Chapter 45: She’s playing hero.  

“Count Roya!”    

At the familiar voice of the princess, the count reacted immediately. 

Wiping blood from his eyes, he scanned the surroundings and, upon spotting Sercia, cheered.  

“Princess! Everyone, listen! Princess Sercia has arrived!”  

Her loud cry shifted the soldiers’ gazes.  

The princess, tasked with pursuing the mother monster, had returned, signaling the arrival of other supreme-rank fighters.  

“Waaa—!”  

A surge of morale erupted into wild cheers.  

Amid the fervor, Rita followed a white cloak.  

In the chaotic battlefield, she saw mages standing back-to-back with holy knights.  

Thankfully, Talos, the Mage Tower Master, was there, fighting monsters alongside a few elders.  

But their movements weren’t aggressive.  

At least, not in Rita’s eyes.  

His left hand keeps lingering near his waist. 

‘Planning to escape with a return stone if things go south?’

Talos always kept a return stone in his pocket.  

In her past life, Rita had seen his poised stance as dignified; now, it seemed despicable.  

‘Just how low could this man sink?’

Rita shot him a disgusted look before turning away.  

“Blena, Seth. I need your help.”  

As Rita drove her staff into the ground, Seth’s eye twitched.  

He seemed to grasp what she was planning.  

“Are you insane? Even with your mana, your mental stamina won’t hold. You want to collapse here?”  

Rita swallowed a bitter smile.  

To hear concern in his curt voice was unexpected. 

Slowly, he was resembling the Seth she last knew.  

“It’s fine. Satan might show up, so we need to clear these monsters first.”  

“Rita!”  

Blena voiced her worry too, but Rita’s deep golden eyes hid her pain, stubborn as ever.  

Unable to dissuade her, Blena and Seth sighed softly.  

Naturally, Rita took their sighs as agreement.  

“I need you two to slow the monsters’ movements so I can pinpoint their locations as precisely as possible.”  

“I-I’ll help too!”  

Alois, who had been cowering in the chaotic scene, suddenly piped up.  

Rita stared at him, then reluctantly nodded.  

“Rita, are you really okay?”  

“I’m fine, Blena. There’s no time, so hurry.”  

Though anxious, Blena thrust her staff forward.  

“Blossoming Snowflakes.”  

Countless tiny water droplets formed in the frigid air.  

Swaying as if floating on water, they rose high and turned into snowflakes, falling rapidly.  

Monsters touched by the artificial snow slowed slightly.  

Confirming this, Rita drove her staff into the ground again. 

As before, she channeled mana to locate the scattered monsters.  

“Ugh…”  

Tracking over a hundred monsters was grueling.  

The flood of positional data made her head throb, blood rushing to her brain.  

That pain manifested as blood streaming from her nose. 

Yet Rita focused without showing it.  

“That idiot…”  

Biting his lip, Seth cast the same spell as Blena. 

Alois joined in, and the falling snow became a blizzard.  

Soldiers fighting across the battlefield, unaware of the plan, were startled by the swirling snowstorm.  

***

The golden threads spreading beneath their feet also drew their attention.  

The commotion reached Talos.  

The mages, relieved by the arrival of Rita and the supreme-ranks, held their breath at the immense mana shaking nature itself.  

“Rita?”  

Realizing it was her doing, Talos’s eyes wavered. 

As the Mage Tower Master, he could guess her intent.  

But the sheer scale of the spell was staggering.  

Even for a supreme-rank mage, such a large attack range was impossible for a human’s mental stamina.  

Even accounting for Rita’s genius, she could at best take down a dozen monsters in this chaotic battlefield mixed with allies.  

Clicking his tongue, Talos reflected.  

He recalled a filthy street child he’d met by chance, surviving by scavenging scraps yet possessing and sensing mana—a remarkably gifted child.  

That brilliance had caught his eye.  

Back then, Talos was building his reputation as a man of great character.  

He took Rita as his disciple, intending to teach her the basics and release her into the world.  

That alone would have earned him praise as a noble figure.  

But Rita’s talent far exceeded his expectations.  

With insatiable curiosity, she absorbed tenfold what he taught, surpassing her peers as she grew.  

Talos, who had lived most of his life as a mage, soon realized she would outshine him.  

That wasn’t what he wanted.  

Two genius mages in the same era?  

As the Mage Tower Master, revered as a rare genius in its history, Talos found that future unpalatable.  

To secure his position, he manipulated Rita’s loyalty.  

As an orphan, she felt deep gratitude toward him for taking her in, showing blind trust at the slightest kindness.  

Talos used that loyalty to bind her to his shadow.  

To dim her brilliance, he assigned her to a research group far from study, piling on trivial tasks to leave her no time to learn.  

Yet Rita remained the Mage Tower’s top young mage.  

As she grew and her talent shone brighter, Talos grew anxious.  

Then Rita changed.  

Her once hollow, ashen eyes, which had only looked to him, began to burn with cold fury, meeting his gaze head-on.  

Talos was certain she had realized something.  

Unsure how to handle her transformation, he watched with a smile, only for Rita to abruptly leave the Mage Tower.  

It felt like a nagging tooth had finally been pulled.  

For a while, he lived freely.  

But with dark currents spreading across the continent, Rita returned as a supreme-rank mage and the oracle’s chosen.  

