Chapter 113

“It should be fine to meet again here.”

The memories of the 16th cycle surfaced.

“I’m sorry for leaving you alone every time.”

“That was definitely something NoName said right before the last cycle… But now!”

As he reflected on all the forgotten memories up to the final 17th cycle, tears welled up in his eyes.

“This time, I will definitely come back alive.”

“Ugh, it succeeded… I don’t know what, but it has succeeded…! I remember everything! So, please, Lord!”

As soon as Adella saw the message to go back, she couldn’t shake off the thought that she had to go see NoName.

Suddenly, sparks flew as she absentmindedly touched the stone wall, and the beeping that had been unsettling her mind became distinctly audible.

“Recall, remember, don’t forget.”

At the words of recalling, she was able to remember.

NoName gently stroked her head, day after day, in every “today.”

And upon the urging to remember, she finally recalled.

In a mission where success was utterly impossible, NoName willingly sacrificed himself to protect her, and the world was reset.

Adella, having kept all the promises not to forget, hurried to where her benefactor should be.

“This memory…! I will not let anyone take it away. I will definitely save NoName!”

But it was too early to feel reassured.

Adella’s memory only returned when NoName died and the world collapsed.

However, Adella was certain that this cycle felt different.

The scene changed in the blink of an eye, and the Academy Training Hall came into view.

Adella, who had already lost a close friend twice in the same place, felt unbearable pain in her chest.

Could she have come too late? Would another strange text appear, indicating her death?

Clutching her anxious chest, she leaped nimbly from rooftop to rooftop, evading people’s eyes.

And there he was.

His striking golden hair, commonly unseen in this region, his pointed ears jutting out, and even the bashful expression became clearly visible as mana was focused on her eyes.

He’s alive.

“NOOOOOOAMEEEEEEE!”

May this voice reach him. Even if my voice breaks as a result, or even if I become unable to speak forever, I don’t care.

“Adella…?”

Without a second thought, Adella ran towards Name.

Though they had just been together a moment ago, she felt overwhelmed as if they hadn’t seen each other in ten years.

“Why are you here? Sisiella?”

“Emergency treatment! You taught me that, right? Regenerative magic.”

“No, you…”

With an expression of disbelief, Name froze mid-action, and Adella calmly assessed the situation.

The standoff still persisted, but the battle hadn’t started yet.

There was hope.

“Forest Guardian, let’s run away…”

“What are you talking about? We’re in the middle of a mission…”

“What’s the point of that mission if we die!”

She couldn’t help but detest the overly righteous eyes of the elf.

How could he so effortlessly throw her away without a shred of hesitation?

“Adella, calm down. They have no intention of letting us go anyway. And Alphalion… ”

Name pointed to the knight lying on the opposite camp.

He looked critically ill, about to die any moment.

Adella tightly shut her eyes.

It was a desperate situation. They should never have accepted this mission.

However, they couldn’t leave the demonic cornerstone in the Tree of Life either.

If the Tree were to fall into the hands of demon worshippers, the world’s destruction would be an obvious consequence.

“Of all places, I didn’t expect you to be in the Academy still. This is truly surprising.”

-????????

-What even is this story?

-Professor Cronicle personally?

-Is this a bug?

An unpleasant coughing voice resonated with the clicking of a pocket watch, an extra addition.

Professor Cronicle, the Vice Dean of the Academy, and also a demon worshipper, had descended.

The story had become terribly tangled.

Ordinarily, within the Academy’s confines, players could never encounter Professor Cronicle.

It didn’t matter how much time they spent dealing with students and the guard knight squad.

Rationally, this made no sense, but it was a constraint imposed by the game developers on the boss — Professor Cronicle, who would endlessly wait and hope for the protagonists to leave the Academy.

The man who descended from the void walked straight through the crowd.

He truly passed through people as if they didn’t exist at all.

-AAAAAHHHHH!!!

-It’s a ghost!

-This really was a bug lol

-I almost shit myself

-What is this?!

“What is this… how did you pass through people…?”

Adella’s instincts kicked into high alert.

This was impossible. Did he really come back as a ghost?

