The moment Jackal finished speaking, a blue energy emanated from his body, while a red energy radiated from the village chief.
Jackal’s eyes flashed with a blue light as he effortlessly formed an ice sword in his hand.
Similarly, the village chief conjured a long spear engulfed in fiery flames and held it firmly.
As the sword and spear clashed, a sharp sound reverberated through the air, marking the beginning of the fight.
Meanwhile, Asha swiftly made her way towards the thorn bush where Karaf was.
However, her path was suddenly blocked by a large icicle-shaped bee sting that was firmly embedded in the ground.
“I can’t let you do that.”
Asha stopped and looked up at the sky.
Dart, seated atop a colossal wasp, observed her intently from above.
He looked at Asha as he once again inflicted wounds on his arm, sprinkling blood on the ground.
His action attracted numerous monsters once more.
This time, they were thrips that had transformed from larvae, accompanied by root flies.
Those monsters seemed to be harder to deal with because they had wings.
Jackal paused his fight with the chief and turned his attention towards Asha, his eyes widening in alarm.
“Asha……!”
“You can’t afford to lose focus.”
The chief immediately swung his spear, breaking Jackal’s weapon.
“Damn……”
Jackal muttered, furrowing his brows before creating the weapon once again.
“Jackal, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Asha calmly raised her hand and began to gather the power of the wind.
The air around her started swirling fiercely, creating a barrier that prevented the winged monsters from approaching Karaf.
Dart sneered and taunted.
“Let’s see how long you can hold on.”
Following his command, the mite-like creatures unleashed transparent, sticky spider webs towards Asha, aiming to restrain her.
Using the power of the wind, Asha blew away the spider webs, but it required considerable effort since they formed a massive net with a wide range.
She couldn’t guarantee how long she could hold on, just as Dart had said.
At that moment, as Asha took a breath and narrowed her gaze, a familiar voice called out from behind.
“Unnie…!”
Asha shouted, her expression filled with joy as she spotted someone at the forefront of a group.
“Gabe!”
Gabe was followed by the Lycaons, the Nasson clan, and even the Cactus Knights.
They were shocked to see Karaf and the scene of the confrontation between the four of them.
Duran quickly came to his senses and addressed the knights.
“We must protect His Majesty and Lady Vanessa!”
“Yes!”
The Cactus Knights encircled Asha and the thorn bush where Karaf lay asleep.
Dart observed them with a smirk.
“Duran Dandelion, right? They say you’ve died once and come back to life. Well, this should be interesting. Try to cut the thorns where that guy is so we can witness his pathetic state.”
Duran furrowed his brow, drew his sword, and assumed an offensive stance.
As Dart’s silver eyes flashed, loopers suddenly emerged from the ground, launching a swift attack on Duran.
He rolled to the ground to evade the attack, but just like Karaf, who had been kidnapped the other day, the looper bit him in the arm and lifted him into the air.
“Ugh……!”
Duran winced in intense pain as if his left arm were being severed. Nevertheless, he managed to thrust his sword into the looper’s body using his right hand.
The looper shrieked and released its grip on Duran, causing him to helplessly plummet from the great height.
“…… Sir Duran!”
Asha swiftly used the power of the wind to prevent Duran from crashing to the ground.
“Lady Vanessa…..”
Duran gazed at Asha with a self-disgusted expression, and she spoke with determination.
“I will handle him. Only spirit contractors can deal with other spirit contractors.”
“That’s right!”
Suddenly, Gabe appeared and stood next to her.
As Asha looked at him with grateful eyes, Gabe chuckled.
“I have to make Sister owe me this time. I can’t live with debts hanging over me.”
Despite the gravity of the situation, Asha couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Gabe’s voice thundered as he glared at Dart.
“Go ahead and try! No matter how many monsters you summon, I’ll send them all back to their graves!”
The Lycaons swiftly formed a tactical formation and began hunting down the monsters.
The head chef swung a giant kitchen knife and mercilessly sliced through the monsters as if he was chopping wood.
However, a thrip creature flew towards him.
The head chef attempted to retrieve the kitchen knife embedded in one of the monster’s bodies, but it was deeply stuck and wouldn’t come out.
“Damn it……!”
The chef’s eyes widened as the trip got closer to him.
Suddenly, a bottle soared through the air, smashing into the thrip’s face and shattering on impact.
The yellow liquid inside splattered across its face, causing the thrip to writhe in pain.
When the head chef followed the trajectory of the thrown bottle, he saw Nagy.
Nagy smirked and picked up another bottle.
“Just in case, I brought this from the kitchen.”
It was the mixture they had prepared when their hideout was previously attacked by monsters.
“Nagy, you little rascal…!”
Once again, Nagy had secretly stolen items from the kitchen. However, this time, instead of scolding him, the head chef could only burst into laughter.
Nagy hurled the mixture at a monster and swiftly severed its leg.
But as he lifted the monster’s leg, he muttered with a slightly pouty expression.
“I don’t like monster meat……”
Nagy, currently in his growing stage and feeling hungry, looked up and briefly imagined a dish resembling a wolf spider tempura.
