A few hours later, Souei suddenly appeared before Arthur.
"I bring my report. A group of Lizardmen has engaged the Orc army in direct combat. However… the situation is extremely unfavorable for them."
Arthur frowned.
"What happened?"
Souei replied immediately:
"It seems there was an internal coup among the Lizardmen. Their newly appointed leader took the initiative to confront the Orcs head-on."
"Clearly a fool…" Arthur murmured.
Noticing the strange expression on Souei's face, Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Is there anything else to report?"
"During my investigation," Souei continued, "I detected the presence of someone wearing white clothes and a mask…"
Arthur narrowed his eyes.
Could it be the mastermind behind all this chaos? Gelmud?
Arthur had already mentioned that name and his approximate appearance to Souei before.
"Gelmud won't be a big deal," Arthur said calmly. "Souei, just keep an eye on him."
Souei slowly shook his head.
"Based on your description, Gelmud is a Majin wearing a crow mask and is male."
He paused.
"But what I saw… was a woman."
"What?" Arthur asked, clearly surprised. "A woman wearing a mask?"
An idea began to take shape in his mind.
"What did her mask look like?" he asked.
"It was round, light-colored, with several dark markings scattered across the surface. There was a small red dot in the center that stood out quite a bit."
Could it be…
The image of a certain kind-hearted woman passed through Arthur's mind.
"Where did you see her?" he asked.
"Not far from the Lizardmen's territory. I observed her for some time," Souei replied.
Arthur lightly scratched his chin.
After a few moments of silence, he stood up and left the tent.
"Benimaru, Souei, Shuna, Shion, Hakurou, Angélica, Gobuta…" Arthur called out with a faint smile.
"Follow me. We're going to hunt some pigs."
Everyone he named—except Souei—looked visibly surprised by the sudden order.
Even so, none of them hesitated.
"Yes!"
---xXx---
The Great Marsh where the Lizardmen lived had become a true scene of tragedy.
Provoked by the poisonous words of the clown Laplace, Gabiru had committed the greatest mistake of his life: he usurped the throne, imprisoned his own father, and assumed the role of leader, firmly believing he was destined for greatness.
Convinced of his own importance, Gabiru gathered the Lizardmen under his command along with a group of goblins he had previously recruited, and confidently marched into the marsh to confront the Orc army.
At first, everything seemed to work.
Familiarity with the terrain, the muddy waters, and hidden paths gave the Lizardmen a temporary advantage. The Orcs—heavy and numerous—struggled to advance, and Gabiru even began to believe that this battle would carve his name into history.
But reality was cruel.
Under the unique skill of the Orc Lord, [Starved], the Orcs were not merely fighting—they were evolving.
By devouring corpses, their bodies transformed, growing stronger with every bite.
After consuming fallen Lizardmen, the Orcs began developing tough scales and webbed feet, completely nullifying the Lizardmen's natural advantage in the swamp.
What had once been favorable terrain turned into a shared hell.
Even so, drunk on his own arrogance and relying on the fact that he was a named monster, Gabiru made a reckless decision: he planned to face the so-called "Orc Lord" in a one-on-one battle.
The result was humiliating.
He couldn't defeat even a single Orc general.
His body was thrown into the mud, injured and exhausted, his breathing heavy and uneven.
"Are you alright, Gabiru?"
Several Lizardmen rushed to his side, helping him up before the Orcs could reach him.
Gabiru's face was dark, filled with fear, frustration, and regret. If not for the masked girl who, all by herself, was holding back part of the Orc army…
By now, he and his subordinates would already be dead.
He knew he had made a terrible mistake.
He knew he had doomed his people.
But he also knew it was already too late to turn things around.
Only one option remained.
To use his life to carve out a path for his subordinates to escape.
Clenching his teeth, Gabiru raised his trident. His body trembled, but his voice was firm.
"I'll cover your retreat… run!"
"Gabiru!"