“There aren’t any people here to begin with. It’s just you and me, and that imposter Forest Guardian.”

As far as Professor Cronicle could see, Name and Adella were all there was.

Two worlds had overlapped.

Each world alone was already overwhelming, yet she somehow found herself caught in the position of having to deal with both sides.

“Forest Guardian… how come…”

“Adella, didn’t you say all your memories returned?”

“Ah, yes! That guy… he’s a demon worshipper! He’s not even from the Empire!”

“Then you deal with Professor Cronicle. I’ll handle the rest.”

A method to escape the tedious Act 1 quickly crossed Name’s mind.

* * *

The sudden commencement of the boss battle with Professor Cronicle. Yet, Name couldn’t participate in it.

She ran ahead carrying all the aggro from the troops toward the academy’s main building. She briefly announced it as to retrieve the child Giselle Phoenix and disappeared.

“Exactly two years, huh?”

At the indifferent question from the man, Adella’s fists uncontrollably trembled.

“We haven’t even been acquainted for a day, you son of a bitch…!”

“Regrettable. I feel like I’m meeting you for the first time. Did you perhaps spy on me from afar?”

Having accumulated all the experiences up to the 18th cycle, Professor Cronicle remained an overwhelmingly powerful existence.

This only made it clearer how strong he really was.

The title of Vice Dean wasn’t something he had obtained as a favor; rather, it emphasized just how remarkable the Forest Guardian was to have overcome this head-on.

As Adella thought this, she sharpened her nails and prepared herself.

For now, the only thing she could do was buy time until Name’s plan succeeded.

A heavier fear weighed on her more strongly – that she might lose her companion forever like this.

“I’m not as strong as NoName… But!”

Adella crossed her arms. Beyond the menacing blades, her eyes gleamed blue even in the dark.

“If you had the memories from the previous cycle, dealing with me now must feel like dealing with NoName.”

Now there’s no more carrots or churros.

She had to make her own judgments.

Even so, Adella was confident she could make the same judgments as NoName in any situation.

Feeling an adrenaline rush as if she were born for this moment, Adella signaled the start of the duel by throwing all her daggers.

Two daggers shot towards the man like throwing knives: one straight-on and the other in a large arc.

KANG-!

Dodging the blade of light that Professor Cronicle wove, the daggers were deflected. Adella, who had already arrived close by, recovered them and aimed for his neck again.

An expression of astonishment flitted across the man’s eyes. She was undoubtedly the girl with no potential for growth.

But compared to two years ago, her movement had changed drastically.

There was no time to delve deeper into that.

The sneak attack aimed at his vital points was blocked by the pocket watch that interjected.

Moreover, he hadn’t forgotten about the dagger flying from the side. Even though it wasn’t terribly powerful, it could have been tampered with in some way.

Since he wasn’t primarily a sword user, he opted for evasion over defense.

In the fleeting moment, his gaze fixated on Adella’s head.

Her hair seemed a bit pressed down.

“The sudden improvement in skill suggests you have the Tree of Life, doesn’t it?”

“Hmph, stealing it from me will be useless! This isn’t the Tree of Life you’ve made contracts with!”

“Even if you cannot use magic, it should not be much of an issue in the end. I shall kill you here and take both.”

* * *

– Are you watching Adella’s perspective right now?

-????

-????

-Will Adella face off one-on-one?

-The leader probably has something planned; just need to buy time

-Trust our Adella!

The perspective of living NPCs could be seen on camera 9.

And a few viewers watching camera 9 on Name’s broadcast were enthusiastically cheering for Adella, despite their vocal encouragement not reaching her.

Show them that NoName’s trust in you wasn’t misplaced.

And at that moment, as if responding to that expectation, Adella landed her first strike on the boss.

-Wow, critical hit from the start? You’re lucky!

-What kind of movement is that?!

-This isn’t over until it’s over.

After dodging both throwing knives sent in different directions, Professor Cronicle was met with Adella’s slash, leaving a wound on his thigh.

Infuriated, the man unleashed his trademark water laser, but Adella’s agile body avoided every single shot.

