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Chapter 104: Encounter with the Legacy of Myth

“What! Those two white feathers forcefully broke through the defense line and are coming this way!? What are you useless idiots doing!? Didn’t I tell you not to be too obvious and to lead them on subtly?!”

“Y-Yes! I’m sorry! Master of Changeable Shade!”

In the deepest core chamber, Miss Kromans, who was ready to make a run for it, nearly twisted her nose in frustration at these morons.

Originally, she thought that a symbolic resistance would be enough, and by showing a bit of weakness, she could lead those two reckless white feathers into the prison area where the monsters were. Who would have thought these idiots couldn’t even pretend properly and got themselves seen through?

While the messenger cultist who could clearly tell she was furious had changed, she had no way of knowing if the previous guy was already done for and couldn’t hold him accountable. But Miss Kromans wasn’t concerned with such trivial matters; what troubled her more was…

“After all this time, you should have figured out the specific strength levels of those two strange white feathers. Given the rankings of the Throne, what level do you think they are?”

The cultist kneeling on the ground lifted his head, cautiously glancing at the woman on the throne with a grim expression. After a moment of deliberation, he tentatively spoke.

“I’m afraid… at least above the top three…”

“Oh? There’s actually one in the top three…? What the heck? The top three?!”

She was originally trying to maintain the composure of the Master of the Throne, but as Miss Kromans chewed on her words, she suddenly realized the severity of the situation, her tone turning shaky in fright.

Top three? How could it be top three?

The top three of the Throne of Immortality are all genuine Transcendent Level Experts!

Even in the entire Holy Empire, there is openly no one at that level. While no one believes that the world’s greatest nation has such a shallow foundation, if there were any, they would be those hidden ancient monsters.

Even amongst the Winged People, the only known transcendent is just one Wing Emperor.

If we ignore Kromans’ unique survival abilities, a face-to-face confrontation could see her instantly eliminated one-on-one without question.

Let alone the fact there are two of them.

Trying to pretend to be calm, the Master of the Throne intended to fake a sip from the transparent liquid in the crystal cup beside her, only to find her hand was trembling slightly from fear.

Undeads can have emotions and feel fear; it just isn’t as obvious as with regular folks and tends to diminish over time.

Miss Kromans, clearly, hadn’t reached that level yet.

Sensing their leader’s wavering, the messenger cultist began to panic too.

“W-What should we do now, Master? Do we retreat through the secret passage?”

“What nonsense! With others chasing so closely, if we pull back our manpower, they’re sure to catch up immediately! Do you think you can run away?!”

*Wham!*

The goblet was knocked down, shattering along with its unknown liquid all over the ground.

Miss Kromans stood straight from her throne.

“At this point, we absolutely must let those monsters come face to face with those two white feathers! Transcendent… two Transcendent levels—if they don’t have an equally formidable blockage… Since they aren’t coming in… we just have to lure those monsters out!”

Miss Kromans pointed at the kneeling cultist beneath her.

“You! Lead all capable members to hold them off at all costs. We absolutely cannot let the enemy discover our escape route, understand?!”

“Master? Do you… do you mean to handle this personally…?”

“Quit the chit-chat and send the message for me!”

“Y-Yes!”

…

The enemy’s resistance suddenly became exceptionally fierce.

Leila, who had been observing the battlefield at all times, quickly noticed this change.

To be honest, although they hadn’t encountered any truly thorny opponents up to this point—the majority couldn’t even withstand a single hit from her and her sister—she still kept in mind the Priestess’s constant reminder, “Never underestimate any situation.”

If the enemies here were really that simple, Lady Vilyric wouldn’t have dispatched them for this investigation, nor would she have gifted them such valuable protective items ahead of time. As one of the Sky Guards, Leila felt it was necessary to stay vigilant for anything that could pose a threat until the battle was completely over.

After all… before encountering Lady Vilyric, that time escaping the slave base, her sister had died first due to improper protection… Leila never wanted to witness that sight again.

“Wow! Are these guys crazy? Even if their earlier fear was put on, they shouldn’t be fighting like this! What in the world is down here?!”

As her staff waved, meteors abruptly manifested beside the girl, smashing into several snarling, lunging undead cultists, embedding them into the wall and turning them into mush with a thunderous crash.

Just as Miss Renée had just supported her sister, she wiped nonexistent sweat from her brow in surprise and couldn’t help but fulfill her role of sarcasm once again.

At this stage of the battle, it couldn’t even be described as brutal; these undead cultists hiding in the underground base were madly retaliating in purely suicidal ways, using their lives to buy time.

There were no limits.

Poisoning, sneak attacks, traps—those were all child’s play. They’d resorted to all sorts of unspeakable means, almost akin to underhanded tactics for women, that had all been thrown into the mix.

“Who knows? But the more they fight like this, the more it shows our actions are making them anxious. These guys… Ha!”

Before she finished speaking, Leila spun around for a slice. Her spear sliced through more than ten tentacles that had stealthily climbed from the top of the passage, temporarily avoiding sight, from which an odd pink liquid was dripping.

Interrupting the enemy’s attempted ambush, the winged girl once again raised her hand, launching a phantom spear that shot through the air, precisely hitting a shadowy summoner in a black cloak, pinning him to the wall, leaving him struggling.

“Ugh! What a shameless bunch! Is this… can this even be called a fight? Perverts, filthy! Despicable and shameless!”

Seeing it was some kind of hypnosis magic, Miss Renée, nearly ensnared, turned beet red and yelled angrily with the strictest terms she could muster.

However, sadly, most of these guys barely understood her Sky language.

And just as she became distracted by some unsightly things…

“Get down!”

Without an ounce of slack, Leila’s expression changed urgently as she thrust her sister to the side, rotating her spear to release a slicing shockwave that cleaved a strange object flying from the empty passage behind them!

However, the strange item didn’t lose momentum; the severed parts transformed into different bodies, zooming like meteors right at the two girls’ faces!

“Sister!?”

In a hurry, Miss Renée couldn’t muster a higher-level spell and could only cry out while desperately activating her magical shields to block the strange white shadow approaching her.

But Leila was clearly more prepared than she was.

“Sky Spear Technique, Style Seventeen: Light Wing!”

A blurred white light erupted from the spear-wielding girl, transforming into a four-winged shadow bearing a spear. Instead of rushing at the enemy, it swiftly moved to her somewhat panicked sister’s side to replicate the same motion, striking the incoming object with her spear!

*Swish!*

*Pfft!*

Two distinct sounds erupted in almost the same instant. The object struck by Leila’s slash shattered into motes of light, clearly a mere diversion, while in front of Renée was…

A black and white mask with an extraordinarily strange grin that went straight through the white shadow’s defense, laying over her indistinct face!

*Zzzz!!!*

Around the energy avatar summoned by Leila, the white light oscillated violently. Within mere seconds, it uncontrollably raised its hand, aiming the spear at the Mage Girl behind it!

Fortunately, the former had already prepared—just a snap of her fingers, and the energy form was dispelled before it could completely seize control, turning into bubbles.

Another spear, having been outmaneuvered and momentarily losing initiative, was completely chopped to bits, and Leila looked at her sister, still shaken, hearing dense footsteps echoing from the dark passage, her expression gradually growing serious.

“What a terrifying assimilation ability…”