Joint Combat Practice 2 (17) (Modified)
The girl who was lying against the wall in the Glokt Hall hallway raises the corner of her mouth.
This is the student center where joint combat training is in full swing. The sounds of battle were coming from all over the place.
While everyone was focused on the battle in the training room, Adele was sitting quietly looking back on her life.
It is a life that no one can match in its turbulence. I was so focused on surviving right now that I didn’t have time to reflect on the meaning of life.
However, when I look back after running frantically, there is nothing left. Although I worked hard to survive, I was unable to give any meaning to my life.
As the man, Ed Rothtaylor, said… If surviving means struggling and twisting his body with clenched teeth… The life he had achieved so far had to have value. But when asked what value her life had, Adele had no words coming out of her throat.
Rather than surviving, I survived. It was that kind of life.
They talk about it as if it’s amazing, but that’s usually how life is.
The world was full of people living just to survive.
Everyone is struggling to survive for their own reasons, including Taldarek, who took Merilda’s blow with clenched teeth.
Just being able to take a blow from a high-ranking spirit with a human body is an incredible feat. He blocked Merylda’s front foot with his spear and even competed with her trembling hands.
However, a couple of magical arrows hit his shoulder, his balance of power is lost, and he falls. He quickly stands up and prepares to counterattack, but the lioness Lacia lunges in and bites his shoulder. She tried to pull it off somehow and adjust her posture, but in front of her was the high-ranking wind spirit Meril Da and even the high-ranking fire spirit Tarkan showing off their majesty.
──The same goes for Verdio, who tries to find a way out even when cornered.
The moment he made eye contact with Lucy, he tried to run away in another direction with the suppressed saint, but was hit in the right foot by a magic bullet that flew in an instant and fell to the ground.
Clarice was released from his grasp, and Lucy stood up. Verdio uses a weak magic spell to spread his defense magic, but Lucy destroys the defense with just a single lift of his finger.
In the meantime, he quickly got up and tried to run away, but his back was cut by the wind blade, which is basic wind magic, and he fell. He tried to get up again, bleeding. However, his arm loses strength and he falls face down on the floor. Still, he grits his teeth and exerts all his strength to somehow pull himself up.
When he raises his head with difficulty, he sees Lucy looking down at him with indifferent eyes.
Still, Verdio does not relax his arms. To survive.
──The life of Sword Saint Tailly was also a series of trials.
He had learned the swordsmanship through endless trials, and he continued to work hard until today, when joint combat practice took place.
From the middle, it feels noisy outside the student center, but it doesn’t bother me too much in the practice room, which is completely separated from the outside. Right now it is time to face the challenger in front of us.
Even among countless first-year challengers, he never drops his sword. Neither the head of the Combat Department, Wade, nor the head of the Magic Department, Joseph, can defeat him. Even though Claude, the head of the pension department, tried to defeat him using all kinds of cowardly tactics, Tailley was not defeated in the end.
Eventually, even when he sees Claude cornered and drinking the forbidden reagent ‘Blood of the Evil God’, he does not shy away from the fight and stands straight in front of him.
──The same goes for Yenica Palover, who cannot see right now.
Beyond the blurry vision, the figure of Ed exchanging fire with Taldarek can be felt only as a silhouette. No matter how high-ranking a spirit you are, there is no guarantee that you will be able to defeat the Apostle of Telos one-on-one.
The body has already reached its limit and is screaming. However, when he senses the movement of Ed Rosstaylor, who is fighting for his life, he grits his teeth once more and draws out his magic. In the end, Yenika pours out all her magical power to the very end of her body and finally manifests the high-ranking fire spirit Thakan.
1 highest-ranking spirit, 1 high-ranking spirit, 8 middle-ranking spirits, 117 lower-ranking spirits, and 417 corporeal spirits.
They say, a one-man army.
Even though it was manifested by drawing magical energy from the future, and it was a power that was manifested by shearing my own body, even taking that into account, it was an absurd level of spirit sensitivity.
Fire and wind split the clearing in the forest, and Edgar, standing between the two high-ranking spirits, takes out a dagger and a bow.
The sound of two men shouting and clashing enters Yenika’s ears.
──Would it be any different if it were Clarisse, Adele’s close friend?
Clarice escapes from Verdio’s grasp and stands up again. In addition to having a body full of scratches to begin with, it was also heavily damaged by Verdio’s attack. I somehow manage to steer my creaky body and move towards the cathedral.
