BXBX NOVEL Book 2: 317
After all, he had no way to deal with the incoming attack. Of course, it wasn’t a real sun, instead, it was an artificially created ‘sun-like flame’. From what he could tell, it wasn’t a spell either.
In other words, this meant that he had no way to destroy it.
Moreover, he couldn’t avoid it either.
Even as it fell towards them, the artificial sun was large enough to seemingly cover the entire sky.
—There was no time to think. The sun was growing closer and closer. Even though it was still some distance away, he was already beginning to feel the burning heat on his skin.
Lukas’ eyes shifted to the river.
It was a bit of a gamble, but if he were to throw himself in there…
Suddenly, Lukas’ body began to float.
‘This…’
It was magic. He could even tell who was using it. It was the Wizard girl standing not so far away from him.
She spun her fingers slightly.
Whoosh!
And Lukas was sent flying into the river.
It was a little rough, but he knew she wasn’t trying to drown him. Nevertheless, it was so sudden that he still gulped down a few mouthfuls of water.
He almost lost consciousness.
The world seemed to be spinning around him at an incredible rate. Despite the loud sound of the current in his ears, he was still able to hear a large explosion followed by the sound of flames.
He couldn’t help but feel that even the middle of a warzone wouldn’t be that loud.
He cursed his body. Come to think of it, swimming was a really good full body exercise, but because of the condition of his arms and legs, his movements in the water were not natural.
No. It wouldn’t have mattered even if his arms and legs were normal since he was being dragged around by magic.
…It was gradually becoming harder for him to hold his breath.
‘If this continued, I might actually drown.’
Just as this thought appeared in his mind…
“Gasp!”
Lukas’ body surfaced.
As he panted like a wet mouse, the first thing he checked was whether his sword was okay. Fortunately, he could still feel the now familiar heavy weight at his waist. Fortunately, he’d fastened it securely.
…A bitter smile stretched across his lips.
He couldn’t believe that the first thing he’d checked in such a chaotic situation was whether his sword was still there. Perhaps this was proof that he was subconsciously following Snow’s advice.
In any case, he’d managed to survive.
Sweeping his wet hair out of his face, Lukas finally looked around.
Stifling heat.
That, together with his burning red surroundings, was the first thing that Lukas noticed. The loud noise he’d heard while submerged in the river hadn’t been an illusion.
The part of the forest that had been hit with the artificial sun was decimated. The area around him cratered as if it had been struck by a meteorite, and the residual flames had lit the surrounding forest on fire.
The billowing smoke coloured the entire sky gray.
This place could no longer be called a forest.
“…cough.”
This didn’t look good.
In most cases, it wasn’t the fire itself that killed those trapped within its blaze. Instead, it was the smoke that suffocated them.
Lukas tore a strip of cloth from his clothes, soaked it in the river, and then wrapped it around his nose and mouth. Although it wasn’t much, this would be able to help him survive for a while.
Firstly, he decided to head downstream where the fire had not yet spread.
Suddenly…
Boom!
Dark clouds rolled in overhead.
Lukas narrowed his eyes slightly.
Fwoosh-
Then, rain began to fall heavily to the ground. It carried a fierce momentum almost as if a hole had been pierced in the sky.
Lukas had suffered from the rain not so long ago. Although it didn’t leave him with a good memory, that was beside the point for now.
‘This is a spell.’
To be precise, it was a magic application technique.
It wasn’t just to make it rain.
Rumble-
A part of the river surged, becoming a huge wave that began to extinguish the fires spreading through the forest.
In an instant, the flames, which had been growing at a frightening rate, were extinguished. It was a wise move to deal with the fire before it was given the chance to spread.
Lukas looked up at the caster of the spell.
Standing in the middle of the crater with a staff that was excessively large for her small physique was a girl covered in a haze of billowing mana.
“…”
The girl lowered her staff with an expressionless face.
