EP.90 26-1. Christmas carols echoed.
***
The academy’s training grounds were thick with black fog.
Thanks to Licht’s instructions, most people avoided being hit by the apostle’s attack. But the enemies swarmed in immediately.
“The glass wall is broken!!”
“Now’s our chance. Everyone, charge!”
“For the Hero of Omniscience!”
A mob of cultists rushed toward the students holding their breath.
Weapons, magic, divine power, and spiritism flew into the invisible area, but.
“You’re out of luck, Hero Cult.”
Support finally arrived. Professor Dennis rotated a three-dimensional magic circle and appeared out of nowhere, deflecting all the attacks.
“..To use spatial control abilities against a magician who twists the water attribute to use as alcohol.”
He could now use teleportation magic freely.
“The basic ‘concept’ of water is volatility.”
Suddenly, with a thwoom sound, the three-dimensional magic circle grew massive on his hand. It turned blood-red.
“You must not have listened to our academy’s orientation. Metus.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the magic circle disappeared without a trace, like a balloon bursting, and the scent of alcohol and grapes spread, driving away the surrounding black smoke.
“You can breathe now, soldiers.”
As he explained during the first magic lecture, he vaporized the alcohol to render the opponent’s abilities useless.
At the same time, the Hero Cult followers who were rushing over staggered as if drunk, and soon either sat down on the ground or collapsed and began to fall asleep, as if overcome by sleepiness.
“Is anyone hurt?”
Except for the academy students, a thud sound echoed here and there.
The Apostle of Gluttony, who was watching the situation from afar, doubted his eyes as he looked at the spherical magic circle rotating in the man’s hand.
“How the hell? According to the Demon Lord’s words, Dennis shouldn’t have something like that now…?”
The instructions he had received were to be careful of a boy wearing a black knight helmet named Licht, and to avoid the central hall because Dennis would be tied up there.
The question of how the blue-haired man with the glowing white eyes had escaped the barrier made of water spirits crossed the apostle’s mind.
“Professor!!”
“Professor Dennis!”
Only then did the academy students, who had been able to breathe, shout at the professor and point their fingers at the toad-like man who had appeared as the fog cleared.
“I know. We need to catch that guy first!”
Dennis launched one of the rotating magic circles. The circular magic circle flew through the air.
“Ku, kuek.”
As soon as it touched the Apostle of Gluttony, Metus, it transformed into a shackle that bound him. Chains made of water droplets wrapped around the fat middle-aged man’s body.
“Did you think you could get away with your life after touching my precious students, Hero Cult?”
Dennis walked toward the captured apostle, step by step. His tone and footsteps were firm, as if he were angry.
“..Wait! Just a moment!! If you kill me, the students suffering from the nightmare will die too…!”
Like a frog caught in a person’s grasp, Metus thrashed around, trying to escape from the chains, and screamed.
But he couldn’t budge, and only dust rose from the floor.
“I’ve already lifted the abnormal status with healing magic.”
The Ten Greats rebuked the apostle, who was trying to shake them with a clumsy threat, but.
“Keuheuheut.. I don’t think that student is like that.”
On the contrary, the toad-like villain smiled with his mouth tearing open and pointed at someone with his greasy hands.
“..What?”
“As expected, there were no errors in the Demon Lord’s plan!”
The blue-haired man immediately turned around. All the other students who had collapsed had gotten up and regained their senses.
“Licht, why aren’t you getting up?”
“Licht..? Hey, wake up!”
“Helmet-ssi!!”
Only the student wearing the black knight helmet. Only Licht showed no sign of movement. Phine Gransia shook him and tried to wake him up, but.
“..There’s no response. Licht.”
Phine’s good eyes quickly assessed the situation as she looked at him slumped over. At that moment. Dennis paused and lowered his hand, which had been about to deal with the Apostle of Gluttony.
A student whose mana circuits were twisted and who was not responsive to healing. Black Knight Licht. Head must have known about his actions since he entered the academy.
“So, what are you going to do now. Fake who couldn’t even become a complete hero!!”
The apostle, who sensed victory, shouted triumphantly.
“We can do this. Metus.”
He was thinking quickly. The Hero Cult’s goal wouldn’t have been himself from the beginning.
They were probably targeting Licht, who had the highest chance of being chosen as the hero.
