Love Letter From The Future

On the ground, the Judgment of the Gods descends.

Boom, the ground shook. My sight and hearing faded, and the earth floor exploded into chaos. Unable to withstand the aftershock, my body rolled several more times on the ground.

A ringing sound echoed. However, the next thing that struck my ears was a sound I had never heard before.

It was a scream. It was an indescribable sound. The scream of a beast as it perished, the monster was howling with its mouth wide open, as if it did not care if its jaw was torn apart.

Its jet-black eyes were swelling as if they were about to burst from pain.

As if in disbelief, the monster’s gaze turned toward me. Just a moment ago, my magic had no effect on it. Even the most cunning beast couldn’t possibly understand the reason.

So I chuckled and replied, “That’s it, heh… it’s a conductor, you idiot.”

When the ‘Judgment of Light’ first struck down, I saw it. The way my dropped axe crackled and shimmered as it caught the electric current.

No matter how resistant one might be to electric shocks, if the jolt penetrated inside the body, survival was impossible. The black steel lodged between its horns and skin was already burrowing into its brain.

Electricity would strike down on its brain, and a storm of current would flame through its blood vessels, incinerating all its organs.

Resistance to electric shocks?

Meaningless. That only applied to skin or mucous membranes.

If electricity lodged directly into vital organs, no matter how strong the resistance, death was inevitable. The searing blade was injecting electricity into the interior of the monster.

The monster’s howls continued for some time, until the crackling electricity settled, and its massive body finally fell.

It was the end for the creature.

The wolf’s eyes had long since rolled back. With a guttural sound, the wolf let out dying moans. Its grotesquely long tongue hung out between its gaping jaws.

Senior Elsi, who had cast the electric magic, and Senior Ceria, who sat there vomiting blood, were now slowly returning to the clearing with staggering steps.

They gazed wide-eyed at the dying monster, a death that even the beast itself could hardly believe.

I too was still in a daze. Doubts swelled within my consciousness like a boiling pot.

Did we really win? Was that cunning monster merely pretending to be defeated to trick me?

Senior Elsi muttered absently. Her blue sapphire eyes were filled with disbelief.

“…Did we catch it, really?”

Though her words were uttered from afar, they echoed enough to reverberate through the silent clearing. Senior Ceria and Celin were watching with similarly disbelieving expressions.

I was the closest one. I tied my bleeding arm with scraps of cloth and staggered toward the monster.

Just before death, the monster’s black eyes were focused on me. I couldn’t tell what it was thinking. However, one thing was certain.

This monster could no longer move. It was still breathing, but was in a state waiting only for death. As I slowly withdrew the blade lodged in its forehead, I was certain of that.

As the sword was pulled out, the monster’s body shuddered, but that was all.

It was over. I felt completely drained. I wanted to collapse right there.

But as the leader, there was a declaration I had to make first.

“…We caught it.”

That was the signal. Joy spread across everyone’s faces. Celin approached me with a look of disbelief yet unable to hide her joy.

Despite her serious injuries, she seemed to feel no pain at that moment. Her voice brimmed with excitement as she asked,

“Really?! Did we catch that monster?”

“That’s impossible!”

Senior Elsi exclaimed as if in a scream. But rather than genuinely rejecting my words, it seemed she blurted out her thoughts in pure joy.

“I-I know about monster hunts; a monster like that is rare! It must be named! And yet we caught it?!”

“Yes, we’re guaranteed to win comfortably.”

With the word ‘victory,’ Ceria’s face distinctly brightened.

No matter how skilled Senior Delphine was, there was no way another monster with enough stature to be named would appear after we searched this entire forest. Just the existence of a monster at such a level posed a problem.

But ultimately, this monster had fallen at our hands, and since it resided in this forest, we had no choice but to regard it as our prey.

It was a victory. All that remained was to figure out how to haul this massive corpse away; the results of the Hunting Festival were certain.

No one had died. Celin and Ceria were a bit injured, but compared to the results, those were merely minor wounds. I would say I was the most seriously injured.

My left arm was a mess. Even now, wrapped in bandages, my nerves were throbbing painfully enough to make my head feel hot.

At least I managed to stop the bleeding. It would have been impossible with the bandages I had, so I had to tear my clothes to tie them up.

I wouldn’t die. However, the warning from the Lady Virgin Saint was concerning.

She said there might be aftereffects; I looked down at my mangled arm with a somewhat gloomy expression.

There’s no body part that isn’t important when swinging a sword, but arms are particularly crucial. Now that I might have aftereffects on my arm, it was practically a hindrance to my life as a swordsman.

But there was nothing I could do. At that time, I desperately wanted victory and, therefore, unconsciously sacrificed my arm.

If I hadn’t, I would have been killed by that monster, and it was a matter of life and death not only for me but for all my teammates as well.

Thinking that way, it was bittersweet but not an incomprehensible injury. I was able to prevent casualties at the cost of my arm and managed to hunt a named monster.

It was a profitable exchange.

The carcass of a named monster was a valuable resource worth at least a few thousand to tens of thousands of gold. Just splitting the sale would allow us to live comfortably for a while.