– Adella’s insanely fast, lol

-Not a single hit landed?

-It’s really going to work, guys!

-Let’s wait and see.

To the viewers, it seemed as if she was dodging effortlessly, but Adella was running at full power, with her molars gritted to the point of breaking.

It was true that even a single hit from the pocket watch could be dangerous.

Adella was well aware of this fact.

But she no longer feared death.

Because she had realized something more terrifying than death, she threw herself through the barrage of lasers.

After exchanging several dozen intense attacks, it was clear that to gain the upper hand, she needed to destroy the pocket watch, which was restricting her movement.

“Damn this annoying watch!”

Draining all the mana from the Tree of Life, Adella infused it into her legs and sword.

Her sword felt so heavy that a slight misstep might cause her to drop it.

Adella’s eyes were locked solely on the pocket watch, like a predator eyeing its prey.

– Go for it!!!

-Please…

-Another breath coming!!! Dodge!!! No, break it!!!

-Aaahh!!!

-Damn, too late!

“Goodbye.”

“!”

Before Adella’s sword could reach the pocket watch, the light beam initiated by Professor Cronicle struck first.

Engulfed in the radiant beam of light stretching in a straight line, any observer would have found it hard to expect her survival.

“No…!”

[Cyclical Laurels Lv.1: Delayed Death]

[When damage sustained would be lethal, 50% of that damage is dealt over 3 seconds. The effect is canceled if the target dies.]

[3… 2…]

Adella swung her sinister dagger after directly receiving the beam on her face.

“It’s you who will die! Because that’s what I’ve decided! Because I promised NoName!”

The tip of her sword chopped down on Cronicle’s neck.

The delayed feeling of her brain overheating washed over Adella’s face later.

It was an extremely dangerous gamble staking her life.

The corpse of an almost completely destroyed Cronicle and Adella’s bloodied body collapsed on top of him.

[Delayed Death effect has ended.]

[Cyclical Laurels: (0/30 min.)]

“Haa… would be nice to come back quickly with some carrots…”

While this was an utterly reckless attack that even NoName would never attempt, she found herself feeling rather proud of pulling it off.

* * *

Adella had defeated the boss. However, it was merely Professor Cronicle without possession of the Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life in Name’s possession floated gently and was absorbed by the male corpse.

“You took him out at a perfect time.”

The Name who returned from the Academy ran to rejuvenate Adella’s health using a healing skill.

But at the same moment, the man, who had abruptly stood up, frowned once and instantly cast a spell without any prelude, separating the two.

[Ice Prison]

The 108 pillars emerged again, attempting to bind Name’s body.

No matter how hard she tried to resist, it was impossible to evade being bound by the law of physics.

“Still too dangerous, even after a bit of time. If it had taken any longer, the strength of this person might haven’t been enough to handle it.”

“No… NoName…”

The pitiful sight of lying on the ground, trembling hands reached out.

“Your talent is truly remarkable. You’ve even overcome the curse placed upon your body, foolish creature.”

Just like in the first and second cycles, the demon within the Tree of Life attempted to make Adella its host.

Of course, she was also aware that when he was defeated, the demon would descend.

However, with no strength left in reserve, she could only be dragged along helplessly.

“My body… if you dare touch…”

“It’s not about killing. It’s about offering you a new life. Don’t you want the superior physique blessed by Wigrasil?”

“Get lost… I don’t need breasts that big!”

“It’s futile to resist. No one understands your true nature better than we do. We’re merely providing a stepping stone to make your dream come true easily.”

“Get away! All of you, get lost!”

“What? Something about breasts?”

[Advanced Casting: Turbulence]

Suddenly, a powerful gale blew, sending the bloodied man flying far and crashing against a building near Adella.

NoName, who had somehow freed both hands and feet, approached Adella while audibly cracking her neck.

Seeing the murderous eyes glaring at her, Adella whispered in a stunned voice.

“How…?”

“Looks like it was relatively easy, huh? You’re still spouting nonsense despite everything.”

The ‘Ice Prison’ was melting away, thawed by Giselle Phoenix’s ‘Divine Descent’.