NOVEL NEXT Chapter 47 - When You Target Someone, Your Back Is Exposed☆ (1)
In the deep abyss.
What can be seen in all directions are tree roots intertwined like snakes.
A place where black ether constantly wells up through the dark spaces.
In that desolate underground space were four people wearing robes of different colors.
Where four ‘priests’ were gathered. It was an otherworldly space where the priests of
A green man.
A silver woman.
Brown twins.
Among them, the man wearing a green robe chuckled with his scaly hand on his chin. His face grinning mischievously was covered in all kinds of tattoos.
The green man laughing for a long while with his upper body shaking:
“Kuhehe… This isn’t even funny. That Grafvolud fellow… Firmly believing in some prophecy or whatever spouted by a weirdo 1500 years ago. He went out first and died right away. Kuhehe… Thanks to that, a thug like me became the boss by order of seniority. Kahaha… It’s crazy.”
The green man laughed again, seemingly finding it absurd even as he spoke.
Originally, the one who was supposed to leave this place first was the green man, the second strongest here. But their leader and commander who went out first saying he would confirm the ‘prophecy’ died just like that.
Until the moment of [Fate], they could only leave one at a time, so the green man who left through the suddenly emptied ‘passage’ heard the news belatedly.
The green man couldn’t help but find it funny.
“Kuhehe… That old man, with his cowardly personality, wouldn’t have just sat still and died… He probably blabbed on thinking he had won everything, unable to break his habit of rambling, then suddenly died… Ah, kuku… It’s crazy just imagining it, kuhehe…”
Their former leader who died so absurdly.
Muttering full of cursing about [Priest of Erosion] Grafvolud.
But the twin priests were listening with somewhat uncomfortable expressions.
One of the twins, the boy wearing a brown robe, said:
“That’s enough, right? Ofnir. Instead of cursing the one who passed away, we should come up with countermeasures now. About breaking through the inferior races guarding the World Tree.”
“Oh, are you uncomfortable because he’s the foster father you’ve followed since you were bugs? Sorry, sorry… Kuhehe. But honestly, isn’t it a bit funny how he always acted so serious but died so absurdly? ‘Yggdrasil chiildreeen~ I’ve come to chaange the wooorld~ Gack!!’… Kukukuk…!”
“You bastard…!”
When the green man mocked the words often uttered by [Priest of Erosion],
The twin sister who had been listening quietly also reacted and growled.
“This crazy bastard is saying whatever he wants just because he has a hole in his mouth…!”
“Oho―? You used to cower even when I just stomped my foot 2000 years ago, now the twins have all grown up, huh? Kuhehe!”
“You bastard…! Today you…!”
“Today? Today what? Do it if you’re confident!! Kahaha!!”
“Grrrr…!”
Gooooo―
The green man and the twins all emitted black ether at a level like waves. All of their horns and tails were gradually growing larger, creating an intimidating aura.
A hair-trigger situation.
Just as they were about to return to their main bodies in the abyss and fight, a refreshing sound cut through that moment.
Ting―
Ting―
Hearing that sound, the 3 priests stop their attempt to fight and flinch.
The weakest but. Therefore possessing the most terrifying power, the silver woman’s voice.
“Stop. Meaningless.”
“…Tch.”
“…”
“Kuk…”
Ting―
Ting―
The woman wearing a silver robe tapped a large clear glass bead with her eyes closed. The refreshing energy spreading from there swept over the priests and flowed into the abyss.
When the atmosphere finally calmed down.
The silver woman, still with her eyes closed, turned towards the green man and spoke:
“[Strife], Ofnir. Here, sacred space. Strife, sacrilege.”
“…Tsk. I got it, I got it.”
“[Strife], Ofnir. Plans, what?”
“Hm… You’re asking the obvious. There’s only one thing for the priest of [Strife] to do.”
The green man muttered with a mischievous smile:
“Stab everywhere, make everyone fight… and throw in the worst move on top of that. That is the fate of [Strife].”
“[Strife], Ofnir. Preparations?”
“Hehe… The medicine is already taking effect. I’ve unleashed the power of the ‘old beast gods’ on those inferior races who don’t even know who they’re following anymore.”
“Respect, current chief priest, [Strife].”
“Then shut up and watch.”
“…”
The silver woman nodded hearing that.
And the green man spoke impassively as he gradually left that space:
“I… will follow the [Fate] of my name, rather than the prophecy of some nameless worm. Because that is what I received from the great dragon. I’ll use without reserve even the power the old man said to save until the end.”
The green man resolved like that.
‘[Crimson Trajectory], [Azure Lightning Lance] who are said to have killed the old man… First I should divert their attention.’
The green man looked up at the ceiling of the abyss while accepting the black ether gradually enveloping him to leave the space.
There were traces of the great dragon that couldn’t be reached now… and a man who called himself a ‘prophet’ 1500 years ago was sleeping there. He was sleeping sacrilegiously in the same place as the dragon.
『I know the future.』
『I’ll tell you information that will lead to the [Fate] of awakening the dragon.』
『And I’ll pass on to you the power of two beast gods equal to the dragon.』
『In exchange… enshrine me in the abyss until the moment the dragon awakens 1500 years later.』
“…”
[Priest of Strife], Ofnir.
The green man left the abyss recalling that arrogant tone he hadn’t heard in a long time.
In his hand was the rune left behind by the beast god…
[Snake of Wisdom and Cycles] who had power equal to [Dragon Crouched in the Abyss].
* * *
Early morning.
Alvit locked the main gate of
The school gate closing smoothly after being oiled by Kara and Maya.
