The Witch of the Dark Forest (2)
"What... what's happening?"
In the spectator seats, one audience member muttered upon seeing the unidentified structure that had suddenly appeared.
The structure formed a dome intertwined with vines and trees, yet it pulsed like a living human organ.
The bizarre sight was enough to stir instinctive revulsion.
"This... is a spell formula I've never seen before?"
High-level mana users, however, watched the structure Charlotte had created with clear interest.
Ordinary eyes couldn't see inside the grotesque building filled with trees and vines, but those capable of using Blue Eye could peer directly into it.
"It's small in scale, but creating such an alien space... What family did that girl belong to again?"
"The Veridian family."
"The Veridian family? How could a house that frail possess this kind of technique...?"
The identity of the one wielding such a unique spell was entirely unexpected.
The Veridian family.
To think someone from that pathetically weak household could wield such a ferocious spell.
'He's caught.'
To Ed, who had trained Charlotte over the past four days, this was hardly surprising.
The Steam of Destruction.
He knew that the moment Charlotte ingested the demonic vapor he had developed to massacre demons, she would break free from the Veridian family's inherent frailty that suppressed her.
'It's going according to the design. She can win this.'
Design.
Ed had 'designed' her battle to help Charlotte achieve her revenge.
To have a C-rank defeat an A-rank in just four days required a combat approach that completely transcended common sense.
So for the past four days, he had focused on exposing Charlotte to the flora of the Dark Forest and having her manifest it.
The usual Charlotte would have refused, claiming she could never create such horrible creatures, but after ingesting the demonic steam she absorbed the plants of the Forest of Death without hesitation.
'All that's left is the staging.'
The forest she could manifest was limited in size, however.
Simply arranging several monster plants in a space of roughly seventy pyeong wouldn't be particularly threatening to the enemy.
That was why Ed had incorporated illusion spells.
By casting hallucination formulas throughout the interior, he ensured the enemy would feel true fear.
'Since he inhaled the hallucination powder as well, he should be completely trapped by now.'
Ed had even made sure Cardmus inhaled actual hallucination powder.
He had hidden it within the rock wall Charlotte summoned first, planning for a massive release the instant the opponent destroyed it.
Thus, the moment Cardmus shattered the rock wall, he inhaled a huge quantity of the powder and could only perceive Charlotte's created space through distorted eyes.
The Forest of Death was unfolding right before him.
All around him, Charlotte's skin-crawling laughter echoed endlessly, and in reality she was gradually transforming her space to resemble the Forest of Death more and more.
The hallucination powder and illusion magic were merely tools to buy time.
While Cardmus remained trapped in the hallucination spell, the forest had already been perfectly completed.
"Fuuuuck... what the hell is this godawful..."
Every time Charlotte added more detail to the forest, its scenery grew increasingly grotesque and terrifying.
Especially for Cardmus, who had inhaled both the illusion spell and the powder, this place was nothing short of hell.
The sounds of death filled every direction.
Faces of people absorbed into the trees kept laughing, scattering crimson glares toward him.
-Splash. Splash.
Cardmus wandered through the swamp.
In the blood-filled swamp of death, human bones and tangled clumps of hair floated everywhere.
"Haa... Haa... Haa..."
His breathing grew increasingly labored at the grotesque sight.
Yet the more he breathed, the tighter his chest felt.
The forest's toxic gas and airborne poison were infiltrating his body.
"Fuuuuck!! Come out!!! Stop hiding like a coward and fight me!!!"
With his reason paralyzed by fear, Cardmus tried to overcome terror with rage.
He wandered the vast forest, madly swinging his sword at anything he saw.
-Puhwaaaaak!
-Chaaaaak!
But the traces left by his sword energy were strange.
He had only cut a tree, yet blood sprayed from it and it let out something like a scream.
Cardmus realized he had touched something he shouldn't have.
The forest itself seemed like a single living organism.
The tree severed by his sword energy thrashed wildly as bubble-like growths began to boil up.
-Chaaaaak!
Then something burst through the bubbles.
