They say that a person's childhood experiences greatly influence their character.
Even if the mories from a ti when we were still so young are faint and unclear...
The fragnts of those mories, however blurry, transform into sothing called nostalgia and change a person. This was no different for 3rd faction leader Libya.
To be honest, she didn’t think her life had much variety in terms of experiences. But if she had to pick the ti in her life that was the most colorful... it would definitely be her childhood.
It was a ti when she felt many emotions. It was before she had joined Regaton, and in the orphanage where she grew up, there had been soone rather special.
She didn’t rember their na or face clearly, but she could recall they had black hair and amber-colored eyes. At that ti, she had liked him quite a bit.
‘He was so handso!’
The first thing that caught her attention was, without a doubt, his appearance. Even though she was still at that age when her baby teeth hadn’t all fallen out, his appearance stood out among the children in the orphanage. For a young child, just that was enough to feel a liking for him.
But the reason she actually ca to like him wasn’t because of his looks.
At first, she just wanted to be friends with him, but as they spent more ti together, other things about him stood out.
For example, his maturity that wasn’t like a typical child’s.
"I told you not to run because you might trip... Are you okay?"
"Crying again? Didn’t you say to call you 'noona' earlier? Stop crying and blow your nose."
"Are you scared of the dark? ...Okay, co here and sleep next to ."
Though he was two years younger than her, he took care of her like an older brother or guardian. Not just her, but all the other children around as well.
His speech was a bit rough for a child, but Libya had leaned on him a lot because of that.
Thanks to him, the boy with black hair quickly made his way into her heart.
As ti passed, that boy’s place in her heart expanded more and more.
When she was young, she often thought that when she grew up, she would marry him.
She wanted to live with him in a huge house made of sweets that never ran out, no matter how much they ate.
In fact, she would often say to him, “When we grow up, let’s get married!” Of course, the boy would only laugh it off.
Looking back now, it seed like a cute mory, but... unfortunately, that ending wasn’t as cute.
When she turned 12, and on his birthday, sothing strange happened.
She still clearly rembered that day.
The small tattoo that appeared on the boy’s collarbone, the surprised teachers, and the scary won in armor who stord into the orphanage.
She later found out those won were knights.
When the knights captured the struggling boy, the nun at the orphanage explained sothing to her that she still rembered well.
"That child... is leaving far away. He’s very sick and needs to be treated far away. So, forget about him."
At that ti, she didn’t know exactly what kind of disease it was.
She didn’t even know that such a thing could happen at her orphanage, so no one had told her.
But seeing the nun’s sorrowful expression, Libya had an ominous feeling that she might never see him again.
‘I’ll find him.’
So, Libya, as a child, sneaked out of the orphanage.
She wondered if she could catch up to him before it was too late. She hoped that maybe she could travel with him.
...And so, she ended up wandering the world harshly, eventually joining Regaton at the age of 14. And here she was today.
Looking back now, it seed like a funny thought.
“......”
Now, she knew. That boy had truly crossed a river that could never be crossed back.
The boy who was taken by the knights had a zero chance of survival.
She occasionally pondered.
Her nostalgic childhood mories. And the choice that had completely changed her life.
And sotis, she wished she could go back to being a child, to et him once again, though she couldn’t even rember his face anymore.
She would sotis wish that.
“The mountain is pretty steep...”
After preparing for battle, I muttered absentmindedly as I looked at the mountain in front of . It wasn’t as tall as the Himalayas, but it still seed rather high.
Still, since it was a “mountain,” it definitely looked quite tall.
If I had to roughly guess its height, it was probably sowhere between 1 to 1.5 kiloters.
The reason the estimate is so vague is that I don’t really know how to asure such gigantic things. Who could have predicted I’d be climbing a mountain?
Anyway, it was huge. I felt the insignificance of being human in the face of such vast nature.
[Wow, the view is beautiful.] [We’re just here to look around, right?] [We’re just here for sightseeing, haha.] [LOL, the boss is going to take care of this.]
Even the otherworlder, Yoo Chae-rin, who was standing next to , stared blankly ahead.
These idiots are going to lose just trying to climb this place.
Fortunately, the slope wasn’t as steep as I had feared. It required so stamina to climb, but it didn’t seem like there was any danger of falling.
“Well, let’s go.”
And so, I began climbing the mountain with the knights. The beginning was smooth, as there were no enemies in sight.
The attack started about halfway up.
“Arrows! Block them!”
Suddenly, attacks began raining down from above. I looked ahead and saw enemies shooting arrows from a distance.
Because they were shooting from above, the arrows traveled quite far.
Naturally, the knights reacted quickly. They raised their shields to block the arrows.
Clang-! Cling-!
The sound of tal arrows bouncing off the iron shields echoed. It was almost like hearing a heavy rain.
I quietly stayed under the shield umbrella that the front-line knights had set up.
The setup was a pain when I fought them before, but now that I was under it, it was actually quite comfortable.
We didn’t stop, continuing to move forward.
After walking for a few more minutes, obstacles began appearing in front of us.
“These bastards have already set this up.”
Wooden barricades, pits dug into the ground, and traps with ropes scattered in between.
I had no idea how they managed to get wood on a rocky mountain like this.
We had to dismantle those obstacles as we proceeded.
