Within the vast barrier that covered almost the entire area, Jalren calmly surveyed the situation. Of course he wasn't going to retreat from the place after all the military might he had brought; no one could outmaneuver him. There was one thing that bothered him, though: the information he had received was wrong. His group was supposed to be teleported near the royal family's quarters, but instead they had been sent to the far edge.
"What the hell did that bastard Selmun do! That decrepit old man was supposed to be sent to supervise and do a preliminary exploration, since we didn't trust the information those useless people were giving us, but it seems that the moron failed as well," Jalren said in a cold tone.
Jalren had a keen sense of smell. He instantly realized that there was a faint scent of blood, and without a doubt, that scent belonged to the old man Selmun. The more he analyzed his surroundings, the more he noticed the small details. For example, the place he was in was a mess; there were signs of a previous battle. Just by seeing that, he knew that something had happened to his companions. Without further ado, he turned to his companions and ordered:
"Mostrug, Igroxith, Brozgathan."
As he spoke, three people stepped forward, answering Jalren's call.
"We'll proceed with the initial plan. Without a doubt, they're already aware of it; everything seems to indicate that they managed to capture the vegestorium. But that doesn't matter; go and bring me the head of that girl, and as for that existence that Aris mentioned, I'll take care of it personally."
"Understood".
"Understood".
"Understood".
The three men he had named nodded in unison and at the same time, they rushed towards the barrier; they were ready to break it. Igroxith was the first to reach the edge of the barrier. He quickly ran towards it with a halberd that looked extremely heavy; it was undoubtedly some kind of halberd. He was an experienced warrior, skilled in hand-to-hand combat and the use of the halberd. In his home kingdom, he is known as a formidable warrior, classified as Rank S; that title was granted to him by the Adventurer's Guild of his country. On his halberd, multiple engravings could be seen, implying that his weapon was a magical item, and it was not just any weapon. He ran elegantly, moving as if he were dancing; his brown eyes made him look like an ordinary person, but his movements hinted that he was not just anyone. He seemed to be the fastest of his group, and he was the first to reach the edge of the barrier. It took him only a few seconds, and when he was finally close, he tightened his grip on his right hand and slammed the halberd into the barrier, which seemed as thin as glass, with all his might.
CRACK!
Igroxith could see how the barrier cracked. It seemed like it wouldn't withstand his powerful attack, but contrary to his expectations, the barrier repaired itself; it was in an instant, and right after that strange phenomenon occurred, he could notice that the tip of his weapon had also suffered damage. Upon noticing these small details, his eyes immediately opened wide; he was more than surprised by what was happening. It was the first time something like this had happened to him; his halberd had broken many swords, shields, and spears in the past; he never had the need to do maintenance on it, but that same halberd had suffered damage just because it hit a weak barrier.
"Impossible!" Igroxith exclaimed.
Igroxith noticed that the two elves on the other side of the barrier had strange faces; they seemed almost as surprised as he was at the failure he had committed. His companions called his attention.
"Looks like your halberd definitely needed some proper maintenance before you came here. Just touching that barrier made it break!" said Mostrug, the most muscular guy in the group.
"Tsk, shut up," Igroxith replied angrily.
"I don't think that barrier is that simple; I am unable to sense a single shred of mana in it. There is definitely some trick hidden within it. What do you think of this barrier, Jalren?" Brozgathan, the S-rank mage, asked his leader, but something caught his attention: his leader was looking in a certain direction, more specifically at the center of the barrier. Following his leader's gaze, he noticed the figure of a certain girl with green eyes and beautiful silver hair; that description matched the data they had been given. His mouth dropped, and all he could let out was a single expression:
"The elves went crazy."
Brozgathan soon told the others of his discovery. There was no need to tell them, but the shock he received was so immense that he could not control himself.
"Hey, look at the center of the barrier."
As she said those words, her two companions turned to look at the place and were also surprised by what they were seeing; it was nothing more and nothing less than their number one target. Little by little, everyone began to notice the presence of the girl. It was strange, as it seemed odd to them that they couldn't notice her until now. A corner of everyone's lips began to form. Without a doubt, they had thought it was their lucky day.
