Chapter 58
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 58
Through the shattered window, firelight seeped in, and the child examined the woman crouching before her. She was resplendent and beautiful. An ivory dress wrapped in frills, eyes of vivid violet. Hair the color of sweet candy pink cascaded past her shoulders.
I had never seen anyone so lovely and precious. She resembled an exquisite doll displayed in a city shop window. And this person was wrapping my feet in her hands, smiling gently at me.
She said she came to rescue me. Me? She's asking my name. Am I already dead? The acrid stench of oil still burns in my nostrils, vivid and terrible.
It felt like a dream. The child stared at her blankly before mumbling a response.
"Shay..."
"Shay? Your name is Shay?"
The child nodded faintly. Echinacea Loaz noticed the trembling in the child's body diminish. Reassured, she extended her other hand toward the girl.
"Come with me, Shay. Let's get out of here together."
"B-but where...?"
"Somewhere safe. There's too much oil here—it's dangerous. We need to leave quickly."
"B-but outside, there are people, you see. They're all so angry..."
Shay whispered through tears. Echinacea Loaz answered with a smile.
"It's alright. I'll protect you. You don't need to fear anything."
Her tone was casual and plain. Words delivered so effortlessly carried an almost supernatural conviction. Her immaculate appearance—so incongruous with this decrepit barn reeking of oil and lit by the ominous flicker of torches—seemed unreal. Yet that very unreality lent her words a strange weight, as though peace itself would settle upon anyone standing beside her.
Shay reached out as if entranced. Her small hand groped through empty air, drawing closer inch by inch, until Echinacea Loaz grasped it. In that moment, light returned to the tear-stained eyes of the young girl.
The air twisted. It split. It touched. Gray hair tips came first. Then, as if being sucked in, the child's entire body followed. The hand I had just grasped slipped away.
Echinacea Loaz's eyes snapped open and she reflexively reached out. Too late. The distortion in space that had appeared directly behind the child consumed her in an instant. Immediately after, the space warped like a glass marble and began to expand. Grasping only empty air instead of the child's hand, Echinacea Loaz cursed and retreated beyond its reach.
"Damn this Nodule!"
It never manifests when you need it to! A surge of helpless fury washed over her. Before the regression, when she had tried to save the saint who burned to death, Lakia Giosa had apparently sensed that change and appeared. Just as Bardegiosa had predicted, the more you tried to alter something, the higher the probability that a Nodule would form.
The Nodule expanded at terrifying speed. It had already consumed nearly the entire interior of the building. Since it had manifested in a barn where oil had been poured to burn an innocent child alive, the conditions inside would be horrific. Echinacea Loaz pressed herself against the wall, avoiding the swelling Nodule, and deliberated. What could she do?
'What could I do? I have to go in. I promised I would protect her.'
The deliberation ended in an instant. I rarely die. The Nodule that had formed on the battlefield posed no real problem, after all. But that Sol Child—Shay—left alone inside the Nodule would certainly perish.
Echinacea Loaz looked down at her own hand, the one that had held Shay's. The child had been small and thin. The owner of Elgiosa, the saint. Was it possible to reach this point without hating anyone? She stopped thinking and gripped Amethyst more firmly. But before she could leap in, Yurien thrust his head through the broken window.
"Echinacea? What's happening—!"
The moment he saw the interior refracted like light through soap bubbles, he recognized it as a Nodule. His face went pale. Echinacea Loaz hesitated. She couldn't let him see her willingly entering the Nodule. Should she pretend to stumble instead? A brief conflict arose.
But her deliberation became meaningless in an instant. Having confirmed the Nodule, the vanished child, and Echinacea Loaz pressed against the wall, Yurien braced one arm against the window frame and vaulted through in a single motion. Their eyes met for a moment. Sky-blue eyes gazed upon her. He blinked. A bitter smile flickered across his face. And before Echinacea Loaz could react, he stepped into the Nodule.
"Yu—!"
Echinacea Loaz swallowed his name before she could call it out. Her blood ran cold.
Was he insane? Did he not know what lay in there? Master or not, Giosa Owner or not, the Nodule Interior operates by laws different from the world! No one can guarantee what will happen. He could die, and yet he walks into the Nodule of his own accord? Does he not value his own life? After everything I did to save you!
Thoughts like a scream crashed over her. Her head spun with pain. Even as it did, she placed two choices on the scales of her heart: risking exposure as a Demonic Sword demon to enter and protect him and Shay, or remaining outside the Nodule undetected and waiting quietly.
The scale tipped with such swiftness that the deliberation seemed absurd. Echinacea Loaz stepped into the Nodule.
The Nodule that had consumed three Giosa Owners rapidly expanded its range. That refracted space greedily devoured the villagers who had gathered with torches and the entire interior of the valley, then vanished without a trace.
* * *
The moment I crossed into the Nodule Interior, a wave of heat struck me. Echinacea Loaz shielded her face with her forearm and squinted her eyes open.
"...I expected as much."
[This is insane!]
