Chapter 854: Land of Fire [1]

Swooosh—!

Pebble’s enormous wings beat once, the powerful wind scattering in every direction as its massive body gradually slowed to a halt midair.

"This is as far as we can go, human."

Pebble’s voice reached me soon after.

"...I feel the presence of something powerful up ahead. Anymore and we’ll be in danger."

"Mhm."

For even Pebble to deem it powerful, whatever was up ahead was likely Destroyer-ranked or above. Most likely, it was a Primordial Rank. Looking down, I could already see that the ice was long ago, replaced by a thick and dense forest.

"On the other side of the forest, there should be the Land of Fire."

An’as spoke as he looked down.

At the same time, he took out a map and looked at it.

"I’m not quite familiar with this place, so I can’t exactly say where we are, but if I had to make a guess, we’re nearly on the outskirts of the Land of Fire, likely in the forest of Malenconies."

Malenconies?

This rang a bell.

"Oh, fuck. Not those things."

Anne covered her face while ruffling her hair.

"I’ve dealt with those things before. Although they aren’t quite strong, they’re incredibly annoying. Once they lock target with you, it’ll be impossible to escape them. Do we have no choice but to go through here?"

Anne looked at Pebble as she asked.

Pebble flapped its wings once before its large head tilted slightly.

"...It is the closest way."

"Ah, shit."

Anne looked at me.

"You..."

But her words came to a sudden halt as a figure popped up next to me, looking exactly like one of the Malenconies she was aware of.

Her expression changed.

"That! There’s one right here!"

"I know."

I extended my hand to stop her before she could do anything.

"This one is with me."

I recalled the will, and only then did Anne realize that it wasn’t exactly a Malencony.

"You... this is the second time that you’ve shown me something like this. What exactly did you do?"

"It’s a bit complicated. I’ll explain along the way."

I tapped the top of Pebble’s head.

Understanding at once, its massive wings gave a heavy beat, and its large body began to descend.

As we dropped lower, the forest below grew sharper and more oppressive. Towering trees loomed over everything, their bark dark as charred bone, their thin branches twisting upward like sharp spikes clawing at the sky.

The closer we came to the forest, the heavier the air felt.

But above all, as I looked into the forest, I started to wonder just what sort of creature was staying inside that even Pebble had no choice but to land.

’...I hope that it’s on the same level as Xa’hurl.’

Granted, I wouldn’t need to fight it.

In fact, I had long been aware of the existence of such a powerful monster within this vicinity. It was one of the main reasons why I wanted to come here.

But that was merely on the premise that I wouldn’t need to fight it.

Having already used the Oracleus’s Eye, there was no way I could deal with a creature of that level again. The best I’d be able to do would be to use

[Eye of Existence]

and hope that I could buy enough time for us to leave, but that was the best-case scenario.

As Pebble descended from the sky, we all hopped off its back.

"It’s quite a lot warmer here."

"...I can feel the heat too. I’m already starting to sweat."

We may not have noticed the weather change since we were in the sky, but the moment we came down, the heat became obvious.

"All of a sudden, I’m starting to miss the cold."

Kiera commented while taking off some of her heavier clothes.

I did too while looking towards the distance.

’Leon should be arriving soon with Owl-Mighty. In the meantime, I should try to think more about my next steps.’

Other than that, I was also quite exhausted.

There was some success, but I had yet to fully improve all of my spells. There was still a little bit of work for me to do. Still, it wasn’t like I wasn’t able to upgrade one of my spells.

In fact, I had.

I pulled out my status screen.

——●

[Julien D. Evenus]

Level : 81 [Tier 8 Magician]

Exp : [0%-[37%]-100%]

Profession: Magician

﹂ Type: Elemental [Curse]

﹂ Type: Mind [Emotive]

Spells:

﹂ Perfected type spell [Emotive] : Sadness

﹂ Superior type spell [Emotive] : Anger

﹂ Perfected type spell [Emotive] : Fear

﹂ Advanced type spell [Emotive] : Surprise

﹂ Advanced type spell [Emotive] : Joy

﹂ Advanced type spell [Emotive] : Disgust

﹂ Intermediate type spell [Emotive] : Love

﹂ Superior type spell [Curse] : Outer Hand

﹂ Advanced type spell [Curse] : Condemnation of Alakantria

﹂ Intermediate type spell [Curse] : Nightmare Hex

﹂ Intermediate type spell [Curse] : Immersia

﹂ Intermediate type spell [Curse] : Severed Sense

﹂ Intermediate type spell [Elemental] : Water Breathing

﹂ Advanced type spell [Body] : Gliding

Skills:

[Innate] - Foresight

[Innate] - Etherweave

[Innate] - Veil of Deception

[Innate] - Cosmic Suppression

[Innate] - Mana Sense

[Innate] - Eye of Existence

——●

The main issue that I had when upgrading the spells wasn’t just the runes. Fiddling and rearranging the runes was hard in itself, but the problem was that one needed to have a proper understanding of the spell for it to upgrade.

