Bang-!
Water is the source of life. Yet, ruthless violence disguised as vitality ravages the land.
As soon as the magic concluded, Professor Jin Chronicle, the vice-principal, descended to the ground and engaged in a brawl.
The clashing sounds of a sword and mace enveloped in the mana of Suwon resounded like crash!
Na-me, adorned with iron chains, skillfully deflected Jin’s sword and countered by diving into an opening.
“NoName, I’ll help you…!”
Clang-!
But Jin was not an unguarded human. His counterattacks repeatedly cupped the steel pocket watch, pushing forward with relentless strikes.
Chronicle’s sword gleamed with a blue aura. The blue mana yearned to sink its fangs into Na-me’s waist like a ferocious hound.
Na-me quickly rolled forward, pulling back the mace head as the following iron chains wrapped around Jin’s weapon, sealing it.
“Watch out for the light above—”
Before long, the pocket watch was looming over Na-me’s head.
The sound of the ticking second hand was dizzying.
The sound of the clock winding up foreshadowed a strike that would snatch away all living things in a straight line.
As Na-me charged at Chronicle again, he too positioned his sword diagonally and retreated.
The light beams conjured by the Forest Keeper left her vulnerable.
When faced with a definitive choice, he intended to snatch her life for sure.
Whirr—
Just as expected, Na-me halted her steps and activated a magic circle to dismantle the now annoying pocket watch behind her.
Her abdomen was prominently exposed.
Chronicle lunged at Na-me again with wide strides.
“Look behind you!”
Adella’s panicked scream erupted.
Na-me swung her mace late, realizing the response was undeniably tardy. It couldn’t have been anything else.
Crash-!
But before Adella could warn him, Na-me’s mace struck Jin’s head first.
What Na-me aimed to break was a decoy.
Instead, through a premonition of Chronicle targeting her, she cast an optical magic circle that disturbed the mace’s trajectory.
Guhk…!
As her last bit of health evaporated, she felt it might be the end of the boss battle.
-What a waste, sincerely, hahaha!
-That Adella kept taking hits for attacks that wouldn’t have landed.
-If you’re gonna interfere, why are you even here?
-A suspiciously skilled streamer with magic.
-Seriously, is it the professor? I’m starting to doubt it.
-Just pure physical strength is crazy too!
-That dodge while rolling away from the light? It felt like watching parkour in a movie!
-What’s happening…?
-Stop auto-attacking and use your skills, use your skills!
-Fact: Priests won’t learn a single offensive skill until Part 1 is over.
-Then why play a bad character?
-In normal mode, just healing from the back will let teammates handle everything, making boss fights a breeze.
-So I always recommend healers to friends who want to clear the game real quick.
Whoosh—
The mace head spun around.
Despite being struck squarely, Professor Jin Chronicle’s consciousness remained intact.
“Living to see… these bright young twerps…”
With both arms, one leg, and his skull in tatters, the professor coughed up madness.
“If only I had the Laurel.”
He seemed so defenseless, lacking even the strength to pick up the monocle that had fallen to the ground.
If he were to end his life, now was the time.
“Laurel. Laurel. Laurel. Laurel. Laurel. Laurel. Laurel. Laurel. Laurel. Laurel.”
Na-me loosened the chains and flung the magical item to land a heavy blow on his back from a distance.
Crack— A sickening sound echoed as his spine shattered.
“Laurel. Yggdrasil? Yes, unfortunate woman, I will bring forth the end of the wellspring today. A day’s delight is the collapse of six seasons.”
His words scattered like fragments in the wind without cease.
Then, his body stood tall like a marionette.
“Adella.”
He softly called his daughter’s name.
“My beloved Adella.”
“What—what’s happening!”
The pieces of the laurel restrained on him began to float once more.
Hundreds of fireflies adorned the night sky.
…!
The fireflies slowly encircled Adella.
Though she reached her hand out, sadly, none could be caught.
“Adella, run right now!”
“What?”
“It’s too late, descendant of Yggdrasil.”
The chaotic eyes of Professor Chronicle regained vitality.
