Volya and Romain almost exhausted after they killed waves after waves of the mage's legion. And now they already take a breather. Volya then says,

"It's been 1 hour since we left the camp..."

"Yet, we still have not found the mage... Am I right?" asks Romain

"No... More like, it's almost like we didn't move away from our first location."

"Is it?" said Romain as he drinks his water

Volya sits down and then observe the area around them. He could feel that the source of the residual mana was almost out of control. As he looks at the direction of the source, he notices that the source becomes a little bit closer.

"Or maybe... We are closer than we thought," said Volya

"Huh?!"

"The source is moving closer to our location... Are you ready, Romain?"

"Seriously... This girl doesn't give us time to rest, huh..."

"Don't complain as... Huh?"

Volya hears something moving from the forest near them. As he tried to see it, he felt it moving faster. Before he could react, a black spike came out from the forest and grazed his face.

Romain noticed what happened, took his shield, and felt something stabbing the shield hard. The same black spike that hits Volya. Volya immediately wipes the blood from his cheek and then says,

"I believe... She doesn't want to meet us..."

"My... Your childhood friend is so scary." jokes Romain

"Did you forget... We still have not concluded that this mage is indeed my childhood friend, right?"

"Well... Yes"

"And... Huh?"

Another black spike comes from the forest and this time the spikes focused on Volya. Volya immediately jumps away and he could see another spike coming from the forest. Romain immediately dashed to Volya and used the shield to hold the attack.

Romain could see another black spike coming and says,

"This mage... Hell-bent wants to kill you."

"..."

"Maybe you know something?"

Volya didn't answer Romain's question and notices the attack already stops. Romain then says,

"The attack is stopped..."

"It looks like the mage wants to..."

Before Volya finished talking, another black spike comes out from the forest and almost hit Volya's head if he didn't react fast enough. The black spike scratch Volya's face once more. Even though he moves his head a little, his eyes fixated to one area.

Romain immediately dashed to Volya and asks,

"Are you alright, Volya?"

"The mage becomes closer..."

"Huh?"

Romain looks at the direction where Volya is looking now. Little by little, he could see a woman with long bisque chocolate hair walking at them. The woman wearing green ragged cloth and her hand holds a staff.

For every step the woman takes, Romain could see the plant around her start to wilt. The moment Volya looks at the moment, he immediately knows how dangerous she is. Romain then says,

"This girl..."

"Her magic is going rampant... She can't control it and it kills everything around her..."

"Kills?"

"It accelerates the time around her... In other words, it still kills you."

"Urgh..."

The woman then looks at Volya and Romain. Both of them could see her turquoise eyes and they know that her eye is lifeless. The woman suddenly laughs after seeing them and then says,

"Mother... I found him... I found one of them..."

"Huh?"

Romain and Volya quite startled to hear that and they could see the woman continue to laugh for some time. Romain looks at Volya and gives signs to Volya,

'Is that the girl you are searching for until now?'

'From the eye colour and the hair... It's almost the same... But, I'm not quite sure...'

'Is that so... What about your mana reading thingy?'

'...'

'Volya?'

Before Volya could answer the question, the girl stops to laugh and looks directly at Volya. The girl then says,

"Portar..."

"..."

"Portar Family... Murderer... I must... Find... Kill... Find... Kill..."

"..."

"Ahahahahaha... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." said the woman as she looked at Volya and Romain.

The woman looks down for a while and then says,

"Then... What are you doing here, Portar? Are you going to kill me? Like what you have done to my mother?"

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"Huh? You..." said Romain as he looks at Volya

Volya keeps silent after hearing that question and focused his eye on the woman. The woman notices that and then laughs. She then continues,

"Did you... forget... about it?"

"..."

"I still remember it... I still remember it... The day when... Portar leads people... To kill my mother... To destroy our home... To destroy our garden... I still remember it... The eyes of disgust shown by Portar that day... The day under the moonlight..." continues the woman as she starts to laugh again

Volya closes his eyes, while the woman continues to laugh. Romain moves little by little to Volya, while he prepares his sword and shield. Before Romain asks the woman, Volya suddenly asks,

"Are you... Gracia?"

The woman stops laughing and looks at Volya. She then smirks and says,

"Did you... Forget me? Did you?"

"Many years have already passed since we last met... Of..."

"So... You indeed... Forget... me..."

The woman looks down and looks at her hand. Volya looks at her hand and notices a withered flower ring there. All the evidence is shown in front of him and he is certain that the girl is Gracia Ravelli. The girl that he tried to find for many years.

Volya looks at Romain and gives him a sign that he will strengthen his armour and weapon for this battle. And also he tells him to not kill her. Romain nods and prepares any action from the woman.

'Gracia' suddenly laughs again and then looks at Volya. She then said,

"Ahahahahaha... That's alright... That's alright... It's much easier... VOLYA PORTAR!"

"..."

"And... I'm indeed Gracia Ravelli... The daughter from the Ravelli family... That your family murder in the past!"

"..."

"And with this... You... will... meet... My Mother~"

Without chanting her magic, Gracia pointed her staff at Volya and Romain, and a black spike immediately flying towards them. Volya immediately jumps behind Romain and Romain holds his shield.

Romain immediately says,

"How did she use the magic without chanting her spell?"

"There is some mage that could do that... I assume that she learn it by herself," answer Volya

"Do you know how to beat that kind of mage?"

"If you want me to be honest... I never fought another mage in the past."

"Urgh..."

The black spike suddenly stops attacking them and Romain peeks from behind his shield. Gracia already vanished from there. He then says,

"Volya... That mage..."

"Huh?"

Volya immediately looks at Gracia location. No one stands there. Volya and Romain protect each other back after knowing the situation. Romain looks around and notices another undead comes at them. There are a dozen of them.

He then proceeds to fend them off and cut their leg. When one of them is near Romain, he will hold the other with his shield and slash his target. Rinse and repeat.

At that moment, he notices something. He didn't hear Volya saying anything. The moment he looks back, he notices Volya already missing from there. He immediately shouts,

"Volya!!!"