"Haa... Haaa..."

Her breathing was rough and her entire body shook.

"D-did we do it...?"

Aurelia felt like her voice was hardly coming out.

Looking at the enormous creature lying down in the distance, her breathing stopped. What should've been an easy expedition turned into a far more difficult one than they had anticipated.

A monster of gigantic proportions showed up.

It was powerful.

To the point where it would leave one in despair.

"G-guys?"

Aurelia looked around her.

The land was scorched. Deep fissures marred the ground as debris lay strewn across the surface.

"I-it's dead, isn't it?"

Her eyes were locked on the gigantic creature. It was lying on the ground, with its eyes closed.

'I can't breathe.'

Just the creature's presence felt suffocating.

Her entire body was numb. Her breath was rough, and she felt pain everywhere.

".....It's not dead."

A familiar voice broke the silence.

"Gork?"

His entire body was covered in blood, and his face was pale.

"W-we only managed to deal it some serious injuries. It's still an infant after all, but we aren't strong enough to penetrate its body. T-this is our limit."

"Can't...?"

Aurelia blinked.

"Cannot."

Another voice echoed.

It was from Daphne, the support of the group. Her face was also pale. Turning her head, she looked towards the front.

She called out a name.

"Liam..."

He stood before the dragon, looking at it with blank eyes.

"C-can't. Can't defeat it."

His tone was flat. Something that was so unlike him.

"W-what do we do?"

Aurelia was starting to panic.

"At this rate once it wakes up then-no. I can't."

Thinking about her little brother, she forced herself forward.

"Aurelia? What are you doing?!"

Daphne stood before Aurelia and tried to stop her, but Aurelia remained stubborn. She couldn't let the monster awaken again.

Not when her brother was still in town.

"Kill it. H-have to."

"No, stop. We can't..."

"W-what do we do then?"

"We..."

Daphen's words stopped then.

"...."

"...."

"...."

Silence took hold of the space.

It was a silence that Aurelia broke yet again as she took another step towards the Dragon.

This time, none of them stopped her.

".....The area is thick with the [Curse] element. That's the element I specialize in."

She raised her hand and placed it right on the Rock Dragon.

"I know of a spell that can keep it sleeping, but..."

"But?"

"No, it's nothing."

Aurelia shook her head.

There was no time to hesitate. If it was for the sake of her brother, and the people of Ellnor, then she was willing to do this.

"We might not be able to return."

Her hand glowed as a purple circle floated before her.

".....The moment I cast this spell, I won't be able to return."

"What...?"

"What do you mean?"

The group members sounded startled by her statement.

Aurelia turned to look back at her other members. A smile finally graced her lips.

"I'll need someone to protect me. Will you do that for me?"

The smile.

It was the smile of someone who had made up their mind.

A mix of sorrow and joy.

.

.

.

"You want me to teach you...?"

I could feel the doubt in Aurelia's voice as she looked at me.

"Yes, please teach me."

There was no better person to teach me how to control the [Curse] element than her. Even Haven didn't have such a person. At the very least, not the first years.

From the second year onwards, the Professors would change.

For first years, the Professors were at around Tier 4 to Tier 5. Second year and up, they would be of higher tier.

It made sense considering that the second and third-year cadets were stronger.

"....."

Aurelia remained silent at my request.

She didn't seem all too keen on teaching me.

"Come on, Aurelia. What are you waiting for?"

Gork spoke up, his tone sounding rather lively.

".....We've been here for far too long. I want to go back to see my family."

"Same."

"Yeah, I'm tired. It's time we take advantage of this opportunity to go back. Don't you miss your brother?"

"B-brother..."

Finally, the words came out of her mouth.

She mumbled them repeatedly until her head raised and our eyes met.

"How much time do you think before reinforcements come?"

How much time...?

"Eh."

I frowned. I wasn't quite sure.

"It can be a couple of days, to maybe more? A week? Months?"

I wouldn't be surprised if they took months. The situation was delicate, but it was still within control.

They weren't aware of the Rock Dragon.

In that case, they were probably discussing who to send to defeat Aurelia.

"You don't know?"

".....Not exactly."

And that was a problem.

Not knowing when the soldiers would come was a big issue. It meant that I needed to train with the thought that each second was the last.

If the reinforcements were to come, I couldn't guarantee I could stop them to explain the situation.

....It was possible that they would. However, I knew that the chance of something going wrong was possible.

I wasn't planning on sitting back and letting such a chance happen.

'There's nothing wrong with being prepared.'

Turning to face the Rock Dragon, I swallowed my saliva.

'I need to do this.'

For my sake.

"Sit down."

Aurelia motioned me down with her hand.

I did as she asked and sat down.

"I take it you agree to teach me?"

"....."

She didn't reply and stood behind me.

"Channel your mana."

"....."

I did as she told me.

In the moment that I did, I felt something cold. Almost chilling and touching my back.

"Don't look back. Focus on your mana."

My face twitched slightly the moment I called forth my mana and the chilling sensation from my back disappeared.

"You're injured?"

".....Yes."

"Why?"

"I took something that I shouldn't have."

"....It's a mess."

"I know."

I replied with a bitter smile.

There was no denying the current state of my body. It had healed significantly, but not enough.

I started to grow a little worried.

