Chapter 3: The Swordsmanship Prodigy Saintess

I Have Been Reborn (3)

1.

She was a girl who didn't even look older than 10.

Her golden hair, damp with sweat, shimmered in the moonlight.

Her crimson eyes gleamed like well-polished rubies, exuding a quiet nobility.

She still had at least 3 more years before hitting full-fledged puberty, but her beauty was already beginning to blossom.

“Still… doesn’t feel as satisfying to cut them down.”

The fight had been enjoyable. It had been a while, after all.

Although the enemies weren’t much of a challenge for Elia’s standards…

But that final mother wolf beast had at least been tough enough to take the edge off her frustration.

“Hm?”

Elia turned her head as she brushed dirt off her skirt.

She could feel eyes on her.

Two men and a woman.

From the emblems on their chests, she immediately recognized them as adventurers.

They came earlier than expected?

She’d assumed they’d arrive tomorrow…

And they were Silver-rank, too…

Elia was glad she had handled everything beforehand.

If those three had taken on that pack of monsters themselves, they would’ve been wiped out.

A single wolf-type beast is only classified as Threat Level 2 — well within the capabilities of a Silver-rank party.

But what if there are more than ten of them?

They’d be bitten, ripped apart, and massacred.

And even that wasn’t the worst of it.

That massive wolf lying dead on the ground, tongue lolling out of its gaping jaws…

Just that one alone could’ve shredded all three of them without breaking a sweat.

“Adventurers, right?”

Elia asked calmly.

Dian stiffly nodded.

He didn’t know what to think.

This was nothing like what they had expected.

They were worried another party might be under attack by a single beast, but instead…

A girl had single-handedly taken down a pack of over ten.

And that one in particular — what was that monster?

In all his years adventuring, he’d never seen a beast that large.

“That should be all of them.”

Elia lightly kicked the massive wolf’s head with her foot.

Even though it was clearly dead, none of the adventurers dared to approach it.

Yet she acted completely unfazed.

“I’ll leave the cleanup to you.”

She gave a polite bow—

And turned to walk back toward the convent.

“W-Wait a second…!”

Dian, still blinking in shock, called out as the girl turned to leave.

“Yes?”

Elia tilted her head and glanced back with a calm expression.

“Did you… do all this by yourself?”

She wasn’t wearing an adventurer’s emblem.

No proper weapon on her either.

Just a slightly worn dress, and bare hands.

Physically, she was nothing more than a normal little girl.

“That’s right. Why?”

“How? How did you do it?”

Elia pointed to the large branch still lodged in the giant wolf’s skull.

“I smashed its head in with that stick.”

“No, I mean… how did you manage to take down all of them alone? You’re not an adventurer, and you don’t look like a mage either…”

Elia’s eyes met his eyes — filled with the hunger of someone who desperately wanted to grow stronger.

Nice eyes, Elia thought.

“It’s simple.”

She grinned gently — like she was about to share a secret.

“Train your body for five hours a day, swordsmanship for five hours, mana control for five hours, and then hunt thirty monster. Repeat that routine every day.”

“W-What?!”

“If you want to become stronger, you’ve got to do the impossible.”

Elia gave a warm, almost motherly smile.

“Push yourself to the edge, until you’re about to die. That’s how you grow.”

She pointed at the beast corpses littering the ground.

“You can do it too.”

And with that, she turned and vanished into the woods.

The three adventurers stood there silently, watching until the girl was completely out of sight.

“...What the hell was that?”

They looked at the empty path she’d taken…

Then looked at the piles of dead monsters, their skulls caved in.

Back and forth.

“Well… I guess we should start processing them?”

After a successful hunt, adventurers are required to collect proof of subjugation — like horns, fangs, or pelts — and submit them to the Adventurer’s Guild.

The party drew their daggers and approached the bodies to begin.

They decided to start with the biggest one first.

Just peeling its hide would take the three of them at least an hour.

But as they stepped toward the massive wolf corpse—

“Kaaaoooh!!”

The beast they thought was dead let out a thunderous roar, whipping its tail like a whip and flinging all three adventurers into the air.

“Gahk!!”

Dian took a heavy blow to the stomach and crashed back-first into a tree.

Clutching his abdomen, he curled up on the ground.

“Nghhh… It’s still alive…?”

He looked up, face contorted in pain.

That massive wolf, its skull still impaled by a thick branch like a horn, was alive.

Brain matter was leaking from its head, and yet it stood.

Its purple eyes glowed blood-red, veins ruptured with rage.

“Grrrr!!”

Frothy blood dripped between bared fangs.

Even its nose was bleeding.

“I-Is everyone… okay…?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“……”

Arold barely managed a groan in response.

Piara, meanwhile, had hit her head against a tree and was completely unconscious.

With just one swipe of the beast’s tail, the party was already on the verge of annihilation.

Dian had to make a decision fast.

Fight?

Or flee?

“Arold! We’re retreating!”

