“Hahaha! Die!!”

Boom!

A blood-red arrow flew out of the darkness, only to be blocked by Serelin’s sword.
She felt a surge of irritation at her opponent, who had yet to reveal themselves and continued to attack from a distance.

Was there anything more frustrating than an unknown enemy launching attacks from afar?
At least she could block those attacks without much trouble.

However, this also meant that her movement was severely restricted, and her reunion with Aswell was being delayed.

“You’re such a nuisance! You come to my house, so just die already!”

A mocking voice echoed, followed by another arrow.
Serelin parried it with ease and responded to the taunt.

“Then hurry up and kill me. You sure expect a lot, just sitting there firing arrows from a distance.”

“Are you seriously trying to provoke me? Kyaa-ha-ha! As expected of the Hero’s party! So full of confidence, even in a situation like this!”

As her enemy said, the battlefield around Serelin was much more advantageous to the demon.
The wide, seemingly endless plaza was enveloped in thick, gray fog, and the enemy's position kept shifting every moment.

For a knight fighting a long-range enemy, this was the worst possible environment.

But that was only true if she were an ordinary knight.

“If the environment is unfavorable to me... then I'll just handle it like this.”

Shing!

Rumble...

“Gah—?!”

In an instant, her sword gleamed with a blue light, and a long slash cut through the gray fog, striking the wall of the fortress.
A black-haired woman, who had been hiding, coughed up blood as she was thrown from the wall, and with her fall, the fog surrounding Serelin disappeared.

‘So the gray fog vanished... It must have been the demon's magic.’

This was a good development.
Now that she didn’t have to deal with the fog, all she had to do was focus on taking down the demon.

As Serelin advanced toward her fallen enemy, she realized something was wrong—the woman had disappeared.

Boom!

“How dare you!!”

“Grr...!”

The woman reappeared beneath Serelin, emerging from the ground.
She lashed out with her claw, colliding with Serelin’s sword.

‘What kind of strength is this...?’

Serelin had a sword, and her enemy was using nothing but her claws.
Yet the force of the demon’s strike was enough to make her sword tremble—a level of strength and durability she hadn’t encountered in any demon so far.

“How dare you... scar my face, one of the Fifth Bloodline?!”

The woman’s face twisted with rage, a small scratch visible on her skin.

‘I need to rethink my approach.’

Aswell could have easily handled and overpowered this enemy.
But Serelin wasn’t able to do that.

She couldn't treat this demon like the ones she had fought before.
She had to admit this was a stronger foe and fight accordingly.

“You won’t die easily. I’ll cut off your limbs, hang them up, and drain every last drop of your blood!”

“Sorry, but that’s not really my style.”

Serelin smiled as she infused her sword with more power.
The force, commonly referred to as sword aura, reflected the user’s spirit and temperament. Serelin’s aura was a cool, icy blue.

‘If it’s just one enemy...’

“What are you doing here, Yordie?”

Suddenly, another demon appeared next to the woman.

“Gabor, don’t start with me.”

“Start with you? You think it’s starting something to ask why a long-range specialist like you is fighting this knight in close combat?”

“...”

Serelin instinctively raised her sword, preparing for the appearance of the male demon.

‘This one’s even stronger than Yordie.’

“The First Bloodline is focused on expanding the fortress. However, the humans' walls aren’t being absorbed due to some sort of interference, so even the Second Bloodline is occupied. The Third Bloodline is engaged in combat, and yet here you are...”

Gabor, seemingly uninterested in Serelin, berated Yordie without sparing her a glance.
Not missing the opportunity, Serelin unleashed a slash of sword aura at both demons.

Thud...

At the same time, she activated the special boots given to her by the young mage and sprinted in the opposite direction.

‘I can’t win this.’

Some knights valued chivalry, despising surprise attacks and retreats.
Serelin used to think that way too, but ever since she began teaching Aswell as the Hero, she had let go of that mindset.

Survival was the only way to ensure future victories, and you could only survive if you won.
Especially against monsters and demons who either lacked intelligence or didn’t care about concepts like chivalry.

Upholding chivalry against such enemies was tantamount to shackling oneself.

‘First, I need to reunite with Aswell...’

“See, now I have to clean up your mess.”

“!!”

Serelin quickly checked what had grabbed her foot.

It was blood.

‘No way!’

Gabor had used the blood arrows Yordie had fired earlier to bind her in place.

“This is why you’ll never become Fourth Bloodline like me.”

“...Just you wait. I’ll make you regret this.”

“I certainly hope you do. For now, just focus on killing her. And don’t let your guard down.”

Serelin shattered the blood chains with her sword, preparing to fight both demons.
The two demons summoned their weapons made of blood—Yordie with a bow and Gabor with a sword.

At that moment, Yordie loosed an arrow.

“Serelin, duck!”

A voice rang out, and Serelin immediately dropped her head.

Clang!

Two arrows collided in midair, exploding with a violent force that pushed Serelin back.

“Serelin! Are you hurt?”

“Lapirie, Aria... How did you find me?”

Serelin was baffled. They shouldn’t have been able to sense each other, so how had they located her?

“We met up with Aswell, and he asked us to find you!”

“Aswell...? Then where is Aswell now...?”

Even as she looked around, the black-haired Hero was nowhere to be seen.
Where could he be?

“Haha! I’ve never seen a human last this long.”

Clang!

Every time Aled slashed with his claws, a massive blood strike followed.
It was a cut above the simple slashes of a human swordsman.

Each strike carried multiple auxiliary spells, enhancing the blood attacks and adapting to counter the barrier protecting my robe.

