”Irina, can you hear me?”
Irina’s eyes fluttered open, her vision blurry as she gradually regained consciousness. A dull throbbing pain echoed in her head, and she instinctively brought a hand to her temple, trying to soothe the ache.
“Haaaah… What happened?” Irina mumbled, her voice groggy as she attempted to piece together the fragments of her memory. The misty surroundings and the unusual glow in Sylvie’s eyes added to her disorientation.
“Sylvie?” she uttered, her gaze meeting the concerned eyes of her friend and teammate.
Her mind was blank as if some pieces of something were constantly going around her mind.
‘Just what is this?’
She couldn’t understand at all. A
‘I feel like I just woke up from a dream.’
In the pieces of her pictures, she saw her house, the maids…..The memories were blurry, and she wasn’t able to understand everything clearly, but it was like waking up after a dream.
“Sylvie, what’s going on, right? Why are we here?” Irina’s words were accompanied by a pained expression as if the foggy haze in her mind mirrored the mist that enveloped Phantom’s Land.
Sylvie’s relief was evident, but at the same time, she was having a hard time understanding everything herself, so her face hardened at the mention of recent events. Follow current novls on NovlFire(.)nt
Recognizing the need for Irina to cool down and gather her thoughts, Sylvie fetched a glass of water for both of them.
‘Sigh….What to do…’
She handed Irina the glass, urging her to drink while she took a sip from her own.
“Take your time, Irina. It’s a lot to process, and I don’t have all the answers either,” Sylvie said, her voice comforting yet tinged with uncertainty.
As Irina composed herself, Sylvie began to explain the strange occurrences in Phantom’s Land. She recounted how people had suddenly lost consciousness, the eerie encounters with phantoms, and the protective power she had discovered within herself.
“People are unconscious outside, and I think it’s related to these phantoms. Somehow, I have this power that protected me, and I managed to wake you up,” Sylvie explained, her gaze focused on Irina.
“People are unconscious, huh? Have you checked everyone?”
Irina asked, looking around. She also had a hard time getting a hold of her head, but she forcefully calmed herself down after utilizing a mana circulation method for such cases.
‘So, she has a unique power. I knew it.’
Even though it wasn’t the time to make such assessments, Irina couldn’t help but think. After all, out of all the people here, only Sylvie was awake, and that meant she was exceptional to the point that she defied all the geniuses here.
“Yes. After leaving Jasmine here, I looked for possible Instructors or Professors, yet everyone I saw was unconscious already.”
“I see…..”
Everything didn’t seem to add up.
“So, according to what you’re saying, these phantoms are somehow linked to the unconscious state of everyone. Normally, the Phantoms are unable to enter the bungalows, as we all know. But after some time passed while we were unconscious, some phantoms appeared from our bodies and attacked you, correct?”
“Yes. That is right.” Sylvie confirmed.
Irina continued with her line of reasoning, her analytical mind at work. “If the phantoms emerged from us, it means the unconscious state of the people is somehow producing these creatures. The fact that they can appear even inside the bungalows after a certain time makes staying here unsafe as well. We can’t afford to let others remain unconscious. It’s not only a danger to them but also puts everyone else at risk.”
Sylvie’s expression tightened as she grasped the gravity of the situation. “So, staying in the bungalows won’t keep everyone safe. We need to find a way to wake them up and deal with the phantoms at the source. But how do we do that?”
Irina paused for a moment, pondering the available information. Then, she turned to Sylvie with a determined look. “Sylvie, can you use your power on others? If we can wake them up, we might be able to gather more information and solve this mystery.”
Sylvie nodded, her eyes flickering with uncertainty. “I can try, but…” She hesitated, a sudden dizziness washing over her. “I can feel it. The light surrounding me has already diminished. My mana reserves are almost depleted. I won’t be able to wake up others without enough mana.”
Irina’s brows furrowed as she processed the information while checking Sylvie’s mana reserves. To a trained mage like her, she could easily discern from the body symptoms, and she saw what Sylvie was saying was right.
“So, the power consumption of forcefully waking others up is so high…..”
That meant two things. The first one is that Sylvie wasn’t talented enough with her powers and used a lot of unneeded energy. That could be possible, but from what Irina had seen, even if Sylvie wasn’t that smart, she had a talent for utilizing mana.
‘That means….’
The enemy they were facing, the possible spell that Sylvie had mentioned, was just too strong.
