Lilieth ran through the streets, leaving bewildered faces behind her. Her Blessed body made her faster and more able than most people her size, so despite not being very physically fit, Lilieth wasn’t completely out of breath.

  She reached the gate. Numerous guards stood by at the entrance checking the papers and documents of those that entered and left. Not a problem, Lilieth thought. She would be able to pass. The problem was that going on foot would take too much time, so she needed ...

  “... Ah.”

  Lilieth spotted a familiar figure in the distance standing next to a horse. Markosh, the same local adventurer from the night prior, leaned against a steed while holding his own head.

  “Lord Markosh!” the young mage called out.

  Markosh reacted slowly, turning to her and glaring. “... Who the fuck’s callin’ me a bloody lord? Gah, me heads killin’ me ...”

  “Lord Markosh, I’d like to buy that horse!”

  “Hah?” He glared at her incredulously. “Who in Lye’s hells are you? Wait ... aren’t ya that brat from last night?”

  “I’m honored to be remembered.”

  Markosh narrowed his eyes at her. It looked like he was hungover from drinking.

  “Whaddya want? Me horse?”

  Lilieth nodded.

  “... You right in the head, kid? What makes ya think I’ll—”

  Before Markosh could finish his sentence, Lilieth pulled out a bag of coins and held it in front of him.

  “Two hundred gold vals,” she said.

  The man’s eyes widened. In truth, two hundred gold coins was far too much for a single horse, but Lilieth didn’t care. She had a lot saved up since she didn’t spend her earnings on much.

  It didn’t take long for Markosh to make up his mind, and Lilieth was riding the horse out of the city before the afternoon bell could ring. The guards let her through as soon as she showed her guild card. Even if she wasn’t the most popular member of Verlaine’s party, she was a member nonetheless, and most guards knew better than to obstruct a registered hero that was clearly in a hurry.

  She rode unsteadily. Lilieth never got used to riding on horseback even though Talgerda had taught her,and she certainly wasn’t used to riding at the speed her horse galloped.

  It was still a few hours before the party would depart for Salcaeli, so if Lilieth was fast enough, she would be able to make it back in time for their departure. She would be late, sure, but she hoped that Talgerda and Verlaine would convince the others to wait for a bit ...

  … No, that wasn’t going to happen. In all likelihood, the others would try to find and locate her as soon as they noticed that she was gone. It wouldn’t take them long to find her—Sevens’ Divination magic would locate her instantly.

  In other words, she only had until they noticed her absence. But that was fine. Even if they came, all she needed to do was show them that her vision was real, that her vision was important.

  And she knew, in her heart, that it was.

  It was maddening—truly maddening—that she couldn’t explain where the feelings were coming from. She had faith in her own faith, however, and that was enough.

  Soon, Lilieth reached the forest. She moved in the direction that tugged at her, riding past trees and bushes and branches. In the distance, she saw a small rift in the earth, but she had no plans to slow down. Instead, she ordered the horse to go faster.

  The steed jumped, and Lilieth’s heart jumped out of her chest as the sheer height of the drop made itself known underneath her.

  They lingered in the air—a second feeling like minutes to her eyes. The horse just barely landed on the other side and continued galloping like it didn’t just jump over a ravine.

  Her heart pounded, and she found herself laughing. That was risky, especially since the horse had been too scared to jump or if it panicked at any point. Thankfully, the horses they sold to heroes seemed to be of a braver breed.

  The young mage admittedly had no idea where all that bravado of hers was coming from. Telling the hero’s party where they should go next based on a vision, leaving without telling them, doing all this... she had never been this wild before. And while she was appalled by her own behavior, a part of her was thrilled—excited even.

  After a few minutes of riding at top speed, she finally arrived. In front of her was a cliffside, overgrowth covering it like paint. At a glance, there was nothing to be found amidst it all, but that unnamable feeling inside her was more powerful than ever.

  She got off her horse and tied it to a nearby tree before getting closer to the wall of earth. When she did, she noticed it. Hastening herself, she pulled the vines and leaves to the side, revealing a cave entrance hidden by nature.

  Lilieth sucked in a breath as the fear set in. She didn’t know how to fight or even have a single combat spell in her arsenal, but she was too far in to turn back. She inhaled deeply then entered the cave.

  As she travelled deeper in, the darkness left nothing to be seen, so she pulled out a torch from her bag and lit it, illuminating the tunnel. It was only wide enough to accommodate one or two people, though tall enough for Titan to walk in. She ventured into the darkness, hand on the wall to keep herself steady and torch in front to light the way. The walls bounced the sound of her footsteps around, only accompanied by the echoes of dripping water.

