Roxy woke up in the dim ruins, keenly aware of the sound of monsters squirming in the darkness, and immediately gripped her staff.
She looked around, surrounded by a dark and narrow environment.
After passing through the transfer magic circle for who knows how many times, the place she finally arrived at was such a completely enclosed and narrow dead end.
The height was very low, the width was extremely narrow, and the area was only large enough for one or two people to lie down.
Roxy even felt that she couldn't stretch her limbs here very much.
If she hadn't always been very concerned about her shorter-than-average height, she probably wouldn't even be able to perform combat movements.
On the contrary, insects, spiders, and other monsters could easily move through this narrow area, attacking and moving with ease, even swarming together and rushing towards Roxy's direction one after another.
Fortunately, the narrow road also meant that magic could unleash enormous power in this environment.
Roxy first used earth magic to block the road, and then used water magic to freeze the ground, finally stalling the monsters' actions.
But her magic power was limited, and the number of monsters seemed endless.
Death was an inescapable fate for her.
Looking back, Roxy felt helpless about her bad luck.
Almost a month ago, when she and Paul and others were exploring the maze, she took a step back to avoid a flying attack, but accidentally tripped over a stone, stumbled, and stepped on a transfer magic circle, forced to separate from the main group, unable to reunite, and even unable to find a way out.
It could be said that everything was too coincidental, and she wouldn't have fallen into this desperate situation if any step was missing.
But whether it was a coincidence or inevitable, Roxy was now in such a difficult situation.
Fortunately, her magic level was quite excellent. As a Water King-level magician, coupled with the ability to shorten chanting that she had specially honed to compete with her disciples, she could cast magic faster than ordinary magicians, and she therefore successfully annihilated batch after batch of monsters.
However, although she could eliminate her opponents, the overly complex structure of the transfer maze still made it impossible for her to escape, and she could only watch as monsters appeared one after another.
The monsters in this maze clearly knew where each transfer magic circle led to.
After all, this was the monsters' nest, a trap they used to prey on pitiful victims.
As an intruder, Roxy was like a moth caught in a spider web, destined to be eaten until nothing remained.
Gradually, even Roxy began to give up. She could certainly defeat the monsters, but her magic power was not infinite, and sooner or later she would fall due to exhaustion.
In contrast, the number of enemies never decreased. Even if she destroyed a large number of monsters, more and more monsters still rushed forward one after another.
Roxy had also fantasized about rescue, about someone coming back to save her.
But thinking carefully, given the complex environment of the transfer maze, even if Paul and the others wanted to rescue her, they simply wouldn't know how to start looking.
No one is going to come save me…
After recognizing reality, Roxy suppressed her urge to cry and fought desperately, enduring for a whole month.
During this month, she had survived entirely by eating the corpses of monsters.
She could create water with water magic, so she didn't have to worry about that, but she had no chance to clean her wounds, let alone take a bath or sleep.
Every time she finished eliminating a group of monsters, she would immediately try to restore her magic power, ensuring that she could maintain her combat ability when the next batch of monsters arrived.
Even so, the situation was still getting worse little by little.
Because humans cannot survive on just food and water, Roxy, as a demon race, was slightly stronger than ordinary humans, but she also had her limits.
As time passed, she was almost mentally and physically exhausted, her strength severely depleted in constant battles, and she had even suffered serious injuries and briefly fainted.
Monster meat was also very difficult to eat. Even the food from her Migurd race's hometown was ten thousand times better than the monster meat here. Some monster meat even required her to use detoxification magic on herself in advance before she could barely swallow it.
When another batch of monsters came before her, Roxy was almost ready to give up, even planning to abandon her desire to live and simply welcome death.
But this thought only arose for a moment, and was quickly defeated by the fear of death.
Because she knew that if she died, she would definitely not find her body afterwards, nor would she leave any relics behind.
Her death would leave nothing behind.
It was a true nothingness, a result that was scary enough to make people cry and scream, and that she absolutely refused to accept.
Even though Roxy had witnessed countless deaths since becoming an adventurer, encountering many situations where people died before her eyes, strong warriors being split in half like dry wood by monsters, clever magicians being smashed like tomatoes by monsters, and talented thieves, swift and agile swordsmen… all of these people had lost their lives in front of her.
