Chapter 449

I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t bring myself to say it. So—let’s find a way. I was looking at his face, but I wasn’t really seeing it. I understood the expression on his face too well for him to feel like he was actually in front of me. I gripped the shoulder of the friend who felt impossibly far away and urged him once more, trying to get his agreement.

“Let’s think, Eli.”

BOOM—!

The circumstances weren’t exactly helping us. I knocked away the vitriol flying in behind him, lost my balance, and Elias hoisted me up again. He said nothing and kept running, his eyes fixed ahead. I slammed layer after layer of barriers down in front of the Rampagers chasing us. I could hear the sound of the glass-like barriers shattering. Even the roar of the wind couldn’t drown it out.

Countless hypotheses raced through my mind. First, assuming my earlier reasoning was correct—that this crime was neither the work of Pleroma nor my target—the most likely culprit was the French imperial family’s cult.

They were an organization advanced enough academically to convert the occult rituals of l’Éclat Littéraire—the aristocratic occult organization Maria Österreich-Este had once visited as a guest—into actual magic formulas after Ion Forso, meaning their technology was more than sufficient. And more importantly, remember what happened after the French cult stole Österreich-Este’s jewels: Pleroma abducted two hundred magic scholars across the country. Pleroma’s leadership knew the French cult existed and had been keeping them in check. They were an enemy influential enough to be called the French version of Pleroma without exaggeration.

I didn’t know exactly what techniques the French cult possessed. Magic had been around for quite some time, yet it was still largely unknown territory. And with the Empire’s magical science still unable to surpass that of these cultists, how could we possibly know?

So, for now, let’s work with what we already know.

‘If someone had slipped spatial magic beneath the pieces on the map like a sheet of tracing paper.’

There was no reason that space wouldn’t break under a powerful enough impact. If, like during the Corbiniano operation, the mage using a specific Special Ability itself served as the engine sustaining the space, then simply striking the space wouldn’t be enough to destroy it. There would have to be a host of that Special Ability somewhere inside. Right. Could there be a host somewhere? Maybe they had copied the same Special Ability and put it in Maria’s parure. Could that artifact be somewhere in this space? The possibility of another person possessing the same Special Ability seemed extremely low, but I’d keep it in mind for now and consider the other possibilities. What if this was purely spatial magic, without using a person or an artifact at all?

If someone had put a spatial magic here, it made no sense for only this structure to have been moved. There was obviously nothing to be gained from doing that, and the reason was simple. If they had only placed a new spatial magic over the building, everything outside it should have remained unchanged. The other people should still have been there. But there was no one on the roads. In this world, there were only the two of us, dozens of Rampagers, and hundreds of bodies trapped inside the building, any one of whom could go on a rampage at any moment.

Could they have placed a new coordinate system over all of Giesing? Or perhaps just over the prison? I had warped several times while I was in Giesing. All of us had been able to warp into the prison. That meant it had simply been part of the original coordinate system of the German Empire.

It was far more reasonable to believe that, as Elias suggested, the space had been torn apart by the impact and the people inside the building had fallen through it. The problem was, we had been standing on the original world. So where exactly was this place underneath it?

We were trapped in a perfect labyrinth. We couldn’t communicate through subjugation magic. We didn’t know how the space had been separated in the first place. We didn’t know anything. And without understanding the principle behind it, there was no way to find a way out. Until then, the two of us had to fight dozens of Rampagers whose vitriol was stronger than ordinary mana.

‘…It took seven of us just to handle a 3rd Grade Rampager.’

We had barely managed to deal with them even then. Now we had to face dozens of them, regardless of their Grades. In a situation like this, perhaps hoping to survive was the more reckless choice. No matter how I calculated it, our odds were not good.

“Eli.”

Crash—!

The sound of a barrier shattering. The wind seemed to intensify the blue shift. Was that even a fair comparison to make? We were the ones slowing down. I could feel my whole body jolting with every stride as I said flatly, “Eli, we need to find somewhere to hide.”

The Rampagers were moving too fast. At this rate, they would eventually catch up to us. If I could run, things might have been a little better. All that remained was an indescribable frustration and impatience over the fact that I still couldn’t feel my leg. A hollow question came from beside me.

“Where?”

We were crossing a plain with only one paved road running through it.

