Piles of blunt cylinders shot up all around the young mage.

Bones cracked as the swordsman’s body bent a few places.

Everyone watched as the man tossed up into the air. The body spun in the air a few times before landing on the ground flat like a slab of meat. The equally bent sword fell and bounced on the ground right beside the head which bent at the wrong angle.

The surprise attack stopped everyone in their tracks.

Everyone realized that the shiny [bolts] were only distractions.

The cylinders lowered themselves, and Adrin had just shown her how a real mage fought or should have fought. Mages’ true strength was not their spells or magic but their minds. She had witnessed it with her own two eyes and it had made her realize a lot of things.

There were a lot of ways she could have escaped on her own. Her limbs and spells might have been disabled but there were still a lot of ways to use her skills.

Somehow, it had calmed her down until she could think clearly again. The men weren’t as invincible as she had thought as the other [Spellswords] didn’t escape unscathed. One of them was favoring his right leg while another man’s left arm was hanging loose.

A bruise and a broken bone. Adrin had turned the fight around in an instant.

Both of them cried in pain as the [Crystal Bolts] punctured their legs from behind. They fell onto the ground as blood poured out of their gaping wound.

His bolt had swung around to finish the job before returning to his side.

Nerina was intrigued. It told her that it would have been wasted mana if he had shot and forgot about the bolts. She could see how far ahead he had thought about this fight. No wonder he had dared to venture into the dungeon alone. It was she and Emilia who didn’t realize this fact.

Among the men, only one swordsman was able to escape the cylinders. The man also had swatted away the returning elemental-enhanced bolts with ease.

The man calmly checked his teammates at the corner of his eyes. The last man standing was ready to interfere if Adrin tried to finish the fallen comrade. She wondered what Adrin’s thoughts were about the other man.

A house-sized boulder crashed onto them. The old mage’s laughter could be heard after the boulder broke apart from the impact.

Thick thorny vines shot up from the ground and surrounded the older mage in almost an instant, interrupting the laughter. Nerina grasped her hand. She had made sure the older mage couldn’t even move a muscle without pricking himself.

At almost the same time, the remainder of the boulder was sliced into small pieces and its debris scattered. The dust cleared and she was already on her feet with her clenched fist directed towards the disgusting man.

She had reacted on instinct and used her [LifeTouch] to halt the despicable mage. Adrin had let her down as if he had read her mind.

It was then Nerina noticed it. The odd spiky [Shell] was spinning around them as if it had a mind of its own, but she didn’t think anyone else realized the minor detail.

The fight fell into another silent stalemate as the four men stared at the young man beside her in disbelief. Anyone would have reacted in the same way. Nerina herself couldn’t even begin to comprehend how Adrin was able to maintain such a complex spell without straining himself.

Not even her could conjure something this meticulous with her high affinity. His brand of magic was both beautiful and deadly.

The injured [Spellswords] got up after their wounds closed up but they too were taken aback and hesitated to do anything. It was probably the first time they saw anything like it.

“That’s impossible,” muttered one of the recovered men.

“What the fuck is that?” squeaked another before he unconsciously took a step back.

“I call this the [Diamond Slicer],” said Adrin, proud. “And you are among the lucky ones to witness it in action for the first time.”

The older mage scoffed and broke out from the vine prison with a swing of his spiky arm. The mage's clothes and skin looked like it was made out of stone as the vines retreated.

Nerina recovered almost half of the gathered mana by mimicking him. Adrin was happily surprised, she could see that in his quick glance at her. She was happy that he had noticed it, but she should be able to do this much if she wanted to ever catch up to him.

She had to keep up if she wanted to stand beside him as an equal. Today would be the last time he would ever carry her as if she was a fragile princess.

“Diamond?” the older mage laughed. “Don’t insult us boy, how can someone like you conjure something like that? ”

“Whatever you say, old man,” Adrin shrugged, “but don’t blame me if your men end up in small pieces.”

The men looked at each other with hesitation in their eyes. They had seen for themselves how the huge rubble of stone turned into tiny cut pieces. Even a rookie would notice how clean the cut was on the remains.

The older mage clenched his fists, “a hundred gold coins for whoever brings me his head,” he declared to the mercs.

But of course, human greed knew no bounds. She had learned this long before Hana showed up in front of the village. As she expected, the mercenaries looked between themselves and nodded to each other in a silent agreement.

The three men disappeared from her eyes. Their movements were too fast for her eyes to follow. Nerina noticed Adrin gritting his teeth not in fear but in remorse.

It was obvious that he never wanted it to come to this, but some people just had to learn it the hard way. Nerina knew that whatever happened next would be bloody.

“You might want to close your eyes, Nerina,” Adrin told her but she kept her eyes wide open.

All of them abruptly appeared just above him. Their blazing swords were already in their way to take his head. Adrin sighed regretfully as the [Shell] sped up in an instant.

Blood rained on the see-through [Diamond Slicer]. The mercs didn’t even have time to scream as their cut body parts bounced off the [Shell] and onto the ground.

Nerina screamed despite her determination. She turned around and hid her face as it was just too much for her. Adrin kept a stoic face but her [LifeTouch] told her that he too was fighting growing nausea crawling up his throat.

Nerina eased his struggle as it would only radiate weakness if he reacted badly. She didn’t want him to be forced to take another fool’s life.

