Solene was in a luxurious room, smaller compared to the others. Sitting in her chair, she repeatedly tapped her foot against the floor as she watched the outcome of the fight between Knigrave and João. Clicking her tongue, she stood up and picked up the communication stone.
"Devena, the order to wait is over. Go after Rebecca together with the other mages."
"Understood, my lady. I'll be there as quickly as possible."
Ending the communication, she threw the stone onto the floor before looking at everyone trapped inside the rooms. Unfortunately, the only ones who had been separated were some of the maids together with Jirena, Knigrave by himself, and Rebecca and Elara along with the remaining maids.
At first, she thought capturing Rebecca would be easy, but to her surprise, the men she had sent into their room had been defeated by a few maids.
"How is this possible? What did you do, Leon?"
In the transmitted image, two maids looked merely frightened. The problem was that the other three, standing in front of Rebecca and Elara, wielded daggers, whips, and a magical shotgun. The bodies of several mages were scattered throughout the room.
"Lady Rebecca, are you alright?"
"I am. I had no idea you were all this strong."
"We're very sorry for not telling you earlier."
The maid bowed apologetically. She and the companion beside her were the ones Rebecca had chosen as her personal maids. Leon himself had said they were the most experienced, while the third, carrying the shotgun, was the youngest. Elara took a step toward them.
"These maids were personally trained by Leon. Not all of them receive training, but those who do are usually quite strong. They're Rank Seven and Rank Six."
Elara smiled arrogantly, making Rebecca snort in response. She would have to ask Leon to reveal every secret of House Solfyr because there was no way a wife should know less than a sister who didn't even share his blood.
The maids looked at Elara with slight surprise. The one wielding daggers was Tiane, the most experienced among the three and the one who had served Leon the longest.
'The only people who know about our training are Lord Leon and his three personal knights... Could he have told Lady Elara?'
It was entirely possible, so they decided not to dwell on it. Their main objective was to get the two women out of that dangerous place. Turning to the companion using the whip, her eyes became serious.
"Melissa, cover the rear."
"Understood."
"Gabi, protect the other maids."
The youngest, Gabi, who carried the shotgun, nodded. The two maids thanked her and moved to stand beside the two noblewomen.
They all began heading toward the next room because staying where they had just been attacked was dangerous. Without a doubt, more enemies would arrive.
'What a strange place.'
Every time they left one room, they entered another. It seemed there were no hallways or staircases in that place. It was simply a location made up of an enormous number of rooms.
Tiane began sensing magic coming from the left, so she activated her own magic and transferred it into the wooden floor beneath her. Her eyes narrowed, and she immediately stepped in front of Rebecca before a hand could grab her.
'I knew it.'
Her dagger struck the hand, piercing it. A small cry of pain escaped the mouth of the person in front of her before they retreated back into the room. It wasn't possible to see their face or features because everything had happened too quickly.
Rebecca let out a relieved sigh before deactivating the wind magic she had been about to cast when she saw the attack.
'Good thing I didn't have to waste mana.'
Everyone remained alert. The attack had come from the room ahead, but that didn't mean the next ones would only come from there.
Gabi, standing behind them, aimed her weapon to the left and fired, hitting a knight in metallic armor. The magical bullet pierced his chest, killing him instantly.
Without taking her eyes off the front, Tiane praised her.
"Good job, Gabi."
The maid simply nodded and returned her attention to the doors. This room had four doors, one on each wall. It was also smaller than the previous ones. Apparently, they had waited until they reached this place to prepare an ambush.
Only one second after the second attack, four new enemies burst through the doors, charging at high speed toward Rebecca.
Gabi raised her weapon at the enemy coming through the door in front of her, but suddenly her leg was grabbed. Caught off guard, she looked down and saw the knight whose chest had previously been pierced gripping her leg tightly. He activated something on the floor, and a hole opened beneath them, pulling both of them underground.
Realizing what was happening and seeing that an opening had been created to reach Rebecca, Tiane activated the magic she had previously spread across the floor.
"Wood Magic: Manipulation — Thorned Chaos."
Countless wooden spikes burst from the floor and pierced the chests of the four attackers.
The spikes remaining inside their bodies began multiplying, tearing them apart completely. They should all have been dead, but the body parts trapped on the spikes disappeared and reappeared reattached to the rest of their bodies, now closer to the group.
The four had regenerated, and in the very next instant, each of them attacked one of the maids. Melissa was grabbed by the hand of one of the mages, and the two vanished. At the same time, Tiane was captured by the remaining two mages and disappeared along with them after being pulled upward by a powerful current of wind.
'Damn... They're all gone...'
Rebecca turned to defend herself from the last mage with her magic, but before she could act, Elara was already standing in front of her. A flash of light burst from her eyes, and the mage appeared to go blind for an instant. Taking advantage of that opening, Rebecca launched a blade of wind at the enemy's neck, severing his head from his body.
"What is this? Are they immortal or something?"
As Rebecca said that, Elara had her neck grabbed by a new enemy. It was a woman lifting her into the air with just one hand. She had black hair and wore darker metallic armor. Three glowing symbols shone on her chest, and a fourth was marked on her forehead.
"To think two spoiled noblewomen would give us this much trouble."
The woman's eyes burned with fury as she looked at the two of them. Her grip tightened more and more around Elara's neck. That woman was Devena, the third greatest swordswoman on the continent.
"I'm going to end this quickly. I don't want to waste time on petty women."
Her hand continued tightening around Elara's neck as Elara gripped Devena's arm in an attempt to resist. Rebecca was about to launch another wind attack, but to both her surprise and Devena's, Elara's hands squeezed with such force that part of the knight's arm simply exploded.
"How irritating."
Devena took several steps back, staring at her own arm in disbelief. Before she could look forward again, a kick struck her cheek, breaking her neck and sending her flying backward. Moments later, one of the symbols on her chest went dark, and she came back to life.
Spitting blood onto the floor, Devena watched as Elara tore away part of her dress so she could move more freely. Beneath the fabric were pieces of light armor.
"Since, for now, you're Leon's fiancée... I'll help you."
Elara began tying up her hair as a light appeared at her waist, revealing a sheathed white sword. Her eyes shone with an intense white light the moment she finished tying her hair.
"Just this once."