“Kuh!” Lara blinked. Strong light swept across her surroundings and stung her eyes slightly. However, the light didn’t affect her much because Hans warned her every time it flashed, and she was able to turn her head and close her eyes in advance. However, Estellade’s light flashed in front of the monsters head-on, so they rubbed their eyes and looked pained.
“Amazing!” Lara exclaimed in admiration after checking her surroundings. Hans’ recent attack hadn’t simply just stolen the monsters’ eyesight. This was only a small effect, and the strong currents of light brought upon tremendous destruction in one swing; it was evident based on the large marks on the high-level monster attacking Hans and Lara. However, there was a negative result from the usage of the skill. Lara instantly realized that Estellade was missing from Han’s hands.
“Mr. Hans! What happened to your sword?”
“I dropped it. It’s because I haven’t completed this skill yet.” Hans was incredibly calm even after losing a rare sword like Estellade. Lara was even more surprised than him.
“That’s serious!”
“It’s fine. I have a replacement sword,” Hans said and pulled out a sword from a magic box. Although this sword was also a precious sword, in comparison to Estellade, it was the difference between the sun and a firefly. However, Hans calmly swung his new sword.
Baang! Hans’ mana shifted forward to the nearest behemoth. Covered in wounds and struggling to even open its eyes, the behemoth was nothing more than a large target. Hans’ attack struck the area where the behemoth already had a deep wound.
Kaaaaaak! The behemoth floundered in pain.
“Unbelievable!” These past few days, Hans had continuously impressed Lara. With an outstanding sword like Estellade, a swordsman couldn’t help but begin to rely on the sword’s strengths and neglect their swordsmanship. Even if they tried to not let their sword lead them, it would probably have an effect on them. Yet, Hans was different. When he held Estellade, he used the sword’s strength skillfully and led the battle. Now that he couldn’t use Estellade and could no longer use certain tactics with that, Hans matched his tactics according to his new sword and didn’t show any weaknesses. He fought as if he had used an ordinary sword all along.
Kuaaaah! A titan let out a scream filled with agony under Hans’ sword. Lara exclaimed in admiration again. Of course, it wasn’t as if they couldn’t feel Estellade’s loss. Even though Hans performed splendidly with just an ordinary sword, it was clear that his fighting power was weaker than before.
‘I have to find his sword!’ Lara thought. Hans was too occupied with fighting monsters, so Lara scanned her surroundings while blocking the monsters’ attacks. Since Hans drew many of the monsters’ attention to him, Lara had some ease to search for the sword.
Sparkle! She soon spotted a light and her eyes widened. It was definitely Estellade’s light. Lara pierced through a group of monsters and dashed toward where the light shone.
“Glen?” Then, she saw Glen standing next to Estellade stuck in the ground. Glen’s expression looked strange. He didn’t have his usual kind, gentle expression or an indifferent face that he only showed to Lara. He looked lost, as if something important to him had crumbled, and he even appeared indifferent to the chaotic battle around him.
Kuaaaah! An ogre rushed from behind Glen. Normally, an ogre would’ve been cleanly sliced into two without landing mark on Glen, but something seemed off about Glen now. Even though he must have realized that an ogre was rushing from behind, he didn’t react at all.
‘No!’ Even if Lara was disappointed in him, it wasn’t as if all her feelings for him had completely disappeared. Plus, her personality didn’t let her simply watch a person die in front of her. Yet, the distance between them was too wide. Before she could reach him, it seemed as if the ogre’s rough fist would crush Glen’s head. Thus, she used the only method she could think of.
Whoosh! The sword in her hand flew from her head straight toward the ogre.
Crunch!
Kyaaaah!
The ogre shrieked from the sword stuck in his eyes. Lara had succeeded in saving Glen, but now she was in danger.
Grrrrrr! An ogre missing one eye viciously pulled out the sword and flicked it down to the ground. Then, with its remaining eye, it rushed toward Lara full of bloodlust. Other monsters in her surroundings also aimed for her. However, because she had thrown her sword just now, her hands were empty. She was about to pull out a replacement sword from a magic box like Hans when she noticed something.
‘That’s…!’ She saw a sword on the ground not too far away from her. Its black blade was especially memorable and familiar to her. ‘ Tornium?’ That was Glen’s sword. Lara knew that since he carried the sword everywhere he went. Before she fully processed the entire situation, she reacted first and ran to pick up Tornium.
Zing! “Urgh!” Lara was a bit taken aback as strong energy rose into her hand and dug into her entire body.
Kuaaaah! The ogre had approached her by now. Lara suppressed her surprise and swung her sword.
Slice! Lara was surprised yet again. The mana she had infused into her sword had been amplified by several folds and easily shredded the ogre’s thick skin. Tornium’s effect was beyond what she had even imagined. There were more monsters besides the ogre, and Lara swung Tornium again.
Baaang!
‘Amazing!’ Although she controlled her mana amount knowing that the sword would amplify it, a power much more than what she had imagined burst out.
‘Is this Tornium’s power?’ She thought it was an amazing sword, but it was another matter when using it in person. Yet, as expected, there weren’t only positives.
‘It’s definitely heavy.’ Lara wasn’t talking about the sword’s weight. As someone who had lived most of her life while holding a sword, there was no way she would struggle from the weight of a sword. She was talking about the sword’s rebound.
Baaaang! She swung Tornium once more, and her amplified mana swept the nearby monsters. Simultaneously, she felt a heavy rebound on her hands.
