Chapter 84: Overconfident
Andrey’s eyes tracked Sein’s reckless advance—her gauntlets blazing, her body a blur of crimson fury. She struck one lizard, then another, but each hit was shallower than the last. Her flas were dimming. Her movents were slowing.
’She’s getting overconfident,’ Andrey thought, deflecting a claw swipe with his katana. ’Ever since we took down that S-rank demon and that Crystal Fla boss, she’s been acting like she’s invincible.’
Another lizard lunged at Sein from her blind spot. She didn’t see it.
Andrey sprinted, sliding between them, his katana catching the creature’s claws. The impact sent shockwaves up his arms, but he held. Damage Absorb flared red.
"Sein!" he shouted. "Fall back! You’re not at full strength!"
Sein’s green eyes blazed with defiance. "I’m fine! I can handle these—"
A tail swept her legs out from under her. She crashed to the pavent, her gauntlets scraping against the asphalt. Before she could rise, a lizard was already above her, jaws open, rows of teeth gleaming.
Andrey’s pistol was in his hand before he thought. He fired three rounds into the creature’s open mouth. The lizard convulsed, staggered, and collapsed sideways.
He grabbed Sein’s arm and hauled her to her feet. "Listen to . You’re not at the level you used to be. Your body, your mana, your output—everything has been recalibrated to C-rank. You can’t just overpower A-rank monsters like you did before."
Sein’s jaw tightened. Her hands trembled—not from fear, but from the effort of holding back the anger rising in her chest.
"I know that," she said quietly.
"Then why are you fighting like you don’t?"
She didn’t answer. Her gaze dropped to her gauntlets still flickering with crimson light, but weaker than before.
Andrey’s voice softened, just a fraction. "I understand. You want to prove yourself. You want to show that you’re still the Sein Alpis who could punch through gates alone. But you’re not that person anymore. And that’s okay."
Sein’s head snapped up, her eyes blazing. "It’s not okay! I spent years building that reputation, that strength. And now it’s gone. Just... gone. Like it never existed."
Andrey held her gaze. "It’s not gone. It’s just... different. You’re different now. But that doesn’t an you’re weaker. It ans you have to fight smarter."
The lizard that had fainted earlier woke up and screeched, charging at them. Andrey didn’t turn. He trusted his senses, his Ki awareness, and at the last mont, he sidestepped and drove his katana into its side. The creature dissolved.
Sein stared at him. "How did you—"
"I felt its mana pattern," Andrey said simply. "That’s what I an by fighting smarter. You can’t just rely on brute force anymore. You have to use everything—your senses, your experience, your teammates."
He extended his hand toward her. "So, co on. Let’s fight smarter. Together."
Sein looked at his hand for a long mont. Then she took it.
"Fine," she muttered.
Together, they fell back toward Sarah and Lisa, covering each other’s flanks as they retreated. The plaza was chaos—screaming civilians, shattered glass, and the constant shriek of monster cries.
Sarah’s voice cut through the noise. "Andrey! There are too many! We need to—"
An explosion rocked the far end of the plaza.
A figure descended from the sky, landing between the monsters and the fleeing civilians. Golden hair, gleaming armor, a massive crystal sword that blazed with light.
Hope.
"I’ll hold the line!" she shouted, her voice carrying across the chaos. "Get the civilians to safety!"
She swung her sword in a wide arc, and a crescent of golden light swept across the plaza, cutting down three lizards in one stroke.
More figures followed—S-rank heroes, so Andrey recognized, so he didn’t. They spread out, engaging the monsters, pushing them back toward the gate.
Reinforcents had arrived.
Andrey’s shoulders loosened, just slightly. "Now we fall back. Let the S-ranks handle it."
Sein’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t argue. She nodded once and followed him toward the evacuation periter.
The S-rank and A-rank heroes surged into the gate, their combined power pushing back the remaining monsters. The plaza slowly quieted, the chaos giving way to the organized efforts of evacuation and cleanup. Association personnel directed civilians away, while dics tended to the injured.
Andrey’s group found a relatively quiet spot near a collapsed fountain, sitting on the edge, catching their breath. The gate still pulsed in the distance, but the flood of monsters had stopped. Now, only the occasional screech echoed from within, quickly silenced by the high-rank heroes inside.