  That feeling inside her was getting harder to ignore with how close she was. It was like a voice was constantly whispering in her ear—“You’re close. You’re close. Faster. We’re here.”

  Eventually, the pathway opened into a wide, spacious cavern, its walls thickly layered by moss. Inside the cavern was a lake with waters calm and unperturbed, and at the middle of the lake was a stone platform upon which twelve swords rested, thrust into the ground, forming a ring of blades. There was a walkway that connected the platform to her position.

  When she saw those swords, her heart soared and tears welled in her eyes. It was real. Her vision was real! She wasn’t delusional. Her Goddess existed, and She gave her this mission. There was meaning to it all.

  She walked forward, approaching the swords slowly, fearfully, as if afraid that if she made any sudden moves, the swords would vanish and leave her with nothing. A silly thought, perhaps, but her heart thronged, nevertheless.

  Lilieth stopped right in front of the ring of swords, and she inspected each one. They were all longswords of extraordinary make, magnitudes more beautiful than any expensive masterpiece she’d seen in the best weapon shops. Each one was unique, almost having a personalized feel to it. Embedded in the center of each of their crossguards were gems, and she noticed that their colors corresponded to the colors of the twelve moons. Of course, her eyes were naturally drawn to the sword with the green gem, which would’ve represented Green Reina, the moon of her birth. A moon symbolically connected to Eulalie. She reached out her hand, and—

  She heard a noise behind her, and turning around, she saw a figure approaching. Tall, strong, majestic—each stride conveyed power and purpose. Olivier Verlaine proved with his every minute action that he was undoubtedly a hero.

  For a moment, Lilieth’s thoughts froze, panicking over what she’d say, what excuse she’d give. Verlaine stopped in front of her, an unreadable expression on his face. He said nothing. If the others had been with him, they would have probably already been berating her for going off on her own, but there was only silence.

  “L-lord Verlaine, I ...” Lilieth started. “I apologize for ... for leaving by myself, but it wasn’t for nothing! Look, Lord Verlaine. My vision was real! I ...”

  She trailed off, realizing that his gaze was already on the twelve swords. No, it had been on the twelve swords the entire time. Now that she looked at his face closer, she realized that there was a faint, almost imperceptible change in his expression compared to the calm, heroic visage he usually wore.

  He was surprised. Eyes widened, he seemed genuinely caught off guard by what he saw. A part of Lilieth’s heart sank when she noticed. Had ... had he not believed her? Even back then?

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  No. No, there was no need to be down over that. It was logical. She hadn’t given him any reason to believe her after all. Regardless, it wouldn’t matter anymore. The vision was there, right in front of him, too real to be denied.

  “My Lord?” Lilieth asked the stupefied hero. “My Lord, where are the others? Did they ... did you come here by yourself? For me?”

  She felt silly asking it like that. She could feel her own face turning red. Lilieth immediately regretted her words, but Verlaine’s answer both calmed her down and somewhat disappointed her.

  “... They’re outside the cave,” he replied. “I asked them to stay behind. I felt it would’ve been reckless to have everyone confront you now, especially after the news we’ve received.”

  “News? What news?”

  “The demonic front is falling,” he said curtly. “An archdemon has appeared.”

  “... Ah.”

  Chills ran up Lilieth’s spine, and her blood began to curdle. Demons weren’t individually very powerful, each one being roughly equivalent in strength to a First tier Blessed with some more powerful ones being at the level of a Second tier. Their main threat came in their sheer numbers. But archdemons were in a different league entirely. There were only a handful of instances where an archdemon was sighted, and each time, overwhelming catastrophes followed.

  The last one that appeared was several years ago. According to the reports she’d read, only several seconds after a sighting, an entire Salcaeli city was flattened. That time, a Fourth tier had to be dispatched to fight the archdemon, and maps had to be redrawn as a consequence of that battle.

  Verlaine’s party had three Third tiers, eight Second tiers ... and one First tier. Even if they all worked together, however, they still stood little chance of defeating an archdemon. The gap in strength between tiers was wide. Only a Fourth tier could hope to fight it.

  “Was ... was the order called off?” Lilieth asked. The Salt King had summoned all the hero parties back to Salcaeli to push back the latest demonic wave, but if an archdemon has shown up, then a Fourth would have to be summoned instead.

