Chapter 170 – 27. White Night (8)
The interior of the city was empty.
It’s a stupid idea, but there were no traces of people so strangely that I wondered if humans had moved to an extinct parallel world.
All that can be seen is the traces of destruction of various public facilities and small buildings, and the occasional low cry.
Has the city already been taken over by demons?
No, there was absolutely no way it could have been occupied in such a short time.
Right now, there are more than a dozen active Awakeners assigned to Arbadellin, an Awakener training facility.
Still, there’s nothing wrong with being careful just in case.
“Have you figured out the location of Juha?”
“No, it’s blurred because of drinking…”
Juha obviously brought out the word bait.
That means she has become a kind of hostage.
Pantagruel, I don’t know what those children want, but I didn’t have the heart to walk quietly into enemy lines.
We traversed the interior of the city, scanning every nook and cranny of our surroundings.
As expected, the first target to go to is Arbadelin, and it was expected that if it was there, it would be relatively free from the demon response committee or demons, so it was an urgent priority to go as quickly as possible.
It is certain that part of the city was occupied by demons, and while walking around the city, I encountered quite a few demons.
“What is that human?”
“This? My lord… Slave.”
“Have you already enslaved humans? Great job, cluck.”
Fortunately, with Elise’s appropriate improvisation, they were able to move on naturally, but some looked at them suspiciously.
Thinking that we shouldn’t run into each other sooner or later, from the middle, we kept our guard up and only crossed the alleyway to avoid people.
Arbadelin entrance finally arrived.
As if the school building had also suffered considerable damage due to the all-out war with the demons, broken pieces of stone and shards of glass were scattered here and there.
I was just about to cross the school gate after passing the garden toward the campus, when I felt something unknown staring at me, and I stopped walking.
“Why is that?”
“No. I guess I was too nervous.”
The moment I was about to step out, I felt something staring at me again.
Even if the first was a coincidence, the second was not.
In this, there was something.
‘A demon…? No, I don’t feel hostile to being a demon.’
Rather than revealing hostility… This gaze is more like a ‘staring’ kind of penetrating.
At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.
I stomped my feet in place as a test.
“…What are you doing?”
“Shh. Be quiet so I can hear you.”
Maybe if I’m right, I’ll respond to this signal as well.
If I know her, and if she’s watching this place.
‘A thousand ears and a thousand eyes.’
Sanya Dominas, it is possible with her.
And again, my expectations were not wrong.
Whii-ik-!
As if in response to my signal, a faint whistling sound came through the wind.
Sanya… You’re back.
Suddenly, I realized how much I depended on her. The fact that she is back at her school is such a relief.
“Let’s go, Ellis. It’s the principal.”
“Will I be okay too?”
“Since you’ve already seen me with you, you’ll probably be fine.”
Without starting immediately, I looked around the wide-open campus.
There was a knowledge that Sanya once gave me.
Did you say it was a sound prison? A wide-area obstruction that spreads a wide range of magical obstruction in a certain area, and allows you to find the right path only with a certain sound wave.
It is probably unfolding here now.
Anybody I know would definitely do that.
So, the sound of her had to pass through her prison to meet her.
If you don’t get through and take the wrong path, you’ll spend at least a few hours wandering inside the Distorted Magic Interruption Zone before being thrown back out again.
“Ellis, stick close behind me.”
“Yeah…”
‘There are two ways to get through the sound prison. The first is how to ignorantly cast magic to find the right path. Magical interference doesn’t work on the right path, so you just have to shoot your magic in a radial direction and head for the path where the magic spreads properly. But the problem is that no one has enough mana to perform this method well.’
“And the second… To use waves.”
In fact, if you know the principle, it is an extremely easy kind of jam.
What she expects is her minimal knowledge and ability to respond.
It was designed so that anyone with wave ability could easily pass through it, and even if they couldn’t use wave, any Awoken person who could use magic could pass through it.
And the method I chose, circular wave.
As if dropping a pebble on the surface of a calm lake, he gently spreads a handful of magical energy on the floor.
Then, a wave of magical power began to spread out like a wave.
Some headed the right way, while others disappeared when they reached the magical interference area, slowly revealing the path.
“Let’s go.”
After 10 minutes, we were finally able to reach the small wooden door.
The door, hidden behind a huge picture frame on the wall, was about half the size of a human torso, so I almost didn’t notice it when I reached it.
