Chapter 24: Chapter 24

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Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: The Gray Forest

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Seron's stunned face, as if she couldn't believe he'd actually brought the Saint, remained frozen.

Leaving her to it, I decided to introduce the others.

"Aisha, Foara, this is the Saint. He's agreed to join our team this time."

"Th-the Saint?"

Like Seron, Foara also stared at the Saint with a shocked expression.

"Senior, how did you manage to get the Saint to join our team?"

Aisha, who had shown the least change in expression among them, asked.

I shrugged.

"Well, nobody else seemed to have asked the Saint."

So I invited him and brought him along.

And I gave the Saint a reason he could understand, in my own way.

"…Of course they didn't, you blockhead!"

At that moment, Seron, who was behind me, shrieked.

Seron grabbed my collar tightly, her eyes wide.

When I shot her a look asking what her problem was, Seron's forehead flushed bright red, as if steam were about to pour out.

Her face looked like she was about to explode from sheer frustration.

"Are you out of your mind?! Do you have any idea what would happen if something happened to the Saint after you brought him along?!"

The Saint, Sirmiel Saint Eden.

His status, as the Saint of the Empire's foremost religion, the New Faith, was just below that of the Imperial Family.

As such, if anything were to happen to the Saint...

None of the students had the confidence to handle the fallout.

For that reason, no one had ever taken Sirmiel into a team, even by the time he became a second-year.

It was a kind of unwritten rule.

But my reaction was simply, "So what?"

When there's the best possible card to play...

There's no reason to deliberately ignore it and not use it.

"The Princess is going in too, isn't she?"

I pointed to the Third Princess, Iris Haisirion, who was already preparing to enter.

Even the Princess, whose status is higher than the Saint's, was entering the Demon Palace.

"The Princess's situation is completely different!"

Iris is the top student of the Martial Arts Department.

Not only her swordsmanship...

She also excels in academic studies, a paragon of both martial and literary arts.

As she was considered to possess the greatest talent among all imperial family members throughout history...

It would have been a significant national loss if she hadn't entered the Demon Palace.

But the Saint's situation was different.

Of course, he was also the top student of the Holy Arts Department, but what he specialized in was healing magic.

It wasn't a power meant for self-defense.

Therefore, from the perspective of students who would have to protect the Saint, they worried about any potential incidents.

"If we protect the Saint well, it'll all be fine."

"That's easier said than done!"

I raised my hand and lightly flicked Seron's forehead.

"Agh!?"

She shrieked and clutched her forehead.

Seron glared at me, asking what I was doing.

"Then do it. Did you think the Demon Palace was some kind of playground? Do you honestly think there's a more reliable cleric than the Saint, anyway?"

And what's more...

"With the Saint standing right next to us, is that really something you should be saying?"

Seron's shoulders twitched.

Only then did the blockhead realize the situation, and she began to nervously glance at Sirmiel.

Sirmiel, however, offered a benevolent smile and shook his head.

"I'm quite alright. It's a story I'm well acquainted with.

Knowing the burden it would place on others, I have deliberately refrained from joining a team until now."

Sirmiel had voluntarily explained the situation to the professors himself, after which...

He had decided not to enter the Demon Palace unless an offer was specifically extended to him.

"But even knowing this, Brother Hanon called for me."

Sirmiel rolled up his white sleeves, revealing his resolve.

"Since I have been called, under the name of the Lord God, I, Sirmiel, will dedicate my full strength to this task."

Seron's lips parted.

As if stung by her own words from a moment ago, she couldn't utter a single sound.

Leaving Seron to her thoughts, I turned to the other two.

"Aisha, Foara, you two are fine with this, right?"

"Yes, Senior. I vaguely expected something like this would happen ever since I joined your team."

"I-I'm fine too!"

What exactly did Aisha expect?

"It's because Senior always seems to attract strange situations, so I expected it."

Aisha knows too much about me.

It seemed she also had remarkably keen ears.

"Team, Hanon Airey."

Just then, the call for a team echoed through the air.

I gave a nod, and everyone followed me.

Only Seron sighed deeply, her face etched with worry and concern.

As I approached the entrance of the Demon Palace, Professor Veganon stood there.

Dressed in her uniform today, she saw me and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Hanon, even seeing it again, you've assembled a preposterous team."

Though I expected a lecture...

Veganon didn't say much else besides that.

Instead, she merely reiterated the dangers of the Demon Palace.

