Chapter 73

(3)

7.

Half a body split in two.

Duode collapsed without so much as a scream. Innards and chunks of flesh fell to the ground. Desem was aghast at this sudden attack.

But the shock was brief.

Instinctively sensing the danger, he hurriedly distanced himself from Ulan, then quickly shouted back to his colleague.

“Nonus! Twist the space!”

In an instant, Ulan closed the distance between them.

That guy is dangerous.

I absolutely must not get involved! From the moment I laid eyes on him, my instincts screamed warnings.

‘…I don’t see any chance of winning!’

So I chose to run away.

For that, Nonus’s help was indispensable.

I needed to twist the space and blow Ulan out of the woods, buying myself time to escape.

But no matter how long I waited,

Nonus’s magic didn’t activate.

“What are you doing?! Quick, cast the magic…!”

At that frustrating moment, a somewhat dull noise echoed.

Thud! Roll!

A round object rolled along the ground.

It was the face of an old man, eyes bulging wide. Nonus’s head, to be exact.

“…!?”

Seeing this, Desem was utterly shocked.

And rightly so.

Ulan hadn’t been out of his sight for a moment right after he split Duode in half.

‘W-When did he swing that axe?!’

I didn’t see a thing.

Plus, Ulan and Nonus were ten steps apart.

How could he behead someone from that distance in an instant? Especially at a speed so fast that even a high-ranking mage couldn’t perceive it.

‘Wait, I didn’t just miss it?’

At that moment, chills ran down my spine.

A sudden thought flashed through my mind.

A monster capable of exercising absolute influence within a certain range. A superhuman that moves far faster than the eye can perceive.

Desem opened his eyes wide.

“N-No way… Master?!

And then, in that instant, Ulan’s rough reply came back.

BAM!

He slapped Desem’s face with his palm and smashed his head straight into the ground.

“Cough!”

Desem felt his skull shatter from the impact.

He let out a brief scream.

At the same time, he gained clarity.

‘Just a moment ago…’

Before Ulan grabbed his face, he hadn’t been able to observe Ulan’s movements even once.

This could only mean one thing.

‘A master-level strongman!’

His face turned pale in an instant.

Soon, a silent scream escaped him.

Why is a creature, called the strategic weapon of a nation, here in such a forest? Wasn’t this place supposed to be filled only with academy students?

All sorts of questions bubbled up.

But the panic was short-lived.

‘…Stay calm, stay calm.’

Desem managed to regain his composure.

He realized he wouldn’t survive if he didn’t calm down. So he started to look for a way to get out of this crisis as calmly as possible.

‘He didn’t kill me outright.’

There could only be one reason for that.

He must have questions to ask.

And the question Ulan would likely throw at him was obvious. He’d probably want him to spill the locations of his other colleagues.

‘Then…’

The best strategy was to buy time.

Next, without Ulan noticing, gather the clones scattered throughout the forest.

If he could just get a chance to escape outside of the Master’s Domain, Desem would win.

‘Alright, let’s do that.’

Now he just had to execute his plan.

But Desem had no idea.

Ulan was so accustomed to battles against Abyss Worshippers that he’d swing his axe before even asking a question.

Whack! Crunch!

The sound of flesh being torn and bones breaking.

Desem’s ankle was cleanly severed.

“…! Aaaargh!”

It was an unexpected ambush.

Desem screamed in agony. A wave of white-hot pain washed over his mind, but Ulan didn’t stop.

Whack! Slash!

He sliced through Desem’s other ankle like butchering a beast. Only after erasing all options for escape did Ulan finally speak up.

“I’ll ask you one thing.”

“Guh! Ugh…”

Desem moaned in pain.

At a glance, it could seem quite pitiful, but Ulan didn’t blink. He merely inquired in his expressionless tone.

“How did you summon Candira?”

“…?!”

Desem was taken aback.

Candira, the bloodsucking plant from the Abyss.

Only a handful knew of this name and its existence at this point. So he responded with genuine curiosity on his face.

“H-How do you know about Candira…? Cough!”

But all that returned was a massive fist.

With excruciating pain, his skull rattled.

Before he could even scream, Ulan spoke again.

“Only answer the questions I ask.”

“I-I don’t know! I really don’t know!”

“…”

“I swear! I really don’t know!”

As Ulan raised his fist again, Desem wildly waved his hands in fear.

“The method to summon the Abyssal Monster is known only to Duode among us!”

“Who’s Duode?”

“The big guy you just took out…”

Just as he was about to say that much,

a fist imbued with spirit flew in.

SPLAT! CRUNCH!

The sound of his skull shattering echoed, and his head splattered. Like the other colleagues, he too died without so much as a scream.

“I picked the wrong guy to spare.”

Out of the three, he had looked the most competent, so Ulan had let him live but ended up with a dud. Furrowing his brow, Ulan kicked the headless body.

Just as he stood up,

a sudden change washed over the forest.

Whoosh!

The strange sensation that had pervaded the woods disappeared.

The forest returned to its original state.

The illusions that had intermittently surfaced around them evaporated like smoke. Likely because he had taken out the one who had conjured them.

“Now then, what remains is…”

Rejoining Delia.

Finishing off the remaining Abyss Worshippers is the last thing. Noah mentioned there were six of them in total.

Setting a new goal,

Ulan wiped the flesh off his axe.

Just as he was about to turn to the west,

he suddenly sensed a new presence.

Rustle! Flutter!

A familiar presence felt behind him.

Ulan immediately turned around.

To find an unexpected figure staring back at him.

[Grrrowl!]

A massive wolf emerged from the shadows.

It was the White Wolf.

