NOVEL NEXT Chapter 156
Just 5 minutes ago,
Tears flowed helplessly from Aria’s eyes.
Having not eaten or slept properly lately, she felt like a doll stripped of emotions.
‘I’m… a useless… bad kid…’
After losing her family, and then Lev…
She thought she would lose the one person who understood her, the Saint as well.
‘Again, it’s because of me…’
Being protected was getting tiresome. She didn’t want to see anyone else sacrifice themselves anymore.
But then, as Aria entered the sanctuary and the magic circuit stained with dark magic was restored,
Her surveillance magic was activated haphazardly…
-?
His silhouette, which had completely vanished, began to reappear.
And so did the voice she had longed to hear.
-…Ria, can you hear me?
-!!!
Lev Denec.
The man Aria privately liked, no, still likes.
Memories of the beginning of the semester at Claris Academy, Evenbaugh, and Dusk Valley overlapped.
-Aria, if you trust me, nod your head.
At that time, she trusted him.
She had no choice but to.
But now…
-It’s a lie, it’s a lie…
Aria covered her ears with her hands.
This was definitely an auditory hallucination.
Now was the time to help the Saint, no matter what.
She had stabbed him to death with her own magic sword; there was no way he could come back.
‘I’m sorry, I’m… so… sorry…’
There’s no such thing as resurrection magic.
Even if it existed, it would be forbidden black magic, and it would require many sacrifices to cast.
‘That’s right… I, in my position… selfishly liked Lev…’
Aria resigned herself.
She had decided to live with a feeling of atonement for Lev,
But she couldn’t be saved in her own fantasy like this.
Since that day, when she fled from Andras, leaving her parents behind.
‘I wasn’t worthy of happiness…’
Then it happened.
-…I like you.
-…!!!!!
That line, which she hadn’t even heard in her dreams, vibrated through Aria’s entire body.
-I like you, Aria. So it’s okay. You’ll be fine.
-…I, I…!
-…I can’t just leave Aria like this… So if you can hear my voice… can you show me what you’re seeing?
-…!
Surveillance magic was the core spell that led Aria to kill Lev with her own hands.
That’s why she hated it.
-Aria, it’s okay. Trust me.
-…
With Lev’s warm voice soothing her time and time again, Aria’s heart began to melt.
*
Back to the present.
-Blood?!
“Ah, uncle…”
“Shut up and bow your head!!!!”
-Bang!!!
A mysterious red beam.
The frequency of the attacks was getting faster and faster.
‘Could it be a hunting ambush…?!’
-Grrr…
Reikan tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, focusing his mind with his eyes closed.
The opponent was releasing hostility and murderous intent without hiding it.
Therefore, he could track the position by following the magic traces…
-Pew!
-Kwa-kwang!!!
“Ugh…!!”
Reikan’s great sword collided with the red lightning.
His stoic poker face had long since collapsed.
‘…Could it be a fairy, or rather a demon archer? There’s no way they could have this level of destructive power…!’
Even a single hit would lead to a fatal injury.
-Zap!
Only by gritting his teeth did he manage to barely deflect the arrow.
Reikan was a sword expert on par with the war hero Dustin.
Though he was just a step away from becoming a sword master,
He had a unique technique suited to his title of “the Dodging Blade.”
It was a miraculous movement that achieved the impossible.
No archer in the empire could snipe him.
It could be defined with one phrase.
Whether he was conscious of it or not, he would twist the natural order and evade distant attacks.
Thus, initially, he tried to protect this little Haisman.
But,
‘There can only be one archer who can hit me…’
The legendary dark fairy, Dalian.
The arrow was definitely aimed at Reikan, aware of him.
Though it didn’t feel like he was the exact target, the trajectory was so close it felt like a game of cat and mouse.
‘She was… in Hwangdo…?’
Impossible. With this level of dark magic, it’s at the level of a great demon…
There’s no way she could completely conceal her identity.
Moreover, it made no sense that she, a demon clan member, would try to harm Crow Pay.
‘Wait… a red… beam?’
In an instant, one thought flashed in Reikan’s mind.
A red-haired guy, Caeran Hiss.
The guy who was a promising candidate in the guild [Crow Pay].
The flow was similar to the moment he died.
-I need to warm up a bit… please bring me 10 decent people, Deputy Commander?
-What, there are guys like that…? Deputy Commander! Report to Captain Rezilus…!!
-Forget it.
He was getting close to the guild’s Deputy Commander, Reikan.
The guy who claimed to train left countless guild members crippled, numbering in the dozens, hundreds.
-Reikan, Caeran Hiss is a wild dog. When he gets a wild idea, you’re responsible for tearing him apart.
Since the days of the royal knight squad, he had endured these orders given directly by Rezilus.
However, he had only learned of his death just a week ago.
-…Caeran Hiss is dead.
-?!
-This is how it is.
The moment when Seira Cervantes confidentially showed Reikan the dire ending of Caeran.
It had been recorded on the communication device he carried and sent to Crow Pay.
The content was horrific.
-Bang!
A high-pitched explosion like a powder keg went off,
And Caeran rolled over more than ten times, trembling before passing out.
-!!!!!!
It was a scene hard to believe even from the report.
