Chapter 77
‘… Seems like they don’t need my help here either.’
Kwakwa-kwaang! Kwaaang!
Amid the thunderous clash of steel and bone—unimaginable sounds—Erica landed carefully on the roof, avoiding debris.
The commander was locked in an intense battle with the Undead Wyvern.
To be more precise, it wasn’t really a battle.
It felt more like…
‘Taming.’
“Hm.”
The imposing Death Knight that had been riding the Undead Wyvern was nowhere to be seen.
That thing embedded over there was probably the Death Knight.
The commander continued to engage the now-riderless Undead Wyvern.
Kwaaang!
“Wow, its stamina is impressive too.”
The Wyvern’s front claws struck the Black Shadow Blade, causing the black mana to ripple briefly.
Judging by the controlled swings, the commander seemed to be toying with the Wyvern.
“Commander!”
“Oh, is everything downstairs sorted?”
“Yeah. Yuria’s probably taking care of it all.”
“Great. Looks like it’s quieter than expected?”
‘Quiet? Since when was a Wyvern crashing into a building considered nothing?’
Erica held back her thoughts and shouted toward the now-relaxed commander.
“Let’s wrap this up quickly. Nothing good comes from being out here too long!”
“True. By the way, any sign of Randgar?”
“Nope. Not in this area or anywhere in the Academy. Looks like he fled after the plan failed.”
“Really?”
Just in case, Erica focused again, searching for any trace of the vice principal’s presence.
As expected, there was nothing.
“Not even in the vice principal’s office?”
“Nope. I scanned the whole Academy, and—”
‘Huh?’
At the commander’s question, Erica concentrated specifically on the building housing the vice principal’s office.
She had clearly sent out a wave that passed through the office, yet there was no presence detected inside.
But something felt off.
There was a faint, subtle sense of wrongness.
It wasn’t that the wave passed through unobstructed; it felt like it slid over something.
“… What?”
“Hold on. Something feels strange.”
Closing her eyes, Erica spread her mana thinly, directing it toward the vice principal’s office building.
This time, instead of a broad spread, she targeted the specific area.
Swoooosh!
‘Something’s cloaking it.’
“Commander.”
“Yeah? What’s up?”
“There’s some kind of barrier near the vice principal’s office. It’s intricate enough to fool detection spells.”
“… Is that so?”
Erica nodded.
The disturbance was faint, but it wasn’t a natural occurrence.
As Erica’s expression tightened, the commander’s face also turned serious.
“No wonder this seemed too easy.”
“Should we go check it out?”
“Yeah, let’s. First, let me stash Little Wyvern.”
“… Little Wyvern?”
Wooong!
Erica’s question was quickly answered.
The commander reached out to the charging Undead Wyvern, which then disappeared as though sucked into a void.
‘Seriously, in the middle of all this?’
“Just in case, I’ll go alone. If I leave, there’s a chance they might strike again.”
“… Alright.”
As Erica nodded, the commander vanished.
Erica took a quick glance around.
Surprisingly, aside from the spot where the Wyvern had first crashed, the damage was minimal.
The only significant damage seemed to be where the Death Knight had fallen.
‘Neat work.’
It was uncharacteristic of the commander, but it seemed he had deliberately minimized the surrounding destruction.
***
Thump, thump!
Emily rubbed her eyes several times, questioning whether what she had witnessed was a dream or reality.
Yuria Prisis.
A mage hailed as a genius even among the Prisis family.
A mage whose talent was said to surpass even the current head of the family.
Someone who had severed all ties with the family after leaving.
And her only aunt.
“Everyone, this way!”
“But who made this path?”
“No idea. If it’s ice magic, maybe Professor Kelster?”
“Do you really think Professor Kelster could cast a spell of this magnitude?”
“Is that what matters right now?”
Emily hid behind a massive ice wall, eavesdropping on the professors’ conversation.
Yet her eyes stayed fixed on one spot.
Since the moment her dance with Ryu ended, Emily had been watching her aunt, Yuria.
Even amid the chaos of the earlier explosion, Emily obsessively trailed after her Aunt Yuria.
Yuria entered a room, and shortly afterward, someone dressed in black emerged.
Although the person’s face was covered, Emily instinctively knew it was Yuria.
