Dark Fantasy’s Extra – Chapter 202

Author: Dawn

The Ivan Mountains were neither particularly large nor small, just an ordinary mountain range.

Multiple mountains gathered in a line like a coiled snake.

Long ago, when volcanoes erupted and lava covered the land, rain fell over time, moss and insects covered it, sprouts emerged, leading to today’s vast and lush forest.

Now those hundreds and thousands of years were burning away to ashes in an instant.

Like when the volcano erupted in the past, a massive pillar of fire rose up, devouring trees, creatures, and insects, growing uncontrollably larger.

And two witches were climbing that fire-covered mountain.

“Where is he!? Where is Eugene!?”

Rusalka asked.

“I don’t know either! With this much fire, even my detection is difficult!”

Said Maia, who was held at her side.

“Should we put out the fire?”

Rusalka raised her other hand, gathering water droplets that formed into a ball.

It flew into the sky and burst like rain, but it was insufficient to stop the inferno that was using several mountains as kindling.

“Tch, if only Margarete were here at a time like this…”

Moreover, this wasn’t ordinary fire but the flames of Frog Princess Vasilisa.

Back when they subdued the rampaging Vasilisa, Snow White Margarete, who commanded snow and ice, played the biggest role.

While Rusalka could manipulate water, rather than casting water magic, she could only splash seawater around.

Of course, if this were near the sea she could summon waves to engulf mountains, but there was nothing like that here.

“Magical power! Give me magical power! I’ll extinguish the fire!”

Maia shouted.

“Why should I trust you with magical power?”

“We don’t have time anymore! What if Eugene burns to death or suffocates?!”

“…Tch. We must find Eugene no matter what. If we can’t, I’ll tear off your wings…”

“Forget that and hurry!”

Maia held out her hand.

After hesitating briefly, Rusalka finally took it.

While exchanging magical power itself wasn’t particularly strange, it was different with high-level and powerful techniques like those of witches.

Beyond simply receiving given magical power, through the connection with the other party, one could reversely steal deeper magical power, inflict fatal wounds, or in extreme cases even control the body.

Normally she would completely block such possibilities, but at the mention of Eugene dying, Rusalka ended up entrusting her lifeline to Maia.

“Ohhh! W-wow! As expected of a real witch…”

“Enough, hurry and find Eugene. You must.”

“Got it. First, hold your breath.”

“Breath?”

As Maia, who had regained some vitality, snapped her fingers, all the air in the surroundings vanished and the fire instantly went out.

Of course, she couldn’t extinguish all the inferno covering the mountain range, but she could create a momentary gap.

“…!!”

Unable to speak in the vacuum state, Maia pointed in a direction with her hand.

When Rusalka ran that way, what she saw was… a black lump of charcoal.

For a moment they couldn’t recognize it, but they realized what it was.

“Eugene!!”

They hurriedly ran over and knelt beside Eugene, but seeing his completely blackened form without even the slightest movement, they couldn’t dare touch him.

“T-this… what should we…”

“He’s not dead yet.”

Maia looked closely at Eugene and drew out a dagger.

“I’ll ask one more time. Give me your blood.”

And she held out the dagger’s handle to Rusalka.

“Blood? Ah… but drinking raw blood won’t have any effect…”

A witch’s blood is an ingredient for panacea.

But blood without proper processing procedures is merely a catalyst for sorcery or curses, with no healing effects.

“It’s fine. I’ll make it work somehow.”

“What do you mean somehow… what if he dies?”

“Do you have any other ideas?”

“…”

Rusalka took the dagger handle and without hesitation cut her palm.

Then she clenched her fist to squeeze out blood and let it drip into Eugene’s mouth.

“I smell something.”

A voice was heard.

“A smell. A sweet and pleasant smell.”

The extinguished fire blazed up again.

“The princess’s smell.”

A small girl appeared amidst the blazing flames.

Her long light purple hair, pitch-black eyes, and water drop-patterned dress remained completely untainted even in this inferno.

Rather, they seemed to ripple and flow as if gaining vitality.

“But something’s strange~? The princess is supposed to be the protagonist? But…”

As Vasilisa opened her mouth, something like lava dripped down like saliva.

“I’m the protagonist~?!”

“Take Eugene and run!”

Maia turned the surrounding ground into a swamp, lifted it up and threw it at Vasilisa.

A large sticky mud mass splattered and covered Vasilisa.

“Come back alive. I have so many things I want to ask you.”

Rusalka carefully picked up Eugene and descended the mountain.

“Come here! You need to disappear too!”

The mud mass covering Vasilisa instantly heated up from the flames, hardened, then exploded sending fragments flying everywhere.

“I’m the only protagonist! Me! Just me! Everyone else needs to disappear!!”

When Vasilisa shouted, a huge fireball opened its maw and flew towards Rusalka.

But Maia flew in front and raised another wall of mud.

