Did I just hear that right?
What the hell?
We had only been planning to participate in the key battle. We were still trying to figure out where the other keys were, and now someone had already collected enough of them to awaken the Voilà spell? After a moment of consideration, I could only think of two possibilities.
The first was that the girl had managed to do it because it simply wasn't that difficult. Maybe once you found the first key, the path became obvious, and the remaining challenge was only a matter of reaching the others. If that was the case, then this tournament was far easier than I had expected. The second possibility was much less comforting.
She was simply strong.Strong enough to clear the branch through sheer ability.I wanted to believe the first possibility.Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to sit around figuring out which one was true.
The moment the announcement came, the next branch race had already begun. Other participants were moving forward while we were still stuck on Branch One. If we wanted to catch up, we had to move. There was no point wondering how Elaria had done it. Whatever the answer was, the result remained the same.
We had less than twenty-four hours to find the Voilà spell.
And we didn't even know where it was.
Alysa looked around at the enormous branch beneath us, then toward the distant paths disappearing between the trees.
"I guess we can't relax anymore. They're fast and... strange."
"Strange?"
She nodded.
I didn't bother asking what she meant. There were more important things to worry about.
"We need to find the Voilà spell before the time runs out," I said. "But there's a problem. We don't know where it is. We can run, but where exactly are we supposed to run to?"
Alysa frowned.
Then an idea came to me.
"Alysa. Can you sense other people's presence through your connection with the tree?"
Her expression immediately changed.
It wasn't fear exactly.
It was hesitation.
The kind of hesitation someone had when they knew they could do something, but had never actually tried doing it before.
"I... can try."
She slowly placed her hand against the branch.
"Sight."
The moment she spoke, a faint green light appeared in her eyes.
The change was immediate.
The branches around us trembled.
Leaves rustled despite there being almost no wind. Small plants pushed themselves through cracks in the wood, vines shifted across the surface, and countless tiny movements spread through the enormous branch beneath our feet.
Alysa's expression became blank.
For several seconds, she didn't move.
I watched her carefully.
What exactly was she doing?
Then she spoke.
"Two fairies on the western path. They're fighting each other."
Fighting?
That was strange.
I couldn't imagine they were fighting over the Voilà spell. If they knew its location, wouldn't they be moving toward it instead?
Alysa continued.
"There are four... no, five fairies running toward the eastern path."
She paused.
"Another group is moving north."
Another pause.
"Three people are hiding somewhere near the roots."
She continued reporting them one after another.
Fairies running in different directions.
Groups fighting.
Others hiding.
Some simply moving without any apparent purpose.
The information kept coming.
Too much of it.
And then I noticed something else.
Alysa's breathing had changed.
Her shoulders were beginning to droop.
Her face was becoming pale.
"Alysa."
She didn't respond.
"Alysa."
Her fingers were still pressed against the branch.
"Your condition looks terrible. Stop."
She gave a small laugh.
"I'd love to, but I can't."
I froze.
"What does that mean?"
Instead of answering, I looked more closely at her.
Then it clicked.
"Tell me exactly how you're sensing all of this."
She answered as casually as if I had asked what she ate for breakfast.
"I'm using my consciousness and connecting it with the tree. It's like... a wifi with a mobile."
Normally, I would have had no idea what she meant.
But this time, I understood.
Not because of her terrible explanation.
Because I had already realized what she was doing.
My expression darkened.
She wasn't merely sensing the surroundings.
She had connected her consciousness directly to the tree.
And everything the tree could perceive was flowing back into her.
"Alysa!"
I grabbed her shoulder.
"Pull your consciousness back!"
She looked at me in surprise.
"If someone damages the tree or disrupts your connection while you're doing this, you could lose yourself in the branch!"
Her eyes widened slightly.
"I... am alright—"
"The hell you are!"
My voice came out harsher than I intended.
"This is taking a toll on your mind. You're receiving too much information directly into your consciousness. Pull back before I beat you, brat!"
"?!"
She immediately became nervous.
"Okay!"
For once, she didn't argue.
Slowly, she withdrew her hand from the branch. The green glow in her eyes faded, and I could almost feel the pressure around her disappearing.
She stood there quietly for a few seconds.
Then she looked at me.
"Why are you angry at me? I was just trying to sense the others."
I took a deep breath.
"I'm angry at myself too."
"Yourself?"
"Yes."
I looked away.
"Because I asked you to do it."
I had wanted information.
I hadn't considered what she would have to do to obtain it.
Sensing someone nearby was one thing. Connecting your consciousness to an enormous living structure and allowing its entire perception to flow through your mind was something else entirely.
It was like connecting yourself to a massive network and allowing every piece of information to flood directly into your brain.
