When Lia looked at Miria and Lyria, the two little fairies trembled with fear.
"I-I think I will go; I forgot something I had to do..."
"M-me too..."
While stuttering and trembling, the two little fairies flew away, and Lia could only watch them leave helplessly.
Just a while ago, they were happily hanging around with Lia, and now they were running away in fear.
âSigh...â
Lia couldnât blame those little fellows for being frightened just by the name of a human after seeing that horrifying video.
They were just children in terms of the fairy raceâs age standards; it was easy for them to get frightened and feel fearful. Lia wasnât angry at them; itâs just that sitting alone in this large greenhouse, Lia felt a bit lonely.
*Thump!* *Swish!*
Just when Lia was feeling a bit sad and lonely, the locket hanging on her neck lit up with a small fluctuation of a very familiar power.
A small strain of âSword Intentâ spread out, cut off a black rose hanging nearby, and let it fall on Liaâs lap.
Everything happened so fast that Lia didnât even react, and by the time she figured out what had happened, there was a black rose sitting on her lap peacefully.
Seeing the rose, a warm feeling spread in Liaâs heart, and the sadness and loneliness were completely destroyed.
"You really know how to impress me all the time donât you... I guess, thatâs why I fell for you..."
While speaking those words, Lia stroke the necklace hanging around her neck with a smile on her face.
This ordinary-looking necklace was given to her by Rio before she began her training journey.
The necklace was without a doubt embedded with Rioâs âSword Intent,â and it was Rioâs way of saying that,
{No matter the situation, I will always be there for you...}
Seeing the âSword Intentâ react on its own by itself, the most stunned was in fact Kai!
"I-it can think on its own!? What the actual!?"
Kai already knew from the beginning that Rio had stored quite a bit of his own âsword intentâ in that ordinary-looking locket, likely to keep Lia company.
But even he didnât expect that the âSword Intentâ stored in the locket was actually capable of reacting and working on its own without needing a single order from its owner!
"Not even powerful protective amulets and spells can do something like that... that fellow... his control over his âSword Intentâ and the âLawâ of âSwordsâ has reached a truly insane level to be able to imbue his own thoughts into his âSword Intentâ like that..."
What Kai didnât know was that he was still only evaluating Rio with an outdated standard.
Rio, who was on his way back from the hellish mission of the Spirit Realm, had now gained even more affinity and control over âSword Intentâ and was now several dozen times stronger than the one he saw last time!
"What Nova said is true... yes, humans can be cruel; no... in fact, all races can be cruel, but that doesnât mean everyone in the world is cruel. If there are evil people, then there will always be good people too..."
"The world is gray because thereâs still âlightâ shining in this void of darkness!"
Rioâs sword intent not only managed to pull Lia out of her sad and lonely state; she even became calm and clearer-headed.
She got up from her seat, and a newfound determination appeared in her eyes.
"Kai, you are wrong; the decision of letting Nova talk and me finding about the history of it all was a good thing..."
"Now I know more clearly what I should be doing in the future and what I shouldnât..."
History is a great teacher; if you donât learn from your past mistakes, you will only keep repeating them over and over.
The mistakes humanity made in the past were later corrected by King Allen, and he even personally helped Astra protect the fairy race throughout the entire thousand-year war.
"Hehe, kiddo, you have grown up... compared to the younger you, now you are more capable of adapting. I am proud of your growth..."
Hearing Kaiâs words, Lia rolled her eyes and spoke,
"Donât always try to sugarcoat things... It would be better if you help me face hardships head-on with your power..."
"I have Rio to pamper me and care for me all day long; you donât need to worry about that. Letâs focus on our strength and growth more from now on..."
At Liaâs reply, Kai nodded his head, jumped back on Liaâs shoulder and spoke,
"Well, be my guest then... from now on, our main focus will be seeking more growth and seeking more combat opportunities..."
Just as Kai spoke those words, a powerful explosion happened, and the ground trembled like crazy as if a massive earthquake were happening.
*BOOOOOM!!!!!!* *CRRRAAACKKKK!!!!* *SHHHHHATTTTERRRR!!!!*
"Speak of the devil... hereâs your opportunity for more combat..."
The sound of shattering glass rang out in the entire city of Kenorland as the massive illusion barrier covering the city was violently shattered and broken into pieces like a shattered mirror.
Fragments of the shattered illusion barrier fell on the ground as thousands of fairies walked out of various places to look at the sky.
"I wasnât saying you had to bring the opportunity so early, you know!"
Shaking her head in helplessness, Lia stormed right through a window and shot out into the sky with her fairy wings to see the situation more clearly.
And just like her spiritual sense was telling her, a massive number of invaders had laid siege on the city of flowers, Kenorland.
As the massive barrier shattered, one powerful aura after another appeared in the sky, and Lia even felt many powerful artifacts that she had never even seen before activate in the range of her spiritual sense!
"As expected of a peak S-rank dungeon, itâs nothing like a usual easy-to-conquer dungeon; not only does it attack people mentally by showing them harsh truths, itâs even prepared to strike the challengers with insane difficulty..."
"Fighting an entire army all by myself... hehe, I have always wanted to do that before..."