076

A blue wave flowed through the forest, thick with green.

Every time the blue trajectory passed, a giant tree was split in two.

The cut surface between the trees was as smooth as paper cut with a knife.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

Every time the split tree spirits fell to the ground, forest moss, dust, and the insects hiding in between were thrown into a chaotic mix.

It was a scene as if the earth in the forest was spewing a green mist.

A red typhoon swept through that mist.

“Uryaaaaap!”

Every time Hati, who was at the front, swung his mace strongly, the warriors who were hiding their bodies in the mist were sent flying.

No one could withstand a single blow from Hati.

“How on earth?!”

A warrior had a bewildered expression, unable to understand.

Their bodies were covered in patterns mixed with white, red, and green.

It was not just for show, but a pattern containing the magic of the druids.

However, whenever it met that strange weapon, the druid's magic shattered and scattered like glass.

The Firestorm Mercenary Guild followed and subdued the dazed warriors.

The warriors whose magic had been broken were no match for the mercenaries who had gained practical experience running around the desert.

Ulf, who was watching the scene from the very back, clicked her tongue.

“My, my. At this rate, we'll lose all the resources of our forest.”

“So if you had just given me what I asked for when I was being nice, you wouldn't have been completely robbed, would you!”

“How brazen.”

Unlike her pathetic tone, a smile was on Ulf’s lips.

“Still, seeing you fight like this makes me feel like I’m seeing the hunter from before you returned.”

There was only one person Ulf called a hunter.

Pan.

The hero who had slaughtered demons at the forefront of humanity.

“Now then. Children. Let us show them what we have prepared for the demons, just as they have prepared for the demons.”

A deep green brilliance, enough to cover even the green of the forest, cried out from her staff.

The patterns of the warriors surrounding her began to move around their bodies as if they were alive.

The warrior's body was the earth, and the pattern was the life that lived there, and the warriors who received their life force roared.

“Awoooooooo!”

“Keeeeeeong!”

Sometimes like a wolf, sometimes like a tiger, sometimes like a bear.

The warriors who had received the power of beasts rose again and attacked the mercenary guild.

It was a wild movement with no order or law, but.

“Kugh!”

“Ugh?”

The mercenaries’ bodies flew through the air.

With just a simple body slam, their bodies soared to a height of over 2m, and with just a simple punch, their shields or armor were dented.

“Wow. That old hag, seeing that after a long time makes me tremble. Did she get stronger?”

“Were you the only ones who returned? I came here too, so I must prepare for the future.”

Before the regressors returned here.

Humanity had devised numerous ways to fight the demons.

They modified siege weapons to create anti-demon weapons, gathered their faith to create holy weapons, and collected the essence of magic to create large-scale destruction magic.

The problem was the swordsmen.

Unlike those who could handle mana, they had to fight with only their swords and bodies.

Most demons were far superior to humans in physical ability.

The role of swordsmen was merely that of a human shield, blocking the attacks of mages or clerics.

Numerous studies were conducted to overcome this.

Gias (Geis), which grants a transcendent ability in exchange for a part of one's body or mind.

Berserkerization, which gains monstrous power by making a contract with a black magician but loses one's reason.

And Beastification, which engraves the magic of a druid on one's body, just as Ulf was showing now.

They were the records of the great struggle and the arts that had extended the lifespan of humanity from those demons.

“I’m saying this now, but you all were so simple-minded that you were perfect for beastification.”

“Sss, no wonder I felt so comfortable every time I beastified.”

Rozalin and Hati, among them, had fought by strengthening their bodies using Ulf’s magic.

The reason they had to join forces in the final war, despite having embezzled the assets of Ulf’s mercenary guild and run away.

Because that was the only way a swordsman could fight a demon.

But.

“That’s all in the past!”

Rozalin pursed her lips and inhaled as if whistling.

At that moment, the mana in her sword instantly grew in size and blazed.

It was difficult to realize at first, but once she did, she naturally knew how to handle it.

She felt she knew why her teacher, Cassian, had been able to create theories and explain them so well just by awakening Sword Aura once.

‘No, that’s because my teacher is amazing!’

Rozalin, who had recalled Cassian’s face, swung her sword with a cheerful feeling.

It was not the swordsmanship she had trained with Cassian, but the one-armed swordsmanship she had wielded before returning here.

The mana, which had grown in size and become more unstable, scattered in all directions.

It was a sword with a whimsical trajectory that bent like a whip.

The mana that extended from that sword collided with numerous trees and warriors in unpredictable spaces.

“Awoo——!”

The warriors who clashed with a howl like a wolf's cry were sent flying.

A few of the patterns that were running on their bodies flickered and disappeared.

Some were wounded and rolled on the ground.

“That’s awesome.”

Sword Aura steadily cut down the magic.

As a result, the aura also disappeared, but the aura could be drawn out again.

It was a technique of breathing in the world’s mana, refining it, and drawing it out like a sword.

In fact, it was a technique that could be drawn out infinitely as long as the swordsman’s stamina was maintained.

