Princess's Struggle for Survival-Chapter 68: Exit

As an Arcanist specializing in wind magic, Charlotte possessed far more knowledge about spatial enchantments than Astrid.

She understood the dangers all too well. Even with her power, she couldn't guarantee a safe escape.

The wisest course of action would be to retreat, gather other powerful allies to study the enchantment's structure, and then decide whether to explore further as a team.

Yet, the thought of the headband losing contact here, and Astrid likely trapped within, made Charlotte abandon any idea of retreat.

She used the wind to send a magic circle carrying a message for help outside the enchantment, preparing to wait for reinforcements.

Then, relying on her elemental vision, she continued searching for the headband's exact location.

At the same time, in the underground dungeon,

Astrid had reached the limit of her endurance.

The mental power she had replenished earlier was nearly depleted again, and only three or four potion bottles remained in her bag, hardly enough to pose a significant threat to the monsters.

As for Lyra, she had already recognized her physical exhaustion before throwing her sword earlier.

Her continued efforts were sustained solely by Astrid's healing spells and her own sheer willpower.

"Less than fifty meters left—" Lyra gasped, her voice delicate but strained as she gripped her sword.

The closer they got to the exit, the more frenzied the monsters' attacks became.

Carrying Astrid no longer provided much advantage in speed and instead left them more vulnerable to danger.

As a result, the two had reverted to their previous formation, guarding each other's flanks as they inched forward.

To conserve her dwindling mental energy, Astrid resorted to casting only low-level, less lethal spells.

She reserved the few remaining potions for emergencies when she couldn't fend off an attack.

Lyra's condition was no better.

After hundreds of meters of intense combat, the dual fatigue of mental and physical exertion had pushed her body to its limits.

Her legs ached, her fingers trembled, and Lyra was certain that if she let go of her sword now, she wouldn't be able to lift it again.

"Lyra—" Astrid's voice was soft, her eyelashes fluttering as she spoke.

Lyra slashed through the tentacles lunging at her.

Her once-neat maid's dress was now stained with dust, and the pure white knee-high socks she wore were torn in several places, revealing the smooth, pale skin beneath.

"...I'm here," Lyra replied.

"Hold me tightly. Wrap your arms around me as firmly as you can."

"..."

Though she didn't understand why Astrid made such a request, Lyra didn't question it.

She trusted that Astrid had a reason for the order.

In the brief lull between the monsters' attacks, she extended her arm and wrapped it tightly around Astrid's waist.

Feeling the firm grip around her, Astrid glanced at the intermediate-level potion labeled "Air Cannon" in her hand and quickly began chanting the incantation for a frost shield.

The air cannon utilized volatile wind elements to unleash a powerful blast, dealing massive impact damage.

However, Astrid's focus wasn't on attacking.

Her attention was drawn to the warning on the potion's label: the user had to maintain a safe distance of at least five meters when releasing the air cannon, or risk being harmed by the recoil.

They were now very close to the exit, but their physical strength was nearly spent.

They needed a strong push to cover the remaining distance, and the gentle effects of light body techniques or wind elemental blessings wouldn't be enough.

As the incantation concluded, Astrid's frost shield glowed a faint azure.

Before the shield could fully form, she smashed the glass bottle to the ground.

In an instant, a tremendous explosion erupted in front of them.

The force of the blast sent the two hurtling backward, carried by the wind in the opposite direction of the explosion.

Lyra hadn't expected Astrid to use such a method to propel them forward.

A soft grunt escaped her lips as she instinctively tightened her grip on her knight's sword with one hand and wrapped her other arm firmly around Astrid's waist.

Her cheek pressed against Astrid's soft chest as the force of the explosion sent them hurtling through the air.

When the whirlwind subsided, they were only five or six meters from the exit.

Without hesitation, Astrid smashed the last two vials of battle potions, and Lyra pulled her out of the cave.

As the cool breeze from the surface brushed against her skin, Lyra swallowed hard, trying to calm her racing heart.

