"What the hell were you two idiots thinking?!" she cried, tears streaming down her face.
"Lady Carla…" Jula whispered.
"Run… leave me…"
"No!" Carla snapped.
"Even if it kills me, I'll drag your heavy armored ass all the way to Noelle!
She'll heal you.
You're going to live.
Do you hear me?"
"I'm not losing both of my knights at once.
No damned demon gets to do that to me.
Come on… hold on… for my sake, alright?"
Jula managed a faint smile, though the pain was nearly unbearable.
"It is an honor… to serve you… Lady Carla…"
His voice faded, but his eyes still held life.
And Carla held him tightly in her arms, as if sheer willpower could pull him back from the edge.
Ironclaw Arrives
Carla lifted the wounded Wolf Knight onto her shoulder,
but Jula's heavy armor nearly crushed her.
They could barely move forward.
The explosion had echoed far across the forest,
and every demon in the area had heard it.
A new Fire Demon emerged from between the trees.
"What happened here?" he growled, looking around.
"What was that massive explosion?
No matter.
Looks like all that's left for me is one half‑dead knight and one weak woman."
The demon raised his spear.
Carla turned — and for a heartbeat, she saw death itself.
The spear's tip was already brushing her cheek.
But before the demon could strike, Ironclaw burst out of nowhere.
With a single motion, the wolf‑girl's razor‑sharp claws crushed the demon's skull.
The Fire Demon collapsed like a rag doll.
"No one hurts Mommy Master!" Ironclaw roared.
"Not even you filthy demons!"
"Ironclaw!" Carla cried, trembling with relief.
"Thank the Goddess! Please, help!
Jula is badly injured, and Xaba… Xaba is dead."
Ironclaw's eyes narrowed.
"Wolf Rule.
I must take Jula to Noelle!"
"That's right, good girl!"
The wolf‑girl inhaled deeply.
"Hmmm… Noelle's scent… Noelle's scent…
Too many scents mixing at once.
Blood, fire, knights, demons…
There!
Found her!
Noelle is far, but she's coming this way!"
"Then we wait," Carla said.
"You're sure she's coming here?"
"I can smell her.
She's coming this way!"
Carla knelt beside Jula.
"Hold on, Jula.
Noelle will be here soon, and she'll heal you."
The Healer Arrives
Noelle and the Princess were heading toward Young Wolf when they heard the explosion.
"What was that huge blast?" the Princess asked.
"Could it be Young Wolf?"
"No," Noelle shook her head.
"That wasn't the sound of lightning.
It was more like… a fire‑burst."
"The demons' doing?"
"Unlikely.
Either Master Florian… or…"
"Or?"
"Or a heroic death."
"What do you mean?"
"It doesn't matter.
We're going there."
As they approached, the Princess grew pale.
"There are dead knights everywhere… and so many imps…
but almost no Fire Demons."
"Fire Demons are that strong," Noelle said.
"One Fire Demon costs at least ten knights' lives.
They kill until every last one of them dies.
They never run."
"What monsters…"
The half‑elf maid and the Princess finally reached the site of the explosion.
Noelle instantly recognized Carla and the fallen Jula.
Without a word, she sprinted toward them.
"NOELLE, HERE! HURRY!" Carla cried desperately.
Noelle rushed to their side.
"Carla, are you hurt anywhere?"
"Not me…" Carla shook her head.
"But Jula is badly injured."
"Let me see," Noelle knelt beside the Wolf Knight.
"These burns are severe.
I can heal the wound… but the scar will remain forever."
"I will wear Xaba's mark with pride," Jula whispered.
"So I was right," Noelle said quietly.
"He caused that massive explosion."
"He died so I could live…" Carla's voice broke again.
"We all would have died if he hadn't," Jula added.
"Was the enemy that dangerous?" Noelle asked.
"A Clan Leader," Jula replied.
"I see."
The half‑elf maid immediately began her work.
A faint bluish light appeared above her hands as she gently passed them over Jula's burned face.
The flesh tightened, the wounds closed…
but a deep, reddish scar remained across half his face —
a heroic mark that would forever remind him of Xaba.
Others had heard the explosion as well.
Christina and Floralys arrived riding on the shoulders of the Earth Golem.
"Carla! Noelle!" Floralys called.
"Looks like we're all together again."
"Floralys! Christina! Over here!" Carla waved.
Christina jumped down from the golem's shoulder.
"Who's still missing?"
"Quite a few," the Princess answered.
"We're heading toward Young Wolf," Noelle said.
"Half an hour west on foot."
Ironclaw perked up.
"How do you know where Master is?
I can't smell him!"
Noelle smiled —
but behind that smile was something deeper, something unexplainable.
"Because fate binds us."
The others fell silent.
There was something in that sentence that could not be questioned.
The group was finally together — battered, grieving, but alive.
And now they had only one goal left:
Reach Young Wolf.
Master Florian and the Fire Elemental
The team was slowly coming back together —
but elsewhere, the battle still raged.
Now let us see Master Florian's situation.
"Damn that demonic teleportation wave," Florian grumbled as he dusted off his cloak.
"Of course it had to throw me together with you, you old goat."
"I see I'm chained to your wrinkled backside for the rest of my life," Albert, the other fire mage, replied dryly.
Florian pointed into the distance.
"Three Fire Demons at once want to show us the hospitality of their flames."
"Fire Demons… against fire mages, huh?" Albert raised an eyebrow.
"They're resistant to fire."
"And we have our own fire‑resistance spell."
"So what now?" Florian asked.
"Do we drag this out into a long, exhausting fight?"
"If we're going to waste our magic anyway… let's do it big," Albert grinned.
"Yeah…" Florian sighed.
"It's been a long time since we summoned it. Just the two of us."
"What did we call it again?" Albert scratched his head.
Florian smiled.
"Fire Elemental: Ignarion."
The two fire mages raised their staffs at the same time.
The air began to vibrate, the ground trembled, and then a massive being of living flame erupted from nothingness.
Ignarion, the Fire Elemental.
The three Fire Demons attacked at once, but Ignarion did not retreat.
Its flames heated the air until it shimmered, and the ground melted beneath its feet.
The demons spewed fire at it —
but Ignarion simply devoured their flames, as if they were fuel.
Meanwhile, Florian and Albert wrapped themselves in protective magic to shield their bodies from the inferno.
The battle lasted half an hour.
In the end, the loser was the one who ran out of firepower first.
The three Fire Demons' magic slowly dwindled.
Ignarion's only grew stronger.
When the demons could no longer summon flames, Ignarion lunged at them and consumed them with its own fire.
The three Fire Demons' charred bodies collapsed to the ground and crumbled into ash.
The two fire mages fell to their knees, exhausted.
Their magic was spent, and Ignarion's flames slowly faded over the demons' remains.
"Well…" Albert panted.
"That… was good work."