"No more monsters moving in the western streets! We've completely wiped them out!"

"Leave half the team on-site to guide the citizens. Make sure to tell them to watch out for monsters feigning death."

"Understood!"

Quietly, Klaha chanted a spell of communication. It was a slightly advanced magic, rare among supporters who could use it.

Once finished, she moved to a new position, drawing her bow to snipe another target. However, Klaha wasn’t nocking physical arrows. Arrows were in limited supply, and since she wasn’t capable of the one-shot-one-kill precision of someone like Holland, wasting shots was not an option.

So instead...

"!"

The arrow she fired was formed of wind magic. Though it lacked the power to kill a monster of the strength seen in the highest-difficulty dungeons, it could at least create a momentary wind pressure to halt its movement.

A swordsman near the monster seized that moment and cut it down.

Without magic, her voice wouldn’t have carried over the distance. But Klaha clearly saw the swordsman raise a fist toward her in acknowledgment.

"The north is almost secured too! If this keeps up—"

Excitedly reporting the situation to Holland, she was interrupted.

"Get down!!"

Holland’s voice, sharp as the bark of a seasoned field commander.

If there had been even a single adventurer there who hesitated for just a moment due to inexperience...

Undoubtedly, tragedy would have struck.

"Wha—!?"

Even Klaha, the least experienced fighter in the group, managed to react in time.

It was a collision. A violent impact that shook the entire lodge. The shockwave threw adventurers near the source against the opposite wall.

The windows shattered. The walls crumbled.

And so they saw it. Standing before them was an enormous bird-like monster.

Klaha recognized its name.

"A Apocryphal Beast——"

"Calling it 'lured here' might sound better, but...!"

Holland, the first to recover his stance, reacted swiftly.

The arrow he fired, however, was swatted aside by the monster’s beak before it could strike.

Seeing Holland’s attack, the most skilled in their group, fail to land was a despair-inducing sight. Yet, without missing a beat, he issued the next order.

"Fire everything you’ve got! If we don’t knock it down, we’re done for!"

Klaha, now back on her feet, obeyed Holland’s command.

"!"

A shot of wind magic aimed at its wings.

The others followed suit, targeting the same wings. This was the standard tactic when fighting flying monsters—cripple their mobility and force them to the ground so the frontline fighters could engage.

But...

"It’s not working—!"

The shrugged off their attacks as if they were nothing. Then it opened its mouth wide.

It couldn’t be, Klaha thought. A bird-like monster couldn’t possibly do such a thing. Only dragons were supposed to...

But the flicker of magical light deep within its throat confirmed it.

A lethal strike was coming.

"It’s going to breathe fire!"

At that moment, Klaha remembered something—a piece of advice from a swordsman who had briefly been part of their party.

"The important thing is to know what cards you have in your hand. And then, to use them well. Even the most useless-seeming card has its moment."

At the time, she had thought it was about personal strength. But now, she realized it applied to group battles too.

What’s the weakest card in this group? That was obvious. It was her. Just a rookie. Compared to the seasoned adventurers who had risen to S rank through sheer skill, she was leagues behind.

But there was one thing—just one thing—where she might surpass them. And it seemed this was the moment to use it.

Klaha ran. Even among S-rank adventurers, few had fought dragons. So when they saw the magical light deep in its throat, they didn’t imagine it would unleash a breath attack powerful enough to destroy everything in its path.

But she could imagine it. She had read countless adventure tales, imagined countless scenarios. She knew this was the ultimate danger—and the ultimate chance.

"What are you—!"

"The weak point is after it fires—!"

To seize that chance, she knew exactly what to do. She stepped in front of Holland, casting a feeble defensive spell as she placed herself between him and the monster.

And then, the inferno engulfed her back.

"—!"

The pain robbed her of her voice.

Even through her anti-magic armor, her skin began to melt. Her nerves, acting on instinct, screamed at her to flee, to move toward somewhere—anywhere—cooler.

But Klaha didn’t move.

She knew this was the moment for the weakest card to shine.

Her skull felt as if flintstones were being struck repeatedly inside, sending searing sparks through her mind—a pain so unbearable it seemed she would never return to her former self. Yet even so, she continued layering defensive spells as fast as she could, far beyond what she had ever managed before.

And she didn’t budge. Not until the end.

"—Idiots..."

She saw Holland nock an arrow. Though injured himself, his movements were steady as he prepared his final shot.