Astrid, too, seemed ready to exhale in relief, but her blood-red pupils suddenly contracted.

In a flash, she shoved Lyra away with a forceful push.

Before Lyra could react, her azure eyes were splashed with a warm, moist liquid.

The liquid was a vivid red, much like the wine Astrid had poured on her at the ball that day.

But unlike the cold wine, this was warm, alarmingly so.

It wasn't wine. It was blood. Astrid's blood.

On the field before them, several skeletal armies of corpses stirred to life, their hollow eye sockets glowing with faint blue flames.

Astrid's arm bore a deep, bleeding gash where she had blocked a clawed strike meant for Lyra's chest.

Before Lyra could utter a word, a colossal gust of wind, powerful enough to tear through the heavens and earth, ripped through the skeletal army, reducing them to scattered bones.

Charlotte floated in mid-air, her long ink black hair billowing in the wind.

The aura radiating from her was overwhelming, suffocating in its intensity.

The spells officially recorded in the Valeria Empire are divided into five levels.

Apart from the Low, Intermediate, and High general spells corresponding to the Apprentice Sorcerer Magnus, there are also super-level spells, which can only be cast by Arcanists, and the little-known forbidden spells.

In addition to requiring the caster's strength to reach the Arcanist level, super-level spells also demand a deep understanding and study of the magic composition of the caster's element.

Charlotte, currently an Arcanist specializing in the wind element, can only release super-level spells of that element.

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As for the so-called forbidden spells, the Valeria Empire only has ancient records in Elders Speech, and no one can actually use them.

The reason is simple: these forbidden spells lack a universal incantation that mages can chant.

They exist only in their primitive forms of ancient spells, and their exact effects remain unknown.

Within the barrier, Charlotte floated in the air, her dark dark pupils gazing down at the earth.

As far as the eye could see, a violent hurricane swept over the ridges, tearing apart everything in its path.

Super-level magic, Storm Point, uses mental power to gather all the winds within a kilometer, forming a highly destructive storm tornado.

Its lethality ranks among the top ten in the entire wind elemental spell faction.

As the storm raged, the strange skeletons in the field fell like wheat before a scythe.

Large swaths of them collapsed, and most of the bones caught in the storm shattered instantly.

These sharp bone fragments further enhanced the storm's destructive power, annihilating all visible undead within sight.

Astrid watched the world-destroying super-level magic unfold before her, her red eyes flickering with surprise.

She had always known her aunt was extraordinary, but she had never imagined her strength could reach such heights.

Faced with such a dense army of undead, if Charlotte hadn't stepped in to cut them down, Astrid and Lyra wouldn't have survived, even at their peak, let alone in their current weakened state.

As she pondered this, Astrid felt her arms gently grasped by two soft, boneless hands.

She turned her head to see Lyra biting her lip, her eyes glossy with a mix of gratitude, nervousness, and an indescribable complexity.

Princess Astrid... had saved her just now.

Though they had fought side by side for a while and had trusted each other with their lives, Lyra had never imagined that Astrid would risk injury to protect her.

As a maid, protecting her master's safety is part of her duty, and Lyra believes that her decision to shield Astrid was driven by the spirit of the contract, a one-way obligation, not a mutual exchange.

Clearly, their relationship isn't close enough to warrant such an act, and they could even be considered rivals, with Astrid holding a one-sided advantage.

Logically, Astrid would have struggled to survive the siege alone, but in the heat of the moment, the latter likely didn't have time to think things through.

Shielding her with her own body... It was Princess Astrid's instinctive reaction, done without a second thought.

Why would she do that?

Lyra couldn't understand it at the moment, but her heart felt a warmth she hadn't expected.

However, when she saw the deep wound on Astrid's arm, that warmth vanished, replaced by a chilling dread.

"Your Highness Astrid—" Lyra's lips trembled slightly, her voice soft and hesitant.

With no mental energy left, she couldn't even cast a basic healing spell.

Instead, Lyra brought Astrid's injured arm close to her mouth and began to blow gently on the wound, just as her mother had done for her when she was a child.