"Uh... Uh..." Lyria groaned, gritting her teeth in pain.
She tightly wrapped her throbbing index finger with a Tier 1 med-bandage.
Only after a few moments did the pain recede a bit, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.
She had been far too careless while trying to show off!
Though she had used her Hardening ability, Dustin was still a capable late-stage Rank 3 Warrior wielding a high-grade Tier 1 staff. Stopping that forceful attack with just a bare finger had been too much; thus, it had fractured slightly. Thankfully, it was only a minor injury. Her Hardening was much more powerful than the normal constitution of a Mana Wielder, as the defense spread equally across her body. However, a single finger… was still too much to handle that kind of impact. One-fourth of the credit for saving her finger from getting even more severely injured actually went to her Tier 2 glove, which had absorbed some of the force.
Lyria wanted to slap herself for getting so overconfident, but then she recalled a lesson Eric had once taught them: "If one learns from their mistake, then it's no longer a mistake!"
She exhaled a soft sigh and decided she would remember this incident. From next time onward, she would be much more cautious when pulling such stunts—at least unless she was absolutely certain of the result.
Thankfully, the injury was nothing serious, and she would likely recover within a few days without even needing a potion.
After slipping her dark red glove back on, she glanced around her surroundings. Except for the corpse of a necromancer lying right beside her feet, the entire street was completely empty.
She picked up her dagger, which was still sticking out of the dead necromancer's forehead, and at the same time snatched back her prized space pouch, which she had let the dead man keep temporarily.
Originally, the northern region of Batley City was quite peaceful, being a place where the wealthy resided. After the invasion, Lyria could guess that most of the residents had either fled or hidden away deep within their homes, while some chose to fight, much like the Pierce family. Even now, she could hear the evil laughter of necromancers and the distinct sounds of clashes echoing from various directions.
Lyria pondered for a brief moment and then sprinted toward the nearest house, which happened to be Eilif's residence.
Upon arriving, she noticed it was completely empty, save for the massive mess the necromancers had left behind while searching and looting.
The invaders had even used their destructive spells on empty houses for no apparent reason, wasting their Mana pointlessly. This was largely because they were confident there were no remaining threats capable of matching them in the region. After all, regardless of their individual ranks, necromancers who constantly lived through fighting and struggles in the wild were countless times tougher than wealthy city folks who only slept and ate well. That was indeed the case here; the attacking necromancers were mostly of Rank 2 and Rank 3, with barely anyone at Rank 1, and each one of them was highly experienced and strong. They could easily contest against two city opponents of the exact same rank without getting oppressed.
Lyria then moved on to the next house—Garrick's—and then directly to Thorne's.
A few wandering necromancers were loitering around the properties, so Lyria swiftly helped them to ascend quickly, ensuring they could continue their loitering in a much larger, afterlife area.
Following that, Lyria moved toward the next house, from which she could hear loud, evil-sounding laughter mixed with some faint sword clashes. It was Elianor's house.
Lyria wanted to check on Elianor before leaving Batley City permanently. After all, no matter how big or small Elianor's crush was on Eric, she was still, in a sense, her and Livy's very first possible sister candidate found out in the wilderness! Leaving aside that ghost girl back in Whisperwood Village, of course...
Upon arriving, Lyria gazed up at the outer wall and found it funny how ridiculously tall it was. It almost felt like a statement that the residents didn't want to see the morning sunlight. For the Pierce family, such walls made sense since they owned a huge estate, but for the rest of these houses, it was absurd. Even the buildings themselves seemed shorter than the perimeter walls.
Although Lyria could easily jump over a six- or seven-meter wall with just a few steps in between, she decided to just walk straight through the front gate.
So, after a short dash, she reached the main entrance, which appeared intact and open. She peeked around the side first to assess the situation inside. But after capturing the sight, she frowned deeply, a sudden fury washing over her.
Elianor and another man who looked quite similar to her—possessing the same red hair and at the early-stage of Rank 2—were currently being casually toyed with by ten necromancers. These invaders were intentionally teasing the siblings and had largely ripped their clothes to shreds.
They were 'fighting' in the courtyard right in front of the wooden house, over the open grass field. Though the siblings were actively fighting with their weapons drawn, it was easy to see that these necromancer mages were merely playing with them like cats with mice.
Lyria had heard that Elianor possessed an elder brother, so it wasn't hard to guess who the man was.
Their outfits were largely torn away, leaving Elianor nearly half-naked! She was left with only her innerwear and a few remaining scraps of cloth for covering, and her brother was in a very similar, humiliating condition.
What left Lyria most speechless, however, was that among the ten necromancers, seven were women and only three were men!
'Seriously, if you guys are so much in heat, just go play with each other; why abuse someone else?' But perhaps because of that exact 'fun in abusing' mentality, both siblings were still being kept alive rather than being killed off immediately.
Regardless, Lyria was quite furious. Elianor had been their companion for the past two weeks, and also half a sister. As long as they were still within Batley City limits, she personally didn't want to see any member of the Eclipse team getting bullied right in front of her.
Among the ten necromancers, eight were at various stages of Rank 2, while the remaining two women were early-stage Rank 3s. All of them were mages. Furthermore, around twenty-five to thirty Human Skeletons occupied the field.
Lyria could easily wipe them all out in a jiffy like a sudden bolt of lightning, but she paused, thought for a moment, and decided against it.
