Seris held her sword in front of her body.
There were five undead in front of her.
Four Ancient Cindari, each of whom alone was enough to turn this battle into a nightmare, and in the center of them stood a man whose name was connected to almost all of Cindari history.
Cindar Vael.
The Founder, someone who according to everything Seris knew until a few hours ago, should have been dead for centuries, or maybe even longer.
But now he was there.
In the sky, silent, and his dry eyes were not fixed on her, but on the Cocoon.
None of the five spoke, and she could not even hear the sound of their breathing.
Seris was not sure if they were even breathing.
This silence was more disturbing than any scream, behind Seris, Lian had gone toward the Cocoon, his last words were still in her mind.
"I won’t take long."
Now that she looked at the five creatures in front of her, she finally understood that answer might have been one of the stupidest things she had ever said in her life.
Her left eye could no longer see anything.
Not darkness, not shadow, not even light, it simply did not exist anymore.
The sharp pain from before had almost disappeared, replaced by a heavy pulse that every few seconds spread from the empty eye socket to her temple and half of her skull.
Her right thigh burned with every movement, the wound on her side pulled whenever she breathed, and her muscles were still shaking from the previous battle with Caelus.
And most of her Mana was gone, although she had managed to recover some of it, it was not enough, she opened her own panel and looked at it.
[Name: Seris]
[Race: Human]
[ Class : Warrior ]
[ Talent : God’s Sword ( SS ) ]
[Level: 20]
[Strength: 520]
[Spirit: 260]
[Speed: 540]
[Mana: 400]
[Resistance: 280]
[ Stat Points: 0]
[Total Stat Points: 2,000]
Seris stared at the last line for a few seconds, the corner of her blood-covered lips rose slightly, she did not like having a limit.
This meant that until she completed the Evolution Quest, she could not progress ... and completing that Quest .... she sighed, it was not easy.
She closed the panel, and raised her sword again, she had always considered herself strong.
Not in a way that made her think she was unbeatable, she was not stupid enough to ignore other people’s Levels or Talents.
But there was one simple fact, among people her age, there were very few who could actually defeat her in direct combat.
Seris had become used to this fact, to entering herself, killing the enemy herself, making her own decisions and leaving the battlefield herself.
But ever since Lian had entered her life, this annoying order had been broken more and more.
Several times she had been forced to trust his decisions, several times she had moved behind him, several times without knowing exactly what he was thinking, she had allowed him to choose the path.
And Seris did not like this feeling.
Not Lian, but what Lian had made her feel ... needing someone, trusting someone and sometimes being forced to accept that another person knew something she did not.
And worst of all, a few minutes ago, when Lian had seen her destroyed eye and blood-covered body and simply said "Be careful," Seris had actually wanted to listen to him.
To stay alive.
That part annoyed her the most.
"Since when did I become this stupid?"
She had no answer.
Maybe since that birthday ceremony in the Vorhelm family? Since the moment she was defeated by someone her own age for the first time ...?
Had that caused her to unconsciously develop these strange feelings... ? Or was there something else, something that even she did not know about yet ....?
Seris tightened her fingers around the handle.
It did not matter.
For now, she had only one goal.
None of these five could reach Lian.
Several thin metal leaves came out of her Storage.
Six leaves.
Each one was slightly smaller than her palm and made of green-gold metal, with very small Rune lines moving across their surface.
[Brand Leaves]
[ Rank : B ]
[ Description : A very rare consumable Artifact, each leaf can temporarily increase part of the user’s Mana, physical strength and Skill control, but after being activated, it burns and leaves heavy pressure on the body. ]
Seris looked at the six leaves.
Under normal conditions, even using two of them one after another was not a smart choice.
Now? Normal conditions had ended a long time ago.
She had received these things from her family so she could use them if she ever faced a dangerous situation, until now she had never had a chance where she needed them.
But against five creatures who were at least 15 Levels above her ... she had no choice.
She took one of the leaves between two fingers, Mana entered the Rune and the leaf began to burn.
Its metal surface turned into golden light and entered Seris’s arm like a thin thread.
A sudden pressure of Mana spread through her body, the muscles in her injured thigh tightened and the pain became stronger for a moment.
But then .... more power, faster, sharper and one of the undead finally moved.
