Terradin Forest, Hensberg Kingdom, Northern Continent.
"Aaaarrrrhhhh!"
Lilith screamed in pain as she received a slash from my sword, 'Seraphis'. Her body swayed backwards, away from me. Her hands clutched the wound while her head hung low towards the ground.
Yes... I would protect the girl named Elena from Lilith's madness.
"Hahahaha!"
Not long after, Lilith's laughter echoed. Why was she laughing after receiving such a deep cut from my sword? The wound was quite long, as my slash had diagonally cut her chest from below her neck to above her navel. Her black blood (the demon race has black blood) could be seen soaking her red robe.
So what was she laughing at? Had she gone insane?
"As I expected of you, Aella. The Demon Slayer. It's been a long time since I've felt this sensation of pain. It's been a long time since I've seen my black blood flowing out because of my enemy's slash. This is great... this is really fun, Aella... hahahahaha!"
Lilith laughed again after shouting her nonsense words.
"Alright, it seems like I'll start taking you seriously now."
After saying that, the wound on Lilith's chest suddenly closed on its own. The slash wound I had inflicted had disappeared without a trace. Unconsciously, my hand trembled slightly at the sight.
Could it be that I was scared of the demonic woman in front of me right now?
"O deus tenebrarum Zaal, da mihi fortitudinem Tuam. Fer gladium tuum, qui natus est ex calore gehennae."
Lilith slowly began to walk towards me while chanting her spell. Along with Lilith's chant, the air around became cold and suffocating. The trees roared as if expressing their fear and anxiety. And a black mist slowly appeared and enveloped Lilith's body as she slowly walked towards me.
"Infernox!"
With those words, the black mist that had originally surrounded Lilith's body began to envelop her right hand. Then slowly solidified and formed a sword. I would never forget that sword. That sword was called 'Infernox', the sword of the Dark God 'Zaal'. A sword that, according to myth, was created from the blackness and darkness of hellfire.
"Surely you haven't forgotten my 'Infernox', Aella? I'll tell you something, this is the sword I used to split Estella's chest."
"Stop your nonsense, Lilith! I don't believe for a second that your filthy hands could hurt Estella's body even a bit. Don't you remember when you ran away in fear when you saw Estella's sword?"
It seemed that my words had hurt Lilith's pride. Her face looked red, burning with anger.
"Watch your tongue, Waste Elf!"
Filled with anger, Lilith ran quickly towards me. She swung her sword sideways at me. And I swung my 'Seraphis' from below and threw the strong swing of Lilith's 'Infernox' sword upwards.
Cring!
The meeting of our two swords created a sound that was so loud. The trees roared loudly. As if two gods were fighting represented by us and their swords, 'Seraphis' and 'Infernox'.
Lilith continued to swing her sword very hard towards me. While I continued to throw away the strong swing of her sword in another direction with the soft swing of my sword. We kept running, jumping, and slashing each other.
"Listen to me, Aella, I will teach you the basics of sword fighting techniques against the Demon Race. You know, the Demon Race is the race with the strongest physical strength among all other races. Never fight with your strength when facing them. Swinging a sword is not just about strength, but sometimes we can also swing our sword softly to face the strength of our enemy."
I remembered all of Estella's words to me. After Estella said that, she started dancing with her sword. She taught me the sword technique to fight against the strength of the Demon Race. And the sword technique I'm using right now is Estella's sword technique.
"Vincula tenebrarum!"
Lilith chanted her magic spell again. This time, black chains appeared on the surface of the ground. The chains tried to ensnare my body. I jumped backwards trying to avoid the coils of the black chain.
But this time the chains wrapped around Lilith's 'Spears of Darkness' which were scattered everywhere. And then Lilith swung several spears that had been wrapped in chains towards me.
I tried to jump, run, avoid and parry all of Lilith's attacks. Both the black chains that emerged from the ground, and the spears that swung above me.
"Ventus Gladius!"
While running and avoiding Lilith's attacks, I chanted my 'Wind Sword' spell and directed it at Lilith. But she easily parried one by one of my 'Wind Sword' spells with the 'Infernox' sword in her right hand.
"Ignis Vita!"
"Ignis Tenebrarum!"
I attacked her with my 'Fire of Life' spell, but Lilith countered it with her 'Fire of Darkness' spell.
Our battle continued intensely. My battle with Lilith was actually not a battle between 'mages' in general. Because basically 'mages' are a class that supports the front line like 'Knights' or 'Swordmasters' with their long-range attack magic.
But both I and Lilith are special 'Mages'. We are both front-line 'Mage' classes. Which means, we are both 'Mages' tasked with breaking our enemy's defenses. Both I and Lilith break through the enemy's defenses with magic using our sword techniques. That's what makes me and Lilith different from other 'Mages'. And put us in a different class of fighting than other 'Mages'.
When my fire magic and Lilith's fire magic collided, Lilith suddenly jumped through the flames and swung her 'Infernox' sword towards me. I, who was not ready to receive Lilith's attack, was forced to receive and withstand the strong blow of her sword.
Along with the sound of 'Seraphis' and 'Infernox' colliding, my body was thrown away by the strong swing of Lilith's sword. I was thrown and rolled on the surface of the ground. The muscles in my arm felt tense and trembled after receiving and withstanding a direct attack from Lilith. A strong attack that I should have parried and thrown away, instead I held it with my sword. And... where is my 'Seraphis' sword?
I looked around and found it not far from my body which was lying down due to being thrown by Lilith's attack. But... before I could run to get it, I suddenly felt something snagging my right ankle. Lilith's 'Chain of Darkness' magic had managed to snare my leg. A moment later my body swung and was thrown into the thick trees of Terradin Forest. My body hit one of the large tree trunks very hard.
"Ughuk-ughuk!"
I coughed with a burning sensation in my chest. And blood came out in my cough.
"Ararara... so this is the end of our battle, Aella!"
She walked towards me with a satisfied smile on her face. It was clearly depicted on her face as if she was saying 'this is my victory, which means your death'.
I tried to get up with my aching body. And chant my spell again, and point my hand towards Lilith.
"Ignis Vita... Ventus Gladius..."
I kept chanting my spell to attack Lilith with the remnants of my strength. But Lilith easily parried all my attacks with her magic and her 'Infernox' sword.
Lilith threw my body again with the blow of her 'Chain of Darkness'. I lay down in pain while touching my chest that was hit by Lilith's magic chain. In the midst of it all, I began to hear footsteps approaching me. When I turned my face up, I saw Lilith standing in front of me. Her face was right above my body.
Lilith began to raise her 'Infernox' sword high. Then she said with a satisfied smile towards me.
"Meet your friend Estella in hell, Aella!"
Her sword began to swing towards me, and I closed my eyes, accepting my fate. But... nothing happened. Slowly I began to open my eyes, and the figure of Swordmaster-san could be seen standing in front of me. As for Lilith, she seemed to be kneeling on one leg while gripping her 'Infernox' sword away from me.
"Are you alright, Elf Lady?"
The man's body in front of me was covered in wyvern blood. I quickly looked around for the two wyverns that were fighting him. And the two wyvern heads had been severed from their bodies. This man had defeated two wyverns alone, with only the help of a short spell from my wind magic.
"Elf Lady... can you still help me fight that horned woman?"
I gathered all my strength and got up amidst my pain. Then I said to the Swordmaster who was standing in front of me now.
"Of course... let's defeat that horned Demon together."
And a moment later the Swordmaster started running towards Lilith, while I started chanting my spell...