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Chapter 203: (3/26): Defense of the Cave

For a few moments that followed, Ismelda fought normally, slicing and dicing the stone knights with her sword as if they were made of butter. However, having fought her before, Camilla knew that Ismelda was just gathering strength.

When Ismelda used her cutting spell again, Camilla was ready and did rely on her eyes. She watched with every other sense she had, and this time, she managed to follow Ismelda’s movements and finally crack the secrets behind the spell that harvested the lives of dozens of her old brothers-in-arms. It was hilariously simple: a dash followed by a slash as Ismelda passed by her target, but the secret behind it was the sheer explosiveness of the spell.

For her movement, Ismelda went from standing still to moving at blistering speeds, and then back to being stationary.

Her mana was equally explosive, rising from near undetectable to levels so high that if Camilla even attempts to imitate her, her body will rupture from the shock, and that was if Camilla could flare her mana that much to begin with.

To top everything off, Ismelda took advantage of the huge amount of mana that was being flared that instant to fuel a gem in her sword that unleashed a pink flash to distract the enemy and to hide her secrets, minimizing the amount of mana she wasted.

Simple, yet effective. Even after knowing the secrets, Camilla could not figure out a defense that would work no matter what. Whether or not she could stop Ismelda depended on a number of factors and the answer to most scenarios was a resounding “no” when Ismelda could just cut through her sword.

Maybe if she had a hardier weapon…

While Camilla spaced out, the skirmish in the cave ended. Aside from Ismelda who personally destroyed three stone knights and used her special spell twice, Beitra also destroyed one, crushing it to bits with his hammer. The last one fell beneath the concentrated firepower of the other hunters, with the final blow that crushed the core within the knights dealt by an elite hunter from Regalius Litha.

Although it seemed that Ismelda did the lion’s share of the work when looking only at the number of final hits dealt, but without Beitra, the frontlines would have not been as stable as it had been. Without the other hunters, there would be no frontlines at all, and Ismelda would have had to resort to a hit and run tactic to avoid being surrounded. She would have had to chop off bits and pieces off the stone knights, looking for the core, by herself.

The other hunters saved her that trouble and supported her, keeping the enemies off of her while she was recovering for a second spell strike. Ismelda’s accomplishments in that battle were built upon the foundations of others.

That was not to say that she was an extraneous element or irrelevant. As the hunters settled down to rest, Ismelda and Beitra headed toward the backlines where Cadaelia had been directing the battle and was now organizing rests.

“Good work, people. Group A stay on guard and prepare for the next wave. Group D go to the back and rest, while Group B head up to support Group A and clear out the rocks with Group C,” Cadaelia said. “Is anyone hurt? If it’s not too bad, go to the healers, but if it’s serious, head to the back.”

Unfortunately, the back was not visible from where Camilla and Kagriss were. However, it seemed that the situation was not too bad since no one went out of sight. On the other hand, Camilla’s estimate of there being two hundred people had been a little off, since when she counted the heads for real, she ended up with only a hundred and seventy-six. That meant a little less than forty people were missing.

Where were they? In the worse-case scenario, they were lost forever. In the best-case scenario, they were just severely wounded and were resting in the back, out of sight. Camilla didn’t know which was more likely.

When Cadaelia saw Ismelda and Beitra approaching, her eyes lit up. First, she bowed to her captain out of respect before turning to Ismelda, full of excitement. “Lady Ismelda! How many did you get this time.”

Ismelda held out her hand, two rocky cores in her hand, completely intact and sealed with blood mana. Of the six stone knights that wave, those two cores were the only one that survived, extracted whole by Ismelda. One of them had been harvested when Ismelda struck with her spell the first time, exposing the core by cutting the stone knight in half and then prying it out, and the other was harvested when Ismelda reduced the knight to rubble and picked it out of the pieces on the ground with a flick of her blade.

Her finesse and speed granted her the freedom to do such pointless things in the middle of battle. Without her, if Cadaelia wanted to get golem cores, much more would have had to be sacrificed.

