Hearing the dull sound of the sword hitting the ground behind her and the crisp crack of bone, Astrid tilted her head slightly, her eyes flashing.
The warm breath lingering on her neck reminded her of what had just happened.
The clawed dark spirit that had tried to sneak up on her was now pinned to the ground by Lyra's sword.
In the chaos, Astrid had been accidentally injured by the creature.
Reaching up to cover the wound, she felt her palm grow damp.
Bright red blood seeped through her fingers, stark against her porcelain-white skin.
Fortunately, the cut was shallow, only grazing the surface and missing any vital arteries.
Had it been deeper, she wouldn't be standing there now, let alone able to press her hand to the injury.
"Your Highness, Astrid!"
Seeing this, Lyra rushed forward, her face pale with panic.
Her hand instinctively reached for Astrid's slender neck but froze just before touching her skin.
Her lips, bitten white, trembled as she spoke.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Is the wound bad? Do you need a healing spell?" Lyra asked softly, her voice tinged with guilt.
It was her fault. If she had been more skilled, she wouldn't have faltered at such a critical mont, and Astrid wouldn't have been hurt.
Noticing Lyra's self-reproach and hearing her mutter the incantation for a basic healing spell, Astrid shook her head.
She pulled the knight's sword from the ground and tossed it back to Lyra, her tone cool and composed.
"There's no need to apologize. It's just a scratch. Save your energy for the fight."
As soon as she finished speaking, the silent sheep-headed dark spirit stirred back to life, letting out a piercing shriek as it lunged at Astrid.
Sword raised, Lyra struck faster this ti.
The blade glead with a radiant holy light, sizzling as it made contact with the dark spirit.
A burst of white mist erupted, and the phantom let out a guttural scream.
Compared to the Flowing Wind Blade, the basic light enchantnt proved far more effective against undead creatures.
With Lyra holding the line, Astrid reached into her potion bag and pulled out a vial of interdiate healing potion.
She downed it in one swift motion, then began murmuring an incantation under her breath.
"Ice elents disperse evenly and bind to the surface. Channel ntal energy in controlled pulses to sustain a stable freezing effect, forming a layer of frost to hinder movent and entrap the target."
Interdiate Ice Spell—Frost.
Just as Lyra raised her sword to deliver the final blow to the sheep-headed dark spirit, she noticed ice crystals forming across its skull. In monts, the entire dark spirit was frozen solid, immobilized like an icy statue.
It only takes a dozen seconds for the dark spirit to revive and attack again after being killed.
Using ice spells with strong restraining abilities to slow their assault was a better strategy.
Understanding Astrid's intentions, Lyra didn't raise her sword to shatter the ice.
Instead, she shifted her focus, first slicing through the slender tentacles reaching for them mid-air, then delivering a horizontal slash to another sheep-headed dark spirit.
anwhile, Astrid pulled out a dark blue potion and hurled it to the ground.
It exploded, releasing a biting cold that instantly filled the space.
An interdiate-grade freezing potion could produce effects roughly equivalent to two casts of interdiate ice magic—Frost.
Noticing the second sheep-headed dark spirit was also immobilized by the ice, Astrid breathed a sigh of relief.
The luxurious silk cuff of her sleeve brushed against the wound on her neck, leaving a faint bloodstain.
In addition to freezing the target, the interdiate freezing potion also significantly increased the concentration of ice elents in the air.
Astrid's affinity for ice elents was exceptional, and with sufficient elental energy, the ntal cost of casting ice magic was much lower than other types of spells.
Even so, she could only cast Frost once more.
The interdiate magic, combined with the earlier use of several primary spells, had drained more than half of her already limited ntal energy.
Her mind ached faintly, and her body's self-preservation chanisms began to kick in to prevent ntal backlash.
"Lyra, let's go," Astrid said.
Chanting the incantation for Frost once more, she used the last of her ntal energy to reinforce the two ice seals.
Her legs felt unsteady, as though they couldn't find solid ground, and faint afterimages flickered before her eyes.
Recognizing this as their best chance to escape, Lyra turned and cast a light spell on herself and Astrid.
Without hesitation, she headed toward the exit Elise had indicated earlier.
