Chapter 24
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Fairy Queen (1)
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The Forest Guardian sensed the massive surge of mana and spotted the heavy, fist-shaped spell hurtling toward it. It raised both arms.
The enormous fist racing straight for its chest was met by its equally massive hands.
KABOOOOM!!
The blast spread outward like ripples across a pond's surface.
The Forest Guardian's legs, struggling to support its massive frame, were pushed back.
Trees along its path crumpled one after another, unable to withstand the immense physical force.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
The adventurers, who had been staring blankly at the spectacle, snapped to attention at Jun's thunderous shout.
"Knock it off balance!"
At Benjamin's command that followed, the adventurers turned as one toward the Forest Guardian's legs.
A dozen or so adventurers relentlessly targeted its right ankle.
They hacked at it with greatswords, slashed dozens of times with daggers coated in corrosive poison, pried at gaps with battle axes.
Like David versus Goliath, the adventurers poured everything they had into toppling the beast.
They instinctively knew.
This was the pivotal moment that would decide the battle's outcome.
Those few seconds felt like an eternity as they swung their weapons with all their might, until a shout jolted them back to reality.
"It's going down!"
Their efforts weren't in vain. One of its knees began to buckle slowly.
As its balance naturally crumbled under its own weight, Jun gritted his teeth and poured mana into the steel fist.
Like Goliath felled by David's sling stone to the forehead, the steel fist smashed into the beast's chest as its stance collapsed.
Whooooooom——!!
The corrupted forest's guardian finally dropped fully to one knee.
Countless trees shattered under its weight, and a massive cloud of dirt and wind engulfed the party.
As the forest trembled as if voicing the Forest Guardian's agony, Jun clicked his tongue softly.
'Couldn't punch straight through in one go, huh.'
Through [Bright Eyes], Jun stared at the Forest Guardian just before the dust cloud spread. He confirmed that [Iron Fist] faded right before it could pulverize the beast's chest.
"It hasn't gone down yet! Charge!"
Benjamin had seen the same thing and barked the order urgently.
It was their final desperate struggle for survival.
Benjamin Bristone.
As captain of the Azure Cloud adventurer team and the instigator of this fiasco, he understood his situation all too well.
A failed raid. An exposed scheme.
As a noble who valued face above all, his patron would surely wash their hands of responsibility for this mess.
'At the very least... I have to finish this raid myself!'
The unexpected mage Jun's arrival had overshadowed his role considerably, but so far, so good.
If he could get all these mercenaries out alive and report everything to the Imperial Family, his sentence might be lightened.
A new patron could come later.
Noble backing might be off the table, but a major merchant guild could make it work somehow.
That's why Benjamin was more desperate than anyone to slay the Forest Guardian.
He wrapped his body in mana, climbed the beast's form, and raced toward its heart.
His target: the forest's essence embedded in its chest.
Normally protected by wood harder than steel, it now bore a massive crack.
"Strike!!"
The adventurers, as desperate as Benjamin, drew up mana throughout their bodies.
Miss this chance, and there wouldn't be a second.
They had to finish it before the still-groggy Forest Guardian recovered.
Crack! Graaaack!!
The sword, forged from a great beast's fangs, screamed in protest.
But the Forest Guardian's now-defenseless chest cracked wider in response.
S soon, an ominous purple glow seeped from within.
Realizing that was the corrupted forest's essence, hope lit their faces.
The moment they pried open its chest completely, Benjamin stepped forward.
A blade of blue aura shot toward the exposed, corrupted essence.
"It's over!"
But.
"...!"
His aura, which had never been blocked before, met fierce resistance.
"Guh...! That mage was right!"
Jun, the mage who devised this raid strategy.
Before the Forest Guardian assault, he had emphasized one thing to Benjamin and his comrades.
The corrupted forest's essence was tougher than expected, highly resistant to mana, and hard to shatter easily.
But repeated stabs would eventually destroy it, so conserve mana until then.
"Damn it...! Shatter! I said shatter...!"
His sword, laced with aura and desperation, clashed against the essence repeatedly.
Crack—
The moment a fissure appeared in the essence.
-KIIIIIAAAAAHHHH!!
A horrific shriek echoed, and the sky began to darken immediately after.
The forest wept.
Unlike the Fairy Queen's scream in that first dungeon, this one evoked a profound sorrow.
The sky gradually turned deep violet, and soon, no sound reached them but the Fairy Queen's wail.
In the endless silence.
That silence was broken by the adventurers atop the Forest Guardian.
"Captain!!"
"No!!"
Through [Bright Eyes], Jun saw what happened above.
A red branch protruding from Benjamin's back.
It was red because it had pierced straight through his heart.