The Nodule, separated from the valley, retained the valley's topography—though its interior appearance was entirely transformed. The trees that had stood in the valley had grown three to four times their original size. Their peaks soared to dizzying heights, and their trunks grew thicker than temple pillars. As the trees stood densely like towering columns, blocking passages and obscuring vision, the Nodule Interior resembled a labyrinth.
That was not all. The trunks and branches had all turned pitch-black like charcoal, and the leaves had transformed into roaring flames. Every leaf overhead was fire. The oppressive heat pressing down seemed to emanate from those burning leaves.
Echinacea Loaz quickly dodged the sparks falling like autumn leaves. Where leaf-shaped flames touched the ground, they rolled until they met oil and ignited embers. Fire surged upward with a roar.
"Oil too?"
She glanced down in alarm. Oil flowed across the earthen floor like a narrow stream, and where leaves had caught fire, flames traced the path of the oil in rivulets of burning light.
Towering trees and oil channels that could ignite into infernos at any moment—no monsters in sight, yet the terrain itself was a nightmare.
'I won't last long here.'
Echinacea Loaz frowned in thought. Even without monsters, the lack of food would make it impossible to endure until the Nodule opened. For the Nodule Interior to contain provisions, supplies would need to have been pulled in alongside whatever else had been drawn inside, but this Nodule appeared barren. The trees had become charred iron pillars, and with oil streams flowing across the ground, any food that might exist would burn away. The chances of finding water were equally grim.
If surviving inside proved impossible, I would have to locate the Starting Point as I had in the White Raven Gorge Nodule before, then drive Giosa through it. Fortunately, I knew exactly where the Starting Point was—I only needed to find it. The Nodule had begun in the corner behind where Shay had been huddled inside the Shelter.
'At least I have Yurien's Rangiosa and Shay's Elgiosa, so I don't necessarily need to bring out Bardegiosa.'
All I could see was a labyrinth of flames; no monsters or grotesque creatures appeared, so I could keep my status as a Master and the Demonic Sword hidden. Entering had been the right choice. Had I not come in, Yurien and Shay would have died not from monsters, but from hunger and thirst.
The surroundings were silent except for the crackling of burning leaves. Echinacea Loaz drew Amethyst and began moving forward, extending her senses to their limits in search of any presence. After wandering through the interior for some time, I realized this Nodule was far more dangerous than I had anticipated.
'This really is a maze.'
Dead ends appeared constantly. The trees towered impossibly high, and the sky was an identical inferno, making it impossible to gauge my location. Though I had observed the terrain of the Valley for over a week and knew it well, I couldn't distinguish one direction from another here.
[Master, doesn't it feel like we keep circling the same spot? Am I imagining things?]
"You're not imagining it."
What could I do about this? Echinacea Loaz stopped in place and pondered for a moment. Then a thin sound reached her ears—a young girl's scream. The only child in this Nodule was Shay. She started, her head snapping up. The scream came once, briefly, then fell silent.
"Shay! Shay! Where are you?"
I called out the girl's name loudly while moving toward the source of the scream. I extended my senses as far as they would reach, but detected nothing. In fact, my detection range felt narrower than usual—like a blindfold had been placed over my eyes, restricting my vision. Whether it was the charcoal-blackened wooden pillars or some inherent property of the Nodule itself, I couldn't say.
No answer came. Anxiety crept in. The direction of the scream was blocked by a massive blackened tree. Echinacea Loaz placed her hand against the trunk, trying to listen.
"Ugh, ah!"
I pulled my hand away immediately, but it was too late. My thin gloves burned away in an instant, and my palm turned a vivid red. A burn. What appeared to be merely a charred wooden pillar was actually so intensely hot that it would sear flesh on contact. At such a temperature, I should have felt the heat before my hand fully touched it, but I sensed nothing until the moment of contact. This was a space governed by laws separate from the normal world.
"Damn Nodule, full of tricks."
[Hey, you can't use your left hand now?]
"I can manage if I have to."
Echinacea Loaz endured the pain and let her burned hand hang. Fortunately, it was her left hand. With her right, she tore away some of the voluminous petticoat beneath her dress and wrapped her left hand roughly. Even as she did, she continued listening and attempting to sense, but found only darkness.
"Shay! Can you hear me? Shay!"
I called out once more, but still received no response. If this were Yurien, the only threat in such a Nodule would be starvation, but Shay was a helpless child. Surely nothing terrible had happened. Dread washed over me.
There was no time to backtrack and search for another route. Echinacea Loaz raised Amethyst in her right hand. I swung it experimentally, but as expected, the blackened wooden pillar bore not even a scratch. With my skill, I could cleave through ordinary metal with a single blade.
I had no choice but to draw upon my mana. A violet glow shimmered across the blade. Amethyst, a custom-forged masterwork, accepted the mana readily. I swung the mana-infused blade toward the pillar.
Unlike before, the wooden pillar cut as smoothly as soft tofu. It was so clean a cut that the severed section remained balanced atop the base rather than falling. I kicked the upper portion of the wood with my heel, sending it toppling. The high heel prevented my foot from burning—a small mercy.
Beyond the fallen pillar, Shay was nowhere to be seen. After repeating this process twice more, I finally found her.
"What is that?"
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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