Wrapped in the Fairy Queen’s arms, Joy descended to the ground and sat down, catching her breath.
She thought she had used teleportation magic as taught by her master, but why did she end up on a cloud!?
If it weren’t for the others, I could have died! As she recalled the scene of the fall that lasted only a mont, Joy hugged her arms and trembled.
“You did well for your first try, Joy.” “Was that really good? If I had moved alone, we would have had a funeral for that guy today.”
Lina spat out her words, and Joy shrunk her shoulders. However, Erginus smiled and shook his head.
“Anyway, the coordinates were accurate. No one was left behind. If you did this well on your first try, it’s genius. You know that too.”
In defense of Joy, who had once fallen in the middle of the sea, Lina glanced at her and sighed.
“Sorry. I was a bit sharp and said unnecessary things.” “Eh? Ah, no. I was the one who was wrong.”
Lina awkwardly smiled at Joy’s apology, and the Fairy Queen, with admiration, spoke up.
“Lina, you were this composed?” “I’ve always been composed. It was Lucy’s scent that threw off track, that’s all.” “You should stand like this even next to Lady Arlen.” “Then I won’t hear the insults. I like it better when Lucy finds disgusting.”
Lina, who had been smiling wide, suddenly stiffened and clicked her tongue before brushing her hair back.
“Fairy Queen, would you send a ssage through the fairies?” “I already sent it. They’re on their way.”
Once the Fairy Queen finished speaking, a massive tree appeared before them shortly thereafter.
The tree, with a personality, moved its roots and road, but as soon as it spotted them, it disappeared from view.
Monts later, a man wearing a top hat appeared from the forest and bowed his head.
“It is an honor to et you, noble ones. To et those spoken of only in legends is...”
The elderly gentleman tried to greet them formally, but Lina interrupted in the middle of his words.
“Let’s save that talk for later. We have more important matters to discuss right now.” “…What is it, Lina?” “It’s about Lucy. You rember the child who saved you, don’t you?” “Please, speak. Though she was rude, she is still the one who saved my life.”
The elderly man, after hearing about the events from the palace and Lucy’s ssage, thought deeply and shook his head.
“I don’t have any suspicions. First of all, I don’t know her whereabouts, and none of the other old trees have heard anything either.”
Erginus interrupted the old man’s answer.
“Can you speak to the other old trees?” “Living for such a long ti is a remarkable feat in itself. It gives them a certain level of intellect and power. With my abilities, I can communicate with them from afar.” “Yet, you still have no clue.” “There’s no one as prominent as her. Yet, there is no information. I believe there’s no connection between her and the old trees.”
Despite the firm answer, Erginus and the others did not give up.
They persistently asked various questions, trying to gather any clues.
However, the more they asked, the clearer it beca that there was no connection between Lucy and the old trees.
“Did she give us wrong information?” “The connection was strange. I might have misunderstood.” “Not yet! There’s definitely a reason why Lucy said 'old tree'! She never does anything without aning!”
While the three of them voiced their opinions, Joy, who had been deep in thought, suddenly raised her head with an idea.
“The Pope!”
At Joy’s loud voice, everyone’s attention shifted to her, but she didn’t care and continued to speak her mind.
“Lucy’s ssage contains two things! Her location and the Pope’s goal! If it’s not related to Lucy’s location, then it must be connected to the Pope’s purpose!”
After hearing Joy’s words, Erginus blinked before slowly turning his head toward the elderly man.
“Is there an old tree that has survived since the mythic age?”
Erginus didn’t expect a positive answer.
No matter how long a tree’s life might be, what are the odds that one could survive the chaos of hundreds of years?
However, the answer that ca from the elderly man was entirely different from what he had expected, and in line with his hopes.
“Yes. There is one.”
The tree’s life was much more enduring than Erginus had imagined.
Back when I faced Rasha at the fallen castle, I easily blocked her first attack, but not the second.
She understood how I deflected her attack with a single clash, and after that, she easily found a way to break through my defense.
