Dimitri looked at Qiel with a solemn expression. Qiel, on the other hand, was completely perplexed. The pills came out of nowhere. On the one hand, it might be related to Duke Briton, but she didn't think it was that simple.
After defeating the demon tree, Noel also swallowed a pill. If Duke Briton had brought them, she would have gotten some information about it since it would definitely not be a small number.
The people on the border would definitely check their luggage and confirm that there was no pill.
'Wait a minute. There is one more possibility.' Qiel suddenly noticed something. The Supreme Devil Organization had a lot of information about this kingdom, including the fact that one of the royal alchemists, Khalid, was retiring in this kingdom.
He had been moving around so that no one could find him. But when she thought about it, there was a possibility that they managed to recruit Khalid.
If that were the case, there would be a lot more pills than she could imagine.
Meanwhile, Dimitri was slightly adjusting to his current state. He felt weird that Qiel didn't attack him, but it didn't seem she was fully distracted.
There must be a thought in her mind, but she still made sure that she could react to Dimitri's movement. In that case, there was only one thing to do.
Dimitri disappeared into the shadow.
Qiel hurriedly placed her hand on the ground, causing the ground to be enveloped by light. This circle of light would prevent any shadow from coming to her.
Dimitri returned to the surface after looping around Qiel and waving his blade. Qiel instinctively lowered her upper body as the slash actually cut down all the trees around them.
"!!!" The one who was shocked by this move was actually Qiel. It wasn't that she was scared or that this attack was too fast for her. Instead, she didn't understand why Dimitri decided to cut down all these trees. After all, Dimitri could manipulate their shadows.
She was the one who had been destroying the terrain this whole time to open up the area.
When that thought occurred in her mind, Dimitri waved his left hand down.
Before the trunk fell to the ground, it projected a new shadow due to its falling motion. He extended all these shadows to create an unpredictable pattern.
"!!!" Qiel jumped into the air to avoid the shadow, but the latter rose into the sky, chasing after her.
She wanted to flap her wings, but the bleeding would weaken her even further.
Hence, she actually shot an arrow to the ground, but this time, there was a black-colored string attached to the back of the arrow. She then grabbed the black string and pulled herself to the ground.
Dimitri leaped toward her while waving his blade from above.
Qiel held the bow with both hands, parrying Dimitri's slash. However, Dimitri actually used the black curtain for this slash, causing Qiel to feel tremendous pressure on her hands. It felt like the hands were about to snap.
"Aaahhhh!" Qiel shouted while using all her strength to stop this attack. As a result, the ground underneath her began to crack.
Dimitri swiftly landed on the ground next to her, ready for the second leap. This time, he would cut her down directly.
QIel endured the pain in her hands and hurriedly tilted her body to the side so that she could aim her bow at Dimitri. Before he leaped, Qiel released an arrow.
*Boom!*
A single arrow was enough to create much more destruction than Dimitri's attack, but the latter was swift enough to avoid the arrow.
He looped around and waved his blade.
Qiel formed a translucent shield behind her while drawing her bow. When Dimitri's blade was about to reach her, it was stopped by Qiel's barrier for a split second, allowing Qiel to lower her body once again to avoid the slash.
After that, she shot at Dimitri.
Dimitri skillfully dodged with his speed, but as expected, it would be hard to attack Qiel even in this situation.
Qiel kept following Dimitri while thinking, 'His ability is boosted by at least thirty percent. I might not be able to keep up with him soon. This is getting ridiculous.'
Qiel had one thought in her mind. As long as she could withstand all of Dimitri's attacks for five minutes, she would be the winner.
Dimitri sped up once again as he vanished from Qiel's vision.
As an archer, Qiel had always had a good understanding of her surroundings. Even if Dimitri disappeared, she could still use her spiritual energy to check the surroundings.
To her surprise, Dimitri was actually gone. She couldn't see anyone near her within a ten meters radius.
"!!!" Qiel hurriedly raised her vision. There was only one place where Dimitri would go; it was above her.
Dimitri was actually placing himself between her and the sun so that his shadow would be projected on her.
