Exposed

On the main road.

Himmel and Eisen took turns attacking [Afterimage] Zart.

Whenever Zart attempted to use [Space Transfer] to teleport the two of them high into the sky in the same way as before, a blazing beam of Mana would precisely interrupt Zart's actions.

As time went by, doubts began to arise in Himmel's mind.

In a situation where being touched by the enemy meant certain death, his battle proceeded so smoothly.

Frieren's attack perfectly supported and covered him.

It was as if they could read his mind.

Himmel's lips curled slightly. Combining Frieren's unusual behavior with what Zart of [Afterimage] had just said, he had some guesses in his mind.

He slightly sidestepped Zart's attack and glanced at Frieren.

'This isn't like the fighting style you'd adopt.'

'Frieren.'

The next moment.

Several beams of Mana energy attacked Zart, the [afterimage], simultaneously.

Himmel and Eisen both focused their gazes simultaneously, seizing this fleeting opportunity.

The two men, one on the left and one on the right, simultaneously lunged forward and slashed at Zart.

Laugh!

Two overlapping sounds rang out.

A deep, bone-revealing 'X'-shaped bloodstain appeared on Zart's chest in [Afterimage].

It clutched its chest, trying to stop the bleeding with its hands, and backed away.

He only stopped when a cliff blocked his path, and turned around to look at the crowd.

Looking at the desperate Zart, Himmel said calmly, "Now, the situation has reversed."

Zart placed one hand on his chest and continued retreating towards the cliff, a strange smile appearing on his face, and asked in return:

"The situation has reversed?"

Do I look like I've been driven to a dead end?

Upon hearing this, Frieren, who was standing behind the crowd, felt a sense of unease rise in her heart.

Just then, her [Detection Magic] detected an extremely subtle fluctuation of Mana.

It comes from Zart.

A thought flashed through Frieren's mind, and she instantly understood what Zart was planning to do.

Don't let it hit the cliff!

As soon as Frieren finished speaking, Zart vanished from the spot.

Instead, there is a massive Cliffside, hundreds of meters in diameter, that seems to have fallen from the sky.

She never expected that [Space Transfer] could do something like this.

Faced with this situation, magic is powerless in this era.

Looking at the sky suddenly completely shrouded by the massive Cliffside, Heiter muttered, "This is troublesome."

Himmel sheathed her longsword and said softly, "Hmm... it's too late to dodge."

Frieren turned her head to look at the calm Himmel and asked, "Himmel is quite composed under these circumstances."

Himmel looked at Frieren and said, "Stop hiding it, Frieren."

"You're deliberately hiding magic that can change the current situation, aren't you?"

Frieren didn't answer, but frowned and looked at Himmel.

She didn't understand why, even though she hadn't used any magic from later generations, Himmel still noticed something was wrong.

Seeing Frieren remain silent, Himmel smiled.

"Just as I thought, he's such an easy guy to understand."

"Perhaps you don't realize it, but the few of us trust you quite a bit."

"Although I don't know what happened, I think you can try to trust us sometimes."

Heiter nodded in agreement. "That's right."

Eisen looked at the group speechlessly, but because of his beard, Himmel and the others didn't notice.

Helpless, he could only cough to attract their attention.

"Well, how about we deal with this problem above our heads first, then we can talk?"

Frieren looked up at the Cliffside that almost completely filled her field of vision in the sky.

If this continues, everyone will die.

There's no other way now.

Frieren gripped her Staff with both hands and said softly, "I understand."

"What you are about to witness is magic you must not tell anyone, including me. Keep this secret to your grave."

Eisen muttered under his breath, "That's such an exaggeration..."

Himmel nodded and said, "I understand. Let's begin, Frieren."

Seeing this, Frieren stopped talking, closed her eyes, and mobilized all her Mana.

She knew that Himmel and the others had indeed done as she had been told.

On the Cliffside.

Zart's previously confident expression froze.

In its perception, the previously ordinary Mana within Frieren suddenly surged.

In the blink of an eye, it reached a point where it couldn't even understand it anymore.

Even the Mana of Lord Grausam, the [Miracle], is not this immense.

At that moment, a massive beam of Mana energy shot into the sky from the ground, interrupting its thoughts.

Then, the massive Cliffside, hundreds of meters in diameter, began to crumble.

Scattered pebbles scattered in all directions.

Many even came straight for it.

But Zart had no intention of dodging; he simply stared blankly at the scene.

It can't understand it.

This kind of magic power... is beyond the reach of humankind.

Reason told it that it must immediately inform Lord Grausam of this news.

But its body was completely unresponsive.

What's even stranger is that its chest, which had just been slashed, no longer hurt.

Just as Zart was wondering what was going on, it suddenly caught a glimpse of a beam of Mana slowly dissipating out of the corner of its eye.

Then, its perspective involuntarily tilted upwards, and through this, it discovered that the origin of the Mana beam was Frieren was floating in the sky.

Judging from the path of this Mana beam, its target should be itself.

Oh, I see.

No wonder it doesn't hurt anymore.

It simply disappeared.

[Flight Magic] plus Offensive Magic never seen before and completely unprepared for.

With only its head remaining, Zart's mouth was slightly open, and it murmured in a voice only it could hear:

"... So you really are from the future..."

Frieren, suspended in the sky, witnessed everything.

But she didn't care.

There's absolutely no need to listen to what the Demons say.

Whatever it said, it's already dead, isn't it?

After giving Zart a cursory glance, it flew downwards.

"So, Frieren really is from..."

Amidst the wrecked ground, within a honeycomb-shaped shield constructed from [Defensive Magic], Heiter leaned close to Himmel's ear and whispered something while watching Frieren fly through the sky.

Himmel stared intently at Frieren in the sky.

"Hmm... that should be it."

Eisen, unusually, didn't complain. Instead, he said with a strange sense of admiration, "I never imagined that Frieren could go to such lengths..."

As a team tasked with defeating the Demon King, besides needing sufficient strength, intelligence is also essential.

In addition, having spent so much time with Frieren, the group could roughly guess what was going on based on the current situation.