Tome of the Dead. An item that Sylvia had acquired earlier when she went through a secret passage that led her to a completely different room in the dungeon. After the room’s cleared, she decided to take a small break outside and went back in with her newfound tome and light spells.

  “Last time, there was a small opening to the left which led me to a secret room. That room gave me this tome upon clearing it, but I still have no idea what this does. Seeing as this involves power of the dead though, it would be dumb of me to use this against undead enemies.”

  After realizing that, Sylvia put the tome on her waist and left it hanging.

  “I really should get a bag, that’d be convenient. Okay that’s my next goal! I’m getting a bag after this commission’s complete. I hope I have enough coins though, I did clear another commission earlier and this commission’s about to be completed, so that should be enough for another night in the inn and also for a new bag.” she said excitedly as she fisted the air.

  Sylvia kept walking and walking, bypassing the room that she had gone into earlier.

  “Even though this isn’t my first time here, this pce still gives me the creeps…”

  A light was seen in the distance. Sylvia was much more cautious this time around. She casted a barrier spell before entering the room, just in case someone or something was hiding to ambush her. As she was approaching the room, she noticed something which caused her to stop in her tracks.

  Strange, is that… a campfire? There’s a treasure chest at the end of the room though, but seeing that there’s a campfire right there, that’s a bad sign. They could be friendly people who just so happened to get the same commission as me, or they could be bandits. I could cast a spell right now and blow them up, but I’m worried that I might kill innocent people.

  Sylvia was in a dilemma, she didn’t want to risk her life going into an unknown room, but she didn’t want to risk injuring or killing innocent people.

  …if I did kill innocent people, that guilt would kill me mentally for the rest of my life. I’d rather risk my life than doing that.

  After a lot of thinking, Sylvia finally went into the room and was surprised to find that there were tents surrounding the campfire. There looked to be around 10 tents circling the campfire. However, there was something more unsettling in the room. There were many weapons scattered around the room

  “This room is quiet, too quiet in fact.”

  As soon as she said that, someone went in as they cut the wind in their path and tried to attack her from the back. However, the attack proved to be useless due to Sylvia’s barrier. The impact did knock Sylvia back which surprised her.

  “What the—”

  Another attack came from the left, Sylvia was still shocked from the previous attack so she couldn’t reinforce the barrier. The attacker soon nded the hit and broke Sylvia’s barrier.

  “No way—”

  After realizing that this room proved to be too dangerous for her, she tried to go for the exit, completely disregarding the treasure chest.

  “Did you think you could get away, kid?” a deep voice could be heard from a distance. In a blink of an eye, the attacker then blocked the exit which startled Sylvia.

  “Wh– What do you want..?” muttered Sylvia, her voice sounded shaky as her legs were trembling.

  “Don’t prolong this kid, you’re useless against me and you know it. Just accept this as punishment.” said the hooded figure.

  Although she couldn’t see him clearly, she could tell that this person was not human. His skin was red, and his speed was way beyond what a normal human could achieve. There also appeared to be horns on his forehead, although not long. Before she could say anything though, the attacker went in and attacked her again from the front, aiming for her head. Thankfully, she could dodge the attack before it could connect with her.

  What the heck is he attacking with? It’s clearly not a weapon, nor a spell. Instead it looks like he’s attacking with his hands? Are his hands that strong? This attack managed to break my barrier in 2 hits, so there’s a high likelihood it’ll kill me if I don’t dodge it.

  Sylvia ducked as the attacker sshed the air in a horizontal motion, leaving an afterimage that managed to destroy the wall behind Sylvia.

  Are you serious??? His hands have enough power to completely shatter a wall with ease??? I would’ve been sliced in half if I hadn’t dodge in time.

  As soon as the attacker was done slicing the air, he closed his distance with Sylvia and tried to pierce her left hand with his hand.

  Oh shoot!

