Chapter 158: The Dragon and the Flower Bloom at Night (2)
The enormous wave of power that erupted from deep underground was not something only Windy May sensed.
As if someone had thrown a massive boulder into the heart of a tranquil lake, it spread rapidly in all directions with a deafening intensity.
It was a force so strong that anyone with a certain level of mastery could sense it.
“This is……”
It was the same for Selendis, who had been scouring the skies for investigation.
— KRAAAHHH!
“Shh, quiet… Settle down, alright?”
She soothed her overly agitated wyvern, as if to calm it down, while her eyes sharpened.
They were already struggling with the investigation as night had begun to fall.
She had ordered all the lights to be lit at the outposts, illuminating the surroundings, and positioned the search teams in spots where they could keep an eye on one another—perhaps thanks to that, there were no further casualties.
However, it was undeniable that the investigation had slowed accordingly.
“……”
On top of being suddenly thrust into a critical role, her nerves had already been stretched thin.
Just when she started to wonder if the criminals, who had gone quiet, had only acted to divert attention to begin with...
She felt that massive wave of power.
After a brief moment of hesitation, she turned her reins without a second thought toward the source of the energy.
“……Mm.”
As always, Yeriel, buried under mountains of paperwork, momentarily set his pen down.
He gazed out the window with a worried expression, then let out a quiet sigh.
As if it were his sole duty to remain in place, he simply continued with his work in silence.
“This is……”
Professor Deiare, who had been meditating quietly, also opened her eyes for a moment before closing them again.
She had felt Windy May’s presence rapidly approaching the origin of the power.
As if she no longer had a reason to intervene, she returned to her meditation.
“……”
Count Amiel, who was quietly seated in the hospital room, reacted the same way.
He paused the hand holding a damp towel and looked out the window.
No emotion showed on his face, but his eyes hinted at a storm of complicated thoughts.
Still, he took no action.
He merely wiped the forehead of his son, Kyren, lying pale in the hospital bed, with the damp towel.
In a tranquil lounge.
As usual, Velita sat alone, lifting a teacup to enjoy its fragrance.
At that moment, her hand froze in midair.
Her pupils trembled faintly as her gaze fixed on a particular point.
“……”
She silently set the teacup down.
Her expression remained calm, as always, but there was a certain heaviness in her eyes.
“This is……”
She muttered softly to herself.
How long had it been since she last felt this flustered?
With that thought, she quietly swallowed a sigh and murmured,
“……This is far from what I expected.”
Her eyes dropped to the teacup she had just set down.
Fine cracks, like spiderwebs, were spreading across the snow-white porcelain surface.
……And elsewhere in the Academy, many others, too, felt that power from where they stood.
However, most of them only paid it momentary attention, showing no sign of stepping forward.
Each had their own circumstances and reasons—and perhaps they judged the energy to be too volatile to approach rashly.
Of course, the biggest reason was likely the fact that they sensed Windy May already heading toward the source.
“……”
Likewise, Cecilia, who had been quietly seated in her dorm room, easily picked up on the powerful surge.
She narrowed her eyes with interest for a moment.
But…
“Yaaawn…”
She soon yawned, as if disinterested.
As long as it didn’t pose a direct threat to her, she saw no reason to get involved.
However, that indifferent reaction didn’t last long.
Before long, a spirit came rushing in and blurted out something to her.
— M-My Lady… There’s something you urgently need to check.
“Yeah.”
— Um… Something huge happened underground…
“I know.”
— It’s not just that…
“What is it?”
— Sir Lian Gwendil is down there too…
“…What?”
Cecilia’s expression changed in an instant.
The drowsiness and indifference from moments ago had completely vanished.
With a panicked look, she jumped to her feet.
Her aura surged around her as if echoing her intense emotions.
……However.
The most intense reaction in the Academy came not from a place of urgency, but from a quiet clearing, atop a bench off to one side.
“……”
Jeil Enbarso slowly raised a trembling hand.
It was a motion as if to grasp something—anything—right away.
But then he let out a deep sigh and let his hand fall limply.
“……So this is why you came to meet me?”
A self-deprecating murmur escaped his lips.
In the eyes of the long-lived elf, a mix of deep anguish and resignation could be seen.
“Yes… Relics of the past must fade away, and now it is up to those living in this era to take responsibility.”
He slowly turned his head to look at the figure seated beside him at a distance.
A woman wearing a fox mask.
Her expression beneath the mask was unreadable, but he could clearly feel her gaze fixed calmly on him.
“Since you came looking for me like this, I suppose this wasn’t your scheme.”
Jeil Enbarso was the first to speak.
