As Viola's remorse grew for her impulsive decision, her friends reassured her with a smile as it was nothing to worry about.

'The pain of being struck by her magic is something we can all withstand.'

A thought that Viola's friends had collectively.

In the first place, none of them even bothered to form their own shields. It was now clear that they needed to conserve every ounce of their current mana and aura for whatever was to come.

In all actuality, what had just transpired brought them a new wave of uncertainty; the trio's leader displayed an ability that was far from their understanding.

Taking control and reshaping another's conjured magic or possibly aura, as they knew, was something beyond the laws of Mundo.

Further, the thought of controlling magic with aura was even more unfathomable, given the differences in both's application and properties.

Yet now they were facing an opponent who claimed and displayed that he could do such a feat.

'What more can he do?'

Seeing their confused faces, the trio snickered at them with snide.

Pierd stood with a dignified expression. Not one moment after, he waved his hand and caused three awakened monsters to be summoned from the shadows. The protagonist party saw how this act was like nothing to him.

From that alone they could all agree, Pierd was indeed mysterious and seemed to be the most dangerous among whom they were facing; Yet they couldn't neglect the lady or the burly man, as they also oozed strength that was equal and perhaps even greater than theirs at that moment.

Without any warning, the protagonist party was bombarded with magic while the awakened monsters and the one called Sult charged towards them.

Fluidly the one who intercepted him was Rinca and Namiku, while Note attacked the three awakened monsters and forced their direction elsewhere.

Rizaul and Viola then used their range to intercept the magic of the lady called Awthra.

While Andrew, with his firm resolution to end this farce, immediately headed straight onto Pierd.

All happened in an instant that the villainous trio couldn't help but admire the protagonists' decision making.

It was the right call for them to cause this kind of battle to lessen the trio's effectiveness.

Just by their small communication and observation of the skills their adversaries used, they immediately acted upon what they thought would work best for their situation.

"Hahaha! Come on, let's just see if you can defeat me!" Said Sult with the greatest energy.

He spat with every word he spoke and was eager to fight the entire party. His muscles were already bulging as his aura tremendously waved back and forth at Namiku and Rinca.

In response to his aggressive force, the two instinctively took separate roles where Namiku would be the defender while Rinca would focus on attacks.

It was the optimal choice as the princess of the Easterside Empire could take far more hits with her chaotic aura.

Yet as both of them were exhausted from pre-existing fatigue, they were extremely cautious.

While the protagonist party fought with cool and leveled heads, the villainous trio fought with both aggression and experience.

Around them, they could think of nothing but acquiring vengeance from that battle; even with the sounds of destruction continuing to linger from a far.

Especially Awthra, with her rage set loose, her elemental magic which was fire and darkness struck down everything Viola and Rizaul attempted to do.

Her fiery blaze even inflicted a burn on the elf's arm resulting in his disgruntled voice.

"Riz!" Hurriedly called Viola as she approached him and tried to heal him in an instant.

Rizaul then in turn, said with a smile that had apparent exhaustion on his face.

"Thanks... But save your mana Viola."

The mage could only nod. It was all a difficult sight for her as the party's healer. When it came to seeing her friends in pain, she felt a great urge to help them regardless of how it could leave her breathless.

Yet far from her wish, she knew it was the right decision to heed his call.

Before they could take in more air, they were already being bombarded with complex magic; a combination of powerful blazes and sealing magic.

"I'll make sure you guys suffer, so when you meet Gered, he'll know who sent you!" Upon her words, her magic shone brightly with her eyes and messy hair growing more frantic by each second.

Awthra could never forget what they, Andrew and the others, had done. Not only did their party destroy her precious dungeon and steal her golden apples; Gered, their close ally, and Awthra's lover, perished by their hands.

He too was a powerful pawn of Lucille, last tasked to hide explosives that would be used on the Kingdom of Taglagas. Yet his mission had been foiled, as whilst he was disguised as a bandit, the protagonist's party encountered and outnumbered him, thus bringing his demise.

Yet none of this was known, not even to Naell, as this exposition of Awthra's lover being one of the mysterious bandits, was at the far end of the Volume he had not read.

Awthra gritted her teeth, releasing all of her grief through merciless flames and dark magic. To the protagonist's party, she was seething for whatever reason that they did not know.

Over time it was as if her magic mimicked her rage. It grew stronger and stronger by each release, making things far more difficult for Viola and Rizaul.

Rinca and Namiku wanted no more than to help the duo who was having a hard time. Yet they themselves were preoccupied by the fearsome beast of a man.

Sult, with his noticeably dirty yellow eyes and menacing smile of a killer, was toying with them.

His weapon of choice was an axe covered in dried blood; from whom each blood stain belonged, nobody knew. Still, Sult displayed his confidence in his ability, and as if to belittle the two ladies, he left the axe scabbarded on his back, much to the duo's disappointment and relief.

