Into the Deep

Somehow…

Yes. I’ll save him somehow. And so,

“Jun-woo. I’m sorry…”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In the midst of chaos where the ground overturned and trees fell, Teacher Sena murmured.

Sorry to those left to die,

Sorry to the one person she would save this way,

Sorry to those pushed toward death…

She was sorry to them all.

+ – + – +

There wasn’t a moment to rest. The ogre whose ankle was cut rolled on the ground briefly, but soon stood up again. The wound must have healed already as it wasn’t even bleeding. If the Guardians continually emerging from somewhere hadn’t been blocking the ogres, Mom, Dad, and Yuria would have been reduced to bloody pulp by now.

Of course, the Guardians aren’t on our side either. When we managed to knock down a Guardian blocking our path, we had to hope the ogre following behind would grab it and be delayed. God, we’re caught between a rock and a hard place.

All around us, ogres and Guardians smash into each other. Stabbing, striking, the ground Boom! Boom! reverberating, and the forest getting decimated as though hit by carpet bombing.

We ran forward desperately, but the ogres’ advance was just as fast. Wherever we went, there were ogres, and wherever we went, there were Guardians.

My magical power was rapidly depleted.

Clang! Clang! Slash!

After using up all the magical power from <Saíl>, I couldn’t bring down an ogre with a single sword strike. I had to forcibly accelerate my body by squeezing out magical power and deliver three consecutive sword strikes just to get past one of them.

My wrists felt like they would snap, and blood flowed freely from my palms. My mouth tasted metallic.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

After getting through a couple more critical moments like this, the time finally came when even three strikes weren’t enough to bring down an ogre.

The ogre staggered but didn’t fall, and raised a massive iron club toward us. If that thing sweeps the ground once, our family will be annihilated.

“Aaaargh!! Die!”

Slash!

With every last ounce of strength, I swung my sword for the fourth time, cutting behind the ogre’s ankle with a slash!

Crash!

Finally, the ogre lost balance and fell. I stared blankly at the creature tumbling in a cloud of dust.

My head felt like it was ringing. The whole world seemed submerged underwater, undulating strangely.

“Well done! Quickly, let’s move!”

Yuria grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

“Uh… Huh? Oh, right. Let’s go.”

I tried to focus as I took a couple steps, but…

Clang!

The sword I had been gripping tightly fell to the ground. I didn’t even feel it slip from my hand.

“Huh?”

I bent down to pick up the fallen sword.

“Jun!”

I heard Yuria’s urgent voice. What’s wrong? As I wondered, Boom! The ground rippled up and hit my forehead. It seemed like a hard impact, but strangely, it didn’t hurt much.

“Oh… I fell down…”

I mumbled stupidly and tried to get up by pushing against the ground, but my arm slipped.

“Jun-woo! Get a grip!”

Yuria slipped her arms under my armpits and lifted me up.

“Ah… Yuria. This… why am I like this?” (TLN: I forgot whether the author already describe that Yuria is older than Jun-woo or not, but yes. She is older than Jun-woo. And all this time he calls her “Noona”. But I use her real name instead since I feel like using “Sister” in English sounds awkward. I know, it’s probably just me but I hope this decision won’t degrade your reading experience.)

Like the time I drank alcohol given by adults during the festival… my body kept wobbling. Nausea rose in my throat, and I couldn’t muster strength in even a fingertip.

“It’s okay. Get on my back.”

Yuria hoisted me onto her back and started running.

“Jun-woo’s collapsed! Hurry! We need to get out of here!”

Mom and Dad quickened their pace at Yuria’s urging.

Boom! Boom!

But the crisis showed no sign of ending. The trees ahead shook, and a smooth metallic giant that looked like it was cast from a single piece of metal jumped out.

“No… no way…”

I muttered while swaying on Yuria’s back. I had meant to shout, but only a weak voice leaked out of my throat.

“Ugh!”

Yuria, Mom, and Dad all stopped in surprise.

They gathered around me in a circle, shielding me. As if they were determined to protect me at all costs.

So stupidly.

“Run… away… run… away…”

No matter how much I shouted, only a small voice barely crawled out of my mouth. Everyone ignored my words. What were they thinking? If they wanted to live, they should scatter and flee, not shield me like this!

My chest felt like it would burst with frustration, but all I could do was flail around helplessly on Yuria’s back.

Boom! Boom!

The Guardian walked straight toward us. I could feel Yuria’s shoulders tensing beneath my cheek.

“Go… Yuria… go…”

The Guardian looked down at us like it would crush us at any moment. Yuria’s back grew cold beneath me. But then,

Boom! Boom! Boom-boom-boom!

The Guardian shifted its gaze from us and ran past. The sound of trees breaking with a crack! came from behind us as it presumably clashed with an ogre.

“…It passed us by.”

Yuria said.

“Teacher Sena was right…”

Dad said with a voice of relief.

At first, I didn’t understand the situation, but soon it dawned on me.

Yes. It was just as Teacher Sena had said.

Just now, I had completely depleted my magical power. A Ki-blood mage who has exhausted all magical power generates even less aggro than a normal person. Meanwhile, the high-grade mage talisman from Teacher Sena was still powerfully concealing our presence.

The Guardian saw us but didn’t sense anything unusual and simply passed by.

“This is our chance! Quickly! Move! Let’s get away from the battlefield and hide! We’ll watch for an opportunity and escape the forest – we can survive!”

