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.

slowly. There's most likely going to be a lot of traps ahead,

I understood after looking at the forest, it was that it was the

wasn't wrong. They had most likely taken a shortcut up and were

the mana inside

"Let's go."

***

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

we

was going, added with

into the distance, Ava squinted her

"We're close."

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

"Stop."

wolf came to a

into the distance, her face

coming to a stop, Hein

"Is this the place?"

"Yes."

Ava replied.

Hein took out his shield which was

"Burp, we stopping?"

loud burp, Leopold also got

"Wow."

his footsteps, he stared at the half-filled bottle in his

a lot stronger than I

warmed up enough, and it was no longer needed. Any more and he might actually get too

Ava adjusted the beanie in

can only

were currently at the bottom of one of the mountains, and so, Ava realized that going up

her flute

Tootle too~

melodious tune rang in the air, and

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

careful you two, we're probably going to

"Finally."

shield which was

"Burp…"

Leopold wordlessly took out a gun-like device and rested it on

might help me sober up

***

"Stop."

hand, I stopped Angelica

little,

something wrong with

I wouldn't have entered the forest, but since it was the only way that led to the castle, I had no choice but

with the place, I

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

That was until now.

extended my hand forward and raised

"What are you doing?"

Confused

in a

"…just checking something."

mana in the air, I stopped my finger at a particular point.

Pluck—

reverberated throughout the air, It was then that I was finally able to catch a glimpse of an invisible string in the air. Not only one string but in fact a series of them, but, I was unfortunately unable

"As I expected…"

together, I felt a wet sensation.

But.

didn't have time to

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

get ready, it looks

hand and taking out three cards from my bracelet,

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

the previous string from before, the area

I didn't notice this at all. Upon closer look, I realized

pinched my fingers. Feeling a hard sensation on the tip of my fingers, I turned my

"It's these fuckers…"

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

managed to trap

it hard for me to notice them. Our

Rustle—! Rustle—!

rustling sound arose from the

"There is someone here."