“Uh… What’s happening to my body?”
Adella staggered and collapsed to the ground. Her legs had lost strength.
“The Laurel of Life. Truly an unbelievable item.”
-??????????
-Phase two?
-What? Just a moment ago, it was a three-phase pattern!
-His health is definitely at zero!
Players expect phase changes to occur the moment combat has concluded, or at the third or half-thirds of health.
Thus, Chronicle’s actions were perplexing.
Ice Prison
Around Na-me, 108 ice pillars surged in a circular formation.
“You’re not Jin Chronicle, are you?”
“Was my act too clumsy? It doesn’t matter anyway.”
Inside the ice wall, Na-me ignored the situation and extended a friendly hand to Adella, who had fallen on her backside.
“I’m sorry for scaring you. But there was no choice if I wanted to wake up.”
“Who… who are you?”
“Right now, I am nothing. Therefore, I cannot answer your questions.”
He was kind, yet that made him even more unsettling.
“I know you, Adella. I value your talents highly.”
Adella gripped the dagger she had hidden tightly.
Yet this man had no openings. Intuition warned her it would be too easy for him to block no matter how she struck.
However, Adella denied her instincts.
A swift strike aimed at the man’s carotid artery.
Ping—
Not even a scratch marred his throat, and he made no effort to block.
The difference in power was stark.
“Your effort, courage, will, patience, tenacity, and your very existence. Yet because of the curse laid upon your body, you cannot bloom as a flower bud.”
“What… what do you mean?”
“Foolishly, your father cursed you. On the year of your nineteenth birthday, you will depart from this world. Look here. Isn’t there a cursed mark upon your heart?”
Adella stole a glance down at her chest.
A blue symbol unlike any before had emerged.
“What’s this? So what!”
“Look, isn’t this painful even now?”
A dark aura swirled in the man’s palm.
At that moment, the mark imprinted on her heart resonated and began to shine.
Guhh…!
“You are a being that shines brighter than anyone, Adella. Yet due to a mere foolish creature, you spend your nights on a cold stone floor, slathering spit on hard bread to chew and swallow. Blame your father. It is only right that you do.”
“It hurts…”
“But Jin Chronicle is already dead. Do you find it meaningless that you could not kill him with your own hands? No, revenge is inherently hollow and empty. It’s all over, so do you truly have no regrets in life? No, you are, by nature, a greedy woman.”
“So what…!”
“Don’t you long for that girl’s talents?”
The man pointed at Na-me.
“I will grant you a new life. Steal the body of the Forest Keeper.”
The devil’s temptation whispered.
The ice pillars imprisoning Na-me twined around like snakes.
Four pillars opened wide, grasping at her limbs.
No matter how much Na-me struggled, the solidified ice refused to release her.
Now would be the time to fully take over the Forest Keeper’s body.
“Your desired warm food, a warm home, an academy life, you can start all over from scratch.”
You would become the Forest Keeper who originally came from Arseria to enroll in the academy.
You would possess a heavenly body chosen by the gods, not a filthy body smeared with grease from the stew.
“The body granted by Yggdrasil itself is a blessing.”
As the man withdrew his power, the chest pain subsided.
“How do I do it… What do you want me to do…”
“What we want is one thing. It wouldn’t be a bad proposal for you either.”
Fireflies clustered around Adella’s head.
They took on the appearance of a shimmering laurel crown.
“Become our new god.”
“A god…?”
“Yes. Yggdrasil is a false god. We need a new one.”
“I… don’t know about that.”
“No. It’s easier than pickpocketing a noble’s sleeve. Just stab the heart of the Forest Keeper with your dagger. It won’t be killing her, so there’s no need to feel guilty. It’s merely borrowing her body.”
“I… I am… Ugh… Huh!”
The fireflies glimmered anew.
Adella groaned, clutching her head as she collapsed.
Realizing the identity of the laurel, Yggdrasil, and the fireflies.
Simultaneously, Professor Chronicle’s body crumpled lifelessly to the ground.
Taking advantage of his weakened physical and mental state, she too had already been absorbed as part of his ‘existence’.
