Chapter 326 (Patreon)

Rose Light had always planned around the worst possible outcome.

It was the reason she was still alive. Other royal knights relied on strength, numbers, reputation, or instinct. Rose trusted preparation. Every mission was a board filled with moving pieces, and she hated entering battles without already imagining how they could fail. Always doing countless simulations before the actual thing.

One of her long-standing missions for the kingdom had always been the same. Well, not just her. It was a long decade quest of the royal knights.

Gain influence inside the lawless city. Almost impossible in reality. Because to achieve that, one of them must become the faction masters.

The three faction masters ruling the independent city were monsters wrapped in paranoia. Assassination attempts inside the city had failed repeatedly over the years. Poison. Ambushes. Sabotage. Every method eventually collapsed against layers of guards, hidden routes, spies, beast scouts, and enough backup plans to make even royal intelligence exhausted.

The faction masters beside their monster strength, trusted nobody. That was why they survived.

Rose had expected retaliation after stealing the vault. A few Death Squad members perhaps. Not enough to slow them down.

But not this. Not all of them. Even she admitted that was troublesome.

Still… manageable.

Especially with those two anomaly students traveling with them. Kana and Suri were not merely talented kids anymore. Rose had observed and experienced countless battles now to understand something terrifying.

Those two were mostly on par with her in terms of battle prowess though she most likely had an edge when it came to battle experience. She almost pitied whoever faced them years from now. Yet despite the danger approaching, Rose found herself grinning beneath the sands.

Because fate had handed her something unexpected.

One of the faction masters, Ghin himself.

She was hoping she would appear but she didn’t think much about it. Because he was known to be the laziest faction master in the lawless city. According to every report she gathered over the years, Ghin rarely moved personally unless truly angered. His class specialized in commanding and controlling beasts across vast distances. A dangerous class, certainly, but one built around safety and control.

He was reportedly not good at direct combat.

And unfortunately for him… His class was a terrible match against hers. 

Beneath the desert sands, Rose remained perfectly still.

Red sands wrapped around her body while a few grains of sand moved gently against her armor. The desert pressed heavily around her from all sides, but her breathing remained calm and controlled.

Mana conservation mattered. It was the reason she hid beneath the sand instead of using her [Body Fade]. Every drop mattered, especially in a life or death situation.

Above her, she could hear them. Heavy feline paws crashing across the desert.

Death Squad riders shouting. Weapons rattling. The vibrations spread through the sands clearly enough for her sharpened senses to track.

Rose waited.

Patiently.

Like a buried blade. Several riders passed directly above her hidden position without noticing a thing. She ignored them.

Not the target. The Death Squads were dangerous, but cutting off the head mattered more than fighting the claws.

So she waited longer.

Seconds stretched.

The desert heat pressed endlessly around her buried form.

Then finally…

A different presence entered her range.

Heavier.

Rose smiled beneath the sands.

Found you.

Ghin approached more slowly than the others. Likely because he relied on his beast scouts more than his own eyes. She could already imagine him comfortably sitting atop one of those oversized powerful beasts while searching for threats from a safe distance.

There was probably a range limitation to his abilities as well. Most command or tame-type classes had one. Either that or the faction master simply hated cooped up inside the lawless city for once in a while. Maybe he was conserving mana.

Probably both.

Rose counted silently in her head.

Three.

Two.

One.

She exploded upward.

The desert sands erupted violently.

To ordinary people, the compact sands should have buried and slowed her movement. But Rose’s body cut through it like a shark bursting from water. Red sand blasted outward in every direction as her figure lunged skyward with terrifying speed.

The Death Squad riders barely had time to react. Rose saw everything clearly in that brief instant suspended beneath the blazing desert sun.

The giant feline mounts rearing backward.

Skull-masked riders twisting in shock.

And directly ahead…

Ghin!

The faction master’s eyes widened beneath his thick brows, genuine surprise flashing across his face for the very first time. He had not sensed her. No. The beasts surrounding him did not sense her at all.

That realization alone already meant he was losing.

Rose did not hesitate. Her longsword was already unsheathed midair, glowing faintly beneath the sunlight while killing intent exploded outward from her body like sharpened steel.

Then she spoke a single word.

“[Duel].”

The world changed instantly.

A violent pressure slammed outward across the desert.

The sands around them collapsed inward as though reality itself had tightened around the two of them. Invisible force spread in a circular wave, cutting through wind, sound, and movement.

The surrounding Death Squad riders suddenly looked alarmed. Because they understood immediately what had happened. Their faction master had been isolated. And Rose Light had no intention of letting him escape alive.

…..

A few minutes earlier.

“I don’t think those are humans.”

Boris’ voice came out rough and uncertain beneath the blazing desert heat. Even Thorne, resting lazily atop his head moments ago, slowly lifted her head and stared toward the horizon with narrowed eyes.

The little lizard actually looked disturbed.

Boris rubbed one eye hard as though hoping the heat was simply making him hallucinate. “That’s a [Skeleton King],” he muttered. “A dungeon boss… Am I seeing things?”

No one answered him.

Because the desert itself had begun to change.

Far ahead of the charging Death Squads, the sands suddenly glowed crimson. A massive circle burned across the ground, ancient runes spreading wider and wider beneath the scorching sunlight. The air above it twisted violently from mana pressure while heatwaves distorted the entire horizon.