She, Eric, and Livy were leaving the region permanently, and this encounter would serve as their final farewell. Thus, before departing, she figured she might as well teach Elianor some of her personal dagger handling skills.
Although Lyria wasn't as naturally passionate about dual wielding as Livy was, both she and Eric had received equal amounts of brutal torture from Bella Noll, making her a true combat expert. Her skills should still be at an acceptable level to demonstrate properly. Unfortunately, Bella Noll had never truly taught them anything about weapon wielding, or any fighting technique for that matter, except for a few small tricks and explanations. Thus, Lyria was also not sure if her fighting style was orthodox or not, as it was entirely self-created.
After finalizing her decision, Lyria nodded to herself and pulled down her hood, leaving only her mask on. Now, only the top half of her face was visible.
She then restricted her stats to the level of a late-stage Rank 1 Warrior, utilizing only the raw strength and agility that such a rank would naturally possess. She also limited her physical skills to less than ten percent; otherwise, Elianor would not be able to learn anything.
After watching the fight between the Eclipse team and the necromancers in Maplemurk Village, she, Eric, and Livy had been left speechless. They could not determine whether they themselves were abnormally powerful or if the mana wielders they met were simply untrained. Regardless, she knew that if she used even twenty percent of her combat skills, Elianor would be completely unable to follow her footsteps or actions, as they would only confuse someone lacking experience.
She then gripped her two slightly curved long daggers in a reverse grip, their tips pointing upward, and released her presence vividly to announce her arrival to the bullies.
As expected, all the men and women's heads snapped instantly toward Lyria, who stood calmly right in the middle of the wide-open gate.
Everyone present on the scene was taken aback. It wasn't because of how suddenly Lyria had appeared, but due to how menacing she looked. She radiated the heavy aura of a fierce warrior woman who had slaughtered countless humans and beasts alike—that was the exact kind of air Lyria was exuding.
That was because Lyria had indeed been actively killing before arriving and was fully prepared to kill more, so her posture and presence naturally projected that deadly intent.
Everyone's attention was entirely captured by her looks.
She was tall, graceful, with an hourglass figure, deep brown hair tied neatly back in a ponytail, and possessed a pair of fierce, bright eyes that looked almost like two burning suns. Although half of her face remained covered, it couldn't hide her stunning beauty. Anyone present couldn't help but feel a deep itch to pull that mask away just to see how gorgeous this woman truly was.
They were so incredibly focused on her appearance that they completely neglected to judge the tier of the two unique, beautiful daggers she held.
The four men on the scene felt as though someone had shot a sharp arrow straight through their hearts. Even Elianor's brother, Jaylen, completely fell in love with Lyria's stunning, fierce looks right then and there.
Though none of them were stupid and everyone was well aware of where they currently stood. Still, all the men present found their hearts racing as if they had just discovered their true 'one'.
The female necromancers similarly felt amazed at first before quickly frowning with heavy displeasure. They themselves weren't bad-looking and possessed their own dark, twisted charm as necromancers; despite that, they still felt they couldn't even match ten percent of this newcomer's attractiveness, even with half her face hidden.
This woman had managed to provoke them in more ways than she should have!
Meanwhile, Elianor's eyes narrowed. She remained confused for only a brief moment before her eyes widened in realization, "L..." She immediately bit her tongue. She instinctively felt she shouldn't shout out Lyria's name since she had her face intentionally covered.
Elianor's brother, Jaylen, who was bleeding heavily from his left shoulder, turned toward his sister in curiosity, wondering if she actually knew the love of his life. Nevertheless, he was still keenly aware of their dire situation and kept his mouth shut. Love aside, if he couldn't figure out an escape route soon, then both of them would die, and now his newfound crush was in deep trouble alongside them.
'Why did this stunning woman show up when she's only at Rank 1? Is there some sort of secret message, like more Mana Wielder rescuers arriving soon? Or perhaps she just wants to buy us time to escape while she distracts everyone? It's too dangerous!' Jaylen tightened his grip on the sword in his right hand, filled with deep anxiety.
Vara, one of the two Rank 3 necromancers present and the undisputed leader of the squad, relaxed her posture and chuckled, "Well, look at that. Here comes a brand new meal, and a mere late-stage Rank 1 at that. Currently, there is only one male left with two women here. Really, when will some more attractive men show up for us sisters?" She then turned toward the three male necromancers and asked in a bored yet somewhat excited tone, "You guys, what do you want to do with her?"
The woman who had just spoken, Vara, was clothed in a simple, hooded black garb. A noticeable scar ran down her left cheek, and she wore black hair, dark lipstick, and matching nails. She was highly attractive despite the facial scar; in fact, it lent her a rather unique, dangerous charm.
Hearing Vara's question, all three men's eyes lit up with excitement.
A mid-stage Rank 2 male necromancer with a pallid complexion stepped forward and laughed, "Leave this one to me! I'll make sure her fierce spirit learns to be obedient only to me!" After declaring this, he began striding directly toward Lyria with a wide, predatory grin plastered across his face. He was completely fearless and entirely carefree; after all, what could a mere late-stage Rank 1 trash even do to a Rank 2 like him?
The other two males snorted in dissatisfaction, "You think we don't exist, bastard?"
They also began striding toward Lyria at an impatient, excited pace, wearing the exact same disgusting smirks while hungrily checking her body out with their eyes. One was at the early-stage of Rank 2, while the other was a mid-stage Rank 2.