LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 109
[YOU DIED]
[All Stats Are Being Readjusted]
[Maximum Penalty Exceeded.]
[Current Penalty (5): -75%]
[NoName(NoName)]
[World of Arseria – Priest Nightmare 10/10/10]
[Broadcasting Time – 5:22:41]
[Number of Viewers – 19407]
“Remember.”
“Recall.”
“Don’t Forget.”
*
“Ade-la?”
“Hmm?”
At the probing words, Adella turned her head.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah… um… yeah. I’m fine.”
“Your hand… it’s bleeding.”
It was NoName who reminded Adella that she wasn’t holding onto the handle, but rather the blade.
Only then did Adella feel a sharp pain in her palm and drop the dagger in shock.
“Want to take a break?”
“No. There’s no time. We have to go straight to the Academy.”
“We still have a while until we get a signal from the main base. Besides, we need to hide in one place to shake off our pursuers.”
Corpses littered the area.
The state of most of the corpses was horrific at first glance, due to Adella having torn their insides apart with her curved blade.
Thanks to the automatic mosaic feature of the Wagal AI system, Na-me was able to keep the broadcast from getting shut down, but the stench of brutality couldn’t be hidden.
It was when they passed through the Northern Forest and arrived at the Narrow Alley of the Holy City that NoName spoke up.
“The sky is beautiful today.”
She said this while gazing at the black silk woven seamlessly between tightly packed buildings, dotted with jewels.
Adella always had the habit of walking with her eyes on the sky when passing through the city’s back alleys.
This wasn’t only because the stench rising from the ground was unbearable, but also because she couldn’t accept that she had to be in a place like this.
What started as a small escape from reality had morphed into her hobby.
“Forest Keeper, oh Forest Keeper.”
“What?”
“Do you know how to boost your self-esteem?”
Na-me paused for a moment, pondering the sudden question.
“There are easy methods and hard methods.”
“What’s the easy one?”
“Just look at people worse than yourself and live your life that way.”
Since there was nothing to brag about, her self-esteem wouldn’t drop either. A clear but uncomfortable answer.
“What’s the hard one?”
“Striving to be better than those who excel.”
“Guess that makes sense.”
Perplexed by the wisdom, Adella was about to lie down when she bumped her head on a protruding stone, irritatingly exclaiming.
“Ugh, why is there a rock here! Haah…. You know what? The slave kids we rescued from the materials warehouse earlier.”
“Those released from Ballum’s Library?”
“Yeah. You know, I almost ended up in that position when I was little. My mom tried to sell me to a slave trader because she had no money.”
Na-me nodded slightly.
This was a case she had seen countless times in a past life.
She had even realized that maternal love does not develop naturally, so it no longer surprised her.
“I always thought when I saw the slaves in the Holy City: at least I’m better than them. I’m better than those who had their future stolen from them… but what did that mean now?”
“It meant nothing.”
“True. In the end, I was in the same place anyway.”
The sound of her dagger scraping against the stone floor could have been cringe-worthy, but Na-me didn’t care.
The engravings she inscribed were ‘NoName’ and ‘Adella’.
“Is this how you write your name?”
“Yeah. This time I didn’t mess it up.”
“What’s with the confusing nonsense? The continental common language is a piece of cake! Anyway… so I’ve made a decision starting today.”
Na-me rested her chin in her hand, gazing at her intently.
“I’ll train without the Laurel’s aid and definitely pass the Academy.”
With a somewhat shy and excited tone, Adella slowly explained her aspirations.
“You said there’s only one chance to challenge the Academy, didn’t you?”
“Eh, for someone like me without connections, forging my identity is a piece of cake. Plus, don’t I look pretty young?”
Adella shrugged her shoulders.
“Kids who were ‘old’ as children can end up looking young as they grow.”
“What? What do you mean by that, Forest Keeper!”
While arguing about stars, Na-me suddenly let out a deep sigh.
“I guess there’s no guarantee the Academy is a good place.”
“Have you ever been to the Academy?”
“Yeah. I dropped out though.”
“Why would you leave such a great place?”
Na-me bit her lip and fidgeted her gaze.
“For the Academy to be someone’s paradise, it must, after all, become someone else’s hell for balance, right?”
“Hm…”
“There are bullies, classes you might not fit into, and professors who might discriminate against you based on your background.”
“That makes sense. I think I need to reconsider. But still, going to the Academy is my lifelong wish! It feels like I’m admitting defeat to declare something hell without even going!”
“You’ve always had that kind of personality. Unlike me, I think you’ll adapt well once you’re there.”
“I feel like I’ve heard that at least once from you in my life?”
Adella scratched the back of her head shyly.
[Move to the Academy North Gate and join with ‘Abyss’.]
With story progression text only visible to Na-me, fireworks erupted in the sky.
“If Alperion and Ciciela get into trouble… what will you do?”
