Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: Finale
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“Hoo….”
Klaus took a short, ragged breath and glanced back over his shoulder.
The sapling beasts that had been chasing him, throttling his throat until just moments ago, were nowhere to be seen.
“Finally… catching a breather….”
But something was off.
His heart wasn’t just beating fast—it was pounding like a drum.
Klaus suddenly rubbed his arm.
A wave of vertigo hit him.
“…What the hell.”
Something was wrong.
His arm didn’t hurt, but it felt like someone was grabbing it and shaking it roughly, an unpleasant violation.
And then…
Whiiiiiing—
The sound of wind flowing backward.
Every air current in the Great Forest tilting toward one point.
As if… the entire forest was bowing its head to a single being—an unnatural sight that defied all reason.
Klaus thought it was impossible, but the name slipped from his lips anyway.
“……Adel?”
An absurd guess leading to an impossible conclusion.
But… his body knew it.
The wind flowed as if toward—Adel.
“…….”
Flick!
He whipped around and sprinted full tilt in the new direction.
The moment his feet hit the ground, the warning blare in his senses sharpened.
Run.
Right now.
Don’t look back.
“What the….”
This was bizarre.
Klaus’s instincts, usually as dull as they came…
That erratic gut feeling that sometimes saw one step ahead was screaming now.
If he didn’t leave this spot immediately… he would die.
“For what…?”
Die?
To Adel? Or the beasts?
No.
This wasn’t danger on that level.
This was getting caught in something.
Caught in… what, exactly.
Whose power would ensnare him.
What kind of existence demanded that.
“I don’t know…!”
Klaus gritted his teeth.
He didn’t need to know. Didn’t need to understand.
His instincts were clear.
Get away. Now.
Run. Don’t look back.
“Urk…!”
A chill raced up his spine.
Even as he ran until his lungs burned, Klaus could feel one thing clearly: his heart racing at an impossible speed.
And at last—
“Hahk… hahk….”
His vision brightened.
Bursting from the forest path, Klaus faced an overwhelming vista.
Trees piercing the sky like spears.
Beneath them, a massive lake shimmering placidly.
Right then.
“Hey~ Looks like we dodged last place?”
Thud.
Seros slung his arm casually over Klaus’s shoulder.
He scanned the sweat-drenched Klaus from head to toe, then spoke.
“Saw a ghost or something?”
Klaus couldn’t answer right away.
Hands on his knees, he drew deep breaths.
Then slowly straightened up and glanced back.
In that instant, he realized.
The blaring warning in his senses had vanished.
“…Was it my imagination?”
“What?”
“……Nothing.”
Klaus shook his head.
But the nagging unease creeping up from his chest lingered.
He gathered himself and looked around.
“So this is….”
“Yeah, this is the Great Forest.”
Seros shrugged at the scenery like he’d painted it himself.
Klaus let out a wry chuckle, then remembered something and turned to Seros.
“But… where’s Adel?”
“Top scorer? Hasn’t shown up yet.”
“…Still?”
Klaus’s face hardened.
He’d been chased by beasts for a while himself…
But Adel should’ve arrived long before him.
And yet, Adel still hadn’t?
That meant… something was wrong.
─────!!
And…
As if confirming his fear.
The depths of the Great Forest—no, the entire forest—swallowed by darkness.
“Whoa…! What the hell!”
Seros tumbled backward with a yell.
Black water bubbled up from spots all over the forest floor.
Over that water… violet geometric lines traced themselves.
“What is this crap?”
“Hmm….”
Class S and the student council members instinctively clustered together.
No one dared approach. No one could claim it was safe.
They just—
Gawked in disbelief at the scene, throwing out wild guesses.
“Water… right?”
Fear gripped her, but Violet prodded the abyss with the tip of her broadsword anyway.
A damp sensation.
It was definitely… ‘water.’
“Umm….”
Everyone scratched their heads and murmured.
Some thought it was Veronica’s prank.
Others figured it was Carnel practicing spells.
Someone even joked that somebody had bombed the Great Forest—pure nonsense.
But no one guessed right.
Then—
Violet elbowed Carnel in the side.
“Isn’t this… your sister’s thing?”
“What?”
“She’s handled stuff like this before.”
“…You’re right.”
Carnel nodded a couple times.
True… Adel had dealt with this before.
Scenes from the cradle flashed through her mind.
And—
That suspicion hardened into certainty.
“…….”
In that moment.
Carnel felt a connection to something.
…Like a fragment of her soul touching another darkness.
Adel right there in front of her, but… not Adel—something else, so close she could reach out and touch it.
“This is….”
Before she could finish the thought—
“Hey, you lunatic! Why the hell are you sticking your hand in there!”
Erwin suddenly plunged his hand into the abyss.
Everyone nearby recoiled in horror.
“A magic circle….”
Erwin stayed calm, ignoring them.
