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Chapter 225
This whole incident was shrouded in mystery.
Why had Isna co here?
And how had the ring ornant she gave to Triana managed to push back the red mist, even if only briefly?
Had she predicted this situation?
“Could it be related to the ones who attacked Isna?”
“Who knows.”
It wasn’t the Moon Watchers.
Nor was it the weakened Cult.
The Cult consisted of those who sought to obtain the old and powerful forces of the continent, but this didn’t feel like their doing.
The thod was different.
Perhaps, there was another group that worshipped that red moon.
Although… that might just be a pointless thought.
It was then—
“Sir Leon.”
One of the elf guards who had gone out on a search approached .
“Did you find sothing?”
“Not exactly. But I found sothing a bit strange. Could I ask you to take a look?”
I followed the elf guard to a place beneath a large tree, where a sphere of black energy hovered.
At a glance, it looked bizarre—unnerving.
Necromancy?
No, this was subtly different.
Still, to the elves, it must’ve looked like necromancy.
“Pardon , but Sir Leon, you can handle necromancy, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Could you help us identify this corpse?”
Do these people think necromancers are all-knowing or sothing?
A faint flute sound echoed through the forest.
At the sa ti, the elves who had been searching for traces of Isna gathered in a hurry.
Their expressions stiffened when they saw the phenonon.
“This is… what on earth…”
“Let’s check it out first.”
It wasn’t necromancy, so it couldn’t be sothing like hacking either.
But sothing was definitely hidden inside.
We wouldn’t know for sure until we opened it.
Just as I reached out to touch it—
“Leon.”
Luna suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled back.
“Wait.”
She then raised one foot and kicked the sphere.
A multicolored light shimred around her body—it looked like she was using angelic power.
CRACK!!!
A strange crack began forming in the violet sphere, and with a loud BOOM!!, it shattered.
Sothing hidden inside burst out, but Luna reached out and clenched the air—everything that tried to escape suddenly froze midair and exploded.
“Bad things happen if you touch it carelessly.”
The elves shrieked in alarm.
“L—Lady Romila?!”
Inside the black sphere lay a corpse—none other than a high elf girl.
Wearing the exact attire of as Triana, a proxy candidate.
I slowly approached and examined the condition of the body.
The decay had been slightly delayed, but not entirely prevented.
I gauged the slowed decomposition rate to estimate the ti of death.
“She’s been dead for quite a while.”
“That can’t be! Lady Romila was perfectly fine even during the monster attack!”
At their cries, I closed my eyes and opened them slowly.
“Luna. This bizarre magic—do you know what it is?”
“It doesn’t follow the rules of this world.”
Though we hadn’t reached a full conclusion, one thing was certain:
The real Lady Romila was dead, and her body had been found here.
So… who was the one currently in the forest pretending to be her?
“Looks like soone killed her and is impersonating her.”
The elf guards grew agitated.
“T-then we must inform everyone and restrain her imdiately…”
“It’s probably too late. Even if we can’t fully grasp the structure of the magic, she must’ve noticed we discovered it.”
If she wasn’t a fool, she’d already be gone.
Still, it needed confirmation, so the elf guards quickly tried to communicate via spirits.
And, as expected, the response ca after so ti:
“She appears to have already escaped. We’ve deployed additional guards from the city to search, but…”
“She likely left no trace.”
Word ca that the head of the Romila family was rushing over.
And not long after, he arrived before us.
“Where is she?”
“Right here.”
“Damn it…”
He clenched his fists so hard they seed ready to shatter.
“How could this…”
He slowly walked over and gently brushed the cheek of the deceased elf girl.
“Is she your daughter?”
“No… she’s my niece… but she was like a daughter to …”
He replied with a grim expression, then fell silent as he looked at the girl.
Her face showed an expression of pain, sorrow, and anguish.
Even the dried trails of bloody tears made it clear—she had died in agony.
“Her soul had already left this place, but her body was still bound here. I released her.”
“…Thank you.”
He offered Luna a respectful bow of gratitude.
After that, I stepped aside with Luna.
There was no point in watching this any longer.
“I’ve got a question. Do high elves recognize you?”
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“Not exactly. But high elves are very sensitive to this kind of thing. They probably… just sensed sothing faintly.”
They could tell she wasn’t soone to be trifled with—but that was the extent of it.
Once we had walked far enough to be out of the other elves’ view, I slowly opened my hand.
Wooooong…
A small orb of light slowly rose from my palm.
The sphere grew until it took on a human shape, eventually forming the figure of a young girl.
It was none other than the corpse we had discovered earlier — the high elf girl who had been inside it.
"Normally, when the body dies, the soul leaves and heads for the afterlife... but that didn’t happen to you, did it?"
— Thank you.
The girl, floating in mid-air, bowed her head to in gratitude.
The one who killed her had bound her soul to her body.
