Chapter 61 - Entanglement (1)

Elisia couldn't hide her smile as she looked at the warmth spreading from her hand.

She never imagined that the power she had longed for so desperately would come to her.

So, as she was about to use this to bring warmth back to the North, a question arose in her mind.

But how did I get this power?

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't recall how she obtained the warmth.

Finding this strange, she frowned and tried to squeeze her brain, but like a black cloud covering her mind, no thoughts came up.

This is strange... There's no way I would forget how I obtained warmth, of all things.

Finding it bizarre no matter how she thought about it, she was about to delve deeper into her thoughts to uncover information about this when…

"Hey, snap out of it!"

The commoner named Dasoon, quickly dealing with the approaching monsters, shouted loudly at her.

Normally, a commoner shouting at a noble would be unacceptable, but given the situation, she decided to let it pass and hurriedly opened her mouth, "Yes. How is the situation progressing?"

"Are you fucking blind? We're about to be screwed."

"...Your language is quite rough."

Unpleasant curses echoed.

It was quite irritating, but given the situation, she decided to overlook it for now and focus on the current situation.

What should I do?

She needed to sweep away the monsters as flashily and dramatically as possible to increase her future influence on the people of the North.

So she needed to consider this while dealing with the monsters... the problem was that it was difficult to handle even the monsters right in front of her.

If only I had learned swordsmanship.

She could have done something, but it was somewhat regrettable that she couldn't.

Meanwhile, the warmth rising from her hand suddenly spread in all directions, coloring the surroundings warmly.

Wondering if she could use this as a weapon, she was pondering when screams were heard from afar.

"S-save me!"

"Aaaaagh!"

The characteristic metallic sound coming from torn throats due to excessive screaming.

After pondering for a moment at that metallic sound, she said to the commoner in front of her, "Let's go that way."

"Do as you like!"

Though rough-spoken, it seemed she was the type to follow orders unexpectedly well.

Thinking it was unexpected, she was about to go that way when intense power started pouring out from her hand.

She didn't know what this meant, but somehow feeling she could use it, she stretched out her hand.

Boom!

Suddenly, with a huge explosion sound, a large fire arose, instantly burning many monsters approaching from the front.

"...Haa."

The first emotion she felt upon seeing this was intense emptiness.

If she had had this power... she wouldn't have had to face such a miserable situation.

So, feeling a strange sensation rather than joy, she was about to lower her hand when suddenly, an intense pain like a needle stabbing her heart came, and blood spurted out of her mouth.

Blood droplets scattered on the pure white snow field.

It seemed she had obtained this pain as a rebound for using the power, so thinking she should be careful when using it in the future, she was wiping her mouth when a thought suddenly crossed her mind.

Did Damian... also experience this pain every time he used warmth?

As that thought lingered in her mind, a strange feeling came over her, but it wasn't particularly important now, so she ignored it and slowly walked forward.

***

I silently watched the massive outpouring of monsters from the rift.

It feels somewhat strange.

...It felt like just yesterday I was shouting about the need to prepare for the rift to save Elisia.

Now I was the one creating the rift and pushing Elisia into danger.

Thinking how unpredictable the world was, I was laughing hollowly when Siren spoke to me,"She sent a signal saying all preparations will be complete in about an hour."

"Really?"

"Yeah. So you can rest comfortably."

At those words, I nodded and sat in a chair, looking at the ceiling when Daisy, whose belly had shrunk considerably by now, poked my cheek and said something, "Myeong!"

Wondering what was wrong, I turned my gaze to Daisy.

Daisy patted her chubby belly and said something, "Myak. Myaak! Ppyeong."

"...?"

I had no idea what she was trying to say.

As I was looking at Daisy in bewilderment, Siren nonchalantly interpreted Daisy's words from the side, "She said the digestion is almost complete, so she'll become a mid-grade spirit soon."

"...Really?"

The digestion period had been so long that I thought she had already risen to mid-grade spirit at some point, but apparently not.

Thinking it was unexpected, I patted Daisy's belly.

Daisy started to happily make "myeong myeong" sounds.

Seeing this, Siren glared lightly at Daisy and touched on Daisy's weak point.

"Pigsy."

"Myak!?"

"Pigsy, Pigsy."

"Myeok!"

