Chapter 206

(5)

10.

The Spirit of the Abyss sat quietly.

Ulan had a puzzled look on his face due to the sudden appearance of this creature. A brief silence hung around them.

Just as the standoff continued, the spirit spoke first.

“I just woke up from my nap.”

“You were sleeping?”

“Yup, I was feeling kinda tired.”

This was the moment it was revealed why the spirit had been MIA since Fertisha passed the Trial of the Hero.

“But now I’m all good!”

The Spirit of the Abyss laughed cheerfully.

Faced with that innocent smile, Ulan threw in another question that lingered without resolution.

“But why are you here?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You should be by Fertisha’s side.”

The fact that Fertisha had passed the trial meant she’d automatically made a contract with the spirit.

So just like the other spirits, it should normally be chilling with Fertisha. At this question, it awkwardly chuckled.

“It was a bit uncomfortable over there.”

“Uncomfortable?”

“Yeah, it was too noisy.”

Ulan instantly understood what that meant.

He had experienced firsthand how chatty spirits could get.

‘And……’

Looking at the spirit’s expression, it seemed like it had gotten a good earful from the other spirits.

Makes sense.

The Spirit of the Abyss had tried to plunge Fertisha into the abyss and pass itself off as her.

‘Fertisha might’ve forgiven it, but the other spirits probably didn’t.’

Thinking back, it had been the same in his previous life.

The Spirit of the Abyss had struggled to cooperate with the other spirits, and it took quite some time to finally resolve that.

“By the way, where is this place?”

While they were at it, the Spirit of the Abyss jumped off the bed and started looking around curiously.

“This looks pretty far from where we first met…”

“That’s right. We’re in a different place.”

Ulan promptly explained.

The more he talked, the brighter the spirit’s eyes sparkled with excitement. It especially showed strong curiosity about the Magic-Powered Train.

“Wow, I want to ride it too!”

“You’ve already ridden it, haven’t you?”

“Huh? When?”

“You must have with Fertisha.”

“That doesn’t count! When I’m asleep, I don’t share senses!”

The spirit sulked with a pout.

As it just said, it usually shared all senses with Fertisha, but when asleep, all abilities were sealed.

Recalling memories from his past life, Ulan nodded silently and replied.

“Then wait for the last day. I heard we’ll ride the train again on our way back.”

“Really? Great! I won’t sleep at all!”

Just as the spirit was making that firm promise, suddenly there were footsteps from beyond the door.

Knock! Knock!

Followed by a familiar voice ringing in his ears.

“Ulan, are you in there?”

It was Noa’s voice.

She spoke softly.

“I have something I want to discuss, is it okay if I come in?”

“Sure. Come in.”

“Alright, then I’ll be coming in.”

The door opened cautiously.

Soon, Noa appeared dressed casually. Wearing a white shirt and blue shorts, her eyes suddenly widened.

As if she had found something familiar.

“Oh? It’s the Spirit of the Abyss.”

Noa instantly recognized the spirit, which looked like a young Fertisha.

Meanwhile, the spirit seemed startled by Noa’s sudden appearance and hid behind Ulan.

At this reaction, Ulan shook his head and said,

“It’s okay. Noa is my colleague.”

“…Colleague?”

“It means someone I can trust.”

Maybe feeling braver from Ulan’s words?

The spirit cautiously stepped out. As it looked at Noa with a slightly relaxed expression, she suddenly pulled something out.

“Hi there, do you want to eat this?”

“…What is it?”

“It’s candy made from hardened brown sugar.”

It was candy that Noa had made herself.

Ulan had tried it a few times.

Sweet yet oddly savory, he remembered it as something you couldn’t stop reaching for.

“Candy?”

“Yeah, it’s a very sweet treat that you can’t taste in the Abyss at all.”

Hearing that it was something you couldn’t get in the Abyss, the spirit showed its curiosity by rushing right over to Noa.

After sniffing around, it eventually stuck its tongue out to lick the candy. Then, its eyes widened in surprise.

“It’s delicious!”

An honest and straightforward reaction.

The spirit devoured the piece of candy Noa had offered in a flash.

Looking at her with eyes that asked for another one.