  Thankfully Sylvia casted her barrier spell in time, but the proceeding impact knocked her back to a wall and the dust blinded her eyes momentarily. As she opened her eyes, the attacker was right in front of her, preparing his right hand again to try and pierce Sylvia’s left hand again.

  I could take a big risk here. That piercing attack that he does is definitely much stronger than the attack that he used when he ambushed me, so I’m anticipating that the attack that knocked me back broke my barrier. He probably thinks I didn’t think that far which is why he’s taking a really long time to charge up his attack, so let’s use this opportunity to knock him back.

  Sylvia constructed 2 fireballs, both on her left and right hand. They were much bigger than the previous fireballs she had used. She then casted the fireball forward, connecting it with the attacker. The attacker was surprised by this action, which caused him to be hit directly by the attack and knocked him back.

  Perfect! I doubt someone like him would take long to recover, so to prolong him I’ll need to cast this into his direction to hopefully knock him back against a wall and maybe knock him out? Whatever happens, this should buy me enough time to get out.

  Sylvia started running to where the entrance is at and she casted another fireball towards the attacker.

  I doubt that’s enough, more!

  Sylvia constructed 2 more fireballs and combined it to make one massive fireball. She threw it towards the attacker. This was just a safety measure, just in case the second fireball wasn’t enough.

  “ENOUGH!!!” the attacker shouted as he released another horizontal ssh towards where the door’s at. He knew he could handle the 2 fireballs being thrown, so he tried to close the exit before Sylvia could escape.

  NOT GOOD. That means he’s casting a spell, he probably thinks that he has enough strength to handle the 2 fireballs that I sent him which means he’s… casting his spell towards the entrance.

  Sylvia’s approach this time around was completely different than before. She used to hope that things would go her way and always hoped for the best, but the wolf encounter left a big impression on her. Now, if she finds herself in a fight that she knows she’ll have a hard time winning, she’ll always anticipate the worst and try to look for an escape.

  What can I do here, I know I’m not fast enough to go for the door before the attack could nd. Even if I did have enough speed, I’d be severely injured. So the st option is to…

  Sylvia thought about the wind, the gentle breeze caressing her skin. She had always enjoyed the wind’s comfort. She has seen numerous wind reted things in her life all because her teacher had always used wind spells when he was teaching Sylvia. That allowed Sylvia to subconsciously grasp how to construct wind spells, but she had never done it before because she thought she didn’t need it. However, this time proved to be crucial.

  If anyone can hear, feel, or see my thoughts at this current moment, then bless me with speed befitting enough to get me out of this situation.

  Sylvia has never tried spells involving the enhancement of one’s physical capabilities before. Although that’s the case, she still took this chance to get out of this situation and channeled her memoria throughout her body. She had no hopes of this working however, so she had already prepared another fireball spell on her right hand to blow herself forward towards the entrance.

  Is my body actually… faster? No way, are you actually serious? This spell actually worked! No, I’ll leave the celebration ter, for now I should focus my attention towards the entrance and get out of here safely.

  Although Sylvia was excited, she knew that her excitement shouldn’t blind her judgement. She knows that the situation she’s in is definitely dangerous, so she figured that her utmost priority is to get out of the room safely.

  Sylvia pced one of her legs back and unched herself forward with her newfound spell and kept the pace up. As she was running, the wind surrounded her which gave Sylvia a sense of comfort. She was racing against the ssh, which proved to be much faster than she had expected.

  Even with my current speed, there’s no way I’m going to make it. Looks like I’ll still have to use my fireball spell to propel myself forward.

  Sylvia threw the fireball behind her which caused a massive explosion. She couldn’t control where she was flying though so during her small flight, the ssh managed to cut Sylvia’s right hand, leaving behind a rge scar as blood dripped out of her arm. Fortunately, the ssh didn’t hit anything else. Sylvia managed to cross the entrance first before the ssh.