However, there was a natural gap in physical stamina between knights and mages. Astrid, drained of ntal energy, struggled to keep up with Lyra's pace.
Noticing this, Lyra quickly made a decision and spoke up.
"Your Highness Astrid, I'll carry you."
There was no ti for hesitation or embarrassnt. Lyra bent down, one hand supporting Astrid's slender, well-proportioned legs clad in dark silk, the other cradling her back, wrapped in luxurious fabric. It was a classic princess carry.
Feeling the warmth of Lyra's palm against the back of her knees, Astrid relaxed her delicate fra.
She retrieved a non-attribute crystal engraved with a magic circle from her potion bag, her crimson eyes half-closed.
Interdiate magic, Aura Vault, allowed ntal power to be stored in crystals for a short ti and reclaid when needed.
Placing the crystal on her forehead to absorb the sealed ntal power, Astrid's delicate brows furrowed deeply, her fingers turning white as if she were enduring unbearable pain.
Rapidly replenishing ntal energy was an excruciating process.
Astrid felt as though a high-speed blender was churning inside her head, threatening to grind her very soul into pulp.
It was no wonder Charlotte had warned that the aura Vault could be used at most once.
A second attempt could leave one either dead or ntally impaired, unable to form coherent sentences, let alone muster the strength to continue fighting.
Once her ntal strength was restored, Astrid opened her eyes and glanced at the pink-haired girl carrying her.
Lyra's delicate face was tense, her brows tightly knit.
The dark red soil reflected in her clear eyes, and her breath ca in light pants, causing the rounded curves of her maid outfit to rise and fall faintly.
Astrid averted her gaze and conjured two crystalline ice arrows.
She launched them at the spiked tentacles chasing Lyra.
The arrowheads exploded in a burst of cold light, freezing the appendages in place.
With Astrid now able to focus her full ntal energy on defense, Lyra only needed to evade the enemies ahead, ensuring her steps remained steady.
A pale white horn erged from the dark mist to the side, another sheep-headed dark spirit.
Astrid quickly chanted two spells: one for a defensive ice shield, the other for a wind elental blessing to enhance Lyra's speed.
Thanks to the dark headband Charlotte had given her, Astrid could draw on a portion of wind elental particles, allowing her to cast wind spells more efficiently.
Narrowly dodging another attack, Lyra carried Astrid nearly three hundred ters before feeling a cool breeze ahead.
A flicker of excitent lit up her eyes.
"Your Highness Astrid, there's wind ahead,"
High above Jones Farm, Charlotte removed her long witch hat from her mage robes and floated into the air, gazing down at the flat, expansive land below.
Unlike her last visit, Charlotte could now sense an unsettling aura of death.
The wind carried the bitterness of the earth to her nostrils, and as it tousled her hair, she gripped her staff and began her descent.
Stopping about five centiters above the ground, the wind around her stirred the dust with a faint whisper.
Charlotte did not touch the land but instead glided swiftly with the wind.
In monts, she reached the area where the headband had vanished and expanded her elental vision.
At first glance, everything seed normal, but Charlotte quickly noticed sothing amiss.
About a hundred ters ahead, the elental particles within that space showed no fluctuations.
While stable elents like ice or earth might not surprise her, the stillness of the typically fluid wind and electricity was alarming.
The light green ripples of wind hung motionless, like strokes of paint on a canvas.
As she moved closer, her mage robes began to glow with arcane light.
Charlotte's expression grew serious, her grip on the staff tightening.
When she was less than half a ter from the target, a deep, oppressive sensation washed over her, as if she were sinking into the depths of the sea.
Her eyes narrowed, and several protective magic circles lit up on her chest, guiding her slowly into this strange realm.
Unlike Astrid, Charlotte did not imdiately explore the underground dungeon.
Instead, she still saw the vast land before her, though the dark fog in her vision and the moon above had grown dim.
Charlotte summoned the wind to disperse the haze.
As the dark mist cleared, the corpses of several dostic animals ca into view, scattered across the ground.
A heavy, palpable breath of death perated the soil, as though it could solidify at any mont.
"An… Independence Enchantnt?" Charlotte frowned, her mood darkening instantly.
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