Book 7 Chapter 6

Chapter 155

The mirage shimmered in the night sky with a bewitching glow. A dark blue light, a veil of abyss; beneath it, the Red Mountain Range trembled as if weeping sorrowfully.

The head of the <Aurelinople> Witch Association watched the scene from the terrace, enduring the strong river wind, and then turned around as a guest entered.

Her pure white hair was long enough to touch the ground, and countless liver spots and moles dotted her wrinkled, sagging face. She was supporting herself with a crooked broom.

"Welcome. I am Alene. Though my body is frail, I lead the <Aurelinople> Witch Association."

The <Aurelinople> Witch Association was a five-story building located in the city's central district. The head used the top floor.

The sense of discomfort I'd felt when I met the witches at Freya's birthplace, and the unease that had unsettlingly lingered along my spine since entering this building, was now becoming a reality.

Rain watched the head with a sigh as the guide witch closed the door and left.

"My disappointment is boundless. How could someone who is the head of the venerable Witch Association become so corrupted?"

It wasn't a loud voice, but the contempt it conveyed was unmistakably clear. Miria's eyes shimmered with bewilderment.

"Surely not…"

Alene hummed, lifting her head with a benevolent smile.

"I merely saw new possibilities in dark magic, young one."

"There are no possibilities in the power of the abyss. Only deceit and death. The Red Mountain Range is in chaos right now because of dark magic."

"We are sending as many witches and soldiers as possible to stop it."

"So this is what 'giving a disease and then a cure' means. What kind of possibility is this?"

In the head's office, there was a large, intricately carved model map depicting the <Aurelinople> river basin and the topography of the Red Mountain Range. The head pointed to it with her broom.

"I have lived for 120 years. Though it's an age where many things are forgotten, I still cannot forget what my teacher and grandmother used to tell me."

"…?"

"She used to say that the era when Lady Freya and Lady Tureina led the Republic from the front lines was truly beautiful. Everyone was equal under a single order and knew how to trust each other."

Alene, gazing at the map, had a gentle look in her eyes, as if reminiscing about a distant past.

At the mention of Tureina, I felt Pipi, hidden in my clothes, flinch and tremble. Perhaps my own body was trembling too.

"I worked for 100 years to create such an era once more. But it all failed, and our nation is in this state now. I am also filled with the same feelings as you."

"So you need dark magic. To rule by force. Those dark mages are—"

"—Wrong, you are all wrong, young one. It is not I who needs dark magic. It is Lady Tureina, the disciple of the greatest priestess this land has ever known."

The moment I heard those words, I felt the blood drain from my face.

"What the Republic needs now, what can unite the Republic once again, is not an old person like me. It is a hero like her."

"That's… that's impossible. Tureina died. About 10 years ago."

"The Papal State must have had no choice but to announce that in order to control the impending panic of the era. She is alive."

"Impossible."

"She is merely focusing on awakening the frozen Archmage… I believe that if her wish comes true, she will look after this land once more."

It couldn't be true.

My head swam with blood.

Even if it's Tureina, it must be an impersonation like Zernix. It has to be.

"The ritual is already in its final stages. Now only one thing is needed: the core containing infinite power, the remains of the True Dragon whom you serve."

"…!"

"If all the divine energy flowing through the Red Mountain Range is concentrated in one place with that power, melting that ice would be no problem."

I felt my breathing quicken.

So the one who attacked the Papal State, and took Rin's body from there, was that fake Tureina? And this fool was deceived by that fake Tureina? What do they plan to do with it once it's awakened? There's no soul left in that body already, is there?

"So what happens to this dragon hatchling when that ritual begins?"

"The Dragon will understand. Just as it has sacrificed for us until now."

"How much more sacrifice are you asking for? It has sacrificed for humanity for over fourteen hundred years?"

Alakish's last smile flashed through my mind. The True Dragon who had illuminated this land alone since the Age of Genesis… Akirea, whom he entrusted to me.

