370. Intuition

“Salvos!”

Edithe reached for the portal— and it vanished. It all happened so quickly, the redhead couldn’t comprehend it. She stood on barren ground, surrounded by destruction.

“No…”

Her voice trailed off. She dropped to her knees, and Daniel stared at where the portal had been with wide eyes.

“Is she going to be… ok?”

He asked, looking around in a daze. Edithe didn’t know the answer to that. She didn’t even know how to begin answering the question. Even Willy was at a loss for words. The [Will O’ Wisp] didn’t have any quip or remark to make. He floated there, waiting.

Edithe waited too. She was hoping for something to answer Daniel. For Salvos to pop out of the ground and tell them she was fine— to escape the claw that dragged her to the Netherworld. But Salvos didn’t appear. The silver-haired girl was gone, and no one was going to answer Daniel’s question. Except… someone did.

“She’s a Demon— she’s from the Netherworld. Of course she’ll be fine.”

Orgaf scoffed, sheathing his blade. Edithe turned to him, blinking. He looked so… nonchalant. He dabbed a cloth drenched in healing potion on his arm, flinching as his wounds closed up.

“I don’t see why you’re all up in arms over it.”

The redhead looked at Orgaf. He waited for her to say something, but she continued to peer at him until he shifted back uncomfortably.

“W-what?”

“Aren’t you worried at all?”

Edithe finally asked. Orgaf blinked.

“I—”

And he bit his lower lip. He shook his head, snorting.

“As far as I’m concerned, there’s no need to worry about a Demon returning to the Netherworld where she belongs. It’s not like she should’ve even been in the Mortal Realm in the first place. That’s exactly the problem we’ve been dealing with for the past two years— all these damn Demons just keep showing up.”

Orgaf crossed his arms as he finished. Edithe tilted her head slightly.

“But didn’t you say you admired her?”

“That…”

Her gaze bore into him, and he finally turned away. He shuffled his feet.

“That was before I found out about the truth. I ignored it at that moment because we had the same goals, but I have no reason to admire a Demon.”

Edithe could tell he didn’t have much conviction in his voice. However, she didn’t bother to argue. She just nodded simply.

“I see.”

Orgaf blinked as the red-haired woman turned around and took a seat on a nearby rock. He tried to work his jaw, but she was no longer paying him any mind. Finally, he sputtered.

“What? Are you actually really that upset that I don’t care about a Demon?”

Edithe raised her head fractionally.

“No.”

She replied in a cool voice.

“I just think that if you admire someone, you should admire them for who they are, not what they are. What you felt towards her— it was never admiration in the first place if it changed from finding out that Salvos is a Demon.”

Orgaf stared at her. He tried to work his jaw as Daniel and Willy watched from the side, not wanting to join this conversation. The Elite opened his mouth.

“You—”

And he paused. He cursed and turned around.

“Whatever.”

He left her alone as she looked over her notifications from the battle.

You have defeated a [Savage—

Experience is awarded—

Class [Sentinel of the Elements] has leveled—

…

Class [Sentinel of the Elements] has leveled up!

[Sentinel of the Elements - Lvl 111] -> [Sentinel of the Elements - Lvl 112]!

Gained 5 Stat Points and 3 Skill Points!

—--

“So, what are we doing now?”

Daniel asked Edithe after Orgaf wandered off. They all still waited around where the Brilsum Ruins had been. None of them left, mostly because they were still recuperating from the fight. But Edithe— she sat with purpose.

…as odd as that sounded.

She looked over at Daniel and shrugged.

“I’m waiting.”

“Waiting?”

“For Salvos to return.”

He raised a brow.

“You really think she’ll be able to make it back?”

“If not, then I’ll find a way to summon her back to the Mortal Realm. I used to be a [Summoner], after all.”

Edithe answered simply. Daniel shifted slightly as he sat next to her.