In terms of the spells and techniques that were used, what she’d just done couldn’t be considered particularly difficult. However, putting out all the fires in such a large area was no simple feat.
To put it simply, one would need to have enormous mana reserves in order to carry out such an endeavor.
‘7-stars?’
Lukas’ expression became a bit strange.
He knew how rare 7-star Wizards were.
Even in Kastkau, which was known as the Magic Empire, there were only five official 7-star Archmages.
He couldn’t believe that such a young girl was an Archmage.
He wondered if she wasn’t human. Or if she was older than she looked. From her ears, she didn’t seem to be an elf like the man named Eric.
Suddenly.
“Gasp!”
Another person emerged from the river.
It was the large man from earlier. From what he remembered, his name was Hoffman.
“Dammit. Cough! Cough! Dumb bitch!”
It seemed that Hoffman had swallowed a lot of water while submerged in the river. As soon as he got out, he lifted his head to the sky and swore heavily.
Then his gaze finally turned to Lukas.
“What the hell? Yuriah, did you save this guy?”
“Right.”
“Why did you save him?”
“We can’t let him die.”
“What does that mean…”
As Yuriah walked over, Hoffman asked.
“What about Eric?”
“He went after the queen. I thought out of all of us, he would be the last to do something so stupid.”
Among the elves, it was common to find those willing to give up their lives for the forest, and Eric, as a High Elf, was especially so. There was no way he could give up his anger after seeing something like this.
“He’d obviously be turned to ashes if he were to fight alone, so the others went to help him and left you here to put out the fire?”
“Mhm. That’s right.”
“…shit. Things have become messed up. To think we were separated in a situation like this.”
Hoffman clicked his tongue. Eric was usually calm, but it was understandable that he wouldn’t be able to remain so in a situation like this. Perhaps the Monster Queen had calculated this as well. If that really was the case though, she would be too frightening.
Yuriah then turned to look at Lukas.
“You, do you know Lady Snow?”
“You idiot! How can you say that name…!”
“Right. I know her.”
“…huh?”
Hoffman blinked.
On the other hand, Yuriah continued to speak in her uniquely emotionless tone.
“This man knows about Lady Snow. He even mentioned the name himself. But he didn’t know about us… Don’t you understand what that means?”
“I don’t.”
There was no change to her expression, but for some reason, it felt like that doll-like face was annoyed.
“…it means that he was being tested here to become a part of ‘Swordnaz’.”
“What did you say?”
Hoffman started slightly.
Lukas was able to realise something from their conversation.
For one, they were probably Snow’s subordinates and members of the Anti Circle Alliance. In fact, based on their individual strength, they were probably elite soldiers.
“We are the Swordnaz, the elite unit who serve as Lady Snow’s personal escort.”
Her voice did not even waver an inch as she continued.
“Four days ago, we received a distress signal from Lady Snow.”
“…”
Four days ago, that was the day after Snow disappeared.
Lukas’ expression hardened.
In other words, Snow was trying to deal with some threat in the forest but called for reinforcements because she didn’t think she could handle it alone.
‘There is something that Snow can’t handle on her own?’
It was hard to imagine just what kind of threat that could be.
“On our way here, we ran into the Monster Queen. We couldn’t afford to engage her, so we deliberately ignored her and continued on our way, but it seems that she followed us here.”
They hadn’t even noticed her pursuit. Yuriah added at the end.
Hoffman kicked a rock away and spoke in a slightly stiff tone.
“Hey! Should you really be saying all of that?”
“In order for us to understand the situation from his perspective, we need to gain his trust. To do so, it’s better to reveal our identity and goal first, besides, was there anything wrong with what I said?”
“…Wizards.”
Hoffman couldn’t have known, but Yuriah’s decision was the most effective towards Lukas.
“My name is Lukas. As you expected, I arrived in this forest about five days ago. With Snow.”
He then began to briefly describe what had happened over the past few days. (TL: I swung a sword and ate suspicious fruits)