The swordsman standing on the left side of Cindar attacked the girl with all his strength, wanting to destroy this annoying obstacle.
Seris activated her Skill at the same moment.
[Moonless Severance.]
Her sword came down diagonally, no Projectile appeared and the Attack Line remained hidden in space for a fraction of a second and then it was supposed to cut through the entire distance between her and the target.
But the undead moved his sword.
Not after the Slash appeared, but before it!
The edge of his blade stopped exactly where Moonless Severance should have appeared.
CLANG!
The space shook for a moment and the Attack Line broke!
"What...?" Seris’s healthy eye opened slightly wider.
It was the first time someone had read a Skill almost before it was fully created.
The undead disappeared, not with a teleport Skill but only with raw speed and the young Pendragon saw only a weak flash of metal.
She raised her sword.
CLANG!
The attack was so heavy that Seris’s fingers around the handle shook.
Her body left the ground, she was pushed ten meters back and the soles of her boots made lines in the dirt, her thigh wound opened again at the same moment.
Warm blood moved under her clothes.
"...Damn."
And still, only one of the five had actually attacked.
The second undead raised his hand, white roots came out from under the ground.
The third rose into the air, white ash gathered around his body.
The fourth had no weapon, a wide body, broken armor and gray skin.
And Cindar was still almost completely still.
"Very well." Seris took a short breath.
She activated the second Brand leaf, another light entered her body and at the same moment she released her next Skill.
[Swordheart Overdrive]
[ Rank : Holy ]
A Holy Skill! A Skill that even went beyond the Divine Rank.
Skills with this level of potential were extremely rare and obtaining them required a great amount of luck.
Even she had received this Skill as a gift from her father and had used all the Fragments she had collected during this time to raise it to this level.
Mana rushed into all Channels connected to her legs, arms, Reflex and Sword Control.
Seris’s body was artificially pushed beyond its natural capacity.
The System immediately gave a warning.
[Swordheart Overdrive Activated.]
[1000% Power Output Increased.]
[1000% Speed Increased.]
[1000% Reaction Speed Increased.]
[ Sword Attack Damage Increased By 100% ]
[Pain Suppression Activated.]
[Warning: Current Physical Condition Is Unsuitable.]
[Estimated Safe Duration: 21 Seconds.]
This Skill helped increase all of her overall abilities to the level of a Level 38 Awakener, it raised all her stats and attacks to that level.
"Enough." And she moved, for a moment only a line of light remained where she had been standing.
The Ancient Swordmaster attacked again but this time Seris saw the path, she turned her blade and the metals collided.
The young Pendragon passed beside the Blade.
[Thousand Petal Swordstorm.]
One Slash.
Dozens of Sword Aura.
The second.
Again, dozens.
In less than two seconds, hundreds of thin Blades filled the space in front of her.
The undead mage raised both hands, white and black roots created several layers of Barrier and the Sword Aura crashed into them.
The first layer broke, the second cracked but another Cindari also moved his hand forward and a huge wave of white ash and gray fire came down from the sky.
Seris lowered her body, rolled across the ground and a large part of the wave passed over her body, but the heat burned the back of her clothes.
Before she could stand up, another one of them came out through the same fire and punched her directly in the stomach.
The girl held her sword horizontally in front of her body, the attack hit the Blade and the force from the sword entered her hands and shoulders.
Her body was thrown again, blood came out of her mouth but even before she landed—
[Moonless Severance.]
The sword moved through the air, the hidden Slash appeared in front of the attacker with a delay and the undead brought his hands in front of his body.
The cutting line hit his forearm, the gray skin split open and a piece of dry flesh came out.
But the Cindari did not seem to feel the pain.
"Great." Seris landed on the ground, put her hand on the dirt and pushed herself up, then wiped the blood from the corner of her lips.
"You can’t even feel pain."
The roots suddenly came from both sides, the girl cut one, jumped over the second, the third wrapped around her injured ankle.
The pain reached her brain even with Pain Suppression and Seris turned in the air and brought her Blade down and the root was cut with force.
The Swordmaster used that moment, a Slash went directly toward her neck.
And the young Pendragon bent down and the edge of the sword cut a few strands of hair.
[King’s Breaker.]
The first attack hit the undead’s Blade, his sword shook.
And the second—