With Esmeralda’s death, the fire evil spirit Quasimodo had been destroyed by Ludger.
The spirit stone left behind when Quasimodo perished had been kept by Ludger for a long time.
Its ability was simple.
It absorbed any flame not created by magic.
From this, Ludger gained the clue that this spirit stone could give birth to something new.
It needed to consume fire in order to revive—but how much fire would be required for it to awaken remained unknown.
Yet at this moment, Ludger was certain.
It had absorbed the flames of dragons, the sun, and every fire that could be called the pinnacle of modern science.
Even before that, the fires he had steadily fed into it over time had accumulated.
At last, the condition was fulfilled.
Thus, the spirit stone became the seed of a new spirit’s birth.
Uwoooohhh!!
In the past, Quasimodo had been a bloated, grotesque mass of flame with a hideous face.
But the Quasimodo of now was different.
Two arms, two legs.
Its overall form was human, yet its towering frame was immensely robust.
What drew the eye most of all was its head.
A reptilian skull with horns—without doubt, the head of a dragon, a creature now left only in legend.
A Dragonkin.
Quasimodo had shed his former shape and been reborn as an entirely different being.
Ludger shouted at this spirit, no longer Quasimodo but something new.
“Defeat the enemy before you! Pascha!”
No longer the fire evil spirit Quasimodo.
The new fire spirit Pascha let out a roar.
Lifting his head to the heavens, Pascha released the thunderous cry of a dragon before fixing his gaze on Ventmin.
Though Ventmin had grown to monstrous size and armored herself, standing over ten meters tall, Pascha stared into her eyes from the same height.
Fwoosh!
White flames streamed from Pascha’s eyes like burning pupils.
Crrrack.
He opened his jaws toward Ventmin.
From deep within his throat, a white glow emerged, then a terrifying breath blasted forth, swallowing her.
“Kh!”
Even when struck head-on by incendiary bombs, Ventmin had remained unscathed—but now she raised both hands against Pascha’s flames.
The petal-shields she had thought untouchable began to blacken as Pascha’s fire seared them.
‘The dragon’s flame!’
Grinding her teeth, Ventmin drove her roots through the ground.
As they writhed beneath the earth, the land surged like waves, throwing Pascha off balance and cutting his breath short.
Ventmin, barely escaping the dragon fire, glared at Pascha with wary eyes.
“A top-grade fire spirit? I heard Quasimodo disappeared with Esmeralda!”
This spirit was far more powerful than the Quasimodo Esmeralda had once controlled.
“You wield Lesley’s steel magic, and now Esmeralda’s fire spirit as well?”
Her gaze shifted past Pascha, landing on Ludger.
“So. Now I see it. The one who struck them down—it was you! You were behind it all!”
John Doe.
No... was that one truly John Doe?
But if not, then why had Zero Order left Ludger alone?
Questions upon questions rose in her mind, but Ventmin forced herself to focus on the reality before her.
“Very well. I admit it—you have forged a dangerous spirit. Pascha, was it? Indeed, power befitting a top-class spirit.”
And this was only its birth. It could still grow stronger.
Perhaps... it might even challenge the position of a new Lord of Fire.
Pascha gave no reply.
Whether he was incapable of speech or simply unwilling to exchange words with his enemy was unclear, but one thing was certain.
Pascha intended to burn Ventmin to death.
Sensing that intent, Ventmin stretched out her hand.
Ssshhhk.
Vines coiled upward from the ground, twisting together like a vortex until they formed a spear in her grasp.
Ventmin seized it and leveled the point at Pascha.
“But flames, however fierce, are still but a part of nature. I will show you they cannot stand against Nature itself.”
Uwoooohhh!!
Pascha charged at Ventmin.
In her other hand, she conjured a shield of petals.
Like a Valkyrie sculpted from tree and flower, she stood against him.
Pascha and Ventmin collided.
Pascha swung his blazing fists, while Ventmin blocked with her shield and thrust her spear again and again.
