Advent of the Archmage

All the Winged Howlers and Misamier chased after Link. The ruins of the sentinel’s cabin were suddenly silent. It was silent as death until one hour later when a hesitant bird started calling.

Crack. The crack of wood sounded abruptly. A wooden board in the ruins suddenly cracked, and a dirty little hand reached out.

The commotion scared the bird that thought everything was over. It snuck back in fright.

The little hand reached around on the board and clung onto something. With a big push, a small hole appeared in the board. What followed immediately after was the muzzle of the musket.

After a while, a little girl climbed out from the hole. Her hair and face were all streaked with dirt. Her leg seemed hurt too, and she had to walk.

It was Melinda, the Yabba woman who had hid in the cellar.

The surroundings were all ruined, and all the trees had fallen. Smoke rose from the dirt, and the demon bodies were like burnt cinder. The air was filled with a faint acrid odor.

Melinda was completely shocked. What happened here? Where’s Master Link? Where’s Skinorse? Where’s Nana?

Before she’d passed out, she heard Master Link choose death and order Nana to commit suicide but other than the dead demons; everyone else was gone.

Melinda walked around the ruins, trying to find some clues but to no avail. While in a daze, she suddenly heard weak meows.

"Meow." The breath was rapid yet weak and came from under a fallen tree more than 60 feet away. Frightened, Melinda crouched down and propped up her musket. She looked side to side cautiously.

"Meow." Here it was again. This time, Melinda heard it clearly. She timidly walked towards the source.

One minute later, she saw the pitiful black cat trapped by the tree. There was a sturdy slab of stone under the tree and the tiny crack it created helped the cat escape from being turned into a meat pie. Even so, it still looked tragic.

The shiny dark blueish fur now looked dirty from the blood and was rumpled. Its two hind legs had turned into mush, and only a bloody piece of skin was still connected to the body.

The cat had closed its eyes earlier but cracked them open at the commotion. After seeing Melinda, joy flashed past its eyes. It meowed quietly, appearing extremely pitiful.

Crack! Melinda forced the muzzle of the musket to the black cat’s head. She wasn’t stupid. They could have escaped safely but were forced into this situation because of this horrible black cat.

She was going to kill this cute but demonic little thing.

"Melinda, don’t shoot yet. I have something to tell you." The black cat’s voice was very weak.

"What do you have to say? Traitor! Demon! Bastard! Master Link treated you so well!" Melinda yelled though she still didn’t pull the trigger.

"As long as you save me, I can give you the power to overlook the entire world," the cat said softly.

But as soon as it finished, Melinda started laughing. "You’re all talk but you can’t even save yourself, and you want to give me power? Go die, liar!"

She really did pull the trigger decisively. With a muffled bang, the bullet shot out. However, it hit the dirt. The black cat moved its head aside at the last moment and escaped from the fatal hit.

It wouldn’t die if its physical body was ruined but it would still be tragic to become a wandering soul. Its soul would still be imprisoned, and it wouldn’t even be able to leave this body. It could only watch as the body decayed and rotted.

It had already experienced this disgusting thing 300 years ago, and it didn’t want to do it again.

After dodging the bullet, it was entirely freaked out. It immediately realized that it wasn’t easy to fool this Yabba woman. "Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!" it yelled. "Master Link is in danger now. He’s being pursued by demons, and only I can save him!"

Melinda fell silent. The surrounding ruins and dead demons made her believe the black cat. After she’d fallen unconscious, Master Link definitely attacked and escaped after killing a portion of the demons.

This explained why the bodies of Skinorse and the others weren’t here. They were probably fine. Master Link had saved them again!

But even though Master Link was powerful, he was still a mortal, and his strength was limited. With so many demons here, he must be in danger now.

At this moment, Melinda thought of Link’s care for them along the way, how he’d comforted her when she cried, and his gentleness when he tended to her wound. Despite the fact that she was a burden, Link had never abandoned her, even at the most dangerous times. He didn’t even show any thought of that. Now, he was in danger.

Melinda suddenly felt that she wasn’t scared anymore!

A resolute decision grew in her. She must go help him—save him—even if it meant giving up her life.

Half a year ago, she was just a regular Yabba girl. Now, she was a soldier, a musketeer!

