Chapter 1052 – When You Wake Up From a Dream
000
Sensation returns to the whole body and the eyes open.
At the same time as the pressure of not being able to move my body at all, what I feel near my mouth is the thick and rough texture of dirt and sand.
Although it was somehow a bit cool, the feeling of it wrapping around my whole body gave me a sense of relief, as if my body would naturally relax and fall asleep on its own.
So, if Lila lets her guard down, she almost falls asleep once again…
“Gasp!”
Soon, she realized where she had gotten out of and her eyes widened, and she took a deep breath.
Then─
“Eep, hehe!”
Lila tried to catch her breath and felt the taste of dirt and sand in her mouth, which made her immediately cough and exhale the breath she had inhaled, but it brought her to her senses. I could feel it.
“Wow, it was dangerous… I almost fell asleep again. Furthermore, I barely woke up.”
And when she opened her eyes and looked around her, she was buried up to her neck, so she wasn’t even able to turn her head.
Anyway, there were other expedition members in a similar situation to him, as Kuon had said, buried there with only their heads out of the ground.
“Wow, it’s really in this condition… It’s not like it’s in a radish field…”
Looking at the scenery, which had a slightly horror-like sensibility, I could see that other people were waking up one by one and trying to come to their senses.
Lila then tried to somehow shake her body to get out, but all it did was confirm once again that her body was firmly anchored to the ground.
At that time.
“Wait!”
Tadat! And as something quickly passed in front of Lila’s face, Lila let out her voice and said, ‘Wow!’
Lila then raised her head and made eye contact with Aine, who was looking down at the sound beneath her feet.
The black coat he was wearing was cut here and there, and his body was bleeding, so even a quick look could tell that he was quite worn out.
“Lila…!? You’re awake!”
“Yeah, yeah. Her nose and mouth almost got stepped on…”
Perhaps it was because she was walking frantically, but Lila was barely able to calm her pounding heart.
“Ugh… I can’t move.”
“What the hell is this…”
And as Aine watched the other members of the expedition team, except for Laila, open their eyes one by one, she let out an exclamation of relief, saying ‘Ahh’.
She sank down in her seat, as if on her knees.
“Ah, Aine!? Are you okay!?”
Could it be that my legs lost strength along with the tension due to relief?
Or maybe he was forced to stop standing due to an injury somewhere.
“Thank goodness… I was worried that I might not be able to protect you after Kuon fell asleep…”
As Aine spoke like that, she slowly placed the sword in her hand on the ground, and it seemed as if a heavy burden from the wounds and fatigue that had built up on her body was truly being lifted.
And when Aine turns her head slightly, there-
She could see that her sisters were lying unconscious on the ground, and that even her quartz was bleeding quite a bit as she was down on one knee.
What they were protecting by turning themselves into a wall-
It was her staff that was standing next to Kuon, who had fallen asleep, and was still using her magic power to maintain her barrier.
“Were you guarding the cane?”
When Lila asked that question, Aine nodded and answered.
“Yes. After Kuon fell… The guardian noticed that Kuon’s staff was still standing using magic and tried to break it somehow. Even though he tried to ignore us who stood in his way. There, we thought that protecting the staff was the way to fight him.”
As Aine said that, she recalled an incident from a little while ago.
Thanks to Kuon, the Banguidae group, who were able to block their ears to hear her unknown singing voice, were shaken to the point where their hearts almost broke when they saw Kuon fall. 〉
That’s because the surroundings were still full of plant-type monsters, and in front of me stood a guardian who freely used evil magic.
If all the party members other than themselves are asleep, and they have to keep repeating the defensive battle in a place where our attacks cannot reach.
Even after giving up this life, it was difficult to judge whether there was a chance of victory or not.
However, Kuon’s staff stood firmly on the ground even after Kuon fell, and continued to emit her unique magical power.
And because the wand was still standing, the last barrier she had left behind was able to block her plants’ access without breaking.
As soon as the guardian saw it, he sighed and waved his hand.
Then, a huge gust of wind blew and tried to knock down the staff, and if Quartz hadn’t used his body as a shield to block it, the staff that couldn’t fall would have been broken, and the magic would have lost its power.
After that, it could be said to be a bloody battle between the Guardian aiming for the staff and the Anti-Ghosts.
Although they could not directly attack the guardian, who appeared as an illusion and had no substance, they directly blocked the attacks presumed to be her magic with their bodies.
A huge rock jutting out from the ground, a rain of poisonous thorns, and then a wind like a blade.
Being able to block them with just a sword and their bodies was clearly a feat that would have been impossible without their superhuman endurance.
As a result, Zwei and Draine fell first, and Aine was almost on the verge of falling as well.
As a result of somehow protecting the staff, the guardian looked visibly embarrassed in the end and retreated along with the plant-type monsters surrounding him.
The reason Aine shouted ‘Wait!’ Was because she thought they were running away without waking up the members of the expedition team, including Kuon…
“Anyway… I’m glad you woke up… Mouth…”
After finishing explaining everything, Aine slowly closed her eyes and fell unconscious on the spot.
Lila, too, was quietly listening to Aine’s story, but when she closed her eyes and fell down, she blinked her eyes for a moment and then –
“Wait a minute, Aine!? You have to take one of us out…!”
“It’s impossible… I think you’ve completely lost your mind already.”
Sasha, who was watching next to her, just shook her head.
“And probably, since the wounds were already quite deep, it wouldn’t have been difficult to dig us out, even if we were awake…”
Amelia will also help out.
“Ha…”
When Lila feels like she has become a bad person for some reason, she sighs deeply.
“There’s nothing we can do, then we have no choice but to escape with magic…”
As she said that, she closed her eyes and raised her magical power, preparing to use her magic.
