"Don't get distracted, the battle is not over yet!"
The silence in the field was broken by Amber's authoritative voice. Hearing her voice, the remaining soldiers snapped out of their momentary stupor and continued their attack on the corrupted wyvern in front of them.
Amber was also momentarily surprised by Edwin's actions, but being an experienced warrior, she quickly realized her priorities. That is why she was able to pull herself together before anyone else and immediately warned the others. After that, Amber focused on dealing with the wounded wyvern in front of her.
Meanwhile, Edwin turned his head and looked at the situation on the battlefield for a moment. Seeing the surviving wyverns were almost dead, he concluded the human side no longer need his help. Therefore, he turned his focus back to the dead wyverns in front of him and began to examine them.
Both wyverns had strange blackish purple stains on their scaly skins. Even though they were dead, these marks had not disappeared from their bodies. Edwin took a few steps and arrived at the foot of one of the dead creatures. Following that, he extended his right arm towards the wyvern and touched one of the stains on it with his white-gloved hand.
Edwin ran his fingers across the creature's body, which was covered in hard scales. Then he felt something strange and withdrew his hand. Looking at the slimy thing on the white glove, smeared from the stain on the creature, Edwin began to think.
'Whatever this thing is, it might be the reason for the aggressive behavior of the wyverns here. But that is not the point. The main problem is, how did this strange thing get on these creatures?'
As Edwin assessed the situation in his head, his focus shifted back to his glove when he saw white smoke coming out of his hand. The white leather glove on Edwin's hand began to melt. Seeing this, Edwin immediately took the glove off his hand and threw it on the ground. Then he frowned and looked at the slowly melting glove for a while.
'If even touching this thing is so dangerous, then no wonder these creatures covered with it have gone mad. Hmm... I think it's best to purify them before corruption spread.' At the end of his thoughts, he took a few steps back and pointed his left arm towards the creatures.
"Purify!"
As he spoke, his outstretched hand began to glow with a white light. This white light enveloped the two wyverns in front of Edwin. Then, slowly, the stains on the two creatures began to disappear. After a few seconds, the stains on the wyverns disappeared, leaving only terrible-looking wounds.
"Good! My purification spell seems to have worked."
A small smile formed on Edwin's face. He was really happy to see that his spell had worked. He was not very confident when it came to this kind of magic. Although the Goddess Livian had taught him how to use magic, Edwin's expertise was limited to the basic level. And since he had mostly specialized in offensive spells, he could not predict the outcome when it came to supportive spells like these.
While Edwin was doing his own thing, the fight behind him had come to a conclusion. Amber easily defeated the wounded wyvern in front of her and then immediately went to help her subordinates. Upon her arrival, the smaller wyvern did not last long and was quickly killed.
When the battle was over, Amber told her subordinates to take care of the wounded people. Then she turned her beautiful eyes towards Edwin, who was some distance away from them.
'He defeated the two wyverns very quickly and saved my soldiers. Even I couldn't have defeated them in such a short time. Not only can he cast light magic, he can also cast the purification spell unique to priests. Is he a paladin? Maybe... But why would a paladin be in this forest alone, in the middle of the night? I doubt there's a temple nearby.'
Amber was beginning to suspect that something was not right. This man's sudden appearance felt strange to her. But soon she stopped thinking about it and took a deep breath. Afterwards, she began to move towards Edwin with determined steps. Whatever his intentions, he deserved at least a proper thank you for helping them.
Edwin, with his eyes closed, stood over the dying wyverns, praying to the Goddess Livian for their souls. His back was turned to the red-haired woman who was coming towards him. After a moment, hearing footsteps approaching, Edwin opened his eyes and turned around. Just as Edwin and Amber made eye contact with each other, both of them froze right where they were standing for a moment.
Since he was a young boy, Edwin had been trained by the Goddess Livian to be a strong warrior. And because of Livian's overprotective attitude, he had not been able to interact with other people properly before. When he received this mission, Edwin inwardly felt very excited that he would be able to finally meet new people. But now he froze where he was because he hadn't expected the first person he would meet to be a breathtakingly beautiful woman. Of course, because of all the time he had spent with Livian, he recovered relatively quickly and began to speak in a polite voice.
"Good evening, beautiful lady. My name is Edwin, a warrior chosen by the Goddess Livian. Not being familiar with this place, I got lost so, I was hoping you would be kind enough to tell me how to reach the nearest settlement." After his words, Edwin looked at the beautiful woman in front of him and patiently waited for an answer.
"..."
Ten seconds passed. Edwin was getting a little tired of the long staring, but he didn't want to be rude, so he said nothing and kept waiting.
"..."
After another ten seconds Edwin started to get a little nervous about this strange situation. He decided to speed things up a bit and gave a fake cough.
"Ahem... I'm actually having a bit of trouble finding my way around the forest." he continued, pointing to his dusty clothes. "And as you can see, I'm not in a very good condition. I would really appreciate it if you could help me find my way out of this forest."
Edwin tried to explain again to be better understood, but there was one important thing he couldn't realize. Amber was lost in her own inner world and unable to understand Edwin no matter how much he talked to her.
When Amber came to Edwin's side, she was about to thank him, Edwin turned around. As she saw Edwin's face Amber was completely shocked and could only think of one thought.
'What a handsome man!?!'
Amber had found herself entranced by Edwin's unparalleled handsomeness. His magnetic blue eyes held a depth that seemed to transcend mortal beauty, drawing her into a realm of enchantment. His face reflected unparalleled masculine allure with distinct features. Prominent cheekbones, a well-defined jawline, and a straight nose gave off a regal and captivating aura.
Edwin's long, golden-blond hair cascaded past his shoulders a little, like strands woven with an ethereal touch, adding an extra layer of charm to his captivating presence. It was as if every detail had been meticulously crafted to accentuate his otherworldly appeal, leaving Amber in awe of the breathtaking handsomeness that Edwin effortlessly possessed.
Amber had met many interesting men in her life. Some of them were very impressive with their noble identities and elegant manners, some with their sweet words and handsome faces. Yet compared to the one standing in front of her at this very moment, all the men she had seen became insignificant.
Thump thump!
Amber slowly moved her right hand over her chest, exactly where her heart was. Even though she could not touch her skin because of the armor, Amber could feel her pounding heart even from there. A redness slowly began to spread across her cheeks and after a while her whole face turned red. Even though she heard Edwin saying something, her brain could not comprehend it, she just stared into his mesmerizing blue eyes.
After some time, Amber came to her senses when she realized this person looking at her with a puzzled expression. This time Amber's face turned red with shame, not embarrassment. She quickly averted her gaze and took a deep breath to control herself.
'Pull yourself together Amber! You are not such an easy girl to be influenced so quickly! Don't lose yourself!'
Trying to hypnotize herself, Amber was finally able to calm down a little. Then she turned her lovely eyes back to the ridiculously handsome man in front of her and finally, with difficulty, began to speak.
"Y-you, I mean I... My name is Amber what's yours?"