"Remember this: the most important thing in the Demon Palace is your lives. If you feel it's too dangerous, run. There's no need to sacrifice yourselves."

She said this, gesturing towards the knights of the Demon Palace's final front line.

"Even if an Apostle appears, the adults will stop them. You just need to do what you can."

It was a situation where young students had to be sent into the Demon Palace to reduce casualties on the surface.

Veganon spoke as if the reality of this world was far from pleasing to her.

She had only one wish.

That they all return alive.

"We will bear that in mind."

This was a promise that absolutely had to be kept.

Perhaps sensing my resolve, Veganon said nothing more.

"Go safely."

We stepped into the Demon Palace.

The entrance to the Demon Palace yawned open, as if hell itself was about to swallow us whole.

As we stepped inside, an eerie wind brushed past our faces.

A moment later, when I raised my head, a sun-drenched field and lush vegetation stretched out before us.

"This is..."

Aisha, who had just entered the Demon Palace for the first time, froze.

It was understandable, as a completely different landscape from the one just moments ago unfolded before us.

This place, with its sprawling vegetation, was clearly a perfectly peaceful location to anyone who saw it.

"Th-this is strange. It's clearly a forest, but I don't feel any spirits."

Foara, standing next to Aisha, looked around the forest with a bewildered expression.

As he said, what unfolded before their eyes was indeed a forest, but there was a distinctly alien feeling to it.

"Tsk, this entrance is the Gray Forest."

Among them, Seron, the only one with prior Demon Palace experience, clicked her tongue.

The first floor of the Demon Palace was divided into a total of four distinct zones.

One of them was the Gray Forest.

This was where we had just entered.

"If it's the Gray Forest, then surely..."

"Yes, it's a forest where gray zones appear all over the place as time passes."

I answered Saint Sirmiel and extended my foot.

Then the patch of grass I had just been standing on turned gray.

Every path walked in the Gray Forest was stained gray.

And the moment you stepped on one of these gray zones...

'Your stamina gets drained considerably.'

A place where you could never step on the same spot twice.

That was the Gray Forest.

"What a strange forest."

Aisha watched the ground she stepped on turn gray and found it fascinating.

"Nothing fascinating about it. It's the most tedious forest."

In fact, Seron, who had experienced this before, made a disgusted face.

As she said, the Gray Forest wasn't a welcome place for me either.

Above all, the Gray Forest's 'trigger' was arguably the worst among all locations on the Demon Palace's first floor.

"What are we going to do? If we delay any longer, we won't even be able to move."

Seron urged.

As she said, if we spent time here, the Gray Forest would become a place with no safe ground left to step on, thanks to those who had already moved ahead.

"No, we're not moving."

"What?"

Seron turned back, her face bewildered.

Her face showed that she couldn't understand what I was talking about at all.

It wasn't that I didn't understand Seron's reaction.

But it had to be this way.

"We're not going to proceed to the second or third floor."

The Demon Palace Battle Event in Act 3, Scene 3: The Forest Keeper of the Gray Forest.

Originally, this event should have been resolved by Lucas.

But now Lucas was gone.

So it was up to me to handle this event instead.

I raised my head.

"Everyone, from now on, we're going to..."

And my next words left everyone bewildered.

"Take a long rest."

Gotta conserve stamina before the event.

* * *

Inside the Demon Palace, the Gray Forest.

Although clearly inside the Demon Palace, the gentle sunlight and soft breeze were perfectly suited for taking a nap.

With trees scattered everywhere, there was ample shade, and most importantly, unlike a natural forest, there wasn't a single bug.

Thus, there were few places as comfortable for resting as this.

"Does this even make sense? We came to the Demon Palace, and we're resting?! Are you out of your mind?!"

But instead of the buzzing of insects, there was something else making noise.

It was Seron, chattering away next to me.

As I rested comfortably, leaning against a tree, Seron went from complaining to outright yelling beside me.

I raised one eyebrow and looked at Seron.

"Why? Is there some law that says we can't rest in the Demon Palace?"

"Hah, damn it, you blockhead! Don't you know what mission we came here for?"

"I know perfectly well."

Boy soldiers dispatched to stop the Evil Lord, who sends Apostles to the surface to destroy the world.

That was the Academy's purpose, the very reason it was established.

All students attending the Academy considered this fact an honor.

Even if it meant risking their lives.

