Chapter 167 – 27. White Night (5)
As soon as I came to my senses, I looked around.
Trees, trees, a landscape full of trees.
…For some reason, I felt uneasy, but as expected, no one was around.
‘Did they all scatter…?’
This is a real situation.
The thought of that made my mind go cold.
In the worst case, if Alice’s magic failed and she couldn’t even leave the city, she couldn’t waste even one second of being in a daze like this.
With the intention of ascertaining the location, she immediately took the phone out of her pocket.
…But the condition of the cell phone was not very good.
Not only the additional functions such as the camera, but also the functions such as the GPS are all broken and flickering, perhaps due to the impact when moving.
In this state, of course, I had to abandon the idea that I would be in touch with other people.
Then, first of all, I need to know where I am by heading to an open place.
He puts his broken phone into his pocket, and grabs a nearby tree with his weak hand to barely raise his wobbly legs.
It was only then that the blurry vision brightened little by little.
“This… Doesn’t look like a normal sized forest.”
I don’t remember seeing trees so densely towering around me.
I tried muttering to myself to see if I was able to communicate with Alice, but I didn’t even hear any response, as if the magic was cut off due to a side effect of the magic.
Gradually, the situation begins to be felt on the skin.
Time, thanks to the sun not setting, there is a faint light, but it is a dark evening.
A place, in the middle of a dense forest with no end in sight.
The physical condition is also not perfect. It’s probably because of the magic reaction.
In such a situation, even a monster could have met a terrible end if he had accidentally encountered it.
I naturally frowned at the successive bad news.
“First of all… Should I look for the sound of water?”
If we assume that this is a mountain, the priority is to move in the direction of the sound of the water.
The sound of water means that there is a valley or stream nearby, which means that if you follow the waterway, you will be connected to the river.
I didn’t expect to get help from the survival series I read before.
It’s something to live for a long time in the real world. Going through all these things
I calm my breathing and raise my mana.
The remaining magic power was only a very small amount, but it was enough to temporarily strengthen the sense of hearing.
Uhhh—
Soon, various sounds began to be heard all around.
The sound of rustling leaves, the sound of water dripping, the sound of grass insects stinging.
Among them, I could find one awkward sound.
“…A person?”
– Whoa, whoa…
I don’t think it’s a sound that would come out of nature.
Irregular, rough breathing, it must have been a human sound.
I energized my ears and slowly moved in the direction the sound came from.
Carefully, in case it might be an enemy, hide your presence.
Moving between the trees and carefully approaching, what I saw was a pit full of fallen leaves, and the creature breathing heavily in it was… Alice.
“Ellis!”
“Master…?”
“Are you okay? What happened?”
Alice recognized me and she immediately embraced me.
I had been buried in fallen leaves, so I was covered in dust, but I didn’t care about that at all right now.
It was because the fact that Alice was safe made her feel much calmer.
“It’s okay to just nod your head, so if you’re having a hard time, just listen. Could it be that the movement magic didn’t work properly because of Magi’s repulsion?”
Nod.
Again, it did not live up to expectations.
Even after applying the buff like that, did it still fail? I actually thought it would fail halfway, but…
“Then are all six of them scattered around here, or are their locations completely random? Nod if they’re nearby, shake if they’re random.”
Nod again
That’s right… It might be surprisingly easy to find if you’re nearby.
If Alice’s magic is restored soon, she can use her search ability.
I let out a sigh of relief that the situation wasn’t as dire as I thought.
“Whoa…”
It was only then that I was able to get some time to think about Xian’s sacrifice.
Right before the teleportation, the spear that flew straight at me, Xian was hit instead of me.
Why did she push me away and meet her death?
“Alice, by any chance you have a connection with Xian, don’t you?”
Her head is nodded.
I have never owed Sian a favor, let alone owed her, and there is no point of contact between Alice and Sian, who were on the same idiot side…
In the end, because she saved me, she said she could get another chance like this, but what the hell is the reason?
Could it be that she didn’t want to forget her own death?
Or, is it because she wants to decorate her own end with her sacrifice?
Whatever it was, one thing was certain.
I have to carry her death on my back from now on.
My shoulders were no longer light.
How many more senseless sacrifices will be made in the future, how many more people’s lives will have to be shouldered.
