Chapter 24: I Understand the Truth, But Why Can The Crow Talk?
A blue Magic Formation appeared out of thin air at the Summit of the volcano, and a figure gradually materialized within it.
It was Erika.
Without interrupting the Formation, she had simultaneously extended its casting range.
It had to be said—this was truly the most effective thod she could think of at this mont.
The greatest difference between a 2nd-Tier Mage and a 3rd-Tier Mage when using Teleportation Magic ca down to their magic power reserves.
And magic power reserves were precisely what determined Teleportation distance.
Erika had drunk a mouthful of the potion to restore so of her magic power, and only then managed to barely release a Teleportation Formation with sufficient range.
And now, she had arrived at the Summit of the volcano.
Before her lay the Crater.
The temperature at the Summit had already surpassed what any human could endure. The mont Erika set foot on the ground, the scorching heat instantly sent a splitting pain through her head.
Had she not applied several Fire Resistance spells in advance, she likely would have blacked out instantly under this staggering temperature.
She patted her chest, looked down at the ground beneath her feet, and wore the expression of soone who had just narrowly escaped disaster.
She pressed her palms together. A white Magic Formation began spinning between her hands, and threads of cool air seeped out from within it.
She cast the magic on herself, barely managing to keep her body at a stable temperature.
Only after doing all of this did Erika finally turn her gaze to her surroundings.
Nearby—nothing.
Only the Crater, which looked as though it had just erupted. The rocks around it were glowing a deep crimson, like iron heated until it turned red.
Under the blazing heat, even the air itself had warped and distorted.
Erika had co to the Summit hoping to find answers—but what greeted her after climbing all this way was nothing like what she had envisioned.
The stifling heat made her head spin, and a draining exhaustion was spreading through her entire body.
"This won't do......I may have to leave."
She still had enough magic power to cast a Teleportation Formation and get out—even if it only carried her partway down the mountain, it was better than just standing there at the Summit.
A faint glow lit up in her hands, and the Formation began to take shape.
Then, without warning, Erika's heart gave a violent lurch.
The Formation that had just taken shape dissolved in an instant.
A deep, mournful cry ca drifting up from within the Crater.
The pain seed to transmit directly into Erika's heart. Unable to bear it, she collapsed to her knees on the ground.
The extre heat of the surface instantly left devastating burns across both her knees.
"What......is......happening......"
Erika forced out those few words with great difficulty. Her heart felt as though sothing had seized it in a vice—the pain was unbearable.
The mournful cry that only she could hear continued without stopping.
In a daze, the volcano began to tremble. A torrent of lava erupted from the Crater and shot skyward.
Watching the crimson lava flow slowly spreading outward, Erika could only think of one thing—it looked like blood, gushing from a volcano in agony.
And right now, it was about to beco the instrunt of Erika's death.
Erika clenched her jaw.
Caught between life and death, she made her judgnt in an instant.
Every last drop of her remaining magic power surged out, forming a barrier that sealed her off from the flowing lava.
She was not ready to die. At the very least—not like this. Not in a way so senseless, so utterly suffocating.
But the magic she had left was far too little to sustain the barrier.
The lava seeped through the barrier. In monts, it would reach Erika's legs.
Her body had begun to tremble uncontrollably.
Then—almost the very next second.
Within her field of vision, a beam of white light seed to burst from inside the Crater.
Erika seed to forget entirely about the danger bearing down on her. Her gaze locked onto that white light at the Crater's mouth.
"What......is that?"
***
Both in Sanchez and along the Mid-slope of the volcano, the Mages and Knights all noticed the violent tremors now shaking the mountain.
"This is a sign that the volcano is about to erupt!"
A Mage suddenly cried out—though at this point, everyone present could already see it for themselves.
The lava erupting above the Crater was the most irrefutable proof.
Every 3rd-Tier Mage present wore a grave expression, every nerve on edge, standing ready to release the terrifying War Magic the instant Duke Livi gave the command.
Powerful War Magic—enough to completely suppress this entire volcano!
Duke Livi was suprely confident. He had just prepared to cast the spell, and had even been about to ask Erika to continue channeling magic power into him.
