Published at 17th of June 2024 9:02 pm

[LN] Volume 1: Chapter 4.1

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

This chapter was brought to you by the collaboration between PolterGlast and Saekano Translations.

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Volume 1 Chapter 4.

The Realization of the Escapism, and the First Step Part 1

Translator: PolterGlast

After the afternoon classes and training at Shino's hut were over, Nozomu went for a jog through the forest.

While running along the off-trail path, Nozomu's mind was still occupied with the day's events.

In fact, he was unable to concentrate during training and received countless scoldings from Shino.

Even right now, as he moved his body, Nozomu's mind was overwhelmed with feelings of uneasiness and anxiety, as if he was being persecuted.

And, in order to forget the pain in his heart, he kept running in the dusky darkness, even now.

Although it was his own desire, the days of being constantly drilled in one katana technique and fighting style after another, Nozomu's life was now filled only with training.

More than anything, Nozomu himself could no longer endure the days of constantly explaining his innocence, no matter how much he had pleaded for it.

This led to the escapism that he had subconsciously done.

The current Nozomu had lost the very purpose of coming to the academy. It was to support his childhood friend’s dreams. And to escape from the reality he didn't want to face, he had been repeating life-wrecking training routines.

Although his desire to commit suicide out of despair had disappeared, the fact that he was still running away remained.

Irisdina's words and his encounter with Lisa in the central park became an inevitable confrontation with the fact that he had been turned away from.

"Haa, haa, haa ……. Where is this? ……”

Even so, Nozomu kept running as if to shake off the past, but before he knew it, he was already deep in the forest.

To make matters worse, the fog had begun to appear and was gradually increasing in density.

It was quite dangerous to be encountering dense fog in the forest. The possibility of losing one's sense of direction and whereabouts increased.

Nozomu decided to return to Shino's hut immediately, but the fog quickly became so thick that he couldn't see more than a few meters ahead.

"This is bad ……"

Nozomu muttered so to himself and took out his compass, which he always carried with him. He always carried a compass whenever he entered the forest so as not to lose his way.

However, the needle, which should normally be pointing north without any problems even in the forest, kept spinning around without pointing in any particular direction.

"What's going on......"

There were indeed many types of demonic beasts in this forest, but there had never been one that could make the compass go haywire.

Nozomu took a few deep breaths to calm his impatience due to the unexpected situation.

Checking his surroundings once again, he sharpened his senses to look for signs or traces of demonic beasts. Many demonic beasts sought prey using their sense of smell and hearing in addition to their eyesight.

The area he was currently in was overgrown with trees, and even though he could hide for the time being, it wasn't completely safe.

"For now, I guess I'll just have to find a shelter or climb a tree to see which direction I should go...... hm?"

Nozomu was wondering whether to wait for the fog to clear or to proceed, as he scanned his surroundings, he saw a bright light leaking through a gap of trees.

Is there something there?

After pondering for a short moment, Nozomu decided to check the source of the light and slowly weaved his way through the trees toward the source of the light.

However, the next moment, the light that had been shining like sunlight through the trees erupted into a huge flash, and Nozomu's field of vision was filled with a flash of light.

"Whoaa!"

The intense light made Nozomu involuntarily stretch out his hand and squint his eyes. When the flash of light subsided and his vision, which had been painted white, returned, he saw a sight he never thought he would see.

"What the hell is this?"

What jumped into his vision was a barren land as far as the eye could see.

Surrounded by desolate rocky mountains, there was no sign of any living creatures, unlike the forest he was in before.

"Where the hell is this?....... This isn't the forest around the Arcazam region that I know."

At that moment, a huge shadow covered him as he was bewildered by the incomprehensible scene.

Nozomu looked up to see what it was and screamed.

A huge black creature was glaring at Nozomu from the sky.

Its huge body was covered in jet-black scales. Each scale was as large and thick as a tower shield, and its massiveness seemed to symbolize the seemingly endless years it had lived.

From its back, a pair of red, blue, green, yellow, and jet-black wings identical to those on its body, spread out and flapped powerfully.

Its eyes hold an abyss like a black diamond, and the darkness hidden in its eyes intimidated all who saw it, and it aroused instinctive fear from within the soul.

"Dragon......"

A manifestation of absolute power that radiated an overwhelming presence.

Facing such an existence beyond his imagination, Nozomu's mouth spontaneously muttered its very name.

Dragons were supposed to be mythical beings that have been lost in history and legends.