There is a prosperous Eldain who can put an end to this whole situation. If the situation had progressed this way, no matter how religious he may be, he would not be able to remain silent.
The moment they reach the door of the cathedral, the door opens on its own before Clarice can even try to open it.
Inside, the Holy Eldain and his guards appear. Although Verdio’s surprise attack took some damage, no one suffered fatal injuries.
The cathedral knights paid their respects to the saint, passed by both sides, and headed toward Verdio. El Dain, the Holy Emperor, quietly walked out from between them and bowed respectfully to the saint. He was a human being who was considered to hold the most divine power except Telos, who was given to this earth.
The man bows his head and greets Clarisse politely, then passes her and moves towards Verdio.
The knights of the cathedral surround the fallen Verdio, and Eldain, the Holy Emperor, who comes through them, looks down on him.
Verdio clenches his teeth and struggles to unleash his magic, but before the knights can respond, Lucy tramples his arm.
He screams and grabs Lucy’s feet, but he cannot exert any influence on the surface of her body, which is imprinted with defensive lines. Lucy’s face, looking down at her struggling Verdio, is infinitely expressionless.
──And, more than anyone else, Ed Rothtaylor must have lived the most intense life.
Ed Rosstaylor’s body, as he pulls the bowstring, is already covered in wounds.
Even as Merilda’s wind magic and Tarkan’s fire magic came and went, Taldarek somehow held on. He led the battle by swinging his spear, deflecting magic, dodging Ed’s arrows, and even dodging Tarkan’s tail and Merilda’s paws.
However, it is difficult to deal with both the two high-ranking spirits and the main body of Ed Rosstaylor, who is covered in all kinds of divine protection.
Therefore, it is necessary to first reduce the opponent’s power. Ed Rosstaylor, the person who summoned Merilda, offers his own resistance even in close combat, but it is different when it comes to Yenica Palover, who is in a state of complete disrepair.
If you stop her, you can neutralize not only the fire lizard in front of you, but even the flying whale that is blocking your colleagues’ support.
Taldarek’s attack quickly turned towards Yenica Palover, who was out of breath and suffering from a high fever.
The judgment is bold. If you hesitate half-heartedly in a battle situation where you are walking on the tip of a sword, you will be defeated. Taldarek knows that well.
The direction the repaired window is facing is Ed Ross Taylor. He takes his stance and prepares to dodge. However, the direction in which the spear was thrown was toward the Yenica Failover.
Taldarek’s strength already surpassed that of humans. The spear flew towards Yenika at an incredible speed.
However, Ed Rothtaylor doesn’t even look in Yenika’s direction. It’s strange, considering her attitude and how special she was.
– Kaang!
Only then did Taldarek realize that his entire thoughts were being read.
The lower spirit mug that was under Yenika’s shawl pops out, embodies explosive magic and blows away the spear.
He had already assumed that Yenika would be attacked, so he pulled out one of his core powers, the low-ranking fire spirit Mug, towards Yenika.
If you attack, there will be an opening. The center of gravity of the movement is tilted forward, and the person is not holding a spear.
Tarkan’s tail flies out. Taldarek raises his guard and tightens his lower abdomen to withstand the blow from the tail. His legs sink into the dirt, and he is pushed forward for a while. Bones as hard as steel cannot break, but gaps that form there are inevitable.
Merilda’s teeth lunge as if to grab him. Tal Darek tried to shift his body’s center of gravity toward him, but two more magical arrows hit his shoulder. A groan escapes from his mouth, and his right arm is pierced by Merilda’s huge teeth.
Blood splatters and his complexion turns pale, but without hesitation, Ed dives into his arms and plunges the dagger into his arms. Soon, the next elemental ceremony – another explosion occurs due to the explosion, and Taldarek falls.
Just like that, the third seat, Taldarek the Swift, lost his mind.
Ed, completely exhausted, flops down on the dirt floor.
Tarkan’s huge body disappears, and Merilda quickly gets rid of the heavy magical burden and lands on the ground in the form of a girl.
Merilda, who ran towards Ed with the hem of her white dress flying, helped him up and helped him up.
Merilda also knows his goal. She quickly catches Belle Broke’s molar necklace spilling out of his arms.
Merilda supports Ed and continues walking into the forest.
