Using the Lightbringer, which had already appeared in his left hand beneath the armor, Rohan summoned several lightning bolts. Five, to be exact.
BOOM!
However, to his surprise, each lightning strike missed its target. But even so, they were enough to slow the enemy down, giving him the chance to close the distance.
Just as he was about to cut into the elf's back, she suddenly turned while a silver rapier appearing in her left hand.
With a swift motion, she easily parried Rohan's strike. Not only that, she immediately unleashed a counterattack, aiming straight for his stomach. However, the rapier failed to pierce through his armor and only managed to push him several steps back.
The elf, realizing her target was far more difficult to capture than she had expected, decided to retreat.
But just as she was about to move, two more lightning bolts descended from the sky.
BOOM!
Once again, the lightning failed to hit its target, missing by only a few steps.
Rohan was unsure how she was able to make his attacks miss. However, he did not dwell on it.
Without hesitation, he used the Bone Blade and summoned eleven skeletons.
In the next moment, they had already formed a tight circle around her.
Now that the elf was completely surrounded, she had no other choice but to fight. However, she was not in despair.
She simply pulled a small scroll from her pouch and opened it. In an instant, a blazing, golden, radiant light descended from the sky, completely evaporating every skeleton.
Rohan, of course, was surprised. However, rather than despairing over how easily his skeletons were annihilated, he lunged forward with all his might, trying to cut his target in half, ignoring the blazing light that pressed down on him.
But just when he was certain he could finally kill his target, the elf smirked.
She easily avoided Rohan's incoming slash, then, with a swift motion, used his own forward momentum against him, driving her rapier through his armor and straight into his liver.
Blood gushed from his mouth as he heard the elf murmur, almost gently, "Why would you use a sword if you don't even know how to use it?"
She then tilted her head with a soft expression. "But then, why should I care? And you're rather fortunate, you know. If I hadn't been asked to keep you alive, I would have taken your heart instead of your liver."
Before he could respond, she pulled the rapier from his body, and he dropped hard to the ground.
"You've lost," she said softly, almost kindly. "Such arrogance. If you had let me slip away when I chose to retreat, you might have enjoyed a little more time to breathe."
Then, as if the outcome had already been decided, a faint smirk touched her lips as she crouched, reaching to take the bone blade and the sword from Rohan's hand.
Once she picked up the sword, she waited for its information to enter her mind.
However, even after a few seconds, the details still did not appear.
"Weird," she muttered.
From what she had seen earlier, this particular sword had a very useful ability, which was to absorb any spell from an enemy.
Just as she was about to take the Bone Blade from Rohan's left hand, she suddenly moved to the side.
BOOM!
Out of nowhere, a knight covered in battered silver armor swung its rusted greatsword downward, aiming to split the elf in two from above her head to her lower body.
Once she stabilized her footing, she saw the knight and immediately frowned.
Then she looked up and saw a gigantic winged serpent, with a person standing on its head.
Before she began her ambush, she had understood at a glance that her target was surrounded by vampires. She had pierced their heads and hearts, and that should have kept them down for hours.
She had expected them to recover because she knew how hard it was to kill a vampire. What she did not expect was how fast this one healed. The one with long blond hair.
"She must be a pureblood," the elf realized.
After that, she immediately dropped the blue sword and focused only on her rapier. Since she felt she couldn't use the sword's unique ability, there was no point in holding onto it.
The Silver Knight, with wild yet somehow precise movements, closed the distance in an instant and began to unleash a barrage of attacks, all of which were easily parried or deflected by the elf.
Up above, Luciana noticed Rohan's body on the ground. For a brief moment, a flicker of regret passed through her eyes.
Then, realizing she needed to end the fight as soon as possible, she decided to summon another creature.
"Summoning spell: Guardian of Hell."
Within a second, a squat, armored figure clad in dark silver and gray plates dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.
Its body was short and stocky, with thick limbs and heavy shoulder plates. It carried a spiked mace and a shield engraved with a skull.
Without any delay, the Guardian dashed toward the elf.
Now pincered from two sides, the elf was slowly being pushed back.
At that point, even her composed expression began to fade. Her best offensive spell, the invisible projectiles, was unable to pierce the thick armor of the Silver Knight or the Guardian.