As soon as she saw through that intention, she jumped to the side, trying to avoid it.
However, Dimitri had reinforced his shadows to the fullest, turning them into a spike that ended up hitting Qiel's left leg.
"Kh." Qiel gritted her teeth. It was a deep injury. If not for the fact that she was extremely strong in spiritual energy control, she might not be able to move her left leg after this.
She hurriedly used the spiritual energy to enhance her leg.
The moment Dimitri landed on the ground, he hurriedly waved his blade horizontally, trying to cut Qiel's upper body.
Qiel once again ducked to avoid the slash that cut all the trees around them.
"!!!" Qiel remembered what happened earlier and jumped forward, avoiding the falling trees. With this, Dimitri shouldn't have control over the shadow from those trunks or at least extend them long enough to reach her.
Even though Qiel was going closer to Dimitri, she still believed she could somehow block his attacks.
It was at this time that she realized she had made a mistake. The sound of falling trees never echoed from her ears as if they never touched the ground.
At the same time, her vision darkened as if something covered the sun.
Qiel realized it was the trunks. Dimitri turned out launching all the trunks into the sky. This was probably the reason why he cleared up the area.
He was approaching his limit and the only way to utilize his shadow was by extending the shadow naturally as much as possible. In other words, placing the trunks between Qiel and the sun.
"Shadow Rain!" Dimitri waved his hand.
Multiple giant spikes emerged from the trunks, impaling the ground around Qiel.
"Kh." Qiel gnashed her teeth while doing her best to avoid every single one of them. However, some of them managed to graze her. Two of them were even quite deep like the wound on her waist.
In the end, she used her other wing to block one of them while letting the other one bleed profusely.
Qiel moved between the shadow spikes, barely coming out alive. And it was at this time that she saw Dimitri ready to slash his blade.
In fact, he had been waiting for her. Now that she was out, Dimitri could finally strike her down.
"Shadow Curtain!"
Block it? She wasn't in the position to block it. At the same time, she was severely injured from the last attack.
It was already amazing that an archer could fight an assassin like Dimitri in close quarter combat. But this was the end.
"Aaaahhh!" Qiel shouted, using her last resort. Both of the wings suddenly moved forward, trying to block Dimitri's black curtain from splitting her into two.
However, there was no way these wings could do it. It only managed to block Dimitri's black curtain for a split second, but it seemed that Qiel had made her resolve.
That split second was used to tilt her body to the side so that when the black curtain slashed through her wings, it only cut her right side.
"!!!" Dimitri widened his eyes in shock. To think that Qiel was still strong enough to stop the attack by sacrificing her right arm and right leg.
'No. I should kill her!' Dimitri jumped forward, trying to deliver a killing blow.
But on the way, he suddenly spat a mouthful of blood as the black tattoo on his body disappeared.
"Gah!" Dimitri instantly lost all the strength in his body. The pain was so unbearable that it almost knocked him out immediately.
His body refused to move and ended up falling to the ground.
On the other hand, Qiel managed to survive even though she had to sacrifice a lot. At the same time, she still had her True Spirit Body.
"You bastard…" Qiel gritted her teeth, glaring at Dimitri. To think that she would lose all this from the fight while Dimitri managed to close all his wounds.
Even then, the victor was her. Dimitri didn't seem to be able to move anymore and there would be nothing to stop her from killing Dimitri.
"Do you think I can't shoot you anymore in this condition?" Qiel used the last bit of her wings to form her limbs. Yes, the left wing turned into her right arm while the right wing turned into her leg.
Although this was only temporary, she could still wield her bow.
Dimitri looked at Qiel, resigning to his fate. It seemed that he had failed his master. 'I'm sorry, Master. I can't stand by your side anymore.'
Dimitri didn't know why, but he remembered the first time he met Noel. He was just a baby at that time, but he actually held Dimitri's finger with a big smile on his face. And it made him even more regretful because he couldn't accompany the kid who had brought him from living in the shadow to basking in the bright light.
"Die." Qiel shouted while releasing her arrow.