"The greater good merely demands sacrifice; we have no more leeway than this."

"Who is that 'we' you speak so proudly of?"

"Humanity. I am merely looking at the current state of the world realistically. You, it seems, are still too young to see it."

No sooner had she finished speaking than an unusual energy was felt, the office door opened, and about thirty witches and territorial spearmen rushed in.

And in an instant, they lined up along the four walls, as if greatly surrounding us, and Miria couldn't even think of reaching for her sword hilt, as if she couldn't believe the situation.

Witches in large cities wield great influence not only in religion but also in politics… It's hard to believe that such beings are advocating dark magic and threatening a dragon hatchling. This can't be real.

"Miria, don't leave my side."

As the witches simultaneously extended both hands and chanted in the runic language, the power of the spell spread, trailing a long tail.

The widely spread arcane power, becoming a prison of layered light rays, failed to form a square binding formation to engulf the enemy.

The formation, on the verge of completion, stopped in mid-air as if time had halted, then in the next moment, it was torn apart by a powerful vortex of flames.

"What…?!"

The battle-hardened witches immediately began chanting the next spell, but… the trembling of the power that resonated in their throats suddenly exploded in their mouths with an eerie heat.

"────?!"

Since it was a word of power not yet fully imbued with 'strength', interfering with Bell Curias only resulted in such a weak flame, but the pain was enough to turn the word of power into a scream.

However, chanted Altigma is not my specialty, so interference takes considerable time.

The spells that had been activated before they could be negated by Bell Curias, though belatedly, evaporated with a flash that seemed to burn the corneas.

While I was dealing with the witches, Miria, who had dodged the spear attacks of a dozen spearmen, cut their spear shafts with her sword, and kicked their legs to incapacitate them, shouted.

"We have to get out of here."

By then, commotion was erupting throughout the building… and countless footsteps were increasingly converging in this direction.

There's no time.

Wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, I simultaneously ran and grabbed Alene by the collar.

"What in the world are you plotting? What are you trying to do, being deceived by those imposters impersonating Tureina?!"

At that moment, the old witch did not even cast a spell, but merely let out a low sigh.

"There is not a single lie in what I told you. I am merely trying to light a lamp of hope, and if I die here, so be it."

"Please listen to me! You're being deceived. You are completely being manipulated—"

"—And the order I received was to keep you here a little longer. You will soon meet her."

In that brief moment, I knew.

Judging from my experience dealing with numerous dark mages in both my past and present lives, I wouldn't get the answers I wanted no matter how much I held and interrogated this old woman now.

Just as I was about to punch her ugly, toothless, sagging face, a strange smell irritated my nostrils, and my whole body stiffened.

It was the same sensation I had experienced in <Landkif>, where my eyes and nose stung and my skin felt unpleasantly stimulated… a faint tremor ran through my fingertips.

"She has arrived."

I considered punching her before dashing out, but Akki stirred and woke up, so I stopped.

In the corridor, mist was already swirling up to our toes, and witches and spearmen with iron rings rushed through it.

Are we trapped? The situation is dire… If only I could combine magic of various attributes, I could easily escape.

"Hold on tight!"

Just then, Miria suddenly grabbed my waist tightly and charged straight towards the lead-framed window.

Is this, is this crazy…?

Before I had time for such thoughts, a sensation of floating already enveloped my entire body, and in the next moment, gravity was pulling my body towards the ground. My clothes flapped violently in the wind, and Akki gasped.

"Awoo-oot!"

Then Miria threw a hooked rope towards a 4th-floor window, causing a disturbance in mechanics.

By the force of the rope, which pierced the leaded glass and fixed itself to the window frame, we narrowly avoided plummeting straight to the ground. Thanks to that, we had to roll several times across the lawn, though.

Seresia transformed into something soft and fluffy like a cushion, absorbing most of the impact from the fall that hit me and Akki. Miria urgently extended a hand to me.

"Mist has already settled over the entire city."

"Mist, mist, mist."

