The four individuals were completely unable to understand the current situation.
Why… is this happening?
According to their logic, they had just attacked the girl, but why…
In the end, their attack had landed on themselves instead?
“Could it be… an illusion?” one of them suggested.
“How could that be?”
If everything they had just experienced was an illusion, then how powerful could this girl be?
These four individuals had all been heads of House Ponton at one point. They were no strangers to illusions. And with their strength, what kind of illusion could possibly trap them?
It seemed impossible!
Yet everything before their eyes suggested that
this
was the only reality!
Because no other explanation could fully account for what had just happened.
Their spells, which were meant to hit the girl, ended up hitting their own team members instead.
Fortunately, none of them were seriously injured, and they still had fighting strength.
However, this situation had completely shattered their morale. How could they keep fighting like this?
Who knew when their own attack might turn against them, becoming a blade aimed at their teammates?
Perhaps… the allies they relied on would end up being their enemies?
At this point, the four of them began to entertain the thought of retreating.
In fact, when they thought about it, the girl hadn’t really done anything excessive. She had eaten a
fish king
and knocked out the younger generation—nothing too serious.
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She hadn’t even harmed them.
With this in mind, the four of them began to feel that maybe continuing the fight wasn’t necessary after all.
In the distance, Nora stood calmly.
No one noticed that Nina was standing right behind her.
“Thanks for earlier, Nina,” Nora said.
Although Nora’s mana threads could have withstood the four’s attacks, if she kept this up, it would soon become impossible to block all their spells.
Moreover, with four opponents of such strength, even Nora, as powerful as she was, couldn’t recklessly attack without concern. If they countered, she would be left defenseless and likely seriously injured.
In a one-on-one situation, this wouldn’t be an issue. But with four opponents, no matter which one she attacked, the others would retaliate.
If she decided to strike at all of them, her attacks would likely be ineffective, and her defense wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Luckily, Nina had stepped in and pulled them all into an illusion.
Inside the illusion, their senses were disrupted, and they mistook each other for Nora. By the time they realized something was wrong, their spells had already hit their own teammates.
This tactic had not placed much of a burden on Nina. She had only slightly scrambled their perception, simple but effective.
Seeing the look of fear on their faces, Nina couldn’t help but smile.
…
Zero had noticed the heads of House Ponton storming off in anger and sensed that things might take a turn for the worse.
He quickly followed them.
Just as he was nearing the tier-sage’s residence, a massive shockwave from four powerful spells obliterated the area. Rocks and debris flew in all directions.
Zero could only cast a defensive spell to shield himself. But he hadn’t expected the force of the blast to be so great.
Even though he had cast his defensive magic, he was still buried beneath the rubble.
When the shockwave finally subsided, Zero used magic to clear the stones from on top of him and stumbled out of the debris.
What he saw before him left him in disbelief.
Most of the ground had been destroyed. Several deep craters had appeared in the center.
“This… is the aftermath of a battle? It’s terrifying!” Zero exclaimed.
He couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. It was a good thing he had arrived late. Otherwise, he might not have just been buried under the rubble, but rather deeply entombed in it.
After a moment’s hesitation, Zero decided to move forward.
He wanted to understand what had actually happened.
…
“Do you know who stands behind House Ponton?”
One of the older men among the four stepped forward and addressed Nora.
“If you continue to fight today, Karea Academy won’t let you off easily!”
Karea Academy, in the mind of this former Lord Ponton, was the most powerful force.
He was certain that, upon hearing the name of the academy, Nora would hesitate or even retreat.
After all, he didn’t want to continue fighting against such a formidable opponent. The chances of victory seemed slim.
But after hearing those words, Nora simply smiled.
“So you’re saying… if I keep fighting, Karea Academy will intervene on your behalf?”
“Exactly! House Ponton has always had a good relationship with Karea Academy. Many of our young generation have already joined Karea Academy,” the man explained.
“So…”
“Then do you know who I am?”
Nora interrupted him, looking directly at the four men.
At this point, the four men froze, realizing the gravity of their situation.
They had never considered her identity when they were summoned by Lord Ponton. They were focused only on dealing with whoever dared provoke House Ponton, planning to kill her immediately.
But now, it was clear that this girl was no ordinary opponent.
Her strength was terrifying, and it was one against four.
At first, when they were summoned by Lord Ponton, they weren’t told anything about the girl’s identity.
So when Nora asked that question, the four of them were left dumbfounded.
None of them could answer her.
They turned to look at Lord Ponton, then back at Nora.
“Sorry, we haven’t been active for a long time. We didn’t know your identity, miss.”
“My name is Nora. I’m the chosen representative of Karea Academy and will be entering the Fire Abyss Secret Realm to fight.”
Upon hearing Nora’s brief introduction, the faces of the four men turned pale with shock.
They had never expected her to have such an identity!
…
On the Karea Academy’s spaceship, Hayes stood on the deck, uneasy.
“How long until we arrive?”
“Lord Hayes, we’ll be there soon.”
“Mm.”
Hayes nodded. He was anxious because the spell beast that had arrived at the academy hadn’t seemed to be there for destruction or slaughter.
Its first move was to head for the back mountain.
The back mountain, however, was no ordinary place.
Hayes had always treated it as just another area within the school, advertised as nothing special. Over time, only those looking to complete tasks showed any interest in it.
But Hayes knew that the most dangerous places were often the safest.
That’s why he had left things exposed, making the area seem like an open secret.
He hadn’t expected the magic array at the academy to be destroyed by a spell beast.
If the spell beast had come to the academy’s back mountain with no specific purpose, even Hayes wouldn’t be able to understand such a scenario.
He was deeply concerned.
He feared the spell beast had discovered something.
Even though the headmaster of the academy assured him that nothing unusual had happened, Hayes still felt that something was off. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
That’s why he was rushing back to the academy.
…
Soon after, Hayes arrived.
Even before the airship had fully landed, Hayes was already flying off toward the academy. His goal was simple—he needed to check if there were any problems with the area.