The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 29

They carefully entered the underground area. There were no particular traps.

After descending the long staircase and passing through already broken barriers and magic circles, what appeared was a secret research facility.

“It looks like a mage’s laboratory.”

“There’s something strange over there!”

They discovered a large orb sealed with multiple layers of magic circles and countless mechanical devices deep inside the laboratory. Within the transparent orb, something that shone like a star floated, wrapped in aurora-like energy.

“What on earth is this?”

“I’ll analyze it.”

Oli, the squad’s only mage, stepped forward. While the other squad members searched the laboratory, Oli examined the magic circles surrounding the orb and the orb itself.

Even while the squad members who had finished searching the laboratory took turns sleeping, she didn’t sleep a wink all night long.

Early the next morning, Oli and Luca, who had been standing guard, woke everyone up.

“I don’t know exactly what this is. But I found out that it’s a mass emitting an unimaginably enormous amount of magical power.”

“Magical power? Not Oaths?”

“Right, magical power. Not pure Oaths which are nature’s force itself, but ‘magical power’ – energy that’s been distorted and transformed with specific intent.”

Oli Pascal tapped the glass orb with her pale and haggard face.

“The star-like thing inside is emitting almost infinite magical power. Like… the sun. The glass orb is blocking the magical power pouring out from this star. The magic circles too, and the mechanical devices – they’re all meant to block and seal that overflowing magical power.”

“Infinitely pouring magical power… could it be?”

“Your suspicion is probably right. We found it.”

She smiled crookedly and gestured with her chin toward the star trapped in the glass orb.

“This is the starting point of magical contamination. This thing that caused this war, the rampage of magical beasts, this damn apocalypse.”

Shock. Horror. Achievement. Relief. Fear. Interest.

The squad members stared at the aurora-like flickering mass of light, each with different emotions. Gid was the first to speak.

“Did you figure out what we should do with this?”

“I don’t know the details. But I definitely found out that we can’t leave this damn ‘star’ here as it is.”

“We can’t leave it here?”

“These seals and devices are already screwed. This damn magical power keeps leaking out. That’s why the magical contamination concentration in these ruins is rising like crazy. We need to do something about this.”

“Is there no way to destroy it?”

“This damn star may look smaller than a child’s fist, but the magical power it contains is almost infinite. So this piece of shit is like a magical core… Damn it, magical cores can only be destroyed with magical power of the same level as what the core contains.”

“So we absolutely can’t destroy it.”

“You guys take a look too. See if there’s any way to do something about it.”

The squad members each examined the glass orb containing the star in different ways. While everyone was shaking their heads or dry heaving from the excessive magical power, only Rita tilted her head thoughtfully.

‘This… even if directly touching this star would be impossible, the aurora-like energy swirling around it… seems like it could be processed like Oaths.’

She glanced back at her companions.

It was natural that enhancement-type Oathbinders like Gid, Ethan, and Luca, or transition-type Oathbinders like Sera and Is, couldn’t sense any particular possibility. But it was strange that Oli, who was the same processing-type as her, didn’t notice.

‘Oli is much better at analysis than me. Did I sense it wrong?’

While she examined the star and its surrounding aurora again, Gid, who had been resting his chin on his hand, brought up a strange topic.

“Oli, you said that thing is a mass that infinitely emits magical power? Like… the sun.”

“Yeah, like the sun.”

“That would be about the sun from before we were born, before magical contamination occurred, right? The sun from before it became ash, that infinitely emitted bright light.”

“Right? It’s all in the memories we were implanted with, what the sun was like before the fire went out.”

“Yeah, they said the sun’s fire went out when magical contamination started and it became what it is now. And… this mass of light is the starting point of magical contamination.”

Oli’s eyes widened as she realized something from his words. Gid twisted his lips and continued.

“Maybe this star is something like the sun’s core?”

“…!”

“Because this disappeared, the sun in the sky became ash, and the ground was ruined like this because the sun that should be in the distant sky fell down. Just like being near fire is warm, but going into the fire burns you.”