From that moment on, Emily only followed Yuria, now dressed in black.
She nearly lost sight of her a few times, but Emily managed to keep up until the end.
Perhaps because of the chaotic situation, Aunt Yuria didn’t notice that she was being trailed.
Breaking through a window, Aunt Yuria headed toward the building’s entrance.
Emily almost let out a scream when she saw the scene at the entrance but managed to suppress it.
Countless Skeletons and Death Knights were marching toward the entrance.
And blocking the main gate was someone else dressed in black, much like Aunt Yuria.
The black-clad woman was tirelessly swinging her sword, keeping the Undead at bay.
It seemed Aunt Yuria was acquainted with this person.
Although Emily couldn’t hear what they were saying, Yuria appeared to approach the gate amicably.
Emily couldn’t help but be awestruck by Yuria’s subsequent magic.
With a single spell, Aunt Yuria froze all the Undead in front of her.
The sheer power of the magic made it difficult for Emily to grasp how extraordinary it was at her current level.
‘Why hasn’t she come out yet?’
After freezing the Undead, Aunt Yuria began constructing a massive ice wall.
It started at the building’s entrance and stretched safely toward the rear.
Yuria built a path surrounded by ice walls and then stared at it briefly before disappearing into the forest.
A forest untouched by the effects of her ice magic.
Gulp.
Even though quite some time had passed since Aunt Yuria entered the forest, Emily felt a nagging worry for her.
She knew there was no need to worry about Aunt Yuria, but still.
Emily touched the cold ice wall once before stepping into the forest.
On her path were countless frozen Skeletons and Death Knights.
Perfectly frozen Undead.
Emily instinctively calculated how precise the magic needed to be to emit such cold.
At her current level, it was something she could not even hope to imitate.
Step, step.
Emily soon reached an unfrozen area.
She didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but the frost ended exactly where the forest began.
And the moment Emily stepped onto the unfrozen soil—
“… Emily.”
“Ah.”
A soft voice emerged from deeper within, followed by someone stepping into view.
It was Aunt Yuria.
Not in her black-clad attire with her hood up, but in the dress she had worn at the party.
“Aunt.”
“Why did you come here? You should be evacuating.”
“…”
“Let’s go.”
Emily ignored her aunt’s words, pretending nothing had happened as she tried to pull her away.
“I saw everything.”
“…”
Seeing no response from Aunt Yuria, Emily realized something.
Her aunt had no intention of making excuses or hiding the truth.
“Did you know this would happen?”
Facing her aunt up close after such a long time, Emily’s mind swirled.
She had countless questions prepared, but none of them came out.
Summoning her focus, Emily asked the question that plagued her most.
To her, Aunt Yuria seemed like someone who had known something like this would happen today.
From the moment the commotion began, Yuria had changed into her combat attire and stepped outside without hesitation.
“… Have you been doing well?”
“…”
Emily was momentarily speechless at Yuria’s words.
Her aunt’s voice had been kind and gentle during the interrogation yesterday and earlier today, but this was different.
Now, Aunt Yuria’s voice carried the same warmth as it had in the past.
The gentle and soft tone that comforted Emily during her difficult childhood.
Hearing that voice again made Emily feel as though she had returned to those times.
“It must have been hard for you.”
“…”
Yuria’s voice was heavy with regret.
Emily still couldn’t respond.
As a child, she had been filled with resentment toward her aunt, who suddenly vanished from her life.
She had harbored anger toward the aunt who abandoned her to face hardships alone.
But as time passed and she grew older, Emily began to understand Aunt Yuria.
Hadn’t she herself left the family, even going so far as to change her surname?
“I’m sorry. I disappeared without a word.”
“…”
At Yuria’s continued apology, Emily nearly broke into tears.
Even though she understood why Yuria left, her feelings of anger and hardship had lingered.
But just hearing a single apology felt like it washed away all her resentment.
Hug.
“Ah…”
As Emily struggled to hold back her tears, Yuria moved first.
With tear-filled eyes that mirrored Emily’s, Yuria embraced her.
Despite the sharp cold emanating from Yuria, likely due to her magic, Emily felt no chill.
Instead, she felt warmth.
Aunt Yuria’s embrace, after so many years, was warm and comforting.
A single tear slid down Emily’s cheek as she could no longer hold back.
—
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