Luciana, meanwhile, realizing that the elf's attention was fully occupied by the Knight and the Guardian, dropped from the sky and commanded the winged serpent to join the fight.
The moment she landed, she strode toward Rohan and knelt beside him.
Her eyes searched him quickly, tracing the wound, the blood, and the rise and fall of his chest.
When she saw he was still alive, she let out a quiet breath of relief.
Then, without hesitation, she bit into her own wrist and let her blood pour into the opening in his armor, the very spot where the rapier had pierced his liver.
Slowly but surely, the blood seeped into his body, and the wound began to close.
When she finished, Luciana rose and turned her gaze toward the fight.
As the second passed, the fight dragged on, with the sound of steel ringing without pause. And eventually, wounds began to accumulate on the elf's body. At some point, her blood sprayed across the forest floor, darkening the soil and splattering against tree trunks.
But even so, the elf did not fall and continued to hold her ground.
Only then did Luciana fully grasp just how absurdly strong the elf truly was.
"Her swordsmanship is simply flawless…" Luciana muttered as she frowned.
She considered casting another summoning spell, only to realize she was still limited to three. Any more than that risked an error, and the summoned creature could easily go berserk. If that happened, it would only introduce unpredictability and uncertainty into the fight, something that would benefit the elf.
She knew that at this point, if she did nothing, the elf might escape.
And then, she remembered the Bone Blade.
Her gaze shifted to Rohan's left hand. Resting in his palm was the pale white bone.
Without hesitation, she snatched it and, in one swift motion, summoned dozens of skeletons using the blade's power.
By the time the skeletons were about to join the fight, Luciana noticed that the winged serpent had already been slain.
For a brief moment, the elf gained the upper hand. However, as the skeletons surged into the battle, the balance began to shift against her once more.
And for the first time, the elf's breathing began to falter.
At one point, she used another scroll to summon a blinding light from the sky, destroying all the skeletons. However, that very action left her exposed, allowing the Silver Knight and the Guardian, who were unaffected by the light, to land a decisive blow on her body.
After such devastating blows, her footwork was no longer precise.
Sensing that the balance had shifted in her favor, Luciana felt a sense of relief.
After nearly ten minutes of grueling close range combat against the Guardian and the Silver Knight, the elf finally fell.
Before the fight had reached this point, she had tried to escape several times. But the Guardian and the Silver Knight had never allowed her to do so.
At that moment, she realized that her arrogance had led to her defeat.
Had she been more careful and considered the possibility that one of the vampires was a pureblood, she would not have wasted so much time lingering after defeating her target.
Still being held down by the Silver Knight and the Guardian, she noticed the blond vampire approaching.
Once she stopped in front of the elf, Luciana's red eyes narrowed. "Who sent you?" she asked, each word precise and icy. "Tell me, and I might be generous enough to spare that wretched little life of yours."
The elf lifted her bloodied face while her lips splitting into a wicked, delighted grin despite the pain. She then let out a soft, little laugh before spitting directly onto Luciana's chest. "I hate vampires. You filthy, blood-sucking creatures really are the worst."
BANG!
Luciana's boot connected with the elf's face in a sharp, vicious kick.
The elf's head snapped back as blood spraying from her split lip.
Luciana did not even raise her voice. "Wrong answer," she said. "Try again. I'm not known for my patience."
The elf coughed once, then let out a weak, broken little laugh, still grinning through the pain.
"Oh… you kick like a disappointed mistress. Tell me, vampire… how many liters of blood do you drink in a day?"
BANG!
"Last chance," Luciana said. "I will kill you after this."
Blood bubbled at the corner of the elf's mouth as she tilted her head. "Oh, sweetheart, do you ever suck on goblin blood? Or orc blood? Be honest now. I'm simply dying to know if your palate is as… refined as the rest of you pretends to be."
"Or do you just slurp and suck whatever creatures you run into?"
She flashed a bloody grin. "Enlighten me, darling. I do love a good vampire confession."
At that moment, Luciana finally decided to kill the elf.
But just as she was about to command her summons to tear the elf apart, a rustling sound suddenly came from behind her.