’That’s probably why in the past I needed to fully grasp the spells before they would upgrade. The same thing goes for this.’

Thankfully, I already had a good idea of how most of my spells worked.

The ones that I needed to work on the most were the Intermediate-ranked ones. At this point, they were simply too weak for me.

My next goal was to upgrade them.

"...What do you think the situation in the Land of Fire is like?"

An’as suddenly asked me.

When I turned my head, An’as was already sitting on the ground, taking out a small snack as Anne sat next to him, grabbing a chunk of his food.

"I’m not sure. I’ve never been there. However, Anne did mention to you before that lately there’s been a situation with a second sun, right?"

"Oh, right."

I had almost forgotten about it.

An’as continued.

"I haven’t been able to find out much more, but looking up at the sky, I still can’t see a second sun. Do you think that might’ve been a lie?"

"I’m not sure about that."

In reality, from the moment that a second sun had been mentioned, I had already gotten a good grasp of what the situation was like within the Land of Fire. In fact, I even had an idea for the reason behind the second sun as a certain figure came to mind.

My chest grew heavier at the thought.

If it was really him, then...

"Aside from that, I also heard that the Land of Fire is a lot different compared to the other places since they value strength and power above everything over there."

My expression paused after hearing An’as’s words.

"What do you mean by that?"

"There’s only one city in the Land of Fire." Anne spoke for him, taking another bit of An’as’s food as he frowned and moved away from her, but as though she was an octopus, she clung to him and continued to steal his stuff while speaking to me, "Everything else in the Land of Fire is essentially a desert. However, in such a rural place, almost everyone within the city is extremely powerful. Amongst all of the Lands, the strongest warriors probably belong to the Land of Fire."

This was new to me.

"To judge each other’s strength, they have a sort of ranking for the top 100 people of the entire land, and those who make it to the very top will be able to meet with the city’s governor. I don’t know why you want to go to the Land of Fire, but if you have a goal, then this might be the best way for you to find what you want."

"...Possibly."

Honestly, probably not.

I couldn’t just go to the governor and ask where Noel was being kept, could I?

There was no way they’d tell me.

For that reason, I wasn’t that interested in this ranking system that they had.

"Ah."

Suddenly, I snapped my head toward the distance.

I rose to my feet at once as the ground trembled beneath us. A violent rumble split the air, and thick roots burst from the earth, tearing through soil and stone as they writhed upward like serpents.

Then it emerged.

Owl-Mighty in all its glory as red leaves began to shroud the sky.

I smiled at the sight.

"It’s been a while."

The tree stood imposingly, its presence even more pressuring than Pebble. The air thickened around it, bending inward as though the forest itself bowed in submission.

I started to move—

—but the tree suddenly convulsed.

Spurt—

And it spat a figure onto the ground, its form shifting once more and condensing into an owl as the owl flapped its wings and sat onto my shoulder.

"Human."

Owl-Mighty quietly spoke, giving me a small nod of acknowledgment.

I nodded back.

"It’s good to see you again. From the looks of things, you’ve gotten stronger than the last time that I saw you."

"Passable. I am still far from Primordial Rank. However..."

The Owl’s eyes narrowed as it turned to face the forest.

"...I feel a terrifying power hiding within the forest."

"I am aware."

"So what are you planning?"

"I am planning on crossing the forest."

The Owl’s eyes narrowed further as it looked at me. However, it didn’t say anything after that and turned its attention elsewhere. I followed its gaze, and that was when I took notice of Leon.

He was sitting by himself, touching the cracks in the earth with a lost look.

I opened my mouth, but soon closed it.

"Let’s go."

Since he was here, there was no need to delay things further as I headed into the forest.

The others followed.

***

Swoosh—!

A subtle breeze drifted through the forest, slipping between the countless trees and stirring their bare branches into a soft, restless flutter.

With the passing wind, a figure emerged at the forest’s edge.

She stood in silence, dark eyes narrowing as the earth beneath her started to darken.

"...I can feel it. They’re close."

However—

"There’s a troublesome existence here."

Her eyes narrowed further, the darkness in her eyes spreading further as she fixed her gaze towards a specific area. As if also noticing her presence, the forest seemed to come alive as all the trees fluttered at once.

But it wasn’t for long as the woman blinked slowly.

The rustling stopped, and the presence faded.

Without another word, she pressed her foot against the ground.

From the tip of her shoe, darkness bled outward. It shot across the earth like a tidal wave, swallowing grass and stone alike as it surged toward the forest.

Wherever it passed, color drained away, and the towering trees were slowly enveloped in a creeping, suffocating black.

Watching the black take over the surroundings, she tried to take a step forward, but stopped, her head raising to look at the forest.

For some reason, she found herself unable to move.

But above all...

Why?

The woman raised her hand and looked at the ring on her finger.

Why did she feel a vague sense of familiarity within the forest?

Taking another step forward, she stopped again.

After which, the darkness that shot ahead retreated as she quietly stared at the forest, her eyes narrowing further before she disappeared from the spot.