“So what! Lord Cassim will avenge me——”

  Boom!

  Before he could finish speaking, three surges of overwhelming mana descended from the sky without warning.

  “......”

  The Gulos fire mage fell abruptly silent.

  Staring up at the white-haired mage slowly descending from the clouds, a horrifying thought dawned on him:

  It seemed that even if Lord Cassim did return, he would not be able to avenge him......

  With the arrival of Holstin Ming Dawson and his companions, the remaining Gulos forces who had been putting up a last-ditch resistance collapsed in an instant.

  The battle came to a swift end......

  “Teacher Grisa, how stands the situation here?”

  Holstin asked.

  “The camp is under control, Headmaster. But there is a far more urgent matter......”

  Grisa quickly briefed Holstin on how Cassim had chased after an unknown figure.

  Holstin’s expression turned grave.

  “I understand. We shall move to reinforce them at once! Teacher Grisa, stay here and take charge of the aftermath.”

  With that, Holstin and his party prepared to take flight.

  “No—I’m coming with you!”

  Grisa declared firmly,

  “The remaining Gulos stragglers can be handled by the other teachers. With Sphinger and that bear here, even any hidden A-rank adepts will be no match for them!”

  At this, Holstin glanced toward a corner of the battlefield.

  There, a giant black cat and the Tyrant Giant Bear stood locked in a tense standoff, while a white-haired cat-eared girl shouted animatedly between them.

  “......Very well.”

  Holstin nodded.

  “In that case, Teacher Grisa, you may accompany us.”

  The four figures then streaked away in a single direction at blinding speed.

  ...

  Meanwhile, some time earlier,

  Hulim Heyerar led Cassim farther and farther away from the camp. Fearing he might turn back,

  she deliberately suppressed her power, refraining from using wind magic to boost her speed, and occasionally fired off a few distracting spells behind her.

  Though these were merely probing attacks, Cassim blocked them all with effortless ease.

  In truth,

  Hulim knew he was no fool—he had surely seen through her simple ruse long ago.

  Her original plan had been to intercept him immediately if he showed any sign of returning to the camp, preventing the Gulos forces there from detecting the commotion and resorting to taking hostages.

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  But the best-case scenario would be to wait until Alicia and Miko had completed their mission before making her move.

  After all, there was no telling what sort of special communication methods he might possess.

  Yet......

  To her surprise, he continued to pursue her relentlessly, showing not the slightest inclination to turn back.

  Beyond sheer overconfidence, this could only mean one thing: he had taken a personal interest in her as a target......

  Before long,

  Hulim, who had been keeping careful track of time, finally came to a halt.

  “......By now, Alicia and Miko should have succeeded at the camp. Even with two A-rank adepts left on their side, with the Tyrant Giant Bear and the freed Teacher Grisa backing them up, they should be more than capable of handling it.”

  “Now—”

  “It’s time to settle things between us.”

  Moments later, a figure caught up to her, hovering a short distance away.

  Instead of launching an immediate attack, however,

  he studied her with great interest, as if examining some rare and curious specimen.

  “Why stop running?”

  Cassim asked in a casual, almost amused tone,

  “You led me on a wild goose chase through the forest. I truly thought you’d lead me straight back to the camp to rendezvous with your little friends.”

  “There was no need for that.”

  Hulim replied coolly,

  raising the Seven Luminaries with both hands and holding it horizontally before her.

  “Oh......”

  Cassim’s eyes narrowed, his gaze boring into her as if trying to peer into her very soul.

  “Hulim Heyerar.”

  He spoke her name slowly and deliberately.

  As the leader of Gulos’ intelligence division, he could hardly be unaware of the existence of such a prodigious talent.

  He had recognized her the moment she had launched her attack on the camp.

  “It takes a great deal to shock me. But I must admit—you have managed to astonish me beyond belief.”

  “Under 14 and already an A-rank adept......”

  “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would have dismissed it as utter nonsense.”

  “......I see. So compared to your original plan, I, the unexpected variable, have become your top priority target?”

  Hulim said flatly.

  “Precisely.”

  Cassim answered,

  “It seems you know quite a lot about Gulos.”

  “As you so astutely observed——”

  “Your existence is far too dangerous. You must be eliminated here and now—even if it means abandoning this entire plan!”

  With that, Cassim withdrew his wand from his robes.

  Hulim’s entire plan had been transparent to him from the start—he had even anticipated that the camp would have fallen by now.

  But none of that mattered anymore!

  The moment he had chosen to give chase, he had already written off the camp and everything in it.

  Neither his subordinates nor their prisoners were worth even a fraction of the value of the person standing before him.

  He would make absolutely certain that Hulim Heyerar, this extremely dangerous threat, was eliminated once and for all right here!

  Boom——!

  Whoosh——!

  Without a single warning,

  both combatants launched their attacks simultaneously.

  Countless black spears materialized around Cassim, hurtling toward Hulim at breakneck speed.

  In the same instant, countless light orbs appeared around Hulim, each unleashing a searing beam of light aimed directly at Cassim.

  Hum!

  Hum!

  The two of them erected their defensive barriers almost simultaneously,

  never once pausing their relentless barrages of attacks.

  Boom! Boom! Boom......

  Countless magical attacks slammed into each other’s barriers, triggering a series of deafening explosions that shook the very air.

  “Truly remarkable.”

  Cassim spoke amid the chaos of flying spells,

  “Your power is far more than just that of a run-of-the-mill A-rank adept!”

  “I’m genuinely curious—just how did you manage to reach such heights at your age?”

  “Is it wise to be so distracted mid-battle?”

  Hulim met his gaze, her voice calm and steady as ever.

  “Hmph~!”

  Cassim chuckled,

  “To think I’m being underestimated~!”

  “Against someone of a higher rank, I would never dare speak so casually. But when it comes to A-rank adepts——”

  “I do not believe there is a single one who can defeat me!!”

  As the final word left his lips,

  Cassim slammed his wand downward with all his might.

  Boom——!

  A colossal jet-black beam of light descended from the sky without warning, engulfing Hulim’s position completely.

  This was the very same attack that had sent Grisa crashing to the ground earlier.

  For a normal A-rank adept, such a spell would require complete concentration and a lengthy incantation to cast. But for someone like him, an A-rank pinnacle mage, it was no different from a simple cantrip—something he could unleash with a mere flick of his wrist.

  It was this very ability that marked the difference between a regular mage and one who had reached the absolute peak of their rank.

  The jet-black beam gradually dissipated.

  Cassim paused his assault, smiling confidently as he stared at the spot where Hulim had stood just moments ago.

  He was certain that no one could have withstood such an attack.

  “......No one can defeat you, you say?”

  Yet a voice suddenly rang out from above, causing Cassim’s smile to freeze instantly.

  A flicker of genuine shock flashed across his eyes.

  For her voice was as calm and unruffled as ever, as if she had not been affected in the slightest.

  As the last traces of the black beam vanished completely, Hulim stood there unscathed, right before his eyes.

  Only then did Cassim’s expression finally turn completely serious......