However, the large legs with sharp claws, hard as armor, appeared repulsive even at first glance.
“Kid, when we get back, I’ll treat you to a hearty meat feast!”
At his words, Nagy took out a bunch of glass bottles of the mixture and smiled mischievously.
It seemed as if he had a bomb in his hand.
Meanwhile, Jackal was involved in a fierce battle with the village chief.
Jackal relentlessly attacked the village chief with various transformed weapons, while the village chief used fire to defend himself and focused his efforts on melting Jackal’s ice weapons.
As water and fire clashed, their forces collided and dissipated, shrouding the area in thick smoke.
“……Quite impressive.”
The village chief’s expression was now completely devoid of composure.
Jackal smirked and retorted.
“That’s exactly what I was about to say, old man.”
However, despite his casual demeanor, the village chief was not an opponent to be taken lightly.
Having been a spirit contract for a long time, he was far more skilled at manipulating spirit power compared to Jackal.
The village chief relentlessly struck out with his whip-like fire tail, leaving searing whip marks on Jackal’s clothes.
The scorched marks burned and oozed, causing Jackal’s body to become increasingly scarred.
Jackal tried to catch his breath and glared at him.
The village chief said.
“…It’s a shame. There’s no lake nearby. It seems you’re almost out of water. You can’t defeat me. There’s nothing but things that will burn.”
The village chief was also panting heavily, probably because he had exhausted a significant amount of energy from melting all the ice weapons.
He silently acknowledged that it would have been truly perilous if it had rained that day.
Jackal gathered the last traces of water in the vicinity, shaping it into a sharp-tipped ice chain, and hurled it towards the chief with all his might.
At the moment the chief swung his fiery whip to block the attack, Jackal pierced through the billowing smoke and closed in on him.
Despite his burned arms and shielding his face with crossed arms, Jackal maintained an unwavering gaze filled with fierce determination.
In that instant, the chief coughed up black blood.
Suddenly, a crimson dagger pierced his chest.
His eyes widened, gasping for air, the chief uttered.
“How……”
Jackal, with a forced smile, gripped the dagger tightly in both hands and plunged it deep into his heart.
“If there’s no water, I’ll use my own blood.”
The village chief’s eyes widened even further as he trembled, looking at the dagger pierced through his chest.
It was a dagger made from Jackal’s blood.
The blood spilled from his attack turned to solid ice, piercing his heart once more.
The village chief narrowed his eyes at Jackal, who had a stream of blood running down his eye. Jackal stared at him as he gasped.
“I… I have lived my whole life for the revival of our people… If the minorities can reclaim noble honor and freedom, I was prepared to sacrifice my life willingly….”
Upon discovering the secret of the minorities and the Rose Family, the village chief was initially shocked, isolating himself in his house for several days.
The revelation of his noble position in the empire, rather than being regarded as the lowest class and a foreigner, filled him with both dread and fury.
The fire spirit, symbolizing the Eshe Clan, had bestowed its power upon him.
From that moment onward, he fought relentlessly, consumed by the fall of the Imperial Family.
All for the prosperity and freedom of the minorities…….
However, in his pursuit of power, he failed to see that it would become his own prison and hell.
“Death does not scare me… But you, as the successor of the Kelpie Clan… You will surely pay the price for choosing the wrong king… You will…”
Jackal gazed at him intently, offering his response.
“As you can see, you are paying that price now. And you seem to be mistaken. My king is not those two big-headed flowers over there. It’s Asha.”
“Is that so……”
The village chief smiled slightly, then his eyes closed.
Jackal watched his final moments unfold, witnessing his last breath escape.
Despite once being the most respected elder in the village, the lifeless body of the village chief appeared pitiful, resembling nothing more than a withered branch.
The desire and passion to revive minorities had consumed him to the point of devouring himself.
Maybe he was another victim too…..
However, soon after, the Fire Spirit revealed itself, emerging from the chief’s chest in the form of a fox wreathed in flames.
Jackal looked at the Fire Spirit.
“I’m sorry for everything. Let’s reconcile now.”
Among all the spirits, the Fire Spirit held the most pride.
Yet, upon witnessing Jackal’s gesture of apology and reconciliation, the fiery fox simply blinked its eyes before making its way towards Karaf.
It seemed to have accepted the offer of reconciliation.
Jackal followed the spirit’s lead, swiftly running towards Asha’s location.
Although the village chief, who had made a contract with the Fire Spirit, had died, it seemed that they would be able to defeat the blooming Dart if all the spirits fought together.
Asha, displaying unwavering determination, continued to aim arrows at Dart, refusing to give up.
However, the wasp intercepted her arrows without fail.
“No matter how many times you try, it’s useless.”
The wasp sent numerous poisonous stingers flying towards Asha.
Instinctively, she raised her arm to protect herself, but a stinger managed to break through the wind’s defenses and pierce close to her chest.
Asha’s eyes widened as her face paled.
“Asha……!”
Jackal screamed and frantically ran towards her. He held her in her arms as if he had lost his mind.
