novelraw Chapter 65 : Chapter 65
Chapter 65 : Chapter 65
Chapter 65: The Path (3)
Shura liked eggs.
The yolk and the white had to be cooked separately, and the yolk had to be exactly half-cooked.
It was difficult at first, but now it was manageable.
Cassion's hands, which had cracked the shell, moved gracefully. The yolk and the white were placed separately on the heated pan.
He quickly removed the yolk and placed the pre-prepared bread and soup in a bowl. The bread was fine, but the type of soup had to be different from the previous meal.
Shura ate anything, but Cassion wasn't quite pleased with that.
A child, by rights, should be picky.
"It's ready. Let's eat."
Cassion placed the bowl on the table where Shura was sitting. While bringing it over, the residual heat had cooked the yolk exactly halfway.
"Is it delicious?"
"Yes."
Cassion himself knew best that it wasn't that delicious.
His food was ordinary.
It might look similar, but the taste was on a different level from Kubel's skill.
Shura's palate was accustomed to Kubel's cooking.
'She's humoring me, at that age.'
Tsk. Cassion secretly clicked his tongue.
He didn't let it show. The problem wasn't Shura, but the environment that had made Shura that way.
"Let's go."
"Okay."
After breakfast, Shura had her lessons. Her teacher was a handmaiden from a northern noble family.
It was Ellen's instruction; she wanted Shura to feel no lack in the Inner Fortress.
Perhaps even Grand Duke Aratus agreed, as he couldn't be unaware of the happenings in the Inner Fortress.
Even if the Mage Kubel wasn't, Shura was already an important figure in the Inner Fortress.
After her lessons and lunch, it was time to go out.
Because a child, by rights, should play. Cassion escorted Shura to the alley where she reigned as a princess.
Then, gazes would be drawn to them.
Someone of the rank of a Knights Commander was known by almost everyone in the domain.
It was impossible for gazes not to be drawn when the 2nd Knights Commander was walking the streets holding a child's hand.
Such gazes were filled only with good feelings. Cassion was closer to a nanny than an escort, but people considered him more honorable.
Because the subject was a child.
"Your father will be back soon."
Today was the third day.
He should be back by tomorrow at the latest.
The Second Stage Boundary was not a place to be taken lightly.
It was a realm where Harad, Ellen, and Kubel could not stay for long.
"She doesn't believe it, but she knows he's trying."
Ellen had once been jealous that Shura had followed Cassion at once, but Cassion knew that it was Shura's effort.
"Her father is trying to keep his place, so she must think she shouldn't cause trouble."
Even if Ellen hadn't noticed, Cassion knew.
Harad probably had noticed long ago too.
That's why that guy was not to his liking. Harad didn't treat a child as special. He was a man whose intentions were hard to read.
"I won't force you to believe, that's not something that can be done."
"..."
"But I think you can open up a little."
The small hand he was holding trembled once.
"It won't change anything even if you're careful. We will love you no matter what you do."
Though in Cassion's opinion, Harad was not to his liking.
He wasn't a bad person.
"You are a child who deserves it."
* * *
The number of tree Magical Beasts was one thing, but the dangling branches were the problem. There were so many that they obscured the view.
But it was gradually clearing up.
Far away, the branches of the trees on the other side were lifting up towards the sky.
That sight was getting closer. It looked like a line of people raising their hands from the back.
When we were about halfway through the forest, I realized that the reason for this phenomenon was water.
Water was moving in the forest.
To be precise, it was the Mages who were creating the water and walking through it.
"So it was the Deep Sea's path."
The crisply dry tree Magical Beasts, instead of attacking the Mages, were drinking the water they had manifested.
The branches of the tree Magical Beasts that had absorbed the water were raised towards the sky.
It was a kind of symbiotic relationship.
In exchange for providing water to the tree Magical Beasts, the Mages of the Tower of the Deep Sea had obtained a path.
'To think there would be a case like this.'
My eyes sparkled.
Symbiosis with a Magical Beast. An idea I had never thought of.