Wars, clashes, massacres.
In order to put an end to all this, you will have to kill Cormpuntur.
It is certain that Pantagruel and numerous demon groups under him are the instigators of this incident.
Compuntur, located at its head, and even something beyond that.
I’m not completely sure yet, but it seemed like there was a high possibility that ‘she’ would face the enemy as well.
“What are you going to do if you’re just thinking about it? Ellis, let’s recover a little more and start. Are you okay?”
“…Yes, it’s getting better little by little.”
“I’m glad. Do you think I can contact the other kids? If not, even Juhara.”
“I think Juha-nim can do it now. Shall we try it?”
“Yeah, don’t overdo it.”
Alice took a deep breath, and she immediately raised her spell.
She muttered something after making her black sphere smaller with her magical powers, but her expression hardened as she saw her sphere turn gray.
She hurriedly gestures to erase her orb and recreate it, but this time it is all the same, only to turn gray before long.
I quietly asked Alice, who looked rather flustered.
“Are you unable to reach me?”
“Oh, no. It’s not that I can’t reach you… It’s just blurry as if someone blocked it…”
“…What?”
Well, as she said, if contact itself hadn’t been made, the sphere itself needed for communication wouldn’t have been created.
Then, the contact you are making right now is a possible situation, that is, a state where your mind is awake. But the word hazy was on her mind.
“What do you usually mean by blurry?”
“Um… Usually it’s a situation where you can’t respond even though you’re conscious, or if you intentionally refuse to respond, if that’s not the case…”
Alice’s voice was low.
“It’s a situation where someone is deliberately interfering with you so that you can’t respond.”
“…That means.”
“Juha could be in danger.”
“Are you unable to locate the current situation?”
“…Yes, that is still…”
My head is pounding.
Need to find Zhuhe first? That’s why there are four people who haven’t been contacted yet, but it’s right to think of that first when it comes to the number of people.
Let’s think as rationally as possible… Rationally.
There is absolutely no guarantee that Ha-yul, senior Seol-ah, Lay, and Ye-won are together at once.
They’re also in danger, but I can’t communicate with Alice, so maybe I don’t know that they’re in a crisis situation.
However, there is not enough time to find all four of them.
I see a fuse burning right in front of my eyes, how could I leave it alone?
“I was determined. I’m going to save Juha.”
“Then, instead of direct search, which is unhelpful, let’s switch to in-range search and use it like a radar.”
“In case you don’t know, check if there are demons or other awakened people around you. If you are one of the party, join them.”
“Yes!”
When you step on a branch damp with moisture, it breaks weakly.
A forest full of fallen leaves and knee-high grass.
I wasn’t even sure where I was or where the others were.
For now, follow the waterway, the same as the goal you set earlier.
Coincidentally, there was a shallow stream located near where Ellis woke up, so she decided to follow the direction of the water and head downward.
I was scratched by thorny grass, and I broke a blind tree branch and slipped, but I did not stop walking.
Just figuring out where this place is is daunting.
If I go down a little faster, I will be able to know the location a little faster, and I keep running with such hope.
And it was already past nine o’clock in the evening when we finally entered the open plain through the endless forest.
We lay down on the shallow grass, breathing heavily.
Since he no longer had the strength to move, he ordered Ellis to contact Juha once more while recovering his strength.
“Ellis, try communicating again.”
“Okay. Uh… Uh…? W, the connection…?”
Alice’s complexion darkened.
“I’m connected, but… I think it’s a little, a little strange…”
Alice is very upset.
I grabbed my throbbing head and pulled myself up again.
There must be something behind Alice’s hesitation.
When I ordered her powers over to me, she immediately diverted her communications to me.
“Ah, ah. Juha, can you hear me? Where are you now? Are you feeling well?”
– Support positions. Ji-hoo, Ji-jik.
The connection was not good, as if it was being interfered with by Magi.
I continued to speak calmly once more so that Juha could hear properly.
“I’m Ji-hoo. Ji-hoo Lee. How are you now? I’ll go there right away.”
– No, come here…! Jijik. Chijik! I’m the bait… Cheeky!
“…What?”
I heard it clearly through the noise.
…Something must have happened to Juha.
