When we came up to the surface, a blizzard was raging.
Fortunately, there was an ice wall, so the inside of the ruins where the teleportation device was located was safe.
Watching the blizzard batter the ice wall, we stepped onto the magic circle.
The team members said goodbye to the spirit watching from outside the magic circle.
“It was a pleasure meeting you.”
“I’ll tell you more about Earth next time.”
Hanna bowed her head to the spirit, and Magreta waved at her.
The men greeted her as well.
She was not human, but the spirit was quite a beauty.
It could not be helped that men were weak to beautiful women.
Though their first meeting had not been a good one, Sergeant Woo and Tom also greeted the spirit with smiles.
“We’ll see you next time.”
“We’ll be back soon!”
The spirit placed a hand over her chest and bowed deeply.
—I’ll be waiting. May good fortune always be with you on your path.
It was the courteous greeting of a noble I had seen in Soph’s memories.
After the greeting, the smiling spirit no longer looked like a prankster.
If we spoke with her, she would seem different again, but right now she was Shamara, the Guardian of the Star and saintess I had seen in the memories.
Flaaash!
Her smile was covered in white light.
The teleportation had begun.
Since we had teleported from the mage tower beside the mountain range to this Ice Star, returning to the mage tower was not difficult.
We moved along the path within the white light, and soon arrived in the basement of the mage tower.
Flash!
The gloomy basement of the tower I had seen before.
In the place where I had found the “Mage’s Flower,” only a few boxes lay scattered about, just as they had then.
“There was nothing much in this tower. Let’s head out right away.”
The team members were curious about the tower, but I had already checked everything last time.
This tower was a useless ruin aside from the teleportation device.
We put all the luggage we had brought into boxes and left the tower with the team.
When we went outside, the canyon I had seen before spread out before us.
A jar-shaped canyon covered in gray snow.
Before, I had heard that this canyon must once have been full of blooming Mage’s Flowers, but now it was nothing but a desolate gray canyon.
In front of the tower, I once again told the team the purpose of our coming here.
“As I said before we set out, we’re going to the ruins that look like a museum. Our objective is to scout the place and find a way to capture the control object there.”
If there was no way, I intended to simply return.
Since I had brought the team members, I had no intention of doing anything dangerous like when I was alone.
At my words, Soph added another comment.
[Perhaps the reason Miss Hanna asked to come along was because you do dangerous things every time you’re alone.]
It was an absurd thing to say, but it was not easy to refute.
Even in my own opinion, it was not completely wrong.
In any case, that probably was not the reason.
Hanna’s ability, her foresight, was not such a light ability.
After telling everyone once more, we began walking.
I took the lead. Since I could use extrasensory perception, it was only natural that I stand at the front.
The team members carried their weapons and followed behind me.
The inside of the canyon was quiet.
Only the sound of our feet stepping on gray snow could be heard.
Nothing registered on my senses either.
There was nothing inside the canyon. Not even the footprints of native creatures were left on the snow.
We were about to leave that quiet canyon behind.
Hanna suddenly shouted.
“Wait! Up ahead, both sides of the path are strange. The gray snow looks black.”
Hanna was pointing with her finger beside the canyon’s exit.
Everyone came to an abrupt stop.
All the team members looked at me.
My brow furrowed on its own.
I felt nothing.
It was not because I had let my guard down. I had been continuously checking our surroundings with extrasensory perception.
But even now, nothing was registering on my senses.
Hanna might have been mistaken, but I did not ask her.
Instead, I asked Soph.
[Can monsters hide without being detected by extrasensory perception?]
I trusted my extrasensory perception, but senses were likely not invincible.
If it was stronger magic, it could deceive even my senses.
[Could it be concealment magic?]
[But even if it is concealment magic, avoiding my senses shouldn’t be easy, should it?]
My skill had improved greatly, to the point that I could now find Soph even when he hid with concealment.
If it was ordinary concealment, even if they were underground, even if earth and walls were blocking the way, I could find them all.
And they had avoided my senses?
If they were using such impressive magic, then the monsters hiding there would not be ordinary monsters.
[It’s possible if they’re under the gray snow. The contaminated snow hides dark energy.]
Fortunately, it seemed they were not extraordinary monsters.
After hearing Soph’s words, I thrust my spear into the gray snow.
[Scatter, O wind.]
With Soph’s incantation, a powerful wind spread out.
Whoooosh!
Along with the wind, the snow surged upward.
The snow scattered until the ground was exposed.
Once the ground was revealed, something registered on my senses.
Monsters.
Pulling out my spear, I shouted loudly.
“Prepare for battle! Two magical monsters hiding up ahead!”
Puaaak!
At the same time, the monsters burst through the ground where the snow had vanished.
Spider humans with tentacles—two magical monsters.
If we had been ambushed, it might have been dangerous, but monsters that appeared in a place we clearly knew about were not all that dangerous.
Papapapak!
The dark energy that was fired struck the monsters that had revealed themselves, and a rope flew out, binding the upper body of one monster.
The other monster screamed after being hit in the head by an arrow, and before its scream ended, its neck was cut off.
The one who cut the monster’s neck was me, having teleported onto the monster’s back.