‘As expected of a demon.’

No ordinary mage could perform these kinds of attacks.
But I wasn’t just standing there in awe either.

Boom!

“It’s useless.”

“It looks that way.”

After launching several aerial crushers, I confirmed that Aled was surrounded by a barrier of blood.

‘It’s not magic. The blood itself is acting as a shield.’

The liquid blood hardened whenever one of my attacks struck, effectively functioning like a protective shield.
It wasn’t a magic barrier but rather a physical defense.

‘What if I mix a spell into my attacks?’

Rumble...

“Another failure.”

“...You’re experimenting with your attacks in a situation like this? You’re something else.”

Both Aled and I stepped back at the same time.
With each of us possessing seemingly unbreakable shields, this battle would go on forever at this rate.

But.

‘There’s no such thing as an invincible shield.’

Whether it’s magic or anything else, everything has a weakness.
And judging by the glint in Aled’s blood-red eyes, he was probably thinking the same thing.

“I thought you were just some ordinary human girl, but you’ve got a deep understanding of magic. I’d almost like to have you under my command.”

“Thanks for the compliment. I don’t have anything nice to say about you, though.”

“Hah.”

And with that, the conversation ended.
In the next moment, Aled’s movements ceased.

“You’re arrogant.”

Before I knew it, he was holding a staff.
It looked like a simple black cane, the kind used by gentlemen in 19th-century England.

But it wasn’t just a staff.

“I command thee.”

With those words, an incantation began to flow from his mouth.

The appearance of both a staff and an incantation meant he was about to unleash a spell far more powerful than the ones he had been casually using earlier.
Then, the name of the spell escaped his lips.

“Blood Rain.”

A unique magic.

Only mages who had reached a certain level could wield such powerful, personal magic.

Shaa...

Suddenly, blood began to rain down from the ceiling.

Rumble...

It wasn’t the sound of the fortress moving.
Nor was it the sound of some giant structure collapsing.

It was the sound of blood rain colliding with the barrier protecting my robe.
In other words, each droplet of rain was as powerful as the blood slashes he had been firing earlier.

‘This is dangerous.’

Aled was not a character that had appeared in the original story.
At best, the Fourth Bloodline had been mentioned, but the First Bloodline had appeared almost immediately after, so there wasn’t much information about him.

And unfortunately, his Blood Rain unique magic perfectly countered the weaknesses of my barrier.
Unlike the First Bloodline, whom I could have dealt with more easily, Aled was an especially bad match for me.

Crack... crack...

The barrier around my robe was starting to crack.
My barrier was more vulnerable to continuous damage rather than single, powerful strikes.
And since this wasn’t just any ordinary attack but one from a demon of the Third Bloodline, it wasn’t surprising that the barrier was beginning to break.

Pocket dimension. Decompose. Rebuild. Reinforce.

If my barrier broke, I would be at a serious disadvantage.
I pulled various magical materials from my pocket dimension, working to repair the barrier.

‘This spell can’t last forever.’

Powerful magic always had a shorter duration compared to regular spells.
No matter how skilled a demon like Aled was, this still applied.

I opened my pocket dimension full of magical tools, preparing to counterattack.

“Let’s see how long you can rely on that flimsy shield.”

Aled smiled arrogantly. I could see his body growing larger with each passing moment.

‘It also has a buffing effect.’

The spell not only attacked but also enhanced his physical power while he recovered.
It was an interesting spell.

But if he thought I wasn’t prepared for demons like him, he was gravely mistaken.

Since I had entered this world, I had made sure to come up with various strategies for dealing with demons.
Among those strategies, of course, were countermeasures for vampires like Aled.

‘I haven’t had the chance to test this yet, but now’s as good a time as any.’

“Master key, synchronize all demon-counter magic tools in the pocket dimension.”

The rings on the master key spun violently as all the magical tools in the pocket dimension began to glow with a blue light.

“So, when your magic falls short, you resort to tools? The more we fight, the more you bore me.”

“Then how about you take one of these hits and see how boring it is?”

“What?”

“One of these should be able to land a decent hit on you.”

With a sharp thrust of the master key into the ground, I unleashed a flood of magical tools from the pocket dimension, each aimed at Aled.
From weapon-shaped tools to objects that resembled ordinary office supplies, about fifty different magical devices synchronized with the master key and launched various magical attacks at Aled.

“Hmph.”

Even Aled, with all his arrogance, seemed to realize that dodging this would be difficult. He quickly surrounded himself with blood, moving swiftly as the magical attacks rained down.

For the first time, I no longer needed to focus entirely on maintaining my barrier.
Aled was now darting around the walls and ceiling, deflecting and dodging the attacks.

‘Now, let’s move on to the next phase—’

“I knew it! Hahaha!”

Suddenly, Aled burst out from below, catching me off guard.
I had thought vampires could only move through pools of blood.

‘The fortress walls...’

It hit me then. The fortress bricks were made of blood and corpses.
That meant as long as there was blood, Aled could move through anything.

I had made a mistake.

The barrier was already weakened, and it would be difficult to block his attack now.
There wasn’t enough time to set up another defensive spell.

In that moment, when I unconsciously thought of someone’s face—

Boom!

Something blocked Aled’s attack.

“...Why are you here? Weren’t your underlings supposed to be dealing with you?”

Standing there, clad in armor forged with special processing, was a figure wielding a sword radiating pure light.

Messily cut black hair.
But a face filled with determination.

I had only imagined him in my mind, but now, here he was.

“Louis, are you alright?”

The Hero stood before me.