The Author's POV

"Haa...haaa..."

By the time I reached the top of the cliff, I was already starting to feel exhausted. It wasn't because the climb was hard. No, rather, that was the easiest part. The main problem was the constant attacks coming from the monsters in the sky.

"Kow!"

Jumping back and twisting my body in the air, my foot landed on a small ring, and I placed my hand on the sheath of the sword.

Click—!

What followed the low clicking sound was black blood that spilled toward the ground like heavy rain. Whilst this was happening, I twisted my body in the air.

"Huup!"

Placing my right leg on another ring, I propelled my body to the top of the cliff, and I rolled a couple of times.

"Haaa..."

With my back facing the ground, I took a few moments to collect my breath.

"I'm tired."

Getting up, I walked back and extended my hand toward Angelica who was still climbing up.

"Here."

My gesture seemed to have caught Angelica off-guard as she paused for a moment. After a while, she took my hand and helped herself up.

"...Thank you."

"No problem."

Letting go of Angelica's hand and massaging the back of my neck, I finally got a better view of my surroundings.

It was then that I finally spotted it.

"Looks like we're in the right place."

A large black castle at the very edge of the cliff. Above it was a large beacon that attracted the mana in the air, creating a large vortex; closely resembling a tornado.

'Seems like some part of the future is still intact.'

For the castle to be here, meant that not all of the future had changed. I was secretly relieved by this as it meant that I could still make some changes to it.

That aside.

Placing my hand over my forehead, I got a better look at the castle in the distance.

"It looks the same..."

The castle was almost identical to the castle where I first met Everblood, and it didn't bring me any good memories. Sometimes I wished I had never gone into that dungeon, but I knew that it wasn't something I could've controlled.

Leaning a bit, I looked beneath the cliff.

"Are they still following us?"

"No."

Angelica replied, also looking beneath the cliff.

"Strange…"

My brows creased.

"Was I perhaps wrong?"

Were the people really just some random people who had nothing to do with the matter? It was possible.

But I didn't think things were that simple.

"Angelica stay on high alert, there's a high chance we're going to get ambushed."

Regardless, I wasn't planning on letting my guard down.

"…yes."

"Alright, let's get going."

I turned to face the castle in the distance. Surrounding it, and behind it was a large expanse of dead trees, giving off a desolate and cold feeling. Compared to the bottom of the cliff, the trees were a lot denser, and taller, evoking a creepy and ghostly feeling.

If I had to make an estimate of how far the castle was, I would say it was about five kilometers in the distance.

It wasn't that far. In fact, it was quite close.

Even then.

going to be a lot of traps ahead,

there was one thing I understood after looking at the forest, it was that

had most likely taken a shortcut up and were waiting for

channeling the

"Let's go."

***

vast canopy of white, leaving behind a sunken

do we

speed the wolf was going, added with the fiercely blowing wind, his hair shot back,

distance, Ava

"We're close."

a second after her words faded, she tapped her right hand

"Stop."

a halt and

face had a

coming to a stop, Hein got

"Is this the place?"

"Yes."

Ava replied.

took out his shield which was still cocooned in

"Burp, we stopping?"

loud burp, Leopold

"Wow."

stumbled a couple of steps. Stabilizing his footsteps, he stared

is a lot stronger

was no longer needed. Any more

her eyes, Ava adjusted the beanie

looks like we can only

the mountains, and so, Ava realized that going

raised her flute

Tootle too~

rang in the air, and

was tightly clenching onto the flute, Ava proceeded to head up

probably going to encounter a lot of

"Finally."

murmured, unveiling his shield which was shining

"Burp…"

another burp, Leopold wordlessly took out a gun-like device

me sober up

***

"Stop."

stopped Angelica from moving

little,

something wrong with

was something wrong with the place. If I had a choice, I wouldn't have entered the forest, but since it was the only way that

was wrong with the

had been keeping my guard up the whole time, yet, I was unable to realize what was going

That was until now.

at the area in front of me, I extended my hand forward and raised

"What are you doing?"

Confused by

answered in a

"…just checking something."

a particular point. Making sure that

Pluck—

was then that I was finally able to catch a glimpse of an invisible string in the air. Not only one string but

"As I expected…"

a wet

But.

have time to

the sheath of my sword, I got ready to attack at any moment in

get ready, it

hand and taking out three cards from my bracelet, I threw them in different directions. Left, right, and

seconds for the cards to ignite, and once they did, I was finally able to catch a glimpse of the area

string from before, the area

I didn't notice this at all.

Feeling a hard sensation on the tip of my fingers, I turned my fingers a bit to get a closer

"It's these fuckers…"

the size of a nail appeared in-between my

managed to trap us

made it hard for me to notice them. Our attention was focused

Rustle—! Rustle—!

arose from the distance, and three figures showed

"There is someone here."