Winter's End. (4)
The tail end of winter.
With the concentration of demonic energy in the air significantly diluted and the southern advance itself tapering off.
Whether this is a lull in the fighting or a successful suppression remains unclear, but in any case, everyone involved in the battle is fully focused on rest.
“Hoo!”
Thud—!
The “Sword-Tooth Boar,” a bipedal beast with fangs protruding from its mouth, collapsed like a felled tree trunk. Lia dusted off her hands after slaying it.
“That makes thirty thousand!”
Exactly the 30,000th one.
As Lia nodded in satisfaction,
“Lia! I feel like I've gotten way stronger!”
Leo was making a fuss beside her.
Well, he'd never experienced such grueling real combat before, so this would prove immensely helpful down the line.
“Leo, you handle cleanup! Help the injured knights too!”
“Where are you going, Lia?”
Lia silently gazed toward a certain forest.
The forests of the Extinction Grounds were thick with clinging demonic energy and gave off a foul vibe, but they were ideal for gaining experience.
The more she traveled the world and challenged dangers, the stronger her Adventurer trait grew.
“I'll head into that forest for a bit! Something feels off!”
Her unique intuition and senses were pointing her there. Just moments ago, the mana in that distant ridge had warped.
Lia dashed off toward it.
Crack—crackle—
Like a nimble squirrel, she kicked off the ground, bounded off trees, and soared through the forest. Then, suddenly, she felt a twinge of doubt.
“...What the heck.”
She'd already wrapped herself in a basic protective barrier, yet there were no beasts.
Not even any ant-like critters in sight.
“Is it really over?”
Feeling oddly disappointed, Lia kicked a pebble on the ground.
Tap—tap—rollll—
She took a few steps following the tumbling stone.
But then.
“Hm?”
A dark red liquid trickled down the slope, splish-splish-splish.
Like a stream, it reached her feet. Lia's eyes widened.
“Beast blood.”
Lia followed the trail upward.
She hadn't climbed far when a human silhouette flickered into view.
“Who...?”
Blinking, she approached. She crested the gentle peak.
“...”
And lost her words for a moment.
In the heart of the demon forest. Amid the vibrating stench of blood. Beyond the hill piled high with beast corpses, there stood a single pristine man.
Lia stared at him, her eyes wide.
“Deculein...”
Even surrounded by fresh blood and bodies, he remained utterly composed. His robe and suit beneath were spotless—not a single speck of dust.
Only, his eyes were closed now.
Veins flushed purple, face deathly pale.
Overload.
His body was being eroded by the overload phenomenon, reminiscent of some star wars flying monster.
“Professor. Professor.”
Lia approached cautiously, looking up at Deculein and tugging his robe hem. At over 190cm tall, it strained her neck.
“Professor. You okay-seyyo? Professor.”
After shaking it a few times like that.
“...”
Deculein opened his eyes.
Meeting those blue irises, Lia felt a suffocating pressure for some reason.
Gulp—she swallowed and asked.
“...You okay?”
“...”
Deculein stared at her silently, his gaze somehow sunken.
Lia sensed, somehow, the meaning behind that look.
—And then.
The words he directed at her.
“...You.”
Lia smiled innocently.
“Yes?”
For an instant, a faint tremor rippled in his pupils.
Like a tiny raindrop falling into an impossibly deep, cold lake.
A subtle but clear shake.
“...I do not like you.”
His murmuring voice was chilling. Somehow lonely, desolate.
A tree with deep, firm roots doesn't sway alone in fierce winds—and that's what makes it all the more poignant.
“Why-yo? I didn't do anything wrong.”
Then Deculein reached out. Startled, Lia squeezed her eyes shut. Her eyelids fluttered.
“...”
But nothing happened, so she peeked them open.
Deculein still had his hand extended toward her. But soon, with a small breath, he withdrew it.
“You resemble someone I know.”
Those words made Lia's heart lurch.
She could guess the meaning, yet asked anyway.
“...Who?”
Deculein's head tilted slightly. He gazed into the void, as if thinking of—or recalling—someone absent from this place.
He answered softly.
“The one pooled in my heart.”
Emotions that wouldn't flow away. Memories he couldn't forget.
Words encompassing it all.
“...”
Lia bowed her head briefly.
A strange guilt pricked at her heart.
Was it some setting she'd carelessly added that tormented Deculein like this?
“No, perhaps.”
Then Deculein's voice seeped in again. Lia looked up. He was gazing down at her.
“It is I who have stagnated.”
He smiled faintly.
A smile? Or self-mockery? A bitter, low-set laugh. Lia's expression blanked for a moment.
“Unable to let it flow, foolishly clinging like this.”
His eyes curved toward her, and Lia felt her heart echo.
Suddenly, a distant memory surfaced—a man left behind in a far-off world.
Emotions welled up. She missed that guy she'd always loved.
“...Hating someone I needn't hate.”
But Lia quickly composed herself.
Deculein wasn't Kim Woojin, and the person he reminisced about wasn't Yuarra.
“...No idea what you mean-seyyo.”
At that, Deculein let out a small breath. Lia grabbed his arm and tugged.
“Let's go now, Professor. Your condition isn't normal—”
But Deculein pushed her away.
“...Go.”
“Huh?”
“One remains.”
The response came from someone else. Lia turned.
Knight Julie.
“...My apologies. I did not mean to eavesdrop.”
She bowed her head and drew her sword. Lia looked where she pointed.
“...”
