Ed once again blocked an attack with his sword. Although the incoming beam of light veered off course, it still grazed the edge.
The wind shield he had chanted during a lull in the battle finally reached its limit after withstanding this strike, completely dissipating into the air.
“Ed!”
Bailis had been behind him, using wind blades to clear out the demons trying to slip into their defensive circle.
Upon seeing Ed’s spell fail, she immediately shouted anxiously.
“Don’t worry about me! Maintain your magic!” Ed gasped, without turning his head. “Otherwise, if they swarm us, we’re both done for!”
With that, he swung the sword that had grown much heavier once more, slashing out a dimly glowing wind blade that whistled into the demon horde, splattering a burst of glaring blood.
But it was useless; the demons still filled the sky in shadowy masses.
Even if he killed one of them, another would quickly fill the spot, as if they were endless.
Ed even had the illusion that all the demons in the entire royal capital were rushing toward him.
No, that wasn’t an illusion.
He thought of the unmasked greed and fervor in that winged demon’s eyes when it looked at Bailis.
This witch must hold extraordinary significance to the demons.
Taking it to the extreme, this sudden assault might have even been launched to capture her.
Was it because of the “Key of Authority”?
Did the demons want to revive the Demon King?
It wasn’t impossible.
But no matter what, he wouldn’t allow Bailis to fall into the demons’ hands—whether from the perspective of a companion or from that of a human.
“Watch out!” The girl behind him suddenly cried out in alarm.
Lightning appeared abruptly in front of him from a tricky angle.
Ed hastily raised his sword to block, but the wind enchantment on the sword had long since vanished, so he could only take the hit head-on with the blade.
An extremely intense stiffness traveled along the sword, spreading through Ed’s body in the span of a single breath.
Oh no! It was the paralysis effect from lightning magic!
He felt a sudden sense of foreboding.
But it was too late to remedy it now.
He could only watch helplessly as the various demons in the sky roared, bellowed, and excitedly dove toward him.
No way to evade, no way to move.
In that instant, Ed thought he was going to die.
But a clear, angry rebuke suddenly rang out from behind him.
“Get away!”
Ed keenly noticed that the demons in the sky all paused in unison.
He glanced toward the source of the voice with his peripheral vision.
It was Bailis.
She stepped forward a few paces, positioning herself in front of Ed, then swung her hand heavily.
Flames spread out in a dispersed form, covering the sky.
Aside from some demons that weren’t particularly afraid of fire and broke through, most were blocked midway by the flames, and those that slipped through were picked off one by one with her wind blades, spiraling down to the ground from the air.
It was hard to imagine that the girl who had been flustered facing Ed’s casual attacks not long ago now had the beginnings of a proper combat strategy.
“I’m someone who improves quickly, you know!”
Perhaps what she had said before wasn’t just boasting.
Ed silently felt the paralysis in his body gradually fade, stiffly moving his body a bit.
“Thanks.”
He walked to Bailis’s side and said, “Without you, I might have really met my end just now.”
The girl blinked. Even in such a tense environment, she could still bend her brows and eyes at Ed, revealing a faint smile.
“We’re companions; helping each other is only natural, isn’t it?”
Companions, huh.
Ed mulled over those words in his mind and chuckled softly.
“I really don’t get how you think… but this feeling isn’t bad.”
He turned his gaze back to the demons.
Although the crisis had just been averted, it was only temporary.
Ed was very clear about the current situation.
His eyes swept over the faces of the demons circling in the sky.
As expected, aside from greed and desire, there was the mockery of watching prey struggle desperately before death.
They were waiting—waiting for the two of them to exhaust their mana and magical power, so they could effortlessly deal with him and take Bailis away.
What a fine plan.
But Ed couldn’t think of a way to resolve this scene that could be called a desperate situation.
Aside from fighting to the death, there seemed to be no other choice.
“Run away.” The girl suddenly spoke softly beside Ed.
“They seem afraid to kill me. Use me as bait—Ed, you can definitely escape on your own.”
“What nonsense are you spouting all of a sudden?”
Ed glared at her fiercely.
“You want me to abandon the person who just saved me? That would be worse than killing me!”
“But…”
“No buts.” Ed interrupted irritably. “Don’t say such things carelessly, got it?”
The girl opened her mouth, stammering as if wanting to say something.
But upon seeing Ed’s serious gaze, she ultimately just lowered her head.
“I… got it.”
But as she lowered her head, she suddenly noticed strange lights beginning to emerge from under Ed’s feet.
“E-Ed!” The girl shouted nervously. “Quick, look at your feet!”
“Hm?”
By now, Ed had also noticed the strange lights under his feet.
Moreover, as the one experiencing it, he sensed a steadily increasing faint pulling sensation coming from those lights.
What was this?
Ed frowned, instinctively thinking it was some demon’s bizarre magic.
But after carefully sensing it, he suddenly felt the lights seemed a bit familiar.
As the son of a duke, Ed had experienced being targeted by teleportation spells a few times.
And the lights before him, though the mana fluctuations within were a bit strange, were undoubtedly a variant of teleportation spell.
A spell?
Ed jerked his head up, but aside from Bailis, there were only the demons eyeing them covetously—where was there any sign of a human mage?
Could it be a mage who survived in the Mages’ Tower?
After pondering for a short while without finding any clues, Ed decisively gave up thinking.
Although he didn’t know who the caster was for the moment, that didn’t stop him from breathing a sigh of relief.
“Ed, are you going to explode?” The girl asked cautiously.
Ed felt speechless and reached out to poke her forehead.
“Can’t you think in a more positive direction?”
Bailis touched her forehead and looked away.
“I was just… a bit worried about you.”
Idiot.
“Don’t worry.” Ed sighed helplessly. “Today, I shouldn’t die—and neither should you.”
“Eh?” Bailis blinked. She noticed that the same lights had begun appearing under her own feet.
After Ed swung his sword once more, bisecting an incoming demon’s body, he extended his hand to the girl.
“I’ll explain to you later. But for now, hurry and grab my hand—if you don’t want to be separated from me just like that.”
“Oh…” Although the girl didn’t understand, she still nodded obediently and grasped the boy’s outstretched hand.
By now, the demons had finally noticed something was wrong.
Those capable of casting began frantically unleashing magic at the two, while those without dove down from the air, attempting to tear them apart with weapons.
But as dazzling light suddenly erupted, the demons’ vision instantly lost sight of the two figures.