Therefore, Roxy originally thought that she was prepared to face death, thinking that it would be her turn one day, but when it actually came to her, her heart was completely occupied by fear.
She hadn't achieved any of her goals yet, and there were things she wanted to try, and even dreams she wanted to realize.
Yes, dreams, she had a dream of becoming a teacher.
Ever since meeting Shirou and Rudeus, she had discovered that she liked teaching others. Although she lacked the talent to be a teacher, she still liked teaching others.
So she had originally planned that, after the great transfer incident ended and she successfully rescued Miss Sylphy, she would go to the magic university to take the teaching exam, wanting to become a teacher at the school.
If possible, she also wanted to experience the so-called happiness of ordinary people.
That's right, as long as she became a teacher, she should also have the opportunity to get married, marry a man she liked, live together, and then spend passionate nights together. Although she was a demon race, and her appearance was as small as a child, at least there was still a bit of a chance, right?
"Haha…"
Thinking this far, Roxy couldn't help but laugh at herself.
In this situation, she was truly amazing for still being able to think of those unrealistic dreams.
She was going to die here, and wouldn't have the opportunity to fulfill her dreams, but would disappear meaninglessly like a weed.
At the thought of this, a huge sense of terror suddenly swept over her entire body.
…I don't want to die.
I don't want to die here.
I want to live.
Her heart's resistance to death made Roxy grip the magic wand in her hand, and knowing that death was inevitable, she still desperately squeezed out the last of the magic power in her body and released magic.
"Solemn earth armor surrounds my body—Earth Bastion!"
"Water droplets fall and scatter, covering the world with water—Water Vapor!"
Having completed all the preparations, Roxy faced the endless stream of monsters, decisively waved the magic wand in her hand, and said loudly: "Blue goddess descending from the sky, wave your scepter and freeze the world—Frozen Domain!"
Because they had just been hit by water droplets, the surfaces of the monsters began to freeze rapidly.
In the narrow road, the monsters had almost no way to escape the restrictions of the magic.
Roxy then took this opportunity to release the last of her magic.
"King of Frost, overlord of the vast snowfields. Wrapped in pure white, stealing all heat, King of Zero. King of Ice, who rules over death, shall freeze everything—Ice Lance Blizzard!"
The magic released countless ice lances, attacking in a radial pattern.
The ice lances passed over the frozen enemy vanguard, and continuously hit the other monsters in the rear.
This strike instantly annihilated a large area of monsters.
But before Roxy could breathe a sigh of relief, other monsters poured out of the transfer magic circles one after another, the new monsters stepping over the dead monsters and moving forward, quickly making up for the lost combat power.
In the blink of an eye, the room was filled with monsters again.
Roxy's heart was also completely filled with despair.
She certainly still had a trace of magic power left that she could use to fight, but facing the endless swarm of monsters, she was gradually unable to even muster the courage to resist.
Just reduce the pain of struggling, and just welcome a clean and swift death…
The moment the thought arose, Roxy's movements slowed down.
And in just this moment of gap, the monsters decisively seized the opportunity, and like a tide, rushed towards her. Those insect swarms with hard shells had terrible destructive power. Once a magician like Roxy was approached, it would be almost impossible to make any effective counterattack.
"No… don't…!"
Roxy waved the magic wand in a clumsy manner, her despair reaching its limit, and finally instinctively closed her eyes, and the various scenes of the past floated into her mind.
Among them were happy things, sad things, and even the past events of Buena Village.
If she hadn't gone to Buena Village back then, and hadn't participated in the great transfer incident, wouldn't she have faced such an end?
Roxy's heart instinctively produced this thought.
But she was surprised to find that there was no such regret in her heart, only full of regret for such a pitiful result…
If she had another chance, she would still make the same choice, go to Buena Village, and meet those personable people again.
The moment she thought of this, Roxy was relieved.
Even the fear of death no longer appeared at this moment.
What confused her was that, for some reason, death did not happen after all.
Those monsters that were close at hand should have torn her whole body apart, leaving no remains, but in reality, not even the slightest sound was heard.
Did she die instantly, and was she already dead?
Roxy's heart instinctively produced this thought, and she opened her eyes.
What came into view was a scene that could not be described in words.
A ray of sword light came from a very distant place, but it seemed to arrive nearby in an instant.
"Puchi!"