Mom took the lead. Even with the nomad disbanded and the mobile barrier destroyed, she hadn’t given up hope of survival.

Right. So what if we don’t have a mobile barrier? Even vagrants survive without one. That’s the wilderness people’s irrepressible optimism, holding on until the very end.

Tap-tap-tap!

Our urgent footsteps cut through the forest.

Boom! Boom! Crack!

The heavy footsteps crushing trees gradually approached.

Tap-tap-tap!

But… wait?

At first, I thought this sound was just our footsteps. But it wasn’t. Among our footsteps was a faint one mixing in. It grew closer and closer. Finally, the desperate footsteps screamed out.

“Jun-woo! Jun-woo! Save me!”

Crashing through the forest appeared Monggu. Crack! Behind him, an ogre smashed through the forest in pursuit.

‘No… don’t come…’

That was the scream echoing in my mind.

We had barely managed to hide our aggro using Teacher Sena’s high-grade mage talisman. But suddenly, Monggu burst in and shattered that balance. I no longer had the strength to face an ogre… yet Monggu brought one with him and clung to us.

“Jun-woo… Jun-woo?”

Seeing me dangling limply on Yuria’s back, Monggu’s face turned as white as a sheet.

The lifeline he desperately sought was actually a rotten rope that would drag us all to hell.

“Ahh… ahh… ahhhh!”

Monggu, terrified, joined our frantic dash forward. But no matter how hard we ran, we couldn’t shake off the ogre.

[Grrrrr!]

I could almost feel the creature’s breath tickling the back of my head. I could only turn my head while on Yuria’s back to look at it. It’s huge… was it always this big? A monster filling my entire field of vision. Arms thick enough to snap even an orc’s sturdy neck in an instant. Large, vicious hands.

Hell was right behind us.

“Flames of Trimacos! Dwell in my body according to our ancient covenant!!!”

The voice boomed like thunder.

A welcome voice.

Woom-woong!

The humming of Circles followed, and Teacher Sena flew in, covered in complex mana patterns of circles and triangles. Flickering flames enveloped her, exploding like a heat engine with Boom! Boom!

Slash!

Her fist drove into the ogre’s side. Whoosh! Flames rose like clouds around the impact point. The heat washed over our cheeks.

“Almost there! Just a little! Hold on a bit longer!!”

Teacher Sena shouted from within the flames. She unfastened the leather pouch at her waist, threw it to Yuria, and charged back at the ogre.

“Ouch, hot…”

Even the leather pouch was hot. Yuria alternated hands to cool it before attaching it to her waist. No one questioned why Teacher Sena would suddenly entrust her belongings to Yuria.

Boom!

Rumble!

Crack!

Teacher Sena fought the ogre with all her might. Waves of heat kept hitting the back of my neck. Her flames burned so intensely that they illuminated the dark forest.

But… the ogre wasn’t intimidated by Teacher Sena’s flames. If anything, it seemed more enraged, pressing her more viciously and swiftly.

[Grrrrraaa!]

Whack!

The ogre’s club swung down at Teacher Sena. She couldn’t dodge. Instead, flames exploded all over her body, deflecting the club with massive pressure.

Boom!

The flames shot up as if hit by a missile. The ogre rolled on the ground from the recoil of its deflected attack.

“Cough! Cough!”

As the flames dimmed, Teacher Sena’s revealed state was pitiful. Her flesh had melted from the heat, and her limbs were broken from the pressure. Yet even in that condition, she crawled and limped to keep the ogre at bay.

There was… no chance of winning.

The teacher was already at her limit. To be harmed by her own magic to this extent.

They say a 2nd Circle mage can somewhat face an ogre in direct combat, but even then, victory is impossible. And that’s only possible in peak condition.

But Teacher Sena had been racing across the battlefield, drawing the attention of calamities and Guardians. She’d already achieved miraculous feats by stirring up trouble between Guardians and ogres and slipping away, and she had reached her limit.

“Flames of Trimacos! According to our covenant…”

She chanted the spell.

Woom… woong…

Her Circles moved very slowly. They failed to create a proper mana pattern, and no magic manifested.

“Damn it!! Follow the covenant, will you!”

She cursed, but still, no magic manifested.

“Aaargh!”

Teacher Sena clung tenaciously to the ogre that was trying to subdue her and continue its pursuit of us. By now, a Guardian should have appeared to grapple with the ogre… but the Guardians must have been nearly wiped out, as none appeared.

Snap! Snap-snap!

Abandoning magic, Teacher Sena frantically snapped her fingers.

Bang! Boom!

Fortunately, her Gift was still intact. Powerful explosions pushed the ogre back. But…

Boom!

The ogre dug its feet into the ground. It planted each foot firmly with heavy steps, and with each step, the tremors reached even us running far ahead.

The ogre broke through the explosions and finally reached for Teacher Sena.

“Aaaaargh!!! Die!!”

Snap-snap-snap! Snap!

Bang-bang-bang!

Teacher Sena snapped her fingers spasmodically. Explosions erupted like carpet bombing.

“Aaah… aaaaaaagh!!”

But Teacher Sena’s battle cry… suddenly changed to a scream.

“Aaaaaaa… aaaaaaagh!!! No!! No… aaaaa…”

The piercing screams stuck to the back of my head like tar, then… like burnt ashes… whoosh, fell away. The forest, noisy with explosions just moments ago, suddenly went silent.

Boom…!

[Grrrrr…..]

In that bone-chilling silence,

only the cry of the ogre starting to move again was desolate.