Chapter 210
Former Duke, Harua
“Sister!”
On the video communication orb, Yulia pressed her face close, and behind her, Zien shyly lowered his head and greeted.
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, I ate!”
“What about your homework?”
“I did it.”
……
“Yulia.”
Why aren’t you answering?
Seeing Yulia avert her eyes and Zien quietly making an X with his arms behind her, Ceres looked at Yulia steadily.
“…I will do it. I was just about to.”
It had already been five days since she had come down to the western region.
Having had to leave suddenly without properly talking to Yulia, Antonion, or Zien, Ceres had been contacting them every day through the video communication orb.
“How is Uncle Ber?”
“He’s much better.”
“That’s a relief!”
Seeing Yulia nod vigorously and smile brightly, Ceres allowed herself a faint smile as well.
“Jailo came to the academy today!”
“Really?”
Jailo, who had been kidnapped, couldn’t leave his house for a while due to the trauma.
The ones who visited him daily, played with him, and gave him strength were Yulia and Christine.
And today, he finally returned to the academy.
‘The other children…’
On that day, about fifty children were rescued along with Jailo. Recently, nearly 200 children had gone missing.
Of course, it couldn’t be assumed that all of the missing children were related to this incident.
Those rotten people who kidnapped children had always existed, even outside of this case.
‘However…’
The likelihood that they were victims this time was highest. Ceres clicked her tongue lightly.
‘If only we had met them like Jailo…’
If that had been the case, she could have used Kkamang to find the other missing children, but there was no particular method at the moment.
‘The only clue is that man.’
The Royal Guard Captain. Would he reveal the whereabouts of the other kidnapped children? It was uncertain.
‘Perhaps…’
A long sigh escaped Ceres’s lips.
Even when she went to find the most recently missing Jailo, the Black Forest had already activated and started killing children. If she had been a little later, she wouldn’t have been able to save them.
Then what about the children kidnapped before him…
Ceres’s sigh grew heavier.
‘What on earth is their goal?’
They didn’t just kill the children quietly—they created the Black Forest specifically to kill them!
No matter how much she thought, she couldn’t find the answer. Again, the only clue was the guy they caught this time…
“But sister…”
“Hmm?”
Lost in thought for a moment, Ceres suddenly looked up at Yulia’s voice.
“What’s that white thing beside it?”
“…….”
White thing?
Ceres turned her head and saw a small creature on the chair next to her, wagging its tail energetically as if asking to be noticed.
“A baby Hayang! The Hayang we saw then is a baby now!”
Yulia pressed her face even closer to the video communication orb, eyes sparkling.
‘Our Yulia has a sharp eye.’
How did she recognize it was a wolf at first sight? She had thought it was a puppy.
[So this one is a wolf. And not an ordinary one.]
Jubellios corrected Ceres’s assumption of it being a puppy.
‘A wolf, huh.’
At first glance, Ceres felt a strange familiarity with the small puppy. Though she never thought it was a wolf.
‘Its eyes are exactly the same color as that wolf.’
The white wolf that had protected Yulia from monsters in the Ice Tree Forest—the color of its eyes had been the same bright blue.
‘A divine beast, wasn’t it?’
Her disciple had once said that the white wolf was likely a divine beast.
‘If it’s that wolf’s cub…’
It made sense why it brought precious herbs. Divine beasts usually have a variety of mysterious abilities.
‘Of course, everything is still mysterious.’
How did it know she wanted those herbs and bring them exactly?
“So it’s Hayangi’s cub!”
“Well…”
“Will the baby Hayangi now live with us?”
“…Maybe.”
Even after delivering the herbs, the cub hadn’t left. It kept following her, and though she opened windows and pointed the way outside, trying to tell it to leave…
[Giwoong…]
…When she told it to go, it looked at her with such sad eyes that she couldn’t bring herself to send it away. So it stayed by her side.
‘If this really is the Ice Tree Forest owner’s cub…’
…Am I going to be misunderstood as a baby kidnapper?
[Giwoong, Giwoong.]
The cub clung to her arm, panting and asking to be petted. Ceres’s sigh deepened.
Boom—Thud—
“…This is insane.”
“…How are we supposed to kill that?”
“…Was that story true?”
Mercenaries and soldiers entering the B-rank Black Forest halted combat as a feeling of something enormous approaching stopped them.
A massive monster began to appear in the distance. No one could speak for a moment. How were they supposed to kill that?
“…Everyone, you have them, right?”
“Yes!”
At the captain’s command, everyone pulled out something from their pockets: a tiny magic stone, no bigger than a thumbnail.
Flash!
Vrrrr—
When thrown and shattered on the ground, the area around it was surrounded by a transparent protective barrier, vibrating with a small echo of air.
The mercenaries and soldiers quickly dispersed, bringing those without the stones to safety.
Flash!
Vrrrr—
Boom—Boom—
‘Will this even work?’
A soldier gulped dryly, watching the approaching massive monster. The closer it got, the more overwhelming its presence.
‘Please… please hold!’
The soldier closest to the monster closed his eyes tightly as the creature’s enormous foot pressed down on the transparent shield.
The citizens inside the shield did the same, thinking they were going to die.
Bang!
Crack!
“…!”
But moments later, people trembling from the noise realized they were still alive and slowly opened their eyes.
“S-success!”
Everyone cheered. The monster’s leg, which tried to break the barrier, was freezing in place instead.
An ice-element barrier.
A recently distributed item by Tower Owner Cheian, for preparing against strange occurrences of the Black Forest.
When rumors spread that even low-grade Black Forests could produce S-rank bosses, people began to avoid entering.
Money and honor were nice, but life was more important!
Going in with low-grade equipment and encountering an S-rank boss meant total annihilation. Everyone became cautious.
Cheian provided this ice-element barrier to protect people until reinforcements arrived.
Fwoosh!
“…!”
At that moment, the giant monster trapped in the barrier began to burn its head.
[RAAAARGH!]
A terrifying roar erupted from the monster’s mouth. Even as it howled, its frozen leg couldn’t move.
“Wow, I must say I made this really well. I praise myself!”
Then an unfamiliar voice followed. People turned and saw someone patting their own shoulders as if congratulating himself while casting magic repeatedly. Tower Owner Cheian.
Screech!
[SCREEEECH!]
One of the monster’s arms, unable to respond to the magic, was instantly cut off. Someone stepped back to avoid the falling limb.
“That’s all thanks to me.”
Calmly preparing for another attack, Kainel spoke to Cheian.
