Chapter 52: Do I Have the Honor to Accompany You Again?
Scarlet Frost Territory, a desolate pale sandy land dozens of miles away from the nearest city.
On the surface, it appeared to be an uninhabited wasteland.
But in reality, an invisible barrier silently covered this area.
Ordinary travelers or caravans approaching would only see it as a common desert, subconsciously changing their direction.
Only those wearing the school emblem could ignore the barrier’s interference and enter the tightly guarded frontline stronghold built by the Ashen Academy.
…
“The evacuation order has been issued by the Granville government, but Olfen City, 30 kilometers away, is a medium to large city with nearly a million people. It will take at least three weeks to fully evacuate.”
“The current problem is that our exploration progress of Calamity Echo is completely zero. In other words, we don’t even know what kind of twilight disaster will descend after the Calamity Echo countdown ends.”
“If it’s a large-scale disaster like a plague or earthquake, evacuating just Olfen City would be useless. We might need to evacuate the entire Scarlet Frost Territory and surrounding provinces.”
“That’s not realistic. Not to mention the noble interests and disputes involved in evacuating the entire Scarlet Frost Territory… Even ignoring those, evacuating the entire province would take at least a month, by which time the twilight disaster might have already arrived.”
Inside the Night World stronghold, a spacious meeting room.
Various noisy arguments rose and fell.
“Evacuating potential disaster areas is just a preparatory plan after all…”
“Regardless, the moment the twilight disaster descends into the world, it will mean our failure, the failure of Starry University.”
A clear voice echoed across the meeting table.
The noisy discussions abruptly ceased.
These members of the strategy group, who had reached the Third Tier and mostly ranked in the top 100 of the Obelisk, all turned their gaze to the head of the table, the source of the voice.
In their eyes, there was awe, fear.
But more than that, there was a subtle sense of distance…
Even hatred.
Hiltina ignored the piercing gazes focused on her and spoke calmly.
“As long as there is even a sliver of possibility—”
“Our primary goal must be to conquer Calamity Echo and eradicate the ancient disaster within the Night World.”
She turned to the intelligence officer beside her.
“Have you confirmed the list on the Obelisk?”
“Yes…”
The girl wearing the Starry University emblem spoke in a low voice: “Including Senior Roya, ranked 27th on the Obelisk, who possesses the Night Blade ‘Shadow Jump’…”
“This reconnaissance team…”
“Has all perished, becoming part of the stars on the Obelisk.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the atmosphere in the meeting room became even more oppressive.
Although based on past experience, there had been some speculation when this reconnaissance team entered Calamity Echo and no one returned from the Night World after 48 hours…
But when this tragic news was confirmed, and the last hope was shattered, it was still hard to accept.
As senior students of Starry University and members of the strategy group, they were no strangers to sacrifice.
The exploration of the Night World, the battles to conquer Calamity Echo… d*ath was inevitable. As members of Starry University’s strategy group, top-ranked on the Obelisk, they had long adapted to such an environment.
But such heavy casualties were a first.
Seventeen people, the entire reconnaissance team specialized in stealth and escape, not a single survivor—
Total annihilation.
If that were all, it might have been bearable.
The most critical issue was that after such a painful sacrifice, there was no progress in conquering Calamity Echo or gathering intelligence.
They didn’t even know which time period the lost history in Calamity Echo belonged to, or what they would face after entering Calamity Echo.
And this was just the initial stage of gathering intelligence…
Even after paying such a heavy price to finally complete the intelligence gathering… How many more would need to be sacrificed to truly conquer it?
Heavy casualties alone were not the most terrifying.
The most terrifying thing was the complete absence of hope.
In the suffocating silence, Hiltina, after a brief pause, pursed her lips and spoke.
Her voice was soft, almost a whisper, yet resolute: “Even so, we cannot give up on the conquest.”
“Once the twilight disaster breaks through the Night World and descends into reality, it will affect the entire Scarlet Frost Territory, even half of Granville’s population of tens of millions…”
“Hiltina! I hate you!”
A piercing cry shattered the dead silence in the meeting room.
It was a short-haired girl with red eyes, her hands gripping the edge of the table, veins bulging.