Suddenly appearing and stretching, Ulan’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Were you in my shadow all this time?”

No response came back.

Only the White Wolf nodded its head.

A positive answer.

Upon this, Ulan tilted his head again.

“But why didn’t you come out until now…?”

Just as he was about to question this idea,

the White Wolf suddenly moved. It headed towards the corpses of the Abyss Worshippers.

It mercilessly tore at Nonus’s body, as if to vent its frustration. This scene sparked a sudden realization.

“Could it be you were unable to come out because of him?”

[Grrr! Grrrr!]

The White Wolf vigorously nodded.

Ulan’s guess was spot on.

Due to the warped space throughout the forest, the White Wolf had been trapped in the shadows until now. Thus, it was tearing apart the culprit’s body as a form of release.

CRUNCH! SMASH! SNAP!

With a bone-chilling sound of flesh being torn and bones cracking, its body was shredded into hundreds of pieces.

[Gurrr!]

Only then did the White Wolf seem satisfied, and just as it was about to turn back to Ulan, it suddenly buried its nose to the ground.

As if searching for something, it sniffed around.

Suddenly, its body grew to more than twice its current size. It was now larger than any wild horse.

Then it presented its back to Ulan.

Its swaying tail was a bonus. It was an action that signified its intention clearly.

Ulan promptly asked.

“Are you telling me to ride you?”

[Grrr!]

The White Wolf grinned, revealing its teeth.

It was an affirmative answer.

With no particular reason to refuse, Ulan hopped onto the White Wolf’s back. In an instant, they took off at breakneck speed.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

It was a wildly reckless charge.

The White Wolf smashed through everything in its path as it raced towards the west. Not long after, something caught Ulan’s eye.

“That’s…”

A shooting star breaking through the black clouds.

It was a familiar sight for Ulan.

That was the magic Delia often used in their past life. In that moment, the talisman he’d received from Noah began to tremble lightly.

Flash!

The talisman glowed with a vibration.

The blue light soon pointed straight ahead.

Meaning, Delia is three kilometers ahead.

Moreover, there must be a reason why she had no choice but to use such powerful magic there.

And what that was—

There was no need to find out.

“Abyss Worshippers!”

Three remaining prey.

Grinning, Ulan gripped his axe.

The time for the hunt had arrived.

8.

While Ulan was busy chopping down trees,

Delia gazed intently at the man before her, her face still marked by fear.

A magician with no eyes.

His grotesque appearance caught her attention, but more so, her focus drifted to another aspect.

‘The surrounding magic…’

It swayed unstably.

On the verge of exploding at any moment. And she sensed a powerful curse emanating from the magic itself. The type of person with such magic can only be one.

A mad magician who has given up being human.

Abyss Worshippers only.

‘…I’m scared.’

Realizing this,

Delia clenched her fists tightly.

The trembling that hadn’t subsided since earlier intensified. Her golden eyes fluttered slightly as well.

At that moment,

the man suddenly spoke to her.

“Then let me introduce myself first.”

With a strangely twisted smile,

he bowed politely.

“I am Quint Vinitas. As you just mentioned, I am one who worships the Abyss and a mage who has reached the level of a high mage.”

Boasting about being a high mage, Quint unveiled his full magic power.

It was so massive it could swallow everything, yet Delia’s expression remained nonchalant.

Moments later, she shook her head.

“…That’s a lie.”

“What?”

“A real high mage has a different… essence.”

The essence referred to the properties of magic.

High mages transcended ordinary mages, and thus they possessed a unique ‘essence’ entirely different from regular magic.

Delia could see this.

‘On the other hand, that man lacks…’

Any sign of a high mage’s essence.

So just based on the essence of magic, he could at best be considered a ‘mage’ at the pre-high mage stage.

As she gauged her opponent’s level, suddenly Quint grinned.

“So you can see the flow of magic.”

That wasn’t a reaction of having his lie exposed.

It felt more like he had deliberately told a lie for some sort of verification. Just as Delia’s brow twitched in anxiety.

Rustle!

The underbrush around them shook.

Shortly after, two men emerged.

They too donned ash-gray robes like Quint.

“Then there’s no need for further verification.”

“If the verification is completed, let’s hurry up and leave. Before we get caught up in annoying business.”

One had no nose while the other had roots sprouting where his arm should be.

The unstable magic radiating from them alike.

In other words, both were Abyss Worshippers.

‘If we look at the essence of magic…’

They were definitely weaker than Quint.

But still reached the level of high-ranking mages.

Just like Delia. After observing the situation up to this point, she bit her lip.

‘…It’ll be tough to escape.’

There were three mages of similar caliber around her. There was no way she could run away. Furthermore, the space in the forest was warped at the moment.

Thus, she had to make a different choice.

Delia quickly made up her mind.

‘For now, I need to buy time.’

Until ally reinforcements showed up.

If only Professor Stella were here, she might be able to handle them somewhat. Though, the reinforcement she truly wanted was someone else.

‘Ulan.’

If he were around, just having him by her side would give her a solid feeling.

But the likelihood of Ulan showing up was low.

And there was no way of knowing when he would come.

So instead of harboring futile hopes, Delia decided to navigate the challenges using her own strength somehow.

‘Honestly, I’m scared, but…’

The enemy before her was a mad magician.

They wielded forbidden magic and called forth unknown monsters.

Still, she couldn’t give up.

Delia had things she wanted to do.

‘I want to meet Ulan again.’

She had a reason to survive.

With that etched into her heart,

Delia finally resolved herself.

To fight against the Abyss Worshippers.

Moments later, her golden eyes sparkled like stars. It was the gaze of someone ready to battle.

Chapter 20. So you are indeed a prophet.