When Lucius finally woke up, his mind was a chaotic mess from waking up in the same space as the Saint…
‘What in the world does this mean?’
Lucius doubted his own ears.
“Yeah, I interfered with his teleportation.”
What on earth did Cheon Ha-rang mean by saying she interfered with Jackal’s teleportation? Should he prepare for battle right away, or should he listen more? Lucius had no clue.
He could only lament why he hadn’t realized this sooner.
Lucius had watched Jackal use his unique magic, teleportation, multiple times.
And during all those times, he had never seen a black mist rising.
However, he had brushed it off due to his gut feeling, which often saved him from countless dangers, telling him that there wasn’t much danger to worry about.
Should he not even trust his ‘gut feeling’ anymore…?
He needed to hear more from Cheon Ha-rang to understand the details, but for now, he was finding it hard to bear the disappointment with himself.
Lucius couldn’t even bring himself to smooth out his furrowed brow as he looked at the composed, almost proud-looking Cheon Ha-rang.
Cheon Ha-rang, hands on her hips, confidently continued,
“Why’s there no reaction? I said I interfered with Jackal’s teleportation!”
“…Could you elaborate a bit more?”
Lucius asked, brow furrowed. It seemed Cheon Ha-rang finally realized her explanation was lacking and with an ‘Ah,’ she smiled.
“Hmm, I must’ve been inadequate in my explanation.”
Lucius’s brows knitted together. Could she really not have known that? The ‘Cheon Ha-rang’?
Rather, it felt like it was a tease. Her personality did seem to lean towards mischief.
He could tell just by witnessing how she pranked her disciple, Cheon Mu-myeong.
‘Still….’
It looked like she was finally in the mood to explain, so he decided not to voice any more complaints and waited for her words.
“I interfered with Jackal’s teleportation, so he probably couldn’t go where he wanted.”
“You mean you… interfered with the teleportation?”
The following words from Cheon Ha-rang were somewhat hard to believe.
‘Is she saying she interfered with that ‘unique magic’ I saw for the first time that day?’
It was something that neither he nor the Saint had been able to achieve, let alone the ‘sorcerer’ who had once greatly betrayed his trust. …Or maybe they simply didn’t do it.
Regardless, within the bounds of what he understood, this was impossible.
The unique magic he knew of was.
A kind of blessing bestowed upon humans by the divine, meant to help carve one’s fate predetermined from birth.
His ‘Hero’ power and future sight were also types of unique magic.
Yet Cheon Ha-rang was claiming she interfered with it herself.
She couldn’t possibly be ignorant of this common sense; she had to be well aware. Thus, saying that she completely denies it.
‘But… if it’s her?’
Having experienced even a shard of Cheon Ha-rang’s martial prowess; Lucius knew her skills were like they were reaching for the heavens.
Also, she had previously shattered his unique magic and blessing, future sight.
So, was she now teasing him, acting unlike her usual self by getting all cozy in order to drag him to her side?
While Lucius was trapped in his thoughts, Cheon Ha-rang nodded nonchalantly.
“…Unique magic? Hmm, well, you’re right there.”
“Is that so.”
A brief silence filled the air.
What he had confirmed through Cheon Ha-rang’s words was that her skills were indeed at a level capable of denying the divine blessing.
Or, her unique magic had the power to twist it.
He felt an intensified need to include her in his party; a greedy desire had sparked. Of course, all of this was under the premise she aligned with humans.
For now, he needed to hear more from Cheon Ha-rang.
“So you’re saying you interfered with Jackal’s teleportation?”
“Hmm? Of course.”
Twinge of suspicion emerged at the awkward smile and the averted eyes of Cheon Ha-rang, but since his gut feeling hadn’t hinted anything wrong, he decided to set it aside.
‘That behavior is probably born out of shyness.’
Convinced of it, Lucius slightly nodded and stepped closer to her to hear more detailed information.
“Could you explain how you did it? I mean, why is this good news? Can you elaborate?”
“No problem at all.”
To Lucius’s question, Cheon Ha-rang eagerly nodded.
To summarize her following explanation:
Using her magic—what Cheon Ha-rang referred to as internal energy—she directly intervened in the teleportation technique Jackal had initiated, twisting the destination. And to further ease his concern, she added a bit of destruction as well.
“-And that’s how it happened!”
“Is that so…?”
Truthfully, he wondered why she was only telling him this now. What was the extent of the damage done? Still, could they feel somewhat at ease because of it?
Many questions sprang to mind, but…
Looking at her bright expression, he felt that even if the explanation was lacking, she didn’t give off a vibe of lying, so he decided not to overthink it.
I mean, look at her jumping around, bragging about what she did. Like, why would she lie?
No matter how sly, even they couldn’t go that far.
‘Well, unless a person that pure could unashamedly boast about such lies, but…’
There was no way Cheon Ha-rang was such a person, right? She was a being of that caliber!
Besides, from what Camilla had said, it sounded like she was older than she looked.
“Hah.”
That couldn’t be true.
He smirked at his absurd imagination. It was such a ridiculous thought even he couldn’t help but laugh.
…
-Cheon Ha-rang
Wiping the cold sweat trickling down his forehead discreetly, Lucius thought, …I hope I wasn’t caught?
Knowing he was hopeless at acting and lying, he had said it with some readiness to be discovered…
But when he glanced at Lucius again, there was no sign that he had caught on to his deception.
“Phew…”
A sigh of relief escaped him.
…It was truly fortunate things were going smoothly just as he and Lili had planned in their dreams.
For Lili, it was initially confusing me with half-lidded eyes, but once I convinced her that as long as I was aligned with the Hero and bringing information, she swiftly came around.
And convincing Elia was a bonus since it posed no issue.
…As for Nameless, well, he was always following me, so I didn’t even think about him from the start.
Anyway.
It seemed Nameless had been nervous as well; while I spoke with the others, he was silently packing the tent away.
Now, Nameless was surprisingly clapping.
When I glanced at Nameless’s lips moving quietly, he was saying,
“Indeed, she’s a Master.”
…Anyway, he was such a calm dude. The guy’s mentor was struggling this hard, and yet he was just focusing on packing the tent.
That thought really made me want to give him a playful slap.
“…”
But then I caught sight of that lump on his head, which was the size of his own head, and all those feelings faded away.
Instead, I felt a bit sorry for him…?
I subtly averted my gaze from him.
…
Lucius’s expression had notably brightened since he had unloaded the burden in his heart.
Thanks to that, Elia’s mood seemed to have improved as well, allowing us to travel without any particular incidents until we reached the ‘End of the World.’
…
Lucius’s eyes were filled with the utterly nonsensical, truly fantastic scenery unfolding before him.
The sky that seemed to engulf the entire world was untouched by light, as if it were madly refusing to embrace this space, and likewise, the ocean that should’ve endlessly stretched out in his understanding was sharply cut off, like the space itself had been severed.
And beyond that severed space laid only an abyss of darkness.
“We need to go there.”
“This place is….”
So this is ‘the End of the World.’
Strangely enough, the thought of exploring this unknown place ignited heat on his face and made his heart race.
Nameless, too, seemed to feel something from this sight, staring with wide-open eyes.
“Isn’t it a truly magnificent place?”
Feeling a spontaneous urge to share this excitement, Lucius nudged Nameless in the side and called out to him.
After a brief silence, Nameless eventually replied,
“…Yes, it truly is.”
He merely left those words behind and continued to stare blankly into the ‘End of the World.’
