As the largest region in the central continent, the Archwood houses four large cities, including the capital.

East of Wilsden Town, after crossing Greenbell Forest, The Pig Farms, and the Sanguine Valleys, you would reach the last eastern area belonging to Archwood; the Archwood Ridge.

The long and narrow hilltop, regardless of the season, was always dominated by freezing weather and today was no different. However, unlike the usual silence that drifted across the ridge, you could now hear shouts and cries.

Flames spread across the ridge and cascaded upon three men wearing crude armors. To defend themselves, they raised their small round shield but that wasn’t enough to block the incoming fire.

A suffocating heat wave and an unstoppable shock wave blasted them to the back, and before they could stand up, a massive fireball struck all of them at once.

They writhed on the ground as they bathed in the flames, which, eventually, charred and scorched their bodies.

A couple of meters away, a short silver-haired woman lowered her hands and gasped for breath. Her hair glistened under the moonlight, and through her dry lips and half-open eyes, you could see the physical and mental fatigue.

Lucy wanted to sit down and rest so badly, however, she wasn’t afforded even a brief respite. Excluding the annoying Holy Knight, who had been chasing after her for a long time, she had other pursuers.

They ranged from Bounty Hunters that were greedy for the reward recently put on her head, or fearful townsfolk that immediately resorted to aggressiveness once they saw her eye-catching hair and suspiciously blood-stained old white dress, which became nothing but a tattered piece of cloth that covered her body.

The Blood Purge in Wilsden successfully stole Rein Goldstar’s attention and made him temporarily stay there, which was to Lucy’s benefit. Therefore, she set forth that very same night and distanced herself as much as she could.

Unfortunately, with no acquaintances or friends, no money or a change of clothes, she could neither disguise herself nor try to start anew. A common misconception the ignorant would make was that Demons do not need to eat and drink, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Although Demons are biologically different from other races, especially humans, they still require edible nutrients to sustain themselves.

Crystallized Mana is an efficient alternative since Demons could use Mana to empower themselves and, in some cases, regenerate at an alarming pace.

Lucy knew that she could not last long, thus did she come to the Archwood Ridge, a relatively small region, secluded and housing only a handful of people. Back in Wilsden, prior to leaving, she had heard about the possible existence of a cave filled with a decent amount of Crystallized Mana.

Usually, the Militant Syndicate would dispatch experts to scavenge everything and keep a close eye for reappearing crystals. However, the cave itself was said to house nasty monsters… and the resources needed for defeating such monsters were not worth the quantity and quality of Crystallized Mana in there.

Whatever the reason was, the cave was left untouched for a long period of time and, as a last desperate resort, Lucy came here to search for it and, hopefully, feed upon the Crystallized Mana to recover from an internal wound she had sustained after her clash against the Holy Knight four months ago.

After she took care of the last three Bounty Hunters, Lucy’s reservoir of Mana was almost empty and her wounds, fresh and old, made the process of regeneration insufferably slow.

The Demon walked to the three corpses and checked their belongings but, apart from a relatively intact small leather canteen. She hesitated for a second then drank all its contents before resuming her rapid march across the freezing ridge, which became colder with the night’s descent.

For the next three days, Lucy killed any hungry Snow Wolves that attacked and with the use of her Fire Magic, was able to eat the half-cooked meat. No more Bounty Hunters were after her, nevertheless, the trip was exhausting, to say the least.

Despite the fact that the Archwood Ridge wasn’t particularly big and had only one long road, Lucy had no clue where to look: Each time she noticed something peculiar, she would stop and thoroughly explore the area and that would usually end up in getting attacked by a pack of wolves.

…

The arduous journey continued for two more days, in which water sources became scarce and the weather progressively got worse and worse.

Lucy gritted her teeth and swiftly moved her hand as four wolves lunged at her, two of which crashing into a wall of flames that surged from under her feet, as for the rest, they were engulfed in a fireball and blown to the back.

The protective barrier lasted for two breaths then vanished as Lucy’s Mana was running out. At some point, one of the wolves reached her and dug its fangs into the upper left side of her waist: A wave of excruciating pain washed over Lucy, momentarily halting her movements and causing her to let out a soft painful cry.

With all the strength she could muster, she viciously punched the wolf’s head but it wouldn’t let go. Even when she tried moving her body and pushing it away, it kept biting hard and causing blood to profusely gush out.

Desperate and in pain, Lucy punched again but, this time, she aimed for the enraged eyes of the beast. Her slim fingers dug into the wolf’s eyes, finally forcing it to let go and attempt to back away.

Sadly, it was too late by then as its two eyes were grievously injured, rendering it blind as it whimpered. A wave of flames rushed at the wolf, covering it in an instant and burning it alive, like the rest of its kin.

As for Lucy, the pain and tiredness overwhelmed her, robbing her of her consciousness. She staggered to the side then fell down, her body rolling on a steep snowy cliff and leaving a train of fresh blood in its wake.

For one whole minute, Lucy’s body rolled down while she was unconscious. Eventually, however, the cliff came to an end and the body found itself mid-air for a couple of breaths before thudding on a solid and icy ground…