"...Good Lord."

"Right now, we're..."

Until just a few minutes ago, they had been trapped on that island.

Now, as they looked around, they stood there with their mouths hanging open.

"We're walking on the sea..."

The survivors who had attempted to escape were walking through the deep sea.

The ground beneath them was damp sand, and around them were shellfish and corals spread everywhere.

Quite literally, the bottom of the sea.

It looked like something out of a dream, and people could hardly tell whether it was real or not.

But when they turned their heads and looked up, they realized this wasn't a dream.

Paaaaaaak...

A sun pouring out an enormous amount of light was floating up there in the sky.

They were "walking" through the middle of the sea.

As if the sea itself had a will of its own, it was flinging open a path only where the procession was headed.

'T-this is impossible...'

And, when Elder Yun saw that sight, he was stunned.

'The amount of mana I can feel isn't overwhelming.'

He was a mage sensitive to mana.

He could tell that some kind of power was interfering with the phenomenon happening around them.

The amount of mana being poured into it was only at a level even he could reproduce without too much difficulty.

Pushing the water away to make space in the sea.

In theory, that in itself did not actually require that much power.

The sea between the island and the continent was not especially deep.

There was less concern about water pressure too.

...Of course.

That was only true in theory.

Even if, in theory, it did not require much power, the real problem was that there was no way to implement that theory.

'Such precise control...'

Right now, that near-impossible method was being realized before his eyes.

Not anymore, but once upon a time, he had been a water mage.

And so he could understand.

'It's like... he's moving this seawater as if it were his own hands and feet...'

No.

That wasn't right.

Elder Yun slightly revised his thought.

'It's closer to the water moving of its own will...'

This was not something that could be done simply by being excellent at magic.

It was a scene only possible if the water itself had a will and moved.

He could not understand it, and he could not accept it.

For him, it was something that left him no choice but to be horrified.

...If he had still been a mage specialized in water when he reached level 30, he might have noticed one more fact.

Tremble...

in the middle of that split sea, a single translucent droplet was flailing its little body with all its might.

'I can't even imagine how something like this is possible.'

Unfortunately, he had changed his specialty to [Sun].

Compared to the past, his understanding of water had actually grown worse.

And so, he could only think this.

'Though it'll be quite a difficult task.'

Before this sea had opened, those words that man named Shin Youngjun had spoken—

a language Elder Yun could not understand.

'I'm counting on you, Jeong Sua.'

That incantation was what had brought about the miracle of °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° splitting the sea.

***

Crossing the sea like that, the people finally stepped onto the mainland.

"It should at least be safe up to here."

"Yeah. We've come this far a few times ourselves."

Originally, this was already as far as Karhin's light reached.

As a result of the war they had fought at the cost of their lives, they had already destroyed the buildings and forests nearby that could cast shade.

As long as the white sun over their heads kept burning, there would be no major problem here.

If there was going to be a problem at all—

'...it would be past the front where we were fighting.'

In the end, the sun floated high above their heads.

If something blocked the space between and created physical shadow, then even the sun's light could no longer protect them underneath it.

If this problem had not existed, their Chairman would have led them and advanced on the capital in the first place.

"From here on, moving forward is going to be extremely difficult."

"Even if we try to avoid places where shadows can fall... whether that's even possible... huh?"

People wondered how they could avoid the shadows.

How they could make it in there at all.

But then—

step.

"H-he's just going?"

As if he had no intention of worrying about any of that, the man leading them simply started walking forward.

'H-he really is just going.'

'What in the world is he thinking...?'

Watching him, the people didn't even realize that, at some point, they had started using honorifics for him even in their own thoughts.

That enormous sun.

The healing power that had mended their wounds.

Even the miracle that had split the sea and guided them all the way to the continent.

People were undeniably overwhelmed by those impossible achievements.

But that and this were separate matters.

-Grrrk...

In reality, even among them, a few with especially sharp senses could feel it.

-Hooook, hooook.

-Kahaaaaaak...

From within those shadowed forests and between the buildings, countless presences were smacking their lips as they watched them.

'No matter how powerful he is, he can't fight the vampires head-on under the shadows.'

The moment they entered a zone where they no longer received the sun's protection, there were hunters waiting to rush them without hesitation and tear open their veins.

'No, before that...'

A question suddenly rose in their minds, one they had forgotten in the rush to escape.

'Where exactly... is the end point of this escape?'

Where in the world was that man taking them?

"...Damn it, even if we start wondering now, it doesn't exactly feel like he'd answer."

"Can't be helped."

Even carrying that unease, they naturally

"have no choice but to keep following him."

"...Normally, we'd have died on that island. He didn't go to all the trouble of dragging us all the way to the continent just to kill us."

In the end, they arrived at the conclusion that they had to follow that man.

Not only had he come to lead them, but despite not even having been among them for very long, they were accepting it as the most natural thing in the world that he was now guiding them.

"...Huh?"

Then, a little later, the people realized one thing.

"...Not once."

"We haven't passed through a single place with shadow."

Even if there was no shadow immediately ahead and they could head that way for the moment, if they followed the road long enough, they should inevitably come to a shadowed place.

