Chapter 10: Chapter 10

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Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: The Empress of Steel

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After Poara and I exchanged a smile whose meaning was lost on us, I got down to business.

"Poara, could you please guide me to the trees that have turned to iron?"

"Yes, I'll lead the way."

Perhaps it was her duty as a student council member. Poara began to advance through the forest with brisk steps.

It seemed she wanted to complete this mission successfully and transition from a temporary to a full member.

'I wish I could stop her, though.'

The matter of the Great Forest of Spirits should be resolved as quickly as possible. For the sake of the upcoming mock battle, I needed a stratagem.

So, I followed Poara, pushing deeper into the Great Forest.

After we'd gone quite a distance into the Great Forest, I understood the true meaning of a Spirit User within the Great Forest of Spirits.

Normally, when I'd visited, the trees stood densely packed. But as Poara began to walk, the trees parted, and the grasses cleared a path.

It was as if the entire forest was welcoming Poara herself.

'So this is why Nikita sent a Spirit User.'

The Great Forest of Spirits is extremely wary of outsiders. But Spirit Users are an exception.

Spirit Users are those beloved by spirits. So, the trees, imbued with spirits, all welcomed the Spirit User, one after another.

'Poara, in particular, seems to have a higher affinity than other Spirit Users.'

I, too, frequently visited the Great Forest of Spirits while playing the game. Lucas, possessing spirit affinity, could also adopt the Spirit User profession.

Thus, his experience was markedly different when he visited the Great Forest of Spirits as a Spirit User versus when he was not.

Even so, it wasn't to the same degree as Poara.

'Of course, she exited the story in Act 4 due to the boycott incident.'

Poara was also a talented Spirit User, skilled enough to enter Jerion Academy. The student council likely accepted her so quickly as a temporary member for this very reason.

'Good thing I brought her along.'

Every time Poara took a confident stride, the forest cleared a path. Thanks to her, we traversed the Great Forest of Spirits with remarkable ease.

Soon after, I began to feel a chill. The Great Forest of Spirits was originally filled with warmth, thanks to the spirits.

A chill in *this* Great Forest of Spirits? It wasn't winter; there was no reason to feel cold.

"Ugh, it's so c-cold."

Yet, a distinct cold, palpable enough for even Poara to shiver, now enveloped both of us.

Soon after, a sight that shouldn't exist materialized before my eyes.

The Spirit Tree had hardened, as if turned to steel. It was as if the very spirits within had transformed into iron alongside it. The tree had completely lost all vitality.

"W-what is this…?"

Poara had never seen this sight before. Horror etched itself onto her face.

The Spirit Trees turning to iron was already a well-known story among Spirit User students. But Poara, being only a first-year, likely hadn't ventured this deep into the forest before.

I approached the iron-turned tree and felt its surface with my hand. A chill climbed the tree, burrowing deep into my palm.

It was cold. Like touching ice on a frozen lake in the dead of winter.

'This is far more advanced than I anticipated.'

An event that should have been resolved in the latter half of Act 2, after the winter break. Yet, due to Lucas's absence and a certain incident, it had progressed to this point.

My crimson eyes quietly swept over our surroundings.

"Poara, can you sense the spirits?"

"Ah, no. Nothing, I don't feel anything! It's completely empty here!"

Poara's face, as she answered, had gone completely ashen.

Spirits are akin to nature itself. It's only logical that where nature exists, spirits do too.

What's more, the Great Forest of Spirits is a place where the concentration of spirits is far higher than anywhere else. For there to be no spirits in such a place signifies an irreversible catastrophe.

'Of course.'

I withdrew my hand from the iron tree. The spirits were now trapped within this very steel.

Thus, it was only natural that their presence couldn't be felt.

"I'm going in. You wait here."

"What? S-senior, won't it be dangerous by yourself!?"

"It's fine. I'll give you a signal if things get dangerous, so just wait."

Poara, as a Spirit User, was no longer of any help here.

Only one thing was needed here.

'A fierce flame capable of melting even steel.'

