Chapter 137

Pinned behind furniture, Frieren works out how Fern might land a clean strike on Lore without leveling the surrounding buildings, settling on a risky ascent into the open sky despite Sein's worry about poisoned arrows and a skilled archer's knack for piercing defenses. Recalling that the previous night's barrage came at the same hour, Fern wonders whether timing can be read through mana detection, and Frieren agrees to test it. When Fern launches upward, Wolf marks her exposed flight, only for the night's fireworks to erupt and blind his aim.

Robbed of cover from the bow yet hunting through a sky thick with stray mana and noise, Fern strains to fix Lore's position. The nun, realizing a priest must ride with Frieren's group, discards the marked coins and flees in exhaustion. With the warriors unable to speak across the distance, the burden of stopping Fern falls to Lore, who casts Seizure of Holy Punishment to lock the girl's mana and send her plummeting. Fern senses the spell the instant it forms and answers with a faster Zoltraak, dropping Lore senseless.

The brief duel draws the eyes of the Magic Special Forces, with Neu observing and Kanone dispatching Weg to assess the wreckage while grumbling over Fräse's mysterious absence. Wolf and Gazelle recover the unconscious Lore, whose magic-resistant armor and perhaps a deliberate choice by the enemy spared her life, and they pull back. Reuniting with Sense and Falsch, Frieren delivers her findings, noting that the Empire's mastery of the Goddess's magic may run deeper than other priests command.

Once Frieren steps away, Sense remarks to Falsch how much she resembles Serie, recalling that the human killing of the Great Mage Minus shattered belief in elven immortality, making the long-lived Serie worth guarding at any price. Sein, caught up on events, learns to his confusion that Frieren failed the exam while Fern earned first-class rank, and he reflects on the many parties that aided his northern search. As Übel and Land return bearing Lineal's intelligence, Serie's carriage reaches Eiseberg, and she marvels that she enters the magical civilization Flamme built under such grim circumstances. The cover features Fern.