“I can only explain this as a problem with the Barrier.”
Hastily heading towards the ‘Prison of Eternal Frost’, Aria continued her explanation.
“If we delay any longer, it might become impossible to restore the Barrier…!”
Aria’s expression had no hint of the calm she usually had, to the point where she seemed to have forgotten her usual speech.
However, she wasn’t the only one who lacked composure.
Everyone present here had tense expressions.
“Well… I’m still calm.”
Even if the seal were to break and something emerged, sacrificing my life to reseal it wouldn’t be much of a problem.
However, since we were not annihilating it but sealing it instead, I needed to think of how to handle it should it appear again later, and the fact that I’d be unable to wake for some time after sacrificing my life to reseal it was a concern.
Well… I could say it was somewhat fortunate to have safety measures in place, but even so, given the opponent, we couldn’t afford to let our guard down.
Considering the Northern Region was driven to the brink of destruction, it was clear how vicious the Monster was; even with preparations, it didn’t hold much meaning.
Though other Monsters blocked our path, the current situation had two of humanity’s strongest powers by our side; unlike earlier, when I had some calmness, now we were in a situation devoid of any leisure, causing the Monsters to be swept away almost pityingly.
It felt like getting carried by a seasoned player as a newbie, despite this situation not being the right time to think about such things.
Kugung!
“Wah?!”
“…?!”
Is that… an earthquake?
Wait, an earthquake?
“An earthquake…? There has never been anything like this until now…?!”
The guide was also looking around with a shocked expression.
Judging by their reaction, it seemed this earthquake was the first of its kind.
‘This is strange.’
It was strange.
Both in the game and in general knowledge, feeling an earthquake down here meant one thing.
I could brush off everything else, but not an earthquake.
Most of the unusual events so far had occurred right before resurrection in the game, so they weren’t much of a problem.
But an earthquake changed the situation entirely.
The timing of the earthquake indicated something had awakened beneath us.
As far as I remembered, among the Monsters in the Realm, only one had the tremendous power to cause such a massive earthquake, and only one was of a size that could shake the entire ground.
‘Awakened…?’
A beast of extreme cold that heralds doom.
The beast of the end, which causes only deadly blizzards where nothing could survive… was about to reveal itself beneath this land.
I urgently poured my Divine Power into my detection, scanning a much wider area than before. Though this would widen my view and disperse my focus, at least I could confirm what was present.
That was when it happened.
Thud!
“[Ugh…]”
My heart raced and the fear that overwhelmed me filled my head.
Overcome by the terror flooding my mind, I could do nothing but sit still in place.
“A-Aria!”
Evan rushed to my side and supported me.
But right now, I had no time to spare for Evan.
This sensation, this emotion… and for a brief moment, I detected an enormous presence through my Divine Power detection.
Decisively, even though I hadn’t fully awakened, I was still a Saint; the presence was enough to render me motionless, sinking me to the ground.
‘Indeed… is it strong enough that gathering all forces in the early game could lead to a raid to eliminate it…?’
In the game’s setting, even the great houses combined forces with the surviving members of the Martimus race from the Academy to fight, yet they suffered substantial losses against it.
I truly wondered if this group could handle it.
Moreover, if it had the strength to immediately recognize my Divine Power detection and retaliate, it was even more dangerous.
‘No.’
I couldn’t stay here.
If I remained, there was no doubt I would fall beneath and be crushed by the collapsing ground above.
I yelled to everyone.
“[We have to run! We can’t stay here!]”
If we fled now, we might escape.
With these two, there shouldn’t be a significant issue fleeing.
Though it felt like the Monster would awaken soon, it was best to escape first, regroup, and then devise a plan.
This place was about to collapse, but there was still considerable distance to the great houses, and no matter how large the Monster was, it would take time to reach the great houses; I believed we had ample time to respond.
That’s what I thought, at least.
Kugugung!!
A much larger earthquake than before.
At this point, it was practically impossible not to notice.
It was clear now that the Monster was about to awaken.
We needed to get out of this place first before thinking of how to deal with the Monster.
To escape gave me time to ponder over what to do next; being here would surely lead to being crushed beneath the ground.
Falling down there would be quite the hassle…
Crash!
“[Ah…?]”
In that moment, the ground I stood on began to give way.
“…?!”
And that included Evan, who stood beside me to help.
Wait a moment.
‘I didn’t expect this…?’
Evan was falling too?
“…!!”
Aria, noticing us as we began to drop, wore a shocked expression.
“Stop…!”
Clank!
She hurriedly tried to cast a spell, but it shattered with a sound as if something had broken.
Seemingly shocked that her magic had failed, she stood frozen momentarily before Valencia, like a sword master fueled by urgency, pushed her sheathed sword toward us, but it was significantly too late.
Evan tried to reach out to grab the sheath, but he missed by a hair’s breadth as we plummeted below.
“Ahhh!!”
Thus, Evan and I fell into the darkness below, where nothing was visible.
There was no time.
The limited time I had meant I could only cast a shield strong enough for protection once.
‘At least for Evan…!’
If I was to cast a shield, the most efficient way would be to place it on Evan first.
Unlike me, who could recover after taking some damage, if Evan fell from this height, he would just die.
Thinking that, I cast the strongest protective magic I could while falling, maximizing my effort to ensure Evan wouldn’t die.
In addition, I cast every blessing and shield I could.
I poured almost all my strength into those blessings and shields, so even if the Demon King came, it would buy us some time before breaking through that barrier.
Naturally, a barrier set to protect me from simply falling from such a height or being struck by falling rocks would not shatter easily.
Given the urgency, had the distance been closer, I would have cast both at once; unfortunately, the distance grew as we fell, so I had to cast them separately and as efficiently as possible.
After placing the shield on Evan, I immediately turned to cast one for myself, but…
Perhaps I had spent too much time ensuring Evan was shielded and crafting all the blessings; before my shield for myself could even be completed, the ground became visible.
If this continued, I wouldn’t be able to complete even a basic blessing or shield before crashing down.
‘This is bad…’
However, I was somewhat relieved.
At least I wasn’t falling into an utterly dark abyss where nothing could be seen.
It was certainly deep here, but there was still a way out, unlike being in a place where escape was impossible. So, I thought I could find a way out.
Above all, this was better than simply shattering upon impact without any warning…
The shield I cast on Evan was a strong one, and of course, it was the best shield I could muster.
While there might be a moment of fainting from the shock of the impact on the shield, there was no worry of death.
So, at this point, there was honestly no need to worry; even if I died, I could bring myself back to life.
Since things had come to this, I might as well savor the sensation of falling to my death.
It had been a while since I experienced that feeling.
It might not be so bad…
