Chapter 62

After a short rest, the party entered the center of the Monster Forest and immediately had a chaotic time dealing with the relentless attacks of high-level monsters. Enria, too, constantly cast divine barriers around the group to protect them from the surging monsters. She also summoned her own summons, contributing to the attack, which proved to be more helpful than expected.

Roseanne also used powerful magic, just as she had in the original story, working harder than anyone to deal with the monsters. Enria, seeing Roseanne’s powerful magic with her own eyes—magic that was more spectacular and stronger than the attribute magic used by the spirits—was left speechless in amazement.

Perhaps out of jealousy even toward Roseanne, Caldeon continued to wear a displeased expression, seeing Enria unable to take her eyes off Roseanne throughout the battle.

“You said you would look for the Magron?” Tearen, who had been supporting the spirits with his illusion magic, asked Enria when they finally had a moment to catch their breath.

“Ah, yes. In the prophetic dream, the Magron delayed our work and put us in danger, so I think it would be better to find and deal with it beforehand.”

“The Magron’s location is…”

“It probably has a habitat near the Immortal Tree in the center of the Monster Forest.” Before Tearen could even finish his question, Enria provided the Magron’s exact habitat, which was not listed in the Monster Encyclopedia. Caldeon’s gaze changed to one of slight curiosity.

However, Enria was oblivious to Caldeon’s stare and began to pour out details she had read in the original story to Tearen. “The Magron repeatedly causes massive water surges, and then accurately targets those who try to escape the surge and counterattack. We absolutely must be careful of that situation.”

Recalling the part where Caldeon injured his shoulder while trying to counterattack after dodging the Magron’s water surge, she emphasized that the Magron targets those who emerge from the water surge, so they must be absolutely cautious of that moment.

Tearen, Roseanne, and Rahar nodded, but Caldeon watched Enria with a strange gaze. It was understandable, as she knew such detailed information about the Magron’s fighting style that wasn’t even in the Monster Encyclopedia.

“What?” Enria noticed his stare and asked.

Caldeon shook his head and simply said that he was curious how she knew so much about a monster not even listed in the encyclopedia.

Realizing her slip-up, Enria quickly rolled her eyes and then, remembering a plausible excuse, looked at him with an awkward expression. “I saw the battle with the Magron in my dream. I remembered it because the Magron’s repeated behavioral pattern was unique.”

Enria explained that in the dream, the sudden appearance of the Magron had delayed their work of destroying the path the Black Mage created and put the participating party members in danger. Therefore, she continued, dealing with the Magron first would make the next step easier.

Roseanne nodded in agreement, saying, “If it’s a prophetic dream, there’s a high possibility of that happening, so we should find the Magron first.” Tearen and Rahar also nodded, agreeing that it was necessary.

Caldeon also seemed to think it was the best approach and looked at Eva, saying, “Since the Magron is a water attribute monster, this is something you should remember well.”

“Yes. And Undy is with us, so we can handle the Magron’s water surges.” Undy also nodded at Eva’s words, as if telling them to leave it to her.

Enria was somewhat relieved by the situation, which was much more robust than the original story. She could relax to some extent, feeling that Caldeon would not be in danger this time as he was in the original. She sincerely hoped so.

As they proceeded deeper, the party members collectively adopted a guarded stance when they began to see the raw stones that confirmed the Magron’s habitat. Inside the blue raw stones clinging to the ground and trees, a faint stream of water shimmered. Since the moment the water inside the stones began to swirl indicated the Magron’s proximity, it was a very good sign for preparing for its appearance.

Enria walked with the party, observing the water streams inside the stones becoming increasingly agitated. Upon entering a certain distance, the water streams began to swirl fiercely. Seeing this, Enria used summoning magic to summon two winged Golems. The Golems, about twice Caldeon’s size, stood on either side of him, slowly moving their necks as they guarded him.

‘I wasn’t here in the original story, but since I am here now, I will absolutely prevent Caldeon’s shoulder from being injured.’

Enria also stepped forward to block Caldeon, watching for the possible appearance of the Magron.

Caldeon looked confused, seeing the Golems guarding his flanks and Enria blocking his front. “Enria, the protection target of these Golems seems incorrect. And you, too.”

“No, Lord Caldeon is the correct target.”

“Me? Not Hayden?”

“Hayden is being well-protected by Silri and Windel, so he’s fine. The person I intend to protect is Lord Caldeon.”

At Enria’s confident words, Tearen and Rahar involuntarily burst into laughter. Tearen said it was refreshing that the great Caldeon was being protected by the woman he loved, and Rahar found the situation of Caldeon being protected—which was rarely seen—to be amusingly uncomfortable.