"Son of a..."
Jun's face twisted in fury.
Benjamin's pointless death was secondary.
Through [Bright Eyes], a lone figure emerged mournfully against the deep violet sky.
"Fairy Queen..."
A woman appeared, emitting light indistinguishable from the sky's hue.
At that moment, whispers from the forest reached their ears.
"You die."
"Impaled on branches, you die."
"Torn apart alive by beast fangs, you die."
"Paralyzed by viper fangs, you die."
"Lost and parched without water, you die."
"Poisoned by toxic mushrooms, vomiting blood from every orifice, you die."
"Skinned alive by goblins, you die."
"Guts devoured by Steel Bugs, you die."
"Dismembered horrifically by undead, you die."
Visions that appeared the moment the Queen of the Corrupted Forest gazed upon the humans gathered here.
This was why Jun had dreaded the Fairy Queen's emergence—the true raid boss's majesty.
Skill, [Forest Cycle], had begun.
The first pattern: hallucinations inducing the 'Fear' status effect.
Mercenaries lacking mental resistance dropped their weapons and fell to their knees on the spot.
They began trembling, foaming at the mouth, sinking into the swamp of their own deaths playing out before them.
"Ah, aaaaaah...!!"
Next, the adventurers.
They had some resistance, but watching their captain die shattered their fragile mental barriers.
They too dropped weapons, reduced to the mercenaries' state.
"Grh...!!"
Jun endured thanks to [Unyielding Will] and [Steadfast Heart].
But those two weren't omnipotent.
They boosted resistance, not granted full immunity.
Amid visions of death repeating dozens of times, Jun thrashed to escape the status effect.
'Damn it...!'
Vigor faded from his eyes.
Fear ebbed, replaced by profound emptiness.
Death leaves nothing behind.
Only endless darkness remains.
Recognizing that was dangerous.
Knowing it well, Jun desperately circulated mana.
In the void where even a finger felt too heavy to move, only his will to live flickered like a dim light.
No grand spells possible.
Not even habitual chants.
His limit: instinctively recalling his most recent spell.
The earth twitched slowly, clumping together, then coated in mana.
[Iron Fist]
Tiny compared to the one that struck the Forest Guardian, but enough.
Tiny compared to the one that struck the Forest Guardian—but enough.
No, it couldn't be bigger.
This spell wasn't aimed at the Fairy Queen.
"Gahk—!!"
All oxygen fled his lungs, and searing pain from his gut spread through his body.
The steel fist had slammed into his abdomen.
Even a glass ball from two stories up could kill; this was solid steel burrowing into his belly.
His organs were probably ruptured.
But overcoming such hallucinations required this unavoidable pain.
"Heh... heh..."
Agony battered his brain, yet laughter escaped Jun.
Unlike hallucinations, this pain affirmed he was alive now.
"Blech!"
He vomited bile in an instant and barely regained his senses.
His body still felt leaden, but his living flesh activated to survive the torment.
He hurriedly downed a potion from his pouch and focused his mind.
"We're screwed..."
Wiping tears from pain-blurred eyes, he staggered to his feet. The scene matched his worst fears: devastation.
"Aaaah..."
"Hic... sob..."
"No, death is right there..."
Mercenaries and adventurers alike lay disarmed, staring blankly into space.
The Fairy Queen's arrival had reduced them to this.
And rightly so.
A fully awakened Fairy Queen, merged with the Forest Guardian, wasn't some monster meant to be hunted at this stage.
Like this, <Blackout>'s hidden pieces didn't always flow favorably.
'That's why I tried to end it before she showed...'
Even an awakened Forest Guardian was manageable for level 3 users, somehow.
Of course, that was moot now.
'What to do?'
He racked his brains desperately.
Small mercy: the Fairy Queen hadn't started slaughtering yet.
Thanks to Benjamin's near-fatal blow to the forest essence before dying.
But time was short.
The forest essence was a repository of the forest's energy.
The forest desperately repaired the damage even now, and the Forest Guardian was shaking off its grogginess.
Its gaping chest was proof—slowly healing.
'What about Priestess Eleanor?'
The only means to counter this wide-area status: Eleanor.
But she knelt too, hands clasped, murmuring scripture like the rest.
'She's resisting somewhat... but breaking free quickly is impossible.'
And he couldn't wake her with pain like his own.
Pain inflicted by another would blend with the hallucination.
'Aiden?'
Fortune in misfortune, or as expected.
Aiden hadn't collapsed like the others.
Thanks to the [Beast Body] skill imparted by Pride in the hidden piece.
Not fully free, but clearly aware and resisting.
'Not immediate combat-ready, though...'
Then, an unexpected turn.
