Chapter 56

Celine stood still, feeling Leonhard’s warmth and strength. Her heart slowly sank as she ran as if being chased by an enemy she could never escape.

‘That’s what it was…’

Every time she hugged him as if confirming her own survival, she didn’t really understand the feeling. However, at this moment, Celine could understand why she had grabbed Leonhard so much in the meantime. She, too, was relieved only after feeling his warmth and pounding heart.

Leonhard, feeling a bit stiff, pulled out of his arms and opened his mouth.

“Congratulations on the release of your recoil.”

“Yes? Ah…”

Celine then realized what she had just done.

She didn’t need to check again. The free-moving magic showed that the shackles the warlock had left in exchange for death had been unleashed.

“I didn’t know it could be released so easily.”

Even though Leonhard was pure admiration, she couldn’t just be happy.

“…I thought Leonhard was going to die.”

“Me?”

Leonhardt raised one eyebrow as if surprised before opening his mouth again.

AD

“I didn’t know I was so unreliable.”

“Still, if you fall there…!”

“If I had only died because of that much, I would have lost my life at the hands of warlocks earlier.”

“….”

“So, next time, you don’t have to tremble like that.”

Celine realized that she was still trembling slightly.

‘Leonhard couldn’t have died in the first place…’

Her legs lose strength as she thought so to herself. The next moment, she flopped down on the ground.

Leonhard was greatly surprised and supported Celine.

“Are, are you okay?”

“…Yes.”

She quickly got up.

AD

“Wait, I’m just relieved.”

“That’s good to hear.”

After saying that, he glanced around. Even though it was still foggy, it wasn’t difficult to see because the fog was thin. A path narrow enough for a couple of people to walk side by side was leading somewhere from the cliff.

“We have to walk over there… Celine?”

Leonhard’s face hardened when she saw Celine, who was suddenly bewildered for no reason.

“What’s wrong?”

“Leonhard.”

She raised one arm to him.

Her sleeves went down little by little, and in place was a little dragon that had been sleeping as if dead since she lost her magic…

‘….?’

Leonhard blinked.

At the same time, the dragon blinked as if to match him.

“Did it… wake up?”

“The sleeping dragon has awakened.”

Celine nodded in an answer. Although it sounded like an irrelevant answer at first glance, Leonhard wasn’t stupid enough to forget the contents of the parchment that she had shown him.

“…That was about it. Of course, I thought it was talking about volcanoes.”

Instead of answering, she rummaged through her pocket and pulled out the parchment.

[ Wake up the dragon’s sleep. ]

There was a red line that had not been seen until yesterday. As if the completed quests were displayed in the game.

‘Did this really mean Lou…’

Celine didn’t believe the little dragon that was fluttering its tongue, so she checked again and again.

It was just a coincidence that she hatched Lou. However, she could not believe that the quest she was doing that was key to advancing on the true ending route was related to it.

‘I wonder if Lou was part of the stage…’

Unlike Celine, who was greatly surprised by this, Leonhardt responded as if it was nothing.

“Now that the recoil is released, it is natural for it to wake up.”

“…Is that so.”

She slipped the parchment into her pocket, looking a bit discomforted.

Though she wanted to think a little more, there was no time to waste on the edge of the foggy cliff. Since she hadn’t heard the music yet, that meant she hadn’t finished the third stage of the true ending route.

They immediately started walking on the road. Celine had guessed the destination of the road, but she was not sure, so she closed her mouth.

‘After the volcano, it must have been a deserted village.’

Abandoned houses filled with dust appeared as all the residents had left their homes. Nonetheless, the situation was quite different from the game. She thought that something other than the abandoned village might appear.

They walked a distance.

A huge flagpole appeared in the mist. The flag, which would have indicated which fiefdom the territory belonged to, was tattered and the pattern could not be recognized.

Leonhard frowned.

AD

“I can’t believe there is a village in a place like this?”

If there was a village in an uninhabited volcano, rumors must have spread.

“I guess it’s because it’s a completely isolated place.”

Celine glanced around and turned completely rigid.

“Did you see it in a dream?”

“…Yes.”

Leonhard was relieved. It was because he knew for sure today that Celine was extremely anxious when she encountered situations that she had not seen in her dreams.

“Listen carefully. As soon as we enter, monsters will attack.”

“It’s not like we can’t attack again this time.”

“Yes. You can cut them down as you like.”

A smile crept across Leonhard’s lips.

“Nice to hear that.”

AD

As Celine had said, as soon as they entered the abandoned village, the monsters rushed in droves. She took a deep breath once, then gathered her magic and set fire to the monsters.

Leonhard sighed in admiration.

“It didn’t get rusty at all.”

