"I can't give you an answer right now..."
Mari's eyes darted around as she forced out the reply with a dry laugh.
Hum!
Ether instantly began to resonate.
Divine patterns swirled around the man wearing an extremely "kind" smile, while a mass of red-black Pyra gathered in his hand.
Still smiling brightly, Samael stared at the white-haired Succubus before him, gave her a look that clearly said "take care of yourself," and slowly stepped forward.
Mari's scalp went numb.
She immediately blurted out her plan at breakneck speed.
"I can help you enter her dream and find out what's bothering her!"
The elongated shadow before her had already swallowed her entire body.
The Grand Sage swallowed hard and hurriedly added,
"Now! Right now! Immediately!"
Smack!
With a crisp sound, a slender hand landed on Mari's shoulder.
The white-haired Succubus jolted, and an involuntary shiver ran through her body.
"In broad daylight? Sneaking into a companion's private thoughts? What kind of behavior is that?!"
Samael snorted and patted Mari's shoulder while rebuking her with righteous indignation.
Uh...
The unscrupulous instigator whose scheme had just fallen apart stood there dumbfounded.
...
Night fell.
The moon hung high overhead, and all was silent.
"They're all completely asleep?"
"Definitely!"
"You're sure?"
"Relax. Sensing dreams is one of my specialties!"
"Then... let's begin."
Two shadows silently lurking along the corridor whispered to each other.
They carefully avoided the numerous warning spells arranged throughout the area and stealthily crept toward the door of the most secluded room.
Under the cold moonlight, their identities were revealed.
Samael and Mari.
Entering someone's dream during the day would have been too risky and looked terrible besides.
So naturally, doing it at night was much safer.
"Mari, is this method of yours actually reliable? I'm warning you, don't screw me over. You know what'll happen if you do."
Samael remained deeply wary of his thoroughly unreliable ally and could not resist questioning and threatening her one more time.
"Of course it is! Dream intrusion is Big Sister's specialty! Besides, we've already come this far. Don't tell me you're thinking of backing out now?"
Outside the door, the white-haired Succubus proudly patted her chest while crouching down and fiddling with the lock.
"All right. We're in."
As she spoke, Mari gave her hand a quick twist.
Using shapeshifting Mana, she skillfully picked the lock without damaging the warning Magecraft behind the door or disturbing the sleeping occupant inside.
She really knows what she's doing!
Samael was genuinely impressed by Mari's lock-picking skills.
Even so, he cautiously motioned for her to go first and trigger any traps along the way.
The Ancient Serpent himself crept shamelessly behind the Grand Sage, his malicious gaze fixed on her exposed back and slender neck, every muscle held ready.
If Morgan suddenly woke up, then as Mari's brave and righteous companion, Samael could immediately subdue the "night intruder" Mari.
That would conveniently let him shift all the blame onto her while taking credit for stopping the crime.
There was no helping it.
Sneaking into a woman's bedroom in the middle of the night was the sort of thing that became impossible to explain once discovered.
So since this was your idea, if something goes wrong, I'll have to trouble you to sacrifice yourself.
With absolutely no sense of loyalty toward his ally, Samael was already planning how to sell Mari out if the worst happened.
The waves of malice unconsciously radiating from behind made Mari shudder as she walked ahead.
Fortunately, a Succubus truly was a species born alongside dreams.
That night, aside from Samael and Mari, everyone had unknowingly fallen into an unusually deep sleep.
Morgan was no exception.
But the sleeping Witch was curled tightly into herself, wrapped up like a cocoon with no sense of security whatsoever.
Her brow was deeply furrowed.
Fine beads of cold sweat covered her forehead.
She seemed trapped in a terrible nightmare.
...
Run!
Run!
Within a dark forest shrouded in hazy mist, the silver-haired Witch wore a veil and traveling cloak as she rode a warhorse at full speed.
She leaned tensely against the horse's back and urged it desperately onward.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Sharp whistles came from behind her, dense as falling rain.
Fortunately, the tangled branches of the thick forest blocked most of the arrows.
Feathered shafts buried themselves in ancient trees along the way, blasting wood chips into the air with dull thuds.
A few arrows slipped through the obstacles and nearly tore through the thin armor beneath Morgan's clothing, skimming past her skin closely enough to leave behind a bone-deep chill.
But luck could not protect the fugitive forever.
Thud! Thud!
As the trees gradually thinned, two powerful arrows struck with terrifying speed, one piercing the warhorse's hind leg and the other its flank.
Crash!
The galloping horse immediately lost its footing and tumbled violently to the ground.
Dust erupted into the air, scattering dead leaves everywhere.
The impact twisted and broke its front legs.
Blood poured freely from the wounds.
