Astrid watched the pink-haired girl kneeling beside her, her head bowed as she blew on the wound.
A faint, unreadable expression flickered in Astrid's eyes.
No wonder Lyra was so likable in the original story.
Though she could be a bit naive early on, spending ti with her revealed the sincere and pure heart hidden beneath her youthful appearance, a quality that made her incredibly endearing.
"Will this make it heal faster?"
Lyra shook her head gently. "No, but it can help ease the pain..."
She rembered clearly how Astrid had given her the potion that numbed her pain earlier.
After half a minute, Charlotte, confident that no living creatures remained active on the surface except for Astrid and Lyra, dispersed the storm and floated down to them.
"Astrid, you're hurt..."
Seeing the faint marks on Astrid's neck and the fresh cut on her arm, Charlotte frowned slightly.
With a wave of her hand, tendrils of soft green light flowed from her fingertips and rged into Astrid's body.
Advanced healing, a spell capable of significantly accelerating the recovery of wounds.
After carefully examining Astrid and confirming she had no life-threatening injuries, Charlotte turned to Lyra and perford a quick check.
The tension that had been building along the way finally eased.
"Lady Charlotte... Elise is still down there..."
Astrid tore a strip of fabric from the hem of her skirt and, with Lyra's help, began bandaging her wound as she spoke softly.
Elise and Charlotte were old friends, and Charlotte understood how much the personal maid, who had been with Astrid for years, ant to her.
She glanced at Astrid with concern and replied gently, "I'll go find her. You stay here and rest. Don't leave the wind barrier."
With that, Charlotte stood up and set up an offensive wind field within a ten-ter radius around Astrid and Lyra.
Any creature attempting to enter would be repeatedly slashed by wind blades until it either retreated or perished.
Before leaving, Charlotte added a counter-spell to Astrid's headband, allowing her to briefly unleash multiple wind bolts in case of an ergency and alert Charlotte if she was in danger.
Entering the underground lair through the passage where Astrid had fled, Charlotte noticed traces of chaotic elental fluctuations along the way, likely remnants of potions used during the escape.
Following the shattered glass of potion bottles, she moved forward, her powerful wind pressure imprisoning any monsters in her path, leaving them no chance to break free.
With her ntal energy extended, Charlotte quickly detected a lone figure deep within the lair.
Her speed increased dramatically, and within half a minute, she had crossed hundreds of ters.
In the underground chamber where the monster resided, Elise's once pristine dark-and-white maid uniform was now stained with blood.
The knight's sword in her hand was coated with a thin layer of flesh, each swing requiring more effort than the last.
Elise had attempted to break through earlier, but the sheer number of monsters and tentacles blocked her path.
She had to focus entirely on dodging and defending, leaving no opportunity to retreat.
'Her Highness's breathing feels steady... She must have escaped…'
Elise's eyes brightened with determination. The blade of her sword shimred as she adjusted her breathing, preparing to fight once more.
But just then, she sensed a familiar surge of ntal energy.
'It's Charlotte. She's here.'
Realizing that Charlotte was most likely coming to save her, Elise imdiately slowed down her ntal energy transfer.
The blade deflected away from the tentacles stabbing at her, shifting her stance from offensive to defensive just in ti.
Within a few seconds, she noticed the airflow in the underground lair subtly accelerating.
The scattered wind elental particles began to resonate, growing highly active.
The previously chaotic flow trajectories started to align, forming a more orderly pattern.
The high-level magic, Wind Touch, uses ntal energy to manipulate small wisps of wind, allowing the caster to map the surroundings and capture sounds across a wide area.
The wind becos the caster's eyes and ears, ethereal yet perceptive.
Though Charlotte hadn't yet arrived, she was already aware of the situation.
Elise, gripping her knight's sword, straightened her posture with a serious expression.
She allowed the remaining ntal energy to form a defensive field less than half a centiter from her body, creating an impenetrable barrier.
Suddenly, the wind elents in the space around her, and throughout the entire lair, began to whistle sharply as their flow intensified.
The once gentle breeze turned aggressive in an instant.
Every exposed creature was assaulted by wind blades, its flesh and bones shredded as if by a saw, disintegrating rapidly.
Using Wind Touch to gauge the lair's dinsions, Charlotte had tailored the spell's range to maximize destruction without collapsing the cave.
The result was a devastating wind spell that ravaged everything in its path.
Elise watched the violent, at-grinder-like winds, feeling the air around her being drained by the sheer force of the ntal energy.
Even breathing beca impossible during the spell's activation.
This was Charlotte's self-created super-level spell, the culmination of her knowledge and skill.
