49. Witch (14)
The night sky dyed with dawn was not nearly as dark or frightening as one might think; if anything, it was closer to violet than pitch black.
Beneath that violet sky, while looking at the giant shards of glass rising from the center of Arcanium and floating in the air, Kaen said quietly,
“It worked.”
Immediately after, spiderweb-like cracks began spreading through the illusion world, and little by little it started to splinter and scatter away.
—Wow, that really is incredible. Don’t you think, Hyeijin? As an illusion mage, you know just how insane an idea that was.
“…Don’t talk to me. I’m dying here.”
Hyeijin lay sprawled out on the rooftop of a building, gasping for breath.
Beside her, Eizel had likewise collapsed in total exhaustion, practically unconscious. Judging by the mana depletion, she did not even seem capable of properly opening her eyes.
“But still… yeah, it really was impressive. Those little brats.”
Eizel was too exhausted to hear her, and Flame had jumped directly into the illusion world, so she could not hear either, but Hyeijin let out her sincere admiration anyway.
—You need to overlay your illusion on top of that barrier.
The girl named Flame had proposed a truly unusual idea.
It was something Hyeijin had never thought of—something that, even if she had, was so close to impossible that she probably would never have even attempted it.
Normally, one could not cast illusion magic on an object.
Most people would think that and give up.
But that girl had chosen a way to go around the impossible.
—Use the Atrax Core.
—What? How do you even know about that item…?
The Crescent Moon Tower possessed all sorts of artifacts, and secretly kept many legendary objects that were said to have been completely lost and erased from history.
The Atrax Core was one of them.
By the modern era, there was no mage left who could even use it, and its very existence had been hidden so thoroughly that it would be difficult to find even one mage who had ever heard of it.
So to hear the name spoken so naturally from the mouth of a mere seventeen-year-old girl was quite a shock.
—There’s no time to explain. We’re going to use the Atrax Core and overlay mana onto reality.
—But if you do that…
—All the mana in the air will become contaminated, yes. But we’re not worried about that. The space we’re overlaying mana onto won’t be Arcanium itself… it’ll be the illusion barrier.
At that moment, Hyeijin instantly understood Flame’s intention.
Her illusion magic could not be cast on objects.
But the Atrax Core was a peculiar artifact that could breathe life into reality itself, granting objects a kind of will.
Normally, it had no practical use whatsoever.
But for Hyeijin, it functioned a little differently.
“You’re planning to cast an illusion on the illusion barrier itself… and drag it into reality?”
—Exactly.
Cold sweat ran down her as she hesitated.
If she tried to cast an illusion onto a barrier that enormous, she might not merely faint—
she could die on the spot.
But that was not something she needed to worry about.
—I’ll help you.
This time Eizel stepped forward and abruptly began drawing a magic circle on the floor.
There was no need to ask what she was doing.
The moment Hyeijin saw it, she understood.
A reconstruction of illusion magic—for Hyeijin’s sake.
When a mage draws a magic circle, the entire burden normally falls upon the mage alone.
Every line and dot, every symbol and rune that enters the circle.
But Eizel had chosen a highly unusual method—
she intended to use mana stones as the medium.
Of course, anyone could use mana stones as a medium.
That was the most basic foundation of installation-type magic circles.
Every device used in daily life—
fluorescent lights, fans, air conditioners, and all kinds of convenience facilities—could practically be said to contain mana stones.
But that was only in the sense of a battery that steadily supplied mana at low output.
It was utterly unsuited for practical combat magic that required real power generation.
Not only would such assistance fail to help in the slightest, but the mana stones would shatter the instant the spell activated, potentially placing even greater danger upon the caster.
It was an extremely dangerous idea.
At least, that would be true—
if one thought of it in ordinary terms.
—All of Arcanium’s buildings are required to be designed according to a plan.
That was before hearing Eizel speak those calm words.
‘No way.’
Hyeijin instantly lifted her head and looked up over Arcanium.
Buildings rising at identical heights every certain distance.
Some were fifty stories. Some were seventy. Some were seventy-nine.
All different heights…
and yet if one extended the pattern over the whole of Arcanium, they strictly followed the rules of height in the exact shape of a circle.
—We’re going to use Arcanium’s buildings to create an enormous three-dimensional magic circle.
And now, back to the present.
Crash—!!!
The illusion barrier came crashing down in a roar, proving beyond doubt that the girls’ joint effort had succeeded.
—Amazing… seriously.
Even Metler, who rarely praised anyone, sounded impressed.
Kaen, too, could not hide his astonished eyes.
“Ugh…”
Hyeijin forced herself upright and leaned against the building’s railing.
“The witch… the witch…”
The reason she had suffered through all this trouble in the first place was to find the witch.
Even with her face pale, she tried to force herself to look down at the ground below, but Kaen shook his head.
“Too late.”
And then, reflected in her eyes—
Puhk!!
Baek Yuseol’s sword was piercing straight through the witch’s heart.
“…Ah.”