"Erika, can you still hold on?"
He asked out of habit—but no one answered.
When Duke Livi turned around, there was no trace of Erika anywhere.
"Erika!? Erika?"
Duke Livi was alard. He searched left and right across the entire position, but Erika was nowhere to be found.
"How did she disappear at a ti like this!?"
Duke Livi grew frantic. Of all the monts for soone to go missing—right when they were on the verge of activating the War Magic.
If she had gone up the volcano, the danger would be extre.
Unable to bring himself to believe Erika had done sothing so reckless, Duke Livi could only keep searching along the Mid-slope.
Every Mage who had been waiting to release the spell stood frozen in place, bewildered. Why had Duke Livi suddenly halted the Formation at this critical juncture?
Several 3rd-Tier Mages looked to Duke Livi and called out urgently:
"My Lord Duke! If the great Formation doesn't run now, the volcano will erupt completely!"
"We're running out of ti!"
The Duke very nearly shouted, barking at them:
"No! The great Formation must not be activated under any circumstances!"
"My Lord Duke! What on earth has happened?"
Everyone was at a loss. They could only press him for an answer.
"Erika has gone missing!"
The mont Duke Livi announced the news, every person present was stunned into silence.
If Erika were at the Summit right now, then the instant the great Magic Formation descended—she would almost certainly be torn to shreds by its imnse magical pressure.
But if the magic was not activated—
The volcanic eruption would spiral into a catastrophe of enormous scale.
Duke Livi's eyes were blazing with anguish.
If he truly had to make a choice, he would sooner cast aside every shred of honor and status he had—sooner abandon those innocent lives that needed saving.
He would do it all, just to bring Erika back.
At this mont, everyone was urging Duke Livi.
Even 1 second ahead of the volcano could be enough to prevent the disaster from arriving!
But so long as Duke Livi, as the leading Mage, did not give the word—
The Formation would simply continue to sit there, motionless.
Then, suddenly—a beam of white light surged from within the Crater and shot straight into the heavens!
Everyone watched as that white light tore through the black clouds and lit up the sky, transfixed by the sight.
In an instant, the sky shed its dark veil and shone down upon the earth. Gentle moonlight pierced through the heavy overcast, spilling across the stunned faces of every person present.
Drip, drip—!
Before long, raindrops ca tumbling down from the sky one by one, like spirits born from the end of a disaster.
Rain poured down in torrents, crashing against the mountainside and striking the flowing lava.
It fell upon Mount Vesuvius as though imbued with magic of its own.
In that mont, the volcano lost all of its force.
That staggering temperature plumted sharply.
The entire volcano was like a piece of white-hot molten iron doused with a basin of cold water—enormous billows of steam rose off it in all directions.
No one felt hot anymore.
On the contrary, caught beneath this sudden downpour, they found themselves shivering.
The flowing lava began to slowly solidify. The blazing boulders gradually cooled back to their original black.
"......The eruption of Mount Vesuvius—has stopped?"
A Mage gave voice to the shock that every single person present was feeling. Rain soaked through Duke Livi's hair. He squinted up at the sky, his expression complex beyond reading, his thoughts inscrutable.
Near the Summit, Gwen felt the rain begin to fall and looked up at the sky, where clear moonlight had broken through. She let out a slow breath of relief.
She had been close to that white light just now—close enough to feel unmistakably the terrifying force it carried.
The lava that had been blocking her path had already cooled.
She rose to her feet, gripped the Silver Blade, and with unwavering resolve, charged toward the Summit.
***
Erika stood rooted to the spot, staring up at the sky, her mind a complete blank.
When that magical force appeared, she had been the closest to it.
That—was absolutely not a magical force any human being could possess.
She knelt in the rain, closed her eyes, and let the downpour soak through her completely.
In this mont, every danger had ceased to exist.
It was as though that staggering magic had swept every crisis entirely away.
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius was like a magnificent joke the heavens had decided to play on everyone.
Its back-and-forth convulsions had convinced every last person that it was on the verge of erupting—and then at the very end, just when every nerve was pulled taut and everyone had braced for the worst.
At the very peak of tension—the volcano went quiet.
