64

Lara accepted Vega’s manna tougher than anybody else in her party. Vega’s manna, circulating violently through her body, rushed into her heart and carved the fifth magic circle on it. Several five-circle spells learned from Benjamin elicited her fifth magic circle. Though adding three circles in less than a year was a great fortune that every sorcerer would envy, Lara was not so happy since what she really wanted was a manna hall, not a magic circle. However, after about two hours of manna circulation surrounded by Vega’s manna, Lara felt intense pain in her lower abdomen that she had never experienced in her entire life. Her pain was so exquisite that she could not even scream and eventually passed out.

Not as much as Lara, but Sasha also underwent drastic changes under the influence of Vega’s manna. His manna hall grew, repeating rapid expansion and contraction. Sasha also felt severe pain in the process, but he remained relatively calm. His physical firmness, strengthened over the past six years by training beyond human limits, allowed him to endure the extreme pain. Judging that too sudden expansion of the manna hall might backfire, Sasha stopped circulating manna when his manna hall doubled. He wanted to train swordsmanship outside the rock groove to exhaust some part of the manna newly accumulated in his manna hall. Sasha did not want to disturb his friends who were still immersed in manna circulation. Lara collapsed while struggling with pain when Sasha was about to climb up the rock wall. After checking her pulse and breathing, Sasha thought Lara was not in a dangerous condition, though she was unconscious. He laid her on leather sheets in a comfortable posture. Sasha, who sat next to Lara, watched Id circulating manna in front of Vega’s Dragon Heart. After a couple of hours, Lara woke up, moaning.

“Are you all right?”

“There was a sudden surge of unbearable pain in the middle of the manna circulation…… I don’t remember anything after that. I think I fainted.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your body. You’d better get some sleep.”

As Sasha pulled his coat out of the backpack and covered Lara, She soon fell asleep. After confirming that Lara was asleep comfortably, Sasha climbed up the rock wall and went out of the rock groove. As the manna storm was already subsiding, Sasha did not find it difficult to get out of the groove. On the broad ridge, Sasha unraveled the sword skills he had learned from his master, Andrew Adelian, one by one. Though he moved simply and slowly at first, as time went by, the movements of his sword became more complicated and faster.

A man and a woman appeared on the ridge where Sasha practiced sword techniques. The woman was a rare beauty with impressive blue hair, slightly taller than Lara. The man had a solid figure that was a little smaller than Sasha but over a hundred and ninety centimeters tall. The two ears sticking out through his hair showed that he was not a human but an elf. Having watched Sasha train for a while, the elf unsheathed his sword and rushed at him.

The confrontation between the elf and Sasha continued for a long time. Although it seemed to be in a tight balance, Sasha realized over time that the elf was not doing his best. None of his sword techniques could disrupt the elf’s balance or footwork while Sasha was in danger by the opponent’s sharp and powerful attacks several times. Although he was well aware that his opponent was not his match, Sasha did not give up and continued the swordfight. Facing the elven swordsman, Sasha realized many loopholes in his sword skills that he had never noticed before.

The match between Sasha and the elven swordsman lasted for more than half an hour. Id, who finished his manna circulation, came out of the groove between the rocks and watched their confrontation. Id spoke to Sasha, having watched their swordfight for another ten minutes.

“Sasha, back off. Please protect our friends down there.”

Sasha swung his sword at the elf, making him step back a couple of steps, and retreated to the edge of the rock groove where Id was standing. Id approached the elven swordsman.

“My name is Id. What’s yours?”

The elf showed interest in Id.

“I’m Tristan. Will you be my sword fight partner instead of that boy?”

“Why do you want to have a swordfight with me?”

“There’s no particular reason. Why would a swordsman need a reason to compete with another swordsman? My wife told me a Dragon Heart was disintegrated here, so we came here to check what happened. I was interested in that young man’s swordsmanship, so I tested his sword skills a little bit. You look much better than him. Why don’t we have a spar?”

In Id’s view, the elven swordsman named Tristan was unlikely to step down until he had a swordfight with him. Tristan did not seem malicious but seemed to have a great passion for swordsmanship. Unsheathing, Id stepped up a little closer to the elven swordsman, Tristan, feeling a competitive spirit.

“Let me learn your swordsmanship.”

“Excellent unsheathing! I expect an interesting match.”

The swordfight began as Id stabbed Tristan in the chest, and the latter blocked the former’s sword, holding his sword diagonally. Id attacked Tristan with fast footwork and daedal sword movements, while the latter defended the former’s attacks with minimal movements. Although the elven swordsman fought back powerfully from time to time, Id softly changed the paths of his opponent’s sword. For about fifteen minutes, the confrontation between the two was balanced.

As Id’s blade began to glow shiny blue, Tristan’s blade was also covered with a bright green aura. In contrast between Id’s light footwork and Tristan’s solid footsteps, their Aura Blades clashed with each other dozens of times, making crisp sounds. About ten minutes later, the two stopped fighting and took a few steps back simultaneously as if they had promised each other in advance. When Tristan lifted his sword obliquely, three-meter-long Aura Beam stretched out from the end of his blade. Id also created an Aura Beam of a length similar to the elven swordsman's. They spent a while observing the opponents’ Aura Beam.

All members of Id’s party had come out of the rock groove to watch the confrontation between Id and Tristan. However, Selena and Spica paid attention to the blue-haired woman leaning against a rock on the opposite side rather than the match between the elven and human swordsmen. With a pale face, Lara, who had yet to overcome the aftermath of the severe pain, asked Selena.

“Are there many elven Aura Beam Owners?”

Selena glanced at the blue-haired woman once again and answered Lara’s question.

“I’ve seen several elven swordsmen using Aura Blades but never heard of an elven Aura Beam Owner. Male elven warriors learn swordsmanship because orcs and monsters are always threats to the elves living in the forest, while female elves usually learn archery.”

Lara questioned again.

“Did you know the elf, Tristan, before?”

“No, I’ve never heard of his name before. I’m sure he’s not from the Forest of Elf in Scandia. Well…… Spica…… right?”

Though Selena asked Spica an incomprehensible question with a stiff look, the latter answered as if she understood what Selena meant. Her face was as stiff as Selena’s

“I think so. She must be older than Vega.”

Lara asked the two, who had an incomprehensible conversation, looking at the blue-haired woman.

“What are you talking about? Tell me in a way I can understand.”

Selena replied to Lara.

“I don’t think the woman over there is a human. She must be a transformed dragon.”

“Didn’t the elf, Tristan, say that she was his wife? Do you mean a polymorphed dragon married an elf?”

Spica answered.

“It’s possible if she’s earnestly enjoying her life as a human being.”

Lara stared at the woman on the opposite side of the ridge with an edgy look. Lara, of course, had never heard of any human with blue hair. She looked at Sasha, watching the confrontation between Id and Tristan attentively. Even though Selena and Spica said that the blue-haired woman was a dragon, Sasha did not change his expression as if he had already known it.

Lara asked Sasha.

“How did you know that the woman over there was a dragon?”

“I didn’t know it. Just, the elven Aura Beam Owner is much more interesting than a dragon for me.”