The forest area where the trees spread out has no end in sight. The goal is not to reach the end of this forest anyway.
Even while being supported by Merilda, Ed continued to be aware of only Belbroke’s molars. Little by little, the magic flowing through the surface becomes weaker, and soon disappears completely.
I raise my head with difficulty.
At that place… There is a huge lake that occupies the center of this forest area. It’s so beautiful that Ed sighs. And look at the sky.
An optical illusion occurs where the head of a huge dragon appears above the open sky.
How many times did I die before reaching this point? What is certain, though, is that although each death was painful, it was not meaningless.
It wasn’t meaningless. That alone makes me feel like I have been saved, and the wide open sky seems even taller.
Ed receives Belbroke’s molar from Merilda. Even the magical power that felt weak has completely disappeared. Ed catches his breath and throws the molar into the lake.
Bellbroke’s molars float in the air, eventually settling to the bottom of the lake.
Adele opened her eyes.
Slowly, I placed my hands on the wall and raised my body. The blood dripping down soaked the floor even more.
Ed Rosstaylor walks while pointing at a tree.
With a completely exhausted body, I barely managed to get back to where Jenica was leaning against me. In the meantime, her magic power ran out, and Meryl Da’s summoning was cancelled. Now all that’s left is his battered body.
I return to Yenika and sit down. The state of each other’s bodies makes no sense.
Ed opens his mouth in a relaxed tone.
“It’s all over now.”
The joint combat training is coming to an end.
Seongchangryong Velbroke did not appear in the end.
“Let’s go back. “Yenika.”
*
Gathering up all his magical power, he manifested Lacia and returned to the vicinity of Aken Island riding on her back.
By the time I crossed the Maxes Bridge, I didn’t even have the magic power left to maintain Lacia, so I had to carry Yenika on my back.
When two students who were in dire straits came across the bridge, the academic staff guarding the entrance were shocked and protected us, and we were even able to receive support from the medical facility near the student center.
The Bachelor was peaceful. At least compared to before.
The highest-ranking spirit suddenly appeared above the academy, and the apostles of Telos fought against him.
And at the Basilica Cathedral, there was a terrorist attack caused by magic and the excommunication of Archbishop Verdio.
There was even an incident where a new student who drank the blood of an evil spirit went on a rampage at Glokt Hall.
Because everyone is in an uproar, they can’t provide much manpower support to us.
It wasn’t a particularly fatal wound, and I was just exhausted, so it didn’t really matter.
However, we had to get Yenika to rest as soon as possible… I asked the bachelor’s staff to go as soon as possible.
As we were heading towards the student center… A magnificent carriage stopped before my eyes.
I think it was heading towards the Maxes Bridge, but it came to a sudden stop as soon as it encountered us. Looking at the appearance of that carriage, it seemed so familiar to me that I was sick of it.
The carriage door opens, and the escort driver comes out first. She tried to slowly escort the owner of the carriage, but she didn’t care and just got out of her seat and jumped into my arms.
“Senior Ed!”
Saint Clarice of the Church of Telos. In terms of her nobility, she was comparable to the Third Princess Fenia, but she snuggled into my arms without being conscious of the surrounding gaze or protecting her body.
“It’s all over… ! It’s all over… !”
“… yes… ”
“really… really… ”
I was about to ask you to be aware of the people around you, but I stopped.
I barely escaped from a truly hellish time. Clarisse… It must have been difficult to control the overflowing emotions.
“really… Everything… It’s all over… . Verdio has been officially excommunicated, and Seonghwang is scheduled to send an official letter of apology for the disturbance he caused within the academy. Seong Chang-ryong too… It didn’t show up… ”
“is it so.”
“We did it… we… really… I did it… If senior Ed wasn’t there… What would have happened if that had happened… me too… Adele too… ”
Clarisse, with endless tears in her eyes, suddenly raised her head.
“Adele… ”
The situation was so urgent. In order to save this last chance, every minute and every second was precious.
now… I had to think of that name.
“Adele… Where is it… ?”
*
It is a life I have been running away from all my life.
Although we discussed freedom, what we longed for was survival.
However, what was the reason why he eventually returned to the Buddhist temple of sacrifice and faced death?
Was it simply because he felt sorry for Clarisse? Was it because he felt sorry for her who had to meet her fate of death instead of his own?