“I don’t know if we should do that, Edithe. Spirit summoning is vastly different from Demonc summoning. And…”

He trailed off. He looked towards where the portal had been then back to her.

“Hasn’t it been her goal ever since we met her to return to the Netherworld?”

His question made Edithe’s eyes narrow. The red-haired woman sat there, staring into nothing. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Not like this. Salvos wouldn’t want it to go down like this.”

Daniel didn’t reply. He sat with her— possibly waiting with her. Or maybe not. They said nothing, hoping together that Salvos would suddenly appear from the earth. But all they got was a [Will O’ Wisp] flying up to them.

“Look.”

Willy’s voice came out like a whisper. He flitted up, and their gaze trailed after him. Lightning crackled in the distance. A stormcloud gathered overhead as a pure white nimbus flew over the Brilsum Ruins.

Orgaf raised his head.

“She’s here. A bit too late.”

Edithe and Daniel got to their feet. The redhead’s eyes were wide.

“That’s…”

Helena Warshade. The Great Tempest Archmage of Mavos Academy arrived, riding on her cloud. Amanda stood behind her. They descended together, landing right before the gathered group.

Amanda looked over at Daniel as she hopped off.

“You guys got beat up, huh?”

“We did.”

He didn’t say much else to her. She glanced around at Edithe then Willy, while Helena disembarked and addressed Orgaf.

“What happened here?”

“Well, if you must know, we found the Primeval Demon here, and it was summoning an even stronger Primeval Demon into the Mortal Realm. But we took care of it.”

Orgaf waved a hand dismissively, and Helena frowned.

“Another Primeval Demon?”

“Yes. And this one was Level 180. Nearly as high-leveled as the Watcher.”

He held her gaze. The Archmage didn’t show much visible emotion often, but she was clearly distressed by that.

“That is… concerning.”

“You can fucking say that again. We only won because we drove it back to the Netherworld. Otherwise, you’d be arriving here to a field full of corpses and a calamity-level threat running amok on its own.”

How many Elites would’ve had to be sacrificed to stop that [Hellabomination]? Edithe shuddered to even guess. The fact was— it had tanked multiple Grand Skills and [Hero] Skills without looking like it would’ve gone down anytime soon. It was truly a terrible monster.

It was a miracle they all survived.

Helena Warshade considered this. She placed a hand on her chin, in thought. Then she shook her head.

“I’ll need to know more details. Give me a full briefing of what happened as we fly back to Alyras.”

She returned to her floating cloud, waiting expectantly for everyone else to follow. Orgaf rolled his eyes and joined her, but Amanda paused before hopping back on.

“Wait, where’s that annoying girl?”

Amanda looked around, confused. Daniel furrowed his brows.

“I thought she was running around or something, but none of you have even mentioned her. Did she die?”

The former assassin raised a brow. Edithe pursed her lips, not sure of how to respond to that. Daniel opened his mouth, about to reply, but someone spoke over him.

“You mean Salvos?”

Orgaf frowned at Amanda. Edithe’s eyes widened as Amanda nodded.

“Yeah, her.”

And a sense of fear and dread crept up on the redhead. She realized that since Orgaf now knew about Salvos’ secret, he could tell… well, everyone about it. That would be disastrous, especially when Salvos returned to the Mortal Realm.

Edithe looked at Orgaf. She met his gaze, and she knew he was thinking the exact same thing. But Orgaf just shrugged.

“Salvos sacrificed herself to stop that Primeval Demon from clawing its way back through the portal. She did what any good adventurer would do.”

Helena Warshade cocked her head slightly.

“Is she alive?”

“We don’t know.”

“I see.”

The Archmage shook her head.

“That’s an unfortunate loss. She was a brave adventurer.”

Edithe watched as Helena turned away. The Archmage waited, and Amanda and the others got on. Even Daniel. He got on and looked at Edithe.

“Are you coming?”

The red-haired stood there, hands clenched. She stared past Daniel, eyeing Helena Warshade. Edithe spoke softly.

