The battle between the mage squad and the Demon Race gradually reached a stalemate.
Fíliya's doubts grew ever stronger.
After all, she had never encountered a situation like this in any text or record.
She didn't understand.
Why weren't these demons before her speaking?
It was a known fact that the ancestors of the Demon Race were originally monsters that mimicked human speech from the shadows, a method they used to lure humans close and prey on them.
After countless years of refinement, these monsters eventually evolved into the humanoid beings known as the Demon Race, and they had always inherited and amplified this power that flowed through their bloodline.
They used language to deceive humans and harass them in battle, attempting to break their concentration.
Their handsome features had also evolved for the purpose of engendering goodwill in humans, causing them to lower their guard.
For the Demon Race, besides the powerful mana and magic they were born with, language was their second weapon.
But now, the demons in her line of sight hadn't uttered a single syllable from beginning to end.
Did that make any sense?
"...Oh my?"
Just as she was lost in thought, the few third- and fourth-class mages seemed to be on the verge of collapsing. A few stray magical attacks began to slip past their defensive line, heading toward Fíliya.
"Hmm, it seems I have no choice but to act... After all, there's still an unknown threat to deal with. We need to end this quickly."
Fíliya made up her mind after deflecting the scattered attacks.
Yet, she couldn't join the fight directly. She had, after all, promised Wirbel she would protect the soldiers.
After a moment's hesitation, she made her decision.
"You lot, stop using Defensive Magic. Just focus on attacking. Leave the defense to me."
Fíliya shouted, but she wasn't sure if the low-ranked mages would listen to her.
After all... this was a life-or-death situation. Getting others to drop their defenses and trust her completely... that would probably be difficult, she thought with a sense of resignation.
And just as she expected, after she spoke, the low-ranked mages showed hesitation, causing even bigger cracks to appear in their already unsteady defense.
This was truly the worst-case scenario.
Either trust me completely or don't trust me at all, you idiots.
Fíliya clicked her tongue in annoyance and quickly raised her right hand, which began to gather mana that gave off a faint, fluorescent glow.
"Damn it... I can't... block this. I shouldn't have hesitated..."
...one of the low-ranked mages thought as he watched the demon's attack close in on his face.
I'm going to die...
A look of despair crossed his face as he cursed himself inwardly for being distracted by the words of that Second-Class mage.
The two beside him had no time to react and could only watch as he was about to be hit head-on by the demon's attack.
Just then, a pure white, crystal-clear barrier appeared before the eyes of the low-ranked mage about to be consumed by death, blocking the fatal attack for him.
What he found slightly odd, however, was that the barrier lasted for only an instant before suddenly vanishing. If his concentration hadn't been pushed to its absolute limit in that life-or-death moment, he might have even suspected he was hallucinating.
"...Huh? My head's still on... I'm not dead..."
Breaking out in a cold sweat, he subconsciously touched his head and then quickly turned to look at Fíliya.
"Lady Fíliya... was that you?"
"No time for chatter. Hurry up, we're racing against the clock. Kill that demon, now."
Fíliya had no intention of answering him, instead issuing a direct command.
The three low-ranked mages exchanged glances and then nodded.
After what had just happened, they were convinced. The Second-Class Mage named Fíliya truly had the power to protect them. And so, they no longer hesitated, nor did they waste any more mana on defense.
The three figures spread out, beginning to encircle and attack the demon from different angles.
...The sounds of various attack spells exploding also drew the attention of Wirbel and Ehre.
"Hm...? What's going on?"
Wirbel discovered, to his surprise.
His subordinates had managed to break through before he did.
The demon surrounded by the three low-ranked mages was already covered in wounds.
After all, once the three mages completely abandoned defense, what the demon had to endure was a true, threefold barrage of firepower.
Even if its power surpassed the three of them combined, it was pinned down, unable to lift its head. The occasional counterattack it managed was effortlessly blocked by Fíliya.
...Blocked?
Wirbel noticed this and was startled.
That's not right. Logically, after casting such a large-scale defensive spell, Fíliya's mana should be completely drained... At least, that's what he had thought until just now.
But when he stole a glance in Fíliya's direction amidst the fighting, he was shocked to find...
...the woman's mana had barely decreased at all.
What was going on? Was she concealing her mana, too?
No, that's impossible. When concealing mana, the pillar of mana light around a person always has a faint flicker to it, but Fíliya's didn't.
This meant that Fíliya had either trained her Mana Concealment to the pinnacle of mastery, or she wasn't concealing her mana at all.
Wirbel was more inclined to believe the latter. After all, based on his observations of Fíliya...
...if that woman truly possessed immense mana, she would definitely show it off arrogantly. She was certainly not the type to hide her strengths.
Hmm, in that respect, she was quite similar to the Demon Race.
So then, the question remained: with so little mana, how was she able to continuously cast Defensive Magic to block attacks for the low-ranked mages while consuming so little of it?
Fíliya... she must have some unique secret to conserving mana.
"Ehre, I never thought someone would kill a demon before we did."
After a moment of thought, Wirbel spoke to Ehre while maintaining his offensive and defensive standoff with his demon opponent.
"Yes... I noticed that too. How in the world is Fíliya doing it?"
Ehre replied to Wirbel as she fired another beam of mana.
"Who knows... but the situation is clear now. The first demon is down, and now six low-ranked mages are ganging up on the remaining one. There's no need for the two of us to keep pressing the attack. We just need to stall these two things for a bit, and soon it'll be a righteous group beatdown."
A savage grin spread across Wirbel's lips.
In that moment, Wirbel felt exceptionally good. For him, killing demons was the greatest joy in the world.
As long as he could kill demons, he couldn't care less about fairness.
Right now, he didn't need to aim for a solo kill.
Therefore, while continuing to skirmish with the demon, he began to study Fíliya's earlier spellcasting more closely.
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