  “No, we’re still going,” he replied.

  “But why ... oh. Right. Even if a Fourth tier is going to fight the archdemon, we still need to be there to deal with the other demons. I understand.”

  “We won’t be dealing with the other demons,” he said. “The Salt King’s latest orders are that we hold the archdemon off until the Fourths arrive.”

  Lilieth froze. “... What?”

  A grimace formed on Verlaine’s face. “There have been ... complications. Selena Serpasiy is still recuperating from her injuries from her last demonic skirmish, and she’s the only Lunemage among the Fourths. The others are too far away; it would take them days to reach Salcaeli. We, on the other hand, are close enough that, if we make haste carrying everyone with Sky magic, we would make it within a day or two.”

  Lunar magic was one of the rarest kinds of magic. It allowed one to warp space and create portals to other locations. Verlaine himself was a Lunemage, but at his tier level, his portals only worked for himself and a few people. Only a Fourth tier Lunemage could open a portal for a group to pass through. In other words, while Verlaine could instantaneously warp himself to Salcaeli, he couldn’t bring everyone else with him.

  Suffice to say, fighting an archdemon with only their three Third tiers was nothing short of suicide. Hells, even with all twelve of the hero’s party, the chances of survival were slim.

  “But we can’t ...” Lilieth spoke with a weak voice. “There should be other Fourths who are close by! W-what about the Caprice Knight? A-and the Dragonslayer?”

  “Oskar Halverik is refusing to respond to the summons, and Kalaman Kampus cannot be contacted. We can’t rely on them right now.”

  “But you can’t possibly take on an archdemon! You’re powerful, Lord Verlaine, but even you can’t—”

  “I know,” he replied. “We will go anyway. I will go alone if I have to. Someone must buy time for the Fourths to arrive.”

  “But you’ll die ...”

  “Possibly. But I am a hero, Lilieth, and a hero must fight. We are ideas. We are hope.”

  “You’re a person!” she screamed. “Before all of that, you’re a person ... we can’t go.”

  Verlaine’s expression was one of conflict. He was, for a brief moment, speechless. “Lilieth, I—”

  Almost immediately, his face contorted into one of caution and tension. He turned around, facing the lake that surrounded the platform. For a second, Lilieth saw nothing. Then, there was a rippling in the water—a shadow, hidden deep beneath the lake, growing darker and larger and closer.

  The earth shook. The waters churned. Dust and rock fell from the ceiling. A shape rose from the lake, water spilling around its body. Ever upward, the figure’s head reached the top of the ceiling, shrouding it in darkness.

  Verlaine took out a ball from his pocket and raised it above him. In an instant, dozens of motes of light appeared all around the cavern, illuminating the entire space. For the first time, Lilieth saw the creature.

  It was unlike anything she’d ever seen nor even heard about: a mass of gelatinous black goo, vaguely taking the shape of a many-headed dragon. A hydra? Those, she’s heard of before. But she’s never seen one made purely of ... whatever fluid that was.

  Lilieth fell to the ground in panic and fear. Verlaine naturally stepped in front of her, drawing his blade and raising it towards the amorphous creature. The beast had many heads but no eyes for which to see nor mouth with which to eat. Its heads moved around, but it didn’t seem to be looking at anything. It was as if it merely took the form of a hydra without any of its functionalities.

  “Roald, send Yupanai and Talgerda,” Verlaine spoke then waved his hand. “[Gemini].”

  Two rifts in space formed beside him, like holes forcefully ripped open, bending everything around them. From those rifts came Yupanai Nomari and Talgerda la Logia, stepping out, weapons at the ready. The two took quick looks around and immediately grasped the situation.

  Gemini—a Lunar spell that allowed the user to teleport his allies to his side. Two people was its limit, and after being used, it couldn’t be used for a few days. If Lilieth had to guess, Roald Isenholt was likely using a spell that allowed him to hear from far distances. Verlaine probably told him to listen to him in case of an emergency, such as this one.

  “Whatever that is, it doesn’t look friendly,” Yupanai said, a gleeful smile on his face as he brandished his axe.

  “Glad you’re alright, Lili,” Talgerda said, unsheathing her longsword. “The scolding will have to wait until later.”

  “The others should be making their way inside the cave now,” Verlaine said. “Avoid any risky plays. Fight defensively until the others come. See what you can do to gauge its strength and capabilities ...” He turned to the young mage, who was still on the ground. “... You stay here, Lilieth.”

  “I ...”

