Looking at Rose stopping E'Athar with a brave expression, I was speechless.
Miss Hero, this was not in the script…
You were not supposed to stop Princess E'Athar from escaping!
I did not know whether to laugh or to cry.
… Well, I never tell Rose and the others about my plan with Princess E'Athar, so I can't blame her for interfering.
What can I say? Rose is just doing her job.
Princess E'Athar was just as surprised as I was. She was expecting to break the barrier in a cool way with her last attack, surprising both daemons and humans, only to be stopped by Rose in the last second.
For an instant, she glanced at me as though asking me if this was part of the plan. However, I could only smile wryly.
Seeing that, Princess E'Athar understood.
She cursed her back luck and fixed her gaze on the hero while furrowing her brows.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Rose. Daemon, you are not leaving this fort today!"
Princess E'Athar clicked her tongue and felt a headache coming.
She did not want to fight this girl. Right now, her priority was to follow the plan and escape. The more she delayed, the bigger the chance of something going wrong.
However, she did not dare to ignore the beautiful black-haired girl in front of her.
She could feel that, despite the girl's low cultivation (just at the seventh layer), her strength was the real deal. Otherwise, the girl would have not been able to stop her last attack.
Thus, she decided to go all-out from the start.
"Sorry about this, but I must pass. Daemon Sword, [Cutting the Moon]!"
In an instant, Princess E'Athar's mana erupted out. Twelfth-layer mana filled her sword as she swung it in Rose's direction!
However, Rose was not intimidated. She took a step forward and several magic circles appeared around her, activating one after another.
"[Shield]!" Rose shouted.
Her words acted as the trigger, creating countless mana shields that superimposed each other and stopped Princess E'Athar's slash. Then, Rose brandished her sword elegantly, moving past the attack of the princess and aiming to her neck.
Princess E'Athar's expression turned stern. She grunted, ending the sword slash that was stopped by Rose's shield spell and then brandishing her sword in a full circle.
"Daemon Sword, [Full Moon]!"
Princess E'Athar's sword technique stopped Rose's attack. At the same time, it created a storm of sword energy that attacked Rose from all directions.
But the hero did not panic. With a shout, her seventh-layer mana burst out, surging towards her blade like a river of starlight.
"[One hundred nights of starry skies]!"
Sword against sword clashed, with neither of them gaining the advantage. But suddenly, Rose stomped on the ground and cast a magic circle that covered tens of meters.
Then–
"[Light Chains]!"
The magic circle activated.
Princess E'Athar's expression changed. She hurriedly jumped back, but it was too late. The magic circle below her feet had lit up, creating tens of chains of light that wrapped around Princess E'Athar's legs and stopped her movements!
Next, Rose grabbed her sword with both hands. Her mana fueled her sword, filling it with a sparkling light full of killing intent!
"[Stardust]!"
With a shout, her sword descended, cutting everything in its path.
But then–
"Princess!"
A daemon jumped in front of Princess E'Athar, stopping the attack with his body.
At the same time, several other daemons that saw Princess E'Athar's crisis attacked Rose!
Rose frowned. She hurriedly changed the course of her sword, stopping the attacks coming towards her as several magic circles took shape around her, releasing tens of arrows of light against her enemies.
However, the intervention of these daemons gave E'Athar the time to escape from her bindings.
"Argh!"
Roaring, the daemon princess released a shockwave that blew apart the chains of light. Then, she raised her sword, gathering mana upon it and swinging it down towards Rose.
Daemon sword, [Half Moon]!
She planned to make use of the fact that Rose was being distracted by the other daemons to kill her!
But to her surprise, Rose's body spun towards the right, releasing a ray of sword light that clashed against the princess's [Half Moon] and deflected it. At the same time, several magic circles around her lit up, releasing beam after beam of light that incinerated several daemons.
Then, she kicked the ground, breaking through the daemons in front of her to arrive in front of Princess E'Athar.
"Guh!"
Princess E'Athar blocked Rose's sword with a grunt of pain. However, she saw several magic circles appearing behind Rose, ready to release whitish lightning to smite her.
Immediately, she turned pale.
Inside Rose's icy eyes, Princess E'Athar could see her death approaching!