“If you hadn’t insisted on conquering this Calamity Echo despite knowing its danger far exceeded previous ones, Roya wouldn’t have died!”
“With Roya’s Night Blade ‘Shadow Jump,’ if he hadn’t encountered ‘Temporal Distortion’ in this Calamity Echo, he could have entered the Night World ten, a hundred times without incident!”
“Even if you, this cursed lunatic, died, Roya would never have died!”
“In the end, what does it matter if we abandon this Night World, abandon Scarlet Frost Territory? This isn’t our homeland, it’s the territory of the nobles in the capital! Let them deal with the twilight disaster and the victims themselves, what does it matter to us if tens of millions d*e!”
She glared at Hiltina with undisguised hatred: “But now, knowing so many have died, you still insist on conquering it.”
“I knew it, you may have publicly broken with your father and your family’s background. But deep down, you still stand with the nobility, with the Imperial…”
The short-haired girl’s words were cut off as the surrounding students forcibly pulled her down.
But even so, the sense of distance in the gazes directed at Hiltina around the table grew slightly heavier.
Everyone present knew the identity of that girl.
She was Roya’s lover. They were to graduate in six months, had even set a wedding date, and were preparing for the ceremony.
Now, with a new star shining in the Obelisk’s night sky, everything had turned to illusion.
In the suffocating atmosphere, Hiltina slightly closed her eyes.
After a long while, she reopened her light brown eyes: “I am sorry for what happened to Roya.”
“The danger and casualty rate of this Calamity Echo indeed exceed the norm. According to the academy’s regulations, strategy group members are allowed to decide whether to withdraw.”
“As a member of the Twelve Seats of the Round Table and under the name of Ingulit, I guarantee that no one will face academy harassment, reduced benefits, or lowered Obelisk rankings for withdrawing from this conquest.”
Hiltina’s clear voice carried no emotional ripple: “However, the conquest of Scarlet Frost Territory’s Calamity Echo will continue.”
“Considering that reconnaissance is meaningless under the current circumstances, the only feasible plan is to abandon the reconnaissance and strategy meeting phase and directly enter the Night World with the goal of complete conquest.”
She stood up from the head of the meeting table.
Her red and white knight uniform stood out strikingly under the dim lights of the meeting room.
“This Calamity Echo restricts entry to the Third Tier. As the highest-ranked Third Tier in the academy on the Obelisk, I will enter Calamity Echo alone.”
“If I can successfully return, we will continue the strategy meeting and formulate a plan based on the intelligence I gather.”
“If I do not return, the next member of the Twelve Seats of the Round Table sent by the academy will take over and continue leading the conquest.”
After leaving these final words, Hiltina ignored the countless complex gazes and walked straight out of the meeting room.
In the meeting room, some people instinctively wanted to speak.
But in the silent and oppressive atmosphere, they only opened their mouths silently, and the words of retention ultimately remained unspoken.
…
Hiltina walked through the Night World stronghold.
Her chestnut hair cascaded down, fluttering in the wind, the scabbard of her rapier faintly visible beneath the rising and falling hem of her knight’s skirt.
Behind her, the myriad gazes of awe, fear, distance, and hatred all vanished, returning to pure void.
Until the concrete and steel fortifications disappeared, leaving only a long steel passage.
Hiltina knew that at the end of this steel passage was the entrance to the Night World of Scarlet Frost Territory.
It was also the starting point of Calamity Echo, which had claimed seventeen lives.
Hiltina gently touched the silver scabbard at her waist.
Since the dissolution of her former team, she had been a lone traveler.
Walking alone in the Night World, in the echoes of the past, accompanied by pollution and madness, despair and disaster… All she could rely on was this rapier named “Twinkling Morning Star.”
Except for that one exception.
But now, he should still be at Starry University, living a leisurely campus life under Mr. Silver’s care.
I wonder if there will be another chance to meet him.
As this thought arose…
The next moment, a familiar voice reached Hiltina’s ears.
The words carried none of the usual awe, wariness, distance, or hatred she was accustomed to.
Instead, there was a hint of teasing.
“So, fair lady—”
“Do I have the honor to accompany you again?”
(End of Chapter)
