"You're one of Sieghart's party member..."
"Her name is Eileen..."
"We need to run!"
While in a sheer panic mode, another strong ball of light flies towards them. Christa quickly went on the move by grabbing Selene and pulling Itsuo by his shirt. The three dodged another powerful attack. But as they did, Eileen is closing the distance between them.
"Do you really think I'll let you go anywhere?"
"Amazing... It's just a simple magic but it sure got quite the impact. If i didn't get to dodge that last one, we would surely be in trouble."
Christa remarked in amazement as she took a glance at the two craters where the two magical spheres exploded. She then quickly averted her gaze and went to ask Selene and Itsuo's condition.
"Are you two all right?"
The two tries to get up as they both replied at Christa at the same time.
"I'm all right."
"Yes."
The girl with the crimson red eyes stands up, facing the woman who attacked them. At the same time, Eileen stopped from taking a step as she stare daggers at the young girl.
"I hardly ever talked to you back then in that forest, but surely you're not after the honey bee, right? We are the ones who killed the Withers and Mother Bee, we have the right to claim all the spoils!"
Said, Christa as she stands tall in front of Eileen, as if she's trying to assert her dominance, claiming they own the right to get all the honey bee in the beehive.
"I'm not in the least bit interested with what you get back in that forest."
Christa quickly turns around to look at Selene and Itsuo.
"She said she's not interested with the Mother Bee's honey. Did you two perhaps get into trouble with her or she just wanna mess with us?"
"No! She's after you! I don't know what kind of an unbelievable ability she possessed to claim it all, but she believes that you are a demon!"
Selene replied in a high tone as she gets up on her feet.
"I'm a demon...?"
"Of course there's no way that it's true, but let's just save the talk for later and get out of here!"
Just as when Itsuo grabbed Christa by the shoulder in an attempt to make her follow him and Selene, a chilling cold feeling ran through their exposed skin. Then, a towering wall of ice suddenly appeared and surrounds the three of them.
"I think I've said it before but..."
The three of them turns around to see the woman carrying her staff that is covered in ice, everything around them is covered in ice made by Eileen's magic.
"...did you really think I'll let you go anywhere?"
"What do you want from me?"
"Silence! I'm the one who will ask you, demon! Who are you? Why are you here trying to live alongside us? What do you want from us humans?"
Christa scratches her head as she tries to find the words to answer Eileen.
"This is trouble..."
The Crimson Eye turned to face Eileen once again.
"...I am Christa Scarletblood. I am a human born and raised here in Alteria. I am not a demon and I don't have any ill intent towards you or everyone."
"Fufu... Hahaha... Ahahahaha!"
Christa looks at Selene and Itsuo to ask them after seeing the woman who seem to laugh hysterically.
"Hey, you two, are you sure she's not insane?"
In that split second, Christa sensed something coming straight towards her. Before she could avert her eyes from Selene and Itsuo to see what is coming...
"Ack...!"
Sharp and deadly ice shards struck Christa and pushes her to the wall of ice afterwards. The force of the impact is audible to Selene and Itsuo's ears.
"Christa!"
"Keeping yourself wide open in front of your enemy is a deadly sin." Said, Eileen derisively.
Filled with worry, Itsuo and Selene tries to go to Christa who's buried inside the pile of ice after being hit and pushed over the icy wall.
"Hey, Christa!"
"Christa...!"
Another wall of ice blocks Selene and Itsuo, rendering them from checking up on Christa.
"Think about yourselves before thinking about others, amateurs."
"You...!"
With Eileen and her ice magic on their way, the two Silver Ranks have no choice but to confront the Diamond Rank Adventurer themselves.
"Selene, let's do it!"
"Ah, yes!"
Realizing that they are planning something, Eileen asks the two:
"Are you two planning to fight me?"
"Keep your eyes on me!" Selene shouted as she casts a magic, a magic circle summoned through her hand, aiming at Eileen.
"Linear Ray!"
Four ray of light bursts out of Selene's magic circle, heading straight towards Eileen like an arrow in four different directions.
