Chapter 64: Distortion (1)

The terrain of the Erendal Forest had changed.

At Darius’s words, the cadets showed startled expressions.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Did the forest move?”

“But we stayed in place.”

The concept of space belonged to a difficult category.

Even for Bayern cadets, it was not something easy to understand.

“It means exactly what it sounds like. In a special space like this, if the concentration of magic power thickens, it wouldn’t be strange for anything to happen. A space that had been connected in a straight line could get all jumbled up, with an exit leading outside suddenly reversing and heading toward the center instead.”

“So it’s become a moving maze?”

“That’s odd. By now, the magic power that had settled over this forest should be in its half-life stage.”

Luna tapped her bracelet lightly and tilted her head.

“That’s right. Just as Luna said, after spring passes, it enters its half-life stage. That’s why the number of magical beasts decreases and the effects of spatial distortion lessen. This is the reason why subjugation missions are held during this season, but… it seems something’s happened.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if we went to scout the surroundings?”

It was Ivan, a senior cadet, who spoke.

He figured it would be better for him and Luna to move quickly and grasp the path before other cadets got caught in danger.

After a brief moment of thought, Darius looked around at the cadets and spoke.

“For now, we’re leaving this place. Everyone, move quickly.”

The battle with Guibl would have drawn attention.

Before other magical beasts approached, they needed to vacate the area and hide themselves.

“…Water. There’s a body of water nearby. We’ll head there first.”

Fortunately, they found a flowing stream close by.

Although it was difficult to drink because of the magic power and foreign substances mixed in, they could at least wash away blood and odors.

“How about following the river downstream? It should lead to the forest’s edge.”

“Where there’s a river, magical beasts inevitably roam. The chance of running into them is high, so it’s dangerous.”

At Maximilian’s words, Darius shook his head.

Since they didn’t know where they were, they needed to avoid combat as much as possible.

Tap.

Carl dipped his fingers into the water, sensing the magic power within and gauging the current’s flow.

‘The river’s deep and the current’s fast. The concentration of magic power is higher than near the base camp… which means we must be close to the upper stream.’

They should have still been moving near the outer areas, but somehow ended up in the depths all at once.

It was clearly no ordinary matter.

“…Why is the concentration of magic in the river this high? Feels like we’re near the upper stream.”

Darius seemed to sense the same thing, his expression turning grave.

“In that case—”

“Looks like we’ve come pretty far in.”

They had strayed far beyond their operational range.

It seemed they had even reached areas used for Imperial Army or knight training.

For cadets, defeating the magical beasts that appeared here was difficult, making the situation dangerous.

“Everyone, we’re moving. Be careful not to leave any traces.”

Erasing the aftermath of the battle, they moved in the opposite direction of the river to get outside the magical beasts’ activity range.

At the same time, they continued checking the river’s direction and used it as a rough landmark.

‘This won’t do.’

Darius halted the group briefly and gave Carl a signal with his eyes.

“It would be good to scout the terrain for a bit. Everyone, hide nearby, and only Carl will follow me.”

“Understood.”

At Darius’s words, Yuria and Forzer cast concealment magic to shield the cadets.

Swoosh!

Carl followed Darius, who had started running ahead, climbing along the mountain ridge.

They needed to get to higher ground to grasp their current location and determine which direction to head.

It wasn’t just anyone—Darius had called Carl because of his exceptionally sharp eyesight.

Back in Leipzig, whether finding trails or tracking prey, Carl had shown uncanny skill.

That was why Darius counted on him now, but when they reached about mid-slope, Carl frowned and shook his head.

“I don’t recognize any of this terrain. Seems like we’ve come a long way.”

“Far enough that you can’t even identify it?”

“That’s right.”

The mountain ranges were all connected in lines.

If they could at least identify the shape of an end ridge, they might determine an escape direction.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Darius looked at his younger brother.

“Carl, you’re not overexerting yourself, are you?”

“I’m fine. I’m not the same as before.”

“You’ve said that every time.”

“I mean it this time.”

Carl gave a wry smile and rotated his arm to show he was still in good shape.

When he had been in the family, he had acted the part of a sickly young master so well that the image had stuck firmly in everyone’s minds.

“Still, if anything feels wrong, tell me right away.”

Darius nodded.

Carl was smart enough to understand with just that much said.

The two descended the ridge again and rejoined the group.

They then used their bracelets’ scanning function to decide on the direction of movement based on the surveyed terrain.

“Let’s only use the river’s flow as a reference. We can’t know where or how it’ll bend.”

There was no guarantee it would lead in a straight line to the forest’s entrance.

Using it only as a reference without trusting it blindly was safer.

“Since finding a way out right now is hard, how about making it our goal to link up with another party?”

“That does seem best.”

“I agree. Other parties might have been caught in this as well, so meeting up with them would be safer.”

