"Grandmaster, please leave the elf-queen to me. I do not think anyone else will be in the right mental state to deal with her."

Master Hana did not seem to be in the right mental state to fight as well. Her eyes were blazing with anger and she looked ready to chew someone out. 

Keith had a feeling that Hana would back down if he asked her to. But there would be a lot of resentment mixed in that offer. And Keith did not want to disappoint Master Hana.

"Sure, I will leave her to you. I still have a bird to fry after all."

For Keith, making that decision was easy.

Hana was the highest level among their group. She was even a higher level than the elf-queen. So naturally, she was the best choice when it came to a fight.

Even if the other two looked disappointed at his orders, both Himeko and Shimi seemed to be heeding them anyway. Keith was happy to see them not asking him any questions.

*Clakkkk*

The Fenrir beast let out a loud cry as it raised its winds. The lack of attention seemed to be offending the ancient beast and it tried to kill Keith and his company.

Luckily, Keith's shield was able to hold up against this Fenrir beast.

Keith did not know if it was because he had gotten stronger, or if this Fenrir beast was weaker than the last one, he had faced, but he was able to fend the attacks off.

The bird did not like it when Keith protected it with his shield. So, it tried to peck at the shield in hopes of breaking it apart. But the more that bird tried to do so, the stronger Keith forced his shield to become.

In the end, the bird had to give up on breaking the shield and try another method of fighting against the humans and half-humans. 

"Grandmaster, what do we do now? Are we going to kill the Fenrir beast first? Or should we try to get to that house first?"

Shimi asked while focusing her mana on the Fenrir beast. Her eyes were looking at the beast up and down, looking for any signs of weakness.

But alas, the Fenrir beast was too strong to show it is weakness openly. It tried to take a swipe out of Shimi's arms. 

If Keith had not forced her back into his barrier, the Fenrir beast would have killed Shimi off right then and there.

"T-This is not our sacred beast. Our divine beast is supposed to be beautiful and majestic. It is supposed to be unmatched in this universe when it comes to power. And it is supposed to always protect us."

Himeko seemed to be having a hard time comprehending what was happening. Her instincts and her rationality were saying different things to her.

She needed to snap out of it, but Himeko's body was forcing her to stand still and take the attacks.

One such attack would have cleaved Himeko's head off if not for Keith's barrier. Shimi also arrived near Himeko and shook her on her shoulder.

That finally snapped Himeko out of her daze and she was able to focus once more.

"You! What do you think you are doing? You need to be careful if you do not want to die."

Shimi looked worriedly all over Himeko. Her familiar blue eyes were trying to access if Shimi had any injuries or not.

The care brought tears into Himeko's eyes and her vision went blurry. She was suddenly choked by all her emotions.

"I-I, it is all my fault. You were treated so badly by your mother and all the other people in this village. How can you even look at me and smile now?"

Himeko asked with an uneasy smile on her face. She wanted to know the answer to this question, but she did not want to know at the same time. She was sure that she would not be able to take the disappointment if the answer was negative.

Meanwhile, Keith was struggling to maintain the barrier. 

Even if the Fenrir beast was not able to break the barrier in one swoop, it was able to slowly chip away at the barrier's hp.

Keith's blue-tinted world showed the amount of HP left in his barrier. And it was draining out faster.

'At this rate, I will have to attack. I hope I can control my power for once.'

There were a lot of teammates around Keith right now. If he made a mistake, then someone could get hurt. And hurting someone was the last thing Keith wanted to do.

The Fenrir beast raised its break and it had a faint glow of divine power to it now. That would break the shield for sure.

'It is now or never. Let us hope I can kill this beast right here and now.'

Keith forced his mana out and it collided with the Fenrir beast in front of him. It caused the breast to fall back and look at Keith with eyes full of hate and caution. It was finally taking Keith on as a serious enemy.

"Shit, it burns. I did not know using Divine power could cause such problems in my body."

Keith coughed as he tried to clear his throat. He was having a bad time and now it showed in his expression.

......…..

"Hoh!  A little girl like you thinks they can take me on? What has the world come to recently."

The elf queen taunted Hana to make her lose focus. She had known this little child since forever and she knew how to make Hana tick.

But for some reason, her taunt seemed to have fallen flat. Hana did not even give her any response except to narrow her eyes and calm her nerves down.

That reaction caused the elf queen to lose her temper and her blue eyes had traces of red in them.

"You brat. You have no idea what you are doing. Your clan was given a chance to serve our noble cause and our god. But you decided to forget your place and challenge us now."

The elf-queen brought out the long-forgotten history. It was a deal that was signed many generations ago.

But that had also been a time when gods were active and came own to help people regularly. Now the world was slowly losing the god's influence and moving toward a new future.

"Say what you want to. But no god will be able to make me walk down my path. I will fight for what I believe in."

Master Hana proclaimed before she took her fighting stance. She had already immobilized all the guards but the elf queen was different.

Her poison resistance caused Hana many problems when it came to dealing with her.

"You have chosen to forsake your god for a human male. Tell me, is the grandmaster of yours truly that worthy? I did not get to spend any time with him but he looks like an ordinary human to me."

The elf queen's eyes could see the essence of a human. She had seen Hana, so she knew that Hana was an extraordinary human.

But no matter how many times she looked at the Grandmaster, he seemed like an ordinary human being. Even now, if she saw him, she could only see the ordinary glow of humanity.

"As if the grandmaster needs to prove anything to you. Elf queen, you just do not get the uniqueness and the greatness that is Grandmaster. And I am afraid that you will never quite get it either."

Hana explained before she attacked the elf queen.

The battle of wits had turned into one that included hand-to-hand combat. And the elf queen immediately knew - she was at a disadvantage. She tried to force he way past Hana but the younger did not allow her this luxury.

"You know, there was surely a time when I was much weaker than you. But then the grandmaster saw my potential and offered to help me out. And look at me now. Look at all I have accomplished."

Master Hana bragged and the elf queen could not stop her eyes from moving toward the 'so-called' grandmaster. She needed to know what it was about that human that fascinated everyone.

Even his aura was not that impressive….

'I-Impossible. This glow is not normal. It is filled with divine light and so much more. Why did I never see this before!'

The elf queen could not even see the human in that sea of gold that surrounded him. She was not able to tear her eyes away from the scene in front of her.

Even when Hana forced her head away, the elf queen did not want to look away. She needed to bask in this glow and take in as much as she could.

"See, now even you cannot keep your eyes away from the grandmaster. I knew I should not have shown you this."