Episode 20
How much time had passed?
Maybe I had blacked out for a moment.
“Aaah!”
A sharp scream pierced my ears.
I barely opened my eyes and saw a magician looking down at me.
“Who are you?”
“I’m the storage gatekeeper. I left my post for just a moment, and what happened here…”
She was supposed to be guarding the entrance to the basement and was now looking at me.
Her eyes moved to the open basement door.
Then she grabbed her face with both hands.
“I’m in big trouble.”
She was clearly panicking after realizing what had happened while she was gone.
She dropped to her knees and began to cry.
“I’m doomed. I’ll be punished. No, they’ll probably take away my magician’s license!”
I didn’t think it was that serious…
I sat up and looked at her.
“The escaped beast was sent back. It needs to be checked again, but everything should be okay now.”
“A, a, a beast escaped?!”
“And Rick… I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop him.”
“S-someone died?”
Her hands trembled. She looked scared and confused.
Then she stared closely at my face and tilted her head.
“Um… El?”
I shook my head.
I had a lot to explain, but I didn’t have the strength.
And there were more important things to do.
I canceled the summoning and slowly got up, brushing the dust off my knees.
“Magician.”
“Yes?!”
“Can you send me to the border area?”
Maybe she saw El in me.
Suddenly, she stood up straight and knelt down respectfully.
“I want to help too.”
She stared at me for a moment, then cast a teleport spell like she was in a trance.
I gave her a small bow of thanks.
As I stepped through the magic portal, I felt the heavy, dark energy in the air.
The sky was gloomy, and black energy was flowing over the ground in the distance.
It was easy to find Terra, covered in sweat and clearly tired.
“Elisha?”
She squinted at me like she couldn’t believe her eyes.
I walked up to her.
“I want to help.”
“Pardon?”
“But I’ll need a summoning stone. Do you have an extra?”
“Yes, that’s not a problem.”
She sounded unsure, but didn’t ask too many questions.
The situation was serious, so she didn’t have the energy to doubt me.
I held the summoning stone with both hands.
“Please,” I whispered and poured power into it.
A golden bird appeared and landed on my shoulder.
It was heavy.
“So it really was the summoning stone causing the problem…”
I had tried three different stones, and all had the same result.
Now that I finally figured it out, I felt a bit tired.
I summoned more spirit animals and then grabbed a purified water bottle near Terra.
“Do I just send this?”
“Yes? Oh, yes.”
As I tried to tie the bottle to the spirit’s leg, the bird grabbed it with its foot on its own.
It flew off.
“Please,” I said softly and closed my eyes.
As I linked with the spirit, I felt it… laugh?
It purred in amusement.
…I didn’t know birds could purr, but okay.
The spirit flew over the corrupted land, fearless.
Once it sent a signal, I canceled the summoning just in time.
‘Now.’
The purified water dropped to the ground.
It soaked into the earth, cleansing the dark energy.
“I’ll ask you again,” I whispered.
I summoned the bird again and repeated the process.
Each time I released the link, I felt Terra’s eyes on me.
She kept moving her mouth like she wanted to say something, but never did.
She just kept watching, like she was mesmerized.
At first, I thought I was doing something wrong.
But no, that wasn’t it.
“Um…”
Finally, Terra spoke.
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t tie the purified water to the spirits?”
“Yes. I really couldn’t before.”
“…”
“But now I can. I figured out the problem.”
I sent another golden bird flying.
Its light cut through the dark sky.
Just watching it fly made my chest feel lighter.
I could breathe again.
The people in the final territory had all lived there for at least two years.
They had been fighting to hold back the dark energy.
Today, they gave it their all.
“Damn it! How do we stop this?”
But no matter what they did, the dark energy crept closer.
They feared it would reach the village and cause another disaster.
No one said it out loud, but everyone was scared.
Just then, a golden light streaked across the sky.
“Whose spirit is that?”
“No idea.”
“Oh! Look, next to Lady Terra. That must be the one!”
“Who is she?”
“She’s dressed differently. Oh! Didn’t Priestess Jacqueline say she was bringing outside help?”
The knights, still catching their breath after defeating monsters, looked toward the stranger standing next to Terra.
She was small and wore a fluffy hood pulled low, so no one could see her face.
Only the silver hair peeking out gave a hint.
But no one thought of El.
“Her spirit glows gold. It’s beautiful.”
So they just watched the mysterious woman and her spirit.
It was rare to see a golden glow on a spirit animal.
Spirits reflected the summoner’s energy, and gold was especially rare.
But it wasn’t unheard of, so they didn’t guess El right away.
“She doesn’t seem like a normal summoner.”
“Right? It’s like a divine messenger or something.”
People whispered and stared at the sky.
The glowing golden bird stood out clearly against the dark clouds.
Even exhausted summoners looked up.
“Doesn’t she get tired?”
“…I’ll send mine one more time. I can’t just watch.”
“Me too.”
Though they were tired and losing hope, the golden bird gave them strength.
No one knew exactly how much Elisha’s spirit was helping.
They didn’t know how much dark energy it had stopped.
But the image of a spirit carrying purified water through the sky burned into their memories.
‘Just a little more,’ someone thought.
‘Let’s hold on a bit longer.’
The flying bird was their hope.
As it soared, people looked up and felt like they could breathe again.
The atmosphere changed.
Jacqueline noticed it.
She looked up at the sky and saw the golden spirit.
“Elisha?”
She instantly recognized it and frowned.
Elisha’s spirits had no physical strength.
They only looked beautiful and floated around like illusions.
So Jacqueline had only used her spirits for scouting…
‘What happened?’
She kept glancing at the sky while fighting monsters.
Just like everyone else.
The exhausting battle against the dark energy continued.
Then finally, someone blew a horn.
“The dark energy has stopped moving! It’s not coming closer!”
A summoner who had sent their spirit to scout came back, drenched in sweat.
A magician quickly cast an amplifying spell.
“It crossed the border a little, but…”
“…”
“It’s over!”
The loud voice echoed through the border.
Everyone went silent for a second.
Then they exploded with cheers.
“We did it!!”
“We stopped it!”
They shouted so loudly it felt like the air was shaking.
Cheers, tears, and laughter spread through the area like a wave.
In that joyful chaos, Jacqueline couldn’t take her eyes off Elisha.
She stood beside Terra, her hood pulled low.
“You’ve been a big help.”
Terra smiled brightly and reached out to shake Elisha’s hand.
Elisha smiled back as she took her hand.
But Jacqueline, with her sharp vision, noticed something others didn’t.
Elisha’s face was pale as snow.
