[The spacetime that might have existed] The battle for the cabin

Red Hair lay on the ground, his breathing gradually calming down. The bluish-purple hue around the wound had completely faded, leaving only a bright red crack that was beginning to heal.

Sein withdrew his hand, and the white light in his palm dissipated. He wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Normally, you just need to rest and recover."

Frieren looked at him.

"It's good that Sein is here. What brings you to the Imperial Capital?"

"Hmm..." Sein scratched the back of his head. "Maybe the Gorilla Warrior is here? But this isn't the time to talk, is it? What's going on?"

Inside the tavern.

Lore remained seated in the chair, her hands gently cradling the slowly spinning silver coin. Her eyes were closed, and her voice was steady.

"They went inside the cabin."

Rooftops in the distance.

Wolf knelt on one knee on the roof, longbow across his knee, his ears twitching slightly.

"Can't we force them out? We can't hit them like this."

Lore's voice continued.

"Did you hear that, Gazella? Head to the cabin immediately."

In the alley.

Gazella was running. His steps were fast, but his face showed little energy, even a hint of drowsiness.

"I heard you, I heard you, I'm already running!" he said as he ran.

Lore's voice continued, calm and clear.

"That hut is already on the verge of being targeted by Communication Magic. If the other side refuses to fight and continues to flee..."

"I know." Gazella jumped over a pile of debris, landing almost silently. "We can't pursue them too far, right?"

Inside the hut.

After listening to Frieren's brief explanation, Sein stroked his goatee.

"I see. We didn't know who the enemy was, but we were detected from the opposite direction. Hmm... their coordination was that good? I'm a little curious."

Fern looked at him.

"What's the meaning?"

Sein did not answer immediately. He reached out, his fingers close to Frieren's Frieren, sensing the magic surrounding her.

"Well, for example," he said thoughtfully as he sensed the surroundings, "By analyzing the weaker parts of the enemy's Reverse Detection Magic, I've deduced the exact location of the opposing monks."

He withdrew his hand and looked around the empty room.

"Um... map... where is the map...?"

He shook his head.

"There probably isn't such a thing as a map."

Frieren took a folded piece of parchment from her small pouch and unfolded it.

"Ah, I have the map."

Sein looked at the map in her hand.

"Tsk, this is so convenient. Why do you have a map?"

"It's because of the mission, Sense forced me to take it," Frieren said, spreading the map on the ground.

Sein crouched down, his gaze quickly sweeping over the detailed street and building markings on the map. He traced several lines with his finger, finally stopping at one spot and pointing with his fingertip.

"Tsk, you guys really do get dragged into trouble as easily as ever," he muttered, then looked up. "Hmm... the other side is here."

"So, after that," Sein looked at Frieren and Fern, "Even if you know the location, can you attack?"

Frieren was silent for a few seconds. Her gaze fell on the marked location on the map, then shifted to the dense cluster of residential buildings around it.

"... In such a complex urban area, to precisely attack a single point while ensuring that no innocent civilians are harmed requires years of training. Any deviation could potentially injure civilians."

She looked up.

"The enemy is currently not the Empire itself. Therefore, if they harm civilians first, the Magical Special Forces will inevitably intervene, and may even become allies. But the enemy will definitely avoid this—they won't give us that opportunity."

She paused, a knowing glint in her emerald eyes.

"I understand. Sein means is that, for the enemy, Goddess Goddess's magic—especially this kind of long-range detection and communication—is not just a tool to assist in combat. It has become the foundation of their entire tactical system."

Fern's brow furrowed slightly.

In other words...

He hadn't finished speaking.

The fragile door of the wooden house made a loud cracking sound.

It wasn't pushed open; the entire door was violently kicked open from the outside with tremendous force. Wood chips flew everywhere, and a figure rushed in.

It's Gazella.

He wore the sly smile typical of street vendors, but his eyes were cold. He held a short knife in his right hand, and the moment he rushed in, the blade was already slashing towards the neck of the red-haired man closest to the door.

Red Hair, who should have been lying down to rest and unable to move, suddenly rolled to the side just before the blade was about to strike him. At the same time, his right hand had somehow already grasped the battle axe beside him. He didn't have time to swing it, but simply used the heavy axe handle to block it upwards.

"Clang!"

A sharp, metallic clang rang out, and sparks flew through the dimly lit room.

Using the force of the recoil, Gazella took a small half-step back, his smile deepening, but a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

"Hey..." he drawled, with a hint of mockery, "This is different from the intelligence I heard. What happened to the soldiers being unconscious or even dead?"

Fern didn't answer. The instant Gazella retreated, she raised her staff and unleashed Ordinary Attack Magic.

A condensed white light burst forth from her fingertips, shooting straight toward Gazella's face. The light was blinding, carrying a pure, sharp whistling sound that tore through the air.

"Boom--!"

A muffled explosion came from behind the house, sending dirt and wood splinters falling. Dust filled the air.

Almost simultaneously with the explosion, another sharp whistling sound pierced through the smoke and dust.

An arrow, shot from a distant, tricky angle, aimed directly at the red-haired man who had just propped himself up.

Red Hair grunted and swung his battle axe to the side. The axe blade struck the arrow shaft precisely, knocking it away. The arrow veered off course and embedded itself in the earthen wall beside him, its fletching still trembling.

But the violent movement aggravated his wounds, causing him to sway and kneel on one knee, cold sweat beading on his forehead. His counterattack had clearly exhausted the strength he had barely mustered.

Gazella emerged from the smoke, unharmed, his smile unchanged.

"Haha, that was close! I almost ended up reporting to the Goddess. I really don't want to do this kind of work."

Before he finished speaking, he flipped his left hand, and three thin, willow-leaf-like throwing knives appeared between his fingers. With a flick of his wrist, the knives shot out silently, taking the lives of Frieren, Fern, and Sein.

With a light wave of Frieren staff, several heavy wooden planks, a dilapidated wooden table, and fragments of a broken door, scattered on the ground, simultaneously floated into the air, moved and pieced together in an instant, forming a simple yet solid wooden barrier in front of the three.

"Knock knock!"

Three muffled thuds. The throwing knife was driven deep into the wooden board, the tip protruding only an inch or so before it could go no further.

Sein seemed to snap out of his daze at this moment. He looked at the red-haired man kneeling on one knee, panting, and then at the three throwing knives nailed to the wooden board. His expression was somewhat blank.

"No," he pointed at the red-haired man, his voice filled with disbelief, "How can this guy move so quickly? I just had the poison removed, my wounds haven't even fully healed..."

"Hmm, Redhead's starting to look like a warrior. Still far from Eisen... Anyway, Fern, you understand what Sein said earlier, right?"

Fern's gaze pierced through the cracks in the wooden planks, locking onto the figure outside who appeared relaxed but was actually ready to launch another attack at any moment. Her voice was steady, without any fluctuation.

"Of course. The enemy's core tactics rely on the long-range intelligence and command provided by the Goddess Magic. Therefore, defeating or disrupting the enemy commander—the monk who uses the Goddess Magic —will paralyze their entire tactical coordination."

She turned to look at Frieren, her gaze clear and calm.

"Lady Frieren, now that the monk's location has been confirmed..."

Frieren nodded.

"Of course, at this distance, Fern would never miss."