Her expression grew determined. Pointing the musket at the black cat’s head, she glared unblinkingly at it and "threateningly" said, "Little thing, I’ll save you!"

The black cat was relieved. "Move away this tree first. It’s a bit heavy. Can you lift it?"

"Of course! Us Yabbas are the best at using our brains!" Melinda found a wooden stick and brought a large rock over. She rested the stick on the rock and forced the stick under the tree. She pressed down on the stick, and the tree budged a little.

The black cat cried out immediately. "Ah! Lighter, lighter! My leg hurts!"

"I hope you die from the pain!" Melinda continued to pry without caring about the cat at all.

She was a soldier after all and met the basic physical requirements. Her strength was equal to a Level-0 human Warrior. Using a wooden stick as a lever to move a 30-centimeter-wide tree was no problem.

Ten minutes later, Melinda moved the half-dead cat out from the tree.

"Thank you for saving me...huh? Ah! My leg...you—you’re so cruel!" The cat’s first sentence was in gratitude while the second had become pained howls.

The reason was none other than the fact that Melinda had cut off its broken legs. Not only that, she even cut off the paws of its two front legs.

"You like running, huh? Let me see you run now!" Melinda spat out. Then she found a rag and wrapped the cat up.

Cutting off its paws wasn’t enough. Its teeth were weapons too and must be removed. Melinda opened the cat’s mouth and pried the sharp teeth out with her dagger.

"No, don’t do that. I need...tho...eath...thoo," the black cat said with a lisp as it continued to struggle. It was much weaker now and, wrapped in the rag, it was no match for Melinda.

Melinda ignored its cries and pried out all four fangs before feeling settled.

"I don’t trust you, kitty. From now on, I’ll pull out another tooth every time you dare lie to me, and I find out. When all your teeth are gone, I’ll dig out your eyes. When your eyes are gone, I’ll cut off your nose and ears!" Melinda threatened loudly. She stared at the cat with her big eyes and waved her dagger.

The black cat’s mouth was filled with blood. It nodded weakly. "Mortal, I surrender!"

Now it was really regretful. Link was troublesome, but at least he was logical and would never use force. This Yabba girl, on the other hand, looked cute but didn’t even hesitate when she did things. She was terrifying.

Now, great. It didn’t have its legs, its teeth had been pulled out, and it was gravely injured. Even if it regained some strength from the world cracking, what use was it if its body was this broken?

Melinda obviously didn’t care about its opinion. She put away her dagger, hoisted up her magic musket, and stood up. "Alright, where should I go now?"

The black cat closed its eyes to gather its bearings and weakly pointed in a direction. "That way. They went that way."

Melinda ran in that direction without hesitation.

...

Link was running low on Mana. With a whoosh, he collected the Nightingale Statue. The statue started shrinking and folding. He also fell off from the Nightingale. Nana rushed up and caught him. She also caught the statue afterwards and handed it to Link.

Link put it away in his spatial bag.

"Master, I’ll carry you!" Nana said.

Nodding, Link closed his eyes. Bearing the immense pain in his head, he said softly, "The pursuers are all Winged Howlers. There is one flaw in the combat of these high-level demons. They like dive attacks. If they don’t hit the target each time, their bodies will stiffen temporarily due to stopping abruptly at high speed. This is the best opening for an attack."

"I understand." Nana nodded. She ran very fast at more than 650 feet per second. That speed was equal to the Winged Howlers at their tails.

On her back, Link could only feel that his entire body was extremely sore and that his head was about to crack open. It practically felt like he was about to die. Nana ran smoothly, and without realizing, Link grew drowsy and became half-unconscious.

In this dazed state, he vaguely felt a strange warm current appear in his body. It started in his abdomen and flowed through his entire body before finally returning to his lower abdomen.

After that cycle, Link felt that he was much more comfortable. The intense migraine had lessened as well.

Another cycle, another cycle, Link thought in anticipation.

The warm current didn’t disappoint. It came a second time, and a third, and a fourth... It seemed ready to go on forever.

Link could clearly feel his body recovering.

What kind of strength is this? Is it the game system helping? But there hadn’t been any messages in my vision. That’s strange.