But that man's steps did not pass through a single one of those shadows.

...As if

'he could see somewhere far away that no one else could.'

Beyond that demon realm packed with vampires, where ordinary scouts could not even be sent—

-Reconnaissance complete.

-If we detour a little to the right from here...

as if he had already gone ahead and seen it all.

***

'Haa, haa.'

Breathing hard, I kept moving forward.

-The straight route is a little faster, but there's a forest of high-rises there. From here, it'd be better to detour a little...

The guard members had already completed reconnaissance using stealth so good that even those vampires had trouble detecting them.

Following their guidance, I silently kept moving.

I could feel many gazes on my back.

My sense of smell and taste, sharpened through [Taste Bud Enhancement], let me sense the many questions they had as well.

If it were up to me, I'd explain what was happening right now and where exactly I was heading.

But—

'Hoo...'

unfortunately, I didn't have the spare energy to explain all that one by one.

It wasn't because it was annoying, or because I wanted to keep it secret.

'That bastard Karhin. He kept something like this going for that long?'

I just didn't have the strength to open my mouth.

Creating a sun.

Of course I'd expected it to be difficult.

But what I had made was less than half the size of Karhin's.

And even so, I was this exhausted.

I had even stacked foods that restored mana in anticipation of severe mana consumption.

At this point I was starting to wonder if the effects of those dishes were even kicking in.

'...No, this is more like...'

More than just high mana consumption...

it felt like something else was being drained too...

-Commander.

While I was thinking that, a voice reached my ears.

-Reconnaissance complete.

It was one of the troops who had been continuing to scout ahead and guide the route.

I had every intention of quietly moving as instructed.

But then—

-...However, we've run into a bit of a problem.

"......"

-Ahead on the route we're taking...

Only after I had walked a little farther did I realize what he was trying to say.

-They're blocking it.

Junk, garbage, filth, and grotesque structures made from the corpses of all kinds of monsters—

-...with a wall made of shadow.

They were blocking the sun and creating a wide expanse of shadow.

***

If you had to compare it to something, it was like a mushroom.

A long pillar planted upright, with something like a broad cap spread over the top of it.

The difference was that it was enormous and incredibly tall,

and—

"That thing..."

"...Are those monster corpses?"

its composition was more grotesque than any poisonous mushroom could ever be.

"The structure is simple. It's a hastily thrown-together construction."

"...Even so, for it to already be this massive. Did they start building it the moment we left the island?"

"How fast do those bastards move? Damn it."

Towering structures of all kinds of junk lashed together with monster muscle and flesh.

Underneath them, the sun's light could not reach, making it terribly dark.

Those structures had been built all across the area ahead of them for hundreds, maybe thousands of kilometers, blocking their path.

'They're simple structures. No matter if those vampires control all the monsters on the continent, they wouldn't have had enough time.'

If a battle broke out inside there, bringing those structures down would not actually be that hard.

At the very least, wherever the structures collapsed, sunlight would pour in.

If anything, even that battlefield still favored them.

But—

the tide of battle is overwhelmingly against us.

Those grotesque structures stretched on without end.

It hadn't even been many days since they began their escape, and yet a wall of that scale had already been built.

Which meant an overwhelming number of vampires, enough to make that possible, had gathered around this area.

The advantage or disadvantage of the battlefield itself meant very little if the enemy's numbers were simply too large.

-Even if it takes a little longer, I recommend making a wide detour.

That was why the troops handling reconnaissance made a suggestion to their commander.

-It's so broad that the detour will take a long time, but farther away there's terrain where structures like that can't be built at all. If we detour there first and then advance...

In that case, they could keep moving forward without fighting a dangerous battle.

That was the idea.

But—

-That's not possible.

A quiet, secret report the troops had delivered so only their commander could hear.

There was someone else listening in.

-A detour is impossible.

I opened my mouth as I looked at the eavesdropper.

"...Karhin."

***

When the troops suggested a detour, I had also intended to choose that option rather than stepping into that dangerous battlefield.

But then—

-A detour is impossible.

The one who had been listening in on the conversation between me and my troops.

At Karhin's words, I had no choice but to frown. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

'With powers like his, I guess it can't be helped that things can't be hidden from him.'

Still, eavesdropping on a conversation between me and my troops?

It didn't feel great.

......

But then, realizing my own feelings, I was struck by how strange they were.

'If it's Karhin's ability, I already knew he could probably hear it anyway... so why am I angry?'

Normally, I would've brushed something like that off as nothing.

The fact that I had actually felt anger over it was what felt strange.

"If you're telling us not to detour, then what exactly do you mean by that?"

It wasn't me who answered Karhin.

It was Jeong Sua, walking close beside me.

At her words, Karhin, deeply wrapped in darkness, lowered his head as if in thought.

-I know that place is dangerous as well. But...

And then.

Only after hearing what he said next did I realize the reason for the irritation I normally would not have felt.

The problem wasn't that he had eavesdropped on the conversation between me and my troops.

-If you make a detour that long... your king will not endure it.

"...What did you just say?"

Right now, I was utterly exhausted.