"Someone who *knows* acts like this? What on earth are you thinking?! If we've formed a team this strong, we should be going further down to fight Apostles!"

"Blockhead, Apostles aren't only found on the lower floors."

Apostles definitely exist on the first floor too.

To be precise, it's safe to say they're most widely distributed on the first floor.

The place where Apostles are first born is the hatchery in the center of the first floor.

"Who doesn't know that? But eventually, all those Apostles descend to the lower floors!"

However, most Apostles, once born, descend to the lower levels of the Demon Palace to gain strength.

As a result, the first floor is where the number of Apostles decreases at the fastest rate.

"It's common sense that we should go down to the lower floors to defeat more Apostles!"

As Seron argued this, I slowly opened my eyes.

"Yes, that's why I'm saying let's go down later."

"I really have no idea what you're talking about."

Seron looked at me with a face that showed she absolutely couldn't understand me.

But I couldn't help it either.

I had my own circumstances.

So I grabbed Seron's shoulder and pushed her down into a sitting position.

"Don't get heated, just rest. I didn't say we weren't going down at all, did I?"

No matter how much I tried to persuade her, she refused to listen, and Seron eventually grew tired too.

She slumped down in her spot and mumbled curses about me to herself.

I'll have to flick her forehead again later.

"Senior Hanon, another party is passing by."

Meanwhile, Foara, who had been assigned to scouting, reported.

Foara's spirits were spread out all over the Gray Forest.

As such, they consistently reported back as scouts.

"It seems like this is the last party."

Another group of students proceeded towards the central area.

To descend to the second floor, they all had to go to the central area, so everyone was heading in the same direction.

'It's about time.'

Before I knew it, only our group remained on the first floor.

"Seron, how many times has the Gray Forest appeared as the entrance so far?"

As I stood up and asked the question, Seron glanced my way.

Her face was full of displeasure.

"It's the second time since I enrolled."

"Yes, it's the second time by your count, and the ninety-ninth time since the Demon Palace first opened."

Seron's eyes widened slightly.

It was a reaction that screamed, "You were counting something like that?"

But this point was very important.

"The environment of the Demon Palace has been constantly changing since a long time ago."

The reason the Demon Palace is dangerous every time is precisely because of its ever-changing environment.

No matter how much investigation is done, the environment changes at some point.

So there are often times when reconnaissance teams have to be dispatched, risking danger.

And now...

This period, when Lucas enrolled, was precisely the time of the Demon Palace's great transformation.

A point when the Demon Palace's established strategies were destabilized.

Because of the Demon Palace's transformation, numerous casualties would occur, and taking advantage of this, Apostles would be born with their full power.

Truly a turbulent era.

"The Demon Palace's changes usually happen when it reaches a hundred Apostle births. Peculiar phenomena often occur then."

Seron's pupils slowly began to widen.

She stood up from her spot, a look of bewilderment on her face.

"You... surely not."

"Today marks the hundredth time for the Gray Forest."

My eyes opened with a chilling glint.

"Perhaps today might be the most dangerous day for conquering the Demon Palace."

After descending to a lower floor in the Demon Palace, there was no way to immediately return to the surface.

To be precise, there was a way, but only I knew this method.

Therefore, the students' return journey was also arduous.

In fact, after completing the Demon Palace conquest...

More casualties often occurred on the way back.

This was due to the sense of accomplishment from having succeeded in the conquest, which made their minds lax.

Therefore, Act 3, Scene 3, the Demon Palace Battle, was...

Also an event that resulted in the worst casualties in history.

The starting point signaling the era of the Demon Palace's great transformation.

Depending on how this starting point was overcome, the difficulty of clearing the game would drastically change.

RUMBLE!

At that moment, the entire Gray Forest began to rumble.

Seron's face, feeling the tremor, turned stark white.

In contrast, I slowly raised my head towards the sky.

The sky that had been bright moments ago gradually began to darken.

And between the darkening sky, something resembling long tree roots began to descend.

"It's here."

Saint Sirmiel, already prepared, rose from his spot.

The reason I was able to bring Sirmiel into this Demon Palace team was because I had told him about this situation beforehand.

The possibility of significant casualties that might occur.

Keeping this possibility in mind, Sirmiel had willingly followed me.

"Team Hanon."

I pulled a heavy shield from my back and called out to everyone.

"From this moment on, for the safe return of all the students, we will forge a path to the exit."

The true Apostle of the Gray Forest.

We will defeat the Forest Keeper.