More than anything, Ceria was happy.

She approached me, her eyes shining with excitement and hesitation as she grasped the hem of my clothes.

It was an adorable sight. I let out a half-hearted chuckle.

“Can’t believe it?”

“Y-yes, yes. I-I never thought we would actually win…”

Her eyes showed she was in disbelief, like someone who had received an award she never dreamed of. Finally, she had proven her worth.

Even someone like her who was deemed talentless could beat Senior Delphine; even if it was just for this one day, it would be a memory forever cherished in her heart.

It was a satisfying conclusion in many ways. My arm, well, I could always pray to the Lady Virgin Saint.

As I had that carefree thought, a sudden realization struck me.

Come to think of it, the letter mentioned that there would be another ambush after defeating the monster.

It felt like receiving an electric shock. The loosening of my senses jolted back to life in an instant. My vision and hearing were sharply scanning the surroundings.

My hand moved toward my waist. The teammates who had been preoccupied with watching the dying monster stared at me with bewildered expressions.

But I could sense it now. I felt it.

Someone was nearby.

The moment I realized that, I felt a surge of magical energy that I hadn’t noticed until now. A wave of mana was being sucked in, as if being drawn toward one direction.

The only possibility that came to mind was one. A shout erupted from my mouth once again.

“Get down!”

I pushed Ceria, who was closest, and threw myself down as well. Thanks to a week of hellish training, everyone reacted immediately, despite their bewildered expressions.

And a chilling cold gathered in the sky. Ice spikes began to rain down haphazardly.

Rolling on the ground, I did my best to avoid the falling spikes. Ceria calmly lifted her sword to strike down the spikes despite the sudden situation, while Celin, like me, was rolling.

Senior Elsi had initially thrown herself down but then began to mutter as she cast a shield spell. The hastily made spell had terrible defense. Thus, Senior Elsi had to stack several layers of shield spells.

Thud, thud, the sound of spikes embedding into the ground was chilling. With their weight and sharpness, they would easily penetrate a human body made of flesh and blood.

The problem was that those spikes did not simply stop at embedding in the ground.

Focusing around the ice spikes, the ice began to spread across the ground. And that ice stained everything it touched in its color.

I hurriedly got to my feet, but soon one of my feet got stuck in the ice. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t free it. Watching this, Celin rushed over in surprise.

“Ian!”

Then light erupted again from her sheath. With a crash that sounded like a hammer striking a rock, the ice shackles that had been wrapping around my foot shattered.

Celin threw herself at me, and I rolled with her on the ground. We barely escaped the sphere of influence from the ice spikes.

Ceria had a similar experience. As she dodged between the ice spikes, her sword finally stopped after shattering several of them.

The teammates were clearly flustered. Among them, the most shocked was Senior Elsi.

“What is this!”

A shriek escaped from her lips. She was trying hard to block them with her shield, but in the end, she could not avoid being pierced by a spike; at least the frost that settled on the ground around her was unavoidable.

Ice shackles formed around Senior Elsi’s feet. Just as I was about to dash out to save her.

A sharp piercing sound echoed. A dagger flew in a straight line.

With a clang, the dagger spun through the air. I barely managed to deflect it, but the force behind it was considerable. And in that moment, a dry man suddenly rushed in front of me.

Who was he? I recognized that face from somewhere. Yes, it must be Senior Delphine’s.

Before I could finish my train of thought, swords collided. Sparks flew, and our bodies were pushed back. However, I had only one arm, while the other party had two hands gripping the blade.

It was a swift sword. With terrifying speed, a line was drawn in the air. I desperately tried to block it, but one arm had its limits.

My body was already utterly exhausted. The muscles in my arm could no longer bear the strain and loosened their grip on the sword. That moment was the turning point.

Suddenly, the man lunged into my arms. My sword was still swinging, but his hand grabbed my arm that held the sword.

Then my body spun around. After that, a heavy pain hit me from behind.

Thud, my insides lurched. Blood sprayed from my mouth. His swordsmanship was formidable, but his martial arts were no joke either. It was merely a small opening, yet he managed to deliver a blow.

“Ian! This little twig…!”

Blocking Celin from lunging at the dry man was a huge figure with an axe in hand.

Only now did my memory come rushing back. Through the swaying vision, I recalled the names of those two men.

The one who took me down was Permian, and the one facing Celin was Olmar. If that was the case, then the one who cast the magic in the beginning was Aisia.

Then which senior was responsible for Ceria?

My eyes slowly turned toward Ceria. Looking flustered and about to join Celin and me, she had frozen in place.

Fear-darkened eyes were directed toward a corner of the clearing. I coughed as I forced my blurry vision to look there.

Brilliant golden hair, and blood-red eyes.

“I have no choice but to admit it, Ceria. I never expected you to catch such a monster….”

It was a haughty voice. And with a level of arrogance in demeanor, I muttered into the haze even as I was overpowered by Senior Permian.

“Del, phine Yuridina…”

The rightful heir of the Yuridina Clan had revealed herself.

And in the worst possible manner.

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