Their clash shook the surroundings as if an earthquake had struck.
Golden pollen ignited in Pascha’s heat, scattering embers across the field.
“Sedina! Now!”
Seizing the opening, Ludger called to Sedina.
Ventmin was wholly absorbed in her battle with Pascha.
This hard-won chance could not be wasted.
Their true goal lay beyond Ventmin—at the pool where the World Tree’s sap gathered.
Sedina needed to reach it.
But knowing it and doing it were different matters.
The path to the sap was a maelstrom of golden pollen and crimson flame, an apocalyptic scene.
Even from afar, its power pressed against the skin. She would have to plunge through that chaos.
The slightest misstep, and she would die instantly.
Her body trembled.
No matter how she steeled her mind, she was still young.
Before the terror of death, she could not remain composed.
Then Ludger stepped before her.
“I will open the way.”
Whether intentional or not, his presence blocked the dreadful view ahead.
All she could see was her teacher’s back.
And with that alone, the tension strangling her heart eased.
“Can you do it?”
“I’ll... try.”
Sedina shook her head hard.
“No. I will do it!”
At her resolute cry, Ludger turned his head slightly, a faint smile on his lips.
“Good. Then let’s go.”
He sprinted forward.
Sedina followed behind him.
A guide before her.
One who walked the difficult road in her stead.
So this is what it means to be an adult.
This is what it means to be a teacher.
Just having such a person gave her immeasurable comfort.
In this moment, Sedina felt with all her heart the meaning of the words she had once shared with her mother inside the World Tree.
“Ludger Cherish!”
As Ludger dared to pass, Ventmin called his name and raised her spear high.
She swung to strike him down—
But Pascha lunged, biting into her shoulder.
Craack!
Flesh crumbled, burning furiously, yet Ventmin did not stop.
Summoning every shred of her strength, she thrust her colossal spear down toward Ludger.
Though its tip was but a flower bud, the weapon’s power was undeniable.
Even steel golems and armored vehicles would be torn apart like paper before it.
Defensive magic would not withstand it either. Ludger shifted his magic to offense.
He drained what little remained of his artifacts, squeezing out his mana.
Rapidly tracing a complex formula in the air, he invoked a spell.
An eye for an eye.
A tooth for a tooth.
Wood for wood.
6th-Circle grand magic of the wood attribute.
[Great Tree Meteor Grove]
A colossal tree of mana erupted upward, colliding with Ventmin’s spear.
But Ludger’s magic was not a mere contest of force.
The single tree split endlessly, its branches winding around the spear, climbing her arm, enveloping her shoulder.
It did not strike head-on, but wrapped softly, nullifying even her attack.
Ventmin gritted her teeth and swung her shield, severing her own right arm.
The limb was quickly regenerated, but in that moment of weakness, Pascha lunged to tear at her throat.
Even then, Ventmin smiled.
The spear, still entwined in Ludger’s branches, bloomed.
The flower bud at its tip unfurled in full blossom—
And green toxic fumes burst forth, spreading in all directions.
Bio toxin.
A lethal venom that consumed all living beings engulfed Ludger.
Ventmin allowed herself a smile of triumph within.
Holding one’s breath would not save him.
Her poison was the kind that seeped through the skin, necrotizing everything inside and out without exception.
As a bonus, it brought with it the agony of feeling as though one’s very soul were being severed.
The victorious smile faded from Ventmin’s face.
For Ludger burst out of the purple toxic smoke completely unharmed.
“H-how...?”
Ventmin was so shocked that she even forgot she should be pushing Pascha away.
But who could blame her—Ludger looked far too unscathed.
It wasn’t that he was pretending.
He truly hadn’t changed in the least, not even in complexion.
“My apologies. But none of the poisons in this world work on me.”
Rather, poisons that could not harm his body became medicine.
Converting the venom into mana, Ludger cast a wind spell straight ahead.