Though it sounded crazy and like a fairy tale or myth, it made sense. Everyone swallowed dryly. Luca, the youngest, spoke up with bright eyes.

“Then, if we return this star to the sun, everything would be solved, right? Right?”

“Even if that’s true, how?”

“Huh?”

“How are we going to send this back to the sky?”

“That’s… I don’t know…”

At Oli’s sharp retort, Luca instantly deflated. Rita thought of an idea at that moment.

‘If I process all the aurora around that star to have explosive properties. Using the star as a bullet, the aurora as gunpowder, and my Oaths as the trigger to fire it…’

Maybe, she could shoot that star toward the ash sun. Though the recoil on her body, which would serve as the gun barrel, would be beyond imagination.

‘I think I could do it. But if I handle that much energy like that… I’d probably die with my whole body exploding?’

The moment she voiced it, Gid would probably lose his mind. The squad members might try to tie her up. So Rita didn’t voice that idea.

‘I’ll casually bring it up to Oli later. Oli would find some other method based on this.’

But that opportunity never came.

While they were staying underground, Is Pascal, who had been monitoring the outside with his summoned creatures, quietly warned them.

“Juniors, magical beasts are entering the ruins.”

“What? I thought they couldn’t get in here?”

“Yeah, I thought so too, but they got in. They’re all swarming in, so everyone prepare yourselves.”

The magical beasts came rushing in like a tsunami. Into the Garden, toward the underground where they were.

They seemed to know what was here. Since magical beasts were mutants caused by magical contamination, they might instinctively know the source of contamination, just as plants naturally lean toward sunlight.

The Beacon squad decided to abandon the star and escape first. They immediately rushed out of the underground, but magical beasts were already filling the entire ruins.

It seemed like all the magical beasts living outside the Last Line of Defense were swarming in. Each one was a named magical beast. They just hadn’t been given names yet because they had never been discovered by humans.

The Beacon squad was trapped in the narrow Garden, fighting desperately. However, breaking through the endlessly swarming magical beasts to escape was too much even for them.

“Just bring out the star! If we throw it in another direction, the magical beasts will head that way!”

At Gid’s shout, Is sent a summoned creature underground. A bird-shaped summoned creature grabbed the glass orb containing the star and flew up into the sky.

At that moment, Rita had an intuition.

‘Even if we throw that away, we’ll die here.’

About half of the swarming magical beasts looked up at the sky, following the glass orb. However, the other half were watching not the star but the fighting humans, watching them.

‘There are many who prioritize catching and eating us right in front of them.’

She looked around at her companions who were covered in wounds and on the verge of collapse from exhaustion. Their faces were shrouded with death.

And she made a cold judgment. She devised the optimal strategy for Beacon in this situation.

‘I told myself never to do this kind of thing again.’

Sorry, Gid. I think this is right. Right now, this is the only way.

“Go down underground and close the door! That would be better!”

Rita shouted. Since it wasn’t wrong, and because they trusted her judgment as vice-captain, everyone moved immediately. Even Gid.

They simultaneously unleashed powerful attacks to make the surrounding magical beasts retreat, even if just for a moment. The plan was probably to go back underground in this gap, close the door, then throw the orb with a summoned creature to divert the magical beasts’ attention before escaping.

‘No, we’d die that way. They won’t all go after it, and we don’t know how the magical beasts that contact the star will change.’

Gid would have made the same judgment as her. Even so, in the current situation, this was the best option, so it couldn’t be helped.

The strategy she thought of – he couldn’t think of it.

“Rita! Get in!”

She turned away from Gid, who was the last one remaining, holding the basement door and calling for her. Instead, she shot at the orb held by Is’s summoned creature circling in the sky.

“Rita?”

Her shot accurately hit the orb. The glass orb shattered into pieces and the star inside fell.

Rita stepped on a statue and jumped up, catching the falling star trailing aurora like a tail with one hand. She felt burning pain as if her hand was on fire. Without showing it and smiling, she spoke to Gid, whose eyes were widening.

“It’s the ‘optimal strategy,’ Gid.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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