On the third day of the expedition, the Annual Caravan finally made it through the southern forest road—right before noon—without any further encounters with the monsters dwelling within the southern forest.
However, as they were traveling along the southern open plain road, the Annual Caravan—numbering more than eight hundred individuals—attracted another swarm of monsters nesting in a nearby forest that chased and attacked the rear of the caravan.
A swarm of Cockatrice monsters numbering fewer than a hundred.
A Cockatrice is a type of chimera with the tail of a snake, the body and head of a rooster, and wings similar to those of a bat. It is a mid-level monster with an average height of two meters, though it can grow larger and stronger depending on the amount of prey it has devoured.
Like most chimeras, the Cockatrice can use magic, but its main strength lies in the poison of its talons and the petrifying venom of its snake tail.
"Which is why you should fight it from a distance!" Lynn shouted, warning the four mage students battling a single Cockatrice.
"Are you sure they can handle that monster, Lynn?" Arezu asked, worried that the four students wouldn't be able to withstand the Cockatrice's swift attacks.
"Of course, Mr. Arezu. As long as they follow what I taught them last night, at least they won't die."
"At least say they could win."
Following what Lynn had taught them the night before—after kneeling before her and promising to worship her forever so that she would agree to become their teacher—Leo, Cliff, Senna, and Casey fought the Cockatrice.
"Wind Blade"
Since Leo's Whirlwind mystic spell only produced weak wind blades, Lynn had instructed him to master the basic-level Wind Blade first before attempting the intermediate-level Whirlwind.
His goal, assigned by Lynn, was to make his wind blade cut through the defense of a mid-level monster—something he had yet to achieve, as the barrage of wind blades he unleashed failed to cut through the Cockatrice's feathers.
—Screech!—
With a shrill cry, the Cockatrice retaliated, casting its own wind blades aimed at Leo.
"Tremor"
But Cliff cast his mystic spell, raising a rock wall from the ground in front of Leo to protect him.
For Cliff, whose Obelisk mystic spell always failed to hit moving targets, Lynn instructed him to focus on the speed of invoking his spell. That was why he had been assigned as the group's vanguard—if he wasn't fast enough, he wouldn't be able to protect his friends.
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Arezu asked after hearing Lynn's explanation for the students' new fighting formation.
"It's more dangerous if they don't try to improve," Lynn said, then promptly continued monitoring her new followers.
"Flame Arrow"
Continuing the fight, Senna cast her mystic spell, invoking multiple unique white flame arrows and shooting them toward the Cockatrice.
As usual, her control over her mystic spell and mana flow was terrible, which was why Lynn had instructed her to stick to the basic-level Flame Arrow instead of the intermediate-level Fire Ball until her control improved. At present, it was still terrible, as more than half of her flame arrows missed the Cockatrice, which was only a dozen meters away.
—Screech!—
With another scream, the Cockatrice, furious at its burning feathers, charged at Senna with blistering speed. But the last member of their group was already prepared, waiting for it to approach.
'Pierce'
With a twin-arrow crossbow crafted for her by Beatrix, Casey activated the basic combat skill Lynn had taught her the night before, imbuing mana into her arrows to increase their speed and power. Both struck the Cockatrice's eyes, blinding the monster.
"There's nothing she can do to improve her low mana capacity. After all, that's an aptitude one possesses from birth—" Lynn said, applauding for Casey before continuing, "—that's why she needs to learn many things to compensate for what she lacks, and aim to become someone like me."
"Let's just hope she doesn't use that crossbow to shoot other people," Arezu said, lecturing Lynn about her habit of threatening others with her crossbow.
"You're being mean again, Mr. Arezu!"
With their opponent now blind, Leo, Cliff, Senna, and Casey managed to take down their first mid-level monster. By the time they had defeated the Cockatrice, the other adventurers and soldiers had already taken down the swarm that attacked the rear of the caravan.
But as they were collecting the remains of the Cockatrices—
—SCREECH!!!—
Another loud screeching sound echoed from the nearby forest.
The fight against the Cockatrice swarm had attracted another group of monsters, which the caravan could now see flying in from the southern sky.
A swarm of mid-level monsters known as Harpies, numbering about the same as the Cockatrices.
"Things just couldn't get worse, could they?" Arezu muttered, knowing how disadvantageous it was to fight airborne monsters.
"You're worrying too much, Mr. Arezu," Lynn replied, dismissing his concerns, which made him glance at her with a questioning look, silently asking what she meant.
"Do you really think the Annual Caravan wasn't prepared for encounters with airborne monsters?"
At the end of Lynn's remark, the sky above the caravan began to darken, forming ominous clouds overhead.
Looking up at the stormy sky, Arezu saw someone floating high above.
A familiar-looking elven woman with long golden-blonde hair that swayed in the violent gusts of wind.
She wasn't wearing her usual pristine guild uniform but rather an adventurer's outfit, paired with a flowing black robe and a blackened enchanted staff adorned with a golden gem or monster core.
Though her expression was as serious as ever, the sharp glare of her eyes behind her glasses had been replaced by a gentler one—
"My, my... You could see that clearly even though she's so high up, Mr. Arezu?" Lynn teased, grinning as if asking what else he could see from the elven woman.
"You could say I have good eyesight—" Arezu said, then asked what he was really wondering, "—but I thought you said Ms. Sylvia was with the northern group. So what's she doing here?"
"Well... She may look like Ms. Scary-Sylvia, but she's not scary at all. Or at least, not her personality."
"Huh?"
"Let me introduce her to you, Mr. Arezu... She's Ms. Sylvia's twin, Ms. Sylvie... A gold-rank adventurer bearing the name—"
Before Lynn could finish her introduction, a storm of lightning spread through the dark sky, followed by a shockwave of thunder that reverberated through the air.
In the next instant, the swarm of Harpies soaring in the sky was reduced to cinders, their bodies burning as they plummeted to the ground.
"That's the famed Lightning Blade, Mr. Arezu."