"Hahahaha. I understand now; it seems that the elves chose to sacrifice their little princess. Now everything makes sense," Mostrug said in his grand tone of voice; everyone present easily heard his statement and seemed to believe it.
"I didn't know the elves were so heartless towards their children; they certainly went completely mad," Igroxith commented. He seemed a little disappointed by the elves' attitude; he considered them a little more worthy and better than that; he thought that these elves would protect their princess to the very end, no matter how many lives were lost in the process.
On the other hand, Aris was frowning at the girl. He said to Jalren:
"She's definitely awakened her magic power; that shouldn't have happened," Aris commented, concern in his voice. The fact that this girl was in front of them was definitely a cause for concern; they weren't supposed to be in this place; she was supposed to be killed in her room; this was supposed to be the end of this girl's life: to be killed by a sword.
"There is definitely something strange going on in the world; there is definitely some bastard disrupting the will of the world. Whatever it is, it is constantly changing that child's fate." Jalren's eyes were fixed on the child, and he was unable to understand how she had escaped his notice; that was a cause for praise. He let out a sigh, as he was unable to understand everything that was happening, and said in a determined tone:
"Kill her," he ordered everyone present. He wasn't going to dirty his hands by killing a weakling; that job was for those of lower rank. Most of the people they had brought with them were adventurers, and among them were some mercenaries. The reality was that it didn't matter who killed her; what he was interested in was fighting that guy from the reports, the same one who had beaten Aris. Once he ordered his subordinates, different people could be seen approaching the girl; it was a group of ten people; without a doubt, they were the most needy, or more specifically, they were the mercenaries who were undoubtedly trying to stand out in order to obtain greater benefits.
"Hahaha, easy money," said one of the subjects.
"That's true, who would think that they're offering so much money for this little girl's head?" said another as he approached the little girl and placed his hand on her head.
"Just look at her, the poor thing is frozen in place and doesn't know what to do; all she can do is look at us in fear."
The ten people were constantly making comments and mocking comments about how easy the mission they had been assigned was; without a doubt, once they completed this job they would not need to work for at least a year; the amount they had been promised was, without a doubt, a good sum of money. The girl with green eyes and silver hair was frozen; she did not move at all, and her eyes were fixed on the leader; she radiated innocence; without a doubt, she was a good girl. After the masked man placed his hand on the girl's head and lightly caressed her head, he raised his axe; his weapon had a gold-plated handle, and he waved it forcefully; it seemed like his intention was to slit the little girl's throat.
"Work ends...?"
His sentence was interrupted by a crack; the subject could hear the sound of something breaking, or rather the sound of something colliding with an extremely hard surface, or more specifically, a barrier. His axe was stopped dead in its tracks by a semi-transparent barrier that had formed right next to the girl's neck, and at the same time he noticed that the edge of his weapon had broken. All he could do was open his eyes wide. After he attacked the girl, something curious happened: the girl who was looking at her leader turned to look at the ten mercenaries surrounding her, and a voice that sounded extremely calm could be heard; the girl's voice echoed throughout the barrier; without a doubt, everyone had heard what she said; her voice seemed to be amplified by mana.
"Welcome everyone. My name is Lia Silverlight; it's a pleasure to have you all here," the girl said; her expression was still frozen, and her eyes were no longer looking at the leader; instead, she was now looking at everyone present; her eyes were scanning everyone in the place. Once she finished scanning them, she spoke again:
"I am aware that you have come to kill me, and for those of you wondering if the royal family handed me over to be assassinated, I regret to inform you that this is not the case. Unfortunately, the reason for my presence is because I recently awakened my mana; that is why I am here. So do not think that I am here to sacrifice myself for the sake of avoiding casualties among my subordinates. I do not wish to drag this talk out any further; I am here to kill all of you, since you dared to invade my domain; that is the main reason why I am here, and since one of your men was about to blow my head off just now, it is fair to assume that you will show no mercy to me. I have been observing all of you, and I have come to the conclusion that all of you are not here for my head; some of you are simply here for money; so I am going to give you a chance: kill your companions and I will spare your lives; oh, I almost forgot, I am a mage; keep that in mind." heads".
