The Sage that the Sword Saint is Obsessed With

Chapter 37

37 – 9. The Witch’s Curse (10)

Space was cleaved.

The dream world of Aurora transformed into a bizarre form.

The lower half is a dense forest, while the upper half is an ashy plateau.

The landscape began to blur.

“Huh…,” Leuen grunted, releasing tension throughout his body.

In a single stroke, he unleashed all his mana.

It was truly a crude sword technique, as evident from what was visible.

How long had it been since he last used a technique of this caliber…?

It was when he encountered Imbres, one of the commanders, the Butcher.

For the first time, he had considered retreating.

He could have escaped alone.

But if he had fled alone, the entire knight order would have been annihilated.

To stop the Butcher preparing a massacre, he had poured all his mana into this crude sword technique.

He turned his head, barely, to look at the witch.

Aurora, the witch of dreams, wriggled with resilient vitality despite her body being halved.

But death was inevitable.

Aurora felt emptiness.

Witches, like the immortal elves blessed by the World Tree, lived eternally.

Having lived for hundreds of years, she had imagined her death at least once.

What would be my end?

If she were to die, she had expected to feel complete boredom in life and eventually take her own life.

The outcome of being cut in half was beyond her imagination.

Aurora turned her head, vomiting blood.

Her golden eyes met his.

“…”

They stared at each other in silence.

As if dealing with two monsters.

The wizard he faced just moments ago was astounding, but this swordsman was equally astonishing.

There was no malice from the swordsman.

He only sought to deal with the intrusion into the dungeon.

This is not just about dungeons.

Anyone would have tried to deal with intruders on their land.

Now, a sense of malice had arisen.

He decided to take the examiner who had given him an empty death that belittled centuries as his companion, Gil Dong-moo.

Aurora used all the remaining mana.

A black spinning wheel emerged.

“…!”

Feeling the ominous aura, Leewen tried to leave this place, but due to using all the mana, standing up was impossible.

The wheel spins.

Something like a red thread was pulled out from Leewen’s chest and got caught in the wheel. As the wheel turned, it continued to pull out.

Trembling, Leewen managed to move his arm.

He grabbed the thread.

But it pierced through his hand.

He couldn’t do anything.

“…See you in the afterlife.”

Aurora smiled with a sinister grin.

Fell into eternal sleep.

The black spinning wheel that had been pulling the thread out of Leewin disappeared.

The blurry, undulating world melted like flowing paint and returned to its original state.

What was that magic just now?

There doesn’t seem to be a major problem with the body.

What I feel right now is just the intense fatigue coming from the recoil of using up all the mana. I’m barely holding on with my mental strength.

“What’s going on?”

Evan, who had been pursuing the witch, tearing through the interference of the Grand Forest that moved like a living organism, checked the dead witch cut in half.

“Did you take care of her?”

This time, he looked at another witch stuck to the ground like a slime.

“…Yes.”

Leewen nodded with a smirk.

Growling, Evan looked around again.

What should I do to cut down even the Grand Forest?

There was a deep, large scar on the wall.

Step by step.

He approached the witch’s corpse.

I don’t feel any mana.

She’s definitely dead.

“Get up. Let’s keep going down.”

This witch must be the owner of the dungeon, but there must be a path further down.

If we defeat the dungeon boss, we can claim the rewards for conquering the dungeon.

If she had conducted her own research on magic, there must be records or magical books related to it.

Although illusion magic isn’t their preference, it would be good to learn it.

“Um….”

Lwenn hesitated and called out to Evan.

“I can’t stand up right now….”

“Why?”

“….I’ve completely depleted my mana.”

She didn’t want to burden Evan.

But right now, Lwenn was in a state where she couldn’t move without someone’s help.

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“You used up all your mana?”

It’s a funny situation.

Do mages or knights ever run out of mana?

Although the total amount of mana is small, knights rarely use mana.

“Didn’t you bring emergency potions?”

Evan pointed to the portable bag on Lwenn’s waist.

“Oh…right…I had potions….”

She had forgotten completely because she rarely used potions.

Lwenn extended her arm with a whimper.

With sweat pouring down, she opened the bag.

As the bag opened, two bottles of mana recovery potions rolled out.

“Oops….”

The mana recovery potion rolled all the way to Evan’s feet.

Evan picked up the potion and handed it to Ruen.

“…Thank you.”

He turned the potion cap to drink it.

“Huh! Heeeuhh! Kkkrrr!”