Watching the witch collapse powerlessly, Hyeijin let out a hollow sigh.
“Aaaah〜 my miserable life… after all that, this is how it ends…”
After all the hell she had gone through, the witch had died without her even getting to meet her.
“It can’t be helped.”
—Yeah. Kaen’s right. If he went so far as to kill the witch… then he must have had his reasons.
A little later, Baek Yuseol himself collapsed as well, face pale with exhaustion, and Flame rushed forward to catch him.
Then, at last, Arcanium’s guardian mage-warriors broke through the barrier and entered.
Watching that, Metler let out a whistle.
—Whew〜 this turned into something pretty huge again. That… is that a witch hunter’s corpse?
“A witch hunter?”
—Ah, Kaen can’t see it, right. When witch hunters die, they leave traces in mana instead of a corpse.
Another witch hunter’s corpse, then.
“Was that one also killed by the witch?”
—Who knows. In any case, witch hunters are harmful to the world, so it’s better if they don’t exist. Whether Baek Yuseol killed it or the witch did, does it really matter?
He was not wrong.
Witches were harmful to the world.
But witch hunters, who killed witches, were even worse than harmful—they were outright dangerous.
One famous story still told to this day was of a witch hunter who destroyed an entire kingdom’s capital just to capture a single witch.
The hatred and fury directed toward them was no less than the resentment people held against witches.
—It’s a shame Hyeijin didn’t get to meet the witch, but still, it’s enough that we confirmed both the witch and the witch hunter are dead. Whew, the world’s going to be noisy again for a while. A witch everyone thought had disappeared suddenly showed up and attacked Arcanium, after all.
Ignoring whatever Metler was rambling about, Kaen, who had been quietly watching the collapsed Baek Yuseol, turned his head and looked at the unconscious Eizel.
Those two girls knew too much.
They were dangerous.
If this had been Kaen’s usual self, and if those girls had been ordinary people…
he might have chosen to kill them without hesitation.
But they were special.
Setting aside the fact that both the Tower Master and Metler had directly ordered that they were not to be touched…
they had been born with fate.
“We’re leaving.”
“Uh, wha? Already? I’m exhausted…”
Hyeijin grumbled, but Kaen paid her no mind whatsoever. With a light step, he pierced through the air and disappeared.
“Ugh, my miserable life. I picked the wrong partner and suffered like crazy…”
After glancing once, regretfully, toward where Baek Yuseol had fallen, she shook her head and cast off the stray thoughts.
It was a shame she had not been able to meet the witch and speak with her directly…
but even so, simply learning that witches truly existed in this world was an enormous gain.
‘Well, good is good.’
Hyeijin smiled brightly and followed after Kaen, passing through the air and vanishing.
“Ughhh…”
In the end, only Eizel remained there alone, utterly exhausted and drained.
It was a dark, damp, but cozy space.
Green fireflies filled the place, and through the wide-open sky above, a full moon even larger than Earth’s moon welcomed me.
A brilliant road of the Milky Way stretched all the way to the edge of the world, as if it might continue into another one, bathing the flower field in beautiful light.
The space, swollen with radiance and mystery, was full of warmth and happiness.
And there…
stood a woman.
—Come to me…
She beckoned to me.
Her name, shining colder than moonlight and more brightly than the Milky Way, was—
Iphanel.
Huh?
The instant I recognized her, the colors of the world suddenly inverted.
No.
More precisely…
the world was dyed black.
A withered flower field.
A dead sky.
A garden painted in darkness.
And Iphanel,
writhing in agony, wrapped in black energy.
—Come to me…
At once, my mind snapped awake.
“Hahk!”
I groped at my chest in a panic and ran my hand through my hair. It was warm, heated by gentle sunlight.
Maybe it was because I had sat up too quickly, but my muscles cramped.
Clutching my throbbing head and sitting with my head bowed low for a while, I heard the door open with a clack and a nurse came in.
“Oh—ah! You’re awake.”
Perhaps because she felt sorry for not knocking, she made an apologetic face, told me to wait just a moment, and hurried off somewhere.
‘A hospital, huh.’
For some reason, from the moment I woke up, the headache made it hard to think clearly.
It felt like there was a hole blown open in my chest.
Or maybe like something was stuffed up inside it, tight and suffocating.
‘Iphanel…’
Was the image of her blackened in my dream just a dream—
or something actually happening right now?
I grew anxious.
‘Do I need to go there right now…?’
As soon as my heart started to race, cold sweat broke out and my chest began pounding.
Druruk!
Just then, the door opened again and someone stepped inside.
I thought it would be a doctor, but the voice I heard was familiar.
“Commoner. You don’t look well.”
…It was Princess Hong Biyeon.
I barely raised my head enough to meet her eyes.
Hong Biyeon, wearing her usual sullen expression, slightly distorted her face when she saw mine.
“You… did something happen to you?”
“No. Nothing happened.”
“…Then that’s fine.”
Perhaps she had brought it as a get-well gift.
