Saturn

Fern and Lorenzo stepped out of the room, and the Mana signatures in the woods soon became clear.

There were dozens of different monsters on the ground, while the Mana signatures in the sky were surprisingly uniform. They were clearly ten Windwing Dragons, and judging by their speed, they seemed to be under unified command.

"That Breda sure went all out."

Lorenzo watched the small black dots approaching rapidly on the horizon.

"But if he has that kind of power, why attack us instead of the Holy City?"

"Maybe they were planning to attack the Holy City in the first place, and we just happened to be in their way?"

Fern stood ready with her staff. Although she didn't know why the monsters had come, Demons couldn't be judged by the standards of normal humans. Since they were here, she had to be as prepared as possible.

"I'll take care of the Windwing Dragons in the air. You just focus on the monsters on the ground."

Lorenzo took out the Artemis and nocked an arrow.

But the moment Lorenzo raised his bow, the Windwing Dragons suddenly scattered in different directions.

Four continued to approach from the front, while the other four tried to circle around the two sides of the house. They were clearly preparing to attack from different angles at the same time.

"They even know to split my attention. Are they really that smart?"

Lorenzo narrowed his eyes slightly.

This was completely different from the Windwing Dragon that had fought on instinct alone. Breda clearly knew how to use them against him.

Splitting up like that might have been a bit troublesome for him before, but now...

"Saturn."

The space beside Lorenzo rippled slightly, and in the next instant, four identical Lorenzos appeared before Fern.

Their appearances, clothes, and even the Mana they gave off were indistinguishable. Even a careful examination with Mana detection wouldn't reveal which was the true original.

Saturn was the agricultural god Saturn, corresponding to Cronus in Greek mythology. He was the son of Uranus, god of the sky, and Gaia, goddess of the earth; the consort of Rhea, the earth mother goddess; and the father of Zeus. His moons were named after his Titan brothers and sisters.

For that reason, Saturn allowed Lorenzo to split into multiple identical individuals. The theoretical maximum was eighty-three, matching the number of Saturn's moons.

But he was only facing eight Windwing Dragons right now, so there was clearly no need to create eighty-three clones. After all, these clones were completely identical to Lorenzo's original body, and the Mana required increased exponentially.

If he actually made them all, Lorenzo would surely be unable to withstand the Mana expenditure and die first.

"Which one is the real you, Lord Lorenzo?"

Fern couldn't help asking.

"Me, of course."

All five Lorenzos answered at once, their tones and expressions completely identical.

"...That didn't answer my question at all."

"Actually, that question doesn't mean much. After all, all of us are originals now."

As they spoke, the five Lorenzos moved to different positions, bringing all the airspace around the house within range.

The Windwing Dragons that had been preparing to attack from different directions instantly lost the advantage of using their numbers to divide Lorenzo's attention.

The sounds of five bowstrings being drawn overlapped. In a single volley, three of the five Windwing Dragons had their heads pierced by arrows. The other two had their wings shot through and tumbled toward the distant forest.

The remaining dragons were being controlled to circle high in the air, where it was relatively safe. Clearly, Breda didn't want to lose the Windwing Dragons he had worked so hard to capture for nothing.

"He even knows when to cut his losses."

One of the Lorenzos spoke as he watched the Windwing Dragons rapidly retreat.

After all, Windwing Dragons lived on the Northern Plateau, and capturing them alive and bringing them to the central region was certainly no easy task. By comparison, the Demon Wolves and ordinary monsters on the ground could be found anywhere and were clearly not as precious.

As if to prove Lorenzo's assessment, the remaining monsters on the ground didn't retreat. Instead, they sped up their charge.

Trees snapped one after another as the monsters poured out of the woods and surrounded the house.

Strangely, though, they didn't attack immediately. Instead, they stayed where they were, waiting for something.

"It looks like they're welcoming someone."

Lorenzo looked around.

Fern immediately extended her Mana detection farther, but aside from the monsters around them, there were no other obvious Mana signatures in the woods.

Just as she was about to expand her detection range further, the monsters surrounding the house suddenly turned in unison to look deep into the forest.

Footsteps came from the woods, and a figure in a dark cloak slowly emerged from the shadows.

The figure's Mana was immense, yet she clearly hadn't detected Mana on that scale just moments ago.

Of all the mages Fern had encountered, this one could be said to have the most Mana, aside from Lady Frieren, who seemed to have always suppressed her Mana and whose full extent Fern had never seen.

The surrounding monsters all lowered their bodies.

The answer was obvious.

"Breda?"

Lorenzo examined the mysterious figure before him, whose whole body gave off a strong evil aura.

"I see."

Breda seemed to have confirmed something.

"No wonder a whole group of Windwing Dragons couldn't divide your attention."

The five Lorenzos raised the Artemis at once and aimed their arrows at him, but Breda showed no fear.

"I'm not here for you."

He raised his head and looked at the second floor of the house.

"Hand Frieren over, and I can let everyone else leave alive."

There was no telling where Breda got that confidence. Didn't he know that Demons had a reputation so foul that everyone wanted them dead, like rats in the street? Keeping promises was hardly something a Demon would do.

Fern looked as though she wanted to say something more, but Lorenzo had no intention of wasting any more words on him.

The five Lorenzos released their bowstrings at once.

The arrows flew at Breda from different directions, aimed at his head, heart, and limbs, leaving him almost no room to dodge.

But Breda stood motionless.

The instant the arrows struck his body, powerful Mana erupted with a roar, and the blast swept away all the dust and fallen leaves around him.

Yet when the dust gradually settled, Breda was still standing there unharmed. The law of smoke and no damage seemed to have taken effect. The five arrows lay at his feet, their arrowheads completely twisted.

"It looks like you gained resistance to my magic a long time ago."

After a moment's surprise at the result, Lorenzo calmly lowered his bow and spoke.