“You… were all demons.”
Tears streamed down Adella’s face.
Her loathsome hand struggled to let go of the dagger. Was this truly her intent?
Her heartbeat accelerated. Strength returned to her legs.
[You are a being that deserves to be blessed.]
Slowly, Adella approached Na-me, step by step.
Today, the weapon she held felt particularly strange.
Had it always been this sharp? A sense of dread welled up.
“I’m sorry, Forest Keeper.”
One more step, two steps.
“I really must look pitiful, huh?”
Na-me’s face showcased a clear look of surprise.
“I just wanted… ugh… I wanted my father to acknowledge me. I don’t know why things turned out this way.”
She wanted to prove her existence. To become a cog necessary for the world.
She feared that if she died like this, no one would remember her, and clung to the desire to be acknowledged by anyone.
“Did you hear? I’m going to die anyway… in less than a year… Why did my father keep me alive then? Why not just kill me the moment I was born…!”
She had constantly craved interest and affection throughout her life.
Even when Alperion was busy, she would disturb him with trivial conversations, and she had once stolen the favorite outfit of Ciciela.
“I know, even if I live like this, the world won’t pity me. I’m useless. I’m the Adella that everyone hates.”
That’s why she envied NoName, the Forest Keeper.
The instant charm that allowed her to speak with strangers readily, a body fashioned by the gods, inexhaustible mana, and endless knowledge.
In contrast, all Adella had left was the tenacity to reluctantly continue her life.
“I’m sorry… So why did you try to be nice to someone like me? You must have thought I was so untrustworthy…sniff”
Tears blurred her vision; Adella’s tear ducts felt like broken faucets.
Even in the midst of her despair, the Forest Keeper said not a word.
What could have created such coldness in her?
Adella had no way of knowing.
Her hands trembled more than when she took her first life. She lacked even the basics of a sword user.
“I didn’t want to be born this weak. I wanted everyone to look up to me. No, I didn’t need that… What was I really looking for…?”
The dagger, already half-destroyed from the numerous battles, was still enough to sever a weak lifeline.
Her sobs began to quiet.
This signified that she had made a resolution within.
“Yes… I think I understand now. I needed a friend.”
Was her desire to enroll in the academy really solely to receive her father’s full acknowledgment?
Adella had realized outright that with a mere single encounter, Jin Chronicle could never have been that sort of person.
Deep down, she had been envious.
When she had been cloaked in robes, stealing from the back alleys, she had been envious of the academy students who punished scoundrels oppressing merchants and who were praised for saving a child from being hit by a wagon.
She wanted to be part of that group. She wanted to be praised. She wanted to blend in.
She longed to feel the warmth of a person she had never experienced in her lifetime.
She poured her days spent into recounting them to the Forest Keeper entombed in ice.
“I think I wanted to live like those kids.”
With the dagger raised up to the sky.
“Thank you for everything… But there’s no other choice than this way. I’m sorry, it’s all my fault… Will you grant just one favor of mine?”
Energy from the fireflies concentrated all into the dagger.
The devil had completed the preparation to raid Na-me’s body.
“Don’t forget me forever… forever… It’s so scary to be forgotten… Keep me in your thoughts, remember that a wonderful person named Adella once existed… Oh, and send my regards to Mr. Gestalt. Hehe… That’s two favors, right?”
Adella forced a bright smile while gripping the dagger in reverse.
“Will you still do what I ask?”
The blade meant for Na-me suddenly twisted.
The point meant to pierce the heart of the Forest Keeper turned toward her own heart instead.
Sensing the crisis, the fireflies scrambled to escape the blade, but Adella’s arm was swifter.
Blood sprayed across Na-me’s face as Adella spilled forth a torrent of crimson.
The ice began to melt.
Na-me rushed to catch the collapsing Adella’s body.
Thousands of fireflies, having lost their host, ascended into the sky and vanished.
The bright red dawn shone forth, breathing life into the now chilled earth.
However, the girl’s body who chose to burn her insignificant remaining life for the most noble death lay still, cold as ice.
