Chapter 514: Black-Gold Wings on the Brink of Annihilation

Ankh was dying. 

Blood spilled from Ankh’s mouth. After coughing up a large amount at once, he warned Tauro, who stood beside him.

“Cough… Leader, that guy is the [Hero] from Marquis Halagoura’s household…! Be careful. He mixes wind magic into his sword strikes…!”

With that, Ankh lost consciousness.

“…Ankh, good work. Leave the rest to me.”

Throughout the whole thing, Tauro never took his eyes off his opponent.

Even so, he drew potions from [Magic Storage] and accurately poured them over Ankh to heal him.

“…I thought you were just a kid, so I planned to deal with you later, but you leave no openings. Speaking of which, what happened to your other companion?”

Alexa said this while using magic to heal the wound in his abdomen where Ankh had stabbed him. For the moment, neither side moved.

“What about it?”

Tauro feigned ignorance.

“Could they be with the other two? Heh… it’s already too late, you know?”

Tauro reacted sharply to those words.

“…Please don’t underestimate my friends.”

“Heh… I inflicted fatal wounds on both of them and carried them to isolated places. I confirmed that the little girl died after being stabbed through the heart. The other one escaped in a hurry, but she won’t survive those wounds. That man over there also took a fatal wound to the stomach. A cheap potion won’t save him. And after I finish you here, I’ll kill the girl who went to help them too.”

While speaking and buying time, Alexa the hero continued healing his own injuries.

Tauro knew Alexa was buying time to heal, but treating Ankh took priority.

Tauro couldn’t move away from Ankh yet.

“You, I’ll finish you off here. I won’t let you go to Aeris and the others.”

“Ha. This fight will be decided in an instant.”

The moment Alexa said that, he vanished.

And in the next moment, he was behind Tauro and thrust a sword into his waist.

Tauro reacted in time and used [Spatial Transfer] to move behind Alexa.

For a moment Alexa lost sight of Tauro and looked back, eyes wide with shock.

Tauro immediately used [Spatial Transfer] again to return to Ankh, grabbed him, and repeated [Spatial Transfer] several times until he had carried Ankh to the edge of the square and laid him against the wall.

“It doesn’t seem to be the same kind of [Teleportation] as mine, but I didn’t know anyone else could do something like that.”

Realizing that Tauro’s abilities couldn’t be underestimated, Alexa readied his sword.

Tauro stood at the edge of the square with the wall and Ankh behind him.

That position meant Alexa couldn’t easily use [Teleportation] to catch him from behind.

“Do you really think you can win? No matter how impressive your abilities are, you’re still a child. You can’t overcome the difference in physical strength.”

Alexa declared and mercilessly swung his slashes at Tauro, the same ones that had put Ankh on the defensive.

Tauro instantly drew his prized Guardian Doll Round Shield from [Magic Storage] and easily repelled the blow.

It was the same shield that had withstood attacks from a mighty Minotaur in the Dragonfolk Village’s Dungeon of Beginnings.

Moreover, the shield granted [Physical Strength Increase (Strong)].

It was more than capable of withstanding even Alexa’s powerful attacks.

At the same time, Alexa mixed the wind spell [Vacuum Blade] into his sword strike, but Tauro paid little attention even when it cut his thigh.

That was because [Super Recovery and Regeneration] kept minor wounds from becoming a serious problem.

Tauro’s extraordinary strength and recovery astonished Alexa.

His eyes were filled with disbelief.

“Who the hell are you…?”

“I’m Tauro, an adventurer. Leader of Black-Gold Wings!”

Tauro attacked Alexa with Modified Shortsword Tauro.

Alexa reacted and tried to block with his sword, but the blade split in two.

A blade of light extended from the tip of Modified Shortsword Tauro and cut through Alexa’s body along with his sword.

The light blade sliced through Alexa’s clothing and flesh, sending blood spraying.

“Gah! No way…!” 

Alexa looked unable to believe that he had been cut, but he apparently realized that continuing the fight would end in his defeat.

He tried to escape with [Teleportation].

But Tauro didn’t let him get away.

At that precise moment, Tauro activated [Skill-Killing (Weak)].

Alexa’s [Teleportation] was temporarily sealed, leaving him unable to use it.

“What!?”

“It’s over…”

Tauro answered by driving the light blade of Modified Shortsword Tauro into Alexa’s chest.

Aeris arrived at Zion’s location on horseback, leapt down, and calmly rushed to the dying Zion to begin treatment.

Aeris intended to use everything she had learned from Maria, the [True Saint].

She began by closing the wound near Zion’s heart.

It was the injury most likely to kill her.

“Zion… you treated yourself on the spur of the moment, didn’t you? It’s okay, I’ll help.”

Aeris spoke calmly to Zion, who lay in suspended animation with only the faintest heartbeat, and continued the treatment, closing the wounds from within one after another.

There had been tremendous blood loss, but restoring the lost blood would come after the wounds were sealed.

Even after Aeris closed all the major wounds, Zion’s magical presence remained frighteningly faint.

“!? Wait, Zion! Don’t go! Our adventure is just beginning!”

Aeris hurriedly used the blood-restoration magic she had learned from Maria to replace the blood Zion had lost, but Zion’s heart stopped.

“Don’t go, Zion!”

Aeris shocked Zion’s heart with lightning magic and immediately began chest compressions.

“Move, Zion!”

Aeris pleaded as she continued the chest compressions.

Then several figures appeared nearby. They didn’t look like allies.

Each held a sword in their hands.

Aeris had no time to deal with them and continued the chest compressions.

She briefly lifted one hand to check whether Zion’s heart was beating.

“It’s not moving…”

She shocked the heart with lightning once more, then resumed the compressions.

“Go join your friends, young lady,” the men said as they attacked Aeris together.

But the men didn’t bring their raised weapons down upon Aeris.

No, they couldn’t bring them down.

Instead, Pella impaled them with an attack too fast for the eye to follow.

The men died on the spot.

Aeris had no time to think about their deaths. She desperately continued the chest compressions.

“Zion, come back!”

She pressed an ear to Zion’s chest. A faint, slow heartbeat had returned.

“…! You’re back…”

The moment Aeris confirmed Zion’s heartbeat, relief drained the strength from her body and she collapsed beside her.

The dying Ragune had escaped through [Dimensional Corridor] to the Van Dyne Marquisate.

There, Maria immediately sensed Ragune’s arrival, rushed to her side, and began treating her.

Thus Black-Gold Wings survived the greatest crisis it had faced to date without losing a single member.