Demon Palace Academy Slayer. The reason the third installment was titled 'Flame Butterfly Arc'.

This was all because Lucas's Flame of Fighting Spirit was the key to resolving every incident.

But now, with Lucas's death, the Flame of Fighting Spirit had completely extinguished.

The world had lost its burning flame. All that remained were ashes of what once burned.

Yet. Even the ashes of what once burned must ignite anew.

To sustain a world that had lost its flame, I had to become the kindling to ignite a new spark.

I opened my bag. Then, I casually placed a bottle from inside next to the tree.

This was my insurance. I looked at my hand, trembling ever so slightly.

Had I grown nervous about what was to come, having made it this far? I tapped my hand, then rose to my feet.

Instead, I pulled something else from my bag. As I unwrapped the object, carefully bundled in a special cloth, a heat so intense it felt like it would scald my hand emanated from it.

I placed it on the ground that had turned to steel, then unwrapped the cloth.

Whoosh—

A blast of hot air, piercing through the cloth, warmed my face. The icy chill of the steel around us was instantly devoured by the heat.

Where the cloth lay unwrapped, a crude, reddish crystal rested. Within the crystal, a single flame flared, burning fiercely.

This was known as the Essence of Fire. It was the remains left behind after a Fire Spirit reached the end of its lifespan and perished.

Yet, the heat it radiated vividly demonstrated the raw power of the Fire Spirit in its prime.

'Spirit Users would surely foam at the mouth if they saw this.'

Carrying and moving the corpse of a spirit is a forbidden act for Spirit Users.

But it didn't matter to me. I wasn't a Spirit User, after all.

'I must guide this world back to its proper course.'

Therefore, even if it meant resorting to heresy, I would use anything to set things right.

I set a fire in the chilling, steel forest. Apart from the burning Essence of Fire, an unsettling chill settled in my eyes.

'It's coming.'

The moment I lifted my head, a fierce cold blast swept in from that direction.

Darkness began to swallow the surroundings. A grotesque scraping sound echoed in my ears, emanating from the iron floor. A shiver— A chill enveloped my entire body, and I drew a sharp breath.

And soon, what was reflected in my eyes was a solitary being, emerging from the darkness.

It was a being forged of frigid steel. She resembled both a single, elegant blade and a woman with long, flowing hair.

A being who, by all rights, should have become a god of a certain land. Yet, for some unknown reason, this being, unable to ascend to godhood, fell endlessly, becoming something perverse.

The world called this a 'Mystery'.

Possessing the 'Flame Butterfly Arc,' today marked the first time. It was the moment I encountered the world's first Mystery—one of countless I would face in the future.

***

In the Great Forest of Spirits, nestled within the Northern Ancient Dragon Mountains, where I had come to resolve the anomaly that had occurred there.

I was now facing a Mystery.

Before my eyes stood a woman forged of frigid steel. The chill emanating from her had transformed the Spirit Trees into iron.

I carefully adjusted my stance.

The Mystery, 'Empress of Steel.'

The perverse being, unable to ascend to godhood, had wandered aimlessly before settling here, in the Great Forest of Spirits. The power of the spirits residing within the Great Forest of Spirits was a delicious prey for such Mysteries.

However, originally, the Great Forest of Spirits had been guarded by a Spirit Lord, one on the verge of becoming a god. Thus, even Mysteries couldn't carelessly enter the Great Forest of Spirits.

'However, the Spirit Lord who resided in the Great Forest of Spirits eventually completed their tenure and ascended to a divine existence.'

As a result, the Spirit Lord's position became vacant.

Due to the sudden vacancy, the Great Forest of Spirits lost the Spirit Lord's protection. As a result, the Empress of Steel was able to infiltrate the Great Forest of Spirits.

'This was the reason.'

This was why the Empress of Steel had been able to enter the Great Forest of Spirits.

'The protagonist, Lucas, would melt and defeat the Empress of Steel with his Flame of Fighting Spirit.'

The Empress of Steel desires to rid herself of the chill within her body. This is because the chill is not something she originally possessed, but a power gained only after becoming a Mystery.