“Protection is my job, Enria. You just need to stay next to me and feel safe.”

“No. Lord Caldeon promised to protect me and Hayden, and I promised to protect Lord Caldeon, so this is correct.” Enria firmly shut down Caldeon’s attempt to speak. Seeing the water streams swirling increasingly violently inside the raw stones, she gathered her divine power and cast a barrier around the party.

Suddenly, a fierce jet of water flew in from somewhere, aimed straight at Caldeon. One of the Golems quickly blocked Caldeon, protected him, and was instantly crushed.

Fortunately, Caldeon was safe and unharmed, but Enria was slightly flustered as the divine barrier she cast was instantly breached. The Magron, whose instinct was to immediately eliminate the most dangerous opponent, failed to attack Caldeon and revealed its true form.

Slightly different from the Monster Encyclopedia’s description of it looking like a giant dragon, it resembled a turtle with many horns scattered across its body. It was true that it was the size of a small mountain, and its hunting method—creating massive water surges and spitting out jets of water—matched the description in the Monster Encyclopedia.

Enria instinctively wrapped layers of divine power around Caldeon. Fearing that one or two layers would be breached as before, she wrapped so many layers that the transparent barrier turned faint white, making Caldeon look startled.

Regardless, Enria continued to pour divine power around Caldeon. Eva and Undy countered the Magron with the same water attribute. The rest of the party continued to fight the other monsters, not the Magron. Silri and Windel formed a protective shield with wind to prevent the Magron’s massive jets of water from reaching Hayden.

Caldeon, for his part, attacked the monsters rushing toward them with black magic to protect Enria. He also assisted Undy and Eva, who were struggling against the Magron. Since the Magron possessed strength that even two spirits could not easily handle, the other party members, while dealing with the rushing monsters, occasionally launched attacks at the Magron like Caldeon. Silri and Windel focused all their attention on protecting Hayden, as he was their priority.

After a short while, as the number of monsters decreased, Caldeon joined the battle against the Magron. He quickly dodged the Magron’s water surge, then blocked the incoming jets of water with his sword as he ran toward the Magron. A black shadow generated around his body quickly flew toward the Magron, wrapping and binding its neck, arms, and legs. Caldeon thrust the sword, which he held horizontally with both hands, forcefully into the Magron.

Enria assisted Caldeon. Fearing that the Magron might injure Caldeon’s shoulder as it did in the original story, she continued to summon Golems to block the jets of water flying toward him.

That was the moment. Caldeon’s sword precisely struck the Magron’s heart. From Caldeon’s hands holding the sword, a jet-black shadow rapidly spread and flowed into the Magron’s body. The black shadow, consuming the Magron’s body, soon tore the monster apart, and the battle with the Magron, which seemed unlikely to end easily, concluded instantly with Caldeon’s attack.

Enria was inwardly relieved that the Magron was killed without Caldeon’s shoulder being harmed. Since he hadn’t injured his shoulder in the fight against the Magron, he would fortunately avoid being put in a sling and having to wear an arm brace due to a dislocated shoulder during the confrontation with the mutant monster.

‘Still, just in case, I need to be careful when we meet the mutant monster too.’

Enria contemplated which summon she should use during the battle with the mutant monster to protect Caldeon’s shoulder.

Unaware of Enria’s thoughts, Caldeon was discussing with Tearen, who asked if there was truly no way to kill the mutant monster other than restraining it with Roseanne’s binding ability, whether he could somehow kill it with black magic.

Hearing their conversation, Enria looked sternly at Caldeon and said, “Absolutely not, don’t even dream of it. The mutant monster is not one that black magic works on. Black magic absolutely will not work!”

As Enria repeated the same warning to Caldeon, the gazes of all the party members turned toward her.

“It really is a monster that nothing works on except Rose’s binding magic.” Enria detailed the mutant monster episode from the original story, disguised as her prophetic dream, to the party. “It’s not a monster listed in the Monster Encyclopedia, so we don’t know how it was created, but it’s definite that nothing works except binding magic.”

“Since it’s a prophetic dream, isn’t there a possibility that it might be slightly different in reality?” Tearen asked.

Enria, who was about to open her mouth to say there was no such possibility, paused. She realized that she had no idea whether Tearen’s illusion magic would work on the mutant monster. After all, Tearen, the illusionist, was not present during the battle with the mutant monster in the original story. If Tearen’s illusion magic worked on the mutant monster, it could change the situation—where there was no solution other than restraining the mutant monster with Roseanne’s binding ability—into a more favorable one.

Having thought that far, Enria’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Tearen and said, “Illusion magic might be possible. Lord Tearen did not appear in my dream.”