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Chapter : 16
We quickly passed the edge of the forest where only small rabbits were hopping about, and entered deeper, thicker woods. Here, all sorts of beasts roamed freely, scattered everywhere.
Far ahead of me, the prince was already carrying a large stag—one whose heart had been pierced clean through by an arrow. Was his strength really so absurd that he could hold something like that with one hand while riding a horse?
“Lien. Aren’t you going to catch anything? Why’d you even sign up for the hunt?”
With that sly lift of his lip, the prince’s taunt lit a fire in me.
Oh, so now he thinks I’m easy to beat.
“Shut up.”
Anyway, I was going to get a magic stone out of this. I wanted to see Alec’s happy face.
“Undine.”
Two deer came into view, and I flung an ice spear conjured by Undine. The prince blinked in surprise.
Unlike him, there was no way I’d carry a kill around by hand. I dumped the deer under a big tree and set off again.
After about an hour or two, the prince and I naturally drifted apart to hunt separately.
“…Phew.”
At some point I’d wandered deep into the forest. I dismounted by a creek and counted today’s haul.
One boar, three deer, two roe…
Over twenty in total. More than enough.
Then—
Boom!
The ground shook.
What…?
I froze.
Slowly, I scanned the forest.
Boom!
Again.
Not my imagination. Tremors rolled through the earth.
I strained to listen, but heard nothing.
…Wait. Nothing?
“Damn.”
My teeth clenched.
This was a forest—the heart of an ecosystem.
Birdcalls, the rustle of animals, even running water—something should be alive.
But everything felt dead. Dry. As if the world itself had withered. No sign of life. A suffocating, eerie stillness.
A monster.
Or a tear in the world, right before a monster spills out.
Pop! Pop, pop!
My head snapped up.
Three smoke signals—ours. The prince and I each carried three flares.
All three had gone up in succession.
“Shit—Austin, go!”
I leapt back onto my horse.
“Kraaaaagh!”
Not far away, I heard something that sounded like a monster’s cry.
“Lihar!”
“Lien! Damn it, why now—!”
The prince was barely holding his ground against something huge.
“Ngh—”
But he couldn’t last. He collapsed, one leg turning black and smoking.
“…Your leg—”
“It shot me. Poison. And slashing it does nothing!”
I bit my lip.
“Why here of all places… Sit. Stay. Undine—heal him.”
The prince tried to argue, but I shoved him against a tree and summoned Undines.
Dozens poured into his leg, while I poured my mana into manifesting the rest.
Dozens of ice-forged blades appeared in midair and flew into the monster, biting into its tough hide.
“KRAAAAAAAGH!!”
Its skin split open under the blades, exposing a violet core.
I seized another ice blade and ran. Before the flesh could regenerate, I pierced straight into the core. The monster screamed one last time and crumpled.
“KREEEEEEEEEEE!!!”
“Lien—behind you!”
Hair sliced away; something grazed my cheek.
Warm blood trickled down.
“UNDINE!!!”
Damn it—another one.
Hundreds of ice lances materialized and rained down on the monster that had ambushed me.
“Haa… haa… ha…”
It took time, but I destroyed the second core and staggered back to the prince.
The spirits fluttered to my cheek, wrapping the gash in gentle warmth.
Sunset bled across the sky.
I looked down at my dirt‑ and sweat‑stained body and grimaced.
Damn. I never saw that second one coming. I almost got skewered.
And worse—those things weren’t monsters.
They were pretending.
Someone had jammed intact monster cores into the corpses of dead animals and forced them to move.
What the hell.
How could any human acquire untouched cores, let alone implant them?
This needed to go straight to Zema—with a report on the aura matching Arianne’s monster. And I’d need to speak with Sierra.
My thoughts tangled. I heaved a sigh.
“Lien.”
I turned—and met the prince’s violet eyes head‑on.
“…What?”
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
I frowned.
“Met? When?”
“Two years ago. Calavis Mountains. The water spiritist who saved me—that was you, wasn’t it?”
Ah. So that’s what he meant.
“Yeah.”
I stretched, nodding.
“…Ha. Hahahahaha!”
“…?”
He suddenly burst out laughing—not mocking, but triumphant somehow.
Normally I’d say something snide, but my body felt like lead. Healing plus over‑manifesting the spirits had drained almost all my mana.
He smiled at me, a smile I’d never seen on him before. His violet eyes gleamed.
“Let’s get back before sunset.”
Then my vision spun. Why…?
My palm was stained black. Smoke curled from my skin.
Shit. I’d been poisoned too.
“What are you—Lien? Lien!!”
Darkness swallowed me.
It felt like I was underwater.
Dark. Vision swaying.
“Where…?”
A white shape flickered into view.
[Who are you?]
It circled me slowly.
[Who are you?]
“I’m…”
The scene warped.
“Brother!”
A familiar mansion.
A little girl ran past me.
Blue hair. Shining teal eyes. Pretty child.
She sprinted into the arms of an older boy.
Their laughter filled the garden as a man and woman approached.
The man lifted the girl high.
“My beautiful Arianne—do you love your brother that much? What about your father?”
The voices were muffled, like heard underwater.
“I love you too, Papa!”
She laughed and laughed—radiant, happy.
A perfect family.
[Who are you?]
The ground fell away. White shapes returned.
The scene changed again.
Inside a carriage.
The child sat alone.
The carriage jolted and sped wildly. The girl trembled.
“Snff… nngh… Brother, Father, Mother… I’m scared…”
The speed only increased. She began to cry.
I reached to comfort her—my hand passed straight through.
The carriage lurched, lifted, and plunged.
The white shape appeared again.
[Who are you?]
A sheer cliff.
I lay on the ground, as if I’d fallen from the edge.
Far off, what remained of the carriage was scattered in pieces.
The girl was gone.
[Arianne!]
[Arianne, my baby!]
[Where are you…!]
Voices echoed in the distance—but the scene shifted again.
Back to the dark, deep void.
[Who could you be.]
[Do you know?]
[Do you know who you are?]
[Shall I tell you?]
[But you already know.]
[Remember.]
[Remember.]
[Remember. Remember. Remember.]
White shapes streaked toward me.
The ground vanished. I fell—deeper, deeper.
And in that moment, I understood.
That little girl—
Was me.
