Chapter 359 : Dreaming Once Again
Chapter 359: Dreaming Once Again
Because the 【Bloodred Archduke】 gave up far too smoothly, at the very moment 【Lucifer】 left, Janna instinctively summoned the Radiant Dream Butterfly to perform a divination for herself.
The content of Janna’s divination was simple: could she safely get through today?
But the Radiant Dream Butterfly’s reply was—no.
At that very instant, Janna’s 【Danger Perception】 talent immediately reacted. Yet, she also realized—
Her body was pinned to the ground, completely unable to move.
“Crack—”
While everyone inside White Coral Academy was loudly cheering for having survived the crisis, an ill-timed sound of a Spatial Rift shattering once again broke the peace.
The sound grew louder and louder. In just a moment, a narrow Spatial Rift appeared out of thin air before everyone’s eyes. Only this time, it was not above the academy, but—right above Janna’s head.
“Ja—nna!”
The first to react was Vivian Rose, who was closest to Janna.
But because everything happened so suddenly, it felt as though a wad of cotton had been stuffed into Vivian’s throat, making her voice come out unbearably hoarse.
“So it was me you were after—”
As she looked at the pale hand so close to her, Janna felt her heart suddenly fall into an unnatural calm.
“Clang—”
Just as the Pale Hand was about to seize Janna, a golden shield suddenly manifested around her, shining with dazzling brilliance.
Immediately, a thunderous metallic crash rang out as the golden shield collided with the Pale Hand. The impact sent Janna’s body hurtling backward.
“Janna!!”
“Janna—”
Like a kite with its string cut, her slender figure was thrown back violently. Vivian, Bell Moonshadow, Hugh Stone, and Maro Heigel all rushed forward without hesitation, trying to catch her.
But aside from Vivian, who barely managed to cushion her due to being nearest, the others were too far away to catch her in time—
“Thud!”
The force of the collision was simply too great. Even Vivian, who tried to catch Janna, was knocked flying.
But just as Vivian braced herself to act as Janna’s human cushion, the expected hard impact from the ground never came. Instead, she felt something strangely soft.
“Ow~ that hurts so much!”
Vivian’s first reaction upon stopping was to check Janna for injuries. Once she confirmed Janna was unharmed, she finally relaxed and turned toward the source of the groaning behind her.
“You guys—”
“Miss Janna isn’t hurt, is she?”
Before Vivian could even speak, a chorus of worried voices drowned her out.
But those voices weren’t for her—they were for Janna, who lay safely in her arms.
“Are you all alright?”
Looking at the thick wall of bodies behind her, Vivian finally understood why the fall hadn’t hurt.
“Hiss~ I think my right rib is broken!”
“My thigh—it’s broken too!”
Even with Vivian’s cushioning, the enormous impact still left more than ten people at the front with broken arms or legs. Some were even knocked unconscious.
“It’s fine—as long as no one died, it’s fine.”
After confirming that the injuries behind her were only external, Vivian finally let out the breath she’d been holding.
But as she looked down at the unconscious Janna in her arms, then at the violent energy waves clashing between 【Lucifer】 and 【Cain-Bloodred】 in the void above, an overwhelming sense of helplessness filled her.
“So this is what a legendary battle looks like—”
“Whoosh—”
The wind howled, and the forest surged like a sea of green waves.
Gazing at the endless ocean of trees, Janna knew she had once again entered a dream.
“This place—is it the Forest of Nature?”
She saw the green fairies dancing merrily among the trees, and a beautiful green elf seated beneath a towering tree, quietly flipping through an ancient tome. Janna realized this dream must still be the memory of 【Euphresia】 during her studies in Florence.
“Euphresia, the enfeoffment ceremony at Silvermoon High Court is about to begin. Why are you still here?”
The green elf under the tree set aside her tome when she saw 【Euphresia】 approaching, and spoke softly.
“Teacher, I’ve come to take you back.”
Her voice was ethereal, smoke-like and dreamlike.
Unlike the elf’s voice, which was crisp and clear, 【Euphresia】’s voice sounded as if it came from a distant void, making it very hard for dream-bound Janna to hear.
“Take me back?”
The elf only smiled faintly at 【Euphresia】’s words.
“This is my home. Where else could you take me, if not here?”
“To take you home—”
Boom.
Before she could finish, the lush green forest was instantly consumed by a sea of fire. Everything around was swallowed in blazing flames.
And the elf in the heart of the inferno was no longer the graceful figure she had been moments ago.
Red hair, blood-red eyes, fangs, a demonic mask—gone was her elegance. In her place was a nightmarish fiend that could have crawled straight out of Hell.
“This is my home! No one can take me away from here!”
“…Sigh.”
With a faint sigh, the scene in Janna’s eyes shifted again.
When she opened her eyes, the raging sea of fire was gone. In its place was a forest already burned to cinders, and a weathered staff half-buried in the scorched earth, radiating immense vitality.
“Janna, are you alright?”
“Vivian…”
Janna slowly opened her eyes, gazing at the anxious Vivian before her, dazed at first, but then gradually returning to her senses.
“How long was I unconscious?”
“You were out for about three minutes—”
Rumble—
Before Vivian could finish, a deafening peal of thunder split the skies, so loud it made Janna’s eardrums ache.
When she looked up, she saw the once-gloomy sky now engulfed by golden lightning and blood-red clouds.
Not only that, but the towering Magic Tower of the academy had been cleaved in half, reduced to rubble.
“What is that?”
As Janna shifted her gaze from the collapsed Magic Tower back to the sky, she was stunned to see—within the swirl of gold and crimson, a ball of vibrant green light floated in the heavens.