His voice held a weariness not usually present.
“Then what exactly do you want to say to me, coming all this way? Surely you haven’t come, like the others, to die or be sealed away.”
“……”
The woman in the fox mask remained silent for a moment.
Soon, a low voice flowed out from beneath the mask.
“……There are two reasons why I have gone through the trouble of coming all this way.”
“Two, you say.”
“I have already fulfilled one.”
She murmured.
“The other was to deliver a message to you in person.”
“I see. Then, might this business of yours have anything to do with that force erupting from underground?”
Jeil Enbarso asked, his brow furrowing.
The woman in the fox mask slowly shook her head.
“No. That was something even I did not foresee. Merely… a coincidence.”
She paused.
Of course, she had long sensed that something foreign had taken root within Jode.
And that he was hiding some ulterior motives.
But she had chosen to leave Jode be.
“……”
Because she had full confidence that, should a problem arise, she could handle it at any time.
And, as Jeil Enbarso had said earlier, because she believed there was no need for someone from the past like herself to interfere.
But more than anything, it was simply because she did not have the luxury to concern herself with such trivial matters.
She had something far more important to deal with.
“So what is your point?”
Jeil Enbarso asked, urging her to continue.
The woman stared at the elf for a moment.
“Besides you……”
She spoke.
“There is another who survived.”
“……”
Jeil Enbarso’s shoulders twitched ever so slightly.
Then he fell silent, as if holding his breath.
From his reaction, the woman could tell that he had, to some degree, anticipated this.
“……May I ask who it is?”
“Of course.”
Jeil Enbarso asked quietly, as if to confirm something.
Without hesitation, the woman answered.
Then, from her lips came the name of someone.
“Arpentia.”
Arpentia.
The very founder of the Academy—an already long-dead hero whose name had been buried in the past.
Crunch!
The first thing that happened was the massive axe embedded deep in Yuran’s back sprang out with a grotesque sound.
As if her body rejected the foreign object, the wound instantly healed, expelling the axe.
Next, her once-pale complexion quickly regained color.
But it was far from an ordinary recovery.
As though she had risen from the dead, an eerie quality pervaded the scene.
In fact, from her entire body surged an overwhelming and terrifying aura, boiling and erupting like molten lava without pause—on a scale incomparable to before.
The stale air of the underground sewer shimmered around her like heat haze.
And that wasn’t the only change.
The pair of horns protruding from her forehead—
The broken one had already completely regenerated.
Moreover, all of them had grown slightly larger, sharper, and had transformed into forms that looked almost grotesquely menacing.
“This is……”
Lian, rising to his feet awkwardly, instinctively stepped back and muttered.
It was undoubtedly what he had intended, and her revival was the most joyous outcome he could imagine.
But the sight before him felt unstable and unnerving.
The same was true for Professor Shagas standing beside him.
His awe at his disciple’s resurrection was brief—he couldn’t conceal his complicated expression at the ominous energy and transformation radiating from her.
“……”
Sliiide.
Then, Yuran’s closed eyelids slowly lifted.
Lian, who met her gaze, instinctively held his breath.
Her pupils were not slitted like a reptile’s, unlike Airos or Amaruah.
But—those vivid red eyes.
They glowed even more brilliantly and clearly crimson than before.
“……”
Awakened, Yuran stared blankly into the air for a moment, then slowly moved her gaze around.
She tilted her head slightly, as if assessing her body’s condition.
Her expression was like someone just roused from a deep sleep—hazy, yet tinged with sharp alertness as she tried to comprehend her situation.
Her gaze eventually landed on Professor Shagas and then on Lian.
She was clearly recognizing them.
But the emotion in her eyes was difficult to decipher.
As if… she was trying to determine whether the figures before her were enemies or allies—her expression reflected such turmoil.
After a moment, her lips slowly parted.
“Master.”
Her voice was unchanged.
It was Yuran’s voice.
“……Lian Gwendil.”
She spoke Lian’s name.
Then once more, her gaze drifted blankly.
This time, her eyes turned to the Tentacle Mass, now withered and barely twitching.
“……”
In Yuran’s crimson eyes, something like a faint flicker of flame passed briefly.
Whoosh.
She casually waved her hand toward it, as if it were nothing.
There was no incantation—just a light gesture.
But the result was anything but light.
KWA-BOOM!
Like being struck head-on by a massive morning star, or crushed beneath the stomp of an invisible giant—
The enormous Tentacle Mass was instantly shattered into countless pieces, scattering in all directions.
“……”
Amidst that scene, Yuran simply stood motionless, not a single stir from her body.