A few seconds later.

“Heh heh~. This one looks tiny—could it be a dwarf?”

“Who cares if it’s a dwarf or not? Anyone who crosses our path has to pay a toll.”

Splash. Splash……

The sound of numerous footsteps sloshing through puddles echoed around her.

She turned her gaze away from the forest, shifting it to the right.

There, a group of men with malicious grins appeared before her, quickly surrounding her in a tight circle.

“I see……”

She seemed to understand what was happening,

her voice cool and detached.

“So you’re the so-called bandits?”

“Huh? That voice—Boss! It’s a woman! This one’s a woman!”

One of the bandits shouted in excitement, his eyes lighting up with greed.

“Shut up, you useless fool! Never seen a woman before?”

The bandit leader snapped at him, though his own eyes glinted with the same avarice.

At that moment, the hooded figure lifted her head. Strands of golden hair glowed faintly under the dim light of the rain-soaked night. A delicate, flawless face was revealed, adorned with heterochromatic eyes—one purple, one blue—like two exquisite gemstones embedded in porcelain skin.

For a heartbeat, every single bandit froze,

their eyes fixed on that face in dumbfounded awe.

“Boss…… She’s a knockout! I’ve never seen anyone this beautiful in my life!”

“……”

The bandit leader, who had just scolded his subordinate for being shameless, fell silent. He too was completely captivated by her ethereal appearance.

“Sigh……”

The girl let out a soft sigh,

a note of disappointment in her voice.

“I never thought that as a high-ranking general of the Demon Race, there would come a day when even the lowliest bandits would dare to block my path.”

“Huh? What’s she rambling about?”

The bandits exchanged confused glances, scratching their heads in bewilderment.

“Must’ve been scared out of her wits.”

“Who cares? Selling a prize like this would set us up for life!”

The bandits didn’t grasp the meaning behind her words. Their minds were already clouded by the thrill of impending wealth, and they could barely contain their eagerness to grab her.

“Truly nothing but the lowest of the low……”

The girl said coldly, then slowly raised her right hand.

“I decree——”

“You shall be consumed by pitch-black flames, and burn away in endless agony.”

“Heh heh, little lady, save the nonsense for later.” One of the bandits stepped toward her, leering. “Come have some fun with your uncles——AH!!!”

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Before he could finish his sentence, pitch-black flames suddenly erupted all over his body. Wrapped in the searing fire, he let out a bloodcurdling scream of agony.

The sudden turn of events hit the bandits like a sledgehammer to the skull.

They stared in stunned silence as their companion was reduced to ashes before their eyes, a cold chill creeping down their spines.

After a brief moment of frozen shock,

“Eep! Eep!”

One of them tripped over his own feet, scrambling through the mud in a desperate attempt to escape.

“AH——!!!”

But he didn’t even make it a single step before the pitch-black flames engulfed him too.

The second bloodcurdling scream finally snapped the others out of their daze.

“Run! Run for it…… AH!!!”

“H-help…… AH!!!”

“Spare me! Please spare me——AH!!!”

They fled in terror, begging for mercy, but one by one, they were all ruthlessly consumed by the pitch-black flames.

In mere seconds, cries of despair echoed through the rainy night, one after another.

After a while, the last scream faded away, and the bandits were gone without a trace.

Just as the girl had decreed, every single bandit had been incinerated to nothing but piles of black ash by the pitch-black flames.

Whoosh——!

A night wind mixed with raindrops gusted past, scattering the black ash across the muddy road, where it blended with the wet earth, vanishing completely.

“Well, dealing with weaklings like that barely drained any of my power.”

She lowered her right hand, glanced once more at the forest to the left, then lifted her feet, intending to continue on her way.

Splash!

The sound of a footstep sloshing through water rang out on the road behind her, before she could take a single step forward.

She frowned, a flicker of irritation crossing her purple eye.

“You humans really are persistent……”

She turned around, her voice cold as she addressed the figure chasing after her.

Splash!

The boy came to a halt. Under the faint glow of the rain, his tattered clothes and gaunt, haggard face were revealed.

“Give…… Alice…… back to me!”

The boy shouted, his voice hoarse and cracked with exhaustion.

“……”

“Tch!”

Alice clamped a hand over her blue eye, clicking her tongue in annoyance, her expression growing increasingly agitated.

“Dammit! You annoying pest…… Ugh, seriously! You’re so annoying——!”

She roared at Arthur, her voice filled with frustration.

“What is wrong with you, you stupid human?! Ever since that lakeside, you’ve been like this! Any normal person would’ve stood there dumbfounded, or gone to find help! So why?! Why did you chase after me immediately, you idiot?! Can’t you understand the gap in our power?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!”

“And you just keep chasing! Chasing and chasing and chasing this whole time! I’ve shaken you off so many times! How do you keep finding me?! What kind of sense of smell do you have, anyway?! Are you even human anymore?!!”

“……”

After her outburst, a tense silence fell between them.

Arthur stared at Alice with his usual dull yet unyielding gaze, his eyes burning with stubborn resolve.

CRACK!

A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the darkness for a split second.

Then—

Crash!

A downpour erupted, the rain pouring down in sheets.

The two figures standing on the muddy road were quickly soaked to the bone.

“……”

Splash!

A clear footstep sloshed through the puddles, cutting through the roar of the rain.

Arthur slowly parted his lips, his voice barely audible above the storm.

“Give…… Alice…… back to me…… Give her…… back……”

He mumbled the words over and over, his unsteady form stumbling toward Alice.

“……”

Alice fell completely silent, her purple eye watching the approaching Arthur coldly through the curtain of rain.

“……You human!”

She ground out the words through clenched teeth,

“Do you really think I have no way of dealing with you?!!”

She held out a hand, pointing toward the forest on the left.

Pfft——!

A wave of black energy rippled outward, spreading across the entire forest.

Almost instantly—

Grrrrr~!

Low, menacing growls echoed through the trees, and pairs of glowing eyes emerged from the shadows of the forest.

ROAR!

With a fierce snarl, a demon wolf burst out of the woods, its fangs bared.

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR……

Then a second one, a third one……

In the blink of an eye, a pack of demon wolves surrounded the two figures on the road, their eyes glowing hungrily in the dark.

Splash!

Arthur finally came to a stop.

The rain poured down on him, washing away the dried blood and grime that had clung to his body these past few days, and gradually rinsing the dark, caked blood from the sword in his hand.

The ground at his feet slowly turned red, and the sword’s sharp edge glinted once more, restored to its former brilliance.

Whoosh!

A pair of jet-black wings sprouted from Alice’s back.

She rose slowly into the air.

“Human! Stay here and die like the fool you are!”

With that, she flapped her wings and flew away into the distance.

As she flew, she suddenly clamped a hand over her blue eye, a look of conflict crossing her face.

“Be quiet! I only ordered those wolves to attack anyone they see—I didn’t specifically target him! Hmph. Whether he lives or dies is up to him!”

“……Hmph! Don’t get your hopes up! I’m not going to save him!”

Whoosh! Whoosh……

The sound of her flapping wings faded into the distance, and Alice’s figure vanished completely into the rain curtain.

On the muddy road below—

Awooo!

A brutal battle erupted beneath the dark, rainy night sky.

……

……

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep