Alchemy is Correct

Silvia?
“… I’ll be there soon.”
At Elrina’s call, who was being carried on Gangchul’s back, Silvia, who had been standing still looking at the cottage, turned around.
Though Silvia appeared to have no worries or concerns on the outside, her inner feelings were different.
‘Will it be okay?’
She might never return here again.
Since it was essentially no different from abandoning this place and moving away, she needed to gather all important items.
But…
‘Elrina is more important than the cottage.’
Elrina was more important to her.
“… Don’t worry, Elrina. I’ll cure your disease soon.”
At Silvia’s words, Elrina could only respond with a silent smile in her eyes.
She was already half-dead.
There was nothing she could do even if these people tried something, and if Silvia trusted them, they must be people with some trustworthy qualities.
Because her disciple and sister was such a shrewd child.
She didn’t know who these people were… she trusted them simply because Silvia brought them.
She only hoped that these people would make her sister happy.
.
.
.
Since the cottage wasn’t that far from the dimensional gate in the first place, they quickly returned to Earth.
“… Is this Earth? It’s different from what I knew.”
Though she returned with some expectations because they said it was Earth, what she saw was a forest shrouded in thick darkness where nothing ahead was visible.
Well, not exactly.
“Something’s strange. Try magical power detection.”
“Okay.”
While Eunu used magical power detection at Wolhwa’s words, Eunyoung casually answered Silvia’s question.
“This is inside the Forest of Dark Night. We need to go through one more dimensional gate.”
In fact, it’s almost impossible for an S-rank dimensional gate to remain undetected.
A dimensional gate containing such powerful magical power would inevitably attract attention, and naturally, the fact that it’s an S-rank gate would be revealed.
The fact that it remained undetected was truly a miracle.
A dimensional gate within a dimensional gate.
It was such an unusual dimensional gate that it could remain undetected.
Jijik, jijijik
“Whoa…”
“T-the dimensional gate…”
Swish
As soon as everyone crossed over, the dimensional gate wobbled unstably before closing completely.
Gangchul, who almost had his body cut off because he came out late due to his equipment, broke out in cold sweat.
“Geez, you fatso, lose some weight.”
“It’s not fat, it’s muscle!”
While the two were arguing, Silvia was looking at the vanished dimensional gate with a face full of lingering attachment.
“Ah…”
Though the girl was looking towards the closed dimensional gate as if disappointed when it closed, it was only for a moment before she moved on as if shaking off her lingering attachment.
‘As expected…’
Wolhwa narrowed her eyes upon seeing the dimensional gate close.
It was too anticlimactic an end for an S-rank dimensional gate.
This was a characteristic of quest-type dimensional gates.
They close the moment the cause of the gate’s opening disappears.
While dimensional gates can be places to obtain many treasures if handled well, they can also be frightening if the cause is misidentified, as one could be trapped inside.
If one can’t find the cause at all, at least the person won’t get hurt and won’t be trapped inside, but if they unknowingly resolve the reason the dimensional gate opened, they could be trapped if they don’t leave quickly.
In such cases, there’s a grace period where the gate becomes unstable as if about to close, so such incidents rarely happen, but…
It wasn’t an accident that had never happened before, and as far as she knew, not a single person trapped beyond a dimensional gate had ever returned.
Still, she was relieved that, as she had expected, this girl walking beside her was the cause of the dimensional gate’s opening.
However…
‘It seems to have closed too quickly.’
As soon as the girl came out, the dimensional gate disappeared as if it had been waiting.
There was no longer any way to reverse the choice.
‘Is this really the right choice?’
Keeping the girl there and maintaining the dimensional gate was an option, but it was too risky.
If it suddenly closed, everything would be ruined.
Giving up on what could be obtained from the world beyond that dimensional gate was regrettable, but this was the best option for now.
Thinking this, just as she was about to move forward.
They noticed something strange about the state of this place.
“Huh…?”
Eunu, who was spreading magical power detection as usual, widened his eyes as if he had discovered something strange.
“What is it now?”
“It seems an anomaly has occurred…? The magical power response is absurd. I can’t find my way like this…!”
Looking around at his words as he broke out in cold sweat after releasing the magical power detection.
Above all, the strange thing was the state of the Forest of Dark Night.
“Was this place… this bright…?”
There’s a reason this place is called the Forest of Dark Night.
Pitch-black darkness greets them the moment they cross the dimensional gate.
It’s because a dark energy spreads throughout the forest as if the sun doesn’t exist, making it impossible to see even a step ahead.
But now something was different.
