The Returnee Wants Peace

Chapter 58

Even though she had expected this sight, her jaw clenched.

With an icy gaze, Rosha surveyed the area around the crimson snow field.

She had hoped ‘that’ wouldn’t be there, but her hopes were dashed the moment she spotted the massive black, rock-like form.

“...Damn it.”

It was a black dragon, crouched and resting.

“Wha, what is all this, Lady Roshanak?”

“Shh, keep your voice down.”

Rosha warned her approaching companions, even as despair set in, quickly recalling her memories.

‘I need to be extremely, infinitely cautious.’

This memory manifested as an illusion was the worst trial she had envisioned in her mind.

When the operation to secure the rift that had opened in the Tibet region failed for political reasons, and the demons inside spilled out, this dragon was released as well.

With scales and claws harder than steel, and a breath that could melt anything with deadly venom.

But the biggest problem was that it had the ability to control corpses.

‘With its disposition favoring self-preservation, it ended up holing up in these mountains, endlessly producing its own army day and night.’

One of her longtime teammates who had participated in the first extermination squad here had died. Perhaps their remains were scattered among these corpses.

After briefly looking over the corpses, Rosha turned her head away, her face set firmly.

‘We need to get out of here. Our numbers and strength aren’t enough to handle this.’

Dying in the illusion meant real death. In that sense, this illusion had been completely mismatched.

“So, is this something you actually experienced, milady? Or just an imagination?”

Lovell, who had silently approached and looked down, asked cautiously. It seemed too unrealistic to have actually happened.

Instead of answering, Rosha warned him,@@@@

“Soon, those corpses lying there will rise up and attack anything alive.”

“Pardon?”

“So let’s slowly retreat without being noticed.”

As she quietly backpedaled, her mind raced.

Although this was in the middle of an open snowfield, they would likely be standing, or perhaps even lying down, in the center of the forgotten god’s shrine. Or maybe they already had crystal blades pointed at their throats.

‘If I had maintained my 7th stage, I could have shattered this and escaped.’

Only a 7th stage domain could break through another 7th stage domain. Even the [Guid’s Lantern] couldn’t bridge the overwhelming gap in power.

Peering into her mana vessel with regret, it was clearly insufficient.

What should she do? How could she save them?

At that moment.

“Doesn’t that seem strange?”

Koko, who had been observing the illusion with an odd expression from earlier, suddenly pointed at a nearby tree.

Looking at the tree with a ‘what is that’ expression, Rosha suddenly realized it wasn’t swaying at all in the wind.

Upon this realization, a small smile emerged.

“...Haha, I see.”

“Have you thought of a way?”

“Perhaps, yes.”

That was an illusion auxiliary device disguised as a tree.

In other words, this entity wasn’t at a complete 7th stage.

For a true 7th stage magician, nothing but magic power was needed to deploy their domain.

However, as she clandestinely gathered her mana to dispel it, it was then that:

“...Hey. Did the dragon just make eye contact with me?”

-Teeing!

Exasperated by her response, Koko had left this advice:

-To tamper with preset ‘settings,’ you must start by reading the framework and structure. Understand?

-If you keep this in mind, there is nothing absolute in this world. In that sense, your ability is optimal for ‘reading’ things!

‘Reading.’

For 18 years, she had gone through countless trials following the blue window’s intentions, but she had never properly understood Koko’s words about ‘reading.’

She had been using the [Guid’s Lantern] primarily as a near-future precognition ability.

Yet, the vast crystal maze from this trial suddenly came to Rosha’s mind.

-The top is open but unclimbable, and the walls cannot be destroyed.

Those who had experienced the second trial would always say this when sharing their stories.

They had tried circumventing or destroying the crystal maze walls, but each time, the blue window had prevented their actions.

The crystal maze walls that could never be destroyed.

Just how were such ‘settings’ bestowed?

Her thoughts accelerated, as if her cognition was rapidly ascending.

Rosha looked around with her golden eyes.

Flap-

The dragon was already flapping its wings, flying towards them.

Although still fighting back, despair gradually crept onto her companions’ faces.

As if realizing there was no other option but to await the approaching death.

“...”

However, Rosha’s vision no longer perceived the dragon.

Instead of the illusion, she saw the actual elements comprising it.

The various objects disguised in different forms, but whose true nature wasn’t much different from the ‘indestructible walls’ that made up the crystal maze.

Gazing at one of them, she was amazed to see the flow of power that constituted it.

‘The framework and structure.’

She felt like she understood what those words meant.

In a heightened state of awareness that would collapse if her concentration wavered even slightly, she slowly touched that flow.

Then, the tree that had remained unfazed even by the grand magic ‘The Chastising Spear’ gradually began to crack before-

Craaaash!

Shattering into pieces.

Like breaking a crystal.

“That’s it!”

As if forgetting he shouldn’t speak, Koko laughed uheheehee. But no one was paying attention to him.

And for good reason – the dragon’s form was rippling like the moon’s reflection on water.

The illusion was rapidly fading.

〔How, how is this possible?〕

Hearing the entity’s voice, Rosha opened her eyes, trying to etch this feeling into her memory.

She was still inside the shrine, but the situation had changed slightly from before.

Around their bodies gathered in the center of the shrine, crystals had grown like withered branches, their sharp tips poised to strike at any moment.

It was at that moment.

“Rosha, you just rest here.”

With a resounding clang, Cassis, having shattered the crystals with his sword, tossed aside the empty elixir bottle and recited fiercely,

“I don’t know who you are, but you’ve lost now.”