She did not hesitate to jump back, but the lightning released by Rose chased after her, piercing everything in its way.
In the end, she only managed to survive thanks to the sacrifice of several daemons. But even so, she was forced to resist several lightning bolts head-on.
And just after receiving the attacks, she could see Rose charging towards her again, her sword stabbing straight towards her heart.
At that moment, Princess E'Athar felt something.
Fear.
Not just her. All the daemons nearby shivered in terror in front of Rose's black eyes full of killing intent.
Actually, even I was slightly surprised.
Rose, this girl, was stopping the escape of the entire daemon army practically by herself!
And she was just in the seventh layer!
Once more, I was made aware of how talented heroes were.
Facing the twelfth-layer Princess E'Athar plus several daemon soldiers, Rose managed to suppress their advance completely.
If things continued like this, Rose will kill Princess E'Athar before long.
I smiled wryly in my mind and finally decided to act.
Of course, I don't plan to act directly. I only plan to help Princess E'Athar secretly a bit.
At that moment, Rose and Princess E'Athar clashed again.
However, Princess E'Athar barely managed to hold on against Rose's attack. She grunted in pain as blood flowed from a corner of her lips and her muscles groaned in an effort to defend against the powerful attack of the hero.
Then, Rose took a step back, spun around, and hacked towards Princess E'Athar's sword.
*Clang!*
And hacked again.
*Clang!*
And again.
*Clang!*
And again.
*Clang!*
Princess E'Athar took a step back with each attack, and her mana turned messier and messier.
And finally, she was unable to hold on.
*Clang!*
With a loud metallic sound, Princess E'Athar's sword was cut into two.
Then, Rose raised her sword once more and filled it with mana.
"[Stardust]." She spoke, swinging her sword down.
Princess E'Athar was filled with despair. Her mind turned blank as she raised what remained of her sword in a futile attempt to stop the hero's attack.
But when she and the daemons in the surroundings thought that she was going to die, something changed.
All of sudden, she felt an immense amount of mana surging out of her mana core.
The sudden burst of mana woke up her body once more. Her pain faded away, and her muscles were filled with strength again.
Then, the barrier between the twelfth layer and the thirteenth layer broke down!
Princess E'Athar felt the changes in her body instantly. She did not know how or why she broke through at this point in time, but she knew that this was her opportunity to defeat the monster in front of her.
With determination glowing in her eyes, she decided to put everything in her next attack.
"Arghh!"
Daemon Sword, [Lonely Moon]!
Princess E'Athar roared. She put as much mana as she could in her broken sword, releasing a ray of sword light that blinded both humans and daemons alike.
Even the powerhouses fighting in the sky could not help but look down when they felt the power of that attack.
Then–
*Boom!!!*
Rose's [Stardust] and E'Athar's [Lonely Moon] clashed, creating a shockwave the blew everything several meters around them away!
Immediately, Rose's expression changed.
Princess E'Athar's sudden burst of strength surprised her. The power of the princess's [Lonely Sword] cut through her [Stardust], overpowering her for the first time since the battle started.
This time, it was her turn to feel the threat of death.
But immediately, she put on an expression of unwillingness.
She could not lose here! She was not going to lose here!
And as though proving her determination, the mana around her answered her call.
All the mana in the surroundings surged towards Rose, creating a vortex of mana that replenished the mana she had used during the battle and at the same time pushed her cultivation to greater heights.
Then, before the attack of Princess E'Athar reached her, she roared.
"Break, [Stardust]!"
Her mana erupted. It raised her cultivation to the eighth layer and filled her sword with overwhelming amounts of mana.
Then, her sword lit up, releasing a ray of sword light that illuminated the fort as though another sun had appeared!
When the light finally faded out, Rose was standing calmly in front of a tired Princess E'Athar with her sword pointed towards her.
"I told you, daemon." Rose's confident voice spread through the entire battlefield. "You are not leaving this fort today."
Despair filled Princess E'Athar and the daemons.
At the same time, I was looking at Rose with a wry smile.
Girl, can you please stop your cheats?
Now that you had a breakthrough as well, does it mean that I helped Princess E'Athar to breakthrough for nothing?