Nozomu stood there with a shocked expression on his face. He couldn't understand his current situation.

Even if he were to think about it properly, it was impossible to encounter such a legendary dragon right next to the city where he lived, regardless of whether or not he was in the forest where many demonic beasts had infested.

And while Nozomu was in a stunned state, the giant dragon's eyes caught sight of him completely.

The dragon's eyes, staring down at Nozomu, were filled with pure joy and delight at having found its first prey in a long time.

The next moment, the jet-black dragon folded its wings and descended in a straight line toward Nozomu.

" ~ !"

Nozomu quickly made his whole body on guard and kicked the ground to get away from where he stood. Immediately after, a huge dragon dropped down with a thunderous sound.

The weight of the dragon itself and the impact of its descent caused the ground to topple over and scatter like bullets.

Nozomu was caught in the shockwave, was blown away, and fell to the ground, writhing.

"Gahhh......"

Reflexively, he took an ukemi stance and rolled his body to lessen the impact. Fortunately, he did not suffer any serious injuries that would hinder his movement, but the flying rocks and stone fragments cut through his uniform in several places, and blood began to flow from the lacerations.

Nozomu immediately decided to retreat.

Reaching into the pouch at his waist, he took out several gray spherical objects, each one of them big enough to fit in the palm of his hand, and slammed them all to the ground.

Immediately afterward, *Bang!*. A lot of smoke was scattered around the area along with the explosion sound.

These gray spherical objects, called smokescreen balls, were, as one could see, a tool to blind the opponent by producing a smokescreen, a tool he kept with him at all times, as he often had to run away from demonic beasts in the forest.

Nozomu ran at full speed, blending in with the smokescreen that was generated. His goal was the light he saw when he wandered into this area.

If he were to look closely, he could see the white light that he saw in the fog coming out through the smoke screen.

If he could get to where it was, he might be able to return to the Spasim forest. But it wasn't that easy.

"Groooaaar~!!!”

As Nozomu was running through the smokescreen, a powerful shockwave hit him from behind along with a deafening roar.

The roar, which seemed to echo into the sky, blew away not only the smokescreen that Nozomu had created but also his body as if it was a leaf.

"Whoa!”

While Nozomu was dumbfounded at the dragon's power to blow people away with a simple roar, the giant dragon opened its mouth wide and began to charge a giant flame.

The flame was a mixture of various colors, a chaotic color.

Nozomu's instincts kicked in, and once he landed on the ground, he quickly fled the place with [Lightning Step].

"Ooooooo!!"

Immediately after Nozomu activated his [Lightning Step], a gigantic flame shot out of the Giant Dragon's mouth.

The gigantic flame passed by him and landed on a distant hill. The next moment, the sound seemed to vanish from the world.

"......"

Nozomu found himself flying in the sky.

It was the first time in his life that he had ever experienced being flung into the air, and he felt as if his situation was someone else's, but a few seconds later, he hit the ground and his consciousness was forcibly pulled back to reality.

While forcing his body to get up, which was in pain from the impact of the fall, he took out a potion from his pouch and drank it immediately.

As he felt the restorative potion rapidly healing his body, he looked in the direction of the hill and gasped in exasperation.

"You've got to be kidding me......"

The hill where the giant dragon's breath landed on had disappeared, leaving behind a crater so deep that it could even contain the Solminati Academy.

The inside of the crater was stained red with molten rock at an extremely high temperature, and thick clouds of black smoke billowed out of it.

The edges of the enormous pit that was emitting black smoke were covered with molten rock, some of which were vitrified, making it look like a mine of blades.

As Nozomu turned around with a surprised expression, the jet-black dragon spread out its five-colored six wings.

Therein, countless balls of light in five different colors emerged.

[Spirit Magic]

Magic used by the spirit species, which are known as the world’s kin. Unlike other magic used by non-spirits, this magic does not require chanting or the process of interfering with the outside world and is activated the moment the user decides to use it, making it possible to attack far more quickly than with other types of magic.

Nozomu once again followed the warning bells rung by his instincts and focused all his Qi on strengthening his body.

Countless balls of light come toward him, drawing trails of light. The amount of light was so overwhelming that it filled most of his field of vision.

Nozomu, while trying to avoid the swarm of light balls as quickly as he could, used his katana to slash at the light balls and resisted with all his might to avoid being fatally wounded, but he was unable to handle their sheer number and was quickly swallowed up by the swarm of light balls.