The occasional houses scattered across the area were wooden buildings that a single Rampager could tear apart just by pushing against them. The cold night wind drained the warmth from our bodies. Amid the roars of the Rampagers and the terrifying sound of vitriol tearing through the air, a quiet voice reached me.

“Munich looks beautiful from up high.”

“…….”

“No matter what other city they offered you, it wouldn’t compare.”

It was probably because all of his good childhood memories had come from this place. Suddenly, I remembered the day he had suggested that we go up to the observation deck of a Catholic church in Munich together. How exhausted I had been trying to talk him out of it, and how we had ended up rolling around in the square that day.

Elias let out a breath with a crooked grin and asked, “Should we go up the bell tower?”

He wanted to sightsee in Munich at a time like this? I should have laughed at the absurdity and asked that just to lighten the mood, but I couldn’t bring myself to laugh. I knew why he wanted to go to the bell tower.

“Let’s keep that as a last resort, Eli.”

“…….”

We shouldn’t choose a place with no way out. You know that better than anyone, don’t you? It was a pointless question.

He wouldn’t go to the tower until he had tried everything he could anyway. Never. Yet while his legs carried him straight past the turnoff toward the bell tower and on toward Giesing Station, his mind had already climbed to the top of that tower. His thorough reasoning and calculations had already taken him there. Because he was rational, because he had trained himself to always consider the worst-case scenario, he was more pessimistic than anyone. Ironically, he could be that way even while speaking of optimism that sounded like a dream.

“You’re right. We should.”

Elias answered with a smile, still looking straight ahead. I narrowed my eyes as I looked up at his profile. He kept running even after passing Giesing Station. Then he looked toward a stone building that appeared as little more than a dot in the distance and muttered, “This place should work.”

It was hard to make out in the dim mana lamp, but it looked like a Gymnasium.

I turned and hooked an arm around Elias. With my left hand, I spun the wand between my fingers and extended it into its staff form. I rested the staff horizontally across my shoulders, gripping the shaft with both hands and aiming it at the figures chasing us.

No, a little higher. A little more. I stopped adjusting when the tip of the staff’s ornament lined up with the far end of the road we had just passed. In the darkness, a brilliant white light crackled along my hand and down the staff. When it began gathering at the tip of the ornament, I poured out all the strength I had and shouted.

— Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear!

BOOOOM—!!

“Khk….”

Elias made a strange sound as he sucked in a breath. My ears were ringing so badly I thought they might burst. The divine power, condensed into a sphere of flame, shot into the distance with a deafening roar. When it struck the ground, another thunderous boom shook the road. Elias staggered as if he were about to tumble from the force of the impact, then clicked his tongue, sprang upright, and ran. Brilliant white light spread radially from the point of impact across the ground, illuminating the world around us. The Rampagers turned toward the place where the divine power had exploded.

Now’s our chance. I immediately raised a barrier close in front of us, preventing the mana in our bodies from spreading away in the wind. The divine power at the point of impact shot upward like a whirlwind, bursting outward in every direction of its own accord.

“All of them?”

“Most.”

We had shaken almost all of them off. I had no idea how long we could keep it up, though.

We forced open the main entrance of the Gymnasium and stumbled inside. Elias propped me against the stair rail in the lobby, then rushed back outside. He formed a long, sword-like blade out of his blue mana and charged at two figures running toward the Gymnasium.

“Wait! Elias!”

I tried to move my foot, nearly slammed my head into the floor, and barely managed to catch myself against the stair rail with mana.

“…Hah.”

Cold sweat broke out. I couldn’t move under my own strength. Even using the staff as a cane wouldn’t help; I simply wasn’t trained for this. My one advantage of having decent athletic reflexes was completely useless in a situation like this.

‘I’d be lucky if I could even walk properly in this state…’

I couldn’t take part in close combat.

I needed to keep as much distance between myself and them as possible. For the rest of this fight, too. Fortunately, we had managed to put some distance between us for the moment. I bit my lip, chanted a spell silently, and aimed my staff.

But Yahweh knows the way that I take.

CRACK—

The divine power hadn’t even left the staff, yet cracks spread across the glass doors. A moment later, the doors turned pure white and collapsed. White light burst from the tip of my staff with a thunderous blast.

SHATTER—! CRASH! BOOM!

“AAAAARGH! Gah…!”

Divine power poured over the Rampager Elias had been driving back with his sword. It crushed their limbs beneath its force. Amid the Rampager’s screams, Elias’s mana-forged sword pierced straight through their heart.

