217. Reunion
#217
“Elthea.”
Ronan’s mouth opened quietly. Her silver hair and her ruby-studded eyes were features you could never forget, even if you only saw her once. She asked Adeshan in embarrassment.
“…Do you know someone?”
“Maybe.”
“Ro, Ronan? Where?”
Ronan didn’t answer. He moved his steps like a sardine dazzled by the anglerfish’s lantern.
met. We finally met.
Elthea and Ronan suddenly turned their heads and their eyes met. He stopped in her place, put his hand around his mouth and shouted.
“Elthea! “I came to see you!”
The voice that hit the cliff echoed and resounded. Elsia raised her eyebrows after hearing her own name. She stopped her hand from stroking her hi-ran.
-Puiyooooo!
Suddenly, Hyran spread his wings and took flight. A strong wind blew, enough to push the body away, but no one except Adeshan paid any attention. Ronan approached her and explained her purpose for coming all the way to the Sea of Wraiths.
“My name is Ronan. That building in the sky…what was it, yeah. I came here after looking at the map in Drimoor. “I don’t know who left behind, your father or you…”
A fairly good explanation followed. It was brief and contained only essential information, so even Adeshan, who was hearing the story for the first time, could understand the context. Every time she unintentionally heard the secrets of the world, her shoulders tensed and shrank.
“Ha, I never thought something like that would happen in the sky…”
However, Elthea did not show any reaction other than standing still and blinking. It was to the point where one suspected that she had secretly been replaced with a wax doll.
Even if it was a bit rude, I was wondering if I should use Auror to pull him over. Suddenly, Elthea turned her back and started walking away. Ronan’s eyes widened.
“Wait a minute!”
Ronan reflexively drew his sword and activated his aura. The sunset-colored rays of light that shot toward the cliff mixed with the polar lights, once again creating a surreal landscape.
But Elthea had already disappeared beyond the cliff. Sheathing her sword, Ronan lowered Aradan’s body to her floor. His mana-enhanced thighs swelled as if they were about to explode.
“Damn it, I can’t miss it like this.”
“Ro, Ronan!”
bang! Ronan leapt from his spot, leaving behind the embarrassed Adeshan. He didn’t know why he was avoiding them when they called him. This time he had to catch it no matter what.
“Shit, when did you get there?”
Ronan sighed after reaching the top of the cliff in just five jumps. Elthea’s back was already so far away that it was difficult to see clearly. Her footprints at regular intervals marked the path she walked.
“I told you to stop!”
I wondered if that speed was possible based on common sense, but there was no option other than to pursue it honestly. A chase broke out out of nowhere. bang! bang! Large shards of ice flew up as Ronan leapt off the ground.
The strange chase continued for nearly an hour. Strangely, the distance with Elthea did not narrow. Even though I thought I had caught up with everything, when I came to my senses, I was already far away.
The scenery of the icy sea was quickly passing by on both sides of my vision. Ronan, who was about to leap again, stopped in place.
“Huh…huh, what is it?”
Elthea was nowhere to be seen. The footprints that were supposed to be in her eyes were gone, but they were gone. He grabbed his bangs as he caught his breath.
“This can’t be happening, there is no way…”
I was proud to say that I never took my eyes off him. Missing it was impossible. What’s worse is that even intact footprints disappear.
Ronan was in the midst of drooling over the strange phenomenon. A voice that took her breath away came from behind her.
“Okay, gotcha…!”
“Adeshan.”
bang! She finally landed next to Ronan, resting on her knees to catch her breath. The speed was slow because she was carrying two backpacks, front and back.
“sorry. “It’s so important.”
“Haaah…no. Things like that happen, too. Why did you suddenly stop?”
“Elthea disappeared. “This can’t be happening.”
I even tried swinging my sword in the air, wondering if it was an illusion spell. But nothing happened except the sound of the blade cutting through the wind. Adeshan, who had been fiddling with her frozen hair, opened her mouth.
“Hmm, I think I tricked it with magic. Would you like to try swinging the sword? Because you can cut mana.”
“I just tried it and nothing happened.”
“okay? It’s strange… I can definitely feel Mana surrounding me.”