  OKAY! I should be safe now, but I need to make sure that he can’t escape out of this pce. Which means I need to construct the biggest fireball I’ve ever constructed and somehow make it more powerful… Oh god I really hope I have the strength for this.

  Sylvia sprinted for the dungeon’s exit. As soon as she arrived at the dungeon’s entrance, she immediately casted one st fireball for the day. She thought of the heat from her previous few fireballs, her encounters with the wolves and bandits, her anger when she was fighting the wolves, and her burning desire to make an impact on the world. She combined those thoughts and projected it into her greatest spell yet. A fireball, tall enough to the point where its shadow covers a small forest and its fmes burn bck. This was without a doubt, the strongest spell that Sylvia had constructed.

  My greatest wish is that this attack will be enough to burn the entirety of that dungeon and the monster inside it. No one should have to encounter that demon-like thing in the entirety of their lives. Its corpse shouldn’t even remain in ashes.

  Sylvia’s hands and body were starting to burn. Spells casted from the user shouldn’t be able to hurt the user, but if the spell is unfinished or if it has too much memoria in it, then hurting oneself is one such side effect.

  “May your spirit be cleansed. I do not know what caused you to be aggressive against humankind, but if we did cause trouble for your kind, then I hope we will be able to fix our misdeeds and build a bond that sts for eternity between humankind and your kind.”

  After saying that, she casted the spell towards the dungeon. The impact immediately caused an explosion the size of a nuke, leaving behind a rge mushroom cloud, rge enough to cover the entirety of the forest. The vibration was felt throughout the forest, and even the residents of the nearby castle felt the vibration. Fmes engulfed the forest surrounding Sylvia, killing everything around the forest.

  All that remains is a barren ndscape, filled with dead trees and burning trees, dust, and bck dirt. Sylvia stood in the midst of it all, looking at the dungeon that was once there. Now, all that was left was a rge crater, leaving nothing behind.

  “That… was… terrifying… Since when… did I… have that… much power…?”

  This was the first time that Sylvia had used powers like that. She expected that the impact would be enough to blow up the dungeon, but it completely blew her expectations out of the water.

  “I’m… gonna go… take a rest… now…”

  Bruises covered her body from head to toe. The spell that she had used was too powerful for her which caused immense bruises. Her mind was exhausted to the point where she passed out right then and there. Although it wasn’t the safest pce, she couldn’t find the strength to walk, or even move a part of her body.

  ————————————————————————————————————————

  “Just as I had expected, it’s this girl again. However, did her powers seriously grow this much in a matter of 1 day? If that’s what she can do in 1 day, then she could destroy the world if she wants in a few years. I have to admit, she’s terrifying.”

  The mysterious figure that once saved Sylvia appeared next to her.

  “If she was found to be the one doing this, there’s no doubt that she’ll be sentenced to death. If the government’s smart enough, they’d gdly welcome Sylvia with open arms and train her to help defeat our arch-nemesis. But, since when were they smart?”

  Normally, insulting the government would be a crime in the castle nearby. Even knowing that, the mysterious figure casually sndered the government.

  “This aura… she was fighting against a really strong demon. She might’ve thought that attack was enough to end the demon for good, but demons usually boast high resistance to fire spells. This demon might’ve been a high ranking one too, and they are notorious for being hard to kill.”

  “Whatever the case, I don’t care about the conflict between humankind and demonkind. In fact, it’s hirious that a conflict that shouldn’t even have existed sted this long. Typical humans. I’ll go and save her for now.”

  …

  …

  “Weird… I usually don’t go out of my way to help other people, but why do I feel compelled to help this girl out? Could it be because… she reminds me of someone? No…”

  The mysterious figure carried Sylvia and brought her to a nearby cave. She then healed Sylvia of her bruises so that she wouldn’t be suspected of blowing up the forest and dungeon.

  “The world’s cruel, y’know. My hope is for you to stay safe. Farewell for now, young sorcerer.”

  Shingyuuni