Chapter 284
-Rustle.
Suddenly, his vision brightened as if a light had been turned on in a dark room.
His head was dizzy and his stomach bubbled and boiled. His throat was stuffy and burning hot,
And his whole body tingled as if it had been tightly bound and just released.
His joints ached sharply and he had a slight fever that made his hands and feet clammy.
Still, he couldn't just not move.
He forced himself up and the first thing he did was stick his middle and index fingers deep into his mouth.
After poking his throat a few tis, he imdiately felt violent nausea.
"Ugh, blech."
Mushroom pieces that had been chewed but not digested ca spilling out. Just in case, he had eaten a lot of them to make sure he would die, so the amount pouring out was trendous.
After spewing for a long ti and having nothing more to co out, he could finally stand up.
Tears were streaming down physiologically and there was even clumped snow and dirt stuck to his head.
It was a miserable sight by anyone's standards, but... since no one would see it anyway, it didn't matter.
The surroundings were quiet. When he turned around, there was a low downward slope like a wall.
Had he co from up there?
From the circumstances, it seed the mage had put him beyond the 'invisible wall' as previously agreed after he collapsed,
But without thinking about the terrain, he had just thrown him carelessly and his body had fallen down here.
He wondered why the mage had done that. Had he been that scared?
Even though he had told him that his escort knight was right nearby.
But since no particular sounds were coming from above, it seed he had already returned to the escort knight's side.
He scratched his head with fingertips that were still swollen blue and turned around.
That side would take care of itself. Now he had to do what he needed to do.
The forest rustled.
White here, white there.
The ground covered in snow had been stepped on by no one.
Above it, birch trees with few leaves grew densely.
Between the white bark, dark brown epidermis was exposed in curves,
Which at a glance could also look like human eyes.
Thousands, tens of thousands of gazes drawn by the trees.
As he slowly pushed through them, a cold wind blew.
The wind that had been rejecting and pushing away the forest's visitor circled around him and eventually disappeared.
But he had no intention whatsoever of retreating here.
One step, one step.
He walked with difficulty, stepping through snow that reached his ankles. The further forward he went, the sharper the wind beca.
It wasn't because of the aftermath of having just eaten poisonous mushrooms. The wind was really getting colder.
The rough wind scattered his well-tied hair and made the skin exposed to the bare air so cold it beca painful.
Even though he had put on all kinds of winter gear considering Asgard's climate, he felt like all his body heat was draining away.
But the more this happened, the stranger his conviction beca.
There was sothing here. He couldn't know if that sothing was what he was looking for,
But at least it would help him figure out the cause of Asgard's cold.
Enduring the fierce wind, barely leading his weak body that seed ready to be blown away at any mont, he headed toward the depths of the forest.
After walking like that for a long ti, when his frostbitten feet began to feel numb.
-Whiiiiiii!
"Ugh."
Suddenly, a gust of wind struck with a sound that seed to tear his eardrums.
He reflexively covered his face with his arms, but the wind stopped abruptly in the anti.
Suddenly?
When he cautiously opened his eyes, he was briefly stunned by the sight before him.
The forest where trees had been growing densely had disappeared, and there was one large birch tree that seed to pierce the sky above.
Even the thinnest branches were as thick as his forearm, and strange things hung from them one by one.
Transparent and beautiful blue fruits like those carved from glaciers or ice.
The insides of the fruits, which were transparent all the way through, sparkled like glass cut at various angles.
At first glance, they looked like gems or crystals carefully crafted by artisans.
After walking around the suspicious tree several tis, he suddenly stopped at one point.
Other places were frozen with accumulated snow, making them difficult to walk on.
Only one spot felt soft underfoot and made a crunching sound.
He walked in place several tis at that spot, then crouched down and cleared away the accumulated snow.
After the thick snow, black soil was revealed. It was soil with no particular characteristics, but he imdiately began digging with his bare hands.
Frozen earth and small stones flew out. His fingertips beca numb and then got scratched, his nails broke and blood seeped out.
Even Asgard's cold couldn't prevent sweat drops from falling.
Just a little more, just a little.
When his cloak and clothes were completely dirty and his hands were soaked red, making it impossible to dig anymore,
A whitish panel was revealed beneath the black soil. When he tapped it, it made a 'thunk thunk' sound.
There was sothing underneath this.
The hard and solid wooden panel had no markings or ssages indicating what was inside.
But surely there would be answers beneath this.
The reason why Asgard's mages had eliminated one of their own colleagues and ignored the cold that threatened the country.
As he was thinking about how best to excavate it while wiping dirt dust with his sleeve,
-Whoosh, thud!
"-Aaaah!"
His body flew up by itself as if soone had grabbed him.
He had no ti to understand what was happening.
Because of the dull pain he felt in his back, his spine creaked. It felt like falling back-first from the height of a second floor.
"Cough, cough!"
"This insolent fellow. How dare you intrude on Asgard Mage Tower's property! I don't know if you're bold or stupid."
While leaning against the large birch trunk,
As he couldn't co to his senses and was coughing, a sharp, piercing sound reached his ears.
When he looked up, a group of soldiers and four mages leading them were walking over majestically.
One of them was a face he had already seen.
The Mage Tower head, the Mage Tower leader, sothing like that position.