When Cadaelia received the cores from Ismelda using both of her hands, her smile grew even brighter. However, Beitra didn’t look happy about it at all. Seeing her captain’s gloomy expression, Cadaelia laughed. “Too bad, Captain. Even if you won’t teach me the secrets behind the golems, I’ll figure it out myself through research. I’m spending my own savings, so there should be no problems, right?”

“…” Beitra didn’t reply. Instead, he turned to Ismelda. “How much is she paying you? I’ll pay more than that if you sell me the cores instead. I’ll triple her offer. That’s the most I can do.”

Cadaelia glared at her captain. From the looks of it, it wasn’t the first time Beitra had done this. Then she turned her pleading eyes at Ismelda, who shook her head at Beitra. “Unfortunately, I already have an agreement with Cadaelia. I won’t go back on it.”

From that exchange, Camilla managed to figure out the situation.

As a magic enthusiast like Kagriss, Cadaelia had wanted to crack the secrets of the golem construction for a long time now. However, because stone elementals jealously guard their secrets, Cadaelia could not get anything out of Beitra’s mouth. Now, with an opportunity to obtain research material right in front of her, Cadaelia jumped at the chance, no longer needing Beitra.

After she figured it all out, Camilla laughed. “That’s hilarious. I don’t feel sorry for him at all.”

“Me neither. Knowledge should be shared. It’s one thing to not want to teach anyone, but it’s a whole other to actively stop people from learning.” Kagriss tutted in disappointment at Beitra’s actions while Camilla nodded in agreement.

For all the Church’s and the Orders’ flaws, the spread of magical knowledge was one thing that Camilla thought they did right.

The Templar Orders were open for anyone to join, as long as they had the potential and swore oaths. Once inducted, they would be given the training that all templars got and how far they got in that path was up to their talent and effort. However, individual templars were not prohibited from teaching students of their own. The students just won’t be recognized as official templars.

Similarly, the Church had no restrictions on who could be a priest. All acolytes could become priests with enough experience and dedication to the Church’s ideals, even if they were weak in holy magic. For those not willing to officially join the Church, they would still be trained with the option of joining as mercenaries, similar to the ones stationed at the outposts at Amaranthine Point.

Overall, the Church held nothing back, because there could never be enough hands to fight against the undead. Even if it’s only for self-defense, the Church and the Orders would not refuse to teach anyone that wished to learn and had the potential for magic.

In the end, Beitra returned to the frontlines with Ismelda following close after. No golem cores changed hands for the simple reason of Cadaelia not having brought enough money.

The hunters worked fast. They quickly removed all the little rubble on the ground from the demolished stone knights. The remains were tripping hazards, and if someone lost their footing after stepping on a piece in the coming battles, they could very well lose their life. The rubble was molded by the stone elementals into a single solid piece and placed against the walls of the cave.

Just as the hunters began to settle down and rest after a job well done, the sound of footsteps reached them from further down the tunnel. Their faces paled and one of them groaned. “What the hell is with those stupid rocks?”

The stone elementals made a coughing sound and the protester shut his mouth. However, his sentiments were shared by others. “Are they not going to give us a chance to rest? The time between each attack keeps decreasing!”

Cadaelia pursed her lips. “Don’t worry, we can still hold out. Those not part of Group A and B will continue to rest while A and B will meet the incoming enemies as usual, with B as support.”

The tension rose in the air as the hunters formed ranks and waited. Soon, the clattering stone knights came into view, their shields lowered as they charged, using their own bodies as battering rams. Beitra raised his hand.

“Hold!”

“Hold!” came the reply of the frontline as they ran mana through their bodies. They raised their battered shields and braced themselves, and a moment later, the two sides met with an echoing crash. The stone knights were each twice as tall as a person and many times that person’s weight. Their charge should’ve been unstoppable, but the frontlines had ranks three men deep. They were also supported by dozens of mages in the back.

It was close, but they managed to hold the line, dispersing the force of the charge, and repelling the stone knights. The battle began in earnest. This time, there were seven stone knights, one more than before.

Fast, durable, powerful—each knight was a formidable enemy. Without destroying or sealing their core, they will never fall, so even Ismelda could not instantly kill one on sight. Each battle was grueling and wore on the hunters’ nerves.

