63 Battle

63 Battle
(Ella's POV)

I turned around and saw a somewhat familiar face. The person wore light armor from the Thorn Town Knights, with dirt and night dew staining the armor's edges, obviously having traveled a long distance. He stopped in front of me, gasping a few breaths, looking very anxious.

"Miss Ella, what are you doing here?"

I smiled: "We don't have enough herbs in the shop, so I came to get some supplies. By the way, what are you doing here? Where is Captain Colin?"

He came close to me, lowering his voice: "Then finish your business and go back quickly. It's been chaotic recently, quite dangerous outside. Do you remember the dark elf from the wanted poster? The captain took people to chase after him. That dark elf is really powerful - he stole an expensive mermaid from the black market auction house and injured many people!"

I was anxious inside, but still had to act nonchalant while gathering information: "I see... then I'd better hurry home. The dark elf shouldn't go to Thorn Town, right?"

The young knight said seriously: "He's heading exactly toward Thorn Town! He should be near Thorn Mountain now!"

Unexpectedly, after going in circles, Kyle had actually returned to Thorn Mountain. I gripped the reins and asked if Colin was injured. The knight couldn't say clearly, only that the captain had led people in pursuit all night, and they hadn't received any new information about the current situation. He urged me to leave quickly, then turned and rejoined the patrol team, quickly disappearing into the crowd.

I took a deep breath, turned my horse's head, and took another fork in the road. That road led to Thorn Mountain.

I didn't stop along the way.

After leaving Thorn Harbor, the road gradually narrowed. The fields on both sides were replaced by shrubs, and further ahead were rolling slopes. Horse hooves stepped on gravel and dirt, raising fine dust. I tried to keep my body low to reduce wind resistance and maintain an even pace. I didn't know how long I had been riding, only remembering the sun rising from the horizon, then moving behind clouds, the light constantly changing direction and intensity, shadows on the road alternately lengthening and shortening, while I maintained that direction.

As if sensing my urgent mood, I seemed able to perceive the direction where Kyle was.

I wrapped the reins around my hands twice, letting the horse maintain its speed, my gaze passing through the valleys and slopes ahead, falling on more distant places.

The outline of Thorn Mountain became clearer and clearer. Dense groves covered the slopes, with a thin layer of mist near the summit, glowing grayish-white in the afternoon light. I followed an inconspicuous path upward. The slope became steeper and the horse slowed down. This was a very obedient horse, but for some unknown reason, it now refused to continue upward.

I had to dismount, tie the reins to a tree trunk by the roadside, and walk forward alone on foot.

The surrounding trees grew denser, vision blocked by trunks and shrubs, but my steps didn't hesitate. The contract kept guiding me forward, toward Kyle's direction. I hadn't known the contract had this function before.

I passed through a patch of low shrubs. The ground beneath my feet began to become damp, and I could hear water sounds not far away - like a stream, yet not as gentle as a stream, deeper and more continuous.

Then I heard other sounds. The sound of metal colliding, brief and continuous, mixed with some heavier impact sounds. I hurriedly passed through the last grove of trees. The view suddenly opened up. Below me was a gently sloping downward incline, and at the bottom was an open area carved out by stream water, with both banks covered in gravel and low moss.

I saw Kyle.

His body leaned slightly forward, the edges of his cloak torn in several places, the fabric stained with blood. His movements were slower than usual, each swing of his arm showing obvious strain, as if the strength supporting his body was being exhausted bit by bit. His opponent stood a few steps away, standing sideways with his sword blade held horizontally at his side.

That person's armor was thrown on the ground, replaced by shimmering scales and terrifying claws.

It was Colin.

On the back of the hand gripping his sword, a layer of pale blue scales had appeared. Those scales gleamed with a moist light in the sunlight, their edges fitting against his skin, slowly growing out. The same marks appeared on the side of his neck - tiny scales extending upward from the collar edge, approaching the jawline, like a spreading shell.

Mermaidification - Colin's body was transforming.

Colin stepped forward, his sword tip tracing an arc, moving very fast. Kyle dodged to the side, but his movement wasn't as fluid as before. His left arm hung at his side, seemingly unable to lift it. Colin's second sword strike followed immediately. Kyle blocked with his right arm, the sound of metal collision echoing in the valley. His body was shaken backward half a step by the impact force, his boot sole slipping on the gravel, nearly losing balance.

My heart was about to jump out. I knew these two were engaged in a life-or-death struggle, and I couldn't easily interrupt, or it might cause one of them to get injured.

Besides Kyle and Colin, there were two other people present. No, or rather... two mermaids? Their scales were too obvious - these were two young mermaids.

Wait, why did one of them look so familiar?