This prodigious disciple, who had suddenly reached supreme rank and become the oracle’s hero, was now brazenly attempting to take down a dozen monsters.  

Talos sneered inwardly, dismissing it as arrogant bravado.  

Of course, he kept his kind smile outwardly.  

“She’s become supreme-rank, gained high status, and now she’s playing hero.”  

Elder Torgo voiced Talos’s inner thoughts.  

Talos smiled awkwardly, secretly relieved.  

Torgo had flaws in character, which was exactly why Talos kept him close.  

“She must have her reasons. Let’s focus on our tasks,” 

Talos said, masking his vile thoughts with feigned nobility.  

***

“Surging Frost.”  

Rita’s spell fully manifested.  

The golden light staining the ground turned blinding white, sprouting sharp thorn pillars.  

Monsters slowed by Blena, Seth, and Alois’s snowflakes were pierced from foot to head by reverse icicles, frozen in place.  

Their vital points varied, so most didn’t die instantly, but it was an impressive seal nonetheless.  

“Now’s our chance! Finish them!”  

Soldiers, startled by the sudden shift, realized Rita’s intent and charged with roars.  

The faltering tide reversed instantly.  

“No way…”  

Even amidst budding hope, the Mage Tower mages were stunned.  

Rita’s spell had spawned over a hundred reverse icicles, crushing the lizards that nearly breached the defensive line.  

“If we become supreme-ranks, can we cast spells like that…?”  

Young mages, awestruck by the miracle, grew excited.  

In the crucible of that excitement, Talos stood silent, frozen.  

He had expected Rita’s spell to fail, yet it succeeded miraculously, worthy of being etched in Mage Tower history.  

“Good heavens, how is she still standing?”  

As Torgo exclaimed, Rita hadn’t even collapsed.  

It was almost unbelievable that a human’s mental stamina could endure this.  

Even the supreme-ranks, witnessing her perform another massive area-of-effect spell, were speechless.  

Eugène now saw Rita as a monster scarier than the creatures they fought.  

“I’m no expert in magic, but isn’t this near-impossible?”  

“Yes, it’s truly a miraculous salvation,” 

Mikael replied, overjoyed, now viewing Rita as near-divine.  

***

Meanwhile, Rita, basking in everyone’s awe, finally ended her spell.  

Her hands, gripping the staff, had long lost strength.  

As she stumbled forward, Seth, on her right, quickly caught and supported her.  

“Rita! Stay with me!”  

Seth hurriedly patted her cheek.  

Not yet unconscious, Rita groaned under the onslaught of headaches and dizziness.  

Barely opening her eyes, her vision spun.  

With the situation now favoring her allies, she closed her eyes again to rest briefly.  

‘If I did this three times, I might actually die.But maybe I’d get used to it after a few tries…’

Despite her pale face and streaming nosebleed, Rita fixated on the potential of her main spell.  

“Enough, just stay quiet.”  

Seth’s gruff voice hid concern and care.  

Though Kerman’s death seemed to have triggered it, Seth had definitely changed.  

Rita smiled inwardly, feeling like she was seeing the Seth she last knew in her past life.  

The battlefield, thanks to her spell, had tilted in their favor.  

The near-dead allies rallied, and the shaky defensive line solidified.  

Soon, the monsters, overwhelmed, began retreating one by one.  

As more fled, everyone cheered in joy.  

“It’s wrapping up, so let’s move.”  

Talos and the elders, snapping out of their daze, headed toward Rita.  

Having endured this much, they planned to use her injuries as an excuse to return to the base.  

While scheming, Elder Torgo glared at Rita with displeasure.  

“This is a problem. Rita’s status keeps rising…”  

“Don’t be so harsh. She’s contributing greatly, isn’t she?”  

“Talos, you’re too soft. Don’t you know when that arrogant disciple might turn on you? Didn’t you see her threaten us with the pretext of a public seat?”  

“She wasn’t like that before… Anyway, you should deal with her before she takes over the Mage Tower…”  

At Torgo’s venomous gossip, Talos feigned a pained smile, playing the kind mentor.  

But inside, he was brimming with satisfaction.  

As Torgo said, Rita’s growing influence made her untouchable, even for the Mage Tower Master.  

Slandering her through others eased his mind.  

“Save me!”  

Talos, swallowing a sneer, heard a desperate scream.  

Torgo froze, eyes wide.  

A sudden scream in a nearly concluded battle? 

Others, hearing it, scanned the surroundings.  

The screams continued, coming from ahead, near the forest’s edge.  

“No way, another adult monster…?”  

“Aaagh!”  

Before the words finished, the screams grew closer.  

Soldiers began running from the front, faces filled with terror.  

Sercia, exchanging a glance with Count Roya, hurried forward.  

The field, cleared of panicked soldiers, was empty, save for a faint scream echoing like a wail.  

“Wait!”  

Sercia suddenly raised her hand, halting those behind her, and stared into the dark forest.  

The screams had stopped, replaced by heavy footsteps.  

Narrowing her eyes, Sercia raised her sword in preparation.  

Then, something flew from the forest and landed on the ground.  

“This is…”  

It was a soldier’s head, neck bone exposed, frozen in a screaming expression, eyes unclosed.