"It seems your companions aren't very reliable."

After a brief period of eerie silence, Mengxi's mocking voice slowly drifted into Elbino's ears.

Upon hearing those words—

Elbino clenched his fists in fury.

The killing intent around him rose steadily.

The calm composure he had maintained until now completely vanished.

His face became twisted and ridiculous from a mixture of rage and disbelief, even taking on a savage appearance.

"Y-You..."

However, after looking at the two absurdly dead corpses, Elbino unwillingly realized that he couldn't even refute her.

His companions truly had absolutely nothing to do with the word reliable!

They were sixth-tier experts!

Outstanding members of the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church!

And yet they had somehow fallen from the sky and smashed themselves to death on impact?!

Were they trying to make the enemy laugh to death?!

Or piss off their teammates to death?!

What the hell was wrong with him to wait for reinforcements like these?!

They had completely disgraced the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church!

Inside his heart, Elbino was already unleashing an endless torrent of curses at his dead teammates.

If Mengxi hadn't been standing nearby, he might have rushed over and chopped those idiots into pieces himself.

"Hmph."

Looking at the two members of the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church who appeared to be on the verge of exploding with rage, Mengxi let out a cold snort.

Her gaze carried obvious disdain as it swept across Elbino and Zack.

At the same time, she thoughtfully looked toward the two black-robed men who had died immediately upon arrival.

Her feelings were complicated.

On one hand, she felt relieved.

If she had truly needed to face four sixth-tier experts alone, her chances of victory would have been extremely slim.

The inexplicable deaths of two of them allowed her to breathe a little easier.

On the other hand, their sudden deaths filled her with confusion.

Judging from the aura they had displayed while rushing over...

They seemed even stronger than the two standing before her.

Their strength was likely no lower than Elbino's and Zack's.

Although accidents could occasionally occur while canceling flight magic and descending from the air...

The probability was extremely low for experts of their level.

And both of them had suffered accidents at the exact same time?

That was simply unbelievable.

Thinking about it, a trace of confusion appeared in Mengxi's pale violet eyes.

Then her brows furrowed slightly.

???

Hm?

Th-Those are...

Butterflies?

At that moment, two or three butterflies were fluttering around each corpse.

Combined with the exploded blood, scattered brain matter, and the crimson patterns on the butterflies' wings...

The scene felt strangely eerie.

More importantly—

Butterflies?

In the freezing Northern Border?

And appearing around corpses?

Something felt wrong.

No!

Wait, that's not right!

This isn't the time to be thinking about that!

Suppressing her doubts for the moment, Mengxi once again focused entirely on the two black-robed men.

The pair were still trapped in a state of fury because of their incompetent companions.

Right now—

This was undoubtedly the perfect opportunity to strike.

Thus—

While a considerable portion of Elbino's and Zack's attention remained fixed on the corpses...

Mengxi suddenly tightened her grip on her silver sword.

Cold killing intent burst forth from her pale violet eyes.

Brilliant silver-white Holy Aura erupted without reservation.

The next instant—

The girl transformed into a silver meteor.

With overwhelming momentum, she shot toward Elbino.

The tip of her sword pointed directly at his forehead.

And just as Mengxi made her move—

The blood-red butterflies hovering around the corpses rippled with strange energy.

They slowly dissolved into crimson particles before scattering into the snowy wind.

—

Elsewhere—

Miss Yumo, who was currently being dragged away by the two Asumos Church knights, looked back toward the battlefield with an amused expression.

Thanks to her sharp perception, she could clearly sense everything happening there.

Naturally—

When the two black-robed reinforcements had approached from afar, Yumo had noticed them immediately.

As for those members of the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church...

These people clearly harbored tremendous hostility toward her Child of Destiny.

Originally, Yumo had intended to secretly eliminate them herself to prevent them from becoming a nuisance.

Then another thought occurred to her.

Why not make full use of them?

She could simply gift them to the heroine as experience points.

At the same time, by allowing Mengxi to challenge opponents above her level, Yumo could learn exactly where the Child of Destiny's limits lay.

Hehe.

One stone, two birds.

This lady—

No, this man—

Is a freaking genius~

Thus, when Yumo noticed Elbino's ambush, she simply stayed silent and watched.

A two-versus-one battle was already sufficient.

As for the two additional members who had come later...

Yumo could only regretfully treat them to a boxed lunch.

To make their deaths appear slightly more "reasonable," she dispatched several Blood Butterflies.

The butterflies paralyzed the pair's nerves and consciousness, throwing their bodies into uncontrollable chaos.

As a result, they had no chance to adjust their posture before crashing vertically into the ground.

Looked exactly like an accident.

Absolutely flawless~

Yumo smugly laughed inwardly.

Then her blue eyes turned meaningfully toward Mengxi's location. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

'Well then, my dear heroine... Great Child of Destiny destined to save the world... Let me see exactly how capable you really are~'

Oh.

Right.

For this kind of battle...

It would be best if nobody interfered.

Thinking that, Yumo glanced sideways.

Dozens of Abyss Demons were charging toward the rear section of Garos Fortress.

At the same time, a faint crimson glow appeared in her eyes.

'You lot, stay nearby. Don't let anyone get close and cause trouble.'

As Yumo's will spread outward—

The Abyss Demons that had been preparing to unleash destruction immediately stopped.

Like obedient pets, they dispersed and quietly surrounded Mengxi's battlefield.

In order to avoid alerting either Mengxi or the members of the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church, they even consciously maintained a certain distance.

'That should make everything foolproof.'

Yumo smiled faintly.

And at that moment—

An extremely untimely roar exploded beside her ears like thunder.

The smile on Miss Yumo's face instantly froze.

"Fuck! What are you staring at?! Hurry up and move already! You slow little bitch!"

Yumo: ...

Hearing that, Yumo slowly turned her head toward the Asumos Church knight behind her.

The man was already completely consumed by fear.

The next moment, she raised an eyebrow slightly.

Oh.

Now that I think about it...

I almost forgot about you people.

The heroine's "good teammates."

Meeting the knight's black eyes, a trace of icy coldness gradually surfaced within Yumo's gaze.

Since Mengxi wasn't nearby...

There seemed to be no reason to keep pretending to be a weak little girl anymore.

"You?! What kind of look is that?! You're nothing but a slave girl! How dare you look at me like that?!"

The black-haired knight, Boluoge, immediately became furious after meeting the girl's indifferent blue eyes.

Being forced to run away while dragging around such dead weight had already irritated him enough.

And now this lowly slave girl dared to look at him like that?!

She was asking for death!

Can't beat Abyss Demons.

Can't beat the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church.

But surely I can deal with you!

Thinking this, Boluoge bit his lip angrily.

Savage light erupted from his black eyes.

He raised his hand and viciously swung it toward the pink-haired girl's delicate face.

"You filthy slave! Do you even know who I am?! Keep staring at me, I dare you!!!"

Yumo: ...