“Why is a part of me here?”
The grimoire ‘Leviathan’ was made by using the black mana from Diablo Volfir.
In other words, this was like a part of him.
He tore them all apart with the promise of a distant future and threw them into the unknown sea late at night.
So, when he needed to, he could go and call them back.
But the thing he threw away then was now guarding a disgusting egg and was being used as its nutrients.
“I forgot about such a thing…”
It seemed like he didn’t have memories of the things which were important.
Almost none of the memories.
But the actual problem was this.
Despite the forgotten memories, it felt as if his present memory was complete.
Maybe there won’t be anymore, but ironically, the Leviathan wasn’t the end of the Grimoire.
It wasn’t certain how many Grimoires were there, but the books which were parts of him were spread all over the world.
‘Which was why she said I would know if I came here.’
Pyro must have found the traces of Diablo.
“That was why she entrusted it to me.”
“Did you find anything?”
As Jamie stood still, Venna asked him.
“Not here.”
“What?”
“Later. Right now, we have to deal with this place.”
It was at the moment when Venna tilted her head at those words.
The black mana covering the egg began to sway towards Jamie’s hand.
Venna’s eyes widened in shock.
“M-Master?”
“Come back. To your Master!”
As his command, Leviathan began to flow into Jamie’s hand.
It was then.
“Who else is here!”
A pure white light began to fall like raindrops.
Jamie almost yelled.
“The Holy energy of Zenith?!”
Why was Zenith's holy power falling from the sky?
He couldn’t believe it, but that didn’t matter.
“Venna! Stop it!”
“Euuhh!”
Venna stomped her feet and stretched her hands out.
“Sh-shield!”
A thin film formed in the air.
The holy power rain pounded on it.
“One won’t be enough.”
“Shield! Shield! Shield!”
Unlike Jamie, who could create ten at once, Venna had to do it each time.
However, the shields couldn't withstand the rain of the holy power and were broken.
Fortunately, not a single drop of holy power fell on them.
“Magician?”
A woman floating in the air mumbled as she looked down.
She came down to the ground and saw a little boy drenched in black mana and a scared pink-haired girl.
“What is this? This seems to be something bothersome.”
“You. Are you from the Zenith church?”
“How did the little one know that?”
The woman, Kana, swept her well-groomed blue hair behind her ear and approached them.
Not taking his eyes off her, Jamie asked.
“What is the Zenith church doing here? Did you come to destroy the Demon’s egg?”
“You seem to be a kid with many questions.”
“Or is the priest actually trying to protect the egg?”
“What should we do? This sister has no intention of telling you that.”
As Kana reached out her hand, a weapon began to get summoned.
Venna tensed up as she stood ahead of Jamie. The pink hammer she was holding was being clenched hard.
Seeing that, Kana snickered.
“There are two colors which I hate the most.”
“Colors you hate?”
“The pink hair and that pink hammer in your hand. And what could a girl do with a hammer?”
“… you are saying that despite that weapon in your hand?”
Venna didn’t like her words.
Compared to the weapon in Kana’s hand, her hammer was cuter.
“What about this?”
Kana stroked her thick weapon.
A huge mass resting on a regular handle which could make anyone shiver.
“Isn’t this a very cute mace?”
The sharp pieces of iron clogged to the blunt metal were far from cute.
Besides, her mace seemed bigger than other maces.
"It is grey and looks dull, not the least bit pretty. What about it is even cute?"
"Tch. It must be because you are a kid? What to do? You are going to die here, and I only talked to you because I was stressed.”
“We are going to take down auntie too.”
Kana's eyes turned sharp at those words.
Jamie too, was a bit startled at Venna's unusual attitude.
“Auntie?”
“yes… Auntie.”
“Puahaha! Auntie. Calling me auntie! Puahaha!”
Kana burst into laughter as if that was ridiculous.
And then, stopped laughing and looked at them blankly.
“I will kill you first.”
“Venna. Block her somehow until I absorb this.”
“I’ll try my best.”
Venna, who was scared stiff a moment before, seemed infinitely reliable.
“Please.”
“Do not worry!”
Saying that Venna ran.
Kana's red lips turned into a smile, and the two weapons collided.
“Hahaha! Is this all?!”
Kana swung her mace.
Venna clenched her teeth and swung the pink hammer as much as she could.
However, the difference in their skills was very clear.
The weight of the mace was no joke. It felt like her hands were going to rip defending herself.
‘How is she that strong?’
As she awakened the power of Valkyrie, she became more confident in her strength.
Especially after entering the forest, she felt herself grow stronger.
Still, she was no match for the woman who was attacking her.
Was this because of the meeting with Theberon?
“Is this all?”
Kana was swinging her mace like a feather.
It was a blunt one which weighed several tons, but it didn’t seem to be a weight at all for Kana.
Boom! Bang!
The hammer didn’t seem like an ordinary weapon either, but because of the difference in skills, the owner of the hammer was getting pushed back.
Kana, who had lots of experience in combat, could tell the difference in the first collision itself.
“I thought you would last until the little boy took everything in? but you don’t seem to be able to last that long.”
“Kuak!”
Venna couldn’t stand the mace and flew backwards.
She rolled on the floor, got up, and grabbed her hammer once again. Sweat was pouring down, and her hair was stuck all over her face.
‘I can’t lose focus now.’
With very little combat experience, all she could do was endure.