It was Eli! That mysterious boy I had once treated!

Kyle must have rescued Eli. Seeing the intimate distance between Eli and the other young mermaid, had Kyle rescued two mermaids?

Colin was also a mermaid. Since Kyle had rescued mermaids, Colin shouldn't be fighting with Kyle. Could there be a misunderstanding between them?

Although Kyle was a dark elf, through rescuing mermaids, Colin should understand that Kyle was a good person... How could things have turned out this way?!

Colin's eye color was undergoing subtle changes, shifting from deep brown to a lighter, seawater-like tone. This was proof of extreme mermaidification. The higher the degree of mermaidification, the more powerful the magic.

And Kyle was obviously severely injured, likely unable to resist Colin's full-force strike!

My fingers touched the edge of the leaf in my pocket.

"It will save you once in my place." Wayne's words echoed in my mind.

It hit Colin's wrist. The sword flew from Colin's grasp, flipped twice in the air, and stuck into the gravel several steps away, the blade still trembling slightly.

Colin didn't stop. His other hand formed a fist, swinging upward fiercely, the punch hitting Kyle squarely in the chest. Kyle's body flew backward, his boot soles dragging deep marks on the ground, gravel flying under his feet, then his back hit the rock wall. The rock made a dull sound, debris falling from the impact point, some fine cracks spreading along the rock face. He fell down, a trace of blood flowing from his forehead.

"Sorry you're hurt. Glad you lost." Colin said as he walked toward Kyle.

I didn't know what the leaf could actually do, but I thought it was time to use it.

I gripped it tightly. The leaf's edge slightly contracted in my palm, like a hand closing its fingers. Then, a warmth spread from the leaf surface to my palm, then flowed up along my arm, very fast - before I could react, it had already left me, like a released stream of water, rushing forward from my fingertips.

Colin's body rapidly expanded. All his clothes burst open, and pale blue scales were growing at an even faster rate, spreading from his neck to his chest, from his wrists to his upper arms.

Light began to condense in front of him. From the center of his chest, a tiny point of light appeared. It began to expand, air currents drawn toward it, gravel gently jumping around it, the ground trembling.

Its volume reached a degree I had never seen before. Its brightness surpassed the afternoon sunlight, forming a clear circle of light and shadow contrast around it, the edge's halo spreading outward.

It smashed toward Kyle's direction.

Wind pressure arrived before the light. That force surged from my position, pressing on my chest, making breathing difficult. My steps slid backward, my body involuntarily retreating. The wind sound became sharp, like countless fine needles simultaneously cutting through the air. The light was too bright, so bright my eyes began to tear up, leaving only a space filled with white light in my vision. I couldn't see the path clearly, running toward Kyle's direction by instinct.

"No—!" A piercing scream cut through the air as a thin figure rushed in front of Kyle. It was actually Eli! His speed was very fast, even faster than mine.

"Get away!" Colin screamed in terror.

I saw his fierce expression. That original tense, full-forward posture was interrupted by a sudden twisting force. His shoulders pulled inward, arms beginning to pull back, all his muscles exerting force in a direction opposite to the original trajectory, as if trying to forcibly pull back that unbridled power. His body was making sounds, bones and joints bearing opposite forces, fear in his eyes.

Too late. A full-force magical storm wasn't something that could be recalled.

The white light crashed into a silver-white barrier. Before I saw it, I first felt its presence - the air thickened in that instant, as if something was rapidly spreading between that light and me. It was very thin, almost invisible, its edges slightly glowing, like a closing door, the same color as the faint light emitted when the leaf shattered.

That door opened in front of Eli, its width just covering us, edges extending from the ground to the height above Eli's head. The silver-white light on the door's surface flowed continuously, like oil film on water constantly changing direction when blown by wind, ripples spreading and contracting across the light surface.

The magical storm hit the door.

Sound disappeared at the moment of impact - all sounds: wind, water flow, stone vibrations, the humming in the air... all were swallowed by that collision.

I saw light explode on that door's surface, like waves crashing against rocks and shattering into countless white fragments. The door's outline began to blur, disappearing into the air like shadows blown away by wind.

The valley became quiet again. Wind sounds reappeared, water flow sounds reappeared, and my ears began to pick up those sounds again after brief deafness.

Colin stood several steps away. His body was slowly returning to its original size, the expanded muscles contracting, scales receding, fragments of clothing still hanging on him. His breathing was still heavy, but his gaze fell on Eli. In those eyes changing from pale blue back to deep brown was a complex emotion I had never seen on his face before.

I couldn't distinguish what that meant, nor did I have time to care. I turned and embraced Kyle.

Kyle's head rested on my shoulder as he whispered softly in my ear: "Why are you crying?"