In response to Selene's attack, Eileen taps her staff on the ground. And in that instant, the four ray of light that is flying towards her dissipates almost immediately without even reaching Eileen.
Eileen flutters her brows, only to find herself in range of Itsuo's sword to hit. With Itsuo's Quick Footwork, he used the very opening where Eileen defends herself from Selene's projectile to get close to her.
Itsuo speaks to the woman.
"Didn't you hear what Selene told you?"
"Shut up, fly."
Eileen points the head of her staff to Itsuo to cast a barrier that would block the young man's strike. But...
*Smirk*
"Ha?"
Itsuo anticipated Eileen to defend herself from him, he also knew that the moment his sword touched the staff, the spell caster would immediately go for the counter attack.
Manipulating his energy to fly, Itsuo maneuvers and flies backward with a confident smile.
"From the beginning, we knew that we cannot beat you. There's a huge difference between our magic, strength and everything. But, if it comes to distracting your opponent..."
"...Even the weak can outsmart the strong!"
With her eyes focused on Itsuo, Eileen did not notice Selene approaching her until they are face-to-face.
"I told you to look at me!"
"You...!"
Selene reaches her hand directly onto Eileen's face. She then uses her ability:
"Flicker!"
The same ability that helped them get out of the territory of the Wither Bees, the same ability that saved her and Itsuo many times, Selene casts a blinding light directly into Eileen's eyes. Unabling her to see the surrounding for a long while, and also causes irritating pain into her eyes. Making it hard for her to cast any spell she has.
"Leaving yourself wide open is a deadly sin."
Selene levitates, following Itsuo with victory of their first fight together on her back.
The two talks to each other cheerfully over their fight.
"Yes!"
"We were able to show the result of our training together!"
"Yeah, we did it, Itsuo!"
"Yes! That should keep her away from us for some time, especially that she's been hit directly. Until then..."
Shortly after, they arrived and landed on to the pile of ice where Christa is buried.
"We need to pick her up." Itsuo told Selene as they heard sound of the ice being pushed from inside.
Afterwards, with a stronger force, the ice were pushed on the side, revealing Christa's face smiling at them as she says:
"Nice synergy, Itsuo, Selene."
"Oh, did you see it?" Asked, Selene.
"No, but I can tell. I wouldn't look at you now if it didn't turn out well."
"I guess you got a point." Selene let out a giggle.
"Well, let's save the talk for later. Let's get away from here."
Itsuo suggested to the two young woman that which they agreed with.
Christa released herself from the pile of ice by melting them with her flames. Afterwards, Christa began floating upwards, following Itsuo as he leads the way towards the outside of the southern wall.
On their way, Christa and Selene continue their chatter.
"Amazing! It's only been a month but now you're both keeping up with my speed."
"Of course! We've been practicing it for a month! We can even challenge you for a race now!"
"Oh, that sounds good to me! Let's see who reaches the neighborhood first!"
Itsuo responded in agreement to Selene's challenge. But...
"Oh... You guys wanted challenge, huh? Okay! Let's see who will..."
*Glare*
"...Get down!"
As the words escaped her lips, Christa wrapped her arms around Selene and Itsuo's neck, pulling them down back on the surface.
"What is it, Christa? Huh? The ground..."
Itsuo felt the ground rumbling as the small pieces of rock were being shaken relentlessly by the rumbling surface.
Right after that moment, a sound of something slamming, or perhaps flapping wings like thunder is approaching them forward.
"It's coming."
From behind the tall trees, a four-legged giant dragon appeared before them. The giant winged serpent flaps its wings as it picks up some speed, flying straight overhead.
The moment the three of them got up and gaze on the dragon's back. It was already a distance far away as its growling noises fades away.
"Hey, isn't that a dragon?"
"It's huge... I mean it's heading straight to the innner district of the Capital. Where did it even come from?"
Christa wipes away the dirt she got on her clothes after suddenly bowing down on the surface.
"I have no idea at all. But, that thing shouldn't be our concern right now."