yours.”
“Oh my, really? How funny. I’ve been wanting to fix that insolent attitude of yours, always rampaging around like a lunatic.”
“When was the last time we fought?”
“Hmm. The day before graduation, wasn’t it?”
“Ah, that’s right. The fight ended halfway because you chickened out.”
“You’re the one who was exhausted and about to collapse first, weren’t you?”
“Has old age finally rotted your memory? I obviously won that day.”
“You really haven’t grown up at all since then, have you? Clearly, I was the winner.”
Their last battle had taken place the day before Seorn’s graduation ceremony.
That day, the duel between two soon-to-be graduates had blown away the entire forest scheduled for land development, leaving the terrain completely flat—a famous story even now.
Elisa, now Headmaster, had later felt deeply embarrassed by her youthful recklessness and quietly buried the incident.
Still, the tale survived as an academy legend—passed down in whispers from senior to junior students.
“Today, there’ll be no one to interrupt us. Ready to get beaten to a pulp, you pretentious lady?”
“Look who’s talking, you wild brat.”
Among 6th-Circle mages, the two most notorious for sheer ferocity of mana finally clashed head-on.
* * *
“Elisa’s gone all out, it seems.”
Terrina sensed it instantly with the sharp intuition unique to a master-ranked knight.
If Elisa—who rarely involved herself in direct combat—was leading the charge, her opponent had to be formidable indeed.
Having sided with the Demon King Heathcliff, it was only natural that their enemies would be no ordinary rabble.
“We can’t sit idly by either. Move out.”
Terrina led the Nightcrawler Knights forward.
She had been granted authority to act independently.
In truth, cooperation with others often did more harm than good—conflicting tactics would only hinder one another.
‘At the very least, I need to make a visible show of participation in this holy war.’
There were many other powerful figures gathered here.
The priests and paladins, in particular, required close observation.
They were the eyes of Salesin—ready to brand anyone suspicious as a heretic.
‘But the Lumenis Church isn’t the only threat. There are already others who’ve fallen under their indoctrination.’
Perhaps even among her own Nightcrawler Knights.
For that reason, Terrina planned to remain outwardly active in the crusade.
The same went for the Coldsteel Knights and Stella Siren—each moving under similar reasoning.
“What are your plans, Commander?”
The man she addressed as Commander—Lutus Wardot, the strongest knight on the continent—spoke firmly with his arms crossed.
“I’ll move on my own.”
“Please, wait a moment.”
Of course, someone had to object.
It was one of the paladins from Bretus, who had been keeping a close eye on Lutus.
“What is it?”
“Commander Lutus Wardot, you are an invaluable asset to our crusade. For someone of your strength to enter enemy lines alone is unacceptable. We must ask you to refrain from acting independently.”
He sounded polite enough, but the meaning was clear:
Don’t act on your own—follow our orders.
Lutus smirked at the man, his gaze openly provocative.
The paladin’s expression stiffened.
If Lutus defied orders, he was prepared to resort to more forceful measures.
But this was the man known as the Continent’s Strongest Sword.
If he resisted, there would be a civil war before they even reached the Demon King’s forces.
“Well, I suppose I have no choice.”
To the paladin’s surprise, Lutus relaxed his stance and agreed easily.
His compliance came so effortlessly that suspicion flickered across the paladin’s face.
Still, it was better than a confrontation, so he chose not to question it.
“I’ll move with your group, then.”
“A wise decision.”
Watching Lutus walk away alongside the Church’s men, Terrina shook her head.
People thought of Lutus as nothing more than a battle-obsessed brute, but in truth, few in the Empire were as cunning as he.
‘He’ll handle things his own way. We’ll just focus on ours.’
Before stepping onto the battlefield, Terrina recalled Aileen’s solemn order.
—Don’t forget. Our true enemy is Bretus.
Of course. She knew that well.
Those who brainwashed the masses and incited this so-called holy war—
Though they stood shoulder to shoulder for now, she had never once considered them true allies.
“Move out.”
Terrina and the Nightcrawler Knights entered the path of thorned vines carved open by the vanguard.
* * *
“Tch. This isn’t good.”
Ambella Burke frowned, one remaining eye narrowing as she listened through the plant network to the reports from the battlefield.
The first and second disruption plans had succeeded.
The crusaders had lost the tactical advantage of their heavy infantry’s overwhelming firepower.
Just as she intended, only the elite troops remained.
That alone had cut their numbers by more than ninety percent.
But the danger now lay with the remaining ten percent—their strength was terrifying.
These were no ordinary soldiers.
Even sleep powders and Dreamwalker magic had no effect on them.
So she had sent out Hans next.
An endless swarm of wolves—his multiplied shadows filling the battlefield.
If anything could slow the enemy down, it was that.
But even that hadn’t gone smoothly.
Tarian, the strongest paladin of Bretus, had led his subordinates in a direct assault on Hans’s main body.
The wolves still writhed out of the darkness, but their numbers were greatly diminished.
Because of that, within the fog-shrouded ruins of the Second Gate City, the tide of battle slowly began to turn in favor of the crusaders.
The cryptids’ strength had always been in sheer numbers—but without that advantage, the outcome was inevitable.
Only the stag-type cryptid, who had inherited the strongest leadership instincts, continued to fight fiercely, yet even it couldn’t hold for long.
Even if they defeated this first crusade, there were still the second and third waves waiting beyond.
“And now of all times, that monster had to show up.”
Ambella gave a dry laugh as she visualized the face that came through the plant’s network.
Lutus Wardot.
The continent’s strongest knight.
A man who had transcended human limits.
And now, he stood on the crusaders’ side.
“Though considering his personality, it’s strange to see him burdened with so many hangers-on.”
Could it be that Lutus had fallen to brainwashing?
No. If that living weapon had truly been manipulated, he’d already have stormed straight to her location.
The fact that he hadn’t meant—
“He’s waiting. Watching. But that doesn’t mean he plans to avoid battle.”
Once, he’d been a pure-hearted youth who devoted everything to the sword—but time changed all things.
Ambella reached for a cigar, then tossed it away.
There was no one left to light it for her, and smoking before a fight was a luxury she couldn’t afford.
“Druids, prepare yourselves. Begin the next phase.”
Their only task now was to delay the enemy’s advance.
* * *
Using the World Tree’s ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ cells refined by Sedina, the druids infused their power into the plants, transforming the battlefield into an endless swamp.
The vegetation held little direct lethality, but that was exactly the point—their strength lay in exhaustion.
Durable water hyacinths floated along the flooded waterways, swelling dozens of times their normal size until they blocked paths completely, latching onto intruders with crushing vitality.
Elsewhere, water overflowed from channels, turning the ground itself into marshland.
Lotuses bloomed serenely atop the mire, yet those who ventured near soon began to gag and retch.
Even the strongest knights found it difficult to endure.
Cryptids lay hidden among the overgrown plants, ambushing the crusaders whenever they could.
Yet even this couldn’t fully halt their march.
As the battle at the Second Gate City began tilting toward the crusaders, they reorganized and dispatched new forces toward the First Gate City.
A detached unit—mostly composed of soldiers from Bretus—advanced warily, tensing as they surveyed the seemingly untouched city ahead.
Chaarrrrk—
And then, they heard it.
The sound of massive iron chains dragging across the entire city.