/
“Don’t think of it like that. You saved me. If it wasn’t for you, I would have already died when I ran into a bunch of monsters on the mountainside or maybe, even way before that.”
“
”
“This is the most demonic land in the West. Legion has already fought several times before and there was no time to refill your mana anyway.”
“Still, it’s no excuse for not being able to protect you.”
“Then, protect me from now onwards.”
If I could survive after turning Bael into the Demon God—if I could somehow return to the surface again. Julia eventually swallowed those words

Then, she could hear the sound of water that was clearer than before. Julia’s nerves naturally shifted its focus there instead.
“Yes, definitely
”
“What?”
“No, nothing.”
Legion seemed to be muttering something to her, but she couldn’t hear it well as it was drowned out by the roaring water. Just as though he hadn’t said anything at all, he shut his lips and started walking all the way before dropping her off right in front of the stream.
While Julia softly twirled the water with her toe to gauge its temperature, Legion casually jumped into the stream with only his pants on. Clear splashes of water lingered around his waist.
He dove all the way in and stood up before running a hand through his drenched hair. Droplets of water slowly trickled down between the tightly bulging back muscles. His perfectly split abs went up and down each time he sighed in satisfaction.
As she stood by the water, Julia kept her gaze locked at him curiously. Even though she could see mist rising from his body that had been illuminated by the moonlight, he was still swimming freely without blinking an eye.
Perhaps he had realized her gaze, Legion smiled and turned his head.
“What’s the matter?”
“Isn’t it cold?”
“Just by this much.”
“Really? Shall I just go in as well then?”
As she took a deep breath, Julia eventually stretched her legs out into the water. However, Legion hastily approached before grabbing a hold of her foot.
“I’m lying. In fact, it’s actually very cold. So, come in while being fully prepared.”
“I don’t think so though?”
When Julia tilted her head in disapproval, he firmly added in response.
“And you have a fever too. What if you suddenly collapse?”
“Hmm

”
“You see this?”
Legion held out his forearm that was soaked with water. He pointed to the steam that was rising over his flexed muscles and carefully placed Julia’s feet back on the ground.
As she nodded her head and sat quietly by the water’s edge, Legion swam back to the depths. Julia was resting against her chin as she watched him when she suddenly got startled. He was drinking straight from the stream casually.
“Hey, that water.”
“Huh?”
“Due to their demonic nature, humans wouldn’t be able to ingest that carelessly. Didn’t you know that?”
Nevertheless, she never thought that he would not have known that as he had been on the battlefield for so long already. It was because the most important material for the army at the border area had been clean military supplies without any trace of demonic nature at all.
He became awkwardly stiffened at Julia’s question. However, it was a rather fleeting action before he started scratching his head as if it was not a big deal as usual.
“Ah, I’m fine. Since I’m a Sword Master, my being itself is a bit different from normal humans.”
“I see.”
“It looks like all the blood has been washed away, albeit just roughly.”
Legion was already about to finish his bath when he came ashore and brushed off the dripping water abruptly. The droplets of water looked very cold, but he raised his head regardless. His gaze was suddenly directed to a certain point right on the top of the mountain.
“The flow of the magical power is a little
”
“What’s the matter?”
“I thought that it was just a coincidence, but there is a place up there where you can strongly feel some sort of magic. It feels like a miniature magic stone, but I don’t really have a good feeling about it.”
“Is there a very strong demonkin then?”
“I don’t know.”
When her voice faded without any conviction, a strong beam of light suddenly leaked into Julia’s vision.
[▷SYSTEM
Story progress 35%]
[▷SYSTEM
4th Episode. The Whereabouts of Magical Power]
[▷SYSTEM
– Mission: To destroy the demonic stone in the Mountain Crater. The time limit is 24 hours.
– Reward: An increase of the hidden stats.
– Failure Penalty: Unable to escape from the base, ‘Mountain of Death’ permanently.
[▷SYSTEM
Be careful with the use of your skill. It is not allowed to be retried.]
Julia felt as if she finally understood the identity of that sense of incongruity which she had felt back in the mountains.
A group of monsters that Legion had defeated while climbing the mountain were now densely blocking the mountainside. After they retreated to find a new path, they began to constantly hover around the same place in the forest.
The fact that she had fallen into the mountain might have been a sudden mistake, but it still felt a little strange since even Legion was lost before he started wandering around. They had a feeling that something was deliberately blocking them in order to keep them from going out.
‘The failure penalty is being permanently stuck

’
It would have been impossible to escape from the base as it stated, so it was just like a death ending anyway. The moment when she finally realized the truth, a terrifying fear ran down her spine.
However, she shook her head vigorously in response.
“Legion, let’s go up there.”
“Follow the flow of that magic power? Then, we will be going even deeper into the mountains and it’d definitely be more difficult to find our way out later.”
“We’ve been lost all this while. And I’m not sure, but I feel like the answer to escape is right up there.”
“Is that your intuition as the key?”
“Maybe

”
When he asked the reason why, she became at a loss as to how she could evade it, but it was fortunate that Legion also gave her an appropriate excuse just in time.
As she dusted the dirt off her negligee, she held out her hand towards Legion. She was thinking of pulling him up, but Legion had already gotten up without even trying before he pulled her hand forward instead.
“Okay, let’s go—wherever you want to.”
The red moonlight was bleakly illuminating the mountain path where they had currently been treading on.