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It was around the time when the sunset began to slowly steal the colors of the plains. One of the sentries who had been on guard shouted out.

“She’s here!”

A small girl wielding a two-handed sword appeared from the darkening fields.

She was more than 100 meters away from the camp—plenty of distance to prepare for her approach.

Indeed, with the open surroundings, it was easy to detect anyone approaching from a distance.

“It’s the cursed sword!”

“Everyone, prepare for battle!”

“Take your positions!”

The girl with the cursed sword silently glared at the King’s Order warriors preparing for battle. Without a word, she suddenly kicked off the ground and charged toward the camp at an incredible speed.

However, she couldn’t easily break through the defense line like before.

The King’s Order had already set themselves up in perfect formation.

The soldiers dove to her left and right, launching consecutive attacks as she charged.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“You think we’ll let you go that easily?”

The girl retaliated.

She swung her cursed sword, sending black energy scattering in all directions. The blades of darkness slammed into the ground, creating a series of violent explosions.

Boom! Boom! Boom-boom-boom!

But no one had fallen. They had already moved out of the explosion’s range.

The soldiers scattered and regrouped, quickly forming their battle formation once again.

As the girl glanced at the surrounding encirclement, she suddenly burst into laughter.

“Kya-hahaha!”

No one paid much attention. Everyone remained calm, maintaining the first defensive line.

“At first, it was a bit creepy…”

“But now that we’ve heard it so often…”

“It’s not really a big deal anymore, huh?”

Baros, the commander of the defense line, smiled with satisfaction.

‘Good, everything is going according to plan.’

There are no free victories in this world.

If you use power, you must replenish it—that’s the law of the world.

The cursed sword Mareda was a monster that absorbed blood after cutting down a human, converting it into power of darkness.

It wasn’t a source of infinite power; it had clear limits.

So the mission of the first defensive line was simple.

-Exhaust the power of the cursed sword!

Specifically, their goal was to prioritize defense while gradually chipping away at the girl’s power.

If they recklessly threw their lives away and got cut by the cursed sword, allowing her to absorb their blood, they wouldn’t just die—they’d end up increasing her strength even further.

That’s why it was crucial to walk a fine line between engagement and retreat.

“Hahaha!”

Laughing, the girl wielding the cursed sword slashed at the soldiers in front of her.

Perhaps because night was approaching, her strikes seemed more dangerous than usual.

Even if they raised their swords to block, it was obvious they’d be sliced in half.

So, they focused all their effort on evasion.

“Ugh!”

“Move back!”

There was no need to worry that the girl would chase after them and cut them down entirely.

That was what their comrades were for!

“Torres!”

“Please, be safe!”

Two soldiers shouted as they thrust their spears toward the girl’s back.

Since they yelled loudly enough for her to hear, the girl naturally reacted.

She twisted her body and swung the cursed sword, effortlessly deflecting the two spears.

Clang! Clang!

Thanks to their distraction, the soldiers who had retreated earlier managed to escape safely beyond her range.

“Whew, that was close.”

“Alright, let’s go again!”

The encirclement was reformed, surrounding the girl.

“…..”

The girl hesitated for a moment.

Her target was clear. She needed to reach that target. And anything in her way had to be eliminated.

However, the obstacles were behaving oddly.

Just as they were about to become a hindrance, they would retreat. And whenever she advanced toward her goal, they would persistently target her from behind.

It was unclear whether she should ignore them and push forward or stay to eliminate them.

This ambiguity was exactly what the King’s Order was aiming for.

“Everyone, fall back!”

“Good! She’s heading deeper into the camp!”

“It’s our turn now!”

“Chase her!”

They let her pass and aimed for a strike from behind. That was their basic strategy.

But given the vast difference in ability, they couldn’t keep her tied up forever.

“Heh…”

With a faint smirk, the girl with the cursed sword kicked off the ground.

Boom!

Rather than jumping, it was as if something had exploded beneath her, propelling her into the air.

Her entire body shot up into the sky with the explosion. She intended to break away from the encirclement and target her objective in one swift move.

“Kya-hahaha!”

In an instant, the distance between her and the defensive line widened.

At this rate, she would be too far away to catch.

Baros signaled.

“Wester! Camilla!”

A man and a woman in their thirties, both wearing robes, appeared between the tents. They were Wester and Camilla, official mages of the 7th battalion.

The Clerics of the King’s Order were considered highly valuable, as the religious order only provided a limited number of them. Each battalion had just one assigned.

On the other hand, mages were more numerous.

Like Karnak before he became a battalion captain, mages at the 4th Circle level were well distributed among the battalions.

The two mages raised their wands.

Each mage’s mana flowed through their wands, forming a radiant magic circle in the air.

The glowing patterns flickered as immense power rippled outward.

Having completed their spells, the two mages shouted in unison.

“Strike of lightning!”

“Come forth to our hands!”

A pillar of thunder struck the girl and her cursed sword.

The roar of the thunder tore through the night sky.

Boom!

After a moment, the girl emerged from the smoke.

She was completely unharmed, not even a hair singed.

At the moment the lightning struck, she had protected herself with a curtain of blood energy.