Klaha was slightly surprised her eyes hadn’t melted to the point of blindness. But more than that, she was relieved.

For Two Years, I Watched

I’ve seen it for two years now. I know this person never misses.

After the breath ends—after all the magical energy has been released from its throat—it will be easy to pierce through. I know he won’t miss such an opportunity.

“Magic Bow—King of the Wind.”

A fierce gust blew away all the remaining embers. Almost simultaneously, the sound of the magical bird crashing to the ground echoed around them.

“Hey! Stay with me!!”

“Ugh… uh…”

A sharp slap to the face brought Klaha back to consciousness. How long had she been out? As her eyes fluttered open, she saw Holland leaning over her.

“The magic beast…”

“It’s down. We won. We’re heading to the cathedral next to finish the sweep. Can you move?”

“Y-yes…”

Klaha struggled to stand but faltered.

“Ah…”

“Don’t push yourself. If you can’t move, just stay put.”

“S-sorry…”

“The ground team has gone to get the healing magicians from the cathedral. Just hang on until they get here. You’ll make it.”

Klaha looked around with her eyes alone and saw that the other party members were also battered. Their fire-resistant gear barely held its shape, but exposed skin was charred, emitting a strange, acrid smell. In some cases, parts of the armor had melted and fused to their skin.

Klaha had never witnessed a battle as brutal as this.

“You did good,” Holland said.

“Thanks to your call, everyone here managed to brace themselves in time. And those nosy fools even had time to cover me.”

“Ah… so that’s…”

So that’s why Holland had only sustained minor injuries. Klaha had wondered how her clumsy defensive magic had managed to block the breath attack. Now, she understood.

“Hold your head high. Without you, we wouldn’t have brought that monster down. So live. Get a medal for it or something.”

Klaha tried to reply, but she couldn’t summon the energy. Instead, she quietly nodded in response.

Holland moved away, likely to check on the other injured members.

From the wreckage of the lodging house, Klaha looked up at the night sky. The stars glittered above. The moon was nowhere to be seen, likely because it was a new moon.

A cold breeze brushed against her skin. Though her body trembled from the pain, her nerves had already dulled to the point where she couldn’t feel it fully.

Would she survive? The thought crossed her mind.

She could feel some strange force surging from within her. If this was the true form of vitality revealed under extreme danger, then as long as it didn’t fade, she felt certain she wouldn’t die.

So before it disappeared, she thought, she had to listen carefully.

The sound of footsteps rushing down the streets. The clash of swords from the ongoing battles. Voices guiding others, shouting, “This way!”

As long as these sounds didn’t stop… Klaha believed.

Until she heard it—the sound of despair.

“No…”

She heard Holland gasp in disbelief.

“No way…”

“What is that!?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Why… why is this happening…?”

“Fall back! Forget it! We’re done here!”

What they saw before them was—

A flock. A swarm so vast it seemed to blot out the sky. The same magical bird they had just defeated—a legendary beast known as the Insto—was now multiplying before their eyes, spreading like a tide.

“Holland! Evacuate the people in the cathedral!”

“My family is over there…!”

“We’ll all be slaughtered!”

“This isn’t just the town. If this keeps up, the whole country…”

The members of the Next Apex party shouted one after another.

The flock seemed to be heading in a single direction—

The cathedral.

“Holland! Go!”

Someone screamed those words—

It was a plea to abandon everything and flee. A desperate, imploring cry.

“Damn it all…!”

And just as Holland seemed to steel himself to make that decision—

Klaha saw one of the flock dive toward them at breakneck speed.

She tried to move. Someone screamed. A spell was chanted. An arrow was nocked. She knew all of it would be in vain.

Even Klaha—

Knew her spell wouldn’t make it in time. As the magical bird drew close, its throat glowing with the light of an incoming breath—

“Damn you!!”

Holland screamed—

And a single sword flash cut through the air.

The silence that followed was overwhelming.

No one could believe what they had just witnessed. They all understood the terrifying strength of these magical birds, having faced them themselves. Yet now—

A single human stood before them, having felled one of these monsters with a single stroke.

He looked utterly ragged. Like a wanderer lost for years, his clothes were tattered, his body gaunt, and his sword hilt worn to the point of resembling an antique.

But everyone recognized him.

“The great hero…”

“Ziel… sir…”

At the sound of his name, the man turned around. His face, though sharp and gallant, carried an odd trace of youthfulness, almost childlike.

“Sorry,” he said. “I got lost.”

As if it were nothing at all.