Chapter 39 – The Secret of the Void Forest
I had the decisive dream on the night of the first snowfall.
Then, within the span of three nights, the information I had been seeking came flooding in.
I reported and explained everything to my family, while also informing Rick-san and Noemi-san that 『Figured almost 』 I decided I’d go to Sidera within a week to explain everything. Regardless of the movements of the Elf Nation, Alfheim, I believe we can at least deal with the ‘Rare Existence’—that monster.
I set the one-week period for verification.
Before reporting and explaining, I needed to make sure that the information I saw in the dream was indeed factual. Saying ‘I saw it in a dream of a scene from two thousand years ago’ would sound utterly ridiculous. I need at least some concrete proof to back it up.
And so, here I am now, on the western side of the forest, far from home—somewhere in the middle parts.
My only companion was Chocola.
「It’s been a while since it’s just the two of us, huh?」
「Bark!」
Though we often wandered the streets of Sidera, it’s rare to be deep in the forest like this. We take regular walks around the house, but recently Mint’s often been with us.
Going this far out is probably a first.
「We’ve grown strong, haven’t we? On our first day here, we didn’t even think about leaving the grounds.」
「Bark… bark!」
「You were always tough from the start, though.」
I chuckled at Chocola bouncing around as we moved deeper into the dense forest.
Now, although we were just walking calmly, we’d spent the last three hours—or rather, from home to here—sprinting through the forest at full speed. Kicking the dirt, jumping off trees and rocks, leaping over rivers—practically parkour, with no regard for the terrain.
It was thrilling, yet a bit terrifying, to realize I could now do what Karen and mother once did when they rushed to our home. I’m not even that tired… I’m starting to feel a bit inhuman.
「It should be around here.」
I stopped and sharpened my senses. I gathered the magic power within me, releasing it into the surroundings like a web. Soon enough, something snagged in my search net. I tugged on the thread, tracing the cause and determining its direction and distance.
「It’s that way.」
「Bark!」
No monsters were attacking us. A moment ago, their presence had been everywhere, watching us from a distance, and we’d even run into a few along the way. But now, nothing—no creatures were nearby.
As we drew closer, we moved stealthily, concealing our presence and making no sound.
Finally, we reached our destination.
「There it is.」
Hidden behind the thick bushes, I peeked through the gaps in the leaves.
A massive tree, centuries old, stood before us, with a gaping hollow in its trunk.
The surrounding grass was trampled by animal tracks, and I could feel something alive inside the hollow.
Though eerie, the large tree, the hollow, and the beast making its nest inside were nothing unusual in the forest. However, the magic swirling there was dense and heavy, like thick, boiled sludge—oppressively dark.
In other words, a magic power crucible.
This wasn’t my first time encountering a magic power crucible. After all, our home is deep within the ‘Void Forest’. These things pop up around here pretty often, and it’s become routine to eliminate them whenever I come across one during walks, hunts, or foraging.
Yes, to begin with, my family has always been destroying these magic power crucibles.
However, what the Athenak called ‘crucible breaking’ and what we do as part of our daily routine likely aren’t exactly the same process.
That’s because, for most people, interfering with a magic power crucible is extremely difficult.
Even among mages who carry the title of ‘witch’ fewer than half can destroy a crucible without preparations or magical tools. But we’ve been doing it the brute-force way—using our own magic power to simply smash it apart. This is something unique to our family
Still, this time, I wasn’t here to test out ‘crucible breaking’.
「Chocola!」
「Bark!」
At my command, Chocola dashed out from the bushes, sprinting straight toward the hollow in the tree. The monster lurking inside—a mutant—reacted, thrusting its head out of the hole. It was a massive snake with a frill around its neck like a frilled lizard. Crystals from the crucible, growing along its spine like jagged fins, shimmered brightly, emitting a shimmering heatwave.
But we had the element of surprise, and Chocola was an experienced hunter.
Everything was too slow.
「Grrrr…」
Chocola became a flash of light, cutting through the air and severing the snake’s head in one swift motion. Its frill was torn apart, and as the head soared through the air, venom sprayed from its fangs. The body, now uncontrolled, writhed out of the hollow in a wild dance, while the head snapped its jaws open and shut, but soon enough—it was dead.
「Good job, Chocola.」
「Bark!」
As Chocola returned, I patted her vigorously, preparing for what came next.
But this time, unlike usual, I hadn’t drawn my sword, nor had I chanted any spells. Which meant the chaotic magic power within the crucible crystals, now feeding on the dead body, swelled and began to spread.
And then—
Boom!
The whole thing exploded.
「…!」
The blast was bigger than I had expected. Thanks to the barrier I had set up, we weren’t thrown by the shockwave, the deafening sound didn’t burst my eardrums, and the light didn’t burn my eyes, but witnessing the explosion up close still made me freeze in place.
「Amazing. That isn’t even a big of a mutant.」
「Bark…」
When the explosion finally subsided, the scene left behind was terrible.
The tree that had been its home was shattered halfway up, falling backward and taking other trees down with it. The ground had become a dark red crater. The surrounding bushes were blown away in a five-meter radius, leaving only the spot where we had been hiding intact.
「So this is what the raw explosion looks like. If there had been no precautions, it would’ve caused massive damage.」
「Kwuunnn」
Of course, I didn’t let the explosion go unchecked out of mere curiosity.
It was for the sake of investigation, and that’s why I walked toward the epicenter, observing the scene closely.
Not with my physical eyes—but with magical insight.
「…As I thought. It makes sense when you really think about it, though.」
What I wanted to understand was what happens after a mutant’s corpse explodes.
The chaotic magic within it scatters with the destruction, leaving behind traces.
The epicenter was quiet.
A complete calm. The heavy, sludge-like magic power that had been so oppressive earlier was now gone. It had been swept away in the explosion, dispersed into nothingness.
In other words, the magic power crucible had vanished.
「When a mutant dies, it explodes. That explosion wipes out the magic power lingering around it. Naturally, the magic power crucible disappears as well.」
But this—this disappearance of the crucible—was likely because the creature’s crystal had enough magic stored within it.
The crucible crystal is essentially like gunpowder. The more gunpowder there is, the bigger the explosion. A bigger explosion wipes out everything around it.
But what if—
What if there wasn’t enough gunpowder? What if it was damp, or compromised in some way? What if, for some reason, the explosion couldn’t happen on a large scale?
I had seen it in a dream.
A dream from two thousand years ago, when Four Seasons-san and the others stormed the facility that produced ‘Demon Kings’.
That ancient fortress, mockingly called ‘Demon King’s Castle’ was filled with mutants. They were bound, immobilized, gathered in one place, yet fed in excess.
The people running the facility were waiting.
Waiting for the mutants to die of old age.
※※※
「Let’s go, Chocola.」
I turned on my heel. I’d already scouted out the area.
About ten kilometers south from here.
Unlike the creatures in that dream, this pitiful monster wasn’t restrained, but it was reaching the end of its life, waiting quietly in its nest for death to come.
I had to witness it and confirm.
What happens when a mutant dies naturally within a magic power crucible? What effect does an incomplete release of magic have on the lingering remains of the crucible?
The answer lies ahead.
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