Chapter 306: The Maiden of the Gentle Rain

Lumine didn’t have time to process their presence. All he felt was overwhelming relief—before Instructor Ranni vanished from her spot and reappeared in front of the plague.

She smiled.

"Apologies, but these two are dear students of mine."

The plague didn’t hesitate. Without giving Ranni a chance to strike, he vanished into a cloud of black smoke, reappearing dozens of meters away. Ranni immediately turned to Yelena. Her expression darkened.

"Cadet Celestina, heal Cadet Yelena immediately! Her spine is crushed, and she has severe internal bleeding!"

"On it!"

Celestina moved in an instant, kneeling beside Yelena. A soft glow radiated from her hands as she gently placed them on Yelena’s body.

Ranni then looked back at the plague, her voice colder and sharper.

"You should’ve kept a better eye on your pet."

"Hah?"

The plague’s confusion was evident. His head snapped toward the Cthellid.

Behind the mask, his eyes widened.

Hovering above the creature was a colossal blade—elegant, serene, and forged entirely from still, crystalline water. Its tip pointed downward, poised to strike.

Ranni’s smirk widened.

In the next moment, the sword plunged down, piercing through the Cthellid’s body. Black blood erupted violently, and the creature collapsed instantly. Within seconds, its remains dissolved into tiny white motes, drifting upward and vanishing into the air.

"You seem shocked. Maybe even afraid? Or both? That would be natural. As an Expert, you’ve no doubt endured countless hardships to reach your level... but facing a Master is another kind of hardship entirely. Another kind of challenge—assuming you live through it."

The plague turned his head slowly toward Ranni, silent.

Then, in a low voice, he muttered,

"...I’ll kill you one day for this, bitch."

And just like that, he vanished again—this time he didn’t reappear.

He was gone.

Simply gone. He had run, not even daring to fight against Ranni.

Lumine watched from where he lay on the ground, [Evolving Limit] had already run out.

"As expected of Instructor Ranni," Vergil said calmly. "The famous and beloved hero known as the Maiden of the Gentle Rain... We really lucked out having her in this scenario with us."

Lumine painfully turned his head to the right, seeing Vergil standing there with a serene smile, eyes fixed on Ranni.

Then Vergil looked down at him.

"I would’ve come sooner, but it took me a while to find those two and convince them to come with me. Also, locating the Horvix Estate wasn’t exactly easy—it’s not like I’ve ever been here before."

He stretched lazily, glancing at Celestina, who was focused on healing the unconscious Yelena. Ranni, after checking Yelena’s condition, began walking toward them.

"How...?"

"Hmm?"

Vergil tilted his head slightly toward Lumine.

"How what?"

"...You know what I mean," Lumine said in a strained, hoarse voice.

Vergil’s smile didn’t waver. He replied in the same calm tone:

"That, of course, is a secret."

"Keep that secret if you wish, for now, Cadet Vergil—but please assist Cadet Lumine."

Ranni’s voice held a gently scolding tone as she looked at Vergil with disapproval. Vergil, however, simply raised his hands in mock surrender.

"I would! But this idiot used a skill that completely drained him. We’ll have to wait for the princess to heal him. Moving him now wouldn’t be smart either."

"How about a health potion?" Ranni suggested. But before Lumine could respond, Vergil answered.

"They don’t work in this scenario."

Lumine’s eyes widened as he stared at Vergil.

’How does he know that already...? He doesn’t seem injured. Did he already fight and have Celestina heal him? But... no. If we all entered at the same time, then there’s no way they fought, gathered, and came here this fast!’

Ranni’s expression darkened again at Vergil’s words. She turned her gaze to Lumine, her face softening into concern.

"How do you feel right now, Cadet Lumine?"

"...I... I’m fine. Is Yelena—"

"She’ll be okay. Her injuries, thankfully, are within the range of Cadet Celestina’s healing magic."

Lumine exhaled a heavy breath of relief. His eyes fell to the ground as his expression twisted.

"...Thank you."

"It’s only natural for an Instructor to protect their students," Ranni replied with a faint smile.

Lumine pressed his torn lip together.

"It’s my fault... I was the one who suggested we stay and fight and..."

This happened.

"What matters now is that both of you are still alive," Ranni said reassuringly.

But Vergil suddenly chimed in, his tone as light as ever.

"Well, if you’d run away with her, it would’ve taken us longer to find you both. But Yelena wouldn’t have suffered those injuries—though a lot of civilians in this scenario would’ve died as a result."

At that, all three—Lumine, Ranni, and even Celestina—turned to look at Vergil.

He simply smiled.

"Cadet Vergil... are you a seer? Can you see different futures?" Ranni asked, her voice calm but her gaze sharp.

Vergil tapped his chin playfully.

"A seer? Seeing the future? No... I’m not someone who sees different kinds of futures."

Ranni narrowed her eyes, clearly unconvinced.

"Very well. If you wish to keep it a secret, I won’t pry."

Lumine, meanwhile, kept staring at him—conflicted. His entire body ached, pain throbbing through every limb... but still, he watched.

If not for Vergil, he and Yelena might’ve died.

Vergil had saved them.

And yet... Lumine couldn’t trust him. Couldn’t call him a friend. Couldn’t even decide if he was an enemy.

It was all because of what this enigmatic boy had said the time they met—when Vergil appeared at Lumine’s dorm door, requesting to join his faction.