Its whinnies grew weaker and weaker as pink, blood-flecked foam spilled from its mouth.
One of the arrows had clearly pierced a lung.
But the horse's rider had no time to worry about that.
More urgently, the fallen warhorse had landed directly on one of Morgan's legs.
The intense pain brought cold sweat pouring from her forehead.
And as if matters were not already bad enough, the sound of approaching hooves grew steadily clearer from every direction, accompanied by cruel shouts.
"Brothers! That girl can't run anymore! Catch her, and we can enjoy some royal treatment from the princess ourselves!"
"Do whatever you want, but remember, keep her alive!"
"Exactly! King Uther's only daughter will fetch a fortune!"
Dozens of Knights in black cloaks, their faces hidden from view, lowered their bows and drew their swords as they closed in from every direction with vicious smiles.
Seeing the shadowy figures approaching with obvious ill intent, Morgan clenched her teeth.
Still pinned beneath the warhorse, she dipped her fingertips into her own blood.
While rapidly chanting Divine Words, she began tracing Ogham runes across the ground.
"Earth and stone are my flesh, water is my blood, trees are my fortress. Through inherited Mystery, I summon the wisdom of antiquity. Answer my call and awaken from your slumber. Descend, Guardian of the Earth!"
The instant the final stroke was completed, the blood-red Magecraft array erupted with light.
Like living veins, its patterns spread rapidly in every direction.
Rumble...
The earth roared and trembled.
A colossal creature seven or eight meters tall crawled from a fissure in the ground.
Its body was formed entirely of stone, with patches of green vegetation growing atop its head and around its joints.
The towering monster positioned itself before its summoner.
Then it raised one hand.
Stone gathered into a sword nearly three meters long.
The Guardian of the Earth swung its arm and swept the weapon through the approaching pursuers.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Several Knights at the front, riders and horses alike, were violently smashed away.
Every bone in their bodies shattered.
When they struck the ground, they were reduced to mangled piles of flesh.
Realizing they could not force their way through head-on, the black-clad riders turned vicious.
They immediately drew armor-breaking blunt weapons and relied on their excellent horsemanship to circle around from both sides.
Then they began hacking and smashing wildly at the stone giant's joints.
But the monster did not move an inch.
It raised one enormous foot and kicked forward, trampling through men and horses alike.
Bodies flew everywhere as it forced open a path of flesh through the surrounding forest of weapons.
"Damn it! We can't get through!"
"Shit! How does that woman still have Mana left?!"
"Don't rush! Fall back first! She can't maintain this for long!"
A third of the black-clad Knights had already been lost.
Seeing the blood and mangled flesh scattered everywhere, the survivors began losing their nerve.
Amid chaotic shouts, they turned their horses around and retreated.
Sure enough, the Guardian of the Earth was limited by both its distance from its master and Morgan's Mana supply.
Its effective range extended only around a hundred meters.
More insidiously, the pursuing Knights who retreated beyond that distance continued harassing her with arrows.
With no other choice, Morgan ordered the Guardian of the Earth to return and protect her, then remove the warhorse pinning her down.
Arrows rang sharply against stone.
The Guardian crouched low, shielding its master completely as it carried her beneath a large tree and placed her in a blind spot protected by the trunk.
But the moment her body moved, excruciating pain shot through the right leg that had been trapped beneath the horse.
It was probably broken...
Morgan clenched a stick between her teeth.
Gritting down against the pain, she placed both hands around the fractured bone.
Relying on touch and sheer willpower, she forcibly aligned the broken ends herself.
Then she squeezed the last remnants of Mana from her nearly empty body and barely managed to heal the injury.
By the time she finished, she was drenched in sweat, as though she had been pulled straight from the water.
Without Mana to sustain it, the Guardian of the Earth began to collapse.
Its towering body broke apart and scattered into ordinary earth and stone.
"Ugh!"
The backlash struck Morgan immediately.
She coughed up a mouthful of dark blood.
Her already pale face became almost completely colorless, while wave after wave of dizziness battered her mind.
I can't sleep...
I can't sleep!
Hearing faint rustling gradually approaching from every direction, Morgan raised a trembling hand and slapped herself across the cheek, desperately forcing away the drowsiness.
But when she looked around, the situation was hopeless.
The Guardian of the Earth had already fallen apart.
The dying warhorse exposed outside had long since been riddled with stray arrows until it resembled a pincushion.
And although Morgan's fractured right leg had only just healed, it was nowhere near ready for strenuous movement.
At this point, even running away had become a luxury.
Is this really where it ends?
Despair briefly surfaced on the Witch's face.
Then determination returned.
Morgan bit down hard on the tip of her tongue, using the pain to force herself awake again.
***
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