It would not die immediately just because its neck had been cut, but it likely could no longer use magic.
I left the monster whose magic had been sealed and was about to face the other one, but there was no need.
The team members were fighting well even without me.
Magreta bound the monster’s upper body with her rope, stopping its magic, and Sergeant Woo kept firing dark energy, cutting off its tentacles.
Hanna, who tenaciously attacked its head with arrows, and Tom, who fired his gun to keep it disoriented, were both doing their parts.
It seemed the team members could now handle one magical monster.
However, a little while later, as we were cleaning up the dead monsters, everyone shook their heads at what I said.
“That’s impossible. On our own, we have no way of dealing a fatal blow to a monster.”
Indeed, as Magreta said.
I was the one who had finished off the two magical monsters.
The team members had handled one monster well, but they could not find the black stone inside the monster’s body, nor could they break or extract that black stone.
“But we kept up well, didn’t we? And thanks to Hanna, we found the monsters that were hiding.”
I had to nod at Magreta’s following words as well.
Hanna’s ability had certainly been a great help.
We had avoided the enemy’s ambush, and I had also learned that monsters hiding in the snow were hard to detect even with my ability.
[Do you think this is why Hanna said she would come?]
[……This time, I’m not sure either.]
Soph shook his head at my question.
If Soph did not know, there was no way to find out.
I decided to simply think of it positively.
I decided to think that we had survived thanks to Hanna.
However, Hanna was still tilting her head, as if something did not sit right with her.
When we left the canyon, a desolate plain spread out before us.
“Maybe because this is west of the mountain range, this place seems even more barren.”
“There isn’t even dried grass, and I don’t see any dead trees. It really feels like a dead star.”
As Sergeant Woo and Magreta said, this place was more barren than a desert.
A land where it was strange that we could even breathe.
We began walking across such a land.
“How far do we have to go?”
“About two days should do it.”
When I had flown here before, it had taken no time at all, but now I had to walk with the team.
It would take much longer than before, but I had no complaints.
Soph was with me, but traveling together like this was much more enjoyable than traveling alone.
The fact that we had left the snowy region and could trust my senses again also allowed me to regain some composure.
However, not all my worries had disappeared.
Though we had ended the matter as if it were no big deal, the fact that magical monsters had been hiding in the canyon was not a simple problem.
The fact that magical monsters had been hiding there meant that they had chased me all the way while I was flying through the sky.
It meant they had not forgotten me even now, and that the monsters in the “First Emperor’s Memorial Hall” were still waiting for me.
In such a situation, taking the team members there might be no different from crawling into a trap of our own accord.
It seemed I had to find some kind of method before reaching the ruins.
Even while I was worrying inwardly like that, the journey itself was peaceful.
After a quiet, leisurely time passed, it was around sunset.
Hanna stopped walking again.
“Is it the enemy?”
The startled team members adjusted their grips on their weapons and looked in every direction.
But nothing was moving.
Instead of checking the surroundings, I looked at Hanna with questioning eyes as well.
This time too, I felt nothing on my senses.
There was no gray snow here to block my senses.
When I looked at her, Hanna wore a troubled expression.
“I don’t think it’s the enemy. It isn’t close either.”
Everyone looked at Hanna with puzzled faces.
“What does that mean?”
Even at Magreta’s question, Hanna could not answer right away.
She looked as though she could not find the words to say.
I slung my spear on my back and spoke normally.
“You don’t need to choose your words. Just tell us exactly what you see and feel.”
Hanna nodded vigorously at my words and opened her mouth again.
“It’s a little strange. That place looks very black. But in the middle of the black, white light is rising up. And strangely, the white is moving little by little. There’s no way there would be people here……”
It was only natural that she had not been able to say it easily.
No matter who heard it, it was hard to understand.
Everyone looked at the place she pointed to, but there was nothing to see.
My senses were the same.
She had said it was far away, so whatever it was, it seemed to be beyond the range of my senses.
Black and white light in a distant place that could neither be seen nor felt by my senses.
At Hanna’s words, the others looked at one another.
“If it’s black, I feel like we can just ignore it……”
“But she said there’s white light too, didn’t she?”
“That’s true, I guess?”
Unlike the men, Magreta focused on something else.
“Why is it moving?”
Hanna looked even more troubled at the team members’ words.
Because she herself could not understand what this meant.
After exchanging opinions back and forth, everyone looked at me.
[Will you move according to plan? Or will you go to the place Hanna mentioned?]
Soph was the same in asking.
However, there was a slight hint of laughter in Soph’s words.
It was the kind of laughter that said he knew what I would do.
Like a contrarian, I wanted to do the opposite, but I could not.
I had many concerns about following the plan, and now a convenient excuse had appeared.
There was no reason not to use it.
[Is that really the reason? Honestly……]
Soph said something, but because I was speaking to the others, I did not hear him.
“We’re changing direction. Let’s go to the place Hanna mentioned. This might be the reason Hanna said she would come with us.”
At my words, everyone nodded.
We changed direction.
In the direction Hanna had pointed out—south.
Just as she had said, the target was changing direction little by little.
Prophet (2)