Egril Sishet, the Leader of the Grand Fortress of Sishet awoke from a loud bang in the distance, followed by the shaking of the earth at his feet. His blurry consciousness, having just come back to the world, didn’t register the large explosion that happened in the distance. Instead, he was distracted by a sharp pain assaulting his head.

  Ugh… what happened…? His entire body felt sluggish and bruised, even the slightest of movements filled him with pain. Just what could have left him in such a sorry state?—

  And it came back to him.

  A man smiling at him, “Once I’m done with you, I will go inside that fortress, and with every single person; every single inhabitant, I will do this to them.”

  Then leaning to whisper into his ear:

  “I will tell them that it was your failure that led to this outcome.”

  His entire body shook as if a shock of electricity him him. That’s right, an incredibly strong Mage had appeared, and he was going to: He’s going to bury the fortress!

  Instantly, he reached for the flail at his side and cried, “Grant me the strength to defend this fortress!”

  The flail, responding to his will, soon responded. This time, he felt a constant drain of his being as pain shot through his body, and along with it strength surged.

  ‘May your legend be eternal.’

  The voice didn’t even finish echoing inside his mind as he disappeared from the spot and appeared within the walled city, ready to fight for his life. But when he did, he was shocked.

  “... what?”

  Surrounding him were hundreds of demon carcasses, dead and lifeless. Their injuries only present on their throats, all of them were gathered at the main entrance of the fortress, none having it made even close to reaching the first few buildings of the city.

  Not only that but he saw several of his men knocked out cold, the warriors that had been fighting along with him. Except, rather than being in a sorry state they were all neatly arranged and leaning against each other.

  The sight, deeply shocked him to his core. A myriad of questions popped into his mind, but there were no clear answers. Not obvious ones at least.

  Could it be? The image of a group flashed into his mind, the same one he had tried to attack a few days ago.

  “What are ya doing standing around?” a voice echoed behind him.

  Egril spun, and saw a familiar elf with her hands on her hips, evidently glaring at him even if her face was mostly veiled by her black cloak.

  “This is just the first wave, go and fight. Ya think that just because I prevented catastrophe ya can just slack off?” She stepped forward. “If so then I’ll maybe we need to have a serious talk about compensation later?—”

  Egril returned to the frontlines with a Quick Dash before the elf could say anything else. She knew of her foul character and definitely didn’t want to draw her ire.

  However, even if she was like that, one fact remained clear to him.

  As long as she was present, the city would remain safe.

  With that reassurance in his heart, he prepared for the incoming demons.

  * * *

  Amber stared at the black cloud of smoke before her, and she couldn’t help but frown. After all, there had been no notification of the kill. As for why she expected the man to die? Well, during the fight she had realized something that was surprising, that was the effectiveness of the Curse of Eternal Flames and also the liquid Curse of Disintegration.

  The man had near no resistance towards these otherworldly curses, meaning that if hit straight with that the likelihood of death was high. Especially considering he wasn’t a mage specializing in defense but melee combat.

  At least, that was her theory, but it seemed like she was wrong. The man had called in for assistance at the last minute and evidently survived.

  Raising Cursewelder ?— the sword that had been given to her by King Octavius III and the one that had accompanied her for a large part of her journey ?— she prepared herself.

  Her senses were already scanning for the presences of her enemy, but she wasn’t sensing anything. And it wasn’t until she saw a movement on the smoke that she pounced.

  With a use of the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash ?— allowing her to teleport a short distance ?— she appeared and slashed upon her target. But rather than cut anything, she just cut air and dispersed the smoke.

  “Now, now, I think before fighting some introductions are in order, miss. Perhaps there’s been some misunderstanding.”

  A voice called out to her from the spot where she had just been standing. Turning, Amber saw a rather old man in a cloak, he had a neatly trimmed beard and back combed hair, both white as evidence of his age. However, the man exuded no hostility in spite of being obviously being the man’s comrare, evident by holding the mage she had just been trying to kill. A very injured mage may she add.

  And he too was just a bunch of question-marks when it came to Appraisal.

  “Misunderstanding?” Amber raised her brow. “Aren’t you, this man’s companion?”

