1.
The first to notice Lactea’s change was Asha, the Leader of the Hero Party.
During the battle with the Calamity of December, she had barely surpassed her limits using her Skill 1 – Heroic Crusade.
That state—
Is what she’s in now.
【Vice-Captain of <Black Wolf> – <Lactea Babylonia> releases the <Restriction> of <Black Wolf>.】
【<Lactea Babylonia (S+)>’s rank rises to <Lactea Babylonia (EX-)>.】
It had been reproduced right before her eyes.
But it wasn’t like her own aura that had once scattered wildly—
It was chillingly calm, neatly refined, and gathered upon the blade.
Asha made an immediate decision.
‘I have to retreat.’
She knew because she had touched that state once.
The ‘Black Wolf’ standing before her wasn’t someone who had just barely reached Ex-rank like she had—
She had reached it long ago, and polished that power thoroughly.
As Asha, unknowingly frozen, was about to order a retreat to her companions—
Lactea, who had by then calmly caught her breath, stepped up right to Asha’s face.
Tap.
With a pale, slender finger, she lifted Asha’s chin and whispered with a smile.
“You’re just as clueless as ever, Hero.”
“Kh… Everyone, fall back──!!”
“You’re too late.”
Slash!
The moment the crimson longsword was swung, the steel fortress that Vulcan had built was cleaved apart.
No—
To be exact, it wasn’t cleaved. The very space where the sword’s edge had touched vanished.
And that wasn’t all.
Wherever Lactea’s Aura reached, it was consumed in a crimson-black hue, and the collapsing debris didn’t disappear, but remained—physically obstructing the Hero Party.
The steel fortress that once trapped Lactea had now become a shackle on their own feet.
“What is this…?”
“Don’t just stand there, move it, you idiot!!”
Boom.
Crackkk!!
Selena shoved the stunned Vulcan out of the way and shouted toward Marin, who was in the middle of incantation.
“Marin, Return Magic!!!”
Right after activating her primary incantation – <Meteor Shower(SS+)> on Selena’s command, Marin began chanting the return spell—
“How cute.”
Craaaack!
But with another swing of the crimson longsword, countless meteors vanished into thin air.
Then came the incantation.
“【Mana Annihilation.】”
Shatter.
In an instant, all the mana filling the mental world dispersed and disappeared.
Simultaneously, Marin’s mana circuit shut down.
“…Khuk.”
Deprived of fuel, the mana circuit instead consumed her life force to cast magic.
【High-Rank Magic – <Return(S+)> activates!】
【Designated targets – <Asha Mirabelle(SSS+)>, <Selena(SS-)>, <Vulcan Gardner(SS+)>, <Marin Blue(SS+)> return to the designated coordinates.】
Puhwaak!
Blood burst out, tearing through every circuit in her body.
“Marin!!!”
“Everyone… run…”
With eyes rolling back, Marin collapsed, and the <Hero Party> was scattered.
‘…We survived.’
The members of the Hero Party sighed in relief instinctively, from the depths of their being.
They would go back, heal Marin, regroup their forces, and punish the Black Wolf.
As they looked toward the next battle and waited for the magic to complete—
Lactea’s blood-red lips curled once more, and words spilled out again.
“【Nullify.】”
Crash!
Just before it could activate, the Return magic shattered to pieces.
“Are your little performances over now?”
Clack.
As the platinum disaster stepped closer once more, Asha quickly turned her head and asked—
“Selena, the path—”
But before she could finish, she realized.
“…I can’t see. I can’t see anything…”
That there was absolutely no way to escape this woman before them as things were now.
“I’ll give you time to leave your last words.”
At the golden sneer leaking from behind the mask, Asha involuntarily blamed herself.
‘…I should’ve realized with just a little thought.’
The gap between ranks is absolute by nature.
She had thought it would be easy to defeat a member of the <Black Wolf> who was just around S-rank, but hadn’t she struggled for a long while?
Why hadn’t she realized that someone with barely S-rank strength had still managed to go toe-to-toe with herself and the others, who were SS and SSS rank?
But what use was regret now?
“…Well, if you don’t need it, forget it.”
I.
We’re going to die soon anyway.
“Goodbye.”
Just as Lactea, gripping the crimson longsword in a reverse hold, drove it down toward Asha’s heart—
Whoosh!
Asha was yanked back by the scruff of her neck and thrown behind by someone.
Crash!
Colliding with Vulcan, Asha reflexively kicked him off and sprang to her feet again.
‘Who was that?’
Who in the world had rushed into the domain of that monster of a woman and saved her?
But before she could even identify her savior, Lactea’s hand moved.
Stab.