No filter.
No protection.
Just everything.
And somehow, she had done it without even realizing how dangerous it was.
"Listen carefully brat!," I said. "Never do that again."
She puffed out her cheeks.
"What do you mean, brat? Don't treat me like a child!"
Ah.
There it was.
Apparently, brat was the part she cared about.
"Whatever. We'll talk about this later. Right now, we need to move. According to what you sensed, the other participants are already moving toward different paths. We didn't get enough information, but we can still—"
"But I did get something."
I stopped.
"What?"
Alysa crouched slightly, resting one hand against her knee.
"I saw a place."
Her voice was quieter this time.
"There was a huge light on the ground. Lots of people were gathered around it. I only saw it for a moment, but I think it's somewhere along the western path."
My eyes narrowed.
"The Voilà spell?"
"Maybe."
"How far?"
She thought for a moment.
"If I walk there..."
She looked toward the west.
"...two days."
Two days?
I stared at her.
Then I looked at the countdown.
We didn't have two days.
We didn't even have one.
"Can you tell me the actual distance?"
She smiled brightly.
"If I walk there, I'll definitely reach it in two days. I'm confident."
I stared at her smile.
Why did she look proud?
Then I noticed the word she had used.
Walk.
"Who said we're going to walk?"
Her smile disappeared.
"Huh?"
I turned around and began preparing my equipment.
"Get ready."
She looked even more confused.
"What are we doing?"
"You'll see."
I didn't explain.
Instead, I waited until she had gathered her things.
Then I looked at her.
"Run with me. When I tell you to, take my hand."
She hesitated.
"Okay..."
Then she smiled.
"I trust you. So let's run."
We started moving.
At first, everything went exactly as expected.
The wind flowed around us.
The massive leaves shifted beneath our feet.
The branch stretched into the distance like an endless road made from living wood.
I felt the breeze gathering around my body.
Perfect.
I could use Wind's Breeze.
I sped up.
Then faster.
The distance between us increased.
I turned around.
"Now! Jump and grab my—"
Alysa wasn't there.
I stopped.
For a moment, I simply stared at the empty space behind me.
Then I saw her.
She was running.
Technically.
Calling it running, however, felt like an insult to the concept of running itself.
She was moving so slowly that I almost wondered if the branch beneath her was dragging her backward.
I walked back toward her.
"Are you running?"
She stopped and bent forward, breathing heavily.
"I am running as fast as I can!"
"This is your fastest?"
"Yes!"
I stared at her.
Then sighed.
"If you're running this slowly, I'm afraid to ask how you walk."
She glared at me.
I had finally understood the problem.
She wasn't just inexperienced.
She was slow.
Very slow.
And when she said the destination was two days away, she had meant two days at her own speed.
"When you said it was far, you meant far for you?"
"Of course!"
She looked offended.
"I can't move like you! I'm a normal human!"
That explained far more than I wanted it to.
"How are you this slow?"
She scratched her cheek.
"I never really ran before."
"What?"
"Not in the Human Realm. I mostly played games."
She laughed.
"Wasn't I amazing?"
I stared at her.
Ah.
So she had basically been a shut-in.
Great.
We were running out of time, and my partner had the physical ability of someone who had spent her entire life sitting in front of a screen.
"Sorry, kid. We're in a hurry."
I grabbed her with one arm.
"Wait—"
I lifted her.
She was lighter than I expected.
Then I ran.
"AAAAAH!"
Her scream echoed across the branch.
The wind began rushing past us.
I gathered it beneath my feet, then jumped onto a massive leaf as it drifted through the current.
The leaf tilted.
The surrounding breeze caught it.
And suddenly we were rising.
Alysa squeezed her eyes shut.
"Open them, brat! It's fine!"
"Are you sure?!"
"Probably!"
"Probably?!"
She slowly opened one eye.
Then the other.
Her expression changed.
"We're flying..."
I didn't answer.
She looked around.
The massive branch stretched beneath us, covered in forests of wood, flowers, roots, pillars and strange structures formed by the living tree. From this height, the entire branch looked less like a battlefield and more like another world.
Alysa stared at the scenery.
"It's beautiful..."
For a moment, she was completely silent.
Then she looked at me.
"How can you fly and never tell me?"
"We were sharing information about our elemental abilities."
"Flying seems like important information!"
"I just learned it."
"Huh?!"
Her eyes widened.
"You just learned it?!"
I ignored her.
That was a mistake.
Because she started talking again.
"How? You never did this before? What if we crash? Are we going to fall? What happens if the leaf breaks? Can you control it? What if—"
I placed my hand over her mouth.
"Shut it, kid."
She glared at me.
Then she mumbled something against my hand.