Its prank had succeeded. It had drawn the attention of every soul present.
2 streams of tears flowed from Erika's eyes. Even she herself could no longer tell, in this mont, whether what was running down her face was rain or tears.
She had been frightened.
A little more, and she would have died on this volcano.
A little more, and she would not even have had a body left to bury.
A little more, and she would have paid the price for her own pride and arrogance.....
Her crying drew the attention of a Fla Hedgehog. In the relentless rain, its entire body was giving off steam from being soaked through—it blended almost perfectly into the surroundings.
It bared its fangs.
The distance to Erika was very, very close. A single burst of force from its hind legs, a short sprint, and it could bite straight through her throat.
And Erika—her magic power was completely spent, her spirit worn to exhaustion. She had not even a shred of ability to resist.
She had been sobbing without stopping, unaware that danger had crept close.
The next instant, the Fla Hedgehog lunged at her with a horrifying shriek.
Erika snapped back to awareness—but her weakness left her body unable to mount any resistance.
She was going to die.
"Dad......"
BOOM!!!
A fire serpent, blazing with heat like flowing lava, grazed Erika's cheek and slamd directly into the Fla Hedgehog.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. The Fla Hedgehog was reduced to ash in an instant, leaving not even the faintest trace behind.
Erika froze. She forgot to cry. She stared at the scene before her, utterly blank.
Then she heard a familiar voice co from behind her.
"I should have taught you this."
"A Mage's own safety is always the first priority."
She spun around sharply—and saw Viktor, swaying where he stood.
"Professor! You......"
She was overjoyed—but before she could say another word, she suddenly saw it.
Running across Viktor's body was a horrifying flow of lava.
The lava dripped onto the ground, cooling rapidly, tendrils of steam curling up into the air.
The next instant, Viktor lost consciousness and fell straight down, collapsing at the edge of the Crater.
Erika was stunned. She rushed to Viktor's side and reached out to touch his body.
"Hss......it hurts."
The staggering heat radiating from Viktor's body—even a single touch was enough to cause burns.
"Viktor! What happened to you? Viktor!"
Heedless of the risk of severe burns to both her hands, she poured out the very last of her magic power—managing only a thin layer of ice across her palms—and moved to lift Viktor up.
The scorching heat sent pain searing through her hands, but she threw herself into the effort regardless, struggling with everything she had to prop Viktor up.
The next instant, Erika's already-burned legs buckled under the strain.
Thud—both of them crashed to the ground together.
It was fortunate that the volcano's temperature had completely dropped by now. Otherwise, the 2 of them would have been branded flat against the rock like slabs of at on a griddle.
In that instant, a surge of helpless frustration rose from the depths of Erika's heart—she was disgusted with herself.
Disgusted by her own arrogance. Even more disgusted by her own powerlessness in this mont.
Everything she had ever learned at the Magic Academy seed to have beco dead weight.
And yet stubbornly, again and again, she tried to lift Viktor—even as every part of her body was scorched by his heat.
Erika despised her own weakness with everything she had—but she did not regret climbing to the Summit.
If she hadn't been here, who else would have noticed the gravely injured Viktor?
He would have died here. Alone.
Again and again Erika tried. She got up, she fell. She got up, she fell.
The distance she managed to move was barely even 2 ters—and still she kept going.
No magic power left—then she would rely on her body alone.
Viktor had saved her. So now, she was going to save Viktor.
"Little girl."
An abrupt voice sounded in her ear, making Erika freeze mid-effort as she struggled once more to lift Viktor.
She looked left and right, trying to find the source.
But no matter how hard she searched, there was not a single person on the Summit.
Only—standing at the edge of the Crater—a one-eyed Crow.
Viktor's pet. Never far from his side.
Erika had even fed it once before.
Then, Erika's eyes went wide.
No matter how fiercely the rain was falling—
Not a single raindrop had touched the Crow's feathers.
Its plumage was smooth as though it had been polished, and in the middle of this downpour, it stood apart like sothing wholly unique.
The one-eyed Crow opened its ungainly beak. Beneath its single eye, a blue light shimred—radiating an air of quiet, ancient intelligence.
"Do you—want to save him?"
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