Episode 346:
Shoichi, the 6th-class Hunter Mind’s Eye.
Eliza of the 6th grade hunter flash.
The two took on the role of leaders to guide academy students with excellent skills but little experience as veterans.
In case there could be a problem during the pre-investigation, it was their duty to check the area around the target while the attackers were waiting at the base camp.
“This situation is more serious than I thought. Inside the barrier, radio waves from pockets do not reach the outside world.”
As Shoichi said, the internal processing system, such as the subspace device, works, but when the call is made to the outside, the pocket remains silent.
“This, in the end… would be a story that Lewis recognized the human communications network.”
Shoichi nodded while placing a hand on Eliza’s shoulder as she was analyzing with a gloomy expression.
“yes. He must have realized after he was attacked. No matter how much you isolate the inside, it is meaningless if the communication network is intact…”
It is not difficult for a 7th-level boss to confuse the human radio network through mana. However, what was surprising was the ‘idea’. How could a boss from another dimension recognize the existence of human communication and radio networks?
That said, Lewis has a high level of intelligence that most bosses don’t have.
Eliza let out a dismal sigh as she double-checked the deadened communication network and tighter barriers.
“They say that Louis has just woken up from the seal and his total mana has gone down. Lewis realized how mankind fights and grew by accumulating data. Shoichi, do you really consider this a downgrade?”
“What do guys who touch papers at their desks know? You don’t know that there is something more important than mana concentration in an attack.”
Even Shoichi couldn’t trust the Association’s judgment this time. Level 6 because the total amount of mana has decreased?
The opponent is the witch of that winter.
“Like you said, Louis is in the 6th and 7th grade. I think it’s something in between.”
Fortunately, Shoichi sympathized with Eliza. No matter how powerless it was, it was a catastrophe that paralyzed the entire city. It was the right decision to request additional support and strengthen the raid team even now.
“But there is a problem.”
“What is?”
“You may not feel it yet… but the moment the number of people in the base camp increased, the shape of the barrier changed.”
“Are you saying that Louis’ barrier has changed?”
However, Eliza was puzzled by Shoichi’s words. This place was far away from Ruin Castle.
In particular, the base camp is a place farther away than the current survey site.
However, the fact that Lewis transformed the barrier meant that he was monitoring Volterra’s every move, unless it was just a whim.
“It’s weak to my eyes, but I can see the flow of mana. The mana of natural objects is blue, but most of the mana of hunters is much darker or reddish.”
Shoichi’s two eyes
were the power to penetrate the essence, not to accept things as they are. That’s why Shoichi knew.
“It’s hard to believe, but listen carefully. The landscape of Volterra seen through the mind’s eye is entirely red. It’s a story that all the snow falling from the sky right now is Louis’s mana…”
As Shoichi said, snow was falling inside the barrier without exception. It was a story that all the space inside the barrier was controlled by Lewis’s mana.
“So you’re saying that Lewis… is keeping his eyes down to keep an eye on intruders?”
If that was true, Lewis’s intelligence and strategy were much higher than before. I didn’t know how many traps were hidden inside Ruin Castle.
“We have to withdraw our attack now. You can’t drive students to limb knowing how dangerous it is.”
Despite agreeing so much with Eliza’s opinion, Shoichi shook his head.
“No, it’s too late. Didn’t I tell you earlier? The shape of the barrier has changed…”
The fear Shoichi felt now was the fate of a hunter with high search ability. First of all, they feel embarrassed, but they had to explain to their colleagues how scary and dangerous the situation they were facing now was.
“Originally, the road from the base camp to the entrance was made of natural mana. That means it should look blue to my eyes.”
Shoichi sighed.
As expected, no matter how eloquent he was, it was not an easy task to explain this scenery verbally.
“Well, I guess seeing this for yourself is better than explaining it.”
In the end, Shoichi put his index finger on the nape of Eliza’s neck, activating his ability. The blue light of Shoichi’s inner eye moved to Eliza’s eyes.
Hwaaak!
Eliza’s vision, which had been covered by the blizzard, opened wide in an instant, and everything in Volterra was divided into blue and red.
“This one!”
According to Shoichi’s explanation, the snow and Volterra’s path, which are natural objects, should have been made of blue light, but Volterra’s 90% was covered with red light.
“You understand now? The moment we entered Volterra, Lewis was already watching us. There is no way back.”
“Then, if you go back along this red road Louis made…”
However, Eliza’s words were about when the ‘road’ existed.
“no.”
Shoichi shook his head.
Although the structure of the barrier Louis had created was simple, various magics were mixed. Heavy snow that steals mana and dimension control magic that can never reach the place you want.
Now, with Lewis’s barrier overlaid, the space of Volterra itself has changed.
It was like a goldfish trapped in a fishbowl. No matter how much they swim and wander in the water, the goldfish could never leave the fish tank without human help.
“I just become a lost child and wander inside the barrier forever.”
Shoichi removed his hand from the nape of Eliza’s neck. Eliza, who had lost her inner eye ability and returned to her usual vision, looked around with her own eyes again.
Snow falling incessantly from the sky.
The endless road they walked on looked the same as before, but it felt different.
In Eliza’s eyes, the landscape of Volterra was no longer a beautiful nature. Although Eliza was a veteran who had succeeded in numerous raids, she felt indescribable fear.