  She had wanted to protest, to say that she’ll fight too. In the many years she’d been in his party, she had always wanted to say that. But she was smart enough to know that she couldn’t.

  Once more, Lilieth Lasvenn was left behind, and there was nothing she could do about it. Sculptmages were strong—their spells allowing them to reshape the world around them like clay or water. But her spells were far too weak to be of use, and her skill at using them was lacking. Lilieth found herself clenching her fists. “... Yes, Lord Verlaine.”

  The hero nodded then turned his attention back to the slime-hydra.

  Without a word, the three of them rushed forward, so fast that they seemed to have vanished. It was only because she’d been with them for so long that Lilieth was able to somewhat follow them with her eyes.

  Yupanai ran and jumped in front of the creature, throwing a punch towards it.

  “[Constellation: Yellow]!” he yelled out.

  As soon as his fist connected, lightning erupted from his body, and a thunderous roar shook Lilieth’s bones. The creature reeled back from the impact, its gelatinous skin scorched and smoking. It didn’t scream, as it had no mouth, but it did lash out.

  Its torso erupted into a multitude of thin strands, all arching their ways towards Yupanai.

  “[Bedivere]!”

  The Skymage soared through the air, maneuvering herself between each tendril as she flew downward with her sword, and with each swing, she lopped the tendrils off one by one. Talgerda dove into the lake and instantly resurfaced behind the creature. With one smooth strike, she lopped off one of its heads then flew off to create distance between them. She grimaced as the head immediately grew back.

  “[Firefly: Yellow]! [Matrix: Red]! [Constellation: Blue]! [Multi-Arrow: Green]!”

  Yupanai continued his barrage of elemental chants—lightning, fire, ice, wind. He experimented with each element, trying to see if the creature had any particular reaction to one. Its response was only to shoot more tendrils towards him.

  “—[Volantis].”

  Before they reached him, they stopped ... no, they disappeared into tiny holes and reappeared on the other side of the Elementmage’s body—tiny portals. Instead of skewering Yupanai, they passed through him and struck the ceiling.

  Lilieth looked towards Verlaine, his hand outstretched. The hero closed it into a fist, and the portals disappeared, instantly severing the tendrils that then all fell into the water.

  Almost immediately, the creature formed new tendrils and shot them straight at Verlaine.

  “Gh! [Murus]!”

  Lilieth reacted with hands up, raising the earth between Verlaine and the incoming tendrils and creating a small two-meter-tall wall of stone to block them. It formed too slowly, however, and the tendrils simply went around the wall.

  “[Antares].” Verlaine disappeared, reappearing above the creature. As he fell, he swung wildly, carving into the beast’s gelatinous flesh.

  “Lilieth, don’t try to do anything!” Talgerda yelled at her.

  “I was just trying to ...”

  Lilieth tried to respond, but Talgerda was already soaring around the beast, her full attention back on the fight. So, Lilieth simply closed her mouth and said nothing else.

  She was right, of course. Lilieth would just get in the way. There was nothing she could provide even if she tried—not yet anyway. Maybe someday, when she was stronger, but in the middle of that fight, she was just plain, useless Lilieth.

  There was a ringing in her head, like something was calling for the young mage. Lilieth felt a pull towards the twelve swords on the platform behind her—towards the blade with the green gem.

  Her thoughts were in disarray. Her blood began to rush.

  Stop. Don’t do what you’re thinking of doing. You don’t even know what they can do. Just stay put. You’ll only get in their way.

  The cavern rumbled with the sound of combat. Verlaine was shouting something to Yupanai, and Talgerda continued to skillfully weave around the mass of tendrils. All of them were engrossed in the battle.

  Lilieth slowly stood up and walked towards the ring of blades.

  You’re level 6. First tier. Even if you had a sword, you can’t fight like they can.

  Her rational mind was warning her, begging her to stay down and let the heroes do the fighting.

  But something else in her was screaming at her. Take it. This is what you’re meant to do.

  She turned, seeing the others fight, seeing Verlaine soaring through the air, his eyes focused and determined. The man who they called a hero—if she could help alleviate the burden he carried, even just a little, she would be happy.

  Lilieth looked at the swords. She didn’t know why they were important. She didn’t know why she had a vision about them. She didn’t know why her Goddess led her there.

  But at that moment, she was there. And that was enough.

  All that she needed was a little faith.

  “... Lady Eulalie, guide me.”

  Whispering a humble prayer, she grabbed hold of the green-gemmed sword.