“I’ll give you one each time we talk.”

“Talking…?”

“Let’s start with introductions.”

Noa naturally continued chatting with the spirit. Of course, it was thanks to the candy incentive, but still, sharing information between them was smooth.

It looked as natural as training a dog.

Ulan honestly admired it.

“Surprisingly good at this.”

“Well, I’m used to it.”

He understood what she meant.

Noa had lived as Fertisha among the Seven Heroes for the longest time. It made sense she would be familiar with the Spirit of the Abyss.

A little while later.

After munching on a bunch of candies, the spirit completely dropped its guard towards Noa. Once things settled down, Ulan finally got to the main point.

“So, what did you want to discuss?”

“Ah, well…”

Noa’s expression turned serious too.

After taking a couple of deep breaths, she finally spoke.

“Before we received our accommodation assignments, did you feel something strange from Delia’s question?”

“Is it about the demon beasts’ attacks?”

“…So you were suspecting it too.”

There had been talks of increased attacks from demon beasts near cities bordering the Eastern Jungle lately.

Noa felt something was off.

Because, in the original story, such an event had never occurred even once.

“Sure, the areas around the Eastern Jungle are famous for their Battle Lines, but even so, it was never chaotic enough to be called a battlefield.”

Ulan nodded as if he agreed.

He remembered that such things never happened in his previous life, either.

“I thought it over, but couldn’t come up with any reasons.”

“I have a rough guess.”

“Really? What is it?”

“I mentioned it before, remember? The speculation that one of the Lords of the Abyss might have come out.”

He certainly remembered.

Back when Delia was taking on the Trial of the Hero, the Abyss Worshippers had attacked her to thwart her trial.

“In the original story, Abyss Worshippers shouldn’t even be aware of the trials, let alone the Hero’s existence. But at that time, they seemed to act as if they knew everything.”

Based on this change.

At that time, Noa had relayed the speculation to Ulan that one of the Lords of the Abyss might have emerged.

“So, it seems like we’re dealing with a similar situation now. As you know, currently, in the cities adjacent to the Eastern Jungle…”

“There’s Shulfern.”

The border city of the Cerun Kingdom, Shulfern.

The place where Sven Isaac made his base and where he would later take on the Trial of the Hero.

In other words, just like how the Worshippers interfered with Delia’s trial last time, it seemed their objective this time was to obstruct Sven’s trial.

“But there’s a strange part.”

“Huh? What part?”

“Those Worshippers don’t control demon beasts.”

More accurately, they couldn’t control them.

Across the entire continent, the only ones who could tame demon beasts were the Desert Order.

The Abyss Worshippers could only handle Abyssal Monsters. So, a large emergence of Worshippers and demon beasts had no correlation at all.

But Noa had a different thought.

“There’s no need for them to control demon beasts.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It means exactly what it says. They can achieve their goals just by driving them out of the forest without needing to tame them.”

“…!”

Ulan’s eyes widened.

It seemed he finally understood Noa’s point.

Just then.

“Hey, you know.”

The Spirit of the Abyss, who had finished all the candy, spoke up. It pointed outside towards the forest.

“There’s a smell coming from over there.”

“A smell?”

“Yeah, a familiar scent of magic power.”

“…!?”

Ulan and Noa’s faces turned serious.

That was a natural reaction.

Because for the Spirit of the Abyss, a familiar magic power could only mean the ‘Power of the Abyss.’

“That means…”

It implied that an Abyss Worshipper, or something related to the Abyss, was present in the Eastern Jungle.

As the scattered puzzle pieces fit together, Ulan spoke in a low voice.

“I think your guess is right.”

“It seems that way.”

With that serious note from Noa, Ulan confirmed their goal for this school trip.

The extermination of everything related to the Abyss.

Soon, his crimson eyes, gazing towards the Eastern Jungle, burned like wildfire.

11.

Meanwhile, at that moment.

The battlefield in Shulfern had just pulled away from a fierce skirmish. The sounds of soldiers filled the air amidst the corpses scattered all around.

“Phew, that’s done.”

“How about over there?”

“Just wrapping things up here too.”

Tired faces were everywhere.

