“Aria! Evan!”
Argen shouted as he saw the ground on which Aria and Evan were standing collapse entirely and fall down.
Amid the swaying view, he hurriedly attempted to use his spell to summon them, but the magic power surrounding him did not respond to his will, causing him to fail to cast it.
“Ugh…”
Finally stabilizing himself amidst the earthquake, Argen urgently looked around.
His two disciples had fallen beneath the ground that had just crumbled away due to the earthquake.
Even though he would fall alongside them if he stayed here, Argen could not leave his spot.
There was no need to worry.
No, he was aware that there was no time to worry right now.
Moreover, since the child who fell was none other than Aria, he felt somewhat reassured, even if the situation below was dangerous.
Esther would help keep her safe, and even if they encountered monsters, he knew that with Aria around, at least they wouldn’t die.
However, countless dangers lay below.
He couldn’t help but worry about what kind of trials they would face, even if it wasn’t the worst-case scenario because Aria was with them.
So he needed to go save them…
“Argen! You need to retreat now!”
“This…!”
It was dangerous to go down to save them in this situation.
– Gaaahhh…
A chilling scream echoed throughout the area from where Aria and Evan had fallen.
Boom!
And once again, the sound of the ground shaking and collapsing resounded.
The horrifying sound and the dense, heavy, and cold magic power felt thick around him.
At this point, he could not ignore it.
‘The beast of cold that announces the end,’ the worst monster that had plunged the northern empire into eternal winter had awakened.
‘There’s no time to think now.’
If he fell alongside them, it would result in a much greater problem.
Of course, even if he fell, he could escape quickly, but right now, it was more urgent to evacuate the kids in preparation for the awakened monster than to go in after Evan and Aria.
With the ground collapsing like this, it was essentially a situation where the barrier had completely broken, and he needed to worry about the students still in the mansion first.
‘I’m sorry.’
For now, he had to escape from this place.
Argen quickly cast a spell and, even amidst the falling debris, connected with Valencia, who was cutting down monsters with her sword.
And he shouted as if to tell her to listen.
“Let’s get out of here first!”
Valencia nodded at that and hurried over to grab Argen’s hand.
If they were buried, everyone would be in danger.
If Evan fell alone, it would be dangerous, but since he fell alongside the saint, Aria, he felt that at least the hero or the saint would not die with her presence.
Recalling the magic that had just failed, Argen focused on the surrounding magic and visualized the Teleportation Magic Circle to cast it right away.
As the light of magic enveloped them, they disappeared from their spot, and a giant boulder fell where Argen and Valencia had just been standing.
The impact of the boulder triggered the thoroughly cracked ground to collapse completely.
Boom!!
Soon, the entire cliff plunged below.
*
‘I can’t see anything… I can’t hear anything…’
So this is what it feels like when divine power runs out.
Although this was the realm, he had never run completely out of divine power while hunting monsters here.
In fact, he was experiencing for the first time a complete depletion of divine power to the point where he could not even use detection.
Had he perhaps placed too many shields and blessings on others?
He felt a deep sense of frustration that he had never realized having impaired sight and hearing could be so confining.
‘To plan how to proceed, I should at least understand the situation…’
But right now, the only possible option was to entrust himself to Evan.
It felt like the first time he had become so powerless.
Even when facing demons, he could help against destructive monsters with his strength, yet this was the first time where he found himself completely incapable of doing anything.
No matter how holy she was, there was no cunning in dire situations.
No, it wasn’t entirely correct to say there was none.
Even if he starved, his divine power would keep accumulating, keeping him alive, while on the other hand, if he healed others, he could replenish even the insufficient energy, making him essentially a being capable of surviving without food.
…
Was he a saint who underwent photosynthesis, sharing energy?
He was essentially like a solar power generator saint.
However, the recovery of divine power was slower now, likely because he was in a dark place where sunlight scarcely reached.
‘Had my divine power diminished this much…?’
He had thought he had grown somewhat.
Well, he was better off than Evan, but he had not achieved proper awakening, so it might be natural for his divine power to drop to this level.
For now, he managed to recover to the point where he could detect thoughts, but thinking about the future, using thought detection might slow down his recovery further, so staying still was the right choice.
Even if the recovery slowed, it wasn’t a noticeable difference in the standard of rapid recovery.
Most importantly, seeing that nothing was happening to his body, it seemed that there was not much of a significant issue so far, so he needed to focus even more on recovering.
But… it was still uncertain.
There could be monsters lurking nearby, or the surrounding terrain could be on the verge of collapsing.
‘Maybe I’ll be fine for a while…?’
It would be best not to use divine power detection to recover as much divine power as possible, but using thought detection should not significantly slow the recovery rate.
…
Wait a minute.
If he was going to use thought detection, it would be better to use divine power detection simultaneously.
Of course, he wouldn’t maintain it, but just use it briefly to determine if there were any dangers nearby, or to assess how the current situation was unfolding so that it wouldn’t consume much divine power.
It would consume more divine power than just using thought detection alone, but if he was going to use it, it was better to spend a bit more to grasp the situation firmly.
If anything happened, a monster affected by the awakened monster would surely appear and attack, and if it came down to it, he could use the sacred stone of the Barrier.
After making that decision, he activated the detection again.
“Ugh… it’s tasteless…”
As soon as he activated thought detection, he heard Evan’s thought complaining about it being tasteless.
– You still have to eat. There’s nothing to eat down here.
Not only that, but he could also see the surroundings starting to come into view slowly.
‘The divine power…’
The recovery speed had slowed compared to before, but it was still recovering, so after assessing the surroundings briefly, he planned to disable it again, at least to proceed with thought detection first.
– Thanks to the blessing that Aria bestowed, I could catch it. Don’t think about going alone, Evan.
“I know that much… But please continue the story.”
– Is that all there is? As I said earlier, there’s nothing special to talk about.
What were they discussing?
– Anyway, if you don’t want to end up like Argen, you better convey your feelings properly.
“I can’t say something like that due to embarrassment…”
– Ugh, you’re so frustrating.
He felt like he had just overheard something he shouldn’t have.
Did he just tell Evan to express his feelings?
In the meantime, seeing Evan refuse to say such things out of embarrassment, it essentially suggested there was certainly something more to it.
Could it be?
‘Did he finally develop feelings for someone?’
Oh my…
This didn’t seem like the kind of topic to discuss in a crisis, but it was still a relief that he had feelings for someone.
If that were true, it would make it clear whom he needed to work hard to be with, thus enabling him to assist more easily, wouldn’t it?
Having assumed that he might share who he liked, he pretended to stay asleep longer, but unfortunately, he couldn’t hear who it was as Evan shouted to drop the subject due to embarrassment.
Hmm…
‘To like someone…’
For Evan to like someone meant that the characters he loved, or should he say friends now, would end up being in a relationship, right?
Under normal circumstances, it was natural to develop feelings…
Yet, why did it feel…
‘A bit uncomfortable.’
Perhaps it was because they were discussing this in a situation like this.
Yes, that must be it.