After the girl finished her speech, everyone present could see how the man who had tried to blow the girl's head off with a single cut fell to the ground; he was on his knees; it seemed that a strange force was forcing him to kneel.
"Ugh, what the fuck is this?" said the man who had just tried to kill the girl in front of him.
In an instant, his own axe was snatched away by a strange force and flew towards the girl; she caught the weapon by the hilt. Everyone seemed surprised that such a thin and pale girl could lift a weapon that weighed more than her without a doubt, in a swift movement, the girl swung the axe and sliced off the guy's head; he could not do anything, and his companions could not react in time; when they wanted to help him, it was already too late.
"This has to be a joke," one of his companions exclaimed.
"Hey, hey, are you serious?"
"What's wrong with that damn thing?"
"Is that even a girl?"
The various people surrounding the girl exclaimed; others wondered if what they had seen was real. A B-Rank mercenary had been killed in a matter of seconds. Once the girl finished with the guy, she turned to look at the others; the girl's gaze was still the same as at the beginning. Seeing that the girl hadn't blinked even a bit when killing her partner, several of them felt chills. Without a doubt, the girl had some screws loose. The silver-haired, green-eyed girl spoke:
"There are too many of you; it will definitely be a pain to kill you all one by one. Mark my words: if you kill your comrades, your lives will be spared; otherwise, don't even think about leaving this place alive; I won't let even your souls escape from this place; think carefully about what you do from now on; that barrier won't be easily broken, and I won't let you break it either."
After the girl finished her speech, the floor of the armory began to shake uncontrollably; everyone realized that something was about to happen, and it didn't take long for them to know what it was; no one expected such a situation to happen so suddenly. In an instant, at an extremely absurd speed, green vines emerged from the floor; they mercilessly pierced everyone within their range; all the hooded subjects could do was try to raise mana shields that didn't deploy in time, since they didn't have such a thing. In less than ten seconds, the area inside the barrier became a pool of blood; only a few had managed to successfully dodge the vines, and a few had managed to damage them. Screams could be heard throughout the area; the wails of the people who moments ago swore that they would get out of this place alive, the hopeless faces of those who had been hit by those vines could be seen; And amidst all that carnage, in the very center was the person who had caused such chaos; his gaze was cold and indifferent; not a single smile could be seen on his lips, and his eyes remained fixed on his victims, analyzing if there was anyone nearby who could represent some kind of danger. All of this was seen by Jalren; he had not received a single scratch, although several of the vines had hit him. Seeing all the chaos that the girl had caused, a sigh of relief came out of his mouth.
"I'm glad she's not a complete weakling after all, and now I understand why they wanted you dead. This level of destruction, this ability to wreak death so easily, this coldness... you are certainly no ordinary entity, and what's worse is that you haven't even reached adulthood and you're capable of wielding powers of this kind. You are undoubtedly a threat that must be eradicated at all costs; you cannot be allowed to live past this age."
The invaders' leader's statement was answered by the silver-haired girl who was wearing a strange white sleeveless dress that reached down to her knees; the outfit made visible how thin her legs were, and as for her arms, they were exposed and looked extremely fragile.
"There is no being capable of killing me; I am the future queen of this kingdom; I am the mistress and lord of all these lands; all of you will kneel before me, from humans to the gods themselves; my existence will not be erased from this world, no matter what happens."
With those words, a fight without quarter began, in which only the strongest would emerge victorious. All those warriors and magicians who could still move launched their best attacks against the girl; they had already realized that she was not an ordinary girl; to get out of this calamity alive, they had to give it their all. But unfortunately for them, the little silver-haired girl had no plans to go easy on them. From outside the barrier, Naida and Keijo watched everything that was happening with their mouths wide open; the surprise had them frozen in place, unable to do or say anything; after all, their little lady was destroying all the enemies without breaking a sweat.