‘I’d rather fight with monsters…’
She could attack them easily, and this led her to believe she had a talent for fights.
“Why aren’t you coming?”
“…”
“Scared?”
“I am not!”
Venna rushed at Kana again.
Her hammer lifted up to strike the woman.
Bang!!
Kana lightly evaded it and then smiled.
“Indeed, I seem to hate pink hair.”
Big attacks bring in bigger gaps.
And veterans like Kana wouldn’t miss the opportunity to use that gap.
She took a step ahead very naturally and then swung her mace at Venna’s back.
“Kuak!”
An intense pain spread from her back and through her chest.
Venna fell to the ground.
And that was another mistake.
The moment she turned back, she saw a sharp piece of iron flying in.
She didn’t know what would happen if those pieces on her weapon would hit her.
‘Not my face!’
Reflexively, Venna, who had awakened her Valkyrie powers, was swift.
She turned against the direction of mace. And then raised one arm up with the other was covering her face.
It was impossible to avoid, so she wanted to minimize the damage.
And only by taking minimum damage would she have the chance to counterattack.
Puck!
“Kuak!”
Her forearm bent weirdly.
The bones were clearly broken.
Venna couldn’t stand the power of mace and flew back and hit a tree.
“Cough! Cough!”
With her limp arm to the side, she coughed up blood.
It was a strong attack, but it surely couldn't break her arm.
‘This shock from the bear attacks hadn’t gone off yet.’
She was already hurt all over her body because of the attacks from Theberon.
Jamie’s recovery magic and the Valkyrie’s recovery power helped her, but the shock to her body remained.
‘Still, I couldn’t stand that attack.’
So the bone broke.
Although the woman seemed strong, her agility also couldn’t be ignored.
At that moment, Kana scoffed looking at Venna.
"Oh. If only it was the head that was broken, you wouldn't have felt such pain. The arm must hurt a lot."
“Hoo, Hoo, Hoo….”
Despite the sarcasm, Venna took deep breaths and calmed herself.
Her hammer was next to her.
Venna bit her lower lip and stood up.
“You think you can fight with that arm?”
“I will.”
“This is so heartbreaking.”
Kana smiled as she walked up to her.
Her gait was large for a woman.
“Don’t worry. Once I kill you, I will send that other kid to you too.”
“You should be the one worrying.”
“What?”
It was the moment Kana tilted her head at those words.
“You, what…!”
All her senses failed her.
Right arm to left arm, left leg to right leg, front to back, and back to front.
It wasn’t long.
But the feeling was weird.
“Kuah!”
The long handle in her hand bent.
Kana felt her feet rise as if she was hit with a hammer in her gut.
“B-Black magic…!”
Curse magic was what was used on her, curse magic which Venna had learned for 10 years.
An easy one, an illusion for a moment.
It was even easier to use if the opponent was hot-headed!
‘It was too short a time.’
She knew that the opponent was a priest of a church, and she could only hold it for 5 seconds.
‘I wish it could have worked longer. But it won’t be usable the second time.’
Since the priest had holy power working against black magic, this trick wouldn’t work again.
And she had to finish the woman.
“Dieee!”
Push!
Wind blew out of the hammer. Several cracks were forming, and they began to crack along the line of the hammer.
A blue stone inside the hammer lit up.
Kwangg!
Large explosion where the hammer fell.
Venna was blown away from the aftermath.
Even she, who was holding it, couldn't understand what had just happened.
Black explosions and flames.
The fire which hit the grass began to grow in size.
“W-what just happened?”
Mana was sucked out of her body.
And the hammer turned back into a ring.
It seemed like this was the ability of the hammer.
Tremendous power.
Venna put her surprise away and looked at the place where the explosion took place.
“Did it work?”
Hit by the hammer and the explosion.
It would be strange if the woman didn’t die.
And inside the flames, nothing could be seen.
Venna, who was silent, then said.
“Did it… I, I did it!”
Convinced, she jumped, cheering for herself.
But that wasn’t the case.
“You bitch!”
There was light.
A hand stuck out and grabbed Venna's neck.
The light soon took the form of a human, and the air scattered away.
What appeared was a charred Kana.
Her clothes were burned, and she lifted Venna with an enraged face.
“Kuak!”
“You made my beautiful body like this!”
And she slammed Venna into the ground hard enough for the ground to crack.
Venna’s eyes rolled back.
She grabbed the mace again.
“How dare you, disgusting dark magician!”
And then decided to crush the face of Venna.
It was then.
She felt an eerie energy behind her.
She knew that Demon’s egg was behind her.
‘No… Is it that kid?!’
Now wasn’t the time to worry about the girl.
Kana left Venna on the ground and tried to run.
“N-No…”
She felt a hand grabbing her ankle.
“Are you trying to make me kill you!”
Kana tried to shake Venna away, but the grip on her ankle kept getting stronger.
“Ack!”
It felt like her ankle was going to break.
How could a dying person have such power?
“Y-you!”
It would be quicker if she broke the head.
Deciding that, Kana held her mace with both hands.
Gathered holy power within it.
And took it down.
“…!”
A cold wind blew down.
The mace stopped right in front of Venna’s face.
And a shadow fell over her head.
It wasn’t a huge shadow.
She looked up and saw a little boy floating in the air who looked indifferently at her and said.
“Gluttony.”
Through the boy's purple eyes, an unknown darkness twitched.
And Kana looked again.
There, the darkness with its mouth wide open was staring back at her.