“What a ridiculous power.”

Ulf, who had seen through the mechanism of aura, laughed in disbelief.

‘If we consider only the level, it would be around the 3rd-circle of magic, but that’s a statement from someone who doesn’t know the essence. Isn’t it like a teacher who doesn’t know magic has created magic with his own power?’

She had never imagined that such a thing was possible.

Because it was an absurdity that existed outside the realm of imagination.

“To think that someone who has seen the age of demons does not imagine the absurd, I have underestimated humans.”

“This power will save humanity from the demons!”

“Before that, I’m worried that it will squander all the resources of the forest.”

“That’s the salvation of humanity!”

“It seems absurd powers are realized by absurd things.”

It was when the confrontation was continuing.

— A—oo—oo—oo—oo—oo!

A wolf’s cry, not an ordinary one, but a very large and oppressive cry, shook the entire forest.

It was a cry as if the entire forest was crying.

The cry seemed to contain the fear of a large monster.

Not only the Firestorm Mercenary Guild, but also the warriors of the forest who were confronting them, stopped their movements at the magic that shook their bodies.

Only Ulf, Rozalin, and Hati moved.

“Wow, fuck, this Wolf King was a real monster.”

Rozalin, whose senses had become sensitive after awakening mana, clicked her tongue anew.

However, Ulf laughed in disbelief as she looked at Rozalin and Hati.

“It’s not just you. There’s another person who has awakened aura, and you’re carrying out a feint?”

“I told you. It’s the future of humanity. It’s a weapon that anyone can learn.”

Hati and Rozalin’s aura was so powerful that she had been mistaken.

She thought that only these two among the Firestorm Mercenary Guild.

That only the regressors could use aura.

But to think that even ordinary mercenaries, not regressors, could use aura.

“It’s a bit difficult to learn, but there was a talented kid. Ah. In our academy, there are already students who have awakened aura.”

She had selected a person from the mercenary guild who could use aura and sent them as a separate unit.

Thanks to Rozalin and Hati fighting so spectacularly, emitting aura, no one thought it was a decoy.

And hearing that cry means.

“They got robbed. Haha. Again.”

It meant the separate unit had freely ravaged the main camp.

“Still, old man. If we’ve shown this much, isn’t it worth investing in? It’s not like we sacrificed anything like the Wolf King.”

The Wolf King’s destructive power is certainly abnormal.

But the Wolf King had sacrificed everything except his sense of touch among his five senses to obtain such power.

As a result of sacrificing his sight, hearing, smell, and taste, he had completely transcended humans and could face a low-level demon alone.

‘But even he was weaker than Pan.’

Ulf pressed her lips together and looked around.

Her warriors were rolling on the ground, but the damage to the Firestorm Mercenary Guild was small.

The loss was great.

“Go.”

Ulf waved her hand.

At that moment, as if waiting, the Firestorm Mercenary Guild began to withdraw.

It was a movement as if they had expected Ulf to let them go.

Ulf, who had allowed them to go, was so taken aback that her mouth hung open.

“Truly shameless.”

“I thought the captain would be like that. You’re a reasonable person.”

“The woman who knew that well embezzled the mercenary guild’s funds and ran away?”

“Hey. You know there was a guy who was hitting on me back then. I heard you beat him to death later.”

Rozalin chuckled and stepped back.

The conversation with Ulf was not bad, but there were many eyes watching.

Above all, an ominous energy was approaching from within the forest.

They couldn’t handle ‘that’ yet.

“Then I’m off! I’ll eat well, no, I’ll feed them well!”

As she watched Rozalin run off, Ulf sighed.

The druid warriors approached her as if asking if it was okay.

“It is fine. What they said was not so wrong.”

It was just resentful.

To think they act as if they are the only ones building new power to protect against the demons.

One of the warriors frowned and asked Ulf.

“They were saying strange things. That the Wolf King had sacrificed something… is it about Gias?”

“That’s what I’m saying. It seems they also had a strange dream like me.”

Ulf chuckled, ‘huhu’.

The Wolf King had placed a Gias on himself two years from now.

It was when a demon appeared in this Great Forest.

That means, the Wolf King now is in a complete state without a Gias.

Gias was a double-edged sword.

You restrict something of your own and gain power.

In other words, what you have lost is as valuable as the power you have gained.

The Wolf King had focused on that point.

If he could refine his five senses, which he had thought of as insignificant, he could become as strong as the power he had gained with Gias.

With that conviction, he had newly polished himself.

That was the Wolf King of now.

Of course, there were limits.

It was a departure from the system of order refined over thousands of years of human history.

Rather, it was those who had come with aura less than a year after regressing who were abnormal.

“I should go and see.”

She wanted to see that abnormality.

“You’re going?”

“To that academy. They wouldn’t reject a mature student, would they?”

It was a question that would make a certain chairman laugh, saying, ‘Where is age in learning, hahahahaha’.

As the warriors who had awakened aura were doing their best in the Great Forest.

The fledglings who had just awakened aura, and those who were about to awaken, also left the academy.