Known as Drowning Sea, it not only had a vast area of effect but also inflicted a suffocating effect on all targets, cutting off any hope of survival.
Other mages had dubbed it the "drowning sea" for its relentless, inescapable nature.
The tentacles of the sheep-headed monster fell away, its flesh disintegrating inch by inch in the wind.
The blood mist that erupted rged with the flowing air, allowing Elise to see the movent of Charlotte's ntal energy more clearly.
The winds didn't flow in a single direction but ford countless small, laminar streams that clashed against each other.
If the space were imagined as a flat sheet of paper, Drowning Sea worked by turning the wind into sharp, opposing forces pressing from both sides.
While not strong enough to tear space itself, the folds created by these forces easily destroyed everything within the spell's range.
As the wind raged, the sheep-headed monster could no longer regenerate its flesh.
Other dark spirits were torn apart by Charlotte's spell, making it impossible for them to reform quickly.
Sensing the threat, the monster retracted its tentacles, forming a deep dark barrier over its surface.
Whenever the wind touched this dark net, it vanished as if swallowed by darkness.
Five seconds after Drowning Sea was unleashed, Charlotte arrived at the center of the lair.
She glanced at the bloodied head maid, surprised that a Master Knight had managed to endure such a perilous situation for so long.
Her attention then shifted to the massive monster before her.
The monster, a grotesque mass of bright red flesh, emanated a strong aura of death and deep resentnt.
Its surface, though heavily scarred by the wind blades, was healing at an alarming rate.
Charlotte's expression darkened slightly.
Her staff flared with powerful elental energy, and several beams of bright light struck the dark net covering the monster.
The dark barrier lted away like ice under the sun.
"Hiss..."
A strange, ear-piercing sound, sowhere between a scream and a wail, emanated from the monster.
Charlotte remained unmoved, steadily increasing the flow of her ntal energy.
The sharp winds drilled into the flesh, forming countless visible bumps within the monster.
Sensing the timing was right, Charlotte narrowed her eyes, and with a surge of ntal energy, she detonated the compressed winds.
With a deafening roar, the monster exploded from the inside out.
Chunks of flesh and blood scattered in all directions, only to be swept back into place by the violent winds.
At that mont, however, Charlotte felt an eerie sense of dread rising within her.
Her ntal energy faltered montarily, and Elise, too, sensed the sa unease.
A flicker of nervousness appeared in Elise's cold, ink-colored eyes.
As an Arcanist, Charlotte had experienced countless battles over the years, and the grueso scene before her hardly stirred her emotions.
But this sudden, overwhelming fear was different. It felt as though an imnsely powerful being had inadvertently leaked a hint of its presence, unleashing a terrifying deterrent effect on all those weaker than itself.
Before she could pinpoint the source of this fear, an illusory dark shadow appeared where the monster had been.
Before Charlotte could command the winds to crush it, the shadow dissipated into the air, leaving no trace.
Simultaneously, the barrier began to disintegrate.
The two won heard a series of soft, bubble-like popping sounds in their ears, and within half a minute, they were back in reality.
The silver moon hung high in the sky, and a cool, dry evening breeze brushed against their skin.
Elise looked down to find herself standing in a soft field.
Hearing footsteps nearby, Astrid looked up and saw Elise, covered in blood. Her eyes filled with worry.
"Elise, where are you hurt? How are you feeling now?"
Seeing her young lady so anxious, Elise calmly wiped the bloodstains from her sword and replied in a steady tone, "I'm fine. It's all the monster's blood."
Though the battle had been perilous, she had sustained no serious injuries.
At most, her ntal energy was severely depleted, and she needed so rest.
Noticing that Astrid's arms were wrapped in long strips of dark fabric, Elise saw that the blood had soaked through the cloth, darkening the fabric.
Further down, Astrid's skirt was torn, revealing a glimpse of her soft, dark-silk-clad thighs.
Elise averted her gaze and spoke in a low voice, "Your Highness Astrid, I have failed in my duties..."
If only she had been stronger, Astrid wouldn't have been hurt.
Astrid shook her head, dismissing Elise's guilt. "It's not your fault. I got this injury during the breakout."
Hearing this, Lyra lowered her eyes, her guilt deepening.
Astrid had been injured protecting her from a sheep's horn, and she blad herself for her carelessness.
As everyone checked on each other's condition, a low, pained groan ca from behind them.
Charlotte turned to see the bloodied Magnus Velrik on the ground. Her expression turned cold.
It was undoubtedly this bastard who had nearly caused her dear Astrid to co to harm.
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