Lost in Shadows

"Of course... let's defeat that horned devil together."

Immediately after saying that, Swordmaster-san

 charged toward Lilith. He lunged at Lilith with his sword in hand. While Lilith was preoccupied with Swordmaster-san's attack, I ran towards where my magic sword 'Seraphis' was.

I had to take it to cancel the magic of my sword 'Seraphis'. It was all to take the mana that was in the magic of my sword, because my body was almost running out of mana. Quickly I grabbed my sword 'Seraphis' which was lying on the ground. And canceled my magic.

When I turned my face towards the fight between Master Swordmaster and Lilith, I was very surprised. The man was actually able to match Lilith in close combat.

He fought while avoiding the slashes of Lilith's sword 'Infernox'. When Lilith swung her sword at the man, he dodged it. Afterwards, he jumped and lunged at Lilith with his sword. Then Lilith tried to parry the man's sword strike, the man quickly spun his body to avoid the meeting between his sword and Lilith's 'Infernox' sword. While spinning his body, he swung his sword at Lilith's body. Lilith was forced to jump back to avoid the man's sword strike. It was as if the man had an instinct to realize that his sword would break if it clashed with Lilith's 'Infernox' sword.

I began to chant my wind magic spell.

"O venti nymphae, vestes commoda mihi. Da corpus meum, tuum praesidium."

Then I pointed the tip of my magic staff 'Indurta' towards the man who was fighting Lilith in front of me.

"Ventus Auster!"

The wind began to envelop the man's body and formed a translucent green robe. Both the man and Lilith were surprised by my support magic.

"Aella!"

Lilith shouted my name angrily.

The man attacked Lilith again, this time faster. Lilith, who was surprised by the man's sudden change in speed, had to take a hard hit to her stomach. And her body was thrown quite a distance. Besides that, she accidentally dropped her sword 'Infernox'.

"Damn you, asshole!"

Lilith cursed at the man who had kicked her. Then she chanted her 'Chain of Darkness' magic.

"Vincula Tenebrarum!"

She attacked Swordmaster-san with her magic from a distance. The man jumped back while slashing one by one the dozens of 'Chains of Darkness' that attacked him in succession.

"Ventus Gladius!"

I chanted my 'Wind Sword' magic and threw it at Lilith.

"Ignis Tenebrarum!"

Lilith devoured my attack with her fire magic.

"Aella!"

As if she had lost her words, Lilith once again shouted my name angrily.

This time the man ran and grabbed Lilith's 'Spears of Darkness' scattered everywhere. He ran while throwing the spears one by one at Lilith. In response to the attack, Lilith used her 'Chains of Darkness' to parry the spear attack from the man.

But surprisingly, the man was suddenly standing beside Lilith who had lost her 'Infernox' sword. Then he swung his sword at the horned woman. Lilith quickly reached for the 'Spear of Darkness' nearby and blocked the sword strike from Swordmaster-san.

The man continued to attack Lilith with his sword strikes. And Lilith tried to withstand the onslaught of sword strikes with the spear in her hand.

But... it was all a feint by Lilith.

When Lilith blocked Swordmaster-san's sword strike with her spear, surprisingly the spear turned into the'Infernox' sword. The spear that Lilith held switched places with the 'Infernox' sword lying on the ground.

Could it be that Lilith deliberately threw her 'Infernox' sword to the ground to deceive us?

As a result, the man's sword, which I called Swordmaster-san, was split in two as a result of clashing with Lilith's 'Infernox'. And the man's chest was slashed by the 'Infernox'.

The man stepped back a few steps. Then he knelt on one knee on the ground while holding his chest, which was slashed by Lilith's 'Infernox'. He winced in pain in his chest.

Of course... because the slash wound from 'Infernox' feels like fire burning our flesh. The wound felt very painful. I remember it because I was also once injured by Lilith's sword in the past. When I was still part of Estella's army.

"Die, you damn human!"

Lilith lunged at the man who was kneeling in pain. But instead of jumping back to avoid Lilith's attack, the man instead jumped forward and grabbed Lilith's right hand, which was holding 'Infernox'. Then the man flipped over the ground while kicking Lilith's body. Lilith's body was thrown quite far away from the man.

"Elf ojo-san, can you still use your magic?"

The man shouted towards me.

"Yes... I can still cast a few more spells."

"Then please help me with your sword magic"

What he meant must be my 'Wind Sword' magic. Without giving me any warning, the man ran towards Lilith again. He threw his broken sword at Lilith.

