After pulling Narissa, who was clinging to his back, even closer, Eugene flipped up the hood of his cloak. He also called on the spirits of the wind to guard his surroundings. On top of that, he erected his mana shield and even mixed in a few defensive spells.

In response to his preparations, Kristina also cast her own holy spell. These kinds of spells were actually superior in terms of defense to other magic of the same class.

After checking the range of the barrier that Kristina had cast over them, Eugene told her, “Make sure to stick right behind me.”

“Yes,” Kristina replied without any objections.

Wasn’t he being too reckless? But such thoughts didn’t even cross her mind. When it came to things like this, Kristina wouldn’t argue with Eugene.

As he walked forward, Eugnee placed both hands inside of his cloak, but he didn’t take out any weapons in advance.

Just when he had moved forward a little further with his guard still raised, his highly sharpened senses caught something. But the moment that it was caught, it escaped.

No… it hadn’t escaped; instead, it was racing even closer. Eugene was on alert anyway, so his response came immediately. He pulled a sword out from his cloak and sliced through the air.

Clang!

The sword broke the moment it collided with something.

Ignoring the shattered metal fragments that had been sent flying, Eugene pulled out his right hand, which was still in his cloak. The mana that had burst out at the moment of the collision was then absorbed by the Devouring Sword Azphel.

“Kyaaah!” Narissa cried at the sudden explosion.

Eugene stopped carrying Narissa and threw her to the wind spirits, who moved her away from the fight. Kristina also immediately lifted her wand and covered Narissa in a shield of light.

Now that his body was free of its burden, Eugene charged forwards without any delay. The figure of the Guardian, who was wearing an old robe, was captured in his sight. Azphel’s outstretched blade jumped and jerked as it diverted the oncoming attacks.

Claclang!

There was the sound of metal clashing against metal, but Azphel didn’t shatter like the first sword had.

But the Guardian also refused to back down. Instead of continuing to attack, the Guardian readied his sword as he waited for Eugene’s attack.

Azphel dug a furrow in the ground as Eugene ran forward. Then the sword struck upward with an explosive burst of mana. The Guardian’s sword moved to meet the attack.

Whoosh!

Before...