Without any hesitation, the blood-red longsword pierced the one who had saved Asha.
“…Damn, it hurts too much to act cool.”
Only then did the members of the <Hero Party> realize—
That the one who had saved her from that deadly crimson blade was—
“Everyone… please… run away…”
Ian Red.
It was you, as always.
2.
Right after changing from the attire of <Black Wolf> to that of Ian Red.
“…Well, if you don’t need it, forget it.”
Nahan, realizing there was no time, threw his body toward Asha.
It was madness.
“Goodbye.”
Truly insane.
Throwing himself in front of that obviously dangerous longsword to protect Asha?
Even as he resolved himself and moved.
Nahan knew full well how crazy his action was.
But what else could he do?
– Live the dream for me, Brother Han.
To fulfill that guy’s request, this world must not end in a bad ending.
Just as he barely managed to shove his body in between—
Stab.
The sword came slower than expected, yet was still unavoidable—it pierced his heart.
It was hot.
It hurt.
He was afraid.
The nauseating foreign sensation of the blade penetrating his heart shot up Nahan’s spine and into his brain.
Even so, Nahan acted.
“…Damn, it hurts too much to act cool.”
Fighting back the terrible pain, masking even his fear with acting.
“Everyone… please… run away…”
Nahan had saved the <Hero Party>.
“Priest!!!”
The enraged Asha immediately hurled herself forward, but—
Boom!!
She was struck by Lactea’s sweeping hand and sent flying back with Selena.
“Aaaah…!! Priest, please…!!!!”
Handing the unconscious Marin to Vulcan, Asha once again rose to her feet.
Selena followed up with support right after.
“He’s not gone yet… we can still save him…!!”
She too, like Asha, wished for Ian Red’s survival with all her heart.
“Now, Asha!!!”
“Priest!!!”
Overcoming the oppressive pressure,
The overwhelming difference,
And the fear, they stood again—
“This guy… seems important to you, huh?”
“Wait──!!”
“I don’t want to.”
Slash!
Lactea’s blade moved once more, deeply slicing Nahan’s neck.
“Ghhk…!!”
Nahan quickly clutched at his throat.
‘It’s fine. I expected this.’
The clash between the <Hero Party> and Lactea.
If Lactea was losing, he’d order a retreat as <Black Wolf>; if the <Hero Party> was being overwhelmed, he’d sacrifice himself as Ian Red to allow their escape.
‘Though… I didn’t expect it to hurt this much… still, I won’t die.’
He’d upgraded Iaso’s Ring. If he could just endure a little longer, this side would be wrapped up.
‘So please… just run already…’
His legs trembled.
Barely able to move, Nahan weakly waved toward Asha and Selena.
“Hur… ry…!!!”
Ugh!
The more he forced himself to act, the more blood poured from the wound.
His vision began to whiten, an overwhelming dizziness swirling over him.
“Priest, please…!!!”
“Get a hold of yourself, Asha, move!!!”
He had risked his life so they could escape, and yet—chaos only deepened.
“…Sorry, Ian.”
Clank.
Before anyone noticed, Vulcan—carrying Marin on his back—took heavy steps forward and seized the two women.
“…Truly… I’m truly sorry, Ian.”
Drip.
Thick tears fell down his face as his large hands ripped a scroll in two.
【Return Scroll activated.】
Nice one, Vulcan.
That’s it, you damn big guy…
“Vulcan!! What do you think you’re doing!!!”
“Let go!! Let go, you stupid bastard!!!”
Though the two women struggled in Vulcan’s grasp, he never released them.
When the worst came to pass, one should sacrifice their life to retreat the allies.
A noble act—
One he’d always been too afraid to carry out himself.
But Ian had done it for him.
And because he couldn’t allow that noble sacrifice to be in vain, Vulcan tore the scroll.
Fwoosh.
The carried Marin.
The flailing Asha.
And the sobbing Selena—
All three vanished.
Afterward, Vulcan once again apologized to Nahan.
“Truly… I’m sorry. For making you carry my burden. The burden of the Gardners.”
What?
There’s nothing to apologize for.
As long as you guys escape, it’s a success…
“But now, from this point on, I’ll carry it with you.”
What the hell, man?
Thud!
Vulcan snapped his shield in half and gripped the pieces like weapons.
“O <Black Wolf>!!! From this moment forth, I will exact vengeance for my dear friend—Ian Red!!!”
Nahan looked at the bellowing Vulcan and involuntarily muttered under his breath:
“Get… the hell out… grghk, get lost already…”
“For the sin of laying hands on the Gardner family’s future son-in-law, you shall pay with your life!!!!”
“You… son of a… grk, dumbass….”
So suffocating I could die, seriously.
