258 – Final Chapter (11): The End
Shadow Forest.
The gloomiest, gloomiest place in the Lichten Academy.
This place, which was dark even in broad daylight, was now colored red.
— Caw!
“Huh!”
Elena, startled by the sound of crows, took a few steps back.
Lina holds her back as she almost falls over the stone.
“… The atmosphere is really unusual.”
The air is red, the trees are black.
Red and dark.
I couldn’t help but think of Shaleam Bridge.
But Danya walked into the forest without hesitation.
“Let’s go.”
I could enter wherever Ian was, even if it was a place infested with monsters.
And it was the same for Lina and Elena.
The two also immediately followed Danya.
Jeobug, jerk.
The sound of the three footsteps echoed hollowly in the forest.
“Surprisingly, there don’t seem to be any dangerous species or cultists.”
It was just as Elena said.
Contrary to the extremely ominous atmosphere, there was no danger inside the forest.
“Is it just disguised on the outside?”
“Ah! I heard that there are cases like that during war. It’s a strategy to catch the other side as if there’s something there. Of course, that doesn’t mean we were caught.”
Danya nodded her head.
“We weren’t caught.”
“Right, right? There is no being that can deceive Sister Danya’s five senses.”
“It’s not like that, but this silence…”
Danya paused for a moment.
All the world was quiet.
The only sound was the footsteps of three people.
It was definitely strange.
If you’re in a forest, it’s normal to hear animals or at least the sound of the wind.
Gulp.
The sound of Elena passing her saliva could be heard vividly.
“Even the other animals must have run away.”
Disaster.
It is always the animals who detect it first.
Ants moving before a typhoon arrives.
Small animals running here and there before an earthquake.
They sense future disasters more keenly than anyone else.
If that is the identity of this silence…
“……”
It was right to run away right now.
Danya’s instinct was more sensitive than any bird or any small animal.
And her instincts felt it.
The fact that this infinite sense of crisis is growing bigger and bigger.
Something is coming.
I felt that way.
“Let’s move a little faster.”
Danya walked even faster.
I ran through the forest like I was running and checked my surroundings.
Agile movement, sliding downhill and jumping over vines.
During her search, Lina and Elena, who had become familiar with her forest, somehow followed her.
Danya, who was running like that, suddenly stops.
Then he ran to the base of a tree.
“Ha, Ian’s traces, ha… Ine!”
Lina, who came running late, caught her breath.
“Ah! It’s there too!”
Da da da da!
Elena went to the root of another tree and carefully placed a small, pure white snow crystal on the tip of her finger.
“This is the first time I’ve seen Brother Ian’s mana crystal come out this close…! I think it’s right here!”
It was just as Elena said.
After searching the surroundings, they were able to find quite a few of Ian’s mana crystals.
Everyone was full of hope and made a decision.
Until I realized one thing.
“But where on earth did they come from? These decisions? We need to find Ian, not the decisions.”
Elena’s words occasionally struck a key point.
Lina muttered blankly.
“That’s right. It’s been so hard to find traces of Ian… So without even realizing it, I’ve been focusing on this.”
What was important was that there were no traces of Ian.
The goal was to find his location.
And this place where the traces are scattered in several places.
In fact, if it was a trace of this size, it was right to specify the location.
“But there’s nothing here…”
“Is it rising in the sky?”
Everyone looked up at the sky, following Elena’s movements.
There was nothing visible other than red colored clouds.
“…Where on earth are we?”
The more I think about it, the deeper the question becomes.
At that time.
“You know.”
Danya opened her mouth as if she had realized something.
“Why do Ian’s mana crystals always come from the base of the tree?”
Knock knock.
Danya’s toes hit the ground.
The dust rising up.
I thought Ian’s mana traces were like this dust.
It floats in the air and then sinks to the ground.
But what if that’s not the case?
“Are you saying that the mana crystals came from the ground from the beginning?”
“Yes. To be exact, from the tree roots.”
Elena helped.
“I’m sure… Everything I found here was near the tree.”
“And no one has been able to find the headquarters of Shaleam Bridge.”
The pieces fit together one by one.
“”Could it be… Underground?””
The moment when everyone’s eyes turned to the ground.
— KIeee!
