Chapter 73: Berserker and Assassin
The carriage rumbled down the ancient forest path, its wheels kicking up clouds of moss and dirt as it headed back toward the border of the Human Empire.
Unlike the heavy, mournful atmosphere of their arrival six months ago, the mood inside was now electric. The air hummed with the gradual recovery of life energy.
"Phantom Wind?" Leona tilted her head, her lion ears twitching as she looked at the new, strange aura surrounding Lyra. "That sounds... kind of weak. Wind is just wind, right? It blows things. How does that help you kill a knight in full plate?"
Lyra smirked. It was a cold, confident expression that looked strange on her usually stoic face. The faint grey tint of her skin seemed to deepen as she channelled her mana.
"You think so?" Lyra asked, her voice soft but carrying a dangerous edge. "Then watch."
She didn’t ask Alfred to stop the carriage. She simply leaned out the open window, the wind whipping her silver-blonde hair back.
"See that bird?" She pointed to a Mana Hawk soaring high above the tree line, easily five hundred meters away. It was a blur of motion, a speck against the blue sky.
"I see it," Leona squinted, her golden beast eyes adjusting.
"It’s too fast. Even with a bow, you’d need to lead the shot by at least three seconds, and the wind up there is—"
Lyra didn’t listen. She didn’t calculate wind speed. She didn’t check the angle. She simply raised her hand.
A bow formed from the air. But it wasn’t the bright, translucent green construct of her past.
It was a hybrid.