Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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>Translator: Lord First
>Chapter: 64
>Chapter Title: Saint Yansk University and the Secret Room (7)
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*
There was no blinding flash or spectacular explosion.
It was only natural. Such phenomena only occurred when there was something to detonate.
What could possibly explode beneath this ground, where only groundwater flowed?
-Rumble...!!
But there was a tremor. The shockwave from the massive destruction now filled the cavern beneath the earth.
Ivan, axe in hand, turned around.
“...!!!!”
Elfihera was screaming something, her face a cocktail of terror, anger, and bewilderment.
Ah, my hearing was blocked.
But he had no intention of undoing it. While there was no explosion, the sheer roar of the collapse was surely echoing throughout the entire cavern. Noise beyond a certain threshold would only shatter his concentration.
“Cast a protection spell.”
Ivan spoke clearly to the elf, then readied his stance again.
Rumble… The earth groaned low. Cracks began to spiderweb across the ground beneath his feet.
“It’s about to collapse.”
“...!! !!! ...!?!”
He had learned to read lips. He knew the moment he looked that the elf was desperately spewing curses.
His only concern had been whether she knew how to cast a protection spell. Since that wasn't the issue, he had no reason to care.
He reached out and wrapped an arm around Elfihera’s waist.
“!!!?!”
Was this his plan from the start?! You rapist!! You common human!
He wasn't quite sure what the last part meant, but he figured it was some kind of elven curse.
“Protection spell.”
Ivan answered curtly, and then,
“And don’t close your eyes.”
He threw himself off the cliff.
“When you see the flow of mana, don’t miss it. Do what you must. Everything else is my responsibility.”
He didn't know how much impact the protection spell could withstand. Veolgrin's had been sturdy enough to block even a strike from one of the Seven Dragon Generals.
Even if hers wasn't at that level, it should be able to stop small pebbles from hitting her.
Trusting in that, Ivan felt a strange sense of weightlessness as he fell into the dark abyss, his gaze fixed on the ceiling above.
-Rumble...!!
Another tremor shook the cavern, and the epicenter, which had been holding on by a thread, finally gave way.
Earth and massive rock formations began to pour down into the chasm after them.
*
Don't close my eyes...?
Elfihera glared at this crazy old man-monkey (he was neither) and fought to wipe away her tears.
The wind rushed against her face. Her hair, once her pride, was now filthy with dirt and dust, slapping against her skin with every gust.
Ugh, mmph!
It was hard to breathe. The deafening roar that filled the cavern, the endless fall with no ground beneath her feet, the sensation of floating—managing to even cast the protection spell in these conditions was a miracle in itself.
How could she possibly muster any more concentration than that?
“There’s no way I can do it!!”
No human with even an iota of knowledge about the mysteries and wisdom of magic would dare say such a thing. What was this stupid monkey thinking...?
-If you are but half as brilliant as your father, then your skills are already beyond question.
*Ah...*
This human claimed to have stood on the same battlefield as her father. His shabby appearance had inspired no confidence whatsoever.
The only reason she had followed him here was because of the guarantee from the eldest son of Viscount Eastvelpen.
She had assumed it was a lie, of course, but it would have given her a political snare to use against the legitimate heir of a Privy Councilor. That was the extent of her commitment when she agreed.
But seeing this, she no longer thought it was a lie.
A man who could cause such destruction with his bare hands would have been more than worthy of standing beside her father in the last Racial War.
Which meant.
*'Your father would have done this with ease.'*
That was what he meant. He trusted her abilities.
Just as she had trusted Oswald Eastvelpen’s guarantee and followed.
This man was watching her, trusting in the abilities of 'Veolgrin Grikenkos'.
*'Father would have... Father would have done it, but...'*
Elfihera forced her eyes open. The wind whipped violently against her face, but she struggled to lift the corners of her tear-filled eyes.
She was an elf.
An elf of the Kallion Archipelago, the noblest and most powerful race in this world.
And she was the daughter of Veolgrin, one of the greatest mages since the Age of Myths.
She recalled the words her father had always told her as a child.
-Magic is the art of shaping illusion into reality.
>-Elfihera. Magic builds a staircase to the heavens for the mortals who walk the earth.
>-Therefore, you must build your imagery.
“Heaven…”
Elfihera murmured, staring up at the high ceiling of the cavern where the sky should be.