Every time the man reached for the axe, it was a fluke just to cause the two to fear. Upon getting a reaction from the girls, he would laugh maniacally and continue fighting bare-handed.

Yet Namiku and Rinca forced themselves to be calm, as on the off chance he started fighting seriously, neither of them had the reassurance they could take on his even heavier hits.

"You two surprise me! But it won't be enough until you drop dead from fatigue! HAH." Loudly Sult said in the most obnoxious laughter.

Nevertheless, his punches were beginning to get heavier, now causing Namiku to start feeling the pain even with her aura on defense. On the other hand, Rinca could feel her attacks growing more ineffective by the minute.

"Are you troubled? That will give you more openings, swordsman." Pierd said upon seeing Andrew's helpless gaze at his friends.

By the time Andrew heard Pierd's words it was all too late. Light magic had already struck his torso leaving a small wound.

Luckily, he had coated himself with his own light magic, lessening the blow he had received.

Indeed he was truly bothered by the fact that he couldn't help any of his friends who were clearly in trouble. Yet in the present, he was struggling to see if he could help himself.

"Stop dodging you coward---" Andrew said gruffly as his aura began to shake in anger.

Slash after slash he sent towards the trio's ringleader, yet all were dodged with barely any effort. He switched between fast close melee attacks, to mid-ranged aura slashes, yet still none seemed to bear any fruit.

The leader glared at Andrew blankly with his golden eyes, and said to him in a soothing tone.

"How peculiar that you're far more blood thirsty than our kind are known to be." He dodged another fierce attack from Andrew, with the dark sword missing by just an inch.

For a second Andrew was silent and turned to the leader with a puzzled look.

"That's coming from someone like you who's behind this bloodshed." Andrew said upon striking the ground with his blade.

A shockwave emitted that could have caused Pierd to lose his footing; alas, it was avoided.

Andrew continued in a hiss-like manner,

"I don't care for anything you have to say!"

In his rage his aura began to erupt and coat his blade even more.

Pierd squinted as he gave a disappointed frown, and then said to the swordsman,

"...Truly you give injustice to our lineage."

'Our lineage?' Andrew thought to himself, yet all before he quickly threw his blade and aimed at Pierd's head.

The soles of his feet then lit up as he went after Pierd with a sharp light dagger.

The leader dodged swiftly yet in the process caused his hood to fall backwards. In that moment his face fully came into view, his golden eyes emitting a vibrance that almost mirrored Andrew's.

Pierd sighed as he glanced at the large sword that Andrew now picked up, gripping it with both hands.

It was clear he was taken aback with his eyes that seemed the same as Pierd's. Because of that, the golden light that flickered and faded across Pierd's entire body was left unnoticed.

Within it, a piercingly sharp fragment of light suddenly formed above Andrew, threatening to shoot down his head in that instant.

Yet in the knick of time, Andrew was able to sense it and react accordingly.

He then aimed his own light magic at his enemy, pushing himself away, and causing Pierd to be thrown slightly aback.

The loud shattering noise of light magic then echoed through those halls, as Andrew looked at the remnants of powerful magic that almost befell him.

From that close encounter, Andrew finally realized what had truly been happening. He then glanced behind him and felt a presence before shouting out,

"Tsk. Stop hiding you coward!"

Viola heard Andrew's frustrated voice when a glimmer of light in the shadows caught her eye.

'...What was that?'

Yet she turned back to her adversary as she had no time to let her mind wander.

Pushing the thought at the back of her head, she had just witnessed the fearsome spell that was conjured against Andrew. It had immensely little cast time and relied on great reflexes to be dodged.

Realizing this, Viola in a hurry proceeded to mutter a spell that made her wand glow.

[ Running Rays ]

Instantly, a soothing string of light from Viola's direction shot at Andrew, crackling and glowing before seemingly fading into his skin.

Andrew stood tall feeling the efficacy of the support magic. He then without warning lunged at Pierd at a speed even quicker than before, his instincts allowing him to throw slash after slash of chaotic hits towards the surprised Pierd.

The leader dodged fluidly until one hit sent a shockwave that made him misjudge his distance.

Yet just before he could be hit a second time, his body glowed a bright yellow and prevented the blade from piercing him. The light then switched direction, flowing to Andrew's blade before exploding and shooting him back with the same force he meant to use against Pierd.

Both he and the blade fell to the ground as pulses of light waned across Andrew.

"Andrew!" yelled out Viola, yet still none of them could afford to lose focus on their opponents.

"Ugh."

A sigh of relief then came from all of them as they saw him get up.

"...I said stop hiding and both of you face me!" When Andrew declared that, Pierd laughed and proceeded to surround himself with his aura.

From nowhere, he summoned a sword that at a glance could be identified as something worth a fortune; with elven hilt and mithril as its blade, not to mention the intricate writings indicating a sword of either fame or infamy.

Pierd then started picking up speed as he grasped the sword with one hand, and in not even a split second, he had closed his distance with Andrew.

"I'm more than enough."