Ellin squeezed her eyes shut and tried to steady her quickening breath.
‘Another corpse.’
She could not make out everything clearly at a glance, but the blood splattered across the upper part of the tree made it easy enough to imagine what had happened.
Her breath caught.
She forcibly opened her airway and dragged oxygen into her lungs, yet the suffocating sensation refused to subside.
‘But I still have to move.’
She had to move.
Repeating that to herself, Ellin tightened her grip on the short silver rod in her hand.
“I borrowed a Wand because it was an emergency, but it isn’t one I’m attuned to, so I probably won’t be much help in a fight.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
The reply was curt and cold.
When Ellin glanced over, the kind and generous senior she knew was nowhere to be found.
Just as when she had drawn everyone’s attention back at the clearing, there was only a Swordsman honed to a razor’s edge.
It felt less as though Ellin were facing another person and more as though she were standing before a naked blade.
Ellin swallowed and turned her eyes forward.
Aisel was cutting branches out of the way ahead of her, but that did not make the path smooth.
Ellin carefully watched for protruding rocks and tree roots as she walked.
Perhaps desperation made people rely on anything they could, because even the half-Elven blood in her veins was helping her navigate the mountain.
“Focus on detecting people. I’m not counting you as combat strength anyway.”
“Because they might swarm us?”
“…I can’t beat a Demon Wolf.”
Ellin was not surprised.
She had already expected as much.
Even Aisel herself sounded indifferent as she admitted it.
It was merely something Ellin needed to keep in mind, nothing more.
Rather than the fact that Aisel could not defeat a Demon Wolf, what mattered was that she had entered the forest despite knowing that.
‘Did she decide that failing to be rescued would mean death?’
The others had listened to Aisel partly because they wanted someone to rely on, but also because they believed that salvation would eventually come if they waited.
The academy was filled with renowned professors.
And among them was Aiden, a Master.
The belief that if they simply endured, they would survive had been the foundation that allowed them to follow Aisel’s instructions.
Otherwise, no matter how persuasive she had been, they would never have listened so readily.
But Aisel’s decision now was practically an admission that she did not share that faith.
“You could die because you volunteered for this.”
“I know.”
“Don’t throw your life away like it means nothing.”
“Should someone who was planning to come in here alone really be saying that?”
Their conversations frequently broke off.
Aisel spoke in such short, clipped sentences.
Yet because they were so brief, every word carried more weight than usual.
They both knew it would be better not to talk.
With Monsters nearby, avoiding unnecessary noise was the safest course.
But without even these brief exchanges, neither of them knew how they were supposed to remain sane.
“Did you think Professor Aiden wouldn’t come?”
“…A little.”
The suspicion returned as reality.
Ellin bitterly contemplated the implication.
There was a far greater difference than she had imagined between perhaps he will not and he will not.
“Everything is strange. Something happened. There were things I ignored and overlooked. Maybe the professor noticed them and told me not to go to the practicum because of it.”
Ellin’s eyes widened.
“Professor Aiden did? Only to you, Senior?”
Aisel merely furrowed her brow without giving a definite answer.
There were simply too many suspicious circumstances.
Once she began considering that something was wrong, one detail after another caught her attention.
“…If you weren’t hanging around Professor Aiden because you wanted to confess to him, then what did you actually want from him?”
Ellin briefly caught her breath at the incisive question.
Aisel did not urge her to answer or subtly pressure her.
She had merely asked the question directly, yet somehow that made it even harder to avoid answering.
“…Runes.”
“Runes?”
“I sensed a Mana Trace related to Runes on the professor’s coat.”
Aisel frowned.
She was displeased by the sudden appearance of a subject she knew absolutely nothing about.
“Since when? Why would the professor, a Swordsman, be involved with Magic in the first place, much less Rune Language? And if that’s true, why did he hide it?”
“…I don’t know. The professor deliberately led me to make assumptions, so I can’t be certain. It’s just…….”
But there was one thing she had heard directly.
Ellin spoke with certainty.
“He told me to beware of Heretic Mages.”
Aiden had meant nothing of the sort.
Ellin had simply misunderstood him.
Yet as the pieces were forced together, they were gradually drawing closer to the truth regardless.