  She assessed him for a moment before frowning out of disappointment.

  “And a Cursebearer, at that.”

  After all, the other Cursebearer she fought in the past wasn’t particularly effective against her.

  “Indeed, that I am, but I don’t know who you are,” he nodded presenting a gentleman-y demeanor. “Perhaps there’s a middle-ground to be found.”

  At that moment, the mage on his arms immediately raised his head and cried, his entire body bloodied.

  “Mercoth, that’s Am?—”

  The mage’s lips immediately went shut at the wave of the old man’s hand. The old man evidently shook his head before turning back to Amber.

  “As I was saying, since I do not know your identity perhaps there is no reason to fight,” he said simply.

  Amber suddenly remembered something. Hadn’t the Arcane Council issued a kill on sight order on her? Frei had mentioned that shortly after explaining the fate of the Grand Fortress to her.

  So, is he just trying to pretend we have no bad blood? Amber frowned before concluding a very simple and logical thing. This man didn’t want to fight her at all, how damn boring! But she didn’t exactly blame him either.

  “You say there’s no reason, but it is clear to me that it was both of you that brought the demons ot the Grand Fortress.” She shook her head. “That’s plenty of reason, is it not?”

  Now, as for why Amber was dialoguing instead of continuously attacking was two reasons. One, she was curious about this seemingly reasonable member of the Arcane Council, and the other reason was: she was simply thinking of the best way of taking him down along with the Mage.

  “Miss, correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s no real reason for you to protect this fortress,” he said respectfully. “In reality our interests do not conflict.”

  Hearing him, Amber chuckled, “If I were to turn a blind eye to this, it’d be quite bothersome when I’m trying to sleep. That’s enough of a reason, no?”

  Contrary to most high-level people, Amber wasn’t actually that much of an indifferent psychopath. If the news of the capital of the Republic of Mercenaries suffering a large calamity due to her failure to apprehend Oracle had shaken her to that extent, then what would happen if she just let all these innocent people die? The obvious answer was; it was better to just not let the outcome happen at all.

  “Hmm, it seems that further negotiation is not possible.” He sighed. “Very well then, let us meet another time.”

  The man raised his hand channeling a curse, and that’s when Amber acted. Using the Essence Skill, Inexorable Will, she forcefully halted the man’s movements temporarily, and leveraging this extremely small pause she used Inexorable Manipulation, forcefully causing another delay in the man’s curse casting.

  This gap was enough for her to appear and punch the man. A loud shattering sound echoed, along with the old man and the mage being sent flying. But that was enough for Amber, after all, she had only needed that brief moment of contact to trigger her plan.

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  If she herself had struggled to deal with otherworldly curses and had to somehow awaken Curse Resistance in spite of being a Cursebearer with technical curse immunity, then how would someone without the Curse Resistance deal with otherworldly curses? Even if said Cursebearer was almost Level 400, she sincerely doubted it was something one could just shrug off. And especially with a curse that constantly tried to consume, like the Curse of Eternal Flames.

  Which essentially meant, either the man would have to pay a heavy price to flee, or he’d have no choice but to fight her.

  Inwardly praising herself, Amber had already arrived next to the man. Usually, as someone who simply enjoyed pushing her limits, she wasn’t the type of person to create a battle plan. But for someone that clearly intended to avoid her at all costs, it was different.

  After all, Amber couldn’t exactly let some hard earned experience just get away.

  She was in dire need of it!

  Swinging her sword, she easily shattered the curse barrier the man conjured, applying Curse of Disintegration to the edge of Cursewelder even if straining was simply that effective. Having no choice, Mercoth applied some curse towards her weapon, causing it to nearly miss him and only nick his arm.

  “Truly terrifying,” he said as he prepared to use a curse. “But unfortunately, there’s an experience gap between us that?—”

  Amber interrupted him with Inexorable Will and used her already restored skill, along with all the stored damage from Cursed Rage Synergy in her body?—

  “Battery!”

  An explosion of curses engulfed the man along with his companion.