Adeshan’s tone of voice was full of confidence. Ronan’s face became more serious. If she said something like that, there must be a reason.
‘Is this a different type of magic than before?’
Let’s try it one more time. Ronan took a deep breath and sharpened his senses. In my field of vision, which gradually became wider and clearer, I began to see things that had been invisible until now. The same traces of mana that I had seen in my father’s room were glowing bluish on the ground.
‘This···.’
The scattered scars were clustered about three steps away and were burning like a bonfire. If it had been before Haeju, the energy was so weak that I couldn’t even sense it.
I felt like I knew what to do. Ronan approached her without delay and plunged the tip of his sword into the core of her mana. Sigh! The surrounding scenery began to change along with the sensation of dipping a sword in water.
“under. “It’s real.”
Ronan laughed. The scenery of the ice field changed subtly, and Elthea’s broken footprints reappeared. A right-angled triangular structure that looked like the entrance to a facility appeared not far away.
Elthea was standing somewhat in front of him. The only problem was the translucent turtle that appeared last.
The red turtle standing between Elthea and the two was as large as five ogres gathered together. The shell, which protruded like a burial mound, glowed like hardening lava.
A head resting on a long, wrinkled neck was looking down at the two people. Adeshan, who saw this, was scared and shouted.
“Uh, that is!”
She knew because she had studied spiritism classes diligently. The turtle in front of her was the high-ranking fire spirit Bayardo. An incarnation of fire that can burn down villages and mountains with just a yawn.
Although not as great as Hyran, most spirit masters were of such a high rank that they could not even make eye contact. Is that also a spirit controlled by Elthea? Bayardo, who was looking down at the two men, opened his mouth.
“Hwaaaam…”
“Fuck.”
Ronan cursed. A dark red flame was boiling deep within the huge throat. He shouted, blocking Adeshan’s path.
“Damn it, bow down!”
“Yes!”
Adeshan did just that. At the same time, flames poured out of Bayardo’s mouth. Quaaaaa! The liquid-thick fire was composed only of pure mana.
Ronan drew his sword and held it upright. Quaaaaa! The fire split to the left and right and passed by the two people. Ronan and Adeshan were hit with such heat that they couldn’t open their eyes properly.
“Ugh…”
It was difficult to open my eyes properly. At that moment, Ronan realized that it was this turtle who burned down Varka’s secret army. Bayardo burned them and Hyran cleaned them up, including extinguishing them.
“···What on earth are we going to do now?”
Bayardo seemed to have no intention of stopping spewing fire. Ronan gritted his teeth. I don’t know what the intention was, but if he joked like this, he went too far.
“Do it in moderation!”
For an instant, La Mancha’s sword body turned bright red. Ronan, who spurted forward in front of him, crossed the swallow straight ahead and swung his sword. Wow! The sword flew through the flames and hit Bayardo directly in the face. A crescent moon splitting his broad face in half emerged from the back of his head.
“Muhuhuh…”
thud! Bayardo’s massive body tilted and fell. Like the flames, the body made of pure mana became particles and disappeared. Ronan quickly turned around and asked Ade Shan, holding her shoulders.
“Adeshan, are you okay?!”
“Uh, huh. are you okay.”
Fortunately, there seemed to be no injuries. Her face blushed as she was suddenly called by her name. As Bayardo disappeared, she revealed Elsia behind him.
“This bitch, what are you going to do with me now…?”
Ronan, who was holding the hilt of his sword, was about to shout something. Suddenly Elsia lowered her head. Her beautiful voice flowed from beneath her pure white hair.
“nice to meet you. Ronan.”
“···Do you know me?”
Ronan’s eyes widened at the unexpected reaction. It was a polite manner, as if he were dealing with his superiors. Elsia raised her head and continued her words.
“yes. I’ve known you since you were born. And congratulations on passing the exam with flying colors.”
“test?”
“yes. What you just went through was the process needed to prove your identity. Anyone who inherits his blood will be able to find and cut down mana that others cannot see. “It is my role to guide you who have come this far in search of answers.”
Elthea said she had been waiting for Ronan to come for a very long time. That seemed to be the reason why there was no hesitation or pretense in his words and actions.