No matter how much magic was drained from activating the magic tower…
The man who had shown monstrous growth fell from just a single crossbow bolt.
It can’t be helped.
Reikan took out the scroll of demonization made by Maclead.
Though the guild would collapse before the assessment phase,
‘Dying is better than this…’
-Zap!
“Grrk, aaah!!!”
As Reikan tore the scroll, he began to spit out black magic,
“Uncle…?”
-!!!
It was too late.
This time, a slow, curvaceous rain of arrows poured down like a harpoon.
*
Psyche’s personal temple, rooftop.
‘Thank goodness the altitude is high.’
I borrowed a black priest robe randomly from the closet and was targeting Raymond.
If someone saw this, they would be taken aback, but the situation is the situation.
“I’m… not feeling so good… very much.”
-Pew! Pew pew!
With every word I uttered, a beam of light at lightning speed ravished them.
Piercing, destroying.
Just witnessing it, their screams seemed to echo.
My purpose was simple.
Pull the trigger and slowly corner them,
‘I’m definitely taking my reward…’
After playing with them a bit and when they demonize, sending them off without any shred of hope.
Now the distance from the royal palace to Divine Grand Park is so far you can’t see it with the naked eye, so this situation itself seems nonsensical.
But utilizing Aria’s surveillance magic made it possible.
‘Even if just partially…’
From level 6 onward, as long as the surveilling side permits, I can also check the eyes of the watcher.
——————————————————
[Sniping] (General Trait)
: When an archer-type attack hits, the hit rate is fixed at 100%. The critical hit probability and damage from the attack increase proportionally to their agility. Characters with this trait have increased recognition distance and field of view when aiming long-range, and the chance of the target discovering them decreases slightly.
——————————————————
Once visibility is secured, regardless of the distance, thanks to the sniping trait, the hit rate is adjusted,
——————————————————
[Fourth Style Wind Arrow] (Active) (General Skill)
: Induction – The wind is not to be calculated but to be overcome.
When using wind archery, it consumes additional wind energy to grant guaranteed hit effects. (On-off Skill)
[*Thanks to the contract with Ariel, the required wind energy consumed is reduced, and damage increases drastically.]
——————————————————
By utilizing the power of Fourth Style Wind Arrow, I further raised the hit rate, completely disregarding Reikan’s [Dodge] trait.
Also, the power of demon kinds in the sanctuary would generally weaken significantly, so the damage from my wind arrows should have been halved.
However, just like in [Reincarnated Hero],
Since I was attacking from outside the sanctuary, it doesn’t fall under the above conditions.
“What happened here?”
Of course, this situation itself was a narrative not found in [Reincarnated Academy].
Reikan, as a character, didn’t hold much significance except for carrying the [Dodge] trait, so I hadn’t paid much attention to it.
But given that I changed the narrative, it seems like Maclead and Reikan have been paired up.
‘Anyway, this is good.’
Maclead Haisman, brother to Nicolseta Haisman, had a secret scroll that could instantly transport one to Pandemonium.
With that scroll, without navigating through numerous obstacles, I could reach the abyss in an instant.
That scroll alone would surely bring about a great variable.
‘Let’s face the Demon King…’
Since I’ve already been interrupted like this, I guess I’d better get that cheat-level item and the unique [Dodge] trait in my hands.
‘Wasn’t it a serious crime to try to assassinate the Saint in the empire?’
Furthermore, those two have committed numerous injustices even in Crow Pay.
There’s no reason to show mercy,
And even listing their crimes would just be a waste of my breath.
Above all, they tried to harm Aria.
“You two… just die.”
-Pew pew pew!
The starry sky meeting dawn.
In this beautiful night sky, the red wind traced a staff of five lines.
*
The red trajectory dividing the heavenly ceiling.
It was a signal to hell for the two men.
“What, what the… where…?”
“Damn! Uncle do something!”
“Shut up! That guy might…”
-Screeeech!!!
-Bang!!!!!!!!
“Grrrgh!!”
The red beam consecutively pierced the two men before me.
This time it was at least five shots.
-Kwa-kwang-kwang-kwang!!!!
With each passing shot,
A man, no, the demon’s great sword was shattered,
And with the next arrow, the boy harassing Psyche was pierced through the abdomen.
Blood poured out.
Such a scene of retribution…
“…!”
Was something very familiar to Aria.
The master of this wind stream had always been like that.
Every time she was in danger, they always came to save her as if they knew everything.
‘Why… ugh…! Why… why do you keep fighting for me?’
What right does she have.
From the day they first met until after their death…
Why do they keep fighting for her?
Aria would have been content even if this surveillance magic only showed a fantasy she longed for.
She didn’t care if the astonishing scene right before her eyes was all a lie.
If she could see Lev’s face just one more time, Aria was ready to sacrifice everything she had.
.
.
.
-…
Before long, the silhouette of Lev encoded in Aria’s surveillance magic had come to a halt,
And the two men who attempted to assassinate the Saint, Psyche, were completely killed.
-……
Everything had come to an end.
Silence lingered for a long time.
And very belatedly…
The ashen boy’s mouth opened.
-I’m sorry for being late.
That was the catalyst.
-Fall.
With those words, Aria’s body and heart… crumbled down.