Mother.

—

"As per order of the Mighty Ruler of Tretogor, Wise and Knowledgeable Crown of Oxenfurt, and King of the Wealthy Realm of Redenia, Radovid V, Aretuza mages will now be excommunicated. Anyone who brings one of these sorceresses' heads will be rewarded with 500 Novigardian Crowns. Anyone who brings the head of the rectoress of Aretuza will be given a noble title and a piece of land under His Majesty's rule."

Unfurling the royal order, the messenger then turned toward Richard. "So, Witcher, step aside, for this is none of your—"

BANG!

Seeing the guard on his left turn into a pool of sizzling blood from Margarita's fireball, the messenger inwardly sighed in relief. He knew Radovid was using him as bait to attract the ire of these two monsters and to be killed, so that the offense of killing a royal messenger could be widely spread to every kingdom.

This would signal to rulers and citizens alike that Richard and Aretuza had no sense of dignity and were to be treated like criminals. Since the offense of killing a royal messenger was considered greater than burning down an entire town.

Sadly for him, he didn't know what a truly enraged mother is. Not knowing that the fireball was truly aimed at him, only because the rectoress never trained at shooting did it miss by a large margin.

The commander of the group, seeing this magical assault, instantly shouted, "Attack."

—

Feeling the heat of the fireballs launched one after another by the enraged Margarita beside him, Richard stepped aside to avoid the stray impacts.

"DIE BASTARD! THIS IS FOR CECILA! THIS IS FOR NADINE! THIS IS FOR BEATRIX! THIS IS FOR…"

After a couple of minutes seeing Margarita throw a volley of fireballs one after another, Richard then noticed many mounted archers knocking arrows made entirely of Dimeritium. Breathing in combustion, he performed the second form of the Dance of the Whirlwind Dragon.

Gliding across the hard ground as if skating on thin ice, he slashed only the incoming Dimeritium arrows, letting the normal arrows pass through him since Margarita had a yellow protective shield around her.

However, this gliding second form wasn't enough to deflect the bane of mages, the Dimeritium Bomb.

Seeing that these Witch Hunters wanted to launch an explosive assault on Margarita, he thought quickly and drew inspiration once again from the base of his swordsmanship: a Whirl attack he remembered from playing in front of the computer. Only this time, instead of a continuous attack, it became a single spinning move composed of many Whirlwind attacks.

Changing his posture and rejuvenating his breathing, he stretched his longsword behind his head as far as he could, then slashed fluidly in a rotating motion. Foom—every single particle of Dimeritium that detonated near him was unable to go any further and vaporized into thin air.

Finishing his newly created third form with his sword in a downward slash position, Richard's gaze then turned toward the many archers currently carrying explosives.

And the archers in question, seeing this flaming person breathing like a combustion engine, wanted to be frightened out of their wits. Sadly, before the emotion registered into every part of their body so that they could flee, they could only see half of their bodies before falling into eternal darkness.

—

Flicking the blood off his longsword and sheathing it, Richard turned his gaze toward the enraged Margarita, who continued to launch volley after volley of fireballs without rest. Because, with the Dimeritium ammo depleted and no special arrows left to knock further, and since the Dimeritium bomb had already been defused, she could now exact revenge to her heart's content without fearing the bane of mages.

But seeing some of them draw closer with a Dimeritium knife, knowing the protective barrier would become as ineffective as a thin piece of paper, Richard wanted to help her. However, it seemed he didn't need to, as he now knew what her primary element was.

"THIS IS FOR MY PRECIOUS CARLA! THIS IS FOR MY PRECIOUS ZAYA!"

"Hehehe! You want to kill me with that little knife of yours?! I will show you what overkill truly is! Moigh aen Maride va, eveigh Aine!"

Trepidation filled his entire being as he witnessed a gargantuan amount of H2O atoms quickly gathering in the surrounding area. Richard instantly employed the second form of the Dance of the Whirlwind Dragon to slash open Margarita's protective barrier and step inside—not to stop her, as he didn't know how, but out of fear of dying from the stray fire of this madwoman's vengeance.

Sure enough, after entering the barrier, he saw a hundred-meter-tall water elemental being summoned. No, more accurately, it was a water elemental genie, a Maride. With a wave of the monster's hand, a cyclone tsunami was summoned to drown everything for kilometers distant. Trees uprooted, stones chipped away, and the landscape changed—this was just one result of the genie's destruction.

"Hehehehe! Hahahahaha! My Carla, my Zaya! See?! This is what your teacher is capable of! Hahahaha! I will avenge you. I will avenge you…"

Sighing at the grief-stricken sorceress, Richard walked up to her and gently patted her back, which resulted in her instantly breaking down in silence. Seeing the genie slowly return to its Water Elemental plane, he finally sighed in relief. Sure enough, an enraged mother was not someone to mess with. Turning toward Margarita, who was sitting and weeping on the ground, he just patted her back rhythmically to comfort her.

—

[Thirty minutes later.]

"You good?"

"Yes. And… thank you."

Nodding his head and standing up, he looked around at the destruction caused by the cyclone tsunami. As far as the eye could see, the once vibrant forest was now a watered wasteland. All the debris that had been the forest was now small chunks of wood. There was no need to identify human remains; they were gone along with the large pool of water, now seeping into the ground.

Looking at this scene, one question remained in his head: "How can he survive a natural disaster on this scale?" Probably, the only thing he could do was hide until everything subsided or run as fast as he could, hoping not to succumb to the display of power.

Sighing and shaking his head, Richard then told Margarita, "Let's go. I'm afraid the caravans have already reached Novigrad by now."

Nodding her head and wiping her tears with her dress, she stood up and opened a portal to where the caravans were. Richard, seeing this, silently admired the utility of magic.

—