I raise elves in Florian

"We've gathered enough; it's time to head back."

Frillie looked at the basket, which already contained many herbs, including some rare ones, and estimated that it could be exchanged for a considerable amount of money.

Even after being away for so long, Frilian still worries about her home, because there are many priceless things there, as well as many magic books and scrolls, all left behind by her teacher, Flame.

But when she thought about the magical barrier that Chen sometimes set up at home, Frilian felt much more at ease. Apart from her grandmaster Celia, only her late teacher Flame could break this barrier, and of course, Frilian could too.

Frillian's greatest strength lies in her ability to analyze magic; given enough time, she can decipher even the most difficult spells.

"I've collected so many herbs today, I must treat myself well when I get back."

Frillie happily hummed a little tune and skipped back to town.

…………

Shi Yichen's side.

Let's part ways here!

Shi Yichen and her two sisters stood at the restaurant entrance.

"Thank you so much for today. We don't have much to offer, so we can only repay you with food."

The two sisters then bowed to Shi Yichen.

"It's alright, just be more careful next time. Make sure to investigate thoroughly before starting a mission."

The two sisters also told Shi Yichen about their experiences, including being abandoned by their teammates.

Such things happen quite often in this world; abandoning teammates to survive is a very normal thing.

"Then I'll be going now."

Shi Yichen waved to the two sisters and then turned and left.

"Sister, will we ever see her again?"

Lilith looked at Shi Yichen's departing figure and asked her sister.

"We definitely can! Once we become stronger, we will find her."

Weiwei An looked at her younger sister with a firm gaze.

"Ok!"

…………

night.

Outside the town.

"Human towns?"

A tall figure appeared on a cliff, watching the brightly lit town in the distance disappear from sight.

The newcomer was none other than Mahat, the strongest of the Seven Sages of Collapse. His purpose in coming here was to destroy this human town.

It wasn't really a goal; for him, it was just a matter of moving his fingers.

When he reappeared, he was already in town.

The moment Mahat's immense magical power appeared, it attracted the attention of many mages.

As Teacher Flame mentioned before, demons do not intentionally hide their magic power, because the more magic power one has, the more prestigious one's status.

So Mahat didn't hide his magic and swaggered into the town.

The appearance of the demons alerted all the mages, who immediately launched an attack on Mahat.

"Oh!"

"Boom!"

Mahat pulled his cloak from behind to his front, turning it into a shield in front of him, and colorful magic bombarded the cloak shield.

The explosion resounded throughout the town, waking up those who had already fallen asleep, who stared in horror in the direction from which the sound came.

They thought the magic attack would work, but after the smoke cleared, Mahat appeared unharmed before them, his cloak and shield transformed into a large sword in his hand.

But in just one glance, Mahat used his "All Things Turn to Gold" technique to turn the surrounding mages and adventurers into golden statues that stood in place.

"It's a demon! Run!"

As soon as the man finished speaking, he turned into a golden statue.

"Bang bang bang!"

Explosions rang out one after another.

In an instant, the entire town was engulfed in flames, and everyone began to flee for their lives. Many mages and adventurers also rushed towards the direction of the explosion.

That's how the world is. When faced with the demons, humanity will unite and put aside their own grudges to fight against them.

However, the gap in strength will only cause them to return empty-handed.

Frillie, who was looking at the magic book, was also drawn to the sound of the explosion.

"This is bad!"

Frilian sensed a powerful magical fluctuation in the town, a force greater than her own, belonging to a terrifying demon.

"No, we have to run!"

"I give Luda!"

Frilian quickly packed her things, preparing to leave this dangerous place. This demon was beyond her current ability to deal with; if she went to fight, she would only be throwing her life away.

Mahat was already wielding his greatsword, which transformed from his cloak, and was killing as he went. Although there were many mages and adventurers, there were not many who were truly powerful, and the battle was basically one-sided.

Some died, some were wounded. The people who had been so united just moments before began to retreat. They had no choice but to run away because they were simply no match for the enemy.

Frillie was already courting death in front of Mahat, let alone these people.

Mahat was seen squatting on the ground, stroking the ground with one hand.

An invisible force began to spread rapidly outwards from Mahat, and those who were slow to run began to turn into golden statues one by one.

The people who were turned into golden statues are so lifelike that they still retain the poses they took when they were running away.

Even Frilian, who was preparing to escape, was affected by this invisible force. Her right hand slowly turned gold, but fortunately, the gold-turning stopped after it covered her entire arm.

Mahat may have thought that his strength was enough to deal with these weak humans, but he hadn't expected Frilian to be the sixth one.

"how so!"

Frilian stared in disbelief at her arm that had turned golden. In Frilian's perception, this power was neither a magical attack nor a curse.

Because Frilian had never seen anything like this that could turn someone into gold, she couldn't consider it a magical attack.

Since it cannot be considered an attack, there is no way to effectively stop it, and one can only let one's arm turn completely golden.

After being attacked, Frilian suppressed all her magic to evade Mahat's magical perception and quickly ran away. There was no other way, because she was no match for him and could only run.

Once I escape back, I'll study this magic that turns people into gold properly and restore my arm to its original state.

This magic is too bizarre. If we don't figure it out, we'll be doomed if we encounter this demon again.

…………

It's a little further north than Frilian.

"Ok?"

Shi Yichen realized that the safety device she had left inside Frilian's body had been triggered.

The fact that the insurance had been triggered meant that Frilian was in mortal danger. Shi Yichen mobilized all his magic power and flew quickly toward Frilian.

How did it end up in this direction?

Shi Yichen sensed Frilian's location and found that she wasn't far away, which meant that Frilian had come out to play alone, but he didn't know what danger she had encountered.

There aren't many people who could put Frilian in mortal danger, but Frilian just happened to run into Mahat, the strongest demon among the Seven Sages of Collapse. You could only say Frilian was unlucky!

Mahat's magic of turning everything into gold has remained undefended and unbreakable to this day.

(This was more than 500 years before Simmel killed the Demon King, so he hadn't fought his master, Seria, yet.)