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Chapter : 28
“Ugh….”
A sharp pain stabbing into my back jolted me awake.
All I could see was an unfamiliar place.
Why am I… here?
[Oh my gosh, Lien!!!!!]
“!!!”
I bolted upright.
Right—I’d been sucked into the rift together with the duke.
Looking around, I spotted him collapsed not too far from me, groaning.
“Are you all right?”
“Urgh, yes…. Where are we…?”
“…Inside the rift.”
“…This place is the rift…?”
The duke’s voice trembled as he surveyed our surroundings.
We’d fallen into a place identical—no, exactly the same—as the garden of the Duchy of Strien where the rift had torn open.
Except, here the air was filled with ominous violet mist,
and the garden was ripped apart and reassembled into a chaotic jumble.
“Haa….”
I sucked in a deep breath.
It was my first time entering such a place, and the thought that we might die at any moment was making my head spin.
[Lien!]
[Lien went into a weird place!!]
[Ugh, I hate it here!]
I let my mana flow and summoned the undines.
These spirits, who usually didn’t speak aloud and just moved off my emotions, rushed to me the moment they appeared—so they must have sensed how serious the situation was.
[You got sucked into the rift?!]
When I nodded, the spirits fluttered onto my shoulders.
[Ugh, a rift?! Worst!! How did you fall into a place this dangerous?! Mana drains twice as fast here!!]
[Worst!!]
[I hate it!!]
“…Is there a way out?”
[There is, there is! But we have to tear the space open!]
“Tear the space open?”
“GRAAAAH!!”
“Spirit‑user!! Behind you!!”
The duke’s shout hit me the same instant I asked.
Crunch.
I froze the small monster rushing us with minimal force, and that alone told me what the spirits meant—mana really was draining at twice the normal speed.
I hadn’t even used undine power, just a light spell, yet it felt like I’d summoned a spirit’s true body.
“Graaah!!”
“Shriek! Skreee!!”
I bit my lip as I saw a swarm of monsters approaching from afar.
[Ugh, guess they sensed a foreign presence. They’re coming in droves….]
“A foreign presence?”
[Yeah. To the Demon Realm—the rift—we don’t belong here. They noticed.
Hurry, Lien! Find the point where the spatial waves are weakest!]
[Find it!]
Spatial waves—how am I supposed to just find that?
[Mm, if the King were here he could.
But since we’re upper spirits without our true forms, we can’t control the space.
And if I summon my real body, Lien will faint from mana depletion….
So Lien has to do it and… um… how do I explain—AAAH!!!]
BOOM!
“Duke! Get farther inside! It’s dangerous!”
While the undines panicked, a mid‑sized monster pounced straight at us.
I tore open the hem of my cumbersome dress to move more easily.
Summoning one thick ice spear—using as little mana as possible—I gripped it tight and drove it into the monster’s body with all my strength.
“SCREEEE!!”
Black blood splattered everywhere as it thrashed.
Straddling its back, I conjured another spear and stabbed again.
“GUAAAH!!”
The second spear must have hit its core—its body dissolved into dust.
“So? What do I do?”
[Mana is extremely scarce in the rift. Practically nonexistent.]
[Which means there will be one place that has more mana gathered than the rest.
That spot is the rift’s weakest point. You need to find it!!]
[Lien can do it!]
[You can do it!]
I grimly scanned the area.
Even as a spirit‑user, I couldn’t instantly tell where in this huge space mana was pooling.
I’d have to sense it myself or go there physically, and obviously the latter was impossible with monsters swarming everywhere.
Mana sensing it is—but that was a problem.
Mana sensing required spreading your own mana thin through the space and feeling for the ambient mana. It demanded precise control and unbroken concentration. In a space this large, it would take at least five minutes—and in this rift, longer.
With monsters around, I needed my spirits active the whole time. Which meant at least ten minutes.
The worst part: I wasn’t alone.
I glanced at the duke, sitting pale and shaken in a barely sheltered spot—still reeling from seeing monsters, or maybe from being sucked into a rift.
He couldn’t fight. I had to protect him.
Even with spirits active, guarding us both would be hard.
Wait—hold on.
“Your Grace.”
He didn’t respond—maybe he didn’t hear. I moved closer.
“Your Grace!”
“…Ah, y‑yes!”
“Can you use magic?”
Mana capacity was hereditary.
Mage families were common—while spirit‑users were one-in-a-nation rare.
If Lilia had enough mana to join the Tower as a child, the duke should have something.
“…Simple spells, yes.”
I knew it.
“Then I need ten solid minutes of absolute focus.
I’ll release the spirits, but our mana is limited, and if multiple monsters appear at once, we can’t block them.
If you judge your life is in danger, forget me and protect yourself. Understood?”
“But—”
“I’ve found a way out.
Follow my instructions.”
“…Very well.”
“Undines—keep monsters away, and use as little mana as possible.”
[Got it, got it! Leave it to us!]
Releasing the undines and moving to a less visible spot, I plopped down.
Cold sweat trickled down my temples.
I buried my face briefly against my knees.
If I said I wasn’t scared, I’d be lying.
I’d never seen a twisted space like this in my life.
But if I lost my composure, my revenge would end before it began—I’d die on the first step.
Even keeping the spirits manifested was draining mana fast.
I felt like death—mentally and physically.
“Hah….”
But what choice did I have?
No one here to rely on but myself.
I refused to die in here.
Sierra, Alec, Gemma, the prince, Lilia—
Too many people would be ruined if I died.
I took a long breath and shut my eyes.
The grotesque, ripped-apart world and screeching monsters vanished from sight;
I shut out every sound.
I saw nothing, heard nothing—focused solely on the mana flowing from my body.
I began pulling thin layers of mana outward from my core.
Sweat streamed down my forehead.
Whatever this rift was made of, using mana took twice the effort,
and spreading it into the space felt like something was pushing it back—rejecting it.
Blood surged up my throat and spilled from my mouth.
The spirits must have begun tapping my mana reserves.
Fine—if the duke stays safe, so be it.
I kept forcing the mana barrier outward—to the edges of the space.
Skimming the warped terrain, the monster swarms, the structure of the space itself, the flickering violet air, pushing beyond, and—
“…!”
I gasped and opened my eyes.
And immediately saw a huge monster’s hand swinging straight for me.
“Spirit‑user…!!”
BOOM!!
[LIEEEEEEEEEN!!!!]
[It’s Lien!!]
[Lien, we’ll save you!!]
The monster froze solid in an instant, and I coughed up more blood.
“You guys—be careful….”
[S‑sorryyyy…]
[Lien was in danger…]
[We didn’t think and just… did it….]
“…It’s okay. Thanks.”
I faintly smiled at the gloomy spirits, dismissed them, and staggered toward the duke.
Pieces of charred cloth hung from his clothes—he’d discarded his coat, his shirt scorched from spell residue.
I pointed.
“Do you see that boulder?”
“…Yes.”
Beyond the monster corpses, near what looked like the ruined entrance to the garden, stood a large boulder—the place where natural mana lingered.
That was where we needed to go.
“We’re heading there.
We’ll tear the space open from that point and escape.”
“…Tear the space…?”
He echoed blankly, and I nodded.
“That’s the only way out.
We could hope another rift opens, but that’s unlikely.
Tearing it ourselves is our best option.
I don’t know where it’ll lead, but we’ll deal with that later—as long as we get outside.”
“…Understood.
Then I’ll take the antidote right before we leave.”
I blinked.