A grotesque thing lurked there. No idea when it'd appeared. But it was hideous.
Its form was a lump of flesh.
Its entire body—especially its belly—swollen, still expanding.
“...Scavenger.”
Lia knew what it was.
Scavenger. A demon that absorbed beast corpses.
The lowliest among demons, worming underground like an earthworm, yet its power could game-over a player in one hit.
Designed as a trap demon from the start.
Ten seconds from absorption to explosion—making it seem to appear out of nowhere to players.
“Knight! We need to run!”
“I know.”
Julie dashed like the wind, hoisting Deculein onto her back. Even then, the Scavenger ballooned, filling the peak in just three seconds.
Tatata—
Julie with Deculein on her back and Lia bolted away.
“Eek!”
But the explosion would come first. As Lia turned and unleashed her Decomposition mana,
──────—!
The Scavenger burst.
Splatter—splatterrr—!
Immense demonic energy and flesh chunks erupted everywhere, devouring Lia's mana entirely as they surged toward them...
* * *
...I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was Ifrin's mug. Her flat face filled my vision, her hair tickling my face.
“Ah! You're awake! Let me check your pupils—”
“Have you lost your mind?”
I shoved away the one shining a light in my eyes. Ifrin tumbled back with a screech.
“Ow! Why'd you do that!”
I sat up and checked my condition.
Mana exhaustion. Demonic overuse. Circuit overload.
Serious injuries, those three, but nothing else seemed wrong.
“...How fares the southern advance?”
Still, I'd abandoned my post. Though seeing her unscathed suggested no major issues.
“What do you mean how? It's only been three hours.”
Ifrin grumbled as she got up, dusting her butt and shaking her head.
“It'll wrap up soon, I think. The incoming beasts have dropped off hugely—most are getting handled by the auto-ballistae now. Those ballistae are amazing, right? Way more helpful than most magic, they say.”
I straightened my clothes without responding.
Smoothed wrinkles with Cleanse, brushed off dust.
“But...”
Then Ifrin hesitated. I looked at her silently—spit it out.
“...Well.”
She glanced at me warily.
She would've hemmed and hawed dozens of times before, but she'd gotten sharper lately and spoke up before it grated.
“Lady Julie's fallen ill.”
I fiddled with my cuff casually and asked.
“Reason.”
“...While saving you, Professor.”
Click.
I fastened the cuff button. Donning my coat, I furrowed my brow.
“That woman always does needless things.”
“...”
Ifrin bowed her head, then scratched her nape and added.
“She's in the infirmary now. If you're going...”
“Much to wrap up.”
“Still—”
“Beyond that woman.”
I said,
“Many knights have died.”
* * *
In Recorak's infirmary—equipped with modern facilities and ample herbs—Gwen gnawed her nails, muttering.
“...Man. Doesn't look that bad.”
Not just her; Rafel, Syrio, Delik, and many knights watched over a woman on a bed.
Julie, veins flushed purple.
Caught in the Scavenger's explosion without a gas mask, she'd taken a demonic bomb head-on.
“She'll be... We can only hope. At least it hasn't spread to her dantian?”
Syrio's words. Even the ever-optimistic one lacked conviction.
Deculein would overcome it easily, but Julie—with her already damaged dantian...
Then.
Bang—!
The door nearly shattered as Reyli stormed in, fuming.
“Ugh, I'm so pissed! Fuck!”
Crude curses too. The knights stared in shock.
Gwen asked.
“What's up suddenly? Bad food?”
“No! I just—saw Deculein from afar. He's totally fine! Completely fine! So I tried to drag him here, and guess what he said to Lady Julie?”
Stomping, panting, Reyli continued.
“Said she did something needless! That he's got no worries! Plenty of dead knights besides Julie! And this time too, she saved his ass carrying him out barely alive!”
“...”
The knights fell silent.
As the southern advance wound down, the sudden Scavenger demon-blast.
Deculein's state then had been dire.
Even for him, demonic poisoning had limits—and a direct hit would've pushed him to the brink.
“...Is Professor Deculein alright?”
Delik, gauging the room, asked. Reyli glared murderously and snapped.
“Yes! Perfectly fine!”
“Hm. Good.”
“What?”
Ahem. Delik cleared his throat, turned, and opened the door—adding unnecessarily.
“Anyway, facts are facts. Julie lives; dead knights far outnumber. Professor Deculein treats all knights equally—”
“Just get out!”
“Ahem.”
Delik and the palace knights filed out. Reyli, still steaming, clutched her temple.
“God, I wanna kill that guy. What if something happens to Lady Julie? With Deculein and his suicide bomb.”
—Do not say such things.
Then, a deep, resonant voice filtered clearly from the window. Too famous, steeped in dignity.
All in the room turned to the window.
“...Whoa!”
“Oh!”
“O?”
They startled, eyes bulging. Instinctively knelt. Faces split in awe and joy.
Varied reactions.
The man outside grinned broadly.
—Good to see you.
A man whose mere presence made knights' seats fidget.
The knight among knights.
Zeit, head of Phairden—called the King of Winter.
“““We greet Lord Zeit!”””
Amid their resounding salute, he opened the window.
Stepped one foot inside.
“My fool of a sister has overdone it again, it seems.”
Gazing down at the pallid Julie, he murmured lowly.
Halting Reyli's attempt to explain with an “ah, that—”, he swept his eyes over each knight and asked gravely.
“Then. Shall we hear the details? What happened to this one.”
In that moment, a vengeful smile bloomed on Reyli's face.