Behind them, letters that seed familiar were constantly rippling and whispering their disgusting inner thoughts.
He shouted with the utmost solemnity and gravity.
"How dare you not only kidnap and confine a Mage Tower mage, but also damage the Mage Tower's precious resources! You must pay the price for your reckless behavior in a foreign country, insolent foreigner."
"...I didn't confine anyone."
"Do you intend to cover up your cris? The fact that you kidnapped a mage to enter this forest is clear. This is a serious diplomatic matter that His Majesty the King is also aware of-"
"Wasn't there anyone on the way here?"
"Hmph."
The elderly gentleman snorted delicately. Then he turned around and gestured.
The soldiers bearing Asgard Kingdom's insignia parted and two people ca out.
An escort knight brought out with his hands bound behind his back, and a mage who was drooping and staggering.
The mage seed to have lost strength in his body as if sothing had happened in the anti.
"To think you tried to face four mages with just this. Your ntal state is questionable."
"You don't need to worry about my ntal health. So now you're planning to arrest ?"
"Since there are no casualties, we won't take your life."
"Then can I ask just one thing before that?"
"What?"
"What exactly is buried under this tree that made you bring even the King's soldiers and co running in such a hurry?"
At his question, the mage glared at him with sharp eyes.
But wasn't it strange after all?
They had co because they realized there was sothing in this forest, but those people had no way to figure out what they were thinking.
Moreover, the mage who had the clue was also moving with him.
In the end, there was only one answer.
"This must be a very important place."
"Shut that mouth! The words of a foreigner who will soon be expelled-"
"You must have known from the ti the royal eting ended. What that new mage claid. Seeing that the mage was expelled right after, there must have been sothing that hit a nerve."
"What are you talking about? Capture and bind that bastard!"
"The 'great being' that the mage claid. No matter how I think about it, it was strange. For your kind, people who believe in nothing but their own magical power, to ntion such a being."
"What are you all doing! Hurry up and catch him!"
"Yet, in a situation where a foreigner like turned the Mage Tower upside down... you co running here as if sothing is hidden here."
The theory of amplifying magical power through consumption,
The school and mages who believed in it.
The aning that the great being had for them.
Five or six soldiers approached him with swords and spears.
He had no intention of stopping them. If he was caught like this, he planned to be dragged away as is.
But before that.
The escort knight who had been bound among the soldiers raised his head. For a mont, he felt their eyes t.
"-Destroy what's underneath here!"
-Crack.
The knight seed to exert force for a mont, and with a rough sound, pieces of cut rope scattered over the snow field.
Pushing through the confused soldiers and leaping over the heads of the wide-eyed mages, the knight drew his sword from mid-air.
Each movent was unbelievably agile and precise.
However, the sword's trajectory was violent enough to not match the delicate movents.
-BOOOOM!
White wood fragnts flew up along with snow.
The buried white wall collapsed.
White mist slowly rose from underground. Mist that could only be seen in winter, sparkling ice crystals were thick like clouds, creating a dreamlike atmosphere.
People couldn't cope with the sudden event and stared blankly at the scene.
Suddenly his hand felt itchy. Not just his hand, but a sensation like insects crawling all over his body.
This, this feeling was.
The Mage Tower head, whose complexion had turned pale blue, suddenly ca to his senses and scread.
"No!"
At the sa ti, a strong wind swept through the clearing.
The strange fruits hanging from the tree made clinking sounds as they bumped into each other,
And cloaks fluttered here and there with the wind.
People tried to close their eyes or step back at the frozen snow hitting their faces, but it was too late.
"Uh, uh."
Soone made a stupid sound.
From the snow field where the soldiers approaching him had been standing,
White energy was quickly climbing up their legs.
They tried to brush it off, but the thin ice that had already reached their thighs wouldn't fall off.
Not only that. With their feet stuck fast to the ground, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't move.
He slowly stood up. He wasn't afraid of the frozen snow or the bleak mist wandering between his legs.
The ground he had dug was even larger due to the aftermath of what the escort knight had just blown away.
A face visible between the broken wooden panels and torn wood pieces.
The peacefully sleeping appearance was similar to what was in his hazy mory,
But he instinctively knew that what was here was a shell with human form.
A god who had been unable to wake for a long ti with only the magical power that composed his body remaining.
He jumped down beneath it. He could hear the loosened box creaking from the weight.
"Aphoom-Zhah."
"......"
"It seems Eibon took good care of you. I didn't expect to et you in such an intact form even after such a long ti has passed."
"......"
"What did Asgard's mages do to you?"
Of course, even if he called like this, Aphoom-Zhah couldn't wake up.
The magical power supply that had been connected to Eibon was cut off, and he would have been forced to fall asleep.
Without realizing it, laughter leaked out because it was so absurd.
Yes, that's what 'gambling' on that note ant.
Humans eating a god. Blasphemy that absolutely couldn't be stopped.
Ah, what exactly had happened while he was away?
Why did everyone break down and disappear so easily?
He snatched the sword from the escort knight standing beside him,
And imdiately slit his own throat.
His vision turned red and he heard soone shouting from far away.
In his tilted field of vision, red blood fell onto Aphoom-Zhah's face. The white face was defiled with the impious believer's blood.
And the next mont.
Cold flas overturned the entire world.
User Comments
0 comments from readers