The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 10



9 – The First Mystery of Episode 9

After Poara and I exchanged smiles whose meanings we didn’t understand.

I brought up the main topic.

“Poara, could you guide me to the ironwood tree?”

“Yes, I’ll guide you right away.”

Perhaps because it was her duty as a member of the student council.

Poara began to advance through the forest with energetic steps.

It seemed she wanted to complete this mission well and become a full member from a temporary one.

‘I’d like to stop her, though.’

It’s better to resolve the Great Forest of Spirits issue as soon as possible.

Even for the upcoming mock battle, I needed a trick.

So I diligently followed Poara through the Great Forest.

When we had advanced quite a bit through the Great Forest.

I realized what it meant to be a spirit master in the Great Forest of Spirits.

Originally, when I came, the trees were densely packed.

But as Poara began to move, the trees made way, and the grass parted.

It felt as if the entire forest was welcoming Poara.

‘There’s a reason Nikita sent a Spirit Master.’

The Great Forest of Spirits is extremely wary of outsiders.

But Spirit Masters are different.

Spirit Masters are those loved by the spirits.

So, the trees inhabited by spirits all welcomed the Spirit Master.

‘Especially, Poara seems to have a higher sensitivity than other Spirit Masters.’

I often visited the Great Forest of Spirits while playing the game.

Lucas, having spirit sensitivity, could also have a career as a Spirit Master.

So, visiting the Great Forest of Spirits as a Spirit Master was clearly different from visiting it as a non-Spirit Master.

But even so, it wasn’t to the extent of Poara.

‘If it weren’t for the boycott incident in Act 4.’

Poara was also a talented Spirit Master who entered Jerion Academy.

The student council must have had a reason for quickly accepting Poara as a temporary member.

‘It was a good decision to bring him.’

Every time Poara took a step, the forest opened a path.

Thanks to that, we could pass through the Great Forest of Spirits very easily.

Soon, I began to feel a chill.

The Great Forest of Spirits is usually filled with warmth because of the spirits.

Feeling a chill in such a forest was impossible.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

But now, even Poara felt the chill, and the clear coldness enveloped both of us.

Soon, a scene that shouldn’t be in front of my eyes appeared.

The spirit tree was as if it had turned to steel.

As if the spirit inside had also turned to steel.

The tree had completely lost its vitality.

“What, what is this.”

Poara saw this scene for the first time.

His face was filled with astonishment.

The fact that the Spirit Tree had turned to iron was already a well-known story among the Spiritist students.

But Poara, who was still a first-year student, had probably never ventured this deep before.

I approached the tree that had turned to steel and groped it with my hand.

As I touched the tree, the cold seeped into the inside of my hand.

Cold.

It felt like touching ice on a frozen lake in the dead of winter.

‘It has progressed much further than I thought.’

Originally, this event should have been resolved in the latter half of Act 2, after the winter break.

However, due to Lucas’s absence and certain incidents, it had progressed until now.

My red eyes quietly scanned the surroundings.

“Poara, can you sense the spirits?”

“Ah, no. I can’t feel anything! It’s completely empty here!”

Poara’s face turned pale as she answered the question.

Spirits are like nature.

Where there is nature, there are spirits.

Moreover, the Great Forest of Spirits is a place where the density of spirits is much higher than elsewhere.

The absence of spirits in such a Great Forest of Spirits indicates an irreversible disaster.

‘Indeed.’

I removed my hand from the steel tree.

The spirits are now trapped inside this steel.

So it was only natural that their presence could not be felt.

“I’m going inside. You wait here.”

“What? Se-senior, isn’t it dangerous to go alone!?”

“It’s fine. If it gets dangerous, I’ll signal you, so wait here.”

As a Spiritist, Poara was no longer of any help.

What was needed here was just one thing.

From noble mtl dot com

‘A fierce flame that can even melt steel.’

The reason why the third work of the Magung Academy Slayer series was titled “The Flame Butterfly.”

It was all because the flame of determination within Lucas was the key to solving all the incidents.

However, now.

The flame of determination was completely extinguished by Lucas’s death.

The world lost its burning flame.

What remains is only the charred wood.

However.

Even the charred wood must burn.

To sustain a world that has lost its flame.

I must become the wood to kindle the spark.

I opened my bag.

Then I roughly placed a bottle from inside next to the tree.

This is my insurance.

I looked at my faintly trembling hand.

Was I nervous about what was to come?

I patted my hand and stood up.

Instead, I took something else out of the bag.

As I took out what was wrapped in a special cloth, I felt a heat that seemed to scorch my hand.

I placed it on the ground that had turned to steel and unwrapped the cloth.

Whoosh-

The hot wind that pierced through the cloth heated my face.

The coldness of the steel that I felt around me was instantly devoured by the heat.

In the place where the cloth was unwrapped, there was a roughly shaped red crystal.

Inside the crystal, a flame was fiercely burning.

This is called the essence of fire.

It is the corpse left behind after the fire spirit has exhausted its life and died.

However, the heat it possessed vividly showed the firepower of the fire spirit in its lifetime.

‘If the spiritists saw me holding this, they would foam at the mouth.’

Carrying the corpse of a spirit is a taboo act for a spiritist.

But it didn’t matter to me.

After all, I’m not a spiritist.

‘I must lead the world to order.’

So even if it is an apostle, I will use anything for the sake of the government.

I set fire to the forest of steel, where the cold air lingered.

Apart from the essence of the burning fire, a chill settled in my eyes.

‘It’s coming.’

The moment I lifted my head, a fierce cold wind blew from that direction.

Darkness engulfs the surroundings.

A bizarre sound of scraping iron echoed in my ears.

