The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 9

After Poara and I exchanged smiles whose meanings we did not understand,

I got to the point.

“Poara, could I ask you to guide me toward the ironwood trees?”

“Yes, I’ll guide you right away.”

Maybe it was because of his duty as a member of the student council, but Poara started walking with strong, confident steps through the forest.

It seemed like he wanted to complete this mission successfully and become a permanent member instead of just a temporary one.

‘I would rather stop him, though.’

It was best to resolve the Great Forest of Spirits issue as soon as possible.

I needed some tricks for the upcoming mock battle.

So I followed Poara diligently as we moved deeper into the Great Forest of Spirits.

After we’d traveled quite a bit, I realized what it meant to be a spirit mage in the Great Forest of Spirits.

Originally, the trees were densely packed when I first arrived.

But as Poara began to walk, the trees moved aside, and the grass parted.

It was as if the entire forest was welcoming him.

‘There’s a reason Nikita sent a spirit mage.’

The Great Forest of Spirits is very wary of outsiders.

But spirit mages are different.

Spirit mages are those loved by the spirits.

So the trees inhabited by spirits eagerly welcomed him.

‘Especially Poara, whose sensitivity to spirits seems higher than other spirit mages.’

I had visited the Great Forest of Spirits many times while playing the game.

Lucas, with his spirit sensitivity, could also take on the spirit mage job.

So visiting the Great Forest of Spirits as a spirit mage was clearly different from visiting as someone else.

But even so, it wasn’t to Poara’s level.

‘He was forced to leave after the boycott incident in Act 4, though.’

Poara had enough talent as a spirit mage to get into Zeryon Academy.

That’s probably why the student council quickly accepted him as a temporary member.

‘Bringing him along was a good idea.’

With every firm step Poara took, the forest opened a path for us.

Thanks to that, we were able to pass through the Great Forest of Spirits with ease.

Soon, I began to feel a chill.

The Great Forest of Spirits is usually filled with warmth because of the spirits.

A chill in such a place?

It’s not winter, so it shouldn’t feel cold.

“Brr, it’s cold.”

But now, even Poara was shivering from the cold, and a definite chill swept over both of us.

Soon, a sight appeared before me that shouldn’t have existed.

The spirit trees looked as if they had turned into steel.

Even the spirits within seemed to have become steel as well.

The trees had completely lost their vitality.

“W-what is this?”

This was Poara’s first time seeing such a sight.

His face was filled with shock.

The fact that the spirit trees had turned to iron was already a famous story among the spirit mage students, but Poara, still a first-year, had likely never ventured this far in before.

I approached the ironwood tree and ran my hand along it.

The cold seeped into my palm through the tree.

It was freezing.

It felt like touching ice on a frozen lake in the depths of winter.

‘It’s progressed much further than I thought.’

This event was originally supposed to be resolved in the late part of Act 2, right after winter break.

However, due to Lucas’s absence and certain incidents, it had continued until now.

My red eyes quietly scanned the surroundings.

“Poara, can you sense the spirits?”

“N-no. I can’t feel anything, nothing at all! This place is completely empty!”

Poara’s face turned pale as he answered my question.

Spirits are like nature.

Where there is nature, there should be spirits.

Moreover, the Great Forest of Spirits is a place where the concentration of spirits is much higher than anywhere else.

The absence of spirits in such a place signals an irreversible catastrophe.

‘It must be.’

I removed my hand from the ironwood tree.

The spirits were trapped inside this iron.

It made sense that their presence couldn’t be felt.

“I’m going in. You stay here and wait.”

“W-what? Senior, won’t it be dangerous if you go alone!?”

“I’ll be fine. If it gets dangerous, I’ll give you a signal. Just wait here.”

Poara, being a spirit mage, would be of no more help.

Only one thing was needed here.

‘A fierce flame that can melt even steel.’

Slayer Academy of the Demonic Palace.

The third installment was called the Blazing Butterfly Arc for a reason.

It’s because Lucas’s Flame of Determination was the key to solving every incident.

But now, with Lucas’s death, the Flame of Determination had completely died out.

The world had lost its burning fire.

What remained were only the embers.

However, even the remaining embers must burn again.

To sustain a world without fire I had to become the kindling to reignite the flame.

I opened my bag, and then casually placed a bottle from inside next to a tree.

This was my insurance. I looked at my hand, which was trembling slightly.

Had I become nervous now that I was so close to what was about to happen?

I tapped my hand and stood up.

Then, I pulled something else out of the bag.

Wrapped carefully in a special cloth, I could feel its heat as soon as I held it.

After placing it on the iron-cold ground, I unwrapped the cloth.

Whoosh—

A gust of heat burst out through the cloth, warming my face.

The cold of the iron around us was instantly devoured by the heat.

In the spot where the cloth had been unwrapped, there was a rough-looking red crystal.

Inside the crystal, a flame was burning fiercely.

This was called the Essence of Fire.

It is the corpse left behind after a fire spirit reaches the end of its lifespan and dies.

But the heat it held still vividly demonstrated the power the fire spirit once had in life.

‘The spirit mages would foam at the mouth if they knew I had this.’

Carrying and moving the corpse of a spirit is a taboo for spirit mages.

But it didn’t matter to me.

After all, I wasn’t a spirit mage.

‘I have to steer the world toward the rightful order.’

So, even if it means being labeled a heretic, I will use anything for that order.

I lit a fire in the icy forest of iron.

Even with the blazing Essence of Fire, there was still an eerie chill in my eyes.

‘It’s coming.’

The moment I lifted my head, a fierce chill swept in from that direction.