‘If it was possible with magic, why did you just do it that way from the beginning?’
That’s what everyone around me must have thought.
But right after.
“Huh?”
Lila opens her eyes with a panicked voice.
And after looking down once, she let out an encouraging voice for a moment, saying, ‘Sigh…!’
“Wow, the magic doesn’t work! Why!?”
“Isn’t your magic power depleted? You used magic like that in the dream world.”
When Sasha asked appropriately, Lila looked back at her and spoke.
“Ugh, that can’t be true. You said that using magic in the dream realm is closer to manipulating the dream world with your imagination. So, using magic power is… Ah.”
As Lila said that, she let out an exclamation as if she realized something along the way.
“… I understand… When I tried to use magical power in my dream, my real body was drawn to me and I used magical power…!”
In other words, should I call it sleepwalking or sleep talking?
Among wizards, when you can’t sleep comfortably and dream of using magic, when you wake up, your magic power is consumed without being restored, or when you wake up, the wall of the room is blown away by magic.
Such laughable happenings often happen to those who use magic on a daily basis.
“Then you can’t come out of the dirt!”
“Ahaha… I see…”
When Amelia hears Lila’s yelling voice and responds with a sad laugh.
“Ahaha no! Someone needs to wake up and heal Mr. Quartz and Aine!”
“Well, that’s true too! What’s wrong with Melusine?”
“Ugh… Well, earth is an element that doesn’t have a good compatibility with me, so if I’m in it, I can’t draw out my magic…”
“Push-ko-“
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I know Kshat’s face doesn’t look good! I think it’s best to get him out quickly!”
Everyone continues their story with only their faces exposed, but the situation is such that no one can get out of the ground on their own.
It was then.
I heard the sound of footsteps approaching this way with tired steps.
Then, the group turned their heads in that direction.
There, Kuon with a straight face was walking towards me, supporting his body on his staff.
“Ku, Kuon! Wake up… Wow, what a face.”
Lila looked up at Kuon and reacted with horror at the sight of her continuing to consume her magic even while she was asleep.
“Wait a minute… Wait… I’ll take it out in a moment…”
And as Kuon spoke with such difficulty, she began to quietly recite her spell.
“Huh? You said you’d take it out…?”
“How…?”
Since Kuon is obviously a priest, she wouldn’t be able to use magic like teleporting herself.
When those buried in the ground start to murmur at her words.
“──… Wake up, Earth!”
As magical power gathered in her staff, Kuon slammed the tip of her staff into the ground.
Then.
Coo coo… And the ground started to shake.
“Wow…!?”
As the ground where the expedition team was buried began to rise, a scene unfolded as if a giant had risen through the ground.
Those who were buried in the ground would raise their voices in panic and see that the ground they were buried in was floating in the air.
No, to be exact, they surfaced while buried, so they also ascended to the sky.
If you look at it from a little distance, it would have been quite a bizarre shape.
Because people’s faces were growing all over the giant golem’s body.
“What, what, what is this──!!”
Lila speaks with only her face sticking out from the giant’s side.
It was a ‘golem’.
To be precise, the ‘Earth Golem’ is made based on ‘earth’, which is materials that can be obtained anywhere, such as soil, sand, and stone.
This one, which is considered the least difficult type of summoning spell, is good to use as a shield due to its large size, but its body is sluggish, and its attack power can only be expected to be physical attacks due to its mass, so it is treated as a good target on the battlefield. I couldn’t expect more performance than I could.
“Ugh, why am I upside down…!”
Schrödinger, who was sticking his head out from the golem’s armpit, was dizzy and his face was turning red.
“I’m sorry… I don’t know any other spell that causes a large amount of dirt than this…”
Kuon will speak with a more tired face than before.
That’s right, no matter how low the level of difficulty the spell was, it created such a huge golem.
It was strange that a large amount of magical energy was not consumed.
“When did you learn this…!?”
“A long time ago… Cleon said it would be good to learn…”
Even though it happened when I was a novice adventurer.
“It’s amazing!”
Sasha showed constant admiration for Kuon.
“So…”
Artis, sticking his head out from the golem’s groin, speaks.
“Why am I in this position… Hmm, that’s not it. How can we be free from this state?”
“Ah… That’s…”
Kuon’s body slowly tilts downward.
“Ku, Kuon?”
When Lila saw Kuon like that, she called out his name, but it seemed like she couldn’t hear him.
“What maintains the golem is my magic power and mental power… If my magic power is soon depleted, I will lose my mind… Then the golem will not be able to maintain its form and will collapse…”
The moment after I said that much.
Kuon’s body completely fell to the ground.
It was almost at the same time that the magic adhesive that connected the golem’s body disappeared.
Then, the golem was unable to maintain its structure completely and turned into dust and scattered.
“Ugh!?”
“Aaaaah!”
The reason everyone was screaming was because the golem’s body collapsed in an instant, and those who were sticking their heads out from a relatively high place were freed from the air.
“Koh-!”
“Miss!”
As soon as Kshat was freed, he immediately threw himself to catch Fleur, wondering where his previous troubled appearance had gone.
The rest─
“Quek!”
“Ouch!”
Each of them was free-falling to the ground, screaming in pain.
In the meantime.
Schrödinger steps lightly.
“… Wow. I can really fail even if I fall from a high place. I.”
As if he himself was amazed, he squeezed and opened her hand, proving the theory that Lila had talked about.
Crash bang bang!
If you ignore the loud noise coming from behind, it didn’t feel that bad.
“Off…!”
“Hey, I can’t forgive you… Guardians…! I will take revenge…! I will absolutely defeat you…!”
And, towards the guardian who was the culprit of all this, the members of the expedition groaned in pain and burned with anger.