“Because it wasn’t long since I got caught in the recoil.”

It felt like a long time with so many things going on, but it was only about a fortnight that she had the recoil. If it had been a few months, it might have been rusty for quite a bit. Still, to Celine, it felt like the sprinter had left the sandbags and trailed off.

Freed from her shackles, she ran like her own world.

—Huurrr!

Before Rashir could even touch the monsters, Celine’s flame burned the monsters around Leonhard.

A blue flame blazed right near Leonhardt’s skin.

Leonhardt looked at Celine with a slightly startled face.

AD

‘It’s not like her skills were rusting.’

Celine had improved her skills significantly as she had been practicing magic for quite a while. Before being caught in the recoil, she used powerful magic based on her abundant magical power. However, compared to her power, she lacked delicacy, so she could not use detailed magic.

On the other hand, now, she used delicate magic skillfully enough for him to feel that the current she was a different wizard than she was at the time.

Leonhard soon realized the reason.

‘Ringzor.’

As for Celine, who had been using Ringzor, she had learned the detailed flow of magic. The shackles gave her wings of skill.

“Aren’t you planning on using Ringzor?”

Leonhard asked as he swung Rashir, drawing a giant swing with it. Celine, who had her back to him, smiled and wiped away the hordes of monsters in front of her.

“I don’t think it’s necessary at all now. Leonhardt can use it.”

“Originally, magic tools like Ringzor are mainly used by wizards. Try using it.”

Puzzled, Celine frowned a little, but she didn’t refuse it. She pulled out Ringzor from her arms, which she was now quite familiar with, and aimed it at the monster.

“Oh…?”

An exclamation mixed with doubts flowed from her mouth.

Ringzor, which felt like a wild beast when used during her a state of recoil, moved like her limbs. The monsters that came into her sight could be slain in an instant without using her innate magic.

“As expected.”

Leonhard smiled satisfactorily when he saw the monsters burned precisely at the vital points.

“Why, why is it so different?”

“These things have a bad heart. Only people who can subdue it with magical powers are considered their true masters, and it will follow them.”

“…So Ringzor hasn’t thought of me as its master until now.”

“I thought you knew.”

She couldn’t deny Leonhard’s words. Until the recoil was released, Ringzor felt like a ferocious dog that never knew when it would bite her finger. While wielding this power himself, it was true that she often felt fear instead.

“Now, Ringzor is completely yours. Congratulations.”

Celine blankly peered into the small, iridescent dagger, and she barely came to her senses. It wasn’t the time to be obsessed with power. Since they were still in a village covered in a light fog. As long as she didn’t hear the music signaling the end of the stage, she had to keep going.

‘…Come to think of it, something else ran into me here.’

She tried so hard to think of the thing that gave her a headache, but she failed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Something else is there. But, I can’t remember her properly…”

Leonhard placed his hand on her shoulder carefully.

“Don’t worry. Is there anything worse than a volcano? At the very least, it would be a boss monster.”

“….”

She couldn’t agree with him this time around. Even though it was an enemy with a whitish presence, it was definitely not an ordinary monster.

“Careful.”

“It’s always been like that, isn’t it?”

“Lies, you like it, right?”

Leonhard smiled sheepishly and stirred the fog with his hand.

“It’s strange. We didn’t come up to a particularly high altitude, so why is it so foggy?”

It was only then that Celine noticed that her vision was completely obscured. Right now, she couldn’t even see the old houses covered in dust and the rusty furniture lying on the streets. They could barely see what was right in front of them.

Using her magic to create the brightest light possible, it was to no avail in the thick fog.

‘This, too, is different from the game.’

She hardly remembered this stage, but she would have remembered it if the fog was so thick that the players could not see.

Goosebumps rose.

Of course, there were several differences in reality from the game until today. Considering that it was a true ending route that she had never played before, it was acceptable enough, so she did not have any questions about it.

However, today was the first time that the contents of the stage itself changed like this.

“Would you like to go back?”

Leonhard asked carefully.

“No.”

One thing was certain, [ Celine’s Nightmare ] was a forward-looking game. Like climbing the cliff, there was no going back. At the thought, Celine clung to Leonhard. She was afraid that the fog would be so thick that they would get separated.

—Kiik!

They stopped at the same time.

Goosebumps ran down Celine’s back.

—Kiik!

It sounded like someone scratching a blackboard with their fingernails.

—Kiik!

As the sound kept getting closer to them, he took out Rashir and Celine took Ringsor. Suddenly, he stopped in front of Celine and whispered. It was one of Leonhard’s voices that Celine had ever heard that was most urgent.

“No matter what you see or hear, don’t make it obvious.”

“What…?”

“That’s a ghost.”