‘It will be really dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands,’ she thought. However, Lara was able to use Tornium skillfully and get rid of the nearby monsters.
“Glen!” Lara shook Glen’s shoulders as he stared at Estellade stupidly. His wandering eyes came into focus again.
“…Lara?”
“Wake up and gather your senses! What are you doing on a battlefield!” Lara said while striking a blow to a monster approaching them. The monster died while letting out an ear-splitting scream, and Glen finally realized that the sword in Lara’s hands was Tornium.
“…Why are you holding that!” Glen yelled.
Lara was stunned. It was her first time seeing Glen this angry. Even when he scorned her, he had never been so agitated. Glen’s face was truly a spectacle to see—it contorted so wickedly that it seemed as if the gentle self he had shown until now was all a lie.
“Give it to me!” Glen snatched Tornium away from Lara’s hands. Shocked, Lara couldn’t resist much and let go of her grip. Glen searched Tornium carefully like he was worried that some parts might be broken from Lara’s touch. If there was even the slightest dent on the sword, it looked as if Glen would hold Lara accountable. Normally, Glen would have never shown this kind of behavior. Yet, the betrayal of the sword Estellade, which he simply believed to have parted paths only in this timeline and firmly trusted in, added on top of things not going according to his plans had pushed Glen completely off the edge.
“…Glen?” Lara asked carefully. However, Glen didn’t even meet her eyes. It was then that Lara realized it. ‘…The Glen I know of no longer exists.’
Perhaps, Glen had changed or she might have been tricked this whole time. Nevertheless, the Glen she loved would never be so infuriated simply because his companion used his sword. Lara didn’t say anything more to Glen; in the first place, she never intended to fight with Glen. Thus, she quietly approached Estellade, which had been her main goal of coming here anyways. Lara gripped Estellade.
Wiing! Warm energy flowed across her body in an instant. It was a completely different feeling from Tornium, but the two swords had the same amount of enormous power.
“You…!”
When Lara turned around, she saw Glen staring at her in complete shock. However, Lara shifted her eyes away from him. It was more urgent for her to give this sword to Hans.
Thud! Her body flew into the air. After grasping her own sword lying nearby, she ran straight to Hans.
Slice! Slice! She sliced all the monsters in her way with Estellade.
‘It really is a great sword!’ The more she used the sword, the more impressed she was by it. Since she didn’t feel a heavy recoil like she had with Tornium, it was easier for her to use Estellade too. Any swordsman would dream of the sword, and even an immaterialist person would start to feel materialistic greed with Estellade in their grasp. Yet, there was not even a single inkling of greed in Lara’s eyes. The only thing in her mind was that she had to give this sword back to its rightful owner.
Spark! The monsters in front of her were swept by a current of light, and Lara passed through the space that opened up.
‘It’s a bit difficult to deal with the light.’ As expected, the better a sword was, the more training one needed. Yet, Lara’s current experience was more than enough to fulfill her current goal.
“Mr. Hans!” Lara called out loudly as Hans battled against monsters. Hans distanced himself from the monster in front of him and looked in her direction.
“Catch!” Lara threw Estellade powerfully. As the sword poured out light with her mana, Estellade flew and appeared like an asteroid hitting the Earth’s surface.
Thud! Hans grasped Estellade. Soon, a blinding light poured out of Estellade’s blade.
Crunch! Light pierced into the titan’s arm reaching for Hans. A large chunk of flesh fell off and blood poured out.
Kaaaaah! The titan gripped its fist tightly and wailed, and in the meantime, Hans approached Lara’s side.
“Did you get this for me, Ms. Lara?”
“Yes!”
“It must not have been easy to hold Estellade.”
After all, Estellade was supposed to be a sword that chose its own master—although, of course, Zich considered it a stupid sword ever since he held it.
“Sorry? No, I didn’t really have any difficulties,” Lara said, feeling a bit disheartened. She recalled how Glen had glared at her menacingly for using his sword and worried that Hans might do the same. Fear shot up in her heart, but truly, fortunately, Hans smiled instead.
“I see. I knew you would be able to hold it.” Hans thought anyone could tell that Lara was the epitome of justice, and she was someone Estellade could truly accept.
“Thank you.”
After Lara expressed her gratitude, Hans recommenced his battle. A cluster of lights incomparable to her wielding the sword flew at the monsters. Lara quietly looked at Hans’ back as he fought. Perhaps, it was because the person she loved treated her so maliciously just before, but Hans’ simple expression of gratitude touched her heart. However, she wasn’t in an ideal location to dwell on her emotions, and Lara fixed her grip on her sword and rushed into the battlefield to help Hans.
Although Pialu fought better than expected, they were soon reaching their limits. The difference between their numbers was too great. After avoiding a hydra’s poison, Lara sliced an orc next to her. She simply sliced one orc but her elbow felt numb—she was reaching her limit.
‘If we continue like this, we will lose!”
“Mr. Hans! Is the solution Ms. Lyla talked about still not ready?” As soon as Lara asked this question, a large explosion occurred in the middle of the group of monsters.
Baaaaaaam! Lara quickly turned in the direction of the noise. In a spot that had been filled with monsters, a crater formed. The bright red remains on the surface clearly displayed what had happened to the creatures that used to be there, and one person stood in the middle of this crater.
Thud! Somebody placed their hand on Lara’s shoulder. It was Hans. With a mysterious refreshed look on his face, he said, “He came. Our solution.”