Sympathy, pity, and guilt. Did these things so tighten Adele’s heart that she had no choice but to throw away her life?
This is true to some extent, but if you ask if it is completely correct, it is not.
After passing through the commercial city of Oldek, he went to the castle town of Carpea, and as a bard, he wandered around various parts of the world, eventually going to Sylvania Academy.
At the end of her life, what always remained in a corner of Adele’s heart was the memory of sitting at the window of Seonghwangdo and playing the lute.
It is a life without purpose. At least it was like that until I left Seonghwangdo.
The reason I decided to travel around the world and see many landscapes was because I didn’t want the song I sang to Clarice to remain a lie.
Because Clarice’s eyes lit up when she heard the sound of Adele’s lute at the window, the girl decided to become a bard.
I hoped that I would become a true bard and that the words I spoke to her would have meaning.
Therefore, Clarice was the meaning of Adele’s life.
He was a being who gave his own value to a meaningless life.
A life without family or colleagues. Such a gloomy life is usually bound to have a sad ending.
There were people who threw their lives away, and I saw many people who found meaning in their lives by taking the lives of others. Therefore, Adele smiled warmly at her ending.
In the end, there was only one thing Adele could say to Clarice and Ed.
It wasn’t a very long story.
– Bang!
Ed and Clarice burst in, kicking down the door of the Glokt coffin.
Among the numerous hallways leading to the training center, I run to the deepest and darkest place.
And as soon as you turn the corner, you can see it at a glance.
The expression is relaxed. As always, it’s a happy looking face.
The puddle of blood that slowly spreads is like a cradle embracing her.
I easily remember the image of the girl sitting on the bench and rubbing her eyes.
– ‘scary.’
– ‘I don’t want to die.’
However, the face leaning against the wall looks very comfortable. How is that possible?
If you think about what was so scary, it actually wasn’t that difficult.
What Adele was so afraid of was a meaningless death. When he thought of Clarisse, who would remain alone under the cold walls of Holy City until the end, even his own death did not seem to have much meaning.
Either she will eventually be swayed by the will of the church, or she will lose all faith and become a disbelieving saint, turning the world into an enemy. Clarice’s future… She just felt sorry for her.
However, that was unfounded.
Only after confirming that Ed remained by Clarisse’s side was she finally able to escape that fear.
That in itself felt like salvation, and she finally smiled.
It was a life lived like the wind, but in the end, there was a reason for that life and death.
Clarisse fell into Ed’s arms and cried for a long time.
The good news was that Ed was there to hug her.
So Ed hugged Clarice for a long time.
So that she, who lost her precious friend, can lean on her emotionally right now.
*
So, be strong.
I dedicate the last sentence of this book to you, who marked the end of my life.
Lucy.
The girl sitting on the roof of the Glokt building closed her book. This building was also built with the support of the grandfather.
Glokt’s last book officially revealed to the world, ‘Southern Travels’.
It is said that the original was sold to a prestigious magical noble family for a high price, but the real original was in Lucy’s hands. The book that was sold was nothing more than a high-quality copy… No one knows that right now.
Lucy didn’t really care. If everyone thinks it’s real, the book becomes real.
“… ”
For Lucy, the last verse of this book is particularly unforgettable.
Archmage Glokt was searching for meaning in his life until the moment he died.
In the end, is life like a journey to find the reason? Lucy was still young, so she didn’t have a picture of that huge journey… For some reason, I felt empty.
The joint combat practice that continued tirelessly is coming to an end. It is said that although the first-year alchemist caused a commotion, Sword Saint Tailly quickly suppressed it and there was no major damage.
The turmoil that occurred in the cathedral will be dealt with properly by the academics talking to the Holy Emperor. There is a high possibility that Verdio will also take on Adele’s work. Because the saint knows all the truth.
The highest-ranking spirit that appeared out of nowhere surprised people, but since it did not cause any casualties or property damage, it would end as an incident. You might get scolded a bit, though.
“I want to eat beef jerky.”
Looking at the sky, the sun was setting.
Lucy gently closed her eyes and surrendered herself to the warm late spring breeze. Eventually, memories of his past bloomed and made Lucy’s earlobes hot… but she let out that strange feeling of shame as she sighed.
Summer is coming soon.
Once vacation starts, camp work will get busy again. And fall will come again, and winter will come.
That’s how time will pass. As always.