Shiver-

With a shiver that ran through my entire body, I took a deep breath.

And soon, what appeared in my eyes was a being emerging from the darkness.

It was a being made of cold steel.

She resembled both a sword and a woman with long hair.

A being that should have become a god of a land.

However, for some reason, the being that failed to become a god fell endlessly and became corrupted.

The world calls this ‘Mystery.’

Possessed by the flame butterfly, today for the first time.

It was the moment I encountered the first mystery of the world I would meet countless times in the future.

＊ ＊ ＊

The Great Forest of Spirits in the northern Dragon Mountains.

In the Great Forest of Spirits, where I came to resolve the anomaly that occurred there.

I am now facing a mystery.

What stands before me is a woman made of cold steel.

The cold air emanating from her turned the spirit trees into steel.

I carefully straightened my posture.

Mystery, ‘Empress of Steel.’

The corrupted being that failed to become a god wandered aimlessly and settled here, in the Great Forest of Spirits.

The power of the spirits inherent in the Great Forest of Spirits is a delicious prey for the mystery.

However, the Great Forest of Spirits was originally guarded by the Spirit Lord, who was on the verge of becoming a god.

Therefore, even mysteries could not recklessly enter the Great Forest of Spirits.

‘However, the Spirit Lord who stayed in the Great Forest of Spirits eventually completed the period and became a divine being.’

As a result, the position of the Spirit Lord became vacant.

Due to the sudden vacancy, the Great Forest of Spirits lost the protection of the Spirit Lord.

As a result, the Iron Empress invaded the Great Forest of Spirits.

‘This is the reason.’

This is why the Iron Empress entered the Great Forest of Spirits.

‘The protagonist Lucas melts and defeats the Iron Empress with the flame of determination.’

The Iron Empress wants to rid herself of the coldness in her body.

The coldness is not originally hers but a power she gained by becoming a mystery.

A mystery that failed to become a god harbors deep self-loathing.

Thus, she constantly wants to discard the power she gained by becoming a mystery.

Therefore, the Iron Empress recognizes the flame of determination within Lucas.

She becomes a moth drawn to the flame, trying to steal it from him.

After defeating the Iron Empress,

Lucas receives gratitude from the spirits.

During this process, the newly elected Spirit Lord proposes a contract to Lucas.

This is the path of Lucas the Spirit Master.

‘But Lucas is not here now.’

The flame of determination that can melt her does not exist.

All that exists is the essence of fire.

But even the essence of fire is enough to draw her out.

She desires warmth more than anyone.

She will rush towards anything that possesses warmth.

[ Ugh, hmmm. ]

As expected, the Iron Empress started rushing towards this direction.

The direction she headed was the essence of fire I had thrown ahead.

Desiring warmth, she threw herself towards the essence of fire.

Sizzle!

However, the coldness emanating from the Iron Empress quickly extinguished the essence of fire.

The power of the essence of fire is merely that of a single spirit.

There was no way the essence of fire could withstand her, who could turn even trees inhabited by spirits into iron.

[ Ugh, Ughhh. ]

Crack! Clang!

The Empress of Steel shattered the essence of the extinguished fire.

Crunch!

At the same time, the ground beneath her feet turned into fierce steel.

She was furious that she couldn’t fill it with warmth.

A wind imbued with coldness began to swirl violently.

The spirit trees trembled like aspen trees, perhaps because the spirits were terrified.

The Empress of Steel slowly turned her head this way.

The light disappeared, and darkness began to engulf the surroundings.

Creepy-

Once again, goosebumps spread all over my body.

Mysteries are those that should have become gods but did not.

Naturally, their power is incomparable to that of humans.

Perhaps that’s why my body is telling me.

To run away from here right now.

No matter how many times I played the countless episodes of the Firefly Butterfly, it was just a game.

Facing an existence far removed from reality, I couldn’t help but feel fear.

My body trembled with fear instinctively.

It can’t be helped.

No matter how much I know everything about this world.

I am also human.

When faced with an inexplicable danger that has become reality, I am afraid.

But there was something even more terrifying.

‘Seeing such a monster in front of me, I understand.’

One day, I suddenly found myself dropped into a game, not reality.

I know this world better than anyone, but because I haven’t lived it myself, I am an ambiguous existence who knows it less than anyone.

That was me.

I am scared.

When this world becomes a world I don’t fully understand.

“`

I don’t know what I can possibly do.

So the protagonist kept struggling to fill the void in the empty world.

Otherwise, I would become an unnecessary existence in this world.

‘Cogs.’

They say humans are social animals.

The more the cogs of a person misalign, the more they fall into fear.

I have already experienced this once.

During the time when I was known as a promising talent.

When an unexpected injury shattered my dreams and I was thrown into society bare-handed.

I felt like such a worthless human being.

That’s why I knew that fear well.

That’s why I could immerse myself in the side of the fire butterfly.

I recklessly escaped into the means of gaming from my misaligned life.

But now.

Even my escape is misaligning and collapsing.

My only refuge is driving me out.

At some point, my fist clenched.

Moving forward in the world after the bad ending is my obsession and stubbornness.

But even if it is my obsession and stubbornness.

I wanted to protect this world.

This place was the only refuge and happiness for me.

So now, and in the future, I will do anything.

I lifted my head.

I saw the mysterious existence of the Iron Empress.

The Iron Empress will be the foundation and strength for my future endeavors.

The arduous journey that Lucas was supposed to undertake.

I am the one to undertake the first of those hardships.

My red eyes shone fiercely.

The Iron Empress was no longer scary.

I already know something scarier than her.

“`

Even if there is no flame of determination.

With another flame of determination ignited, I raised both my fists.

“Come.”

I will continue this world for myself.