Then the monsters came.

The sight was enough to make several knights unconsciously step backward.

They poured from the glowing formation endlessly, like water bursting from a broken dam. Giant humanoid lizards dragged curved blades through the sands while growling deeply from their throats. Direwolves with dusty gray fur sprinted low against the desert floor, jaws dripping saliva. Massive orcs carrying brutal weapons roared as they emerged one after another.

And behind them…

Dungeon bosses.

One of them, the [Skeleton King] slowly stepped out from the formation wearing cracked black armor covered in ancient sand. Blue flames burned inside its hollow eyes while a gigantic rusted sword dragged behind it with a screeching metallic sound.

Dozens of skeletal warriors followed behind their king.

Then more monsters emerged.

And more.

And more.

The desert horizon darkened beneath their numbers. The hot wind carried the stench of blood and decay toward the convoy while the ground itself trembled beneath thousands of approaching feet.

For a brief moment, nobody spoke.

Even the Death Squads looked small compared to the army appearing behind them.

One of the older knights slowly exhaled through gritted teeth. “So that’s why nobody challenges the faction masters…”

Another knight tightened his hold around his spear until his knuckles whitened. “We can’t hold against that many.”

Fear had begun spreading now.

Not the nervousness of students.

Not the tension before battle.

This was the cold realization that they might actually die here beneath the burning desert sun.

Artin’s eyes transformed again, his pupils narrowing into something beast-like as he stared across the battlefield. He raised one hand above his brow to block the blinding sunlight.

“Hold formation!” he barked loudly. “Lady Rose wouldn’t leave us without a plan!”

His voice steadied the knights slightly. Because the monster army kept advancing.

The sound became unbearable. Thousands of feet crashing against the sands.

Growls. Roars. Clattering skeletons.

The desert itself seemed alive with death.

Then suddenly—

Tap.

A small sound. Suri lightly struck the bottom of her staff against the ground. Yet the moment she did, the atmosphere changed.

Mana surged violently around her body. The air became strangely heavy, thick enough that several nearby knights instinctively turned toward her in alarm.

Even the heat itself seemed to pause.

Suri’s red hair shifted slightly beneath the desert wind as she whispered softly, “[Phantasm Creation].”

Something appeared above them.

A single blade floated in the air.

Then another.

Then dozens.

Then hundreds.

The knights slowly lifted their heads upward.

Their expressions froze.

The sky above the convoy was filled with blades without a hilt.

Thousands of floating blades materialized one after another until they covered the heavens themselves. Thin blades without hilts hovered silently above the battlefield while blue lightning wrapped around them in violent coils. Electricity danced across the metal surfaces like living serpents.

The sunlight reflected from thousands of sharpened edges at once, turning the desert sky into something terrifyingly beautiful.

Chelle’s lips parted slightly. Even Kana paused from preparing another arrow.

Suri slowly raised her staff. Her eyes glowed faintly now. Cold and focused.

Then she pointed toward the monster horde.

And the sky descended. The blades fell all at once. The desert exploded into chaos.

Lightning screamed through the air while countless weapons rained downward like divine punishment. Every impact burst flesh, shattered bone, and painted the sands red.

Direwolves were nailed directly into the ground. Orcs roared as blades pierced through their chests and necks. Skeletons shattered apart beneath storms of steel and lightning.

The [Skeleton King] itself raised its giant rusted sword defensively, only for dozens of blades to collide against it in violent flashes of blue sparks.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

The hot desert winds carried the metallic scent immediately. The screams became deafening.

Monsters tried to run wildly at them. Tried to defend themselves. Some used skills. Some raised barriers.

None of it mattered.

The rain of blades continued relentlessly, carving through the battlefield with horrifying precision.

Several knights simply stood there speechless. Because this was no illusion anymore where Suri was known for.

This was annihilation. After several endless seconds, the final blades struck the desert floor.

Silence followed. Then bodies began collapsing.

One after another. Hundreds of monsters dropped lifelessly onto the burning sands.

At least a quarter of the horde had vanished. Gone in moments.

The desert floor had become a field of blood and corpses beneath the blazing sun. Suri clicked her tongue irritably while slightly leaning against her staff. “That used half my mana,” she complained. “I probably shouldn’t have added lightning.”

Chelle slowly turned toward her with disbelief written all over her face. “I thought your skills only made illusions…”

Suri shrugged casually. “Before, yeah.”

Tiny sparks still danced around her fingers as she glanced toward the destroyed battlefield. “But now I can make them real.”

Ryle looked utterly horrified.

His face had gone pale enough that even the desert heat could not hide it. His eyes trembled as he stared at Suri like he was finally understanding something terrifying about the people he had been traveling beside this entire time.

Kana and Boris, meanwhile, barely reacted. As though this level of destruction from Suri was simply normal now.

Artin slowly lowered his transformed gaze from the battlefield.

Even he looked shaken. “What in the world…” he whispered.

Far ahead, the surviving monsters had finally stopped advancing.

The horde hesitated. For the very first time since emerging from the summoning circle…

The monsters looked afraid.

Post note:

It’s Suri’s time!

Those are basically dungeon monsters. Boris road to lvl 30?

Fourth chap of the week.Hope you enjoy the chap! 🙂

Next Chapter