Chapter 492 Leaving the Inner World

As the monster vanished, the chains filling the surrounding space gradually turned to dust and faded away.

The chains coiled around Miko’s body loosened at once.

Miko felt her body go slack, and her left hand gripping the cliff edge tensed with a sudden burst of strength.

She and Hena swung upward together.

“Phew! That was way too close!”

Once back on solid ground, Miko collapsed onto the floor and let out a long, shaky breath.

“I was this close to dying——”

“Rita——!”

“ying……guh?!”

A figure suddenly lunged forward and squeezed her tightly in a hug.

“Rita, Rita, Rita, Rita!”

“W-Wait…… Hena? Huh?? What’s this?! What are you doing——guh, I can’t…… breathe…… let go, quick……”

“Rita, Rita, Rita……”

“Gasp…… huff……”

“……”

Hulim Heyerar stared blankly at the scene, completely dumbfounded.

What in the world is going on here?

“Huuuu——liiim——”

Thud!

A pitiful, resentful voice echoed from the darkness.

At the same time, a pair of pale hands stretched out from the blackness, clinging to the ground.

“!!?”

Is there another monster?!

Hulim jolted and immediately assumed a battle stance.

In the next moment,

a figure rushed out of the darkness.

“Waaaaah! Hulim, I was so scared——”

“……???”

Thud——!

The elf girl, her face streaked with snot and tears, charged over pitifully and hugged the stunned Hulim tightly.

“It was so dark! So scary! I thought I was gonna die! Waaaaah——!”

“……”

Hulim lowered her right hand awkwardly, placed it on Prarlulu’s head, and patted her gently.

“It’s all right now, everything’s okay, you don’t have to be scared anymore~.”

“WAAAAAAH!”

Prarlulu burst into even louder tears.

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“Huuu…… liiiim…… save me……”

Meanwhile, Miko, who was on the verge of passing out, stretched out a hand toward Hulim, pleading for help.

“……”

Sigh…… How did it come to this?

Hulim asked helplessly in her heart.

BOOM!!!

At that moment, the ground shook even more violently.

Hulim frowned.

“Something’s wrong. This feeling…… this place is collapsing!”

“Prarlulu——!”

She quickly lowered her head and shouted.

“Ah——”

Prarlulu snapped to her senses, wiped her nose and tears roughly, and said hurriedly:

“I-I’ll sense for an exit right now.”

BOOM——!!!

The shaking grew more and more intense.

Crack, crack……

Fissures spread across the ground without stop.

“Whoosh——!”

On the other side,

Hena finally let go of Miko.

Freed at last, Miko gasped for air, looking as though she had narrowly escaped death.

“Rita?”

Hena tilted her head and looked at her.

“Stop right there——!”

Miko quickly held out a hand to stop her.

“Don’t do that again! And you’ve got the wrong person! I’m not Rita! I’m Miko! Miko Kedar!”

“Huh?”

“……Why is this happening?!”

Miko was utterly flustered.

At that moment,

“I’ve got it——!”

Prarlulu snapped her eyes open.

She exclaimed excitedly:

“We did it! Hulim! We’ve destroyed the incarnation of fear in Hena’s heart!”

“Is that so? Then…… can we get out of here?” Hulim asked calmly.

“Of course! Uh——”

Prarlulu’s face froze abruptly.

Seeing her expression, Hulim had a terrible premonition.

Crack!

In the next moment,

her premonition came true.

The ground beneath their feet gave way completely, and the group plummeted toward the sea of lava below.

“Waaaah! Disengage! Break free——quick!”

Prarlulu frantically cast her magic.

Shua——!

In the end, just an instant before they fell into the lava, a crack tore open in midair. They leaped inside and vanished from this place……

……

In the forest.

“Rita, are you hiding yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Rita, are you hiding now?”

“Not yet.”

“Rita……”

“Big sister, I’m ready now.”

“Then here I come~!”

Half a minute later.

Beneath the windmill blades of a riverside mill,

Hena hung upside down from the edge of the stone tower, poking her head toward the hidden space behind the blades.

“Rita, I found you!”

“Ah! How did you find me so fast, big sister?! You definitely cheated again!”

Rita, hiding under the windmill, shouted in protest.

“I did not! You always hide in this same spot, so I checked here first.”

“You’re just mad because you’re too clumsy.”

Rita, who had just climbed back to the top of the stone tower from the windmill, let out an angry huff.

“I’m not clumsy! You’re the dummy! Dummy, dummy, big sister’s a big dummy!”

“Say what you want. Anyway~, now it’s your turn to find me.”

“Ngh…… how unfair!”

“Hena! Rita——!”

A voice called up from below the stone tower.

“It’s time to come home for dinner~.”

Rita’s eyes lit up, and she replied cheerfully:

“Okay, Mommy!”

She turned to grin at Hena.

“There we go, big sister! Let’s stop for today!”

“Ah, that’s cheating!”

“I can’t help it! Mommy called us home.”

“Ngh……” Hena frowned in frustration.

After a moment, her eyes lit up, and she broke into a mischievous smile.

“Rita, if you’re in such a hurry to go back, how about I take you the short way~?”

“Eh……?” Rita’s face paled, and she inched backward step by step. “U-Um, let’s not do that today, big sister.”

“Too late to run now~.”

“Eeeeeek——”

A shriek rang out from the stone tower at dusk.

Thud!

A small figure landed gently at the base of the tower.

“Oh my, Hena~! Honestly, you do such dangerous things again! How many times have I told you not to jump straight down from the tower? Wait, are you even listening? Don’t run——”

“Rita, whoever gets home last is the seeker tomorrow.”

“Eh?! That’s cheating, big sister! My legs are still wobbly! Wait for me……”

“I’m not waiting——”

In the forest,

one small figure chased after another, fading into the distance……

Inside a corridor filled with floating light and shadow, the group watched Hena’s past in silence.

“……”

“So these are…… Hena’s memories, right?” Miko murmured softly.

“So that’s why the entrance was there……”

She glanced sideways at Hena beside her. The girl was staring intently at the scenes, and no one could tell what she was feeling at this moment.

So Hena once had a little sister……

After some unknown length of time,

the light and shadow around them gradually faded, and empty darkness closed in once more.

A white light appeared ahead of the group.

“This is it. If we walk through here, we’ll return to the real world.”

With that, Prarlulu stepped into the white light first and vanished.

Miko turned back to look at Hulim.

“Hulim, let’s go too.”

She then took Hena’s hand and stepped into the white light as well.

Hulim lifted her right foot, ready to follow.

But a strange, uneasy feeling suddenly arose in her heart.

She spun around sharply,

staring long and hard into the empty darkness behind her.

“……………………………………”

Who’s there?