[This is going smoother than expected.] [Yoo Chae-rin really is good with her hands. Is she a thief or sothing?] [So of us are just smashing through everything to move forward, though.]
Up until this point, everything was fine. We had blocked the arrows without any damage, and the obstacles were just annoying, not impossible to deal with.
But not everything was fine.
This was probably part of their plan.
“Hah... Hah...” “Phew... Hoo...”
With every step we took, the stamina of the people was slowly draining.
Climbing the mountain already took double the effort, and now we were being forced to deal with extra obstacles.
Even knights and adventurers with good stamina couldn’t help but gasp for air.
“This isn’t looking good...” “Damn... we were in this exact situation last ti.”
So adventurers murmured nervously.
We walked for a few more minutes.
“Magic! Defend yourselves!” “Shield mages, activate shields!” “No, water! Water magic!”
Suddenly, I saw light. A bright light that pierced through the dense shield umbrella.
Snap, crackle.
At the sa ti, sothing small and fast exploded. It sounded like sparks from a bonfire or the ignition of gunpowder.
Then, fireworks exploded right in front of us.
Boom-!
Fiery red, yellow, and orange sparks filled the air.
The small, glowing embers scattered in all directions.
At first glance, it looked beautiful, but the result was far from beautiful.
“AAARGH!” “Put it out! Sobody put it out!!”
Everyone who ca into contact with those embers burst into flas.
It was as though they had been struck by fireballs, with the embers lingering on their skin, burning them.
Those who had managed to block the attack seed to be okay, but those who had touched the embers writhed in pain, their faces twisted in agony.
The defense that hadn’t been pierced by countless arrows was now breached by just one spell.
While the power of the attack was surprising, it was the chaos unfolding before my eyes that made grimace.
I looked ahead to see who had cast the spell.
“Ugh, how tireso. Is breaking through this defense really that hard? Alright, we’ve opened it up, so charge forward!”
It was a woman with a frail-looking figure. She had slim arms and legs, with snow-white hair, and was wearing red sunglasses, smiling brightly.
Her beauty was certainly striking, but unfortunately, her actions didn’t match that beauty.
The Regaton mbers, each holding their weapons, charged toward us. Behind them, the woman and other mages were preparing their next spells.
“Injured ones, retreat and get treated. Those who are still in good shape, co with and buy us so ti! anwhile, prepare for a counterattack!”
Serena, the knight commander, issued her orders coldly.
I, too, raised my weapon and moved forward. After all, I was placed in the front to use my new weapon.
It was ti to test the performance of the new weapon.
I lightly pulled my arm back and thrust it forward.
“Ugh!”
The Regaton mber standing in front of collapsed in a defensive stance.
‘The grip is good.’
Light, sturdy, and sharp. But the performance of the new weapon wasn’t just limited to this.
The mithril alloy that made up the spearhead was said to have resistance to magic.
It was ti to see what that ant.
Whoosh-!
At that mont, a magic arrow made of blue mana flew toward .
It wasn’t the woman in the red sunglasses who had cast it. It was another mage behind her.
I quickly swung the spearhead toward the incoming magic arrow.
And sothing strange happened. It was as if the tal itself had so kind of bulletproof power, as it pushed the magic away.
Thanks to that, it was much easier to deflect the magic arrow.
Clang-!
With a clear, pure sound, the arrow dissolved into the ground.
“Huh?”
The woman with the white hair stared in surprise.
I hadn’t noticed before due to her red sunglasses, but now I saw that her eyes were red as well.
“Wow, I didn’t see soone like you last ti. And you're a man?”
She suddenly ca toward .
“Your hair and eyes, too... Hmm.”
Then, she paused and examined my face carefully.
It was like she was thinking deeply about sothing. But soon, her unsettling smile returned.
“Well, whatever. Nice to et you. I’m the 3rd faction leader, Libya.”
Libya. I repeated the na to myself.
Another faction leader I had never seen before.
‘I think I’ve heard that na before…’
...Maybe because of her status as a faction leader? They were all pretty famous.
But honestly, that didn’t matter much now.
Unless it was Sephir, I didn’t really care to bother with others.
I charged at her.
“Wait a second, this guy’s hands are a bit rough.”
If she was a faction leader, she must have so considerable skill. I could tell just from the fireball she had launched earlier.
So I used my abilities to my full extent, summoning blood magic through a wound I had inflicted on myself.
A crimson spear shot toward her.
“Ooh?”
She responded with another fiery explosion.
Beautiful things often cloud your aim.
Moreover, I had confird that her firework spells were quite dangerous.
So, I had no choice but to pull back.
As a brief standoff ensued, she spoke up.
“Wow, you’re using so interesting powers. Where did you learn that? It feels a bit like sothing demons use.”
I answered casually.
“Well, I’m the manifestation you’ve been searching for.”
“Aha~ So you’re the one Sephir was talking about, the one who’s been unable to do anything for months?”
Looking back now, I thought her personality was pretty lively. Her innocent smile, her constantly moving mouth. It didn’t fit the battle at all, which made her presence even more unnatural.
“Interesting. Black hair, amber eyes, and you’re a manifestation...”
But then, her smile suddenly stopped.
“Wait a second.”
Her eyes widened.
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