Embracing mana to ascend to the heavens.
“Earth…”
Standing upon the dust of the earth, yet with a resolute heart. Therefore.
Man. To straighten the mortal's imagery, to climb the staircase of will towards the sky, and to take one more step forward.
Heaven, Earth, and Man. The Three Powers. The process of unifying this trinity of will was the foundation of the magic Veolgrin had created.
“Kyaaaaaaah!!”
Just as she was deconstructing the spell, a massive rock came plummeting down toward her.
She desperately twisted her body to dodge, but it was useless. They were in the middle of an abyss. She was falling.
There wasn't even time to cast a levitation spell. The protection spell couldn't block a rock of that size!
I'm going to die.
A sudden terror blinded her. The will she had struggled to maintain, the focus she had used to sculpt her mana, shattered.
Terrified, she could only whimper and watch as death approached.
And then.
-Craaaash!!!
The axe blade sliced through the air. With a single blow, the boulder shattered into countless pebbles, scattering powerlessly in all directions.
As the pebbles rained down around her, she trembled, the terror still gripping her body.
Then, a low, calm voice—so out of place in this situation that it sounded all the clearer—rang in her ear.
“Steady your will. Weave your magic and find the mana in this space.”
“But—but how! I, I... I...!”
“Elfihera.”
“*Sob*...?”
A firm hand was wrapped around her waist.
Her waist, slender and sleek enough to be held in one arm, was gripped with a solid, unyielding strength, as if to banish the terror that made her tremble.
Without realizing it, Elfihera found herself leaning against his warmth, sobbing.
The voice continued. Low, husky, and gentle.
“Embrace the illusion and bring forth reality.”
“Those... words...”
“Forget about being Veolgrin's daughter. You are complete enough on your own. Elfihera. Look at yourself, and build your imagery upon the earth.”
“You... you...”
“Everything else is not your responsibility. Your safety, your life, your fear. Leave it all to me. That is my role. You need only do what you can.”
That is all I expect of you.
Everything else is for me to handle.
In her wavering vision, only a pair of blazing blue eyes stared straight at her.
“Just as I trust you, you must trust me. As Veolgrin did. I have never failed in my duty, not even before your father.”
“Y-your name... at least your name.”
If he was such a man, her father would have surely mentioned him. Elfihera felt that, even in this situation, she needed to hear his name just to feel a little safer.
Ivan nonchalantly averted his gaze. He swatted away another falling rock and whispered lowly.
“Ivan.”
“...You know that’s a pretty lazy alias, right?”
“I know.”
“Humans...”
Ivan was the most common name in Krasilov. From tenant farmers to nobles, it was a name so common and out of fashion that even serfs wouldn't name their children Ivan anymore.
But it was enough. Elfihera smiled, relieved.
Entrusting her life, believing in him completely.
All I have to do is find a single thread of mana.
It wasn't a difficult task. To find even this difficult would be a disgrace to the name of Veolgrin—no, to the name of elf.
Elfihera. Flower of the fairies. Having received such a name from the greatest man in Kallion, she had to prove herself worthy.
She wove her mana.
Building her will, constructing the staircase to the heavens.
Her feet on the earth, her will soaring high, reaching for the great heavens.
The mystery of magic, the source of its secrets, was always the sky. She pleaded for the ancient wisdom that lay beyond it.
Weaving mana to perceive the principles of the world.
Taking the illusions of mortals, their vague fantasies, the images in their minds, and shaping them into reality at her fingertips.
“I... see it!!”
“Where?”
“Ahead, straight ahead...!”
“Where ahead?”
“Everywhere ahead!! It’s all in front of me!!”
-Whoooosh...
A powerful storm, felt even as she fell. The massive swell of mana revealing itself, a phantom wind that tousled the thoughts in her mind.
How could I have not noticed this? No, that wasn't it.
This was a kind of magic that only revealed itself to those who could perceive it.
“My word... a spell of this scale... with such intricacy...!!”
A brilliant blue curtain of magic billowed before her.
Faced with a sight so overwhelming and utterly opposite to the dark abyss, Elfihera stared blankly, forgetting even to blink.
“Excellent.”
Ivan's voice rang out briefly above her head.
Immediately, Ivan leaped from one shattered rock to another, launching himself forward.
Elfihera, held in his arm, let out a piercing scream and trembled at the approaching mana.
*