“Should we keep watching, or should we go?” Camilla asked. She felt that they’ve seen enough. They’ve already ascertained that there were no enemies on the other side, as long as they identify themselves in time. Besides, it seems that the hunters could do with some extra help.

However, it all depends on if Kagriss agreed. There was no reason that Kagriss wouldn’t, but…

“I’m not against it. I want to see what I’m capable of now anyways.” Kagriss stood up and stretched out her fingers as if preparing for a fight.

Camilla nodded. “Then let’s go.”

Holding hands to decrease the chance that they’ll be separated during the spatial transfer, they touched the shimmering, transparent film, and the whole world began to spin. Then, everything blanked out for a moment, and suddenly they were in another place.

As Camilla oriented herself, she looked around and countless eyes staring at her with shock and surprise, and many of the hunters had their weapons out, about to attack them. After they recognized her, the alarm faded from their eyes, although they still watched Camilla and Kagriss with weary eyes.

Cadaelia was one of them, though she was a lot less suspicious than the others. She gasped in pleasant surprise at the sight of Kagriss and she ran over. “Where were you? It’s been a day since you disappeared!”

“What?” Camilla was the first to react. “Did you say a day?”

“…what?” Cadaelia looked just as confused as she was, though she didn’t look very surprised. “Yeah. You two went missing for a whole day, or something close to that. It’s hard to tell in here. Lady Ismelda almost got into a fight with Beitra until I managed to convince her that none of us had anything to do with your disappearance.”

Speaking of Ismelda, the person in question quickly broke out from the fighting, popping up next to Camilla and hugged her, catching Camilla by surprise. Her body stiffened from the touch and the temperature around her dropped.

Ignoring the glowering Kagriss, Ismelda looked up at Camilla in shock. “Is it really you? Why are you so tall? Either way, I’m so glad you’re back! Victoria would be upset if I came back without you.” She sighed in relief.

Camilla rolled her eyes. She was a bit touched by Ismelda’s concern, but it turned out that Ismelda wasn’t really worried about her but was actually worried about her precious Victoria’s reaction.

She shoved Ismelda away. She would’ve done that anyway since Kagriss was getting really, really cold, but now she had all the more reason to. “Hmph. Don’t touch me.”

“Okay, okay. But where have you been?” Ismelda asked. “Does it have something to do with how you got taller?”

Camilla thought for a moment and then nodded. It was in her best interest to pretend that she and Kagriss got nothing else. If they obtained nothing, then there would not be anyone telling them to cough up their gains.

But no one would believe them if they said that they obtained nothing, so it would be better to go with a lie, and that lie would be that they obtained a one-time-use treasure that could make people grow, and that she already ate the only one.

“Correct. After touching the door, I was transported with Kagriss to a weird cave where we came across a tree bearing a single fruit, guarded by a monster. We defeated it and I ended up eating the fruit, and then when we left, we were teleported back here.”

She lied as naturally as she breathed, but for some reason Cadaelia was looking at her with skepticism.

“A tree? A monster? Down here in the middle of a mountain?”

Sweat should’ve been pouring down Camilla’s back from having her lie seen through, but luckily, she was an undead with perfect control over her body, so naturally she had no visible reaction. She nodded. “Correct. You did say it’s been a day, and from our point of view, only a few hours have passed. Given that kind of time difference, doesn’t an out-of-place monster seem much more reasonable?”

Although Cadaelia didn’t look quite convinced, she reluctantly nodded.

What followed was a quick explanation of the current situation—one that Camilla didn’t need since she had been watching for quite a while. Cadaelia wanted Camilla and Kagriss to join the fighting but considering the fact they just returned from a “strange place where time flows differently,” she left them alone and went back to directing the battle.

Ismelda also went back to the front lines, whittling down the stone knights, trying to find their core.

That left Camilla and Kagriss alone again behind friendly lines. As Camilla was wondering when she should join the fighting as well, Kagriss tapped on her shoulder. When Camilla turned, Kagriss pointed toward the back of the cave, toward the part of the cave that Camilla hadn’t been able to see at first.

It was the place where the seriously wounded hunters were supposed to go. When Camilla saw the hunters lying there, she gasped. There were way more than the missing forty hunters from their expedition. Mixed among them were around fifty more, and Lavitte and his party was among them.