Chapter 131

Joint Combat Practice 2 (17) (Edited)

The girl who was lying against the wall in the hallway of Glokt Building raises the corners of her mouth.

This is the student center where joint combat training is in full swing. The sounds of battle were coming from all over the place.

While everyone was focused on the battle in the training room, Adele was sitting quietly and looking back on her life.

It is a life that no one can match in its turbulence. I was so focused on surviving right now that I didn’t have time to reflect on the meaning of life.

However, when I look back after running frantically, there is nothing left. This is because although he worked hard to survive, he was unable to give any meaning to his life.

As that man, Ed Ross-Taylor, said... If struggling and twisting your body with clenched teeth is the way to survive... then the life you gained through doing so had to have value. But when asked what value her life had, Adele couldn’t say anything.

Rather than surviving, I survived. It was that kind of life.

They talk about it as if it’s amazing, but that’s usually how life is.

The world was full of people living just to survive.

Everyone is struggling to survive for their own reasons – the same goes for Taldarek, who took Merilda’s blow with his teeth clenched.

Just being able to take a blow from a high-ranking spirit with a human body is an incredible feat. He even managed to block Merilda’s front feet with his spear and then engage in a struggle with his trembling hands.

However, a couple of magical arrows hit his shoulder, his balance of power is lost, and he falls. He quickly stands up and prepares to counterattack, but the lioness Lacia lunges in and bites his shoulder. He tried to tear it apart and adjust his posture, but in front of him were Merilda, the high-ranking wind spirit, and Tarkan, the high-ranking fire spirit, revealing their majesty.

──The same goes for Verdio, who tries to find a way out even when cornered.

The moment he made eye contact with Lucy, he tried to run away in another direction with the suppressed saint, but was hit in the right foot by a magical bullet that flew in an instant and fell to the ground.

Clarice was released from his grasp and Lucy stood up. Verdio uses a weak magic spell to spread defense magic, but Lucy destroys the defense with just a lift of a finger.

In the meantime, he quickly got up and tried to run away, but his back was cut by the wind blade, which is basic wind magic, and he fell. I tried to get up again, bleeding. However, his arm loses strength and he falls face down on the floor. Still, I grit my teeth and exert all my strength to try to get up somehow.

When he raises his head with difficulty, he sees Lucy looking down at him with indifferent eyes.

Still, Verdio does not relax his arms. To survive.

──The life of Sword Saint Tailly was also a series of trials.

He has learned the swordsmanship through endless trials, and has continued to work hard until today, when joint combat practice took place.

From the middle, it feels noisy outside the student center, but it doesn’t bother me much in the practice room, which is completely separated from the outside. Right now it is time to face the challenger in front of us.

Even among numerous first-year challengers, he never drops his sword. Neither the head of the combat department, Wade, nor the head of the magic department, Josef, can defeat him. Even though Claude, the head of the pension department, tried to defeat him by using all kinds of cowardly tactics, Tailley was not defeated in the end.

Eventually, even when he sees Claude cornered and drinking the forbidden reagent ‘Evil God’s Blood’, he does not avoid the fight and stands straight in front of him.

──The same goes for Yenica Palover, who cannot see right now.

Beyond the blurry vision, the figure of Ed exchanging fire with Taldarek can be felt only as a silhouette. No matter how high-ranking a spirit you are, there is no guarantee that you will be able to defeat the Apostle of Telos one-on-one.

The body has already reached its limit and is screaming. However, when he senses the movement of Ed Rosstaylor, who is fighting for his life, he grits his teeth once more and draws out his magic. In the end, Yenika pours out all her magical power to the very end of the floor and finally manifests the high-ranking fire spirit Tarkan.

1 highest-ranking spirit, 1 high-ranking spirit, 8 middle-ranking spirits, 117 low-ranking spirits, and 417 corporeal spirits.

A one-man army, so to speak.

Even though it was manifested by drawing the magic power of the future and the power was manifested by cutting down my own body, even taking that into account, it was an absurd level of spirit sensitivity.

