Chapter 9: Ambushed by Bandits
The three bid farewell to the lord and boarded the carriage.
They planned to head to the nearest city and use the teleportation array there to return to the academy.
The Thorn Empire’s teleportation network was extremely advanced.
Almost every major city possessed a teleportation array, allowing people to travel conveniently between cities.
When teleportation arrays were first designed, some people worried that enemies might exploit them to directly infiltrate cities from the inside.
But the designers had already anticipated this issue and created special safeguards.
A teleportation array could only activate when both ends were simultaneously opened.
This meant that even if one side fell into enemy hands, they still couldn’t initiate teleportation unilaterally.
Each activation also required three high-rank magi above level five to continuously supply mana.
As a result, teleportation fees were incredibly expensive, far beyond what ordinary people could afford.
However, as students of Thorn Academy, they only needed to present their mission documents to return for free.
Xia leaned against the carriage wall, his eyes already too sleepy to remain open.
All he wanted was to catch up on sleep during the ride.
Half-asleep, he vaguely remembered that in the game, Philly and Dailina triggered an event while returning to the academy.
Their carriage would encounter a group of bandits.
Philly would jump out and treat them like walking experience packs…
And then—
Then he fell asleep.
On the other side of the carriage, Philly silently stared ahead.
She had already traveled this road countless times.
Once they entered the forest up ahead, over a dozen bandits would appear and ambush the carriage.
During her first life, she had nearly failed to defeat them.
After finally managing to kill them all, a transfer magic circle suddenly appeared beneath her feet and teleported both her and Dailina elsewhere.
That had been a trap set by Shadow Demons.
They were demons specializing in assassination, specifically targeting students who ventured out to complete academy missions.
At the time, she had been too weak.
She could only helplessly watch Dailina die before her eyes before eventually dying herself.
After reincarnating several times, she prepared in advance and successfully defeated the Shadow Demon, avenging both Dailina and herself from that first life.
But the cost was that she wasted too much time.
She missed the deadline for the entrance assessment and was kicked out of the elite class.
Afterward, people continuously targeted her, causing her to completely lose the opportunity to train alongside the elite class.
In the end, lacking sufficient strength, she died at the hands of demons.
In later reincarnations, Philly tried avoiding the transfer circle entirely.
She could dodge it herself.
But she couldn’t abandon Dailina.
She tried countless times.
Even moving as quickly as possible, the two of them could only barely reach the edge of the magic circle before ultimately still being teleported away.
Even though by then she already possessed enough strength to quickly kill the Shadow Demon and return to the academy, the event had become a mental hurdle she could never overcome.
This time, Philly specifically learned the wind movement spell 【Wind Shadow】 ahead of time.
With this spell, she could definitely pull Dailina out of the magic circle.
But in this life, the greatest variable had appeared—
Xia survived.
And now, he was returning to the academy alongside them.
There was no way she could drag Xia out of the magic circle too.
Wait.
If she only pulled Dailina out and allowed the Shadow Demon to kill Xia, who was possessed by the Demon God…
Wouldn’t that solve two problems at once?
Philly’s gaze shifted toward the other side of the carriage.
Despite how violently the carriage shook, Xia still slept like the dead.
She stared at his face, her brows slowly knitting together.
The Xia from previous timelines had already transformed into a monster inside the ruins.
He was genuinely a monster.
Killing him back then brought her no psychological burden whatsoever.
But this Xia was different.
He was still human.
Only possessed by the Demon God.
She couldn’t bring herself to do it.
No.
Xia was possessed by the Demon God.
If she saved him now, perhaps one day he would stab her in the back.
How could she still fail to learn her lesson?
How many times had she died because she pitied enemies?
Philly slowly took a deep breath.
She had almost harmed herself because of her own compassion again.
She needed to eliminate every possible threat.
She absolutely couldn’t repeat the same mistakes.
Most importantly…
That silver-haired, golden-eyed lovely girl was still waiting for her.
If she failed again this time, what if she never met that lovely girl in the next life?
She would feel heartbroken for a very long time.
The carriage entered the forest.
Suddenly, an arrow shot out from the woods and pierced the driver’s head.
“AAAH—!”
The driver screamed as he fell from the carriage, which immediately ground to a halt.
“Hahaha! Boss, your aim’s still as good as ever!”
Crude laughter erupted from the forest as over a dozen figures rushed out and blocked the road.
Leading them was a bald, muscular man wearing filthy leather armor.
A faded insignia was printed on his chest, making him look like a deserter from some mercenary group.
In his hands rested a light crossbow already loaded with another bolt.