Like before, the wall instantly hardened like pottery and crumbled.

“Your story already failed!”

Among the falling fragments, Maia shot arrows made of poison.

In Blue Paper Moon, this was a very practical sorcery used effectively in many situations when building a sorcerer build.

Moreover, Maia’s sorcery level was overwhelmingly higher than a player’s.

“Shut up!”

But Vasilisa’s flames were no joke either.

When Vasilisa yelled, even the poison instantly evaporated and turned to powder.

“Noah said so! That I’m the protagonist! That I need to be a good protagonist!”

“That’s why I’m telling you, your story completely failed! Your story is over!”

“No!”

The two small witches fought like children while hurling powerful sorcery and curses at each other.

Maia was at a disadvantage in terms of raw power.

She was an imperfect witch from the start after all.

But the variety of her methods was her strength.

Thumbelina’s unique swamp sorcery, especially mud, effectively blocked the Frog Princess’s fire.

“So annoying… annoying, annoying, annoying!!”

Vasilisa trembled as she raised one hand up.

A tiny flame like a candle flickered to life there.

“…!”

Sensing something ominous despite its small size, Maia hurriedly hid underground.

“I’m the protagonist! I’m the protagonist! I’m the protagonist! So, if everyone else disappears, since there’s only me, I’m a good protagonist!!”

Completely illogical and strange reasoning.

A broken protagonist.

A failed princess.

But Noah’s wishes contained within were great.

The candle became a torch, the torch became a sun.

Lava-like fire condensed with curses and madness, sticky yet heavy with mass.

“Ahahahaha! Haha, ahahahaha!”

Along with a refreshing yet ominous laugh that didn’t consider any contradictions, the sun fell.

A curse that seemed like it would completely erase the blue moonlight and night sky bored into the ground, melting even soil and rocks.

Such impact and heat entered the ground and disturbed the sleeping lake of fire.

The entire mountain range shook and black smoke laden with sulfur rose from the peak.

And the Ivan Mountains transformed into exactly the same form as appeared in Blue Paper Moon.

* * *

“Completely insane…”

Maia crawled out from underground with her face covered in soot and turned to look at the Ivan Mountains.

The massive mountain that had been covered in lush forest had turned entirely into firewood.

Even the large moon illuminating the ground was hidden by ash-filled dark clouds, with only that ominous flame lighting up the world like a torch.

“So that’s the mad witch. Better not get involved…”

Maia turned away from there and dusted off the dirt on her body.

Then she ran towards where she sensed Eugene.

Not far away, she saw Eugene, Rusalka, and Rusalka’s subordinate forces gathered together.

When Maia ran over, the royal guards all drew their weapons showing vigilance, but when Rusalka waved her hand, they withdrew again.

“How did it go?!”

Maia asked Rusalka.

“As you can see… somehow it worked.”

Said Rusalka who was providing her lap as a pillow for Eugene.

His body that had been charred black like charcoal returned to its original skin color and his chest moved up and down showing he was breathing properly.

Though he hadn’t woken up yet, his life didn’t seem in danger.

“Fufu, he really has incredible vitality. Most would be dead already.”

Rusalka smiled tenderly while stroking Eugene’s head.

“As expected, I want this man.”

“For what?”

“As my second knight. Since I fed him my blood, now I can also claim ownership over Eugene.”

“Hmm… it’s become quite the mess.”

“A mess?”

“You can see it too, right? Eugene’s body is already full of curses. No, with the blood you just fed him, all the curses have gathered.”

Belle, Margarete, Bari, Maia, Karen… and now with Rusalka’s blood and Vasilisa’s curse-filled fire deeply absorbed, all the witches’ curses gathered in Eugene’s single body.

“At this point he should no longer be human. The fact that he’s still maintaining a human form is impressive.”

“…That is a bit surprising.”

Even Rusalka seemed somewhat perplexed by that.

“I thought he would become something other than human one way or another, but he’s still human. As you said, normally curses of different natures would clash inside, and in the worst case his very soul would be corrupted. Perhaps by luck they all reached balance? If so, that’s truly a remarkable miracle.”

“…”

“…What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy? Though I don’t know exactly who you are, I can tell you’re someone who helps Eugene. Come to think of it, earlier you called yourself Thumbelina.”

Rusalka’s eyes narrowed.

“Such lies won’t work on us. The princesses are gone now. No witch has been born since Karen. Because…”

“Because there’s no Noah to create witches anymore?”

“You know well. You know Noah’s name? That faith should have been erased by Belle.”

“Hey, Little Mermaid. What do you think about Noah?”

“Don’t address me so casually. Noah isn’t something you…”

“What do you think? Do you still respect him?”

“…Of course. In this world, the only man I can acknowledge as above me is Noah.”

“Then, what if… Noah were still alive?”

“…”

“…No way.”

“Noah is still alive. I am Thumbelina. Your sister, undoubtedly born by Noah’s hands.”