———"Huh? You want to join my faction? You? Why?"

———"Why? Because I want to see with my own eyes what makes you so special. You might be important, interesting even... but I want to know why he thinks you are."

———"What... what are you talking about? Me? Special? Who said that?"

———"Who else? The very same prince who makes you train at night in your dorm, silently consuming mana to catch up to him."

———"H-How do you know that!? Have you been spying on me this whole time!?"

———"Does it matter? Listen, I’m not joining your faction to be your buddy—or even to hurt you. I just want to experience it myself, no matter how I act in public."

———"...Is that fun for you? To experience everything you find amusing or interesting? Is that why you were such a dangerous void streamer too?"

———"Why do you care? Just accept it—having me in your faction will only benefit you. There are no downsides. Trust me. You and Prince Azriel will eventually have to face each other in the Tournament of the Greats. We don’t even know if it’ll just be duels. The format changes every time. Sides might be taken. If that happens, having me on your side will hurt Prince Azriel more than anything. I mean, let’s be honest—he survived two years alone in the Void Realm from age fourteen to sixteen, then came back, became the apex, destroyed a grand plan of a massive hidden terrorist organization, and became the cause of death for one of their strongest members. Rumors say after that he went right back into the Void Realm for another secret mission involving the Crimson King. All of this happened in less than a year—and the year’s not even over yet. Who knows what else he’s still capable of? You’ll need all the help you can get. The only way to defeat him is to know him—but no one knows a thing about him."

———"He’s a monster compared to us. I get it. But... you’d really betray him? Aren’t you... his friend? I think? Just to see what he sees in me? Are you that confident? Or just that desperate? Wouldn’t it make more sense to side with him?"

———"I don’t care if it benefits me to side with him. Hell, I think he’d even be pleased if I chose to side with you."

———"Why?"

———"I don’t know. But to understand him, I need to understand you first. I want to know—what the hell is he hiding? Don’t you want to know too? What his secrets really are? I’m not joking. I can feel it—he’s hiding something huge. Something we need to know. And my instincts... they’re almost never wrong. So... what do you say?"

———"...Fine. Fine, you can join my faction."

———"Great!"

After those words were spoken, Vergil did join Lumine’s faction. In the eyes of the other students, the two may have seemed like enemies-turned-friends—but of course, that was far from the truth.

Eventually, Celestina walked toward them. Ranni turned to her, confused, as Celestina wiped sweat from her brow and spoke with a tired voice:

"She just needs rest now. It’s best not to wake her. I’ve healed all her injuries—including her spine—but we shouldn’t move her body for a few hours."

’Thank the gods...’

Ranni nodded.

"I’ll watch over her. In the meantime, you focus on healing Cadet Lumine."

Celestina nodded back and then crouched beside Lumine. Her hands gently pressed against his back, her expression growing serious.

A soothing warmth spread through Lumine’s body. It felt like a gentle blanket had wrapped itself around his pain, dulling the agony as his wounds began to slowly knit back together.

As the healing light embraced him, the sun began to set. His first day in this insane scenario—where he had nearly died—was finally coming to an end.

Turning his head to the side, Lumine felt his eyelids grow heavier with each passing second. Every movement, despite the warmth of Celestina’s magic, felt like sandpaper dragging across raw nerves.

Then, through the haze of exhaustion, he noticed something.

His eyes slowly widened.

There, unnoticed by the others, sitting atop the rubble, was a faint azure glow.

A tiny, floating blue orb.

No—not an orb. As Lumine forced his eyes to squint, his heartbeat began to race.

’It can’t be...!’

It wasn’t an orb.

It was a butterfly. A familiar butterfly.

A beautiful, mesmerizing butterfly—its delicate wings pulsing with a soft, sharp glow. At the same time, Ranni, Vergil, and Celestina turned their heads in unison, as if drawn by the same invisible thread.

They all looked.

And none of them could look away.

The butterfly shimmered faintly, its color throbbing like a soft heartbeat stitched into the very air. With each pulse, something subtle and consuming shifted inside them. They—no longer individuals, but one breathless, unified awareness—sank deeper into that glimmer.

’...What... is happening...?’

Lumine’s thoughts barely formed.

The longer they looked, the quieter the world became.

The ruined estate faded from their minds.

To Ranni, even the mana in the air seemed to stop moving, as if it too had become captivated.

And they—all of them—were falling.

The butterfly’s wings lifted again.

It was hypnotizing. Horrifyingly beautiful.

Celestina’s hands froze. Goosebumps rose across her skin.

And somewhere beneath the hypnosis, in a far and shrinking part of her and Ranni’s minds, a single whisper of dread curled like black smoke:

Something this beautiful

should not exist

here.

Ranni’s instincts screamed. In an instant, she grasped her left arm and dug her nails deep into her flesh, the pain sharp and jarring.

And she felt it—she was being pulled out of something. Something... unspeakable.

"Snap out of it!"

Her voice, amplified with mana, surged across the air like a crashing wave. The others flinched, suddenly jolted back to themselves as though emerging from deep water.

As if frightened, the tiny blue butterfly fluttered her wings and began to rise, drifting away toward the distant sun.

They all watched.

Watched in silence.

Watched in fear.

The butterfly flapped higher, until at last, it vanished into the horizon—gone, the glow snuffed out like a forgotten candle flame.

No one moved.

They simply stared at the sun.

And all of them shared the same chilling thought:

What... just happened?