"Somehow... my chest feels tight. Maybe I'm nervous because my friend is about to give a speech...?"

"I-I think I'm going to be sick."

Vigdís and Ríolíkin exchanged those words, both wearing distinctly nauseated expressions.

Vigdís's guess was wrong, of course.

It wasn't nervousness over Helga's speech.

As proof, murmurs of discomfort began spreading throughout the auditorium.

People all around us were voicing similar complaints at the same time.

Motion sickness.

Like being dragged out of water after falling in.

Exactly the symptoms described in the original novel.

According to the setting of the original work, the concentration of Ether in the surrounding atmosphere momentarily spikes just before a Demon Realm Transformation occurs.

Then it quickly returns to normal.

In other words, the strange sensation everyone—including me—had just experienced was the precursor to the Demon Realm Transformation.

And after this...

A translucent window displaying one's status would appear before their eyes.

Not for everyone.

Only for the handful of individuals who had Awakened.

A window appeared before me as well.

It informed me that I had undergone an Awakening.

I describe it as informing me because I already knew what it meant, but...

To someone without that knowledge, it would look like nothing more than a strange illusion that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

The Awakening System wasn't kind enough to explain itself.

Just look at Reisir.

He had discovered his Inventory Ability entirely by accident in Episode 84.

That alone demonstrated how unfriendly this world's Awakening System was.

Besides, this is already a fantasy world where Ether exists.

It's not as though some completely foreign superpower suddenly appeared.

For the record, just because I'm explaining all this now doesn't mean I was calmly analyzing the situation in real time.

This was something I could only narrate afterward.

In reality, the status window had only just appeared.

I never bothered reading it.

Before the text even entered my vision, I dismissed it.

What was the point?

Looking at a numerical status screen now wouldn't magically change the values written there.

Reading it would accomplish nothing except waste precious time.

"Gasp...! S-something strange suddenly appeared in front of my eyes...!"

"I-I see it too. My name is written there, and... something else..."

The newly Awakened Vigdís and Ríolíkin instinctively waved their hands through the status window and examined the text displayed there.

However, their attention quickly shifted elsewhere.

Or rather, they had no choice.

Because—

"Uwaaaah!! A-an earthquake!"

"W-what?! Why are plants suddenly growing?!"

"Kyaaaah! M-Mom! Dad! Professor!"

"E-everyone, please calm down! For now... uh... please remain calm!"

—the ground began shaking violently.

Cracks split across the floor, walls, and ceiling.

From those fissures, enormous trunks and dense vegetation erupted like a flood.

The newly grown plants widened the cracks further and rapidly tore the building apart.

Ironically, they also reinforced it.

The roots and trunks supported the structure during the quake, preventing a total collapse.

As a result, students weren't immediately crushed beneath falling debris.

"K-Kar. What's happening?!"

Vigdís wasn't asking because she believed I knew the answer.

She was simply overwhelmed and instinctively turned to the nearest familiar face.

"I don't know either."

"R-right..."

"For now, take care of Reisir."

"Yes...? What do you mea— Ah! What's wrong with Reisir?!"

As the original novel made clear, the boss monster did not appear the instant the Demon Realm Transformation began.

If Reisir had been able to pull himself together and rush to protect his childhood friend the moment the transformation started, he could have saved her.

But he couldn't.

The reason was simple.

A trauma-induced panic attack.

If I had to summarize Reisir's current condition in a single sentence, that would be it.

At this very moment, his mind was probably wandering through the nightmare of the past.

A world where everyone died.

A world where he lost everything.

Exactly as it had happened in the original novel.

Even the boss monster's spawn location...

It's hard not to see it as a device Author Senna created to guarantee Helga's death.

The sight of Reisir gasping for breath, terror filling a face that had never shown fear before, made anxiety surge through me.

Even though I had known this would happen.

Even though I had already accepted that I couldn't rely on him.

For some reason, it still felt wrong.

Impossible.

Was it because he had appeared so overwhelmingly capable during the tournament?

Or because only a few hours ago he had been smiling and chatting about novels like an ordinary person?

The thought flashed through my mind.

Then vanished.

I didn't have the luxury to dwell on it.

Not emotionally.

Not temporally.

"Ríolíkin. At least keep your head clear. Right now, you're the only person I can trust."

"Y-Yes! Ah—yes...!!"

I ignored the fact that his response sounded profoundly unreliable.

Forcing my gaze away from Reisir, I looked toward the rostrum.

There stood Helga.

Alone.

Frozen.

Unable to decide what to do.

The same was true for everyone else.

The auditorium exits had already been sealed shut by unfamiliar plants.

No one knew what was happening outside.

A reckless escape attempt offered no guarantees.

As a result, the professors could do nothing except repeat:

"Remain calm."

"Please stay calm."

Like parrots.

Again and again.

Naturally, the chaos only worsened.

Crying could be heard throughout the hall.

The word terror appeared on countless lips.

They're probably assuming an Awakened with a plant-related Ether Attribute Ability caused all this.

Unlike everyone else, I wasn't facing an unknown threat.

Even so, I couldn't escape tension.

Or fear.

Or anxiety.

My heart pounded.

My thoughts grew hazy.

I reminded myself of what needed to be done.

First, the buffs.

Most of the students had already stood up in shock.

But the folding chairs had been arranged tightly to begin with.

There still wasn't enough room to properly swing a whip.

If I tried, someone would inevitably get hit.

Fortunately, this was a situation I had already anticipated.

Without panicking, I extended my hand toward Yor.

"Yor. Can you make a loud sound with an obj—"

"Meow!"

"...object."

Yor must have been in an incredible hurry.

Before I could even finish the phrase we had agreed upon beforehand, a braided bracelet decorated with a pearl no larger than a fingernail wrapped itself around my wrist.

The baby dragon hadn't fastened it herself.

The Yeouiju had transformed into a ring of light and attached itself in that shape.

I had no idea how it worked.

The Yeouiju could apparently do much more than merely toggle its bell sound on and off.

It could adjust the volume.

And during our strategy meeting, when I asked to borrow it, Yor had casually demonstrated that it could transform into a bracelet as well.

Seriously, what even is this Yeouiju...?

Putting that mystery aside.

Before activating 【Exaltation】, I first used 【Encouragement】 on myself and Yor.

Naturally, I had no intention of sending Yor to fight the boss monster.

Even so, there was a reason I had gone out of my way to buff her.

During our strategy meeting, Yor had confidently claimed she possessed a clever method capable of restraining the boss monster for at least ten seconds.

When I asked what that method was, she had merely gone, "Nyang, nyang," and refused to write anything on the whiteboard.

I still had no idea what she was planning.

But if things went wrong, aggro could shift onto Yor.

And she could be hurt.

So we had agreed to layer as many keyword buffs onto her as possible.

Just in case.

Has Reisir improved at all?

Vigdís was desperately talking to him, trying to bring him back to reality.

None of her words reached him.

His face remained pale.

His eyes remained unfocused.

He couldn't fight.

He barely looked capable of moving.

Would buffing him even matter?

Wouldn't it just waste Ether?

The question surfaced in my mind.

"Myat! Myaaa!!"

Yor suddenly pointed toward the rostrum and shouted.

I immediately turned.

For an instant, it felt as though Helga's gaze met mine.

But that wasn't important.

The space beside her had begun to distort.

According to the original novel, once that distortion appeared, the monster emerged within five seconds.

There was no longer time to think.

The completely incapacitated Reisir.

Helga standing blankly atop the rostrum.

Myself.

Yor.

Ríolíkin.

Vigdís.

I targeted all six of us with 【Exaltation】.

—Chime!—

Purple Ether flowed into the Yeouiju.

I lightly shook my wrist.

A clear, resonant bell tone echoed through the entire auditorium.

Chime—

Chime...

The sound bounced off the walls and lingered in the air.

As I explained back in Episode 18, increasing the volume does not infinitely increase the buff's effect.

There is a maximum limit.

If my sole purpose had been buffing everyone, there would have been no reason to make the sound this loud.

The reason I did so was simple.

I wanted everyone's attention.

And when I say everyone, I don't just mean the students.

I also mean the boss monster that had just appeared.

Because in the original novel, the moment it materialized, it immediately swung its gigantic fist at the person standing before it.

Helga.

And killed her in a single blow.

Just to be safe, I also pulled the dagger concealed within my clothes.

After reinforcing it with Ether, I threw it with all my strength.

"Kuuuoh...?"

The boss monster casually swatted the dagger aside with a simple wave of its arm.

I was under both 【Encouragement】 and 【Exaltation】.

That had been a full-force throw.

The result felt absurdly futile.

Still, I had achieved my objective.

I had successfully drawn its aggro.

"Uh... uhh... L-Lord Karvaldr...?"

The enormous monster turned toward me.

Its arms were so long they nearly dragged along the ground.

Its body stood well over three meters tall.

Beside me, Ríolíkin called out in obvious panic.

As though demanding to know why I would do something so reckless.

"Ríolíkin. You said playing together was fun. You said you wanted to protect me. I'll trust those words."

"Ah, uh... th-that's..."

The monster's physique surpassed Ríolíkin's.

Its ability to understand the situation surpassed his as well.

What I mean is—

While Ríolíkin was still frozen in confusion, the boss monster had already finished preparing to charge.

"Kwoooar!!"

It roared.

Its massive body crouched.

Ready to launch itself toward us.

"Kyaooooong—!!!!!!"

My dependable baby dragon hissed.

Fierce hostility blazed from her eyes as she glared directly at the boss monster.

And then something astonishing happened.

The monster abruptly stopped moving.

Earlier, I said it had finished preparing to charge, not that it had actually charged.

This was why.

It had assumed the posture.

It had made all the preparations.

But it could not take even a single step forward.