Fire and wind split the clearing in the forest, and Edgar, standing between the two high-ranking spirits, takes out a dagger and a bow.

The sound of two men shouting and clashing enters Yenika’s ears.

──Would it be any different if it were Clarisse, Adele’s close friend?

Clarice escapes from Verdio’s grasp and stands up again. His body was full of scratches to begin with, and he was severely damaged by Verdio’s attack. I somehow manage to steer my creaky body and move towards the cathedral.

There is a prosperous Eldain who can put an end to this whole situation. If the situation had progressed this far, no matter how religious he may be, he would not be able to remain silent.

The moment they reach the door of the cathedral, the door opens on its own before Clarice can even try to open it.

Inside, the Holy Eldain and his guards appear. Although Verdio’s surprise attack took some damage, no one was seriously injured.

The cathedral knights paid their respects to the saint and passed by both sides toward Verdio. Eldain, the Holy Emperor, quietly walked out between them and bowed respectfully to the Saint. He was a human being who was considered to hold the most sacred power except for Telos, who was given to this earth.

The man bows his head, greets Clarisse politely, then passes her and moves toward Verdio.

The knights of the cathedral surround the fallen Verdio, and Eldain, the Holy Emperor, who comes through them, looks down on him.

Verdio grits his teeth and struggles to unleash his magic, but before the knights can respond, Lucy tramples his arm.

He screams and grabs Lucy’s feet, but he cannot exert any influence on the surface of her body, which is imprinted with defensive lines. Lucy’s face, looking down at the struggling Verdio, is extremely expressionless.

──And more than anyone else, Ed Rosstaylor must have lived the most intense life.

Ed Rosstaylor’s body, as he pulls the bowstring, is already covered in wounds.

Even as Merilda’s wind magic and Tarkan’s fire magic came and went, Taldarek somehow held on. He led the battle by swinging his spear, deflecting magic, dodging Ed’s arrows, and dodging Tarkan’s tail and Merilda’s paws.

However, it is difficult to deal with both the two high-ranking spirits and the main body of Ed Rosstaylor, who is covered in all kinds of divine protection.

Therefore, it is necessary to first reduce the opponent’s power. Ed Rosstaylor, the person who summoned Merilda, offers his own resistance even in close combat, but it is different when it comes to Yenica Palover, who is in a state of complete disrepair.

If you stop her, you can neutralize not only the fire lizard in front of you, but even the flying whale that is blocking your colleagues’ support.

Taldarek’s attack quickly turned towards Yenica Palover, who was out of breath and suffering from a high fever.

The judgment is bold. If you hesitate half-heartedly in a battle situation where you are walking on the tip of a sword, you will be defeated. Taldarek knows that well.

The direction the repaired window is facing is Ed Ross Taylor. He takes his stance and prepares to dodge. However, the direction in which the spear was thrown was toward the Yenica Failover.

Taldarek’s strength already surpassed that of humans. The spear flew towards Yenika at an incredible speed.

But Ed Rothtaylor doesn’t even look in Yenika’s direction. It’s strange considering how special he thought of her.

– Kaang!

Only then did Taldarek realize that his entire thoughts were being read.

The lower spirit mug that was under Yenika’s shawl pops out and uses explosive magic to blow away the spear.

He had already assumed that Yenika would be attacked, so he pulled out one of his core powers, the low-ranking fire spirit Mug, towards Yenika.

If you attack, there will be an opening. The center of gravity of the movement is tilted forward, and there is no spear held.

Although we discussed freedom, what we longed for was survival.

However, what was the reason why he eventually returned to the Buddhist temple of sacrifice and faced death?

Was it simply because he felt sorry for Clarice? Was it because he felt sorry for her who had to face the fate of death instead of him?

Sympathy and compassion and guilt. Did these things so tighten Adele’s heart that she had no choice but to give up her life?

This is true to some extent, but if you ask if it is completely correct, it is not.

After passing through the commercial city of Oldek, he went to the castle town of Carpea, and as a bard, he wandered around various parts of the world and finally reached Sylvania Academy.