He tried to open the cap, making strange noises with his breath, but in Ruen’s current state, he could barely kill one ant, let alone open the cap.

Watching this, Evan sighed.

“Give it to me.”

“Oh, no…!”

“I’ll open it for you, so give it to me.”

“I can open it myself…!”

Ruen exerted more strength.

“Heeeuhhh! Hahh! Ugggg! Oops……!”

Evan, who was no match for Ruen, took the potion from him.

-Splash!

He opened the cap and handed it back to Ruen.

“…Thank you.”

Feeling sorry for receiving help from Evan, Ruen cautiously took the potion while monitoring Evan’s reaction.

“Ohh……!”

He dropped the potion.

Because he used up all his remaining strength to open the cap, his fingers lacked the strength to hold onto it.

Clatter.

The potion rolled on the floor.

Blue liquid spilled on the floor.

Seeing this, Evan laughed and said, “You’re such a mess.”

Blushing at his pathetic appearance, Ruen whimpered.

“You, you can drink it like this.”

He wiped his face with the spilled mana potion.

Extending his lips, he drank the remaining mana potion.

As even a small amount of mana was restored, he regained some strength in his body.

Leuwen stood up, stumbling, from her seat. She picked up another potion that had fallen to the floor. This one was a health recovery potion, so it wouldn’t help with mana recovery. She packed it into her bag.

“Let’s keep going.”

Leuwen trembled as she stepped forward, heading towards the next floor.

She descended to the lowest level.

What awaited her on the lowest level was a small bedroom.

It must be where the Dream Witch sleeps.

“Well, that was disappointing.”

Besides the bed, there was nothing else in the bedroom. Leuwen had hoped for a new spell book, but there wasn’t a single book in sight, nor any records of magical research.

“What’s here?”

Leuwen, barely making it this far while clutching onto the wall, retrieved a small jewelry box from under the bed.

She opened the jewelry box.

Inside, there was only one small bead.

A grayish bead.

“Hmm… I don’t feel anything.”

It’s just an ordinary bead.

However, it shouldn’t be judged as ordinary since it was hidden in a jewelry box on the lowest level of the dungeon.

Evane packed the jewelry box.

She would have to investigate it more closely when she returned.

There was truly nothing else besides the bead.

She searched everything that could be searched.

“Let’s go back.”

They retraced their steps and ascended.

They would need to calculate the coordinates, but if they used teleportation magic, they could quickly exit the dungeon.

However, that wouldn’t be a complete conquest of the dungeon.

They might discover something new on the way up or come across hidden enemies. They would have to thoroughly check for those as well to achieve a true dungeon clear.

It was a rather satisfying dungeon exploration.

Just the fact that she had encountered new magic and tried out various spells was a great harvest in itself.

“Ugh…!”

Evane looked back.

Leven was struggling to follow, clutching the wall a little further away.

They said it was an injury, and it could be treated with healing magic.

But mana cannot be restored through magic.

Resting and waiting for some time is necessary for it to return.

Or you can drink a mana restoration potion.

Of course, even mana restoration potions have their limits.

Only a small amount can be restored.

After a moment of hesitation, Evan bent down in front of Leven, extending his back.

“Huh…?”

“Get on.”

“Huh…?”

“I said, get on.”

“Oh, no. I can walk by myself.”

“It’s a waste of time.”

“I really can walk by myself. If I’m a burden, you can go ahead.”

“Enduring is more of a burden. Let’s go over it smoothly without annoying people.”

Leven hesitated.

“Quickly.”

Under Evan’s urging, Leven tightly closed their eyes and allowed Evan to lift them up.

They wrapped their arms around his neck.

They pressed their body as close as possible to make it easier to lift.

Their soft breasts were pressed flat to the point of being crushed.

Evan’s face showed a faint expression at the sensation of a woman against his back.

It was too stimulating and soft for a man.

With Leven on his back, Evan headed out of the dungeon.

He effortlessly knocked down the black knights they encountered along the way and removed the hidden magic traps, all the while continuing to move upward.

“…Is it… heavy?”

Leven asked cautiously.

“Well, it’s heavy.”

Compared to eight years ago, everything here had inflated.

—

The chest, or perhaps it was the hips.

Carrying Lewin wasn’t something new for Evan, but compared to before, there was an unmistakable difference this time.

Evan wasn’t the only one sensing the change.

Lewin felt it too.

A thicker neck.

A broader back.

Evan had grown significantly, enough to make himself feel like a little kid.