“There are two options… so it’s a story.”
All the members here had to either attack Lewis or remain in Volterra and suffer the eternal cold. This is the weight of truth. There were no other options.
Eliza looked up and saw the top of the mountain. The frozen Ruin Castle located there stood proudly majestic.
Even before the veteran hunters started attacking, they were overwhelmed by the number of witches.
* * *
The news that Lewis, the witch of winter, was resurrected was a major event that decorated the front pages of various sites in Italy as well as in Korea.
Wherever you go, Shin Yoo-seong and Adela. And it was covered with stories about Lewis.
“The media is all about your brother. This level of ripple effect already in the first year…”
Lee Hyuk, who was checking the article at the student council, burst into admiration, and Shin Ha-yoon admired the association in a different way.
“I saw it too. What a fun story. Entrusting the witch’s strategy… to the green students.”
For Shin Ha-yoon, the association’s judgment was ridiculous. From a witch’s point of view, the results presented by thousands of researchers with the vast amount of data were not as good as the stories in fairy tales.
“The part that was particularly masterpiece was their announcement about mana. If I knew what a witch’s power was, I wouldn’t have talked about it.”
Shin Ha-yoon is unique and special.
It wasn’t that difficult to please Lee Hyuk, who was always by Shin Ha-yoon’s side.
However, there was a moment when Shin Ha-yoon made a leap beyond common sense. She uttered enigmatic words with an air of incomprehensibility.
Shin Ha-yoon had endless knowledge to dismiss as an 18-year-old like herself. Sometimes, it far exceeded human common sense, so in Lee Hyuk’s eyes, Shin Ha-yoon looked abnormal, like an elf who had lived for hundreds of years or a machine engraved with the tower’s records.
“…So Hayoon is saying you know?”
In the end, at Lee Hyuk’s question, unable to contain his curiosity, Shin Ha-yoon laughed. Then he slowly approached Lee Hyuk and whispered in his ear.
“…I’ll just let you know.”
Shin Ha-yoon’s breath tickled Lee Hyuk’s ear lobe. Embarrassed by Shin Ha-yoon’s actions, Lee Hyuk held his breath.
“The condition for becoming a witch is… that a human transcends a human.”
“That… is it about being strong?”
Hiding his feelings and embarrassment, Lee Hyuk asked in a calm voice. Shin Ha-yoon, is that one of the methods? He smiled softly.
“But that’s not all. Because each concept of transcendence is different.”
Transcendent strength is also a method, but the transcendence that Shin Ha-yoon said did not mean limited to certain actions and situations.
“A witch’s power can be innate power, but it can also be given power. It is a story that even humans without mana can gain new powers and become witches through transcendence.”
If Shin Ha-yoon’s words were true, witches’ abilities could be innate or acquired, and had nothing to do with mana.
No one knew about this, at least within the common sense that Lee Hyuk knew. This was information that was not even left in the records of the Tower.
“…If innate mana and abilities have nothing to do with each other, are you saying anyone can become a witch?”
“Until now, all the ones chosen were women…. Anyone can become a witch as long as they can ‘transcend’ and be chosen by the disaster.”
Lee Hyuk was curious.
I don’t know if Shin Ha-yoon’s words are true or false, but what is the meaning of that word that keeps being mentioned?
“Then, Hayoon, what exactly do you mean by transcendence?”
In response to Lee Hyuk’s question, Shin Ha-yoon pondered for a long time, making a um- sound uncharacteristic of her.
“The transcendence I know is an experience. They become witches through ugly emotions that are hard to believe for humans, and they bloom in terrible pain that humans cannot handle.”
Shin Ha-yoon wanted to say that a witch is a flower of disaster.
“An experience that transcends humanity becomes a disaster, and a witch’s ability is the embodiment of disaster.”
It wasn’t a story I had heard anywhere.
Shin Ha-yoon spoke to Lee Hyuk as vividly as if he had experienced it.
“The heart of resentment becomes a ghost, the heart of coldness becomes ice, and the fierce desire becomes a dream.”
Is it my own delusion?
“A heart that is strong enough to transcend humanity becomes a disaster… It is a story that a disaster soon becomes a witch.”
Lee Hyuk felt a bit of madness in Shin Ha-yoon’s voice, who spoke faster than usual.
“Are you sure you understand this?”
However, when Shin Ha-yoon calmed down, Lee Hyuk summoned up the courage to ask a question.
“Then… does the witch’s power mean that mana may not be the medium?”
Shin Ha-yoon sincerely admired Lee Hyuk’s question after grasping the essence.
“You are also capable.”
Perhaps because of that, Shin Ha-yoon told Lee Hyuk one more secret that he originally kept hidden.
“The Society records that Lewis drained mana from his citizens through eternal winter… but that’s not the essence.”
Shin Ha-yoon told Lee Hyuk a secret. A truth and a secret that no one but a witch can reach.
“The source of her power is negative emotions. Human suffering or despair.”
In a very friendly way, Shin Ha-yoon even gave Louis the title of ‘that woman’.
It seemed like they had known each other for a long time, so this time Lee Hyuk had no choice but to suppress his curiosity and keep his mouth shut.