The other cadets also nodded in agreement.

Especially with other Bayern cadets, if they got within a certain range, they could communicate via bracelets, making it easier to find each other.

‘Right now, it’s just past early afternoon.’

Darius gave the cadets a short break so they could relax by chatting among themselves.

If he kept them tense, accidents could occur in unexpected moments.

It was better to have them aware of the situation and guide them to resolve it actively, like now.

‘I’ll get every single one of them out alive.’

Darius steeled his resolve as he looked at his juniors.

“We move in three minutes. This could be your last rest, so make sure you’re ready.”

They had to avoid combat as much as possible.

So, everyone finished preparing to move quickly, and they set off again.

Rustle.

At the lead, Darius swept his sharp gaze over the front as he walked.

If he sensed the presence of magical beasts, he took a detour, and if he spotted traces like footprints, he stopped briefly, checked them two or three times, then made a decision.

Darius’s unusually cautious demeanor drew the cadets’ focus to the extreme as they followed him closely.

“……”

Along the way, Darius raised a hand, signaling the group to halt.

A faint fishy smell had ridden the wind and brushed against his nose.

Confirming there was no sign of movement ahead, he sprang forward with light steps.

“…Damn.”

Just a short distance ahead, corpses were strewn across the forest floor.

Judging by their familiar attire, they appeared to be soldiers of the Imperial Army in training.

Their armor had been sliced clean through as if by something razor-sharp, leaving them in a gruesome state.

‘No survivors?’

Darius touched the nearest body, checking for warmth.

…it had gone cold.

They had been dead for at least an hour or two at minimum.

Although incidents involving knights or soldiers during subjugation missions weren’t uncommon, this seemed like they had crossed paths with a calamity they could not handle.

The problem was, that calamity could very well come for them next.

Could this sudden spatial distortion be related?

‘All of them were taken down by one opponent.’

Darius bit his lip.

Whatever kind of magical beast it was, meeting it would likely mean total annihilation.

He moved among the corpses, searching for traces of the beast.

But aside from the soldiers’ own scattered footprints, there was nothing that looked like it belonged to the monster.

While he was at it, he searched just in case there was any surviving soldier.

However, after seeing that all had been crushed with such evident malice, he stopped.

Retracing his steps with caution, Darius rejoined the group.

—Up ahead are Imperial Army corpses. Seems there’s a monster roaming about an hour’s distance from here. If we encounter it, don’t think about anything—just run.

After firmly warning his juniors, he set their course again.

Surely those outside were closely monitoring the situation here.

Perhaps they had already detected the anomaly and sent reinforcements.

“……”

As they passed the Imperial Army corpses, the mood among the cadets grew heavier still.

Ssshhh—

In the midst of it, Carl extended his sensory perception even wider, sweeping over every presence nearby.

He had noticed the corpses before Darius did and also caught sight of a “presence” wandering in the distant forest.

‘…This doesn’t seem like the same one I found yesterday.’

Carl narrowed his brow slightly.

Could it be a different individual?

Or had something about it changed in the meantime?

From its aura, it felt like the same one, but without seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t be certain.

‘They said there was a master of the forest.’

Guibl, right before dying, had spoken of some being called the master of the forest.

As far as Carl knew, no such creature with that epithet existed in Erendal Forest.

There were named magical beasts and monsters in the depths, but the “master of the forest”?

Could there be one so-called among the beasts themselves?

“……”

He quietly shifted his gaze, scanning over the cadets.

At the very front were Darius and Ivan.

At the rear, Luna followed, watching over the juniors.

The cadets moving in between all wore unusually tense expressions as they walked.

At least there was no one trembling in fear or panic, which he considered fortunate.

Tak.

In that moment, Darius raised his hand again.

Everyone hid behind the nearest trees or rocks and held their breath.

Whiiistle—whiiistle—

But this time, Darius’s behavior differed from before.

He deliberately let his presence be known, drawing attention with a whistle.

Of course, Carl had already noticed the presence ahead.

‘Imperial Army.’

The faint sound of clanking armor reached his ears.

Soon, sensing a human presence beyond the thicket, the cadets’ expressions began to brighten.

“Imperial Army?”

“Seems so.”

“…Thank goodness.”

They whispered softly and let out sighs of relief as their tension eased slightly.

But Carl didn’t lower his guard.

Moments like these, when focus wavered, were the most dangerous.

“Who goes there? Identify yourself if you signaled us.”

Through the thick undergrowth emerged an armed knight.

On his chest gleamed the emblem of the “Azure Guardian”—

one of the Imperial knight orders participating in the subjugation mission.

Skk.

After confirming the man’s identity, Darius stepped forward slowly and bowed his head lightly.

“Darius Leipzig. Fourth-year cadet of Bayern, leading this party.”

“…Bayern? Don’t tell me you’ve also been caught up in this distortion?”

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