"Mage!"
Twin adventurer Luke Markner approached Jun.
"How...?"
"...I don't know. Must be this."
"This?"
Luke showed a brilliantly multicolored cubic crystal.
The special material's glow protected his body.
'Status immunity...?'
Higher levels had similar artifacts, sure.
But for a mere level 3 like Luke? Astonishing.
"...A heirloom passed down my family. Didn't know it had this power."
"Family?"
"Haha... nothing grand. Just a Jinrang Tribe talisman. But that's not important now, right?"
As Luke said.
Details didn't matter.
Any extra firepower in this mess was welcome.
And Luke was an aura user.
Inferior to Benjamin, but key: he could damage the forest essence.
"So, mage. What's the plan?"
"...Finish it. Good news: the Fairy Queen's not at full strength either."
Her near-death wounds from Benjamin and comrades at first appearance.
Freshly awakened, she hadn't adapted to corruption and forest power's fusion.
Hence the delayed recovery.
She'd rushed here because the Forest Guardian was being felled.
'Of course, killing her is impossible.'
But destroying the forest essence? Hope remained.
"...I'll draw her attention. Climb the Forest Guardian and destroy the essence."
"You sure? Against that monster..."
"No choice. Only way. Hurry! Time's short. It's healing even now."
"Got it...!"
Luke moved stealthily, and Jun placed a hand on his choker again.
[Interpreting Chant...]
[Interpretation Complete.]
[Chant power reduced by 13% due to 'Odyssey of the Lazy Pilgrim.']
13 percent.
Just 3 percent more than his usual 10.
But for Jun, feeling it in his body, 'just' didn't cut it.
"Nngh...!"
Mana flooded him like a tidal wave, filling every inch.
Arrogant omnipotence, as if he could do anything—fleeting.
His inadequate body paying for overreach taught him the consequences firsthand.
'Help me just this once...!!'
Jun's limit was exactly 10 percent.
Beyond that, overload surged exponentially.
This was his first time pushing to manifest a spell directly at this level.
The bodily changes were beyond his prediction.
"Hah, haah, haah...!"
Boiling mana rampaged wildly. Casting now was suicide.
Mana backlash could turn on the caster.
So Jun focused entirely on controlling it.
'You damn things...!'
Mana bucked like wild horses.
He maximized affinity, but the chant, [Odyssey of the Lazy Pilgrim], blocked it.
Amid nauseating memories surfacing, Jun maintained calm.
From his Mage Tower days: mana is nature.
It doesn't bend to human will; it follows the world's rules.
Spell patterns disrupt those rules slightly to direct flow.
Caster's imagery sets mana density.
Ironically, to vent rampaging mana now, he needed to manifest a spell.
Guide the colts to their path.
In the process, overflowing mana scarred his circuits.
Friction heat shifted them from blue to purple, then red.
"Haaa...!!"
Overloaded circuits expelled hot breath through his throat.
Finally, the spell pattern completed.
But still insufficient.
Excess mana lingered; it all had to be vented to refine the pattern.
Imagine. Visualize.
The sturdiest, real phenomenon.
Magic manifests phenomena.
Derive process, realize result.
'When was it.'
Imagination ties to creativity, but also observation.
Jun lacked grand creativity.
Childhood chained to studies, adulthood to schedules.
Too much to demand boundless invention.
But observation? He excelled.
See. Remember.
A nightmare landscape resurfaced.
"..."
It began with unnatural fire.
Not a small flame, but man-high inferno—fear froze the body just looking.
As if greed incarnate.
True to that, flames swelled, devouring a child's tiny home.
Shudder...
Fire.
Humanity's greatest discovery—and all-consuming force.
Not just material, sometimes a child's...
"..."
[Fire Ball] (3rd Circle)
Flame orb infused with emotion and imagery manifests. Blood-red blaze hunts prey, boasting power beyond any ordinary 3rd Circle spell.
Emotion and imagery infused, the fireball emerged.
3rd Circle magic.
Yet surpassing any standard 3rd Circle in firepower, it blazed blood-red, seeking a target to unleash upon.
"This is..."
But Jun's gaze wavered at the spell.
Not what he'd envisioned.
No time to dwell.
The recovered Fairy Queen glared at him.
'Not ready yet...!'
Form complete, but excess mana unspent.
Fling it now, and it'd fizzle before reaching her.
His mana had to sustain it until a target locked.
Alas, time waited for no one.
The Fairy Queen raised her slender arm.
Emaciated form belied the horrific destructive energy gathering.
The corruption devouring the forest would atomize all it touched.
'Damn, just a bit more time...!'
As he poured power into the fireball, a deep violet butterfly shot from her hand.