At the end of her life, what always remained in a corner of Adele’s heart was the memory of sitting at the window of Seonghwangdo and playing the lute.

It is a life without purpose. At least it was like that until I left Seonghwangdo.

The reason I decided to travel around the world and see many landscapes was because I didn’t want the song I sang to Clarice to remain a lie.

The girl decided to become a minstrel because of Clarisse, whose eyes lit up when she heard the sound of Adele’s lute at the window.

I hoped that I would become a true bard and that the words I said to her would have meaning.

Therefore, Clarisse was the meaning of Adele’s life.

He was a being who gave his own value to a meaningless life.

A life without family or colleagues. Such a gloomy life is usually bound to have a sad ending.

There were people who threw their lives away, and I saw many people who found meaning in their lives by taking the lives of others. That’s why Adele smiled warmly at her ending.

In the end, there was only one thing Adele could say to Clarice and Ed.

It wasn’t a very long story.

– Boom!

Ed and Clarice burst in, kicking down the door of the Glokt coffin.

I run to the deepest and darkest of the many hallways leading to the training center.

And as soon as you turn the corner, you can see it at a glance.

The expression is relaxed. As always, his face looks happy.

The puddle of blood that slowly spreads is like a cradle embracing her.

I easily remember the image of the girl sitting on the bench and rubbing her eyes.

– ‘scary.’

– ‘I don’t want to die.’

However, the face leaning against the wall looks very comfortable. How is that possible?

If you think about what was so scary, it actually wasn’t that difficult.

What Adele was so afraid of was a meaningless death. Even his own death did not seem to have much meaning when he thought of Clarice, who would remain alone under the cold walls of Holy City until the end.

Either she will eventually be swayed by the will of the church, or she will lose all faith and become a disbelieving saint, turning the world into an enemy. Clarice’s future... was just sad.

But that was unfounded.

It was only after confirming that Ed remained by Clarisse’s side that she was finally able to escape that fear.

She finally smiled because it felt like salvation in itself.

It was a life lived like the wind, but in the end, there was a reason for that life and death.

Clarisse fell into Ed’s arms and cried for a long time.

The good news was that Ed was there to hug her.

So Ed hugged Clarisse for a while.

So that she, who lost her precious friend, can lean on her emotionally right now.

*

So, be strong.

I dedicate the last sentence of this book to you, who marked the end of my life.

Lucy.

The girl sitting on the roof of the Glokt building closed her book. This building was also built with the support of the grandfather.

Glokt’s last book, ‘Southern Visitors’, was officially revealed to the world.

It is said that the original was sold to a prestigious magical noble family for a high price, but the real original was in Lucy’s hands. The book that was sold was nothing more than a high-quality copy... but no one knows that right now.

Lucy didn’t really care. If everyone thinks it’s real, the book becomes real.

“...”

For Lucy, the last phrase of this book is particularly unforgettable.

Archmage Glokt was searching for meaning in his life until the moment of his death.

In the end, is life like a journey to find the reason? Lucy was still young, so she didn’t have a picture of that huge journey... but for some reason, she felt in vain.

The joint combat practice that continued tirelessly is coming to an end. It is said that the first-year alchemist caused a commotion, but Sword Saint Tailly quickly suppressed it and there was no major damage.

The turmoil that occurred at the cathedral will be dealt with properly by the academics talking to the Holy Emperor. There is a high possibility that Verdio will also take on Adele’s work. Because the saint knows all the truth.

The highest-ranking spirit that appeared out of nowhere surprised people, but it did not cause any casualties or property damage, so it will end as an incident. You might get scolded a bit, though.

“I want to eat beef jerky.”

Looking at the sky, the sun was setting.

Lucy gently closed her eyes and surrendered herself to the warm late spring breeze. Eventually, memories of the past bloomed and made Lucy’s earlobes hot... but she let out that strange feeling of shame as she sighed.

Summer is coming soon.

Once vacation starts, camp work will get busy again. And then fall comes again and winter comes.

Time will pass like that, just like it always has.