Chapter 71: Faint Quantum
Lisa hesitated. To be more exact, she gave in to reality.
Her magic was so weak it almost failed to even activate a magic scroll.
She already struggled with just one Red Tiger, what would happen if they faced the real Ice Bear King?
Lisa didn’t dare to imagine it. Looking embarrassed, she turned to Anna, who was clearly angry.
“Lisa, you’re joking, right?”
Anna’s expression twisted badly. Part of it was because she was hurt, but mostly because Lisa’s words were too harsh.
“I’m not joking. Look at me, do I look like I’m joking? Anna, to be honest, I think we can’t beat the Ice Bear King…”
“Hah. How would you know we can’t if we don’t try? We’ve challenged bosses harder than this before, and we still won in the end. Lisa, saying something like that, do you want all our efforts to go to waste? If that’s what you think, then you’re being too selfish.”
Lisa bit her lip.
“The selfish one is you, Anna. You saw it just now, we couldn’t even deal with the Red Tiger. The Ice Bear King is much stronger than that. And you’re injured. If we force ourselves to fight like this, do we really have a chance to win?”
Anna moved her lips slightly.
“So you’re backing down just because of this? You’re afraid? That’s not how our Dawn Guild should act. Don’t worry about my injury, it’s nothing to me.”
Lisa: …
She didn’t care about Anna’s injury at all. The real problem was…
If this kept going, someone would die.
“Have you thought about what will happen if we all lose?”
“Lose?” Anna’s lips twitched. “We won’t lose.”
“Fine, maybe you won’t. But what if Stella or I die right in front of you? Would you just clap and cheer?”
“Lisa, what are you trying to say?”
Anna stared straight at her.
“I don’t know what else to say. If you insist on fighting the Ice Bear King, I’ll go with you. But… the Dawn Guild may never be the same again. I don’t know why I suddenly became so much weaker. In the past, when were we ever this miserable? Anna, why do you think this is happening? My strength dropped, did yours also decline with mine?”
“I don’t understand.” Anna turned her head away.
“No, you understand better than anyone. Admit it, Anna, we’ve already lost this time. Ever since Peiya left, the unity in Dawn Guild has fallen apart. If we quit now, at least we can leave with some dignity.”
“And if I quit, what about you? I’m a noble. If I fail here, I can just go back and inherit my family’s business. But your families probably won’t be so forgiving. Children who are useless may be treated worse than tools.”
“I know. That’s why I’m discussing this with you, Anna. You want to maintain your ranking, right? Let me help you. As long as the Dawn name still exists, we can rise again someday. But if you rush in recklessly now, we’ll all be finished. And if you end up seriously injured, you might not even be useful as a ‘tool’ anymore.”
Anna moved her lips again. “Alright… I don’t want you all to die either. But—”
Before she could finish, a signal light from Stella suddenly lit up beneath their feet.
They tried to retreat, but the path they came from was already covered in thick fog.
“Anna, run!” Stella rushed out of the bushes.
“What happened?”
Stella held her chin. “The noise you made earlier woke the boss ahead of time. Now there’s a massive beast tide in the south. Many adventurers are heading this way. There’s no time, let’s run!”
“A… a beast tide?”
Lisa looked at Stella strangely, her eyes filled with despair.
As someone with a good education, Lisa clearly understood what a beast tide was.
Beast lords often control nearby monsters and make them serve them. When they sense danger, they send out signals, gathering all the beasts to attack intruders together.
Adventurers call this phenomenon a “beast tide.”
The most common way to deal with a beast tide is large-scale magic. That’s when great mages become especially important.
And that was exactly why Lisa felt so nervous.
Saying she didn’t care at all about the family trial… of course, that wasn’t true.
Facing such a serious beast tide, they clearly couldn’t handle it on their own.
“Lisa, Lisa, what are you standing there for? Hurry and use your magic to clear a path! Right now, the most important thing is to get back to the camp. While the affected area is still small, we need to escape quickly. Once the barrier fully forms, we’ll be trapped inside and won’t be able to get out!”
As she gave orders, Anna used the throwing knives in her hand to push back the monsters that kept appearing.
“O-Okay… I’ll try my best.”
Lisa held her staff tightly, her emotions going up and down.
Looking at the beast tide right in front of her, she knew there was no way to turn back. She raised her staff and cast several large-area spells.
Flames rushed toward the beasts, but the moment they made contact, the fire broke apart instantly.
The few monsters that were hit paused for a moment. They were about to call their companions, but then realized… nothing had happened.
Not only the monsters were confused, Anna and Stella, who were ready to support Lisa, were also stunned.
Anna stared at the flames that disappeared like small ripples in the ocean, completely frozen.
“Lisa, you call this magic? Are you holding a staff or just a fire stick?”
Lisa stuttered, “I… I…”
So the result from the last family test wasn’t a mistake. Her magic really had become much weaker.
No… no…
It wasn’t like this before.
How did it suddenly become this weak?
Lisa cried out in despair.
Stella’s lips twitched slightly. She raised her greatsword, preparing to block a charging rogue monkey.
But the moment her sword touched the creature’s claws, the strong impact force sent her flying backward.
Luckily, Stella reacted quickly. She adjusted her position in midair and landed steadily.
Compared to Lisa, she still had some attack power. But her skills had become too rusty, she could no longer cut down monsters as easily as before.
“You two…”
Anna widened her eyes. She had thought they might just slack off a little, making the fight slower at worst.
But this was completely different from what she expected.
This wasn’t just “slow fighting”. They were basically just scratching the monsters.
“Anna… I’m sorry.”
Lisa hugged her staff, no longer showing her former confidence.
“Does saying sorry help? Run! Run as far as you can! We’ll talk after we get back!”
Anna grabbed the two of them. As soon as her cooldown ended, she cast Wind’s Blessing.
No one dared to hesitate when it came to escaping. Everyone used whatever abilities they had.
During the escape, some monsters pounced on them. Luckily, even though their teamwork wasn’t as good as before, it wasn’t completely gone.
The weaker monsters were still not a big threat. The real danger came from those that had begun to develop lord-like abilities, their bodies were much stronger.
Their claws could easily tear through the magic barrier Lisa created.
Anna held her dagger and blocked a biting monster. Through a gap in the broken barrier, she led the group out.
The area the lord could influence was limited.
Once they escaped, they were safe.
Still shaken, the three of them checked their belongings. They had managed to bring most things with them.
But their camping tents were all left inside the barrier, and they didn’t have extra sleeping bags.
Thinking about this, Lisa lowered her head, feeling wronged.
“Anna… why did things turn out like this?”
“Because you became weaker.” Anna didn’t have the energy to get angry anymore. She just brushed aside the fallen leaves on the ground and piled them into a small heap in the middle.
“Now that things have come to this, let’s make a fire to keep warm. Your fire magic… should still be enough to light a fire, right?”
“…Yeah.”
Lisa bent down and lit the leaves. The three of them sat around the small pile.
In the firelight, Lisa remembered the nights at the camp before. There would always be warm food and a cozy tent.
Even if she woke up hungry in the middle of the night, she could find snacks in their bags.
But now, all of that was gone…
Lisa absentmindedly played with the leaves beside her. Seeing Anna sitting next to her, she raised her head blankly.
Anna didn’t look at her and said calmly, “Everyone saw what happened today. Let’s do a review like before. Lisa, you have the biggest responsibility, start by explaining your situation.”