He explained that the illusion magic and the fight with Bayardo were all part of a test. There seemed to be no malice in speaking quietly. Ronan let out a light sigh and pointed to Adeshan behind him.
“Well, it doesn’t matter if that’s the reason. “That person wasn’t hurt either.”
“yes?”
“It’s a good thing. “If things had gone wrong, you would have died here.”
The tone was calm, but the momentum was not. Elthea twitched her eyebrows. There was so much life oozing from Ronan that it made her fingertips tingle.
After all, blood can’t be deceived, right? She muttered softly to herself and lowered her head again.
“···Forgive my rudeness. “I was so focused on Ronan’s test that I couldn’t pay attention to my companion.”
“It’s okay now. “Anyway, what is this building doing?”
Ronan raised his head and looked at the triangular structure. A metal door of unknown material was hanging on a plane perpendicular to the ground. For some reason, it gave off a similar impression to the ruins I saw in Dainhar. Elthea said.
“It’s a warehouse where plant seeds were stored.”
“seed?”
“yes. It is one of the ruins built during the world’s most glorious time. It was built to prepare for destruction, but in the end it was never used. Now I have remodeled it…”
Suddenly, Elthea trailed off. She seemed like someone who had unintentionally talked about her painful past. Her dull melancholy was reflected in her beautiful face. Eventually she stopped speaking and turned her back on me.
“···The introduction was long. Just follow me. “I have someone to meet.”
“Someone I need to meet?”
Instead of answering, Elthea operated the mechanism attached to the iron door. On the square metal plate were buttons with numbers from 1 to 9 written on them.
Beep beep beep. When Elthea pressed the buttons in a specific order, the entrance opened. A long, narrow staircase led down to the ground. Round lights were lined up at regular intervals on the left and right of the stairs, and they were much brighter than torches and easier on the eyes. Ronan tilted her head.
“Is that a light made by magic?”
“no. It is a product made by modifying a material called a light emitting diode. “This is also a tried-and-true technique.”
“Luminous… yes?”
I couldn’t understand what the hell was going on. The two people followed Elsia. Ronan, who saw the iron gate from the side, exclaimed in astonishment.
“Why is it so thick?”
The door, made of an unknown metal, seemed sturdy enough not to be dented even if a dragon stepped on it. Adeshan, who was originally interested in this kind of thing, was next to me with his eyes sparkling.
“wow···.”
Anyway, the three continued walking. It took about 20 minutes just to go down the stairs. After passing through three iron doors similar to those at the entrance, a large and wide hallway appeared. It was as bright as day and seemed to be using something like the luminescence mentioned earlier.
“Elthea. “I have something to ask…”
“Later. “Meeting him comes first.”
I had a million questions, but Elthea didn’t respond to any of them. To all of her questions, she only answered coldly that she would talk to him after she met someone.
It was good that the story was focused on the main point, but I also thought that it was too rushed. Greetings as they please, testing them as they please, and dragging them to the basement as they please.
‘Hey, I’ll explain later.’
But since there was nothing else to do, Ronan followed her in silence. She must have walked about thirty minutes more. Elsia stopped in front of a gate and looked at the two people and said.
“It’s all there now. “You must never make a fuss or touch anything.”
Ronan raised his eyebrows. It was something different from the doors I had seen so far. It was much larger and had a strong impression that something important was attached to it.
Elthea operated the button on the wall. Push profit… The thick iron door opened left and right with the sound of the wind falling.
A white gas of unknown composition leaked out like fog. Ronan and Adeshan’s eyes widened when they saw the scene inside.
“This···!”
The spacious room, like a square, was filled with all kinds of mechanical devices. A bluish glow filled the space, and various lines crawling across the floor like the roots of a giant tree. A halo of blue light was leaking from the glass tube in the center of the room.
A man was floating inside a glass tube filled with liquid. I couldn’t see his face because my back was to the door, but the back was surprisingly familiar.
‘no way.’
I suddenly got goosebumps. Ronan’s heart began to beat rapidly. She closed the door and Elsia opened her mouth.
“Say hello. Our eternal savior and founder of Nebula Clazier. and···.”
For a moment she trailed off. It was only a moment, but it felt like an eternity. After applying her saliva once to her lips, she spoke again.
“Ronan, it’s your father.”