A terrible crying sound rang out.
The sound was so loud that Danya hurriedly covered her ears.
“What… What is that?”
Someone muttered.
Danya lifted her head with difficulty.
In the distance, a human figure the size of a Holy Eucharist stood.
It was a headless skeleton giant.
There was a huge eyeball stuck in the center of the chest, and it was blinking as if it was examining the surroundings.
Wings sprouted where the arms should have been, and hands were attached to the tips of the wings.
A monster that just seems to symbolize hell.
Danya recalled a legend she heard when she was young.
“It’s a summoned beast of a blood demon…”
A being from the demon world controlled by someone who stands between humans and demons.
It was approaching from beyond the horizon, rolling its eyes and carrying numerous monsters in front of it.
“Too… We have to run away.”
Elena muttered.
An air raid warning rang out just in time.
The voice of the student council vice president, Iris, was echoing.
— This is an emergency disaster situation. Cadets and residents in the entire area are requested to evacuate immediately!
The moment when everyone took a step back from that monster.
“Now, wait!”
Danya hurriedly started digging.
The grass attribute magic she summoned digs up the ground.
Lina and Elena, who had finally come to their senses, joined us.
‘I’ve come this far and I can’t give up.’
Everyone had the same thoughts.
At that time.
— Taean!
The sound of magic power hitting something and bouncing off was heard.
“Are the tree roots transparent…?”
“It might be like a barrier!”
Hope found in the midst of urgency.
Danya scattered grass attribute mana around the transparent roots.
From Noble mtl dot com
So-called planting seeds.
It was the most effective magic for breaking the barrier.
But.
The barrier was too strong.
“He won’t move…”
We can’t go back like this.
We have to find some way.
The moment when Danya prepared to cast magic once again.
“What are you guys?”
Danya stopped on the spot.
The overwhelming force emanating from the voice.
When I looked up, there was a tall man standing there.
A large ax worn on his back.
It was Lee Jonwi.
Of course, the members of the Dessert Research Club did not provide any information about him.
I only recognize that the person in front of me is incredibly strong, and at the same time, he is not the cult leader I saw before.
He just frowned slightly and muttered.
“I found a dragon. Die.”
Ugh.
A lightly swung axe.
But Danya could not react. It was the same with Lina.
It was because my body was stiff.
They didn’t know, but it was Lee Jonwi’s technique.
Elena quickly grabbed the shield and stepped forward, but it was too late.
Everyone sensed death and closed their eyes.
— Quad deuk!
Danya thought the noise was the sound of her being crushed.
Is death really this vain?
If this were to happen, I would have spent more time with Ian.
It felt like the magic that was with him was passing by.
By the way.
“Is everyone okay?”
An infinitely warm voice was heard.
Danya narrowed her eyes.
Long dark blue hair was flowing.
“I’ll take charge of this guy, so everyone run away. He’s not someone you can deal with.”
Before her eyes, Asilia was blocking a huge ax with a thin sword.
“Oh, Asilia?”
Hair roughly tied up. Dressed as if wearing only pajamas and outerwear.
She also seemed to have sensed something strange about her and came out.
Danya hastily pointed to the transparent roots with her finger.
“That…That! It might be the barrier where Ian is trapped.”
“Your lives are more important now than my students.”
“B-but…!”
Asilia’s sword moved.
Her sword energy scanned the barrier.
There wasn’t even a scratch on the barrier.
“If there is a barrier like this, it will take ten great wizards a month to destroy it. Everyone run away first.”
“Ah…”
“Let’s go. I’ll join right away. Everyone is gathered in the academy shelter.”
Unlike usual, Asilia was resolute.
“…Yes.”
Danya nodded her head.
This is Ian’s teacher.
Her judgment was clearly more accurate than her own.
Pabbat!
Everyone in the dessert research group ran towards the academy.
In times like this, if you help them for no reason, you will only end up holding them back.
More than anything, she believed in Asilia’s skills.
Danya looked behind her as she ran.
Infinitely red sky.
Below, the dark red army was advancing.
Monsters were filling the horizon.
This is overwhelming power compared to what we saw on the front line.
“…What the hell.”
What is happening?
And why the academy?
It seemed like the end was approaching.