Then she turned around and spoke loudly towards us:
“Now, shall we depart?”
“Yes―☆ Let’s go right away―♪”
“Senior, from now on don’t go out alone, you must stick close to me!”
“Yes, yes―♪ And anyway we’re heading to the garrison where Bell and Sigrun are☆ Don’t worry~ I’m telling you it’s fine~♪”
“…”
Alvit didn’t answer those words.
She just held my hand tightly once.
The warm temperature beyond her calluses conveyed the girl’s kindness.
Rattle―
The dark red longsword attached to her waist made a sound asserting its presence with that movement. There would be few students in the academy city who use such high-quality items.
Dark red blade, intricate patterns, luxurious matte finish.
It was quite a cool armament.
‘In the game it only existed as image files, but seeing it in reality, it really is cool. When Alvit changes to her exclusive legendary weapon later, should I ask her to pass this down to me…’
How many times did Red Hare and Blue Dragon Crescent Blade change owners?
Good weapons inherently have an eco-friendly element of being used by multiple generals in turn.
‘I don’t intend to fixate on specific weapon types yet…’
Since I was in the process of enlightenment by wielding all weapon types, it would be enough to use high-quality items like my juniors use later.
Thinking that, I blankly looked at the hand Alvit was holding.
‘…By the way, my hand is about to start sweating.’
Fortunately, Alvit let go of my hand before it became damp with sweat.
She then turned to look at Rota and Kara and checked their state of preparation.
“Rota, are you ready?”
“Anytime.”
“Kara?”
“Of course I’m perfect.”
The two holding up their dark red capes and flag spears respectively.
Nodding seeing that, Alvit also turned to Freya and said:
“Are you ready too, Senior Freya? You haven’t lost or left behind anything? Your uniform was repaired well?”
“W-Well anyway everything except my wand and uniform was burned… And n-no matter what, I’m not at a level to be worried about by a 1st year…”
“Eh~ Even the
“Ugh… Th-That’s… Haah…”
Freya sighed and spoke with a gloomy expression:
“I-I called the school… but they didn’t answer. All the train tickets I had were burned… so th-there’s no choice… but to go through
“A train trip all together―☆ Yes♪ It’s very exciting and romantic―☆”
“Senior, isn’t it a bit much to call this a trip…? It’s a pretty serious matter…”
Rota cautiously raised her hand and refuted my words.
‘Even so, furry bea… Oh right, no racial discrimination thoughts in front of Rota… Think nice thoughts…’
Inwardly correcting one bad habit.
I calmly answered that refutation without changing my expression:
“Then are we going to ‘conquer’ too―♪ Cute girls’ dungeon big☆con☆quest~!! Huhu♡”
“…Let’s just call it a trip.”
Like that, we prepared to set out for the ether train station early in the morning.
‘Actually, when we heard the broadcast, I wanted to rush out right away like with
The more urgent, the more roundabout.
We judged it would be better to get sufficient rest overnight and go with proper equipment.
Alvit announced the start of the journey in a lively voice:
“Then let’s depart now!”
“Oh☆ Let’s go help♪ our cute little friend Bell who must be in trouble now―♪ If nothing happens, we’ll get snacks and tea like last time―☆ This is the ticket we received to have exchanges between girls like this☆”
“Really, I didn’t think we’d use it so effectively.”
Kara took out the regular pass to
After the commotion at
‘Sometimes when we visited the garrison, Bell would come out and serve us snacks and tea.’
To help our friend like that. And for some reason, to prevent the furry bea… Eastern Alliance’s movements that occurred as in the original work.
‘In the current situation where
In the original work, the northeastern part of the academy city was their home turf, but now it was just an action of hitting their heads on bare ground.
“…”
Somehow I could feel the changed influence of
On the way down the hill where
We encountered a tall girl waiting for us there.
It was Maya who had parked a truck at the bottom of the hill and was waiting.
Maya, who had left first after eating breakfast, said to us:
“Oh, you’re going.”
“Maya!”
“Senior Maya!”
Freya slightly… very slightly tilted her head to Maya and said:
“I-I’ll… repay the t-ticket… double… when everything is over.”
“Do as you like.”
“Ugh…”
Maya didn’t care about such things.
‘That cool attitude really… I can’t get used to it no matter how many times I see it…’
But because of that. For some reason I could trust her.
‘The one who makes my heart flutter most when dealing with is Hilde… but the most comfortable is Maya.’
Not bound by any guilt, obligation, duty…
The friend with whom I can feel most free in the academy city.
I offered a fist bump to that friend and said:
“We’ll be going―☆”
“Where…? You should go to your school.”
“Ahaha―☆ Is that so~♪ Maya said she’s taking the facilities engineering department kids, right?”
“Yeah, since I told them to scatter. I should gather them too.”
Maya patted the truck.
It seemed she planned to go around this area with that truck to pick up the facilities engineering department members.
“…”
“…”
Maya suddenly said to me:
“[Spiral]… Clara.”
“Yes?”
“Are you happy?”
“Yes! Of course―☆”
“I see.”
Tap
Maya just tapped my shoulder and got on the truck. And with a heavy starting sound, the truck spewing heat disappeared far down the road.
‘Happiness… huh… Maya always asks that when parting ways as if for a long time.’
What is she worried about for me…?
“…”
We watched that sight for a while, then headed to the ether train station. And we took out our regular passes and boarded the ether train heading to
‘This is the first time a journey has started so smoothly.’
Somehow I started getting excited about the smooth journey ahead.
* * *
“Don’t move! You plebeians! This train will be occupied by the noble faction of our
Damn it…
I really tried not to call them furry beasts…