There was no need to even try.

With just three Silver-rank adventurers, there was no way they could take down that wolf.

He could feel it in his bones. If they fought, they would die.

So they had to run.

Dian grabbed the unconscious Piara, bracing to escape.

“Aagh!!”

A scream rang out behind him.

Arold was slashed across the abdomen by the wolf’s claws.

“Arold!!”

Three deep gashes tore through his stomach, blood pouring out like a waterfall.

He gasped, choking on the pain, feeling like his organs might spill out.

“Ugh…!”

The wolf turned its gaze to the trembling Dian.

Its glowing red eyes narrowed.

It grinned.

It was the sneer of the strong playing with the weak.

The same beast that had played dead moments ago due to the fear of stronger opponent, now salivated at the chance to devour three weaklings who had wandered right into its jaws.

It tilted its head mockingly at Dian.

Go ahead. Try to run.

It was toying with him now, making a game of it.

Even if he ran away, he would be caught anyway.

But considering its size… if he runs fast enough, maybe he can still make it somehow?

He soon realized that it was a foolish thought.

If the wolf had really fought just moments ago, there should’ve been broken trees, clawed dirt, signs of destruction everywhere…

But the forest was pristine.

Not a single tree had fallen.

That monster was far more agile and precise than its size suggested.

Running… was not an option.

“Huff… huff…”

Breathing in shaky gasps, Dian unsheathed the two swords at his waist.

The blades trembled in his hands.

He already knew how this would end.

He was going to die.

He was going to be the wolf’s next meal.

But that didn’t mean he planned to just lie down and die.

If he was going to go out, he’d go out fighting.

For some reason, the girl’s words came back to him.

Push yourself until you’re on the verge of death.

He hadn’t expected to take that advice so literally, so soon.

“Haaahh!”

With a fierce shout, Dian charged at the beast.

–Wham!!

The wolf casually swung its leg and swatted him to the ground like an insect.

He collapsed face-first into the dirt.

What a pathetic end.

He’d dreamed of becoming an Orichalcum-ranked adventurer.

He knew it was unrealistic.

But it symbolized just how badly he wanted to be strong.

And yet, here he was, a Silver-rank.

One of the most common, the second-highest rank from the bottom in the Guild.

Nothing special.

“Khh… keuk… keuk…”

The wolf mocked him, saliva laced with blood dripping onto his head.

But embarrassingly, he couldn’t do a thing.

All he could do was face death in vain.

The wolf opened its jaws wide.

It had lost interest.

It wanted to play more, but its prey was just too weak.

Foul breath washed over Dian’s face.

His body trembled even harder.

His palms, still clutching his swords, were skinned and bleeding.

But still…

At the very least… he wants to land one hit.

The beast’s jaws came closer.

Dian forced his paralyzed limbs to move — his body numb with terror and pain.

He would shove his sword straight into its mouth!

“Haaahhh…!!”

But—

–Crunch!!

Like it had expected it all along, the wolf bit down and shattered his sword between its sharp fangs.

“Pff—kuh, kuhuhu…”

It grinned, face twisted into a grotesque sneer.

Dian felt the crushing weight of his helplessness settle on him.

“Ha… haha… son of a bitch…”

The wolf opened its jaws wide deliberately, as if showing off.

And in that instant—

Flash.

A golden streak of light sliced clean through its neck.

The wolf’s head hit the ground with a grotesque grin still frozen on its face, jaws still gaping.

“I had a bad feeling, so I came back.”

Step, step.

The girl approached slowly.

In her hand was Arold’s sword.

“So it was pretending to be dead, huh? Tougher than I expected.”

Elia yawned.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes and let out a long sigh.

Her young body got tired so easily with just a little movement.

She’d moved around more than usual tonight, and the drowsiness was finally catching up to her.

“Sorry. I should’ve made sure it was dead before I left.”

Elia crouched in front of Dian, looking down at him calmly.

“You’re not hurt too badly, are you?”

His ribs felt broken.

Even breathing was painful.

“A… Arold… Arold’s hurt…”

Dian’s first concern wasn’t himself. It was for his teammate.

Arold had taken the worst of it, his stomach torn wide open by the wolf’s claws.

“That guy?”

Elia pointed her thumb toward the barely conscious man sprawled in the dirt.

“Y-Yeah…”

Dian nodded weakly.

Elia stood and walked over to him.

Then she knelt next to Arold, who was panting and barely clinging to life.

“That’s a nasty one.”

She rolled up her sleeves.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

She placed her hand over Arold’s blood-soaked abdomen and closed her eyes.

Her long eyelashes lowered like a curtain.

Then, in a soft voice, she spoke.

“O Divine One, lend your daughter the power to bring forth salvation…”

She began to recite the prayer.

A warm, gentle energy rose from her palm — not mana, but something else entirely.

It was divine power.

Holy energy.

“A… Are you a priest…?”

Dian’s voice trembled in disbelief.

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