Its efficiency was beyond doubt.
Those Mages, at least in this area, were walking safely.
'Fitting for the Boundary.'
The Boundary was like the unknown.
The majority was ignorant, and no matter how much you found out, there was always more you didn't know.
But the Otherworld was less ignorant than I or Serzila.
They knew more about the Boundary.
"Should we just watch for now?"
It was a question of whether to dig for information.
It was because she had noticed that this was the Deep Sea's path.
"No."
I shook my head.
It was a dangerous act. We were still far from the second wall, but we didn't know when a high-rank Magical Beast might pop out.
Hadn't the rabbit from before been like that?
This place was closer to the second wall than the location where we met that creature.
The process of the tree Magical Beasts spreading their branches was slow.
But it was constant. It meant the Mages were approaching at a constant speed.
'They have power to spare.'
The Boundary was a land where magic was consumed just by standing still.
This was a point quite far from the Otherworld. It meant they had already experienced considerable consumption.
And on top of that, they were moving while sharing water with the tree Magical Beasts.
'A high-rank is mixed in.'
At least 4th Rank. At most, 5th Rank.
I assumed as much. Just then, the tree Magical Beast standing at the entrance of the forest raised its branches.
The view was completely cleared. The eyes of the Mages in the water widened. There were three of them.
"Who are you."
The one standing in the middle asked.
He was a young man. Around my age. The water surrounding them was flowing from that young man's hand.
"Are you juniors?"
Juniors from the young man's mouth.
My face hardened.
'5th Rank.'
The body of a Sword Master maintains its prime.
A 5th Rank Mage is not much different. Just like Cassion, they also have a youthful appearance.
Because the stronger the magic they possess, the stronger the vessel, the Mage, must be.
'I'll be found out anyway.'
I couldn't even deceive Ios, how could I deceive a 5th Rank.
Blood formed on my eyes and the corners of my mouth.
When the blood began to flow, a pitch-black Projection appeared in the sky. Its speed was quite fast. A speed that had even surprised Cassion, a 5th Rank.
When the young man's eyes widened, the water surrounding the Mages evaporated in an instant.
The eyeballs of the Mages standing to the young man's left and right melted first. Their bodies followed. They melted and dripped down.
The evaporated water, the two melted Mages, the smoke that started from there gathered towards the young man.
The Crimson Flames that fell from the pitch-black sun devoured the smoke, swelled up, and engulfed the young man.
"Fire-!"
The young man's roar raged from within the Crimson Flames.
Ellen's sword, dyed with a faint jet-black, struck down on the young man who was trapped in the Crimson Flames. At the same time, a tremendous amount of smoke surged.
It was the smoke generated as the Crimson Flames were extinguished.
Water cannot extinguish the sun's fire. On the contrary, it burns even more fiercely.
It is a compatibility that is effective when they are of the same Rank.
The young man ignored such compatibility with an even more overwhelming amount of magic.
The massive smoke that was generated did not listen to Kubel's control. Ellen's sword, which had cut through the smoke, was suddenly pushed back. A huge stream of water pushed Ellen away.
'Manifestation?'
No. It's not that much of a presence.
It is simply the result of converting an ignorantly huge amount of magic into water.
I was just exceptionally fast; originally, Projection required a considerable amount of time.
Manifestation was even more so.
A Sword Master is called a Superhuman.
A 5th Rank Mage is not. At least, not for a fleeting moment. Because Manifestation required sufficient time.
I have to do it now.
"Now!"
I shouted.
Ellen, who was being pushed back, held on with all her strength.
Her innate Strength propelled her body forward.
The jet-black of Serzila, darker than before, cut through the waterfall-like stream of water.
The sword advanced further.
It aimed for the young man, whose entire body was dyed blue. Just then, blood was streaming from all the orifices of my face.
The pitch-black sun shed a white fire.
That small ball of fire fell towards the young man at the same time as Ellen's sword.
The white fire, which surpassed my Rank, was clearly effective. The waterfall that the young man was spewing evaporated in that fire.
The white fire that had drunk the water grew a little.
