“Sorry?” After hearing such an unexpected remark amid asking for a proper explanation for this catastrophic situation, Chelsea made a stupid remark. She didn’t understand at all.
‘Protect him with our lives?’ These were selfish, irresponsible words without a care for whether they lived or died. On the other hand, Glen might have had good reasons for making this request, but Chelsea had no intention of considering Glen’s circumstances. Her goal was to become the next Saintess and become the backbone of power among the Karuwimans. Thus, whatever reasons Glen had, Chelsea wasn’t fond of granting it at all, especially at the risk of her life. Furthermore, that wasn’t even the most important thing now.
“What are you talking about…no, rather, what’s that? Why are the Karuwiman holy knights intervening in this battle and calling us Bellid collaborators?!” Chelsea demanded an explanation while praying that Hans was wrong.
Pina also added, “I heard that you are also on the same side as the Bellids! I’m sure that’s not the case. It’s just an outlandish accusation, right?”
Although she always maintained a calm demeanor no matter what happened, Pina’s voice sounded extremely desperate. If Hans was right, then everything she had done until now would turn to waste—no, beyond that, if the news that she fought with the allied forces, who collaborated with the Bellids, spread along with the rebellion at the magical tower, her Conrad School of Magic could disappear altogether instead of being restored to its former glory. After all, who would want to join a school of magic with such a tattered reputation? Thus, Pina couldn’t do anything more than hope and pray.
Although he was not as anxious as the other two, Byner also waited for Glen’s reply nervously. He simply wanted to get revenge against Zich and the Steelwalls and had absolutely no desire to be marked as a Bellid collaborator. The three wished that Glen would firmly deny these claims and give them an acceptable explanation. However, Glen was anxious just like them. He felt like Zich would be chasing after him any moment now. He didn’t even have the patience to wear the mask he had worn to hide his true nature until now.
“Shut up and block that bastard Zich from here! I will take care of the rest!” Glen shouted back.
“How are you going to take care of things?”
Glen flinched and looked behind him. He didn’t notice that Zich had chased after him and was staring right at him.
“H-He came! Hey, what are you all doing?! Block that guy immediately!” Glen attempted to escape again, but his companions didn’t let him. Crack! Sharp ice crystals surrounded Glen instantly.
“Explain first!” Pina said icily while raising her staff. Not too long ago, she might have believed Glen. She might have thought that Glen must have some plan and tried to stop Zich with her life on the line. However,her faith in Glen was crumbling to no end right now, and she couldn’t let the man who was trying to escape and using them as shields leave without any explanation. It was the same for Chelsea and Byner. Their eyes glistened and asked Glen for the truth.
The ice crystals surrounding Glen were sharp, hard, and could easily pierce a person’s body. It would’ve been hard for a normal person to dare to move inside it, but Glen was different. Currently, Glen could be considered the strongest on the battlefield, and the ice crystals, which were made by hasty incantations, were too weak to hinder him. He could easily remove them with his bare hands without even bothering to pull out Tornium. Thus, Pina was nervous that Glen would instantly break her spell and try to attack her. Yet, contrary to their expectations, Glen didn’t defend or counterattack.
The three hoped that maybe Glen had now realized he overstepped his boundaries and was willing to talk to them. Yet, they soon realized that something was strange. Glen’s attitude was too strange for a person ready for a conversation. Rather than attempting to talk, he seemed…
“He’s scared. What a loser.” Zich couldn’t help but click his tongue at Glen’s behavior which was even more loser-ish than what he had expected.
“Sir Zich.” Hans approached Zich. He was holding potions from his magic box. “Take these.”
Zich also had potions, but since there was no reason for him to decline, he took the potion and poured it all over his body. The wounds covering his body from head to toe disappeared in an instant.
“Have you finished your work?” Hans asked.
“Yes, very well. Look at the state that guy is in.” Zich jerked his head toward Glen. “Can’t you tell what a splendid job I did by just looking at that?”
“Hm, since I don’t know your plan, I can’t really tell, sir.” Hans and the others had simply followed Zich’s orders, and they didn’t know what processes had been taken to reach this result.
“However, that man is clearly different from his usual self. It almost looks as if he is scared although there’s no way…”
“He’s scared,” Zich said calmly. Everyone close to them, including Hans, heard Zich’s words and were shocked.
“Did you just say he’s scared? But magic of that level poses no danger to him.” The ice crystals surrounding Glen were something that everyone here could easily break out of. It wasn’t a situation where Glen should be frightened with his monstrous strength and skills.
“Well, Glen used to have a very special ability. I can’t explain it in detail, but it wouldn’t be wrong for me to say that he used to have infinite lives.”
“Infinite…lives?’
A human had only one life—it was the one truth that a scholar who lived their whole life gaining knowledge and a farmer rolling in the dirt both knew. Since it was so precious, people tried to protect it with all they had.To think that a person had not even a couple but limitless lives—it was beyond shocking for Hans to hear this. Even Glen’s companions who heard it stopped harassing Glen to look back and forth between Zich and Glen.