“She’ll be back.”

Helena didn’t have any visible reaction, but she did meet Edithe’s gaze.

“I’ll wait for her. Because she’ll be back. I know she will. She made a promise.”

“Edithe…”

Daniel started. Then he saw the resolve on her face. And he nodded.

“Just take care of yourself.”

“I will.

Edithe reassured him. Amanda glanced between them, confused.

“So… are we just leaving without her?”

Helena nodded simply.

“If that is what she wishes, we shall be returning to Alyras now.”

“Alright then?”

Amanda looked confused, but Willy, Orgaf, and Daniel didn’t press Edithe further. The cloud flew up, leaving Edithe alone at the Brilsum Ruins. Over the horizon, the sun began to rise. Morning came, and the red-haired waited. Even as the sun slowly crawled its way through the sky, she didn’t leave.

It was an odd thing. But Edithe was compelled to stay. Something told her that Salvos would return, and return soon. It wasn’t just her faith in her friend to keep her promise— there was more to it.

Call it intuition. Maybe even instinct. Or it was something else. It might’ve been thanks to [Patron of the Skills]. There was a magical connection between Edithe and Salvos. A link that would last for a day. And it told Edithe that Salvos wasn’t fully gone.

Or maybe Edithe was just being hopeful. Still, she stayed. A few [Vurats] flew over the Brilsum Ruins, feasting on the corpses of the monsters and Demons, and she scared them off. The sun began to set as nothing happened.

The redhead heard a storm approaching. This time, it wasn’t a magical one created by Helena Warshade. It was a regular storm, converging over the Brilsum Ruins. The sun slowly disappeared over the horizon, and Edithe closed her eyes.

Maybe she’d been wrong. It was possible— entirely possible— that she imagined that feeling. That Salvos really was trapped back in the Netherworld. That she was never going to return to the Mortal Realm. After all, it was as Daniel said: her goal was always to leave this place.

Edithe sighed, getting to her feet.

“What am I doing?”

She shook her head—

And there was a crack.

A bright light flashed above Edithe. Like lightning. But different. It didn’t vanish the moment it appeared. In fact, it shone even brighter as the redhead looked up.

She saw a fissure in space— reality itself warping around this tear in the sky. Her mouth fell agape as she sensed the magic. The power that was exuded.

It wasn’t like a summoning ritual, nor was it like teleportation. It felt like it was pure, brute force. Unrefined. Not a proper portal by any means. It was done so out of desperation, if anything, and would be difficult to replicate. The hole in space grew wider as a figure emerged from it.

Edithe’s eyes went round as she saw the flicker of rainbow-colored flames. Silver hair. A girl. A Demon with two pairs of wings. The first pair was magical, made out of bone. The second pair looked like that of a giant bat. She had pale skin, matching the color of her hair.

“Salvos…?”

The redhead gasped. The girl looked like Salvos, but Edithe wasn’t entirely certain. Not only was her eyes different— more narrow, and in the shape of a flaming spark— but her hands were too. Her forearms, which looked charred, now had an odd texture to them. They looked more solid. Like armor. Like… scales?

And Salvos raised a clawed hand, tearing through the fissure with all her might. The claws were sharper too, and it was enough to break through reality. Salvos fell, crashing right before Edithe as the hole closed and the world returned to normal once again.

“Salvos—”

Edithe ran up to the silver-haired girl. Salvos lay at the center of a small crater, groaning.

“Ugh… hey, Edithe. I’m back.”

The redhead smiled. She stared down at Salvos, feeling a sense of relief. She even used [Identification] just to make sure that she wasn’t hallucinating. But what she saw made her freeze.

“Your Class— why is it…? Why can I…?

Edithe struggled to find the right words to say. Salvos sat back up, laughing as she scratched the back of her head.

“Oh, yep. That’s… going to be a thing now, huh?”

[Draconic Apprentice - Lvl 102]