An Owl's Rise

Having finished off the grand fire elemental Evelyn slowly descended to the ground in front of the glowing heart that was all that remained of the once powerful entity.

'Yep, this is it. I haven't confirmed it yet, but all of my instincts are telling me this is what I have been searching for.'

Unable to hide her ecstatic expression, Evelyn grabbed the glowing white stone that was the heart of a grand fire elemental.

The moment she touched it a searing heat burst from the stone and attempted to burn her. Even after dying the grand fire elemental was still trying to fight back.

Unfortunately, its final defense mechanism was worthless against Evelyn. The extreme heat that would have melted the skin off of most creatures only felt pleasantly warm to her.

'And that is four of five. All I need is one more item to achieve my evolution to the tyrant rank.' Evelyn thought as she stored away the grand fire elemental's heart.

With her opponent dead and her objective completed, Evelyn turned her gaze towards the battle between the Inferno Filed Rangers and the fire elementals.

At only a glance it was clear to see that the side with the overwhelming advantage was the Rangers. Thanks to Evelyn fighting the strongest fire elemental they were able to focus the entirety of their strength on the horde trying to breach their defenses.

'Doesn't look like they even suffered a single casualty. I guess having a sovereign rank beast fighting on the frontlines made all the difference.' Evelyn thought, her eyes looked on Yulbok, the Head Ranger in charge of this area.

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Normally it would have been his job to square off against the grand fire elemental while his subordinates fought the weaker elementals, but instead he had allowed Evelyn to distract the strongest enemy on the battlefield.

Naturally he would have been fine with her perishing after stalling the grand fire elemental, but her victory over it was an unexpected boon that allowed him to completely turn the tides of the battle.

As Evelyn continued to stare at him, Yulbok felt her gaze and briefly turned around and showed her a great big grin on his face.

This caused Evelyn to scowl because she knew that he would have left her for dead if she had proven incapable of beating the grand fire elemental. Of course, he had told her outright not to expect any assistance for the Rangers, but she still felt sour about it. She had really exerted herself to protect the Rangers, even if it had been for her own self-interest.

Maybe she had been hoping they would show a bit more concern for her as well.

'Nothing to do about it. I just make sure that they pay me back for all the effort I exerted. Now, time to earn some more points.'

While the battle was wrapping up and it was clear that the Rangers would win, Evelyn still wanted to make them feel more indebted to her and swiftly joined the battle along with her still active wooden knights.

With her magic Evelyn cut through the fire elementals and made a show of doing as much as she possibly could. By the time the last fire elemental had been routed every single one of the Inferno Field Rangers had seen Evelyn's valiant efforts.

'Whew, that was exhausting.' Evelyn thought as she took out a bottle of water and began drinking.

Normally she was able to get all the liquids she needed simply from eating, but she was feeling especially thirsty and guzzled down a great deal of water to replenish what she had lost during the battle.

As she was recuperating, Evelyn noticed out of the corner of her eye that Yulbok and Lizlul were approaching her.

'I don't think they are going to stab me in the back, but best to be prepared.'

Ever distrustful of others, she prepared a specific spell sealing talisman she had obtained from the Verdant Warlord's Domain just in case. If Yulbok really did decide to try to kill her, Evelyn knew that her own power even if she was in peak condition would not be enough to fight him off.

Thankfully he did not seem to have any intention of attacking her and greeted her warmly.

"That was mighty impressive. Don't think I have ever seen an awakened rank beast fight like that before. I'd say you would put most mid-tier tyrant ranks to shame even. The Roost is certainly lucky to have a prodigy like you." Yulbok said with a friendly smile on his face.

He then thanked Evelyn for her contributions and making sure that those under his command did not die. An attack of the scale they had just faced would normally end up having at least a dozen casualties.

"Unfortunately, I don't really know what to repay you with. You've already obtained what you set out to get through your own efforts after all."

"Yes, it is true that I now have the grand fire elemental heart I came here to get. But that doesn't mean that there aren't any other things that I might want. If it is not too brazen, might I give you a list?"

"Sure, go ahead. You really helped us out. You certainly contributed enough to this battle for me to give you another grand fire elemental's heart, so as long as what you want is not more valuable than that, I'll get it to you if I can."

"Okay, once we have returned to the fortress and I have rested a bit, I'll tell you what other items I am seeking." Evelyn said, satisfied with Yulbok's gratefulness and integrity. If he wanted, he could use his greater strength to deny her any reward, and even try and bully her into giving him what she had earned herself.

Luckily, he seemed to have a good moral character and would stick to his word.

Of course, he still would have left Evelyn for dead had she proved incapable of backing up her own words. He had to look after his own after all.