  Purple flames, blue flames, silver flames, darkness, cuts?— all the curses she wielded burst in front of her hand as ruination engulfed the land before her. Given the fact that her body constantly took damage from the Curse of Eternal Flames and the fact that she had previously mastered the Curse of Disintegration, her destructive power was something else.

  Like a wolf sniffing for his pray, she extended all her senses to ambush the two members of the council.

  * * *

  Fuck.

  Mercoth couldn’t help but curse, to think they’d run into the target of the council, and to think her curses would be so powerful. What an awful combination. Initially, he had been far from worried about her, after all, for Cursebearers whoever has the better mastery over curses can essentially guarantee winning the fight. But that didn’t exactly apply when the opposing Cursebearer could just manifest curses that transcended common sense.

  Having used a curse to escape, he redirected all the damage taken to the horde of demons however?— well, he felt close to a hundred Level 200s dying at that moment, essentially crippling their assault to the city. Not like it mattered, because right now he had other things to worry about like…

  He looked at shoulder where black flames were greedily trying to eat him.

  This damned curse she used on him was not only actively hurting him but dispelling it was?— quite fucking hard! Grumbling, Mercoth poured most of his power to dissipate it, leaving only some in place for the diffusing veil he had cast. It was essentially the large presences of curses along a big area, blanketing him, Glam and other things and preventing that wretched woman from finding them, but it was only a temporary solution.

  “Mercoth…” Glam gasped, his condition much worse than earlier. “We must escape…”

  “That’s what I’m trying to do,” he replied with some annoyance. “I wish you had recognized the threat sooner.”

  “She was toying with me…” Glam whispered out of breath. “Holding back when she could’ve crushed me… I don’t understand why her level was so low…”

  “Don’t know, but one thing is clear and that is, she wants both of us dead, which also? means that if one of us can—”

  Glam laughed, “You mean to say that you’ll abandon me if needed, but in nicer words?”

  Mercoth paused for a moment before his expression turned almost distant. “That is indeed the case, you were too full of yourself and now you ought to pay the price.”

  “Pay the price, eh?” the Executioner chuckled. “That makes it sound like it’s my fault even though you could’ve told me I was barking at the wrong tree the entire time. After all, you watched me get beaten and you could perfectly sense that black curse aura of hers.”

  In response, Mercoth said nothing. Glam was a bit too sharp for his liking sometimes.

  “Well it doesn’t matter,” Mercoth started. “For now we should try to?—”

  “No. I know I have no chance of making it out, but you know Mercoth…” Glam glanced at him. “You also have a price to pay.”

  Mercoth felt his heart chill as he felt Glam’s mana stir. He acted, but it was too late. In an instant, the curses shielding them were destroyed by powerful magic. All of them, across hundreds of meters.

  “You little brat?—”

  And blood exploded.

  Mercoth frowned, as he watched a gigantic sword being ripped off Glam’s body with a squelch. He watched as the woman in black aura looked at him, her darkness cloaked figure showing just her pearly whites as she spoke.

  “So, where are you going to run next, I wonder?”

  Mercoth’s expression was dark as he cursed inwardly. He cursed Glam, his parents, his damned grandparents, and he cursed himself for not dumping his ass as soon as the conversation got weird. After all, that man was a damn lunatic that just enjoyed making people suffer, naturally he himself was no excluded.

  Dropping to his knees, Mercoth spoke simply as the woman moved to attack him.

  “I surrender.”

  His quiet declaration came just in time as the sword stopped at his throat.

  “You surrender?” the woman sounded almost confused. “Just like that?”

  Mercoth glared at her. “Do I look like a damn lunatic to you?!”

  “You are an Arcane Council member,” she added as she lowered her sword. “Anyway, try anything funny and your life is forfeit.”

  He swallowed any possible retort he could make and simply accepted her words.

  “Now, command the demons to kill one another,” she said simply.

  Mercoth frowned. “You are severely overestimating how much control I have over those mindless beasts. Glam was the one that performed most of the summonings, and now that you have killed him?—”

  “Alright, I get it. Well, it doesn’t really matter unless you have some demons close to your level at your disposal. Which begs the question?—”

  Mercoh shook his head. “No, such strong demons are hard to summon. Our plan was for my companion and I to be the main strength and use the demons as tools to overwhelm the fortress.”