"Would this effect-"

"Yes,"

Aurelia cut me off coldly and stepped back.

"I cannot teach you."

"....Uh?"

I blinked and looked back.

"What do you mea-"

"It will break your body. You might die."

"I might die if I don't do anything."

"The chances of that are less likely."

"That..."

I covered my forehead, letting out a frustrated breath.

"Just let me be. It's not lik-"

"My decision is final."

Her tone was final. With those words, she turned around and walked up to the Rock Dragon where she placed her hand.

A powerful pulse swept the area.

"Ukh...!"

Groaning, I stood up and walked up to her.

"I don't understand."

"....."

"Aren't you desperate to meet your brother? If you don't let me do this and the soldiers attack before I can do anything, the rock dragon will awaken and once that happens you know what will happen to your brEukh!"

I felt another powerful pulse, and my breathing momentarily stopped. Holding onto my throat, I fell on both knees.

Thump!

"Cough...! Cough!"

And started coughing.

"Mind your own business."

"W-"

"Leave it."

Something cold grasped my shoulder. When I looked up, I realized that it was Gork.

"She's a stubborn one. Once her mind is made up, it's hard to convince her otherwise."

"Ah, I..."

"Come rest with us."

"....."

Silently clenching my fists, I wordlessly stared at Aurelia before standing up and following Gork from behind.

Sat on a couple of rocks were the other two members of the first subjugation squad.

Liam, their damage dealer and leader laughed.

"Hahaha, looks like you're having it rough."

"Oy, you..."

Daphne playfully punched his shoulder.

"Don't tease him. You know damn well how frustrating Aurelia's stubbornness is."

"Uh, yeah "

While the two conversed, I sat down on one of the rocks.

I tried to sort out her memories. And yet, regardless of how hard I tried, I couldn't find a single reason for her to reject my request.

Why?

'She clearly wants to return to her brother. This is the best option. So what if I suffer some pain? I'm used to damn pain...'

In fact, it was rather weird for her to say such words when she had turned so many of her people into zombies.

It was fucking bullshit.

"What are you thinking so deeply about...?"

Breaking me out of my thoughts was Daphne's voice. When I looked up at her, it almost felt as though she was smiling from beneath the hood.

"You're thinking about how unfair her decision is, right?"

"....."

"So you are..."

Was she a mind reader or something?

"Don't worry."

She reassured me.

"She may be like this, but she's a softie. She might not train you, but that doesn't mean you should give up, right?"

"....Hm?"

Right.

I lifted my head.

'Just because she isn't willing to train me doesn't mean that I should just give up on the idea.'

I looked up towards the sky. The purple dome still surrounded the space, and the [Curse] element was running rampant.

Recalling how fast I was progressing before, I snapped out of it.

"You're right."

I looked towards the three with gratitude.

"Huuu."

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes.

Then.

Lvl. 1 [Hands of Malady] EXP + 0.1%

Lvl. 1 [Hands of Malady] EXP + 0.05%

I started practicing.

Lvl. 1 [Hands of Malady] EXP + 0.2%

Time seemed to flow at a different speed when one immersed oneself in something.

Lvl. 1 [Hands of Malady] EXP + 0.1%

Lvl. 1 [Hands of Malady] EXP + 0.05%

The notifications kept pouring into my vision.

I wasn't sure how long had passed.

Drip! Drip...!

My vision was blurry, and I could hear the faint sound of my sweat hitting the ground.

'More.'

I just focused on the [Curse] element that was coursing through the air. There was so much of it, and everything was flowing so smoothly.

"Hm...!"

From time to time, I'd let out a pained groan.

It was sharp, and I could feel it worsen with every minute that I practiced.

But I didn't care.

'Again.'

Pain was something I was so used to at this point. If anything, it served to remind me of the fact that I was still conscious.

57%

61%

66%

70%

73%

The experience bar continued to rise.

Drip! Drip...!

It was starting to get cold for some reason. It didn't bother me at first. I was too immersed to care.

I was in a strange state.

It was as if the world around me had disappeared and it was just me in the middle.

I felt naked, but at the same time, I felt in utter control of everything around me.

It felt good.

So much so that I wanted to continue to bask in it.

Ah, This is good...

This is very...

Good...

I...

Swoosh!

I abruptly lifted my head and snapped out of the state.

"Uekh...!"

As if my chest was on fire, I clenched onto my shirt and coughed repeatedly.

"Cough! Cough...!"

It burned.

It hurt so much.

I tried to look around, but I couldn't see a thing. Everything was so blurry.

'Ah.'

No, I did see something.

A faint dark figure. It stood not far from where I was.

Aurelia.

Was she the one that brought me out of it?

I mustered up a smile.

"F-finally going to teach me?"

"...."

But all I received was silence.

The next time I blinked, she was gone.

"Haa..."

So it wasn't the case.

"Wow, look at you."

I heard faint voices coming from around me.

"Is he dead?"

"No, not yet. He's been pushing himself quite hard."

These guys...

"Oh look! His eye twitched! He can probably hear us."

"Hello~"

A large black hand waved at me.

"Hehe, you managed to get Aurelia to worry over you. That's a big achievement in my book."

A big achievement?

"Well, you still failed to convince her."

Ah, fuck.

I...

Was starting to really hate these guys.

The world turned dark shortly after that.