A wet thud, the shattering of glass, and then a scream. They were sounds I could never get used to.

The human melted away into vitriol.

Another Rampager charged at Elias. He knocked them down with mana, then seized his sword with both hands and brought it down hard.

Another scream rang out. Out of habit, I found myself staring at them with the illusion and delusion that I should be calling for medical personnel. There were no medics here. And they had been Rampagers for so long that there was hardly anything left of their bodies. They had simply turned into mud.

We had dealt with two out of dozens. Fortunately, neither had been particularly difficult yet. Though, considering it had only been two, I couldn’t say whether that was really fortunate.

Elias, who had been looking down, wiped the vitriol from the barrier covering his cheek with the back of his hand and turned around. He came toward me with a small grin.

“Don’t you think you’re underestimating me a bit ~?”

“Haha….”

“I did well, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. Though you could’ve done better.”

“How can someone who actually does better say a thing like that!”

“You know what? When we get back, train harder.”

Elias shook his head back and forth and snickered. Then his expression returned to normal as he said, “You’re having a hard enough time yourself. You don’t need to help. These guys are, at most, 6th Grade… Hmm. Actually, at this level, they’re 7th Grade. We’re fine.”

He was still judging my condition solely for the worse. With my leg in this state, I couldn’t exactly deny it anymore. I raised the corners of my mouth in a smile. Elias grinned back, then hoisted me up again and carried me to the top floor.

Looking around, he spotted a science lab with a metal door and carried me inside. He sat me down at a lab bench by the window, where I could see the neighboring building, then sat down at the desk across from me and caught his breath.

“Phew…”

“…….”

“It’s quiet. Finally got a moment of peace.”

Elias gave my face a faint smile as he examined it, then took a potion out of his clutch and placed it in my hand.

“Drink, Luka.”

“I have my own.”

“Then drink yours. Want to wipe your face a bit?”

Before I could answer, Elias grabbed a lab coat from the room, soaked it in water, and tossed it to me. It was the first time I’d ever used a lab coat as a towel…

I gave a hollow laugh, wiped the blood off my face, and handed the potion back to Elias. Apparently wanting me to drink it as quickly as possible, Elias opened it and poured it straight into my mouth, then took the same potion from my clutch for himself. He raised his eyebrows as if asking whether that was enough, so I nodded.

“Let’s have a look.”

Elias lit an alcohol lamp instead of a candle and held it up near my face. I felt a little uneasy with Elias holding an open flame, but I stayed still. If Elias was in his right mind, he wouldn’t actually roast me with it.

He pushed my hair aside, then let out a low hum.

“There’s an infirmary in this school too, right? I should bring some medicine. We need to stop the bleeding.”

“Do you even know how to use a bandage?”

“Of course! Though it’s not bleeding that badly. Looks like it’s just been bleeding slowly for a while.”

The fact that it hadn’t stopped at all seemed like a bad sign, but I decided not to say it aloud. Whatever the theory, I hadn’t collapsed or passed out like I was ready for a coffin, and I was still sitting here talking to him. I should have some time left. I smiled and shrugged at Elias.

He gestured that he’d be back quickly and dashed out. Part of me wanted to tell him not to go, since I had no idea what might happen, but knowing Elias, he’d probably just pick me up and carry me up and down the stairs again, so I couldn’t exactly say that.

About five minutes later, Elias came running back into the science lab, breathing hard. Thankfully, it seemed he had found the infirmary without any trouble. He was carrying bandages and cotton in his hands. He must have stuffed medicine into his clutch as well, because it looked like it was about to burst.

Whistling, he clumsily disinfected my head, placed some gauze over the wound, and wound a bandage around my forehead.

“Our school has a lab, too.”

“Right.”

“I used to love simmering sugar in the lab. It’s a shame.”

“…….”

I sighed, feeling almost apologetic on behalf of the chemistry teacher—though, technically, if he ate something wrong and died, it’d be Elias who’d suffer the consequences. Elias grinned.

“What! Hahaha. I was planning to make some with you next semester, too.”

“Have you ever tried adding sodium bicarbonate to the melted sugar¹?”

“Why would I?”

“Never mind.”

What was I even talking about in Germany? Still…

I fell silent for a moment, thinking, then muttered, “I’ll make it for you when we get out.”