  “I see, well then, let’s return.”

  Mercoth let out a sigh of relief, but the woman continued, making him tense all over.

  “I’ll have Frei, see how you can be leveraged with the council, and if not well… I’ll just kill you,” she said simply. “Unless you’re willing to thoroughly sell the council out for my benefit, then maybe I can also let you go.”

  Hearing everything his mood plummeted. Wasn’t this a fate worse than death? Judging from how righteous this woman had sounded at the start about wanting to save the fortress he just assumed he’d be taken as a war prisoner or something!

  Him leveraging the council? Yeah right, only if he wanted to die at their hand. Which if he betrayed them would also happen. And if he didn’t do any of the two, he’d also day. No matter what, death was the only outcome.

  Once we meet in hell, I’ll settle our debts… he cursed Glam once more.

  * * *

  Shortly after that, Amber guided the old man from the council, Mercoth, back to the fortress. While she considered making a contract with him to ensure his loyalty, she was actually quite confident in killing him. As for him escaping? It was near impossibility at this point, Frei had tagged his shadow as soon as the two of them entered her range.

  All things considered, things were pretty good. The council’s scheme, as far as this place was concerned, had been foiled. And not only that, but Amber had gotten a much better sense of her power. Turns out, Curse of Disintegration and Curse of Eternal Flames contributed a lot of strength towards Accursed Strength. In fact, they contributed such a ridiculous amount that she had barely had to use Essence during her fight with the council members.

  It was a great sign, but also let Amber feel truly how ridiculously strong she had become and by extension, how ridiculously underleveled she was. At least, her Skills themselves didn’t feel weak or anything, which was simply great.

  And there was also another fact, she had fully mastered the Curse of Eternal Flames which meant she could help the Explosion Mage with her plight.

  All in all, things were looking great.

  Right outside the fortress gates, she made the man slay the few demons that tried to enter. But at the same time it was a one-sided battle for the demons, after all, once their assistants had been taken out of the picture they could do nothing but uselessly die.

  And just like that, the grand crisis had been resolved.

  As for killing the demons herself? Well, turns out killing the Arcane Council member gave a lot more experience than she had expected.

  [You have defeated a [Psychic Mage. Lvl. 382].]

  For defeating an enemy 140 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!

  Like, a lot more than expected.

  [You have reached level 241. 10 stat points awarded.]

  +5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

  …

  [You have reached level 250. 10 stat points awarded.]

  +5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

  After distributing the 100 stat points she obtained between Dexterity and Strength, she smiled given she had just reached an important milestone. And that’s when, Egril, the leader of the fortress approached her with his head bowed in gratitude.

  “Thank you, I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you, if there’s anything?—”

  “It’s okay,” Amber interrupted him. “The Arcane Council has already compensated me quite handsomely.”

  She inwardly noted her level gains before glancing over at the old man at her side who immediately stiffened.

  “Right…” the leader glanced over at the old man before turning back to Amber. “You… are not really a member of the council are you?”

  “Member my ass,” Mercoth scowled.

  Amber chuckled. “It’s complicated.”

  With a smile she gestured towards the old man as she continued:

  “Well, I still have to take care of him, so I’ll get going now?—”

  And Amber paused, feeling a presence appear right behind her. It had basically flashed into existence, similar to Aveline’s Skill. Amber turned, and saw a figure in a pure white cloak, and she was holding a massive scythe bigger than her body. It was evidently a small woman, and her get-up was rather familiar to her for some reason.

  As for her level, well she was a ??? and her level was a ???, much like the enemies she often faced. Essentially trouble.

  However, contrary to expectations, Amber didn’t feel any hostility directed towards her, instead the woman raised her finger and pointed at Mercoth who was clearly despairing upon seeing her.

  “Hand over the demon summoner, so I can cleanse their filth from this world.”

  And that’s when Amber finally realized why it was so familiar.

  This woman is with the Saints of Truth??— Which meant…

  Amber extended her senses further and quickly sensed three figures approaching.

  Actual trouble.