Even though she had been dead for a long ti, her soul could not stray far from the corpse.
The spell that bound her was stronger than I had imagined, so much so that it even prevented her soul from turning into a vengeful spirit.
"Your soul will now pass on to the afterlife. Forget the pain and rest peacefully."
She didn’t raise her bowed head.
From her gently trembling soul, sorrow and anguish emanated.
She must not have wanted to die.
Being trapped here, tornted, must have terrified her. She might appear calm now, but I knew very well that she was in such emotional turmoil that it wouldn’t be strange if she burst into tears at any mont.
Even though I had stabilized her soul with necromancy and Luna had gently embraced her spirit, those emotions still leaked through.
"However... there are a few things I’d like to ask."
— What is it?
"Who killed you?"
At the very least, it was certain that the one who murdered her was part of the faction connected to Isna.
Luna and I suspect that this group is not in full force at the mont.
And this spirit before us might hold the key to confirming that.
— I'm sorry... It’s as if large chunks of my mory were ripped out. I can’t rember much at all.
"How much do you rember?"
— Not their face, body, gender — nothing. But...
After so hesitation, her soul opened up with difficulty.
— It didn’t feel like they belonged to this world. They looked like any other living being on the surface... but it was as if their entire structure was fundantally different...
Beyond that, it seed there was nothing else she rembered about them.
She wasn’t lying.
Most likely, many of the mories she had seen were forcibly removed.
"Then... have you ever seen this person before?"
I described Isna to her.
After a mont of silence, her eyes widened, and she staggered slightly as if in pain.
— Ugh... My head...
"Are you alright?"
— Y-yes... I just suddenly felt dizzy...
After a prolonged silence, she furrowed her brows and finally spoke.
— My mories are a ss... but...
Her expression darkened.
— I’m sorry. I’m not sure. It’s like I saw it in a dream...
"Just tell what you do rember."
— If you head north from here, there’s a small cave. I used to hide there as a child when my uncle scolded .
"At that cave..."
— Yes. It's just a mory that ca to — I don’t know if it’s really there. But I saw her treating her wounds there... Ah, I think it’s ti for to go.
"If you wish, I can delay it a little longer."
— No... I’m so tired. I just want to rest now...
She didn’t explain further, but I had no intention of forcing her.
It would be cruel to keep her soul tethered any longer.
"Any final ssage you’d like to leave?"
"Please tell my uncle... I’m sorry."
"Rest in peace."
And with that, her soul departed.
Afterwards, I followed the direction she had given and found a small cave, nearly invisible unless one knew to look for it.
And then—
The mont we stepped into the cave, both of us froze.
"Haha... How did you find this place?"
There she was — Isna — replacing blood-soaked bandages, clearly severely injured and not far from death.
Her slender body was so covered in wounds, it was hard to find a spot untouched by bandages.
"Luna."
"Wait. Don’t co closer. I’m contaminated right now."
At the far end of the cave, she sat, surrounded by a blackened ground that looked like sothing had rotted and festered.
"If you get close, I can’t guarantee your safety."
Sweating profusely, she spoke, and upon looking at Luna, she opened her mouth again.
"Leon. Can’t you draw the power of the World Tree here?"
"It’s possible."
It would have been impossible for the previous Falling Blossom.
But now, after a secondary awakening fueled by massive spiritual energy and the power of the World Tree, Falling Blossom was different.
The power it held now was on another level.
Shing...
As I drew my claymore, she gave a faint, awkward smile.
"Are you... going to kill ?"
"Just stay still."
"Bloom."
Though the activation phrase was the sa, the power was not.
In an instant, the blade shimred with light, and when I drove it into the ground, the World Tree responded.
Falling Blossom didn’t control the World Tree.
It simply connected to it, and the World Tree accepted my plea and lent its strength.
To the elves, this blade would easily be worthy of being called a divine sword.
Crack... Craaack!!
Simultaneously, the ground in the cave split open, and branches shot up from below.
Despite the distance from the World Tree, its influence spread instantly.
The roots that rose from the ground absorbed the corrupting energy around Isna like a filter, purifying it completely.
They wrapped around her and consud every lingering trace of the power within her.
It might have been dangerous for the World Tree to absorb that energy, but it had cleansed even worse toxins before without issue.
That’s the kind of force the World Tree could wield — sothing on par with even archangels.
As the energy within her vanished, Isna widened her eyes and let out a faint smile.
"Lord Leon... That sword of yours is truly amazing. You look like you have a lot of questions... So what now?"
"...Sorry?"
"Hehe..."
She gave a mischievous chuckle.
Then, as if all strength had left her, she went blank and collapsed into unconsciousness.
Did she just stop mid-conversation?
"Damn it. This woman... she really knows how to push my buttons."
"Yeah. You could tell she was crazy from the mont you saw her."
No one else would dare pull sothing like this on — except the head of the Moon Watchers.
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