When the rain of light ceased, Nozomu was there, having been shot through all over his body.

Nozomu desperately tried to move his one slightly mobile arm to retrieve the potion from his pouch.

However, all the bottles containing the potion were broken, and only the feeling of splashing, wetness, and dampness returned to his hand.

"Ugh!”

Having no other choice, he removed his pouch, squeezed the potion that had seeped into the fabric with one hand, and swallowed it.

As he groaned at the sensation of his body being forcibly healed, he looked up to see the gigantic dragon approaching with a casual stride.

"Haa, haa, haa......”

With shaky hands, Nozomu raised himself up and staggered away from the giant dragon, but there was no way he could escape.

"Grrrr……”

"Gaahh…!”

The gigantic dragon, perhaps amused at the sight of Nozomu's struggle, slowed down and chased after him with a growling sound in its throat. And sometimes, just for fun, the dragon would lightly poke Nozomu's body with its claws.

With a light poke from the giant dragon's claw, Nozomu's body bounced and rolled like a ball.

As it watched he rolled, the giant dragon growled in amusement.

The dragon kept messing with the little creature in front of it.

Just like a child playing with an ant, or a cat playing with a mouse it had killed.

For Nozomu, this was nothing short of despair.

There were no techniques and tools that could stand up to the giant dragon.

He was running out of energy, and his body was already in tatters inside and out.

Finally, his limit arrived.

Due to the impact of being blown away and slammed into the ground and due to the impact on his head, his consciousness became hazy.

Facing death from which there was no way out, Nozomu's hazy vision recalled everything that had happened up to this moment as if it were a flickering light.

The scenery of his hometown and the smiling faces of his parents.

He met Lisa in the peaceful village and fell in love with her, attracted to each other.

He wanted to support Lisa's dream. With that vow in his heart, he went to knock on the door of Solminati Academy with only his feelings and determination.

Nozomu's parents were against him going to Arcazam, and they ended up fighting, but he still didn't regret it at the time.

He was anxious to go to an unfamiliar place, but his desire to support Lisa's dream outweighed it.

However, the reality was harsh.

His abilities and grades didn't improve as he had hoped. His lover and best friends were advancing without him.

He grew impatient and struggled to get back on his feet, but the emergence of [Ability Suppression] stood in his way.

Then, suddenly, Lisa broke up with him, and without knowing why, his love relationship fell apart. Finally, he was completely isolated at school.

(I wanted to support Lisa's dream. I wished I could …… and I still do, but.....)

What went wrong and why did this happen?

Just thinking about it caused Nozomu's chest to ache and his heart to creak.

It was as if rusty chain rings were rubbing against each other.

In the midst of such hopelessness, he met Shino.

Their meeting was not a good one, both started by ignoring and disliking each other, but as a result, Nozomu was able to gain a mentor in the midst of his isolation at school.

(I'm glad I met Shisho. She's kinda wild, but she’s definitely a good person.)

Although he was being pushed around a lot and had to go through hellish training days, she was definitely concerned for Nozomu's well-being.

At first, she would ignore him, but then she saved him when he was attacked by Wild Dogs albeit she was complaining about it.

And looking back, Nozomu regained his old self in front of Shino. He became himself whenever he honestly laughed and got angry.

And recently, others had been trying to hold a conversation with him.

Anri Var and Norn Alteina.

Those teachers were the first to be concerned about him at school.

Irisdina and Somia.

They talked to him, not minding the rumors about Nozomu that everyone in the school should have been aware of.

They were somewhat unusual sisters, who, despite being the daughters of a great nobleman, did not hold themselves back from arguing over dogs and cats without care about being seen by others.

Even though he had been left out of such heated discussions but he wasn't entirely ignored or scorned, it was the first normal time he had spent with people his own age in a long time.

However, Nozomu turned his back on her when she tried to tell him that she wouldn't judge people based on rumors alone.

This was a regret that weighed heavily on his heart.

Then, for the first time in almost a year, he spoke with Lisa.

He once again tried to clear up the misunderstanding, but in front of her, he couldn't express the essential things into words.

(It's always like this. I can't do anything when it matters the most......)

Words of self-depreciation. The chains that bound Nozomu's heart always prevented him from being able to take a step forward.

The giant dragon raised its huge tower-like claws.

The moment that claw swung down, Nozomu would be brutally crushed to death.

Nozomu closed his eyes, unaware that he was caught up in the resignation of facing his own death.

Then the gigantic dragon's claw swung down at him.

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