He licked his lips smugly.
“Hmph.”
He jerked his chin toward the carriage.
“The people inside better listen carefully!”
“Leave behind all your valuables and the clothes you’re wearing!”
“I’m in a good mood today, so maybe I’ll spare your lives!”
The bandits behind him cheered noisily, waving rusty cleavers while whistling.
Inside the carriage, Dailina’s face turned pale as she instinctively moved closer to Philly.
Philly, however, opened her eyes calmly.
There wasn’t the slightest panic in those amber eyes.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“They’re just a few rude uncles~”
She lifted the carriage curtain and gracefully stepped down.
Seeing this, Dailina hurriedly followed after her.
The moment the bandits saw the two girls emerge from the carriage, their eyes lit up.
“Well damn, this trip was worth it!”
The bald man licked his lips greedily.
“Boys, not only did we strike gold, but we also got—”
“Tsk.”
Philly lightly clicked her tongue and muttered quietly:
“Every single life, I have to hear this nonsense.”
“I’m already sick of it.”
“What?”
The bald man froze briefly.
Philly didn’t answer.
She merely drew the sword from her waist.
“Forget it.”
“You wouldn’t understand anyway.”
The sounds of battle erupted outside.
Xia was awakened by the commotion.
Holy crap, it’s already started?!
He lifted the front curtain and discovered the carriage driver had already been lying dead on the ground for quite some time.
Poor driver.
Every time Philly reincarnates, you have to die once.
“Damn it! Why is this woman so strong?!”
The moment Xia heard that, he hurriedly pulled out his wand.
He remembered what happened next.
After Philly killed all the bandits, the Shadow Demon would immediately activate the transfer magic.
Xia jumped from the carriage.
The scene before him barely resembled a bandit ambush anymore.
It looked more like a one-sided massacre.
Philly’s figure flashed among the bandits.
Every swing of her sword precisely struck vital points.
The bald man didn’t even have time to raise his crossbow before one slash tore into his arm.
Then Philly lifted one of her white-stockinged legs and kicked him violently to the ground.
The final surviving bandit stared at the corpses of his companions littering the area.
His legs went weak.
The cleaver in his hand clattered onto the ground.
“D-Don’t come any closer…”
“Oh?”
“You’re the last one again?”
Philly tilted her head slightly and pointed her sword toward him.
“Ah? What?”
The final sword strike descended.
Total party wipe complete.
The moment she sheathed her sword, Philly immediately grabbed Dailina’s hand and began sprinting toward the edge of the forest without hesitation.
“Eh?”
“Student Philly, what’s wrong?”
Dailina looked confused while being dragged along.
“No time to explain!”
“Run!”
Wait.
They’re trying to escape the Shadow Demon’s transfer circle?
That option didn’t even exist in the game!
Holy crap, wait for me too!
Only now did Xia realize what was happening, and he immediately took off after them.
The three hadn’t run very far before black magical patterns suddenly appeared beneath their feet.
Philly activated 【Wind Shadow】.
Her speed instantly surged as she dragged Dailina toward the edge of the magic circle.
Almost there.
Just a little more.
As the patterns fully formed, the transfer magic activated.
Black light erupted upward from the ground, swallowing everything within the formation.
Philly stepped outside the circle first.
Then Dailina was pulled out after her.
Philly let out a relieved breath.
“No, Student Xia is still inside!”
Seeing Xia still trapped within the magic circle, Dailina immediately released Philly’s hand and rushed back to pull him out.
“Don’t go back in—!”
Watching the increasingly bright black patterns beneath his feet, Xia inwardly screamed in alarm.
He had slept too deeply in the carriage and hadn’t prepared for escape at all.
If only he had started running a little earlier.
The light of the formation had already climbed past his ankles.
An intense feeling of weightlessness overtook him, as though something beneath the ground was dragging him downward.
At that moment, Dailina suddenly grabbed his wrist and desperately pulled him outward.
“Student Xia, I’ll pull you out right now!”
Why did she come back?!
Dailina herself was also being dragged inward.
Deep marks scraped across the ground beneath her shoes, yet she still tightly clung to Xia’s wrist without letting go.
No.
At this rate, neither of them would escape.
If only he got teleported alone, things would still be manageable.
He could transform and should be capable of dealing with the Shadow Demon.
But if Dailina got dragged along too, not only would transforming become inconvenient, he also wasn’t sure whether he could protect her afterward.
Realizing this, Xia decisively shook off Dailina’s hand and shoved her out of the magic circle.
“Student Xia!”
As the light faded away, Xia vanished within the formation.