Accompanied by a crisp sound, all the monsters were frozen in place in an instant.
The moment Roxy opened her eyes, what she witnessed was the scene of countless monsters being torn apart by a single sword.
The monsters' iron-hard shells were like fragile paper in the face of the sharp sword light, and they had no ability to resist at all.
Whether it was a Crimson Spider, a Steel Crawler, or a Mad Skeleton… after a brief pause, their bodies began to collapse from the inside, instantly cut into thousands of pieces by an extremely exaggerated swordsmanship. Roxy even suspected that even the monsters' cores had been completely crushed.
For Roxy, even the most powerful magic she could use could not crush the inner core of a monster to such an extent.
That swordsmanship was probably exaggerated to an unimaginable degree.
Roxy rarely came into contact with powerful swordsmen, but as an adventurer, she had heard rumors of the Sword God Style.
It was said that the sword wielded by a Sword God Style swordsman above the King level was not only so fast that the human eye could not keep up, but the sword energy after the extreme acceleration could easily cut through even steel rocks.
Although Roxy hadn't witnessed the whole process just now, she had almost confirmed that the person who came was definitely a Sword King expert just by seeing this result.
"…Huh?"
But why would a Sword King be here?
Roxy also knew a little about the Sword God Style, and knew that there were less than ten experts above Sword King level in the world today. Aside from the Sword God and the Sword Emperor, there were only two or three people with true Sword King strength.
They were mostly in the Holy Land of Swords, inheriting the Sword God Style, and rarely went out, let alone became adventurers.
The only Sword King who acted as an adventurer was Ghislaine, the former S-class adventurer Black Wolf Sword King.
Could it be that Paul and the others had invited Ghislaine?
Did Ghislaine save her?
The moment this thought arose in Roxy's mind, she quickly denied it, because she had already seen that the figure appearing in front of her was not a female figure, but a young man holding a long sword.
The moment she saw the other party, Roxy's heart beat faster instinctively, and she also heard a thumping sound coming from her chest.
If Roxy didn't quite understand what admiration was like before because of her inexperience, now she completely understood that feeling.
On the other side, Shirou, saw Roxy, he noticed that she was standing still.
He was startled, thinking that she was injured somewhere, so he rushed over as soon as possible and asked anxiously, "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No, no, I'm fine…"
Roxy realized his misunderstanding and quickly responded.
Shirou was relieved.
He then smiled and said, "It was almost too late, luckily the distance between us wasn't far, and I managed to get here in time at full speed. If you had died, Roxy, I would definitely regret it for the rest of my life."
"Eh? You know my name?"
Roxy was stunned, revealing a surprised expression.
Shirou was at a loss for words at this, until he saw his own reflection in the girl's eyes, and realized the reason.
Because too much time had passed, Shirou had long since grown from the boy in Buena Village to a more mature young man than in his previous life.
He was now almost as tall as Servant Emiya.
Roxy naturally couldn't recognize him.
Shirou instinctively wanted to explain but in next moment, Shirou suddenly embraced Roxy.
"Eh? Eh, eh, eh!!!"
Roxy was taken aback.
Most importantly, she remembered that she hadn't taken a bath for more than a month, and she must have smelled terrible. She desperately wanted to push him away, but found that he was holding her shoulders tightly. Not letting go.
Does this strange man have some special fetish? If that's the case, maybe I can accept it…
Roxy had complex thoughts in her mind.
And she soon realized that Shirou didn't suddenly hug her because of some fetish.
The reason he did this was because he was wary of a figure walking out of the darkness.
It was a black-haired young man, who was pushing open a stone wall and walking over.
"Rumble."
Walls that were unknown how thick, were like fragile tiles in his hands, easily torn apart.
At the same time, he also seemed to know what had happened here, and said to Shirou, "Oh my, I never thought that there would be such an excellent hero as you in this world. I just noticed the crisis of this girl, but I didn't have your speed after all. It seems that I am still far from reaching my father's level, and I need to hone myself more in order to become a great hero who can realize all the justice in the world and complete all good deeds."
"You are?"
Shirou looked at the person in confusion, feeling that this black-haired young man gave him a familiar feeling.
The latter did not hesitate at all and immediately replied. "Oh, I haven't reported my name yet, it was rude of me. My name is Alexander Leibach, an adventurer passing by!"
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