The young man's right shoulder, touched by the white fire, melted and disappeared. Ellen's sword cut through his opposite clavicle. It was a sword strike so fast that it could not be captured by the eye.
The blade that had dug in reached his heart. It dug in further. Plunge. That extremely small sound was transmitted through Ellen's hand.
...Too late.
Above the young man's heart, right below Ellen's sword blade, something blue blossomed.
'Manifestation.'
It was a Lake.
Ellen sensed that a Lake would soon appear here.
'Soon.'
Soon. Not now.
Ellen did not pull back. Her instinct whispered so. In that fleeting moment, Innate Strength descended. The jet-black deepened a little more. The sword dug into half of the heart.
'I can do it.'
The sword splitting the heart in two is faster than the completion of the Manifestation.
No, it would be simultaneous.
However, her instinct was whispering.
Even if the man died, she would not.
Ellen's crimson eyes turned redder, like blood. She entrusted her body to her instinct. Nothing knew Innate Strength as well as her own intuition.
It was then that an urgent voice was heard.
"Ellen!"
Ellen immediately understood that it meant to pull back.
'Why should I.'
Ellen refused. But in her eyes, the sword was stopped. The sword was pulled out of the half-split heart.
Contrary to her will, her body was moving away from the man. Harad, his face covered in blood, was by her side.
She had retreated this far at some point.
"Why...!"
It was a golden, first and last chance.
For some reason, Ellen turned her arrow not on her own body which had followed Harad's words, but on Harad who had stopped her.
KABOOM!
The roar was heard then.
Ellen's gaze whipped around. There was a Lake there. It had just disappeared.
Because of a huge pillar that had appeared in its place.
A pillar several times thicker than the Watchtower in the Sanctuary of Fire... no, not a pillar.
It was a leg.
And a footless ankle. That blunt ankle had crushed the young man and the just-manifested Origin.
Ellen raised her gaze. She couldn't see its end. Its crotch was higher than the top of the Fire Watchtower.
"Giant."
No, the word giant was not enough.
But there was no suitable word to describe it.
'They do not easily reveal themselves to the world, or they possess an overwhelming presence.'
I's words came to Ellen's mind.
Either they are indistinguishable because they look human, or they are like legends because they are such monsters.
The Giant in front of her was the latter. That is to say, a great Magical Beast.
"...6th Rank."
"Seems so."
I said, holding my breath.
Kubel was prostrate on the ground, trembling. His breath caught in his throat. Just being in the same space with it felt like he would be crushed to death.
The pillar. No, the footless ankle rose above the ground.
The next step was taken far away, out of sight.
That is to say, the Giant was walking.
With just that step, the manifested Lake was destroyed, and the young man had died.
At that time, the Giant showed no reaction.
Like a human who doesn't even know they've crushed an ant to death while walking.
To that Giant, a 5th Rank Mage was an ant.
Perhaps even weaker. Ellen would be the same.
"...Fuck."
That fact was extremely unpleasant to Ellen.
She was angry that her victory had been snatched away, but the Giant's behavior of not even recognizing her was even more infuriating.
...One foot remained.
The Giant had two feet, and the foot that had just crushed the young man had only taken the next step.
So Ellen did not sheathe her sword. She took a step forward.
"Hold it."
"I know. But just once."
Ellen did not wait for my answer.
She felt that if she did, her body would listen to his words again. Her figure stretched out like taffy and rushed forward.
Innate Strength. It turns even a surprise attack into a full-power one.
Ellen's light strike and a strike thrown with all her might have the same power.
However, if Ellen truly went all out, Innate Strength would allow her to take one more step.
To be precise, that was her true full power.
Such a strike was swung towards the Giant's ankle.
...It left a scratch.
A very small one compared to the Giant's height.
It was a possibility.
The possibility that one day, she could even cut a 6th Rank.
Seeing it, a mix of satisfaction and anger appeared on Ellen's face.
Soon, Ellen tilted her head.
There was a hole where the Giant had been standing.
"A tunnel?"