“You’re going to make it?! You’re such a model student, and you know you’ll get in serious trouble if you’re caught doing that—what are you—”

“You knew you’d get in trouble and still made things in the lab. And I’m not exactly a model student either. I just ranked high on the exams.”

“That’s true.”

“…….”

Strange. I had only meant that I wasn’t exactly a model student because I kept skipping school on sick leave, but what exactly had he seen to make him think that? Hearing that from someone who had been more of a delinquent at school than anyone else was a little…

Either way, I laughed. Even though we both knew that we couldn’t return to school unless we dealt with Pleroma first, we acted as though we could.

“Eli.”

“Hmm?”

But it was time to say it. Time to come back to reality. Since he hadn’t brought it up first, I had to, even though I really didn’t want to be the one to tell him the truth. And if there was anyone who would understand it, it was Elias. He was more rational than anyone else, and he already knew that, theoretically, there was no way for us to get out of here.

“There might not be a way out of here.”

“…….”

“I told you before that there are people behind the French Imperial Family who are like Pleroma. I think they’re behind this. They know that Lukas Askanien and Narke Farnese are connected to the relics. More precisely, they know that we know the group controlling the French Imperial Family helped steal the parure.”

Elias waited silently for me to continue. I looked him in the eye.

“By now, there must already be reports that three of us—you, me, and one other person—along with the other divine power mages have gone missing. And if Leo went missing on top of this, that’s an enormous advantage for them. It means the key people investigating the theft of the relics will all be gone.”

There were other reasons I suspected them, but that could wait. I slowly turned my head and looked down at the floor of the science lab.

“I don’t know whether they’re planning to take us somewhere or not. But until this situation is resolved, and from what I can tell…”

“…….”

“Right now, they have no reason to let us out. There’s also a chance they don’t even know how to get us out.”

Elias sat there without a change in expression. He wasn’t angry, despairing, or even disappointed. He simply looked out the window as though nothing were wrong. After a long while, he asked quietly, “Then where are we?”

“I don’t know.”

“Any idea?”

“Like you said… either we’re in the real world.”

“…….”

“Or perhaps this is a world made entirely of mana.”

Elias narrowed his eyes at that.

The astral plane. I wondered whether I should enter the Extra Chapter and go find Maria Österreich-Este. But I couldn’t leave Elias behind for that long. In a situation like this, everything could change in ten minutes—or even one.

I tried to see whether I could travel to another era, but perhaps because Maria wasn’t there, nothing happened. Vitriol was genuinely affecting us, too. And if this really was a world made of nothing but mana, there was another question: why were there no people here?

For now, we were completely lost in a maze with no way out.

Elias slowly turned his head and lowered his gaze.

“Right. We should finish our strategy meeting.”

That was why we’d come into the building in the first place. So we had to. I nodded.

“We can’t keep running from them forever. It’ll drain us too much.”

“…Yeah. Wait. Could there be someone hiding in this world, like in Corbiniano? We have to kill them to close this world, right?”

“That’s possible. There are a few things that don’t quite add up, but it’s worth considering.”

Elias rubbed his chin, deep in thought. Then he suddenly whipped his head around. He hurriedly downed a potion and shot to his feet.

“They’re here.”

“…….”

Elias planted a hand on the desk and practically flew toward the window on the opposite side. The Rampagers were gathering in the schoolyard. They tracked our mana with uncanny precision and chased us down. Elias stood by the window, looking as pale as I felt, and spoke quietly.

“So, what do we do? Don’t provoke them?”

“…….”

I knew exactly what he meant. Should we run again, or put up a brief stand and then run? Either way, we would end up fleeing. The gymnasium wasn’t exactly an ideal place to make a stand. Even so…

“If we run, they’ll find out anyway. They can hear the noise.”

“True. That’s my friend.”

Backlit by the moonlight, Elias grinned. He flicked his left hand. A mass of blue mana gathered in his palm, gradually taking the shape of a large bow. An arrow formed next, its tip sharpened to a deadly point. The crackle of mana sent a chill through the air.

He whispered softly.

“Let’s take out at least one before we go.”

Elias turned toward the window, smashed it, and drew the bowstring. The string glimmered silver in the moonlight.

— The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them.

Translator Note

1. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) can be added to melted sugar to make dalgona, korean honeycomb toffee. ↩︎