Daisy, unable to bear it any longer, got up and started swinging her hands wildly.

Seeing this scene, Siren continued to tease Daisy and started deflecting all of Daisy's attacks.

"Myak myak myak myak myak!"

I smiled slightly at the sound of the fight coming from the side, then turned my gaze and asked Liana, who was looking down at the North, about the situation.

"How is it? Does it seem to be going well?"

"Yes. For now, it's proceeding without problems... but what's worrying is how much Elisia's efforts will be displayed."

"That's true."

To be honest, judging by Elisia's actions so far, I didn't have much expectation, but thinking that with Dasoon by her side and the artificial sun, she would do something, I watched.

Well, if it doesn't work out, we'll just have to detonate at an appropriate time.

Thinking that whatever happened, it wouldn't be too bad, I rested my chin on my hand and closed my eyes.

***

About an hour passed like that.

Siren, who was sitting next to me, suddenly got up and signaled to me.

"Dasoon says all preparations are complete."

By the way, the preparation Siren was talking about meant that Elisia had defeated the monsters coming out of the rift and achieved merit and accomplishments.

Anyway, since all of this was done for Elisia to build influence with the North, the original goal was to strike and retreat at an appropriate time, but...

Do we really need to eliminate the rift?

One of my goals was to mess with the North in the first place, so I wondered if there was really a need to completely destroy the rift.

Come to think of it, rather than destroying it, we might as well expand it.

As that thought arose, I decided to change the plan and said to Siren, "Tell Dasoon we're going to maintain the rift."

"Okay. I'll tell her."

With those words, Siren started muttering something, apparently using magic to convey the message to Dasoon.

I was watching Siren's reaction and waiting for Dasoon's answer when Siren suddenly rubbed her ears with both palms and said to me with a sulky expression, "Dasoon swore a lot, saying are we crazy. She's stupid."

"Tell her thanks."

"Okay."

With those words, Siren started muttering again.

Then, just like before, she spoke to me again with a sulky expression, "Dasoon is only saying bad words."

At those words, I smiled slightly and said, "Tell her it seems better to exploit it more. Oh, and also tell Dasoon it's a chance to increase her skills while killing monsters."

As I was saying that, Liana beside me spoke with a worried voice, "Won't we get caught if the tail is too long? It might be better to quickly destroy it and erase all traces."

"That's usually the case, but..."

I showed her the spare shadow bombs I had in my chest and said, "We have bombs."

At the words that we could just detonate if problems arose, Liana looked at me with a reluctant expression, then smiled awkwardly and said to me, "That's true..."

"But if too many keep coming out, it might become unmanageable. It would be better to reduce the numbers moderately."

I thought about using Daisy's power to blow up the monsters and left the hiding place.

An endless blizzard.

Walking forward in this, I climbed up on a cliff, raised my mace, and gathered power.

"Daisy, I'll leave it to you."

"Myeong!"

Hearing Daisy's answer, I prepared to use a point explosion.

A massive explosion created by mixing my mana and Daisy's enormous mana.

I was about to use this with a feeling similar to usual when suddenly an idea crossed my mind.

Last time, when I made the weapon I was using explode, it felt like the power increased.

How should I put it... It felt like maximizing damage by scattering fragments like a grenade.

As that thought arose in my mind, I created a shadow in the shape of a ball, then pressed it tightly to make it solid.

A combination of techniques that seemed to combine all the techniques I had used before.

Of course, the appearance looks shabby because the exterior is unremarkable... but if it succeeded, I thought I could guarantee at least the power.

Thinking this, I threw the shadow ball up and struck it hard with the mace like hitting a baseball.

Clang!

Contrary to expectations, the shadow ball made a crisp sound rather than a dull one and started flying far away.

I was watching it, wondering if the shadow ball would explode properly, when…

Boom!

Faster than expected, the shadow ball fell on the monsters far away.

With a huge explosion sound, it created an unbelievably large flame.

This much was within expectations.

Now what was important was what happened next.

With that thought, I released the mana that had been binding the shadow ball and caused a rebound.

At that moment, the shadow ball split into hundreds of shadow fragments and started scattering fragments in all directions, completely obliterating everything around.

Bang! Kaboom! Boom! Boom!

Oh.

The power is better than expected.

I smiled with satisfaction as I looked at the devastated forest of the North.