Sylvie nodded in confirmation. “Yes, it seemed like some kind of dark aura was surrounding their hearts. That’s what I tried to dispel.”
Irina’s expression grew serious as she decided to investigate the phenomenon herself. She approached Jasmine, who was still unconscious and focused her magical senses on the mysterious energy surrounding the girl’s heart.
‘This…..’
The moment she delved into it, Irina felt a surge of complexity and darkness that almost overwhelmed her.
“Urgh!”
Immediately, she increased the distance between her and Jasmine. Her headache intensified for a second while her whole world shook.
‘Just what the hell is this?’
It was so complex and dark that she couldn’t find anything inside it at all.
“The energy is ominous, black, and insanely complex. I’ve never encountered anything like this,” Irina admitted, withdrawing from the probing with a hint of exhaustion in her eyes. “It’s not just a simple spell; it’s something far more intricate and malevolent.”
However, Irina had an idea.
Inside her head, she felt something ominous appearing.
Irina, feeling the weight of the situation, excused herself momentarily from Sylvie to check her notes.
She navigated through holographic diagrams and equations that Astron had prepared for her, but her mind was restless, and something tugged at the corners of her memory.
‘What am I missing?’ Irina pondered, her fingers dancing over the controls as she scrolled through her notes. As she flipped through the holographic displays, her eyes caught a familiar set of calculations related to Phantom’s Land.
The recorded data and the expected data for the land’s characteristics were neatly organized on one of the holographic papers. As she compared the two, a realization hit her like a bolt of lightning.
‘This… It can’t be.’ Irina’s eyes widened as she retraced the calculations and cross-referenced her findings.
Just as before, she had initially assumed that she had made a mistake about her theory since the expected results didn’t match the ones that were recorded.
However, what if she hadn’t made a mistake?
What if the results were actually true, and the only thing wrong was the perspective they were looking at?
What if, even from the start, everything was right before their eyes, and they just refused to see it?
In a sudden revelation, she understood that Phantom’s Land wasn’t a natural phenomenon.
It wasn’t a random occurrence or a magical anomaly that happened out of nature itself.
Instead, it was the manifestation of an incredibly potent entity’s influence.
“By the spirits… Phantom’s Land is shaped by a powerful entity residing here,” Irina muttered to herself, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place.
The malevolent aura Sylvie encountered, the phantoms, and the unnatural complexity she felt while probing Jasmine’s heart – all of it pointed to the presence of a sentient force.
“And all the time….We have been missing this.”
To the point that this entity was able to fool countless different mages, even Archmages’ eyes.
‘And it’s not a friendly one.’ Irina’s mind raced as she considered the implications.
The entity’s malevolence explained the dark, intricate nature of the spell Sylvie had encountered and the complexity she felt while probing Jasmine’s heart.
The gravity of the situation sank in. Phantom’s Land wasn’t just a mysterious phenomenon; it was a territory ruled by an entity with intentions unknown and potentially dangerous.
As she contemplated the enormity of their adversary, a realization struck her – the entity’s power far surpassed anything they could comprehend.
The fact that it could influence Phantom’s Land to this extent and maintain the unconscious state of everyone within its grasp indicated a strength beyond conventional understanding.
‘We need more than just Sylvie and me to face this threat,’ Irina acknowledged. The two of them, no matter how talented, were insufficient to confront an entity of such caliber.
That was the natural conclusion. No matter how prideful Irina was, she wasn’t arrogant enough to think that she could face such an enemy all alone.
Well, she might have thought that in the past, but that was no longer the case.
‘But, who should we…..’
And at that moment, a seemingly annoying figure popped into her mind – a boy with black hair and purple eyes.
‘Why?’
She couldn’t help but ask herself, getting annoyed. Why was this guy’s face popping out of nowhere?
Even after excluding all the professors and the instructors, the most rational decision would be to wake up Victor, the strongest person out of all the students.
But why did his face come up?
‘I see….’
Then she realized the reason. That guy, with his unconventional approach and irritatingly insightful observations, suddenly seemed like a potential asset.
For some reason, she knew whenever she was with him, she knew he was composed. Never once in her life had she seen him panic before.
‘As much as he gets on my nerves, his mind might be the key to understanding and combating this entity,’ Irina thought begrudgingly.
If anyone could unravel the complexities of Phantom’s Land and devise a strategy against the malevolent force, it might very well be Astron.
There was also the fact that they could only find his location exactly.
“Tch…..”
Well, these were only the logical reasonings…..While there was another reason she would never admit.