Free Web Novel“Ah, it’s cramped.”
I crawled through the gap in the rocks and entered the cave.
I was the only one who could pass through the narrow path that had formed.
Of course, Khal and my family had opposed me, but this time, I could not yield either.
“Someone like Dad couldn’t possibly have been beaten by a mere magical beast. There has to be another reason.”
“But!”
“If he’s hurt and can’t come out, then we need to save him quickly. Anyone here who can use healing magic?”
“.......”
“Yes! That would be me!”
There was no way Khal, all huge and black-armored, or Grandpa, or the senior knights could pass through this place. Of course, Mom was taller and larger than me too, so she was out as well.
“......Hah. Then we will clear the rocks here and go in from this side. If there’s anything dangerous, avoid it no matter what! Understood?”
Along with Grandpa’s tightly restrained resolve, the senior knights burned with even more determination.
Khal bit his lip until the very end before speaking in a suppressed voice.
“If anything happens, tell me immediately. No matter how...... I’ll get there.”
“Mm, please remember that if you cause an explosion here, I’ll be buried too.”
“There are plenty of methods besides explosions.”
“Huh?”
“Like binding the cave magical beast as a familiar.”
“You’re insane.”
I drew a huge X with my arms to show my absolute opposition, but Khal’s stubborn expression did not loosen.
I need to get out before my backup battery gets contaminated.
I crawled forward again through the dark gap between the rocks. freewēbnoveℓ.com
Sometimes, the piles of stones blocking every side made me feel like I could not breathe. Whenever that happened, I moved magic and pushed the stones slightly. Since one wrong touch could bury me too, I had to do it with extreme delicacy, in tiny increments.
“It is a little scary.......”
The inside was, quite literally, pitch-black darkness.
I created a small light with magic. I tried to float it beside me, but there was not enough space.
After thinking for a moment, I planted the light inside the blue necklace that had been dangling from my neck since earlier.
A gentle glow spread from the necklace. It could not be true, but it felt as if Dad’s tender warmth was wrapping around me.
What should I say first when I see Dad?
That we were family from the very beginning?
That we wandered for a terribly long time, but it was still a relief that we found each other in the end?
That I hoped Dad would not blame himself too much, or grieve too much?
......I don’t know.
I bit my lip.
When I was with my family, I had forced myself to act brave.
But the fact that I had to make Dad face the truth frightened me, even if only a little.
Because I could not even imagine the darkness that had wrapped itself around Dad.
Illusion magic is magic that touches a person’s vulnerable places and pulls them in.......
I did not want to think that Dad had fallen victim to such magic. But if the lingering attachments, regrets, and grief he had never fully shaken off were much greater than I had imagined......
“Oh, an exit.”
Just as I was about to sink into endless thoughts, the end of the passage came into view.
I shook my head and sped up.
It was a little funny to call it an exit when I was crawling into a cave, but in any case, I had safely passed through the collapsed area and reached the inside.
I sprang to my feet without even registering the sting in my palms and knees, scraped raw against the ground until they had begun to bleed.
“Dad!”
The inside was damp and dark. Moss-covered rocks surrounded me, and I could hear water dripping at regular intervals. Plink. Plink.
The concentration of illusion magic is too strong.
As if the claim that it was a high-rank magical beast had not been a lie, remnants of illusion magic lay far thicker inside the cave than I had expected.
I quickly spread protective magic so the terrible magic would not disturb my mind.
Where should I go?
The cave was tangled like an anthill. But I could not simply stand still either, so I ran for now.
Sharp cave walls scraped me, adding one small cut after another.
There might be a sealed magical beast somewhere.
A very faint magic. I instinctively chased it.
After slipping on the slick floor, falling, and getting back up several times, I finally reached the deepest part of the cave.
And there, along with a mountain of magical-beast corpses—
“Dad......!”
I found Dad collapsed on one side.
I ran to him almost rolling and shook his massive body. The moment I saw his two eyes neatly closed, my heart dropped with a thud.
When I hurriedly pressed my ear to his firm chest, thankfully, I could feel the thump, thump of his heartbeat.
“Dad! Wake up!”
Dad’s face was peaceful, as if he were [N O V E L I G H T] taking a nap in the shade of a tree at the training ground.
There are no visible wounds on his body. So it really was illusion magic.
I did not know whether he had collapsed after defeating all the magical beasts, or whether he had cut them down by the instincts engraved into his body even as he wandered inside the illusion.
Just as I was about to shake his shoulder once more, my gaze went to his rocklike fist, clenched tight.
“This is.......”
With difficulty, I pried out the gold lockets shining in his grip. One contained the family photograph, and the other—
“......That’s me.”
It was a portrait of me when I was little.
The emotions I had forced down surged up all at once.
Because I felt as if I knew what illusion Dad had been captured by, and what he had finally yielded to.
“Dad....... Please.”
Just then, goosebumps rose along my skin.
From deeper inside the cave, from that place like a black pit—
the magic of a high-rank magical beast suddenly surged toward me, as if it might awaken from sleep at any moment.
The strongest one was sealed here!
I spread the barrier to its limit.
The magical beast, a giant spider-shaped creature that had awakened from sleep, was a species I had once seen on a battlefield before.
It’s the kind that lures prey with illusions, then devours them.
Because it struck when a person was weak, its attack power was not especially strong, but either way, it was still a high-rank magical beast.
Grrrrrk!
The magical beast moved dozens of bladed, bristling legs and began smashing at my barrier.
Clang! Claaang! Clang!
Thankfully, not a single hairline crack appeared in the barrier.
......Thank goodness this is the south.
I glanced at the markings on my magic watch. If I borrowed the magic around me, I could block the magical beast’s attacks for a while without using much of my own magic.
At least until Khalid gets here!
I could protect Dad.
“Dad, come to your senses!”
I shouted toward him.
Screeech, clang!
The monster lunged as if it would devour me, hundreds of eyes gleaming.
Do not be afraid.
The strongest hero in the world is right beside me.
I grabbed one of Dad’s hands and sent magic flowing through it.
Please notice. I am here.
I put that feeling into the magic.
Dad will definitely come back.
Long ago, the one who had saved little me when I was crouched in a black cave, crying, was none other than Dad.
Everyone has a cave inside their heart they cannot do anything about alone.
It is not because that person is weak, but because they are warm and kind.
Because someone is far too precious to them. Because they are that desperate. Perhaps that is why lingering attachments remain, and regrets remain, and self-blame remains too.
The ones who taught me all of this were none other than Dad. My family.
Dad had led little me out of the shade and into a place where sunlight shone.
So this time, I would be the one.
It was my turn to become Dad’s signpost.
I don’t know where he’s wandering, but so he can come back anytime!
My magic, filled with desperate feeling, flowed even more strongly through Dad’s hand.
Clang! Clang! Claang!
The magical beast’s attacks also intensified, but for every bit of magic I lost, the surrounding magic added its strength and hardened the barrier, so the situation was not bad.
Until then.
Kyaaaak!
At that moment, the magical beast let out a bizarre cry and drew its body back. Just as I felt a brief moment of relief, thinking it might retreat like this, a huge and ominous presence surged toward me.
“......!”
At the same time, the pressure bearing down on the barrier grew stronger. My eyes widened as I instinctively turned my gaze.
“There isn’t...... just one.”
The monsters had awakened and were swarming toward us.
A moment later, sharp claws came flying.