I removed it.
"I heard a lesson of falling is needed to succeed in anything."
"And?"
"What if that lesson happens now?"
I sighed.
"I already fell once."
She released a relieved breath.
"Good."
Then she went silent.
For several seconds.
I could feel her staring at me.
I refused to look.
If I looked at her, another question would come.
But eventually, the silence became uncomfortable enough that I glanced over.
She immediately spoke.
"So you're not going to fall for the second lesson, right?"
I almost pushed her off the leaf.
Maybe I really should teach her the second lesson.
After a while, she pointed toward the western path.
She had only seen the location for a moment through the tree, but somehow she remembered its direction perfectly.
Her memory was surprisingly good.
We continued flying until the wind became harder to control.
Eventually, I had to land.
My feet touched the branch.
I stumbled slightly.
"Let me catch my breath."
Alysa looked toward the key golem.
The numbers displayed on it were still counting down.
15:54:48
Her expression changed.
She looked worried.
I noticed immediately.
She thought she was slowing me down.
Maybe she was.
But that didn't matter.
She was my teammate.
She had started this with me.
And I had asked her to use her ability.
So I was responsible for her.
There was no going back.
We had started together.
We would finish together.
After a short rest, we moved again.
The time was running out.
Along the way, we saw several fairies.
Something was wrong with them.
They weren't simply competing.
They were fighting without purpose.
Some attacked each other.
Others ran in random directions.
A few looked completely confused.
We also encountered several wooden monsters, but none of them could stop us for long.
We took three more breaks along the way.
Each one was shorter than the last.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we reached the location Alysa had described.
I deliberately landed a little farther away.
If there were really fairies gathered around the Voilà spell, walking directly into them would be stupid.
Alysa looked at the timer.
"4:38:29."
She swallowed.
"We don't have much time."
Then she looked toward the distant area.
"Let me try sensing them again."
Here we go again.
"We don't have time for this."
"But—"
"I said never do that again. Don't you listen to adults?"
Her face immediately became irritated.
"I heard you're only seventeen!"
I froze.
"You aren't an adult either, mister!"
...
Huh?
Now she was talking back?
It hadn't even been two days, and we were already at this stage?
Kids were strange.
She crossed her arms.
"I'm only two years younger than you. So don't talk to me like that."
Then she pointed toward the area ahead.
"We're a team now. We're not sightseeing. We need to be rational."
That...
Actually hurt.
But she wasn't entirely wrong.
We didn't know what was waiting ahead.
I was exhausted.
My control over Wind's Breeze wasn't perfect.
And if there were a large number of fairies gathered around the Voilà spell, walking in blindly could get us eliminated.
I took a breath.
"No."
Alysa blinked.
"As you said, we're a team."
I looked directly at her.
"So I can't let my teammate put herself in danger just because we're short on time."
I folded my arms.
"How's that, brat?"
She went silent.
Good.
Maybe the words had finally sunk in.
Now we had a more important question.
How were we supposed to approach the Voilà spell?
I was exhausted, and I couldn't fight at full strength.
Walking directly into the area was risky.
We needed information first.
Then I heard voices.
Someone was coming from behind.
I immediately grabbed Alysa and pulled her into the bushes.
I used the wind to scatter our scent.
We stayed still.
A few seconds later, four fairies appeared.
I recognized two of them.
Unfortunately.
One was the noble brat we had met during registration.
What was his name again?
I couldn't remember.
The other was the guy standing behind him.
Probably his servant.
He carried several things and looked exhausted, yet his face showed almost no emotion.
A gloomy aura surrounded him.
The four fairies walked past us while talking.
"So you're saying the Voilà spell can't be used for five minutes after someone is teleported?"
"That's what I've heard."
"So there is a five-minute cooldown after every teleportation?"
"Exactly."
My eyes narrowed.
That was important.
They were talking about the Voilà spell.
That meant they had already been near it.
I pulled Alysa closer so we wouldn't be noticed.
Everything was going perfectly.
Until Alysa saw them.
Her eyes widened.
Then she spoke in a loud voice.
"They're the ones who messed with us the other day, right?"
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
Of course she had to say it.
Good job, brat.
It wasn't quite loud enough for the noble to hear.
I almost relaxed.
Then the servant stopped.
His head slowly turned.
He looked directly toward the bushes.
"...Huh?"
My body became tense.
Did he sense us?
The atmosphere changed instantly.
The forest seemed to become quieter.
I looked at the countdown.
4:32:47
Four hours.
That was all we had left to clear the First Branch.
And now the four fairies were standing only a short distance away.
The servant's eyes remained fixed on our hiding place.
Something told me that our little race to the Voilà spell had just become much more complicated.