When I took her hand and stood up, the alarm bells of magic were ringing throughout the city, and torches and spear-blades glinted in the mist.

"Those witches who gave you the request, were *those* the ones?"

"No, they said they were directly under the priestess."

In that case…

Should I go to other major cities like <Aristapo> or <Terbenople> to find the priestess?

"Let's go upstream. We have to go back up to <Oltaris>. Those witches, I have to ask those witches. Wake them up somehow."

I don't know if I can wake them up somehow, but…

It's truly unbelievable, but with <Aurelinople>'s witches all ensnared by dark magic, that's the only best option now.

In my haste, I had come down to <Aurelinople> without waiting, and it turned out to be the worst possible choice.

"We absolutely have to get Akki out of the city. Understand? Miria, no matter what, into their hands—"

Perhaps the moment I entrusted Akki to Miria to use magic more easily was a turning point of fate. I remember a dark blue light flashing from beyond the mist.

Eh?

And then, in the next instant, my body was flying through the air. In my consciousness, yellowed by intense pain, I bounced off the roadside several times, slammed back-first into a roadside tree, and vomited blood.

'I instantly cast a defensive spell, a 3-star one at that, and it just pierced right through it?'

*Gasp*, in my flickering blackening vision, I saw a glimpse of a miracle.

The abyssal flames fiercely blazing on Seresia's surface twisted and then were sucked into an intangible vortex and vanished as Seresia shimmered coolly with a dawn-like light.

At the same time, Seresia's magical fabric gradually thinned. Was Seresia's legendary power, which sends the arcane abilities that assail its wielder into a sub-space, activated?

'A 4-star magic that concentrated all its power to a single point like an archer… If Seresia hadn't mitigated the damage, I would have been 100% dead just now…'

As I tried to get up, blood surged up from my ruptured internal organs again, and my body uncontrollably collapsed to the ground. My ribs, several of them seemed broken.

"Hey!"

"A-woo-oot!"

In Miria's ears, as she urgently called out to the boy who had flown beyond the mist, ominous footsteps of high heels scraping against the marble floor echoed.

*Click…*

…*Click*… *Click*…

*Click*… *Click*… *Click*…

No, it's not the footsteps that are ominous. It's just that powerful presence, so mighty it sends a chilling heat down my spine, which is inexplicably ominous.

How long has it been since I last felt this helplessness, like cornered prey, my whole body stiff and only my fingertips trembling faintly?

My breath catches uncontrollably. My mind goes blank. My spine is soaked in cold sweat.

"Hold on tight, Akki!"

However, I had overcome such crises many times before. Forcing my frozen body to move, I gripped Akki tightly with my left hand and began to run north.

"A, ah-e, ah-baat!"

Behind us, the flames of witches who had pursued us from the headquarters building, and arcane tendrils rushed in, but Miria twisted her path from side to side, avoiding the attacks.

The witches' spells were somewhat avoidable… The problem was when something, like what blew Rain away, came crashing down occasionally without any warning.

In those flames, roadside trees splintered and toppled, covering the sleeping citizens fallen on the ground and obstructing the path. Miria abandoned the main road and jumped down beneath an underpass.

"Pipi, tell him! That I'll be waiting in <Oltaris>!"

"Olta, Olta, Olta."

Pipi nodded, changed her course, and flew in the direction Rain had been blown earlier.

And soon after, the silhouette of a straw hat emerged from the mist, and then a woman with a pipe in her mouth walked out with alluringly superb movements.

The Red Witches of <Aurelinople> immediately prostrated themselves before her, showing extreme deference.

"Lady Tureina."

At that moment, Tureina's eyes were fixed on Miria's back as she ran through the forcibly silenced city, specifically on the crying dragon hatchling cradled in her arms. As she exhaled a long plume of smoke in that direction, the dragon-poison mist grew even thicker.

"I will secure the True Dragon's remains. You all make sure to deal with the guardian. They must be dying after taking a direct hit from a 4-star spell."