The Demon Realm (4)
The sound of cracking ice echoed sharply. Crack! Siris’s frost pierced straight through the demon’s heart.
“Kieeeeeek!”
Whoosh! A mindless demon charged at me, ignoring the frost still embedded in its chest.
“Adel!”
Christina, seeing this, radiated pure white light and formed a sword of pristine white. In an instant, the blade of radiance became a brilliant glow that lit up the crimson world. With a flash, the demon’s head fell to the ground.
Christina didn’t stop there. She shaped her pure white mana into projectiles and launched them forward.
Boom! Boom!
The explosions sealed off the path between us and the demons. Debris from the floor shot upward, completely blocking the route.
I nodded at her in thanks, then stepped onto the barricade.
Fwoooosh.
“······.”
My eyes, wreathed in flames, stared directly at the hundreds of demons before me. They weren’t strong individually. These low-level demons were only threatening because of their sheer numbers. Just as Allen had said, if we could wipe them all out at once, they wouldn’t even be a threat.
Vrrrrrm.
A massive vibration rippled as spheres of fire began to form. Ignoring the overwhelming exhaustion spreading through my body, I continued drawing out more fire energy. The growing flames were arrogant in scale—anyone who saw them might have called them a blazing red sun.
Crack! Crack!Fwoooosh!
By now, Christina and Siris had climbed up beside me. They too were pouring out massive amounts of mana to unleash their anti-personnel techniques.
Vrrrrrm.
My completed skills, along with theirs, radiated powerful waves of energy before shooting toward the demons.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
The three spheres slammed into the ground and triggered a cataclysm. The earth erupted upward, demons were torn to shreds, and three massive craters were carved into the floor. If this had been done by ordinary humans, no one would have believed it. But for those who wielded mana, such disasters were common—though using mana beyond one’s limits brought on the same crushing fatigue I felt now.
Finally, the backlash from the fire energy returned to me.
Thud.
My body nearly collapsed, but Christina caught and supported me.
“Adel, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just used too much fire energy.”
Leaving behind Christina, who let out a small sigh of relief, I released a wave of intimidating aura to keep anyone from approaching and turned to look at Allen as he walked over.
“······How was it?”
Today marked the sixth day in the Demon Realm. Excluding the first two days, we had been coordinating as a trio ever since. Each time, Allen would offer advice like “You should have defended here,” or “You need a hidden card,” acting just like the usual backseat instructor. So I really wanted some praise today.
I had confidence. We had protected each other just as Allen instructed, and we had taken down multiple enemies at once.
He nodded with his usual stern expression.
“It was good. The coordination and teamwork were excellent.”
“At this rate, tomorrow should be doable.”
Vincent, who had arrived at some point, chimed in.
“Maybe so.”
“I told you it would work.”
“······.”
The two of them started chatting after that. It looked like their conversation would take a while, so I left them be and turned to the side.
“Siris, how’s your body?”
For the past six days, Siris’s trembling had grown worse. At first she seemed fine, but the symptoms only intensified—fever included. Maybe it was because we were in the north.
“······I’m fine.”
Seeing her say she was fine while clearly looking unwell made a small resolve form in my heart.
I should ask.
Once we returned to the academy, I needed to find out what these symptoms were.
I’m worried, too.
There was no way I could feel good watching someone close to me suffer. Besides, Siris wasn’t very big, so I felt an even stronger urge to protect her.
“Adel, Christina, Siris.”
Allen, having finished his talk with Vincent, looked at us. Behind him, Vincent was waving with a bright smile.
What now.
It made me uneasy again. Vincent wouldn’t act like that for no reason. After staring at him for a moment, I turned my gaze back to Allen.
“Tomorrow, the three of you will explore the Demon Realm without us.”
“······.”
The statement was so shocking that it was a wonder I didn’t gape like an idiot. Just the three of us?
We weren’t so weak that we’d die the moment we stepped into the Demon Realm. But the certainty of not dying vanishing entirely was a completely different story. Our confidence in fighting the demons had come from Allen and Vincent’s presence. If that safety net disappeared?
I’m not sure.