Darkness began to consume the surroundings.

A bizarre sound of something scraping against the iron ground echoed in my ears.

A shiver ran down my spine, and I took a deep breath.

Soon, my eyes caught sight of a figure emerging from the darkness.

It was a being made of cold steel.

She resembled both a sword and a long-haired woman.

A being that should have become a god.

However, for some unknown reason, she failed to ascend and fell, becoming something corrupted.

The world calls such beings ‘Mysteries’.

It was the first time since I had entered the Blazing Butterfly Arc that I encountered the first mystery I would face in this world.

* * *

In the Great Forest of Spirits, located in the northern Great Dragon Mountain Range, I came to solve the anomaly that had occurred there.

Now, I was facing a mystery.

Before me stood a woman made of cold steel.

The chill emanating from her had turned the spirit trees into iron.

I carefully adjusted my stance.

The mystery, the ‘Empress of Steel’.

A being that failed to become a god and now wanders aimlessly, she had settled in the Great Forest of Spirits.

The power of the spirits dwelling in the forest is a tempting feast for mysteries.

However, the Great Forest of Spirits was originally protected by a spirit lord on the verge of becoming a god.

So, no mystery dared enter the forest carelessly.

‘But the spirit lord who protected the Great Forest of Spirits has finally completed the transition and become a divine being.’

As a result, the position of the spirit lord became vacant.

With the vacancy, the forest lost its protection, allowing the Empress of Steel to penetrate it.

‘That brings us to now.’

This is why the Empress of Steel entered the Great Forest of Spirits.

‘The protagonist, Lucas, defeats the Empress of Steel by melting her with his Flame of Determination.’

The Empress of Steel wants to rid herself of the cold that envelops her.

The chill is not something she originally possessed, but a power she gained after becoming a mystery.

Mysteries, who failed to become gods, carry deep self-loathing.

So, they constantly wish to discard the power they gained as mysteries.

That’s why the Empress of Steel, realizing Lucas’s Flame of Determination, charges at him like a moth to a flame, trying to steal it.

After defeating the Empress of Steel, Lucas is thanked by the spirits.

During this, the newly appointed spirit lord offers Lucas a contract.

This is Lucas’s spirit mage route.

‘But Lucas isn’t here now.’

The Flame of Determination that could melt her doesn’t exist.

All I have is the Essence of Fire.

But even the Essence of Fire is enough to draw her in.

She craves warmth more than anything.

If it has warmth, she’ll pursue it.

[Ugh, uhhh.]

Sure enough, the Empress of Steel began rushing toward us.

The direction she was headed in was toward the Essence of Fire I had thrown ahead.

Desiring warmth, she flung herself at the Essence of Fire.

Ssss!

However, the cold emanating from the Empress of Steel quickly extinguished the Essence of Fire.

The power of the Essence of Fire was, at best, equivalent to a single spirit.

There was no way it could withstand her, who could turn even spirit-infused trees into steel.

[Ugh, uhh.]

Crack! Clang!

The Empress of Steel shattered the extinguished Essence of Fire.

Crack!

At the same time, the ground beneath her feet turned into a harsh steel surface.

She was furious that she couldn’t absorb the warmth.

A chill-filled wind began to howl.

The spirit trees trembled like aspen leaves, likely terrified.

The Empress of Steel slowly turned her head toward me.

The light vanished, and darkness began to engulf the surroundings.

A shiver ran down my spine once more.

Mysteries are beings that were supposed to become gods but failed.

Naturally, their power is incomparable to that of humans.

Because of that, my body was telling me one thing:

Run away, right now.

No matter how many times I had played the Blazing Butterfly Arc, it was just a game.

Now, faced with a creature so far removed from reality, I couldn’t help but feel fear.

My body trembled instinctively with terror.

I couldn’t help it.

No matter how well I knew everything about this world,

I was still human.

Facing this inexplicable danger in reality, I was scared.

But there was something I feared even more.

‘Seeing such a monster before me, I understand now.’

One day, I was suddenly thrown into a game world instead of reality.

Though I knew more about this world than anyone else, I was still a vague existence who hadn’t truly lived it.

That’s who I was.

I was afraid.

Afraid of what I could do when this world became something I no longer fully understood.

Afraid that I wouldn’t know what to do.

That’s why I struggled to fill the gaps left by the absence of the protagonist.

Because if I didn’t, I would become unnecessary in this world.

‘A cog in the machine.’

They say humans are social creatures.

The more a person’s cog becomes misaligned, the more they succumb to fear.

I had already experienced this once.

Back when I was considered a promising individual.

When an unexpected injury crushed my dreams and left me stranded in society with nothing.

I had felt utterly worthless.

That’s why I knew this fear so well.

And that’s why I had immersed myself in the Blazing Butterfly Arc.

I had recklessly used the game as a means of escape from the broken path my life had taken.

But now, even my escape was crumbling.

My only sanctuary was rejecting me.

At some point, my fists had clenched.

Moving forward in a world after the bad ending is my obsession, my stubbornness.

But even if it is my obsession and stubbornness, I want to protect this world.

It’s the only place that has given me solace and happiness.

So, I will do whatever it takes, now and in the future.

I lifted my head.

The mysterious being, the Empress of Steel, stood before me.

She would serve as the foundation and strength for what lay ahead.

The arduous path Lucas was supposed to take, I will walk the first of those steps.

My crimson eyes shone fiercely.

I was no longer afraid of the Empress of Steel.

I already knew something far scarier than her.

Even without the Flame of Determination, I ignited another flame within me and raised my fists.

“Come.”

I will keep this world going, for myself.