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.

most likely going to be

understood after looking at the forest, it was that

my guess wasn't wrong. They had most likely taken a shortcut up and were waiting for me

I started channeling the mana inside of my

"Let's go."

***

wolves sped into a vast canopy of white, leaving behind a sunken

do we need

as he caught up to Ava. With the speed the wolf was going, added with the fiercely blowing wind, his hair shot back,

the distance, Ava squinted

"We're close."

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

"Stop."

to a halt and

distance, her face had a tinge of

to a stop,

"Is this the place?"

"Yes."

Ava replied.

out his shield which was still cocooned in

"Burp, we stopping?"

loud burp, Leopold also got

"Wow."

steps. Stabilizing his footsteps, he stared at

lot stronger

up enough, and it was

Ava adjusted

can only walk

bottom of one of the mountains, and so, Ava realized that going up with the wolves was

her flute and blew

Tootle too~

melodious tune rang in the air, and

the

you two, we're probably going to encounter a lot of

"Finally."

shield which

"Burp…"

burp, Leopold wordlessly took out a gun-like device and rested

might help me sober up a

***

"Stop."

hand, I stopped

a little,

something wrong with

we entered the forest, I knew that there 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

despite sensing that something was wrong with the place,

time,

That was until now.

in front of me, I extended my hand forward and

"What are you doing?"

Confused by my

answered in

"…just checking something."

mana in the air, I stopped my finger at a particular point. Making sure that I wasn't sensing wrongly,

Pluck—

able to catch a glimpse of an invisible string in

"As I expected…"

felt a wet sensation. It was

But.

didn't have time to care

hand on the sheath of my sword, I

it looks like we're

taking out three cards from my bracelet, I threw them in different directions.

cards to ignite, and once they did, I was finally

before, the area around us was

about this was the fact that Angelica and I didn't notice this at all. Upon closer look,

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

"It's these fuckers…"

size of a nail appeared in-between my fingers. In fact,

wonder they managed to

me to notice them. Our

Rustle—! Rustle—!

arose from the distance, and three figures showed

"There is someone here."