The three girls continued to follow the dog, running at full speed.
It could be said that their fighting power was somewhat diminished because they were in the forest. Because now Lylphia had to be careful with her fire magic. One wrong move could start a fire in the forest that they could not stop and cause big problems.
As a result, Lylphia could no longer use her fire magic to continue to leave a trail for Yu and Yurine. Sivina took it upon herself to leave a trail so that those who came after them could follow them. As she moved through the forest, she cut the trees with her sword and left traces that Yu could see. In this way, Yu and Yurine would finally be reunited despite the distance between them.
"We have come too far, are we sure the dog is leading us to the right place?" Sivina asked. She was skeptical because she couldn't see the men they were chasing.
"It might be a little late to ask that," Ana replied. She was still holding the dog's leash and running at the front.
Once away from the town and into unfamiliar parts of the forest, it was no longer useful to suspect the dog.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Sivina wasn't well, but she couldn't answer Lylphia's question except by saying yes. She didn't want to go back when she had come this far, she would finish what she had started today.
But neither Ana nor Lylphia could help worrying. Her pajamas were torn and stained with blood. Worse than her outfit was the fact that the rock had actually hurt her and she had interrupted Yurine's healing spell to catch the culprits. It still hurt, but that wasn't going to slow her down, Sivina was determined.
"That guy was wounded too, he can't have gotten very far. He must be hiding somewhere," Sivina said.
"That's a possibility, but there's also the possibility that it's not. Our real problem is the mage." Lylphia was trying to piece together what she knew about Sony in her mind. "Sony's father used both light and earth magic. We saw that sorcerer using earth magic too, and if it is Sony, there is a possibility that he also uses light magic and healed other's wounds. In short, we have to be ready to face two healthy enemies."
Although Sivina was not a mage, all the girls here, including her, had met other mages and had seen many kinds of magic.
But Lylphia in particular was much more interested in magic than the others. Ana was also a mage, but Lylphia had taken it to a professional level and was studying at the most prestigious academy in the world. That's why Lylphia was aware that the other person could be more dangerous than they thought.
Yu had made the assumption that the Redchapel Killer could not use magic. If the injured man was not trying to conceal his power, he did not think he was using magic, and if he could not use magic, he could be the killer as they assumed. In that case, the sorcerer, the man they thought was Sony, was clearly more dangerous than the killer.
"Watch out!"
Sivina almost floated in the air in front of Ana and swung her sword at the arrow that came at her.
Thanks to Sivina's quick intervention, the arrow broke and fell to the ground before it reached its target, leaving Ana unhurt.
But the three of them had no time to stop and catch their breath as a long yellow arc moved horizontally, cutting through the trees in its path.
As soon as Lylphia noticed the wave, she jumped up, Sivina jumped on top of Ana and they lay down together. Thus they were all saved from being cut by the yellow bow.
"Light magic!" Lylphia exclaimed, "It must be Sony!"
Before they could comment on Lylphia's detection, an arrow had shot from the bow again, this time choosing Sivina as its target.
Sivina was ready to defend herself with her sword, but Lylphia reflexively used her magic and the flames engulfed the arrow within seconds, leaving nothing behind. Her magic did not hit the trees, thanks to the bow that had just cut them down.
They could see their attacker in the open space created by the light magic cutting down the trees. Another arrow came at Sivina, but Lylphia's flames caught it and destroyed it. Meanwhile, Ana let go of the dog's leash and it bolted towards the men in front of her.
"Ava!"
Ana's wind spell, like the light spell they had just encountered, traveled horizontally and followed the dog.
She had believed that the speed and power of her main spell would allow her to kill her opponents in one move, but her spell was destroyed when it crashed into the rock wall in front of her.
The dog, too, was forced to stop abruptly by the wall, then ran again to go around it, barking furiously. Ana, frustrated that her trusted spell had been thwarted, sent a much more powerful spell from the palms of her hands.
"Ava Neido!"
The tornado that emerged from Ana's palms raced through the dust, crashed into the earthen wall and tore it to pieces. With the destruction of the wall, the two people hiding behind it were exposed.
As soon as the dog saw its opponent, it pounced on him, regardless of who he was. And it was the mage, dog sank his teeth into mages arm and his staff fell to the ground as he screamed.
"Fuck you!"
The wizard swung his arm angrily and struck the dog against the tree behind them. He hit the animal so hard that the bark cracked and the dog fell to the ground and lay motionless.
"Hello!" Lylphia shouted. "Are you Mr. Sony and the Redchapel Killer?"
In the meeting with Yu, they talked about the fact that magic is genetic and that Sony could use the same light and earth spells that his father used.
As she had just said, the mage before her had used light magic as well as earth magic. Lylphia had no doubt, it was Sony.
She didn't want to burn the forest, so she couldn't use fire magic to her heart's content, but it wouldn't be right to let down her guard against a powerful mage like Sony. She formed fireballs swirling around her, ready to be activated at any moment, for attack or defense.
Sivina and Ana were on guard along with Lylphia. Both were bold enough to move towards their opponents at any moment without hesitation.
"Let's see... Yes, you must be him. Well, I wonder if you prefer Mr. Sony or Mr. Bishory? Anyway, I don't know, but I'm sure you're. You tried to hide your face a bit with the robe, but it was a failed attempt." Lylphia's speech was a mockery of the other person.
Unlike his other relatives, Sony's hair was brown, not black. Apart from the difference in hair color, he had the same features as all his other relatives, tall stature, a charismatic face and blue eyes.
"Is it possible that the person next to you is a murderer? If so, you'll have to stand trial for that, too. And if we get past that, you'll have to return what you stole-"
The sorcerer listened to her in silence until she mentioned what had been stolen. When Lylphia mentioned the thing that had been stolen, the mage, Sony von Bishory, turned his head and threw the yellow halos that had appeared above his head at Lylphia in a rage.
If it had been crystals of arak magic, earth magic or water magic that had come at her, Lylphia could have tried to defend herself using fire magic, and most likely would have succeeded.
But even though fire magic was the most powerful form of magic according to Lylphia, it was incapable of providing an effective defense against the attacks of light and wind magic.
If she sent her spell into the halos of light coming at her, they would pass through the flames without any problem and hit Lylphia. She didn't like to run, but she had to run now to avoid dying.
She jumped to avoid all attacks and while Lylphia had the mage's attention, Sivina closed the distance between her and her opponents in a few leaps and brought her sword down on the mage's shoulder.
"Tch!"
Sivina's sword was stopped by a dagger and Sony's arm remained attached to his torso. Sivina did not expect this move, but she wasted no time and continued her attack.