A vine? No—it was a grotesque tentacle-like thing.
The tentacle shot straight toward Cardmus.
-Kang!
Cardmus instinctively struck it away.
But from every spot where he had indiscriminately unleashed sword energy, more bubbles boiled up and tentacles formed.
Could he possibly handle that countless number of tentacles?
"Huk... Huk... Huk..."
The horrific sight drained his earlier fury.
The entire forest seemed to roar with eerie cries, as if enraged at him.
-Kuduk... Kududuk...
Then.
A tree that vaguely resembled a person began to change shape.
The tree that should have been firmly rooted in the ground split open with a wide maw, revealing teeth hidden within.
"Wh-what, what, what..."
There were more than just one or two such trees.
Crack— Crack— They tore their trunks wide open, baring the teeth inside.
Inside the trees' mouths were clumps of blood-soaked hair and flesh.
Fingers, noses, ears, gouged-out eyeballs.
There was even a still-recognizable human face.
A person's head that had not yet lost its original features...
"Cha... Charlotte?"
Charlotte.
The identity of that head was Charlotte.
What lay inside the tree's mouth was her severed neck.
"!!!"
The instant he realized the face belonged to Charlotte, the severed head's eyes snapped open.
Red eyes framed by heavy smoky makeup glanced at him, then curved into a smile.
That same laughter poured out from every direction.
"A... Aaa... Uwaaaaa!!"
Having lost all reason, Cardmus swung his sword like a madman.
Especially toward the ceiling emitting a vivid red glow—he poured every ounce of his mana into a slash.
-Kudududududud!
The trees covering the ceiling tore apart.
But inside the ripped wood were countless bright red blood vessels.
Each vessel pulsed like a heart, carrying sap, but they had been torn by the previous attack.
-Puhwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
Blood-colored sap gushed out as if an artery had been severed.
Yet the fluid spraying from the monstrous tree was no ordinary liquid.
-Chiiiiik!
"Kyaaaaaaaaak!!"
It was acid.
Blood-colored acid rain poured across the entire forest, melting everything it touched.
-Bubble bubble bubble...
Bubbles rose throughout the forest in response.
Black tentacle-like things surged upward, rushing toward Cardmus.
"Aaa... Uwaaaaa..."
There were far more than one or two tentacles.
Dozens, hundreds of them streaked forward to pierce his body.
-Chiiiiik!
"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
There was no escape.
Acid rain poured from above while tentacles attacked from every side.
-Pook!
In the end, Cardmus could not avoid every strike.
One tentacle burrowed into his thigh.
-Guruk... Guruk... Guruk....
The tentacle that had pierced his thigh began sucking his blood.
The horrifying, repulsive sensation of his blood being drained dominated his entire body.
"Aaaaa.... S-save me... I... I was wrong...."
Eventually he lost all will to fight.
Acid rain pouring from the sky.
Pook! Pook! Pook! Pook! Pook! Dozens of tentacles stabbing into his body.
The toothed trees slowly walking toward him.
Cardmus could not endure any of it.
The more he swung his sword, the worse everything became.
-Kudududuk... Kududuk....
Pierced by tentacles and drenched in acid rain, Cardmus could only watch helplessly as the man-eating trees approached.
The closer they came, the wider they tore their mouths, and Cardmus finally understood the identity of the human faces embedded throughout the wood.
They had been digested.
This man-eating tree had devoured people whole, leaving their traces on its surface.
"Heu... Heuuuu... Heueeee...."
Now it was his turn to become one of those traces.
***
"It's over."
In the special seating at the highest level of the arena, Elena leaned back in her chair with those words.
Since she could see the flow of mana with Blue Eye, she could roughly tell what was happening inside that grotesque structure.
"Hwaaam. It's a rather interesting technique, isn't it?"
The princess sitting beside her, however, could tell what was occurring inside even without activating Blue Eye.
The Mystic Eyes of the Imperial Family.
That special power let her see straight through it.
"The more I watch, the more amazing it gets. How can you see through everything without Blue Eye?"
Elena asked the yawning princess.