But it didn’t mean the magic was useless.

She must have used a considerable amount of her reserved power to block the spell.

The girl turned her gaze toward the mages.

This magic had been threatening. It meant that they were obstacles she couldn’t ignore.

Thus, she had to deal with them.

However, the mages were already abandoning their positions and fleeing swiftly.

“We’ve done our part, right?”

“Absolutely! Run for it!”

Without looking back, they sprinted—straight in the direction opposite the camp, far away from the girl’s target.

Now, things became tricky once again.

The target is this way.

The obstacles are over there.

She had intended to deal with those obstacles first, but if they were so far away now, they no longer posed a threat, right?

“…..”

As she hesitated for a moment, the King’s Order, who had worked hard to widen the distance, rushed back in and reestablished the encirclement.

As if on cue, Baros shouted.

“Alright, let’s go again!”

***

Under Baros’ command, the King’s Order firmly held the first defensive line.

Even so, the girl with the cursed sword Mareda continued to steadily push toward the center of the camp.

It was to be expected.

They weren’t trying to block her approach entirely from the start.

They were merely draining her strength during the process of her advance.

Pushing too hard before she fell into the trap would be a problem. If cornered too much, she might escape again.

That’s why the King’s Order leadership, including Jiken, Karnak, and the other aura users, were still waiting near the trap.

Watching the battle from a distance, Trib suddenly let out an exclamation.

“My goodness, is that guy some kind of ability?”

As expected from the elite of the elite, everyone in the King’s Order was fighting well.

The knights and mages were working in perfect sync, pressing the cursed sword with remarkable coordination.

But Baros stood out, even among them.

He wasn’t an aura user, nor was he exceptionally fast or strong compared to the others. Yet, he dealt with the cursed sword more easily than most aura users.

He struck, retreated, darted in, slipped past, disrupted the girl’s movements, and perfectly stole her rhythm and timing. None of his actions were out of place.

Even as a Blue-class aura user, Trib didn’t think he could pull off something like that.

“How is he even able to do that?”

Lephan, one of the soldiers hiding alongside him in preparation for the bait role, asked curiously.

“Are you saying you can’t do that even with aura?”

Of course, he knew well how strong Barros was.

Whenever they sparred, Lephan would always find himself strangely overwhelmed, unable to do anything.

‘But even the Blue Knight is impressed?’

Trib shook his head.

“That has nothing to do with aura.”

Using aura, of course, could allow one to cut down a powerful enemy in a single strike.

But no matter how skilled the aura user, they couldn’t repeatedly strike the same precise spot dozens of times without error.

And the girl wasn’t even standing still.

She was moving, and Baros predicted her every movement, targeting her vital points, stabbing first, and reaching her before she could even react. It almost seemed like she was offering herself up to his blade.

“Is he just incredibly smart, calculating all of his opponent’s movements?”

“He didn’t seem that smart to me.”

“Then maybe he has an insane amount of experience?”

“He doesn’t look that old, though.”

“That’s why it’s so amazing.”

Meanwhile, Baros was silently calculating the time.

‘This should be enough, right?’

It had been quite a while since the battle with the cursed sword began. He could see some of the soldiers starting to tire.

It was time to pass the baton.

“Alright, King’s Order, everyone!”

As he retreated, he playfully called out.

“Time to clock out!”

***

The words retreat and clocking out have distinctly different meanings.

Retreat means falling back depending on the advantage or disadvantage in battle.

But clocking out?

It means leaving work after your shift is over.

In a battlefield context, it means leaving entirely.

As soon as the command was given, the entire King’s Order rushed out of the camp, fleeing.

The girl with the cursed sword looked around for a moment, then made her decision.

The enemies were far enough away. By the time they returned, they would be too far to interfere with her targeting her goal.

They were no longer obstacles. Now, she could go after her target freely!

“Ahaha…”

With a wild laugh, the girl sprinted across the plains like a predator.

With nothing standing in her way, there was nothing to slow her down. In an instant, she reached the center of the camp.

And finally, she found her target.

“Ah, so you’ve finally arrived…”

A young swordsman in his twenties, with a tense expression, took up a battle stance. This was Pross, a member of the 7th Battalion.

The excited girl immediately set her sights on him.

“Ahahaha!”

But if there was a first defensive line, that meant there was a second one as well.

Two individuals responsible for the second defensive line appeared.

Harris and Serati, Red-class aura users.

“Alright, it’s our turn now!”

“I’ll go first!”

Drawing their red aura swords, the two launched themselves forward.

Their force was no joke. Even the girl with the cursed sword couldn’t ignore them and continue targeting Pross.

“Ahahaha!”

The girl redirected her attack toward them.

The black aura of her cursed sword clashed with the red aura in the air, causing a thunderous explosion.

Pross, who barely survived, clicked his tongue.

“This is crazy. I’ve got two aura users guarding me.”

Harris and Serati, blocking the cursed sword, gave wry smiles.

“How does it feel to be treated like a noble?”

“Now, move according to the plan!”

“Got it!”

Pross quickly retreated while the two aura users blocked the girl with the cursed sword.

Three streaks of destructive light danced across the plains, spinning together in a dazzling display of power.