After letting Alice into the shadows, I carefully opened the door with trembling hands.
And then he smiled faintly at the sight he saw.
“Jihoo-kun, it’s been a while.”
There, there was Sanya.
* * *
The space inside the door was much larger than expected.
There were also several people whose faces I knew so well, and I had the impression that everyone was safe even in such an urgent situation.
Representative Wonharin, he is still between flesh and blood, so it was a bit complicated to see him here.
Next, Kim Sang-ho, I haven’t been able to see his face properly due to a lot of work lately, but it was really nice to see him again.
Goryushin, he was here too. He knew he would survive anywhere, but…
Other than that, Cho Yoo-jun, Song Min-jun, and Chris Lee… Those I’ve seen at least once were also hiding here safely.
Perhaps judging from the timing, it seems that everyone was rescued by Sagna, who arrived just in time, but then it is highly likely that they crossed paths with me.
I had no choice but to get out of the city in a corner and delayed quite a while getting back in.
Just in case, I looked around meticulously, examining every face one by one, but after all, Juha was nowhere to be seen.
“Jihoo, what about the other kids? Were they separated by any chance?”
Just in time, Sanya spoke to me with a worried face, so I explained what had happened so far.
Due to the search net gradually narrowing towards us, we were forced to escape the city by large-scale spatial movement, and in the meantime, everything was scattered due to the unstable flow of magical power. To being kidnapped by Pantagruel.
Sanya, who had been listening to me calmly, hugged me tightly when the whole story was over.
“You did your best. Good job.”
“…No. I couldn’t protect everyone…”
“You’re too young to carry such a heavy load. By the way, Pantagruel, are you saying it’s highly likely that the guys you talked about kidnapped Juha?”
“Yes, I think.”
Sanya walked around him as if thinking hard about something, then opened one of the small doors and gestured toward me.
For some reason, it seemed that Sanya’s mood had changed.
“Come this way.”
“Um, by any chance Ha-yul or the other kids…”
“I just got a signal. It’s probably coming soon.”
Thank god.
I’m so glad.
I feel like the guilt of my actions of leaving the others alone and chasing Ju-Ha is only a little lighter now…
I couldn’t stop rationalizing even though I opened myself up to be pitiful at such trivial thoughts.
It wasn’t long before Sanya followed me into the room, and I was startled by what I saw inside.
It was obviously the first room I entered, but it had a very familiar structure.
“This is the Situation Room. Are you curious how it was made?”
“Wait a minute. This is the original principal’s office…”
“Yes. I borrowed the power of an artifact to warp space.”
A thousand eyes.
Numerous surveillance artifacts corresponding to that word were roaming around the city.
All kinds of situations were unfolding beyond the screen divided into dozens or hundreds, and I was able to find a familiar face in one of them before long.
“…It’s Ha Yul!”
“You didn’t believe me…? Something’s offended.”
“No, it’s not that I didn’t believe it… I’m just happy.”
They reached the city on their own.
That fact made me so happy that I felt like crying.
Some kind of guilt I harbored towards them. It felt like the anxiety that the misuse of hypnosis might have ruined their minds was relieved, at least a little.
Ha Yul was also a fully-fledged Awakener.
Yewon was like that, and Seolah was like them.
As for Ray… I don’t know yet, but she must have played something special.
It can’t be said that the current situation is the best, but things were working out more easily than expected.
So now all that’s left is Juha…
For some reason, whenever I thought about Juha, I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that my throat was choking.
“Sanya, by any chance you haven’t found Juha yet…? At least there are traces of Juha…”
To my question, Sanya frowned, but did not give me any answer.
Perhaps it is because the research has not yielded any results.
If there’s another reason, it’s probably for everyone’s safety.
If, as I hypothesized, her Juha was kidnapped by her Pantagruel, she went to rescue her, and her rescue team could all be captured.
For Sanya, it is best to abandon Juha in order to save everyone.
Okay. I know.
Since no traces were found, it must have been an established fact that he was kidnapped.
If you forcefully enter the enemy camp, you will inevitably have to sacrifice yourself.
I understand everything in my head. But…
“Buy it.”
“…”
“Can we go to save Juha…?”
Sagna is still silent.
It was a few more minutes before her lips parted.
“It’s Jihoo.”
Sanya’s eyes slowly get wet.
“I lost her cyana when I came here.”
Her mind went blank.