Sarah deactivated her transformation, her normal clothes reappearing—torn and dusty, but she was too tired to care. She slumped against the fountain’s rim, glaring at Sein, who was casually drinking from a water bottle.
"What the hell was that, Sein?" Sarah’s voice was sharp, her exhaustion making her even more irritable. "Charging in like a maniac against A-rank monsters? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Sein didn’t look at her. She took another sip of water, then lowered the bottle. "Shut up."
Sarah’s eyes widened. "Excuse ?!"
"You heard ." Sein’s voice was flat, but there was an edge to it. "I don’t need a lecture from soone who spent the whole fight hiding behind her wand."
Sarah shot to her feet, her hands balling into fists. "Hiding?! I was protecting civilians! That’s more than you did, you reckless—"
Lisa quickly stepped between them, hands raised placatingly. "Okay, okay! Both of you, stop! We’re all tired and on edge. Let’s just rest, alright? The gate is under control now."
Sarah huffed, crossing her arms, but she sat back down. Sein said nothing, her gaze fixed on the swirling portal ahead.
Andrey, leaning against a broken lamppost nearby, watched the exchange in silence. He let out a quiet sigh, his shoulders relaxing just a fraction now that the imdiate danger had passed.
Lisa noticed. She excused herself from between Sarah and Sein and walked over to Andrey, her footsteps soft on the cracked pavent. She stood beside him, close enough that their arms almost touched, and lowered her voice.
"Andrey," she murmured, glancing back at Sein, then at him. "Why is Sein acting like that? Yesterday she seed... better. More stable. But today she’s back to being reckless and angry."
Andrey adjusted his glasses, his gaze still on the gate. "Because she’s beco overconfident."
Lisa tilted her head. "Overconfident?"
"We’ve been winning a lot lately. The demon, the Crystal Fla boss, even surviving the guild hall incident. Sein started believing she could handle anything, even at her reduced power." He paused, then added, "She forgot what it ans to be a C-rank in an A-rank fight."
Lisa’s expression softened with understanding. "So she needs to be reminded?"
Andrey nodded slowly. "She needs to learn that fighting smarter is more important than fighting harder. But she’s stubborn. She won’t listen to ."
Lisa looked at Sein’s rigid back, then back at Andrey. A small, determined smile crossed her lips.
"Then we’ll remind her together."
Andrey looked at Lisa, a small, tired smile tugging at his lips. "You’re right. Let’s fix this, slowly."
Lisa laughed softly, the sound light despite the exhaustion weighing on all of them. "She’s not a broken machine."
The gate behind them pulsed one last ti, then collapsed inward with a soft rumble. The purple vortex shrank, twisted, and vanished, leaving only the scarred plaza and the dissipating remnants of dark mana.
From the dissipating rift, Hope erged, her golden hair catching the afternoon light. Her crystal sword was sheathed across her back, and her silver armor was streaked with dark ichor, but she walked with an easy confidence, chatting briefly with the heroes beside her.
Hope’s blue eyes scanned the plaza, searching. When they found Andrey’s group, her face lit up.
She waved, a bright, genuine smile spreading across her lips, and began walking toward them. Her boots crunched on the broken pavent, each step steady and unhurried.
Sarah, still sitting on the fountain’s edge, crossed her arms and huffed. "Here she cos again."
Lisa waved back, her mint-green dress still shimring faintly. "Hope! You’re okay!"
Sein didn’t turn around. Her shoulders were still tense, her arms crossed, but she didn’t move away.
Andrey straightened, adjusting his glasses as Hope approached. The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the plaza, and for a mont, everything seed almost peaceful.
"Looks like you handled the gate," Andrey said as Hope stopped in front of them.
Hope nodded, brushing a strand of golden hair from her face. "We did. The core was deeper than expected, but nothing we couldn’t handle." Her gaze swept over the group, lingering on Sein’s rigid posture, then returned to Andrey. "I heard you were on site before we arrived. Helping with evacuations, fighting off the first wave. Good work."
Andrey shook his head slightly. "We did what we could. Sein did most of the heavy lifting."
Sein’s jaw tightened, but she said nothing.
Hope’s expression softened. She took a step closer, lowering her voice. "Andrey, can I speak with you for a mont? Privately?"
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