A long vortex surged ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) forth, driving back the golden pollen and creating a temporary vacuum corridor.
“Go!”
From behind his shadow, Sedina leapt forward.
From this point on, she had to run by her own strength.
No one to guide her, no one to take her hand.
‘I can’t keep chasing from behind forever.’
But the path was open.
The direction was clear before her eyes.
This was the path she must walk.
The key to the future forged by Ludger and all those fighting desperately in this place.
Sedina gathered every last ounce of strength and sprinted toward the pool.
“Stop her!”
Burning under Pascha’s grasp, Ventmin shouted desperately.
The wood zombies moved to intercept Sedina at her command.
“Not happening!”
Alex grappled Bereborn stubbornly.
Vierno, Ambella, and Lutus did the same.
Fighting against heroes once hailed as great warriors and family heads, they stood firm to block their way.
“Stop her! Stop her even if your bodies break apart!”
Ventmin screamed, ordering the wood zombies.
They exchanged glances, then once more charged straight at Sedina.
“Persistent bastards!”
Lutus swung his sword.
Not merely a cut—his aura strike shattered the severed parts in a swirling pattern as it sank deep.
This time, however, the wood zombies took the strike head-on.
“What?”
As beings without the concept of life, the wood zombies obeyed Ventmin’s command faithfully.
Even as their bodies crumbled, shards and weapons from them flew at Sedina.
Her eyes widened at the deadly fragments hurtling toward her.
Just then, a white shadow cut in between.
“S-senior?!”
It was Hans, throwing himself in to shield Sedina.
But Hans was not unharmed.
Where fragments pierced him, his white fur turned crimson with blood.
Worse, the shards squirmed, sinking roots into his skin.
Though wracked with pain, Hans did not forget his duty.
[Don’t stop!]
At his struggle, Ventmin’s eyes blazed.
“How dare you! You insist on hindering me to the very end?!”
If Sedina could not be stopped—
Then she would simply destroy the World Tree’s pool Sedina sought to reach.
Ventmin plunged her hand into the ground.
Even as her body burned, scattering into black ash, she did not care.
If she failed to stop this here, then everything would truly end.
“Be gone—all of it!”
She shook the roots driven deep into the earth with all her strength.
Enough to trigger a local earthquake.
She would collapse the ground and drag the pool of the World Tree’s sap down with it.
But—
“What? Why isn’t the ground...?”
Her will went unanswered.
No quake came, no collapse occurred.
“Why... why not...?”
Her power had not run out.
The roots still writhed at her command.
But the earth they touched refused her, compressing solid and unmoving.
“No... impossible. The land where deep roots are planted should, of course, belong to me...”
“You seem to be mistaken.”
A sharp voice pierced Ventmin like an arrow.
She turned her gaze toward Ludger.
“This land was never yours to begin with.”
“What?”
“It already has a master.”
“A... master...?”
At last, Ventmin sensed it—the immense presence spread through the earth.
Something beneath the roots.
Its form resembled a colossal turtle swimming through soil as though it were water.
“Don’t tell me... the Elemental Lord of Earth?”
But why would such a being appear here, suddenly?
Ventmin was bewildered—but Ludger could not answer either.
In truth, he too was astonished.
“Elemental Lords... how sly. To have been lurking in secret all this time.”
If it was going to help, it could have done so earlier.
Still, Ludger knew complaints would be pointless.
For in this fleeting instant, the Earth Elemental Lord had given him real aid.
“N-no...”
Ventmin, charred to cinders by Pascha, stared aghast at Sedina.
She saw the girl at the very edge of the pool, diving in.
Sedina’s body began to transform as she touched the sap of the World Tree.
Her short brown hair lengthened, strands flowing down into the sap like neural threads.
That hair, once brown, turned into a dazzling, crystalline silver.
Yes.
The same hair color as Ella Plante, the one Ventmin had so despised and envied.
“This... this can’t...”
Ventmin’s consciousness snapped and ended there.