The Lizardmen who followed him were loyal. Even in despair, they refused to abandon Gabiru and flee on their own.
Instead, they advanced alongside him.
It had to be said: although Gabiru was foolish, immature, and easily manipulated, he genuinely cared about his subordinates. And they knew it.
"Vortex Crash!"
Gabiru swung the trident with all his strength, spinning it in a wide arc.
The explosion of water and mud was impressive.
But it was still not enough.
The Orc Lord's army was incredibly organized… and overwhelmingly numerous.
And it wasn't only Gabiru who was being pushed back.
Even the masked girl—who fought like a walking disaster—was beginning to show clear signs of exhaustion.
She was surrounded by flames.
Each swing of her sword was accompanied by fiery explosions, engulfing dozens of Orcs at once and reducing them to charred ash.
Even so, they kept coming.
The Orcs knew no fear, did not retreat, and did not hesitate.
She was no longer fighting with strategy or purpose.
She was fighting purely on instinct—to survive.
And why?
She should have retired long ago.
Moreover, those victims were Lizardmen—creatures with whom she had no ties, obligations, or reasons to protect.
And yet…
Having arrived in that forest and witnessed the tragedy with her own eyes, she chose to fight.
For someone who had earned the title "Conqueror of Flames," perhaps dying in battle was simply her inevitable fate.
She fought.
And fought.
And kept fighting—without pause, without rest.
Until her consciousness began to unravel.
As her magical power was gradually depleted, it became increasingly difficult to suppress the fire spirit Ifrit residing within her.
Crack.
A fracture appeared in her mask.
The next instant, the violent flames of Ifrit burst uncontrollably from her body.
She knew—this was the end.
In those final moments, her thoughts turned to the Demon Lord Leon Cromwell, who had summoned her to this world.
She remembered the heroine who had saved her from the Demon Lord's castle… only to vanish without leaving a trace.
And above all, she remembered the last words spoken to her—words that had haunted her for decades.
"Never go to the Forest of Jura in July."
She had obeyed that warning for countless years.
But on the brink of death, she could not resist the desire to finally visit the Great Forest of Jura.
As she charged forward in a frenzy, her mask finally shattered completely, releasing all of Ifrit's power.
---xXx---
In the Forest of Jura.
Gelmud watched everything through a crystal ball, his eyes shining with sick excitement.
"Fascinating… truly fascinating!"
But as he reveled in the chaos of his own creation, both he and the clown Laplace were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a new group on the battlefield.
Wherever that group passed, the Orcs were instantly reduced to dust, as if they had never existed.
Not even the Orcs surrounding the masked woman were spared.
At the same time, Gabiru and the surviving Lizardmen and goblins—mere seconds away from being torn apart—were saved.
"What… happened?"
Gabiru and the survivors stared in disbelief at their saviors.
It was a group led by a blond man wearing golden armor that gleamed even amid smoke and flames.
And it wasn't just the others who noticed his presence.
Even the masked woman—whose mind had been almost completely corrupted by Ifrit—regained a thread of consciousness.
The blond man turned his gaze toward Ifrit, who was still controlling her body.
His cold eyes sent a chill down the fire spirit's spine.
The fire spirit saw him say something, and even without hearing the words, Ifrit read his lips.
"Return her body."
A shiver ran through the fire spirit, forcing him to immediately relinquish control of the woman's body.
He didn't know why he had done it—much less why he had felt fear.
"Who…?" the woman murmured as she felt her body returning to normal.
She tried to stand, but her body was far too weak to obey.
Before she could fall, the blond man vanished from where he stood.
In the next instant, he appeared beside her, gently catching her and preventing her from touching the ground.
He smiled softly.
"Sleep. You're very tired, Shizu."
As he spoke, he cast a brief glance at Shuna.
She understood immediately.
Using magic, Shuna put her into a deep, peaceful sleep.
As for Ifrit…
He would deal with that fire spirit once he was done handling everything here.
---
(End of the chapter)