Swoosh
“Isn’t this magical stone…?”
Just as Eunu was showing interest in the purple glowing jewels embedded here and there,
“Hey, you crazy fool, look ahead!”
“Huh? Waaah?!”
An orc that appeared in front of them was swinging a tree it had pulled out.
“C-crazy!”
“Ah, this idiot!”
Eunyoung, who lightly ran forward, pushed Eunu back and sprang forward.
“Don’t block our way, you mere orc!”
After easily avoiding the tree trunk being brought down towards her, Eunyoung jumped into the air and swung her spear.
Kwagagak!
It was a power that was hard to believe came from swinging a spear.
However,
“What…”
It was blocked.
‘I may have swung it moderately, but this…?!’
Although orc skin is quite thick, to an A-rank hunter like Eunyoung, orc skin should tear as easily as paper.
For a D-rank monster like an orc, it should normally be cut in half by such an attack.
However…
‘It’s still alive…?!’
Although she said she swung moderately, the spear had not penetrated deeply and only left a light wound.
Woaaaaargh!
Despite spewing a fountain of blood, the orc showed purple eyes glowing with anger and swung its fist.
“『Light! Protect the young lamb!』”
The top healer in the guild, a cleric.
As the light emanating from Lucia touched Eunyoung, it formed a golden protective barrier.
Kung!
“Kyaaaa?!”
The orc’s fist couldn’t break the protective barrier, but it was enough to send Eunyoung flying far away.
Wolhwa, who glanced at Eunyoung as she flew away, breaking all the trees behind her, shouted.
“It’s not an ordinary orc. Take it a bit more seriously!”
“Ha, it’s my turn to step up!”
At Wolhwa’s shout, Gangchul nodded and stepped forward.
Pushing his great shield forward, Gangchul advanced toward the orc.
Uoooooaaaargh!!
The orc, recognizing Gangchul, was about to swing its tree once more when.
“I’ll borrow this for a moment.”
Silvia, the elf girl who had somehow stepped forward, jumped up using Gangchul’s great shield as a foothold.
“W-wait…?!”
The tree is being swung, what is she doing now?
Gangchul, startled by the girl’s action that was no different from suicide, tried to reach out, but…
Woaaaargh!
Whoosh!
It was already too late.
Kwaaang!
“Kugh…!”
He blocked it.
Blocking wasn’t particularly difficult.
Though it was a powerful strike for an orc, his great shield was solid enough to easily block even a B-rank strike without Elrina, who was on his back, feeling the impact.
But…
‘What about the elf kid…?!’
Blocking wasn’t the important thing.
His attention was drawn to the girl who had sprung forward using his great shield as a foothold.
Eventually, the moment Gangchul looked at the girl,
‘W-what…’
Gangchul was astounded by the situation unfolding before his eyes.
Pajijik!
Just as a magic circle seemed to form in Silvia’s hand, right as the tree was about to hit her directly, she suddenly twisted her body.
Narrowly avoiding the swung giant tree, Silvia placed her hand directly on the tree, and
Pajijik!
When the magic circle touched the tree, a blue flash characteristic of magical power occurred, and the root of the tree transformed into a huge black thorn that shot toward the orc’s head.
Then,
Kwajik!
“What…”
The giant thorn, shot at an invisible speed, pierced through the orc’s head as if bursting it.
Kung!!
As the headless orc fell backward, Silvia landed in place.
“Hmm, as expected, making structures with carbon is the most convenient.”
Muttering as if it were nothing special, she turned around and opened her mouth with her characteristic expressionless face that hid her inner thoughts.
“Is this enough to prove my usefulness?”
“…”
Only then did they understand why Silvia had stepped forward.
Having brought nothing with them, they came solely believing that the girl would be useful.
Thinking that they might consider her useless, she had been watching for an opportunity.
Pajik, pajijik
As she brushed off the magic circle spread in her hand and turned to look at them.
“… You pass.”
This was good enough to bring her into the guild.
If she could kill an orc, estimated to be at least B-rank, in one breath.
Especially if she used a completely different… new form of power, she was more than welcome.
Wolhwa smiled broadly.
“W-what kind of magic is this…? How can such powerful magic be cast without incantation… Amazing…!!”
Eunu shouted towards Silvia, half crazed with wonder at a form of mysticism he had never seen before in his life.
“Ugh…”
However, far from being pleased at Eunu’s sincere praise, for some reason she was showing clear signs of discomfort.
“It’s different from magic… different from magic…”
For the first time, with an inexplicably frustrated expression, she muttered incomprehensible words.