Aisel swallowed a groan, becoming even more cautious.
“There’s no way the security forces wouldn’t know about something like this. Even if it’s some distance away, the mountain behind the academy is still private property owned by the academy. They’re supposed to patrol it at least once a week, even if they don’t come every day.”
“Then rather than saying they didn’t discover it… they didn’t patrol at all? Negligence?”
Aisel shook her head.
“No chance. There are fifth- and sixth-year students serving in the security forces too. They’re trying to build up achievements before entering a Knight Order. You expect me to believe they were neglecting their duties? Maybe ordinary guards, but the Student Council and Disciplinary Committee members assigned to security too?”
“That makes no sense. Then are you saying someone higher up interfered?”
“Realistically, the Magic Tower’s sudden closure is the most suspicious thing.”
Every clue went around in circles only to point back toward the Magic Tower.
Aisel condensed the sprawling chain of suspicions into a single conclusion.
“Something happened inside the Magic Tower. Someone higher up ordered everyone to keep quiet about it, and they pulled so much manpower away that even the security force’s weekly patrol failed to notice what was happening here.”
She frowned as she spoke.
“Looks like we really do have to survive this. There are too many things I need answers to now.”
“Me too.”
Their conversation stopped again.
Ellin wiped the sweat caused by her tension with her sleeve and steadied her breathing.
“That way.”
Ellin pointed.
The strand of hair in her hand was trembling faintly.
It was a vivid magenta, belonging to neither Aisel nor Ellin.
It belonged to the third-year Magic student specializing in Spell Studies.
Ellin did not know exactly how it had happened, but the Mage who had first mentioned the senior had been carrying it.
Had they been forced to search without anything to guide them, it would have taken far longer.
Aisel looked at the trembling strand of hair.
Not only did it indicate a direction like a compass, it could even detect the person they were searching for.
Magic had spread deeply into everyday society, but to an outsider like Aisel, it still seemed mysterious.
She gave the hair an intrigued glance before taking the lead again.
They arrived at something resembling a small cave.
It appeared to have been excavated with Magic, as Mana Traces remained embedded throughout its interior.
And those traces……
“Damn it.”
Aisel ignored Ellin retching behind her.
Mana was heavily influenced by the emotions of its user.
For Knights, that influence appeared through the characteristics and color of their Aura, while for Mages, it affected both output and stability.
The reason Knights were taught to keep a cool head and Mages were told to remain composed ultimately came down to the same thing: preventing themselves from being overwhelmed by their own Mana.
There was not even a trace of stability in the Mana Traces before them.
The student had desperately wrung Mana out of herself in an attempt to survive, only for it to backflow and rupture her blood vessels.
The third-year senior they had placed their hopes in had been eaten by a Monster.
There were unmistakable claw marks and wounds left by a lower jaw tearing into flesh.
One arm had been twisted and ripped from its socket. Perhaps a wild beast had bitten down and violently shaken its head as it tore it away, because the limb had been reduced to tatters.
She had died horribly, torn apart while still alive.
But before Aisel could mourn her, her expression hardened.
“Ellin.”
“Yes?”
“Run.”
Ellin widened her eyes, still unable to understand.
She wiped away the liquid around her mouth, uncertain whether it was stomach acid or sweat. Her eyes were red when Aisel suddenly screamed.
“I said run!”
A wolf howled.
Again.
That sound echoed through the forest once more.
As though responding to an auditory hallucination, Ellin instinctively turned toward the direction of the howl.
Demon Wolves began emerging one after another.
Aisel drew her sword.
The tip trembled faintly.
Proof that she was afraid.
But she did not particularly care.
She had no intention of pretending that something terrifying was not terrifying.
Because she was afraid, she simply reminded herself all the more fiercely not to act recklessly.
She ground her teeth.
‘I should’ve realized it was a trap.’
A wolf leaving its prey behind?
Leaving unfinished food untouched?
The Demon Wolves had left the corpse there from the beginning for one reason alone.
To lure them in.
To make them easier to hunt.
“Th-Then what about you, Senior?”
“I’ll run when I get the chance. I don’t want to die with you just to save your life.”
The words sounded cold at first.