Na-me asked Adella, ready to join the cause. Adella frowned at the question as if it were out of line.
“Of course, I’d go rescue them!”
“Even if we fail the mission?”
“Yup.”
*
Upon reaching the Academy Headquarters, Adella couldn’t shake the sense of déjà vu rising in her heart.
It was said that cat beastmen sometimes escaped bad things happening in the near future, but right now, it felt like a loud alarm was blaring.
That unease soon became reality as a blood-soaked Ciciela approached, limping.
“Ciciela! What happened!”
“Ugh… turns out that old man was right. Unfortunately, only half of what he said was correct…”
“Wait, don’t pull it out.”
As Ciciela reached to pull the arrow lodged in her thigh, the Forest Keeper quickly grabbed her hand.
“If you pull it out now, you’ll bleed a lot.”
“We can’t fight like this!”
“Fight? With this body? What were you thinking!”
Adella stomped her feet.
“Now I understand why they only sent you two on a dangerous mission. Our mercenaries have all betrayed us. Everyone from the Abyss District 15 has sided with the Academy!”
“What about Alperion?!”
“He’s surrounded by the guards and related personnel.”
“Are you really going? No! You can’t go! Absolutely not!”
“The Laurel is here. I have to go help Alperion again. Forest Keeper, please don’t abandon Adella. Please.”
Despite Adella’s pleas, the bear beastman brusquely shoved her away.
With no choice but to comply with Na-me’s request to stop her, she decided to take drastic measures.
Whack!
With a sharp slice of her hand, she struck the back of Ciciela’s neck, knocking her out cold.
“Take her away.”
“Where to?”
“Anywhere. I’ll secure Alperion’s safety.”
“Do you realize how absurd that sounds-”
“I’ll definitely come back alive this time.”
Equipped with the Laurel of Life, Na-me left those words behind and vanished.
Adella’s head was heating up as she realized she was at a crossroads.
No, there weren’t even options to choose from.
NoName had knocked Ciciela out on purpose, worried she would want to join them.
It meant she had to leave right now if she wanted to save her.
[Recall.]
“What the hell do you mean recall?!”
Adella felt a tightening sensation around her head as if the Laurel Crown was squeezing her.
[Remember.]
“What are you telling me to remember?!”
[Don’t Forget.]
Adella ran with all her strength.
Leaving behind the city engulfed in flames, ignoring the screams and chaotic drunkards scattering in every direction, she fled while carrying a comrade who weighed twice her own weight.
Her thighs felt like they were about to burst. Her heart raced like crazy.
Her soles must have been completely torn apart by now.
Adella’s body, faced with physical limits, gradually slowed down.
“Haah… haah… dammit!”
Finally, she stopped and turned around for the first time.
The majestic clock tower of the Academy building was no longer in sight.
Having run forward without thinking, she realized she had wandered into an unfamiliar area.
‘If I kept going north, it might be District 18? Or maybe District 20.’
The districts of more than District 16 of the capital all looked quite similar, making it easy to get lost without recognizing the building’s features.
Ciciela’s bleeding had stopped, but she’d lost so much blood that she was still unconscious. The fact that she was even alive was a small mercy.
Adella leaned against a stone wall, intending to take a short rest.
The cold nighttime air sent shivers up her spine.
Drip-
A single raindrop fell onto her nose.
When she reached out her palm, the shower began to pitter-patter down, soaking her sleeves.
“Of all things, rain too…”
The radiant starlight gradually faded. Though they couldn’t be seen, dark clouds clearly obscured them.
As if confirming her expectation, a flash of lightning illuminated the dark world.
“Huh…?”
Adella’s eyes widened at the stone wall opposite her.
Gripping the dagger she had hidden in her bosom tightly, she slowly approached the stone wall, step by step.
“That can’t be…”
Rumble Crash!
The thunder shook the earth, making her fur bristle all over involuntarily.
Though she desperately wanted to flee, she knew she had to confirm it.
And when the next lightning struck,
“No way…”
[NoName] [Adella]
[NoName] [Adella]
[NoName] [Adella]
[NoName] [Adella]
[NoName] [Adella]
Names engraved in relief lined up.
Rumble Crash!
“Hahhh!”
Adella’s mind was filled with chaos.
In disbelief, she wedged her dagger between the letters, its width and depth fitting perfectly. It was undoubtedly her dagger that had etched these marks.
“I’ve never been here before…”
Who on earth could have done this?
It seemed impossible unless doppelgängers existed in this world.
Yet the letters illuminated by the relentless lightning were undeniably the same handwriting she had engraved on the ground while conversing with NoName.
Adella activated the magic taught by the Forest Keeper, borrowing the power of the Laurel.
[Cast: Light]
And there, at the very bottom of the stone wall, she found a shallow, faintly engraved phrase she hadn’t seen before.
[Return]