Chapter 144
I spent several days investigating the forest.
The curse is gone.
...I still can't leave the forest.
...This is pissing me off!
I can't take it out on everyone around me, so I force myself to hold it in.
Sigh... But why, I wonder?
Should I try going all the way to the forest boundary?
It's important to see for myself.
I might be able to figure something out.
Running there would be... far, but I'll do my best.
When I step outside, the usual scene unfolds across the plaza.
The irritation that had been building inside me eases a little, too.
...All right!
...
Koa is running through the sky with me riding on their back.
When I tried to go as far as the forest boundary, Koa got in my way.
That startled me.
Koa had never gotten in my way before.
Then, as I wondered what to do, Koa crouched down and presented their back.
Does this mean it's okay for me to ride Koa?
I tried climbing on, and it turned out I was right.
Koa stood up and took off across the sky.
Without my saying anything, Koa somehow set off in the direction I wanted to go.
Thanks... Huh? Are you guys coming along too?
Wolves of the same species as Koa are all around me.
...Oh no, now that the children have grown, I can't tell them apart...
Um, is that one a child? And that one... a child...
I'll stop worrying about it for now.
Koa is large enough to provide a stable ride, even with me on their back.
Well, I am bracing myself by wrapping my arms around Koa's neck so I don't fall.
The important thing is not to choke Koa.
I've messed up several times, so I feel bad.
As expected, the forest is vast.
Even after night fell, we still hadn't reached the forest boundary.
We took breaks along the way and finally reached our destination around dawn the next day.
The place with the road leading out of the forest that I had seen through Drone Clairvoyance.
Could they be beastfolk?
I chose this place because there were signs that someone had been here.
I try following the road out.
Thwack!
...That hurt.
As I thought, that doesn't work.
My companions are looking at me with deeply worried expressions.
I'm all right.
It pisses me off to think I'm trapped here.
Besides, Koa and the others won't come near it, and their fur stands on end whenever I approach the wall.
That must be because they're afraid.
Maybe they've experienced something painful like this several times before.
All right, I'm absolutely going to find a way out of the forest!
That said, what should I do...?
An invisible wall, huh?
If I'm going to break the wall, maybe a giant ball?
I've seen something like that on TV... Was that some kind of incident?
Other than that, dynamite... No way.
Let's rethink this from the beginning.
Would it work if I made a giant ball with magic?
Maybe I should condense wind into a mass and slam it into the wall several times.
If I repeatedly slam a mass packed full of magic power into it, it should break.
The problem is, I can't see the wall.
If the impact point changes, the force will disperse.
...Could I turn the several masses I'm trying to make into one powerful mass?
I can only try it and see what happens.
Phew... I point my palm toward the wall.
For now, one blast.
Snap!
Good. So the attack doesn't bounce back when it hits the wall.
It would be scary if it bounced back, so that's a relief.
Also, I think I caught a glimpse of something the moment it hit.
It's bothering me, but for now, I need to focus only on breaking the wall.
I'll definitely break it!
I point my palm toward the wall and create a mass of condensed wind just ahead of it.
I have no idea how much force I need.
More... More... More.
Wind swirls around me, with me at its center.
Maybe that's still not enough. I'll pack in more magic power.
Magic also requires imagination.
Would imagining the wall cracking help?
Well, imagining things is free.
I picture a ball striking glass and project that image onto the mass of wind.
"Break!"
Crackle... Crackle, crackle, crackle... Snap! Snap-snap-snap-snap...
I hear a sound.
After a little while, the sound changes.
The moment the sound changes, a translucent wall that I couldn't see before appears in front of me.
So that's what I saw for that instant earlier.
Cracks have appeared where the attack hit.
The cracks spread in countless directions, but then stop.
I kick the crack in the wall I can now see.
If there are cracks, one more impact should be enough to break it.
Crash!
The wall lights up, shatters like glass, and falls to the ground.
I was startled, but as they fell, the shards of wall emitted light and vanished.
I reach out toward a shard falling in front of me.
"I caught it... Huh?"
The shard I thought would disappear stopped glowing the instant I grabbed it and turned into something like glass.
It's pretty startling when the result isn't what you expected.
While I was freaking out, all the fragments except the one in my hand disappeared.
Phew. At any rate, I managed to break the wall... I think.
I create a ball of light and follow the path out of the forest.
It seems I made it outside without anything getting in my way.
I take a deep breath, then step forward.
Koa and the others who came with me pass right by.
Their wildly wagging tails are adorable.