Since then, Rasha kept tornting by beating my defenses.
A boss who changes strategy based on a user’s counterattack—what kind of garbage ga is this!?
Though I cursed several tis inwardly, the reality was far more brutal and cruel than any fiction.
There’s no way out of here, no quitting, no escaping, and no restarting from the beginning.
All I can do is give my best according to the situation.
If nothing is prepared, there’s no next step.
This ti, I was fine because my opponent didn’t carry any murderous intent, but it won’t be the sa next ti.
Next ti, I’ll be facing the evil god Agras.
He will genuinely try to kill , erasing my voice with his power.
So, I have to be able to respond to this kind of situation. To protect everyone, I must be ready.
With my shield, my body was sent flying into the wall.
With a dull thud and crashing to the floor, I struggled to rise with my trembling hand on the ground.
My vision blurred for a mont, but my body didn’t crumble.
I could still hold on. My mind, which should’ve been consud by fear by now, was still intact.
Maybe it’s because of the Hero skill.
“Definitely feels good. If I stayed for just one more year, it would have been really fun.”
I barely managed to steady myself when Rasha lightly waved her hand and spoke.
Her face showed no signs of exhaustion, agony, or anger. The only emotions visible were curiosity and pity.
To her, I was nothing but a aningless opponent.
“You still want to keep going? If you die, it’ll be a problem for , you know.”
That irritated .
Before I asked Rasha for a duel, my grandfather had said I was worrying about the issue of ti.
The question wasn’t whether I could endure until my opponent completely loses their rationality—it was whether I could last long enough.
Once the sugaki skill’s taunt takes full effect, I can play with my opponent, but if I break first, it’s all aningless.
‘Not yet.’ ‘Right. I agree with grandfather’s advice. But right now, this is not enough.’
While Rasha is undeniably one of the strongest on the continent, she shouldn’t be able to break like this.
At the very least, I need to hold on until she loses her rationality before I can talk about the future.
‘Vision.’
‘The most annoying thing is my vision.’
The amount of information I can gather from a first-person perspective is simply too small. When there’s a large gap between and my opponent, this issue becos much more apparent.
I know that for a human with two eyes, this is an unavoidable problem.
It’s also natural.
However, coming from a third-person perspective, it’s hard not to feel frustrated.
‘Strength, body size, and skills are things I can’t fix imdiately.’
However, the vision problem is different. If I could shift from first-person to third-person, it would make a dramatic difference.
It will take ti to adapt, but with more information, it will be much easier to outmaneuver my opponent.
‘Easy… solution?’
The fairies, led by the Fairy Queen, form a kind of collective.
They have no objection to sharing their vision. To them, it’s a completely normal thing.
“...Insects.”
Lucy, are you okay?
You’re a bad person!
If we were in the forest, I would have scolded you!
I closed my eyes as I heard the fairies’ concerned voices.
Then, the fairies placed their hands on my head.
The pain was so intense it felt as if my brain was about to shatter. I bit my lip, and the fairies quickly tried to pull away.
“Stay still, insects. I was about to feel better, why are you panicking?”
As I stopped the fairies from leaving, their hands returned to my head.
I’m not sure how much ti passed, but images began to appear in the blackened vision.
Other people’s views, not mine.
Are you okay?
If it’s too hard, let know. “I’m enjoying seeing your disgusting perspectives. It’s not bad.”
Objectively, it wasn’t a pleasant sight.
It felt like I might throw up from motion sickness any mont.
But I wasn’t going to give up on this sight.
This was the landscape I had longed for.
“Are you done now? I’ve vented enough, so it’s ti to…”
“Did you really want soone to tornt you this much?♡ You must have enjoyed it a lot, huh?♡”
Smirking and raising my shield, Rasha’s eyes narrowed.
“Are you really going to do this again?” “Tell honestly. After getting hit by my mace, you just want to lose control, don’t you?♡” “Haha. Will you take responsibility if I die?” “The dog’s barking doesn’t make sense!♡”
Again, Rasha charged toward .
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