The surviving soldiers were now becoming accustomed to collecting their fallen comrades’ remains.

“But you know.”

“I don’t know if it’s just me, but it feels like the attacks have been getting more frequent lately.”

“It’s not just your imagination; they definitely have increased.”

“Hah, what on earth is going on…?”

Voices echoed throughout the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the ears of a young boy from the Catfolk, who was nearby the castle wall, perked up at those voices. Sven Isaac, a demon beast hunter from Shulfern.

‘Definitely, that’s the case.’

He nodded in agreement with the soldiers’ words, but he had a unique habit of counting the number of demon beasts appearing in battle.

A habit he’d picked up as a hunter, gauging the overall numbers of his prey. Soon, Sven’s eyes gleamed sharply.

‘At least double the number.’

The number of demon beasts had vastly increased compared to last week.

The fatigue of the soldiers was understandable.

Sven, for one, felt a stiffness in his shoulders like stone.

‘But more than that, what’s troubling me is…’

The fact that the demon beasts weren’t attacking the city for food as they used to but appeared to be fleeing from something.

This was his instinct as a hunter.

So Sven reported this to Milena Armadin, the captain of the defense force guarding the city. But the response was rather indifferent.

“Regardless of the reasons for the attacks, our goal remains to fend off the demon beasts.”

In other words, it meant not to overthink it and focus on the extermination of the demon beasts.

It was true advice.

But even so, it still felt wrong to ignore it. Thus Sven made a firm decision.

‘I’ll need to bring it up again today.’

Even if it meant dispatching an investigation team to the Eastern Jungle, he needed to uncover the cause behind the sudden appearance of demon beasts.

And one more thing.

There was someone bothering Sven’s mind. It was about a monster he had encountered when he chased the remnants of the demon beasts into the jungle.

‘There was a monster I had never seen before.’

It looked like a gigantic eyeball.

An oddly shaped monster he had never seen before, but he didn’t dwell on being flustered. After all, it was a target to be eliminated.

‘But…’

Sven had failed to hunt it down.

He had attacked every suspected weak point, but the creature remained unscathed.

Afterward, the monster had slipped away, and Sven didn’t pursue it any further. His instincts as a hunter had sent him a warning.

‘What in the world is it doing?’

Just when he let out a sigh of frustration.

Suddenly, his eyes sharpened.

Following that, Sven swiftly grabbed his bow and shot an arrow toward the jungle.

Shwoosh!

The arrow sliced through the air.

Soon, his keen ears picked up the sound of the arrow piercing the ground.

“What was that? Is it just my imagination?”

He could have sworn he felt a presence.

Sven narrowed his eyes.

After a moment of deliberation, he turned his body. Just as he was about to head into the forest for investigation.

“Urgent report! Urgent report!”

“New group of demon beasts spotted at the south gate!”

“All soldiers not engaged in battle, gather at the south gate with minimal defense!”

The frantic voices caught his attention.

The south gate was where Milena Armadin was stationed.

Realizing this, Sven wasted no time and turned towards the south gate.

Shortly after.

Not far from where Sven’s arrow had landed, the bushes rustled, and four figures appeared.

“The target that the Abyss has indicated for elimination…”

“Is this demi-human over here.”

Wizards cloaked in gray robes.

They were the Abyss Worshippers.

“They seem to have keen senses, that much is certain.”

“Are they really this concerned?”

“Can’t we just take care of it ourselves?”

“That won’t do.”

At that moment, the girl with dark blue hair held back the Worshippers’ actions, sternly warning them.

With a frown, she urged them.

“We received a message from the Apostle, right? The Abyss says we can only act after we join up with the Undying Minions.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

“But I’m so bored waiting.”

The two relatively younger Worshippers grumbled. Meanwhile, the older Worshipper asked with a serious look.

“When will the Undying Minions arrive?”

“They said they’d arrive in two days.”

“Then we must prepare ahead of time.”

Soon they would be able to trample over Shulfern the moment the Undying Minions arrived. As the Worshippers mumbled, their eyes gleamed eagerly.

A moment later, the Worshippers, who had been watching Shulfern for some time, disappeared deep into the jungle, eagerly waiting for their moment to come.