Unlike the heart-stopping shock he’d inflicted on the group by slamming their pulses to the ground earlier.
“You’re saying… these lines themselves form a single magic circle.”
Delphine approached from behind and peered at the lines alongside Erwin.
Both their brows furrowed at once.
“What is….”
Erwin kept his composure outwardly, swallowing his inner shock.
The lines etched by the abyss.
The density of mana within those lines.
The precision of the circuits.
The way the lines connected.
“…Perfect.”
‘Perfect’ only existed in theory.
The world’s variables never allowed anyone to reach it.
But what Erwin saw now…
Perfection.
Or beyond.
“Who the hell…?”
…The abyss.
Erwin had experienced it firsthand before.
From that loathsome heretic… Adel.
“But…….”
Adel was blocked by the ‘wall’ right now.
Couldn’t even properly cross into advanced spells, let alone supreme ones.
And above all—
“Heretics have no mana….”
Adel… had no mana.
The hypothesis was dismissed immediately.
“Huh?”
And—
“What’s this doing?”
“It’s glowing.”
“Hmm… This feels bad.”
The abyss.
The geometric lines covering the Great Forest floor…
Began to shine.
“…Stars.”
Someone murmured.
A constellation swam through the sky, blooming from the earth.
The stars traced paths through the air currents—
Distant, beautiful, a dirge of mourning flowing forth.
“That’s….”
Carnel narrowed her eyes at the sight.
Radiant, beautiful stars.
But shock, not awe, etched her face.
“…Impossible.”
“Carnel….”
Violet swallowed hard.
The same shock laced in her throat.
“That’s… your magic, Carnel.”
Violet’s words scattered on the wind, and the gathered students froze, breaths held.
The glow blanketing the entire Great Forest… they simply admired the stars rising to the heavens.
***
I leaned against a tree for a moment, catching my breath and tending to my body.
My bones creaked in protest, muscles tearing away one by one.
My body was, quite literally, wrecked.
So first, I pulled up the system message I hadn’t fully read earlier.
[Field Boss 「Lamenting Persia」 defeated.]
[Achievement ‘To the Immortal You’ acquired.]
‘What.’
I stared at the text with a half-dazed expression.
Field boss defeated…
I didn’t remember—
‘…No, do I?’
Faint.
Like walking through fog…
I’d done something, but the memory slipped away.
Vague recollections hinted at action taken.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
【To the Immortal You】
To the one who walks endless time alone, you offer the gift named ‘rest.’
: Vitality stat increased by 2.
The wraith 「Persia」 speaks.
Sincere praise for that will unyielding even to death, those steps toward undying life.
O bearer of the eternal flame.
This blessing shall illuminate your boundless time alongside you.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘Whatever… good’s good.’
I sighed and tried to stand.
But… my limbs trembled.
My ass stuck to the ground like glue.
Once down, I couldn’t get up.
‘…….’
No choice.
My body too broken to move alone.
Just this once… I’d ask for help.
Blurble—
I cautiously opened the abyss.
Violet waves spread from me.
I reached in and slippery-pulled out what my hand grasped.
“Meep.”
In my hand…
A tube-clad guppy.
The fish hugging a colorful tube, eyes wide and sparkling.
‘…….’
“…….”
The human and the fish stared intently at each other.
In the silent forest, one person and one fish locked eyes meaningfully.
‘What’re you doing.’
“……….”
While someone else bled buckets and fought for life…
This fishbrain picnicked with its tube.
“…….”
The guppy suddenly wriggled—
Hanging upside down, it forcibly yanked off the tube with its whole body.
Then tossed the tube at my forehead with a half-hearted, grumpy flick.
Thud.
The tube hit my mask and flopped limply to the ground.
That was it.
Minutes later—
‘Hey.’
“What, human.”
‘Drag me gently.’
Leviathan had poofed into human form and was hauling me along by one arm.
With a humiliated scowl.
Blurble—
At least my body wouldn’t scrape the dirt.
My shadow spread abyss between me and the ground, cradling me.
“Hey, human.”
‘Yeah.’
“We’re here.”
‘Bullshit.’
“?”
How far could we have gone already.
Impossible.
I’d just been rolling ass-over-end in the Great Forest, and here already?
I doubted hard, and Leviathan dropped my arm with a thud.
“?”
I was about to complain to Leviathan… but he wasn’t even in sight.
Finally, I hauled myself up with effort.
‘Levi.’
Calling him, the guy standing off at a distance shot me a bored look.
No words, just sulky.
And…
Thwack!
‘Guh—’
Leviathan kicked my body.
I tumbled backward like a ragdoll.
Coughing, I looked up… and there was a somewhat familiar face.
“Welcome to the Great Forest.”
…Yeah.
Kaden, the one who’d turned me into this mess, stood before me.
“A perfect finale, Adel.”