I chanted the spell for my 'Wind Sword' magic to the fullest and showered Lilith's body with my swords. Lilith used her 'Chains of Darkness' and her 'Infernox' sword to parry my 'Wind Sword' attacks.

But simultaneously with my attack, Swordmaster-san ran and lunged at Lilith. He grabbed one of my 'Wind Swords' that was stuck in the ground and attacked Lilith. He broke through the gaps in Lilith's 'Chains of Darkness'.

"Damn it!"

Lilith, enraged, swung her 'Infernox' sword once again towards Swordmaster-san. But the man caught Lilith's right wrist, which was holding 'Infernox'. Then the man spun his body, and...

Craattt!

Along with the sound of his sword slashing. Lilith had lost her right hand that was holding the 'Infernox' sword.

"Aaarrggghhhhh!"

Lilith staggered backwards while screaming in pain.

As if not wanting to miss the opportunity, the man charged at Lilith again from close range. He pounded Lilith's body with his elbows, knees, and the base of my 'Wind Sword'. Lilith's screams of pain could be heard as she received the man's rage.

And finally, the man kicked the horned woman with his right foot. Lilith's body was thrown quite far away as a result of the kick.

But somehow I felt uneasy seeing that. I could feel a dark aura slowly emanating from the man's body. He smiled viciously as he looked at Lilith's body lying in pain. As if he was enjoying Lilith's moans of pain.

"Qui ambulatis in ponte tenebrarum, audite me. Voci animae meae ad te audi. et mitte in tenebras animam tuam ad me." 

Suddenly I heard Lilith chant her spell. This was the first time I heard that spell.

"Swordmaster-san, be careful with Lilith's magic spell!"

I shouted to warn the man, but it was useless. The man seemed to have completely lost his sanity. He was no different from a monster thirsting for blood.

"Vox Tenebrarum!"

Along with the chanting of Lilith's spell, Swordmaster-san suddenly screamed in pain while clutching his head. He shook his head while screaming in pain. Then he knelt on the ground while clutching his head with both hands.

What was actually happening?

"Lilith, what have you done to him?"

"Aella, you should have realized it too. This man... this damn man somehow has the same aura as my race, the Demon Race. Somehow he has a dark aura, which means his body is attributed to the element of darkness. A human with the element of darkness. But that's good... because now I have a new toy that's very interesting... hahahahahaha!"

What did her words mean? I didn't understand at all what Lilith was saying. But... the man stopped screaming. And then he got up to his feet.

"Are you alright, Swordmaster-san? What do you want to do? Wait... why are you looking at me like that? Stop it... please stop..."

The man ran and lunged at me viciously. He rampaged and attacked my body blindly. Attacking me who had used my last mana to shower Lilith with 'Wind Sword' magic.

Bruaakkkk!

"Arrrhhhhggg!"

My body slammed hard against the tree due to the man's kick. I should have realized it from the beginning, since my first meeting with him at my inn. When I first met him. He was a dangerous man. But his attention to the girl named Elena had lowered my guard. No... I started to trust him a little.

I was completely wrong!

But now I was lying helpless. My mana was completely exhausted. And I don't know how many of my bones were broken by the man's attack.

"Stop it, don't kill that woman first. But kill that disgusting little girl first... yes... kill her. Look, Aella, look at the death of that disgusting little girl with your own eyes. Look at the moment the man crushes the girl's face with his feet... hahahahahaha!"

Please stop it... don't get any closer... please stop...

I even lost my strength to speak. I wanted to scream. Don't... please don't kill the girl named Elena. Maybe she is the daughter of my friend Estella. My tears flowed along with the sound of the mad man's footsteps slowly approaching Elena. No... Don't!

Aaauuuuuuuuuhhhhhh!

Suddenly a very loud howl was heard. A moment later, the wind blew very fast and the ground shook violently. The night air became colder as if piercing my skin. An extremely chilling cold. The trees roared violently.

My body trembled violently, I was terrified. Not only me, Lilith's body also trembled in fear. And slowly behind the darkness, a pair of blood-red eyes appeared approaching us.

Eyes that made all of our bodies freeze, both me, Lilith, and that insane Swordmaster.

And the creature behind the darkness was the figure of a wolf three meters tall. It had thick black fur with blood-red stripes adorning it. The wolf looked majestic, cruel, ferocious, and graceful at the same time. It was the mythical wolf that was legendary in the northern continent.

Fenrir, The God Slayer.