Mysteries who failed to become gods harbored a deep self-loathing. Thus, they constantly sought to discard the very powers they gained by becoming Mysteries.

Therefore, the Empress of Steel, realizing the Flame of Fighting Spirit residing within Lucas, would become a moth drawn to a flame, rushing to seize it from him.

After defeating the Empress of Steel, Lucas would receive grateful thanks from the spirits.

In that process, the newly elected Spirit Lord would propose a contract to Lucas. This was the Lucas Spirit User route.

'But Lucas isn't here now.'

The Flame of Fighting Spirit, capable of melting her, no longer existed.

All that existed was, at best, the Essence of Fire.

But even the Essence of Fire was enough to draw her out. She desired warmth more than anything.

She would rush towards anything that possessed warmth.

[Ugh, hnggg…]

Sure enough, the Empress of Steel began to rush towards me.

She lunged towards the Essence of Fire I had tossed before me. Desiring warmth, she threw herself at it.

Szzzzzzzzzt!

However, the coldness radiating from the Empress of Steel quickly extinguished the Essence of Fire.

The power of the Essence of Fire was, at best, the power of a single spirit. There was no way it could withstand *her*, who could turn even spirit-imbued trees into steel.

[Ugh, ughhh…]

CRACK! SHATTER!

The Empress of Steel shattered the extinguished Essence of Fire.

CRACKLE!

Simultaneously, the ground beneath her feet transformed into fierce steel. She was enraged by her failure to obtain warmth.

A wind laden with cold began to rage. Perhaps due to the spirits' terror, the Spirit Trees trembled like aspens.

The Empress of Steel slowly turned her head towards me. Light vanished, and darkness began to engulf our surroundings.

A shiver—

Again, goosebumps prickled across my entire body.

Mysteries were beings who should have ascended to godhood but failed. Naturally, the power they wielded was incomparable to that of humans.

And so, my body screamed at me. It told me to flee this place immediately.

No matter how many times I had played the 'Flame Butterfly Arc,' it was still just a game. Facing a being so far removed from reality, I instinctively felt fear.

My body trembled with instinctive fear.

It couldn't be helped.

No matter how much I knew about this world, I was still human. Now that it was reality, the inexplicable danger before me was terrifying.

But there was something even more terrifying than that.

'Facing such a monster, I finally understood.'

One day, I had suddenly fallen, stranded, into a game, not reality. I was a mediocre being who knew this world better than anyone, yet also knew it less than anyone, because I hadn't truly lived within it.

That was me.

I was afraid.

I was afraid of what I could possibly do if this world became one I no longer fully understood.

That's why I kept struggling to plug the holes in a world where the protagonist was missing. Otherwise, I would become an unnecessary existence in this world.

'A cog in the machine.'

Humans are said to be social animals. The more a person's cog grinds out of alignment, the more they succumb to fear.

I had already experienced this once.

During the time when I was making a name for myself as a promising talent, when my dreams were shattered by an unexpected injury, and I was thrown naked into society.

I had felt utterly worthless.

That's why I knew that fear so well. That's why I could immerse myself in the 'Flame Butterfly Arc'.

I had blindly escaped from my twisted life through the means of a game.

But now, even my refuge was going awry and crumbling. My only sanctuary was casting me out.

Unconsciously, my fists clenched.

To press forward in a world after a bad ending was my obsession, my stubborn will.

But even if it was born of my obsession and stubborn will, I wanted to protect this world.

This place had been my only refuge, a source of happiness. So, I would do anything, now and in the future.

I lifted my head. The enigmatic Empress of Steel came into view.

The Empress of Steel would become the foundation and strength for my future endeavors.

The ordeal Lucas was originally meant to endure. I was now facing the first of those trials.

My crimson eyes shone fiercely.

The Empress of Steel no longer frightened me. I already knew something far more terrifying than her.

Even if the Flame of Fighting Spirit was absent, I raised both my fists, having ignited another flame of resolve within me.

"Come on."

I would continue this world, for my own sake.