The princess, who had been rubbing her sleepy eyes, grinned and answered.
"Hehe. Bloodline power♥"
"What? Puhaha. Yeah, your bloodline really is something else."
Elena burst out laughing at the princess's half-joking reply.
Indeed, 'bloodline power' was the perfect way to describe her extraordinary ability.
It was the strongest power on the continent, one that had brought every noble house to its knees.
'I'm curious, but it looks like she still doesn't want to explain it.'
Elena knew well that such answers were the princess's way of dodging the topic.
She didn't want to talk about her ability.
Elena had asked about it several times before, and each time the princess had smoothly changed the subject to avoid answering.
Even though they were as close as real sisters who shared everything.
'Eyes that see truth...'
She had once mentioned it in passing.
That her eyes could see the truth of this world.
That was why she felt so lonely and desolate.
"Elenaaaa~! What are you thinking about so hard?"
At that moment Sephilia linked arms with her and pressed close.
Elena replied that it was nothing and stroked the princess's hair.
Their gazes then turned back toward the arena.
The grotesque structure Charlotte had created was beginning to disintegrate.
-Saaaaaaa....
The Forest of Death scattered into red particles that dissolved into the air.
All that remained was Charlotte—still wearing the mask Ed had given her—looking down at Cardmus, and Cardmus himself, who looked like little more than a broken wreck.
"Uuuuu... Uuuu... Uuuu... I-I'm sorry... P-please forgive me... Uuuu... I was wrong...."
Cardmus had completely lost his mind.
The spectators watching him understood exactly why he had gone mad.
His miserable state.
His body was covered in marks where flesh had been torn away and where blood had been sucked dry.
Pus oozed from areas melted by acid rain, and his hair had completely fallen out, exposing hideous wounds.
"S-save me.... I-I was wrong...."
Cardmus kept shedding tears, begging for his life.
Those who knew him were stunned at the shocking sight.
After all, he was the same person who had boasted only days ago that he would claim Charlotte for himself.
-Swish.
At that moment, Charlotte knelt and met the eyes of the collapsed Cardmus.
The instant he saw her eyes, he recalled the terrifying witch from the Forest of Death.
The witch who had risen high into the sky, bathed in blood-red backlight, ruling over the entire forest.
"Never appear before my eyes again. If you do, I'll really kill you."
And the witch of the forest had warned him.
If he wished to keep his life, he must never appear before her again.
Cardmus nodded frantically, tears streaming down his face.
"Judge."
Having delivered her warning, Charlotte stood and called for the judge.
It was time to declare the match's result.
"Ch-Charlotte Veridian wins!"
The outcome needed no further confirmation—Charlotte's victory was absolute.
The moment she turned away, Cardmus fainted on the spot.
While everyone watched in shock, Charlotte walked out of the arena with dignified poise.
This had been the debut match of the 'Witch of the Dark Forest'.
***
Afterward, several more matches took place, but none managed to capture the audience's interest.
The previous bout between Charlotte and Cardmus still lingered too strongly in their minds.
Just what had happened inside that space for Cardmus to end up in such a state?
The only thing left that could possibly hold the audience's attention was the final highlight match.
The bout between Edga Fix and Lucas Elmar.
"The next match is Edga Fix versus Lucas Elmar! Both students, please come up to the arena."
After enduring what felt like an eternity of tedious matches, the final bout had finally arrived.
The two promising geniuses were called onto the arena floor.
'I will prove that I am the strongest...'
Lucas rose with a desperate resolve.
Having lost all his fame and initiative to Ed recently, he needed to win this match without fail to prove once again that he was the strongest student.
'Ah. I'm starving.'
Meanwhile, Ed was simply hungry.
He had eaten lunch in a rush and his stomach was practically glued to his spine.
'Edga Fix, I won't go down as easily as Max.'
'I should grill some Macbeth pork later.'
With such vastly different thoughts, the two students stepped onto the arena with determined expressions.
The spectators' cheers filled the entire stadium.
The judge then announced the beginning of the match.
"Match start!"