Now I understood where that earlier anxiety had come from.
“I’ll tell you the important part tomorrow.”
Right now, I was annoyed that Allen’s personality resembled Cain’s so closely. He hadn’t eased my anxiety at all.
Training grounds.
Vrrrrrm.
A set amount of mana condensed along Vincent’s blade.
“This is a Mana Blade—or what we call Sword Qi.”
“······.”
The reason he suddenly showed me his Mana Blade was because I had asked him to. I stared at it blankly.
I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before······.
In the East, this power was called Sword Qi. It was the act of condensing and controlling mana along the blade of a sword. I had never once held a real sword, yet it somehow felt familiar.
“Vincent, what level do you need to reach before you can use Mana Blade?”
At my question, Vincent made an annoyed face.
“Just call it Sword Qi.”
Mana Blade. Sword Qi. It was only a four-letter difference, but it seemed to irritate him quite a bit.
“What level do you need? I’d say someone like Daren could use it just fine.”
He swung his sword casually.
Swoosh.
Vincent’s strike was light. It looked like even an ordinary person could have blocked it—yet the space itself seemed to split apart, warping in every direction and leaving me stunned.
Screeeech.
The phenomenon didn’t last long. Subjectively, it felt like less than three seconds.
This is······.
It was a bizarre phenomenon. To achieve something like this with a single sword strike was even more mysterious than magic.
Shing.
Vincent withdrew his Sword Qi, sheathed his blade, and spoke.
“If you ever pick up a sword, you’d probably be able to use it too.”
He smiled as if he knew something, then prepared to leave. He had only intended to show me Sword Qi and go.
“Well, I’m heading back to the dorm first. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
After seeing Vincent off, I checked the time.
[10 : 00]
I should head in early today.
Tomorrow we’d be moving on our own. If I got even a little tired and made a mistake, I could die. Well, I probably wouldn’t actually die, but still. You never knew what might happen. Sleep was important if I wanted to stay focused.
I followed Vincent out through the door he had used.
A short while later.
“······.”
After a few twists and turns, I finally reached the dorm.
Room 1154 [Adel Ifrit] [Daren Gawood]
I took out my Hero License and held it against the door.
Beep.
The door opened, revealing Daren polishing his sword on the bed. I sat down on the bed opposite him. He must have sensed me, because he looked up.
“Daren. What do you think of the Demon Realm?”
When you wanted to ask the most important question, you had to ease into it step by step.
“It was far more shocking than what I had heard from my brother. Hundreds of demons roaming in packs, dozens or even hundreds dying every single day. It gave me chills.”
Daren actually shivered and rubbed his arms as he spoke.
“But seeing those people and that environment only made me want to train my sword even harder. For their sake. For the people who won’t have to be sacrificed anymore. And for myself.”
“······.”
His words, which seemed to reveal the size of his heart, reminded me of something.
Those were Christina’s words—both the nature of her mana and her resolve.
Does one’s capacity come from resolve?
It was probably part of it, but not all. It would depend on the form that resolve took.
What about me?
When I had thought about it before, the answer had simply been to kill demons. Because they were beings that would bring destruction to the world.
······I don’t know.
It really was profound. The heart seemed so simple, yet it was incredibly difficult. Deciding that was enough for now, I asked the question I truly wanted to know.
“Daren, can you use Sword Qi?”
At my question, Daren stopped polishing his sword, picked it up, and held it.
Vrrrrrm.
Mana gathered, and the blade radiated a vivid blue light.
“If that’s what you mean, then yes, I can use it.”
“Oh······.”
It wasn’t that I had doubted Vincent’s words—I had simply been curious whether it was really possible. I stared at his Sword Qi.
It feels familiar, but something’s different.
It was clearly different from Vincent’s. I couldn’t quite tell what the difference was.
Well, I’m not a swordsman anyway.
I figured I’d understand someday.
“Tomorrow is the last day, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t really the last day. We would be coming back in two months anyway.
“······.”
Just thinking about tomorrow brought the anxiety back.
“······.”
When I lay back without saying anything, Daren didn’t speak either. I did my best to suppress the unease and tried to fall asleep.