The cut body parts could be her limbs if Adrin had backed down. Nerina had to believe that. This was the reality if anyone would ever underestimate their opponent.

These men died when the spell glyph reacted as he had pre-scribed, just like it had cut the huge boulder to pieces. Adrin had made it that way to spare his own conscience. Killing people who were many levels above him should have awarded him a lot of essences, but it didn’t make him happy, not even a little bit.

Nerina could see this in his eyes and felt the turmoil in his guts.

The sellswords deserved it but Adrin was just that soft-hearted.

A flaw she only began to appreciate.

He was decisive but not cruel like others. No wonder Emilia was willing to trust him with all her heart. Adrin clearly knew what was at stake and the limit of fleshy beings.

The overestimation of the [Hit Point]’s ability to heal wounds was the biggest contributor to these men’s demise. Nerina's grandmother had told her before and she was reminded of this common mistake after Adrin was hurt by the shrapnel. This was something she had to remind herself of in the future as no one could ever heal from a cut-off head. She must never allow that to happen to him.

The older mage was already gone by the time he turned towards the man’s direction. Adrin clicked his tongue, but for some reason, didn’t pursue.

“Let’s go home,” he whispered to her.

Nerina had a feeling that she would never be able to reach him, but at the very least, she wanted to stand with him. Being a burden to carry around would never afford her that place.

---

Adrin had given up the idea of chasing the coward. Killing mercs was one thing, but taking the life of a nobleman might cause more trouble than he was willing to think about right now. The Maron family would get what they deserved, just not at the time being.

Nerina didn’t seem to react badly to what he had done, but instead, she hugged him tighter around the neck. Her body shook as he picked her up again, the girl must be shaken to the core.

The girl had regained her composure, but no one wouldn’t be disturbed by what had happened. It was one messy business. Adrin didn’t know how he was able to not puke on the spot.

He wanted to check on Emi next, and as Nerina had said, he could intuitively tell where the other girl was. Adrin followed this tug in a straight line until they reached the tall white walls. He tried to make a hole on the wall by using [Crystal Meld], but no matter how many times he tried, the wall fixed itself almost as fast as he broke the stone apart.

He didn’t need to use [Enchanting] to know the wall was protected by some sort of spell. Even the ground around the wall was protected by it.

Adrin sighed inside. He wanted to trust the girl and fly over, but he didn’t know if she could handle any more surprises. Instead, he decided to go the long way around and use the entrance like everyone else.

Nerina was awfully quiet during the short ride but she recovered a little when they arrived at the main gate. The guards immediately let them in as soon as the girl showed her academy card. Adrin also noticed the [Echo Crystal] they used to convey something to someone.

If he had to guess, the guard leader was reporting the girl’s return to whoever had the other half of the crystal. Anyone could be on the other side as the carriage had to pass this same gate on its way out. The man eyed him suspiciously but didn’t try to do or demand anything.

The kidnappers thankfully hadn’t had either the time or brilliant idea to take away her card after they had grabbed her. He and Nerina could still enter the city without any issue with a hefty bribe, but the card had made the process far easier and faster. They had skipped quite a long line but no one had complained while watching him ‘float’ his way towards the front.

Nerina spent the rest of the journey back in his arms while silently feeling the wind with her hand and enjoying the view. Adrin didn’t ask her how she was taken as he didn’t want to remind her of the bloody mess. The green-haired girl would tell him when she was ready.

He also didn’t bother to hide in [Camo Shell] anymore as they went past through town after town until they arrived at their destination. There were quite a few apprentices who had witnessed him slide into the complex on the [Roller Shell] before stopping in front of the townhouse.

The door slammed open as Adrin let the girl down. Emilia rushed out and hugged her best friends with tears in her eyes. The girl hugged him next while her hand pinched his back, but he guessed he deserved that.

Emilia then practically dragged her girlfriend into the house. Adrin was dragged along when Nerina had never let go of his hand ever since he had rescued her.

Lily helped him to take off his leather armor and boots before she hurried to the kitchen to make something to eat. The young maidservant tried to hide it, but he noticed a drop of tear leaking from the corner of her eyes as she turned around.

Adrin took a seat in the living room while letting out a tired groan. He didn’t know why as he didn’t feel tired at all. His vacation was cut short because of the kingdom’s and academy’s failure to keep the girl safe. He was quite sure the Maron noble house would have gotten away with it if he hadn’t interfered.

The two girls who had gone up the stairs for some time came down to join him. Nerina was in a different set of clothes as she sat beside him, her head leaning on his shoulder. Emi decided to hold on to his hand as she sat quietly beside him.

Furious knocks assaulted the door before Lily ran towards to open it. Brian was at the door and the young man visibly deflated when he saw Nerina. The young man took a seat on the opposite as Lily went back to the kitchen.

“Hey, Brian,” Adrin called the young man, “I need a favor from you.”

“Yes, anything, just say it.”

“I need to learn how to make a golem, does the family have this knowledge?”

“Golem?” Brian was surprised to hear that from him. “Yes, I guess. I mean, it is a pretty tightly guarded knowledge but golems are slow and-”

“Then arrange a meeting with the Matriarch, I have an offer she can’t refuse.”

Adrin had a lot of offers anyone could never refuse.