But there was not a trace of falsehood in Aisel’s eyes.
And Ellin, who could sense emotions with unusual precision through the Spirits, could also perceive what lay beneath those words.
Aisel was merely trying to push her away.
“Time is passing even while we stand here talking. Run. I’ll hold them off first, then escape.”
From atop a rise in the distance, an enormous body appeared, so massive that Ellin could scarcely judge its true size.
The leader.
Its speed was likely every bit as monstrous as its size.
If a creature that enormous chased after them, it was obvious that both of them would die.
Aisel met the leader’s eyes.
There was no interest in them whatsoever.
Only indifference.
It commanded the pack, but did not seem inclined to act itself.
“That’s one piece of good news, at least.”
The instant the leader turned its back, the motion seemed to become a signal.
The wolves moved.
At the same time, Ellin cast Aisel one final glance and began running.
Unfortunately, Aisel had no time to leisurely watch her leave.
“Damn it. Seriously.”
Aisel dodged the jaws of an approaching wolf and rolled sideways.
More wolves were already waiting there, but she swung her sword around like a crude wooden club to force them back before sprinting up a slope.
There was no point trying to fight them properly.
Setting aside whether escape itself was possible, she had no chance whatsoever in a contest of speed or endurance.
Aisel’s only option was to exploit the complicated terrain.
Only then would she have any chance of shaking the wolves off.
Ellin looked back at the wolves pursuing her.
Most of the pack had gone after Aisel, but apparently not all of them.
Several were following Ellin instead.
She had to run.
Suppressing her labored breathing, she forced her legs onward.
She was somehow managing to keep up her speed, but it would not have been surprising if she had already fallen.
She was neither accustomed to hiking nor someone who exercised regularly.
There was no reason a complete novice like her should have been able to sprint through a forest while avoiding exposed tree roots.
And yet, unexpectedly, the half-Elven blood in her veins kept her moving.
The forest was the domain of Elves.
Elves were a people of the forest.
That strange connection gradually began guiding her along the path.
It steadied her ragged breathing.
It made the treacherous terrain beneath her feet feel almost like level ground.
It filled her with vitality and strength.
But that was all.
There was still an overwhelming difference between Ellin and Demon Wolves that had been hunters since birth.
Ellin looked at the wolves rapidly closing the distance and tasted despair.
She could not use Magic.
At some point while running, she had dropped the Wand.
And without even a Wand, the situation was far too desperate for her to calmly work out a spell in her head.
If she rushed a spell and failed, her Mana would backflow.
‘I don’t want that.’
She did not want to die.
Not like that.
Even if she had to crawl through the dirt, she refused to die that way.
‘What was all that about being the strongest? About being the best?’
She had been confident.
She possessed knowledge far beyond that of others her age and enough skill with Magic to be called a genius.
She had been persecuted for being a Half-Elf and had lived a turbulent life.
Driven onward by vengeance, she had pushed herself relentlessly and achieved far more than her peers.
So she had thought she could accomplish anything.
Perhaps not yet.
But she had believed that if she could only find the smallest clue, she could eventually become the best.
‘But that wasn’t true.’
If her talent was really so extraordinary, then why was she so helpless now?
Why could she do nothing?
The answer had always been obvious.
It was also the very thing she had desperately tried to deny ever since entering this forest.
‘I am weak.’
Magic required time.
But no enemy in a real battle would leisurely stand there and wait for her to finish.
Which meant it was useless.
Talent or otherwise.
“Ugh.”
Her vision suddenly dropped.
Pain shot through her palms and knees.
Her breaths came out in ragged gasps.
A sickening sweetness filled her mouth, and dizziness made her head spin.
She wanted to stop.
She wanted to rest now.
Perhaps the fact that she had managed to run this far at all had been nothing more than luck…
But if she stopped here, none of that would matter.
“No. I don’t want to. I don’t.”
She did not care anymore.
About any of it.
Anything was fine.
She just wanted to live.
Something was slowly approaching.
At the same time, a faint mist gradually began gathering around her.
Ellin raised her tear-filled eyes and stared ahead.
Mist?
In weather this bright?
And… this familiar sensation.
“A Spirit?”
Ellin stared at the mist in disbelief.