She set down on the table the sort of fruit basket that was hopelessly ordinary, utterly practical, and completely uncreative, then walked toward me.
“I heard you hunted a witch.”
“…I guess that’s what happened.”
In the end, I had won, so yes, technically I had hunted it.
If Flame hadn’t helped me at the very end, I would have been trapped in that hellish world forever, writhing in suffering inside endless despair—
“Commoner.”
“Huh? Ah, right.”
She had been staring at me silently, and then suddenly stepped closer, grabbed my chin, and lifted it.
Then, from a distance so close I could feel her breath, she held my gaze for a long moment.
Inside those red eyes, still filled with countless complaints…
my own haggard reflection was visible.
‘Ah…’
Even if I had just woken up, had my face really looked like that to begin with?
Could something like that really be explained away with just “I just woke up”?
After a while, Hong Biyeon let go of my chin, stepped back a few paces, and said,
“This time too, you did something impressive enough. I don’t know what you went through, but shake it off quickly.”
With that, she left the hospital room.
Left alone, I stared blankly at the white-painted wall.
‘What do you mean, what I went through?’
Nothing like that happened.
This time no one died.
No one was hurt.
I got out alive too, without a single injury.
And yet…
it felt like my heart had been wounded.
I did not know why.
‘Because I witnessed despair?’
For the first time in my life, I had gone through a situation so pitch-black that I truly could not see any way forward.
Really—
not once had I ever experienced anything like that before.
And because of it, I had lost heart.
I had despaired.
I had almost given up.
Because I was…
at the end of the day, just an ordinary person.
One who could not even use magic.
From somewhere deep in my chest, negative emotions—depression, anxiety, despair—kept slowly bubbling up.
‘Someone like me… tried to save the world?’
The moment that absurd thought crossed my mind—
Smack!
I slapped myself across the cheek.
It was…
a habit.
Back when I was living on Earth, during my school days—
when I had lost everything and had become unable even to dream anymore—
I made a promise to myself.
‘You’re going to look at the world positively.’
Back then I was already in a situation hopeless enough that there seemed to be no salvation at all…
but I felt that if even my thoughts turned negative, then I truly would become unable to do anything.
So I hardened and straightened my heart, my will, and even my thoughts.
But what about now?
Hadn’t my mental state become even more tattered than it had been back then?
Even with Crimson Spring March’s blessing…
‘…Wait.’
Hold on.
Now that I thought about it, something was strange.
In an instant, both the negative emotions and the positive ones disappeared.
As if they had been emotions planted inside me from outside.
I forced myself to think as calmly as possible.
‘Even with Crimson Spring March’s blessing… why am I like this?’
The same had been true in the final moment of the battle with the witch.
At the very end, I had almost given up.
Despaired.
Almost submitted to the witch.
Was that…
really the person I had been up until now?
Even back in the days before I had Crimson Spring March’s blessing, I had never once given up.
Yes, of course it was an incredible blessing…
but I could also take pride in my own mental strength.
All Crimson Spring March had done was put another layer of armor over it.
‘What is this?’
That strange feeling of emptiness in my heart, as if my emotions kept getting shaken loose.
I immediately opened my status window and checked the skill panel, but there was nothing wrong with Crimson Spring March’s blessing.
Creeping…
something tried to seep into my mind again, but when I shut my eyes tightly and focused, I was able to block it.
‘Something’s wrong.’
I could be certain.
This was not a problem happening to me alone.
Iphanel, who was mentally linked to me.
Or Crimson Spring March.
Or Kkotseorin.
Something had happened to one of the three.
This had never occurred in the original episodes either, but I did not panic.
I could think calmly.
I had more than enough grounds to consider both the possibility and the cause.
‘Ordinary person?’
I kept trying to belittle myself as some ordinary person, but that was wrong.
I…
was the only player who had seen the ending of Aether World Online.
Among ordinary people, that alone made me one of the greatest.
At least that much pride, I was allowed to have.
‘I need to go see for myself.’
After the witch incident, no one was going to complain if I skipped a few days of class.
I immediately got out of bed, changed into my Stella uniform, and headed for the door.
If my instincts were telling me something was wrong, then all I had to do was find out myself and solve it.
Thinking that, I threw open the hospital room door—
and.
“…Huh?”
The moment I opened it, my eyes met someone standing right outside.
Stella’s General Knight Commander, Arain.
He looked at me with cold, hardened eyes, but before even that, one question came to mind first.
“What are you… doing here…?”
If he’d come to visit a patient, he could at least have knocked.
Why was he just standing there awkwardly in front of the room?
Arain stayed silent for quite a while before finally speaking.
“I was about to. I simply had not found the optimal timing.”
“…Ah. Right.”
Anyway, he was a strange man.
“Let us talk for a moment.”
After saying that, Arain walked right into the hospital room, leaving me with no choice but to turn back as well.
There were urgent things I needed to do immediately, yes—
but first…
the cleanup after the incident I had just gone through was important too.
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