“Yes, it really is a tremendous ability, but I took that away from him. Now, that guy only has one life like everyone else. Let me ask you, Hans. If you had infinite lives and began to have only one life at one point, what do you think would happen?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. It’s something I’ve never thought about.” Hans found it difficult to answer.
Zich replied, “Having an infinite number of lives means that there’s nothing in the world that can threaten you. So it’s extremely easy to challenge things that others don’t dare to try because they're afraid of losing their lives—like a fairytale hero.”
Hans felt a terrible sense of contempt in Zich’s voice as he said the word hero; it was clear that Zich didn’t hold any positive connotations with that word.
“Then what do you think will happen if you had nothing to fear and did everything you wanted in the world, but you suddenly lost your all-powerful ability that made all of this possible?” Zich pointed at Glen. “You become like that.”
Hans, along with the others in Zich’s party, looked at Glen.
“You start to shrink in fear while facing hardships that you can overcome with your own skills. Why do you think that happens? It’s because he’s never experienced it before. It’s because even a weak attack that can be blocked with a finger and an attack slow enough to make a person yawn could hit him and kill him if he’s unlucky. He’s overwhelmed by the fear of dying to the extent that being surrounded by a few icicles like that paralyzes him in fear. The reason why he came all the way back here was to run away from me, and he immediately told his comrades to protect him with their lives.”
“That’s really…” Hans looked at Glen’s frightened expression and said, “Pathetic.”
“Hahaha! Yeah, it’s pathetic.” Zich thought Hans’ words were so funny that he even clutched his stomach and laughed. However, the others did not find the current situation as humorous as Zich. Rather, the only person who outrightly laughed was Zich, and most of Zich’s party had slightly disgusted expressions on their faces.
However, Lara was a bit different. “…Is that really Glen?”
“You may not believe it, but that’s what he’s really like. You made a really great decision to leave him. Now, you know very well that a guy like that won’t ever treat you like a real comrade, right?”
Lara did not reply, but everyone understood that it was an unspoken affirmation.
“…Is that really true?” Pina asked Glen. Her voice was imbued with deep anger. Pina had put high hopes on Glen Zenard to return her school back to its original glory. However, she had never imagined that this was Glen’s true self.
“Say something!” Chelsea also stepped in. She always respectfully addressed everyone around her with honorifics, especially Glen, but there was no longer any respect in her speech. Her hysterical voice rang out in the air. Byner was silent, but he was also extremely disappointed. He had joined hands with Glen for revenge, but he found that all the possibilities that Glen showed were lies.
Zich joyfully watched this sight for a while and slowly began moving. ‘Should I start catching him now?’
There was no reason to let Glen escape here. It was now time for him to break off their long, long relationship. Zich tried to approach Glen, who was hesitating to move in fear, when—
Crackkk! The ground rumbled.
“W-what?!”
“Kyahhhh!”
The whole ground shook violently as if it were a ship being swept away by an enormous wave. The soldiers around them fell, rolled around, and lay sprawled out on the ground. In the meantime, those who were unlucky suffered damage from the weapons on the ground.
In comparison, Zich’s party easily maintained their balance. Their hard and intense training left them unfazed with a shaking of this level. Only Elena, who was a mage, leaned on Snoc to maintain her balance. Zich looked down at the ground and then at Snoc, but Snoc shook his head to say that he wasn’t the one who caused it..
‘Then is it a real earthquake?’ Judging by the situation, this was highly likely. ‘Was there an earthquake like this before my regression?’
Nothing clearly came to mind, but Zich couldn’t conclude that there hadn’t been an earthquake during this time just because he couldn’t remember it. Fortunately, the earthquake didn’t last very long. The earth quickly regained its usual solidity, and people began to let out sounds of relief. However, Zich felt ill at ease. He strongly felt that this earthquake was an ominous sign. ‘I hope I’m wrong.’
* * *
Lyla was studying the system inside the ruin like usual. She didn’t know how long it had been since she stayed underground without stepping outside once. Now, even her sense of time was slowly becoming dull. However, her enthusiasm for learning didn’t fade at all. She absorbed all of Serpina’s education with incredible concentration. It would not be long until she learned everything there was to know about this ruin.
“That’s enough for today.”
Lyla cut off her mana at Serpina’s words. A strong feeling of fatigue washed over her, and she pressed her fingers against her eyelids.
Serpina said, “What are you doing? Hurry and set up the meal.”
Lyla slightly glared at Serpina who had a brazen expression with the same face as her. Serpina raised her chin as if she was urging Lyla to quickly get to work. Lyla sighed and took out the table, chairs, and food from her magic box.
“Hmm, the food is getting worse and worse.”
Lyla replied, “It’s because we’ve already eaten all the delicious meals. If you have a complaint, don’t eat it.”
Serpina sat on a chair without answering and grabbed the bread that was closest to her. Lyla also sat her tired body down in the chair opposite Serpina.