He had even defeated Magic Hat and broken through the dungeon, which was presumed to have been created by Head. There was no way that student wasn’t a hero.
“Student Mardol. Are you close to Licht.”
He swallowed hard. At this rate, everyone would fall for Head’s scheme. Perhaps he would soon appear and wipe this place out.
“..Yes, probably.”
To twist his calculations, he had no choice but to make the most unexpected choice. Dennis spoke directly to the princess.
“Then there’s something only you can do.”
The daughter of Emperor Roque. The person he knew with the highest amount of mana, who could affect others just by touching them.
“Go into the nightmare and save Licht.”
“I understand. Professor.”
Dennis looked at her and requested, and Phine in the glass armor immediately nodded.
“That makes no sense. Wait, this is different from what I heard…!”
Metus, who had been told in advance about the identity inside the Masterpiece, showed an attitude of surprise with a horrified expression, but the princess did not waver.
“..Licht.”
She laid the fallen black knight down comfortably. Golden wolf eyes slowly looked at the man who was like a doll with a broken string.
“What kind of dream are you having….”
She looked sadly at Licht, who was frowning inside his helmet, sweating, and groaning.
It was as if she were looking in a mirror, because she knew better than anyone what kind of feeling it was.
Trauma is like a person’s shadow. Everyone has to live with it, but there are also people who have shadows that cover even the light.
If you had that for the rest of your life, your heart would be crushed.
A person who was afraid of fire. The burn marks she had seen looked severe. He was probably experiencing that past in real time.
“..It’s hard, isn’t it. But just hold on a little longer.”
She probably wouldn’t have been able to overcome the trauma that Magic Hat had given her if it hadn’t been for Licht. In fact, the card that he risked his life to get back.
Because his mother, Empress Bellin Gransia, was not being held hostage, the glass knight had been able to show a slightly brighter side recently.
“It’ll be okay soon. Licht. Just like you saved me before.”
Phine held one of Licht’s sleeping hands with both hands and appeared to be praying. If she didn’t have armor, she would be mistaken for a clergyman.
She closed her eyes tightly. She briefly thought that there was probably an incredibly dark past melted into this man, but.
“This time, I’ll.”
It didn’t matter to Phine anymore. Just like the black knight who didn’t back down even in front of the Demon Lord.
“..Save you.”
Because she had to become a black rose.
***
What comes to mind when you think of Christmas?
You might think of carols echoing in the streets, or a white-haired grandfather wearing red clothes and going into chimneys to deliver presents.
Some might say the sky is snowing, while others might name a green tree decorated with colorful fairy lights.
But I have a memory that remains vividly in my head.
‘Where is this….’
Snow piled up and the whole world turned white, and.
“Mom! Santa Claus is definitely coming tonight, right?”
“Yes, Young-min. So you have to listen to the doctor today, okay?”
“Yes! I understand!”
A place where children wearing pure white clothes were gathered, similar to that. The children’s hospital ward where I was in reality.
‘I was attacked by the Apostle of Gluttony.’
I spread my palm and looked down. The size of my body and hands had shrunk. In the past, in a moment of despair, I had returned again.
“…”
I couldn’t speak even if I opened my mouth. The past is the past, and I guess I can’t change the unchanging wounds and facts.
This is my past before I was possessed by the game.
It’s the ability to recreate the opponent’s trauma as it is. Unlike with Servi, I didn’t have a sword, and I couldn’t even bite and chew on my tongue.
Nothing moved according to my will. I had to tell them to run away quickly, but it was impossible.
‘I was supposed to be discharged tomorrow.’
With no other choice, I began to rack my brain as much as possible.
Like opening a book again and reading it backwards, I was organizing the shattered fragments that remained in my memory.
I was hospitalized after being slightly hit by a car while riding my bicycle. My father, who was a firefighter, was busy and couldn’t stay around me all the time.
Now, a fire will break out in the evening, and I, who woke up in the middle of the night, will be led out by hospital staff, and then.
‘..I hear the screams of a child asking to be saved, and I run back into that place.’
I wanted to close my eyes tightly. I felt like I was going crazy in a world where only my consciousness was intact.
“Soo-hyun hyung! Aren’t you excited about Santa Claus today?”
A child in the same hospital room, smiling without knowing the future that lay ahead. I felt despair as I looked at the boy.