Chapter 493 Awakening and Reinforcement

“Ugh……”

Inside the chamber, Prarlulu slowly opened her eyes.

She sat up groggily, glanced around the room at the others still unconscious, and reached up to pinch her own cheek.

“It hurts…… So we really did escape.”

A faint sigh of relief escaped her, only to be swiftly replaced by lingering terror.

The Inner World had been far too dangerous. If Hulim Heyerar hadn’t been with them, she would have died there for certain.

“……I’m never doing anything like that ever again.”

“Unnh~.”

At that moment, Miko also began to stir awake.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up slowly.

“Did…… we make it back?”

“Yes. Welcome back.”

“I see. It’s finally over…… How are Hulim Heyerar and Hena?”

Miko turned her head and scanned the room.

Hena had already sat up.

“……”

But she remained completely silent, not uttering a single word.

Hulim Heyerar still had not woken up.

“That’s strange. Where’s Lady Irus and the others?”

Prarlulu suddenly noticed something was wrong.

Only the four of them were in the room. Lady Irus and the others, who should have been standing guard, were nowhere to be seen.

Rumble……

At that moment, continuous roars echoed from the world outside.

“Huh? What’s happening now?!”

Prarlulu stared outside in bewilderment, then stepped out of the chamber.

The moment she set foot outside, she was stunned speechless by the sight before her.

The entire northwestern sky had been dyed crimson, and billowing gray ash spread endlessly across the visible heavens.

“Wh-What is the meaning of this——!?”

“Prarlulu, what’s happening out here?”

Miko stepped outside, drawn by her cry,

and was equally frozen by the apocalyptic scene.

“Huh……?”

After a short, stunned silence,

she twisted her neck stiffly toward Prarlulu.

“……Prarlulu, be honest with me. Are we still trapped inside the Inner World?”

“No! We really have returned to the real world!”

“Then why does it look like the end of days?!?”

“I have no idea either——”

“Oh? You lot are finally awake!”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

As the two girls stood in utter confusion, a voice called down from above.

Miko and Prarlulu lifted their heads instinctively,

only to be met with a pair of enormous, golden slit pupils.

“KYAAAAH——”

Prarlulu shrieked at the top of her lungs.

“???”

Ignir stared in complete bafflement.

He quickly called out:

“It’s me! It’s me! Ignir, the Flame Dragon King!”

“——Aaaaah…… Huh?”

Prarlulu blinked, gazing blankly at Ignir.

“Ignir?”

“……”

“……”

The air fell into an awkward silence.

“Ahem, pay her no mind. Prarlulu has seen far too many horrors inside the Inner World, and she hasn’t recovered from the shock. She was just startled by your massive form appearing out of nowhere.”

“I see…… It seems your time inside was truly harrowing.”

Ignir spoke with a complicated tone.

“W-Well…… you could say that.”

“Speaking of which, where is Hulim Heyerar?”

Ignir glanced toward the chamber doorway.

Hulim Heyerar still had not come out.

“Hulim Heyerar should wake up soon. Can you tell us what’s happening outside——”

Shwoop!

A figure suddenly appeared in the doorway.

The two girls and the dragon froze, their gaze locking onto that figure at once.

“It’s you!?”

Ignir immediately dropped into a guarded battle stance.

“Ah, don’t worry! Everything’s fine now!”

Prarlulu quickly interjected.

“Is that so?”

Ignir eyed her with suspicion.

His gaze toward Hena lost some of its hostility, but he did not let his guard relax in the slightest.

“Hena……?”

Miko looked at her in confusion.

Hena’s face was completely expressionless, her ice-blue eyes staring into the distance with cold, lifeless intensity.

“……What’s wrong?”

Miko asked, her voice laced with unease.

She thought to herself:

Did something go wrong? She had seemed to recover back then…… that should have been normal, right?

At that moment,

Hena glanced back at Miko.

“……”

She still said nothing, but the coldness in her eyes softened, if only for a little.

In the next instant,

Whoosh——!

Her figure shot forth like a gale, bursting outside.

As she accelerated without stop, the frigid murderous intent radiating from her ice-blue pupils grew sharper and sharper. Her jaw clenched so tightly that her sharp fangs ground against each other with an audible creak.

“Hena——!?”

Miko shouted in alarm.

“Huh?! Wh-Why did she run away?!?”

Prarlulu stared, utterly unable to comprehend.

“No! Did we fail after all?!”

Ignir panicked, flapping his wings to give chase.

But at that moment,

“Let her go.”

A calm, steady voice suddenly came from behind them.

The two and the dragon spun around at once.

They found that Hulim Heyerar had appeared behind them without them noticing.

“Hulim Heyerar, you’re awake——!!!”

Prarlulu’s eyes lit up, and she lunged forward to hug her.

Hulim Heyerar held out her right hand to press against Prarlulu’s forehead, keeping her from getting close.

“Hulim Heyerar, why did you say that? Is Hena really going to be okay……?”

Miko asked, her face filled with worry.

“Rest easy. Hena knows exactly what she is doing. She will return once she has finished what she must…… More importantly right now——”

Hulim Heyerar lifted her head and looked at Ignir.

“Ignir. Explain the current situation to me.”

Gotcha!

The moment Hulim Heyerar looked up, Prarlulu slipped out from under her hand and wrapped her arms tightly around her waist.

“……”

Hulim Heyerar sighed helplessly.

But when she saw the lingering terror still etched on Prarlulu’s face, she gave up on pushing her away.

Fine. She has suffered enough this time. I’ll let her be……

“The whole thing started roughly one day after you all fell into a deep sleep……”

Ignir began to explain the full story.

“……In short, the Red Mist Volcano has erupted. The powerful demon sealed beneath the volcano has broken its seal. Lady Irus rushed over to reinforce Lady Laki as soon as it happened……”

After listening to Ignir’s explanation, Hulim Heyerar grasped the full situation.

She stared at the half of the sky stained crimson by firelight, and murmured thoughtfully:

“If Lady Irus has not returned yet, then the crisis has not been resolved. In that case……”

Whoosh~!

A whirlwind erupted beneath Hulim Heyerar’s feet, lifting her slowly into the air.

“I am going to investigate.”

Shwaa——!

Hulim Heyerar’s figure blurred, vanishing from sight in an instant.

“Huh? W-What do we do now?!”

Prarlulu asked, completely at a loss.

“We should go and see as well. There’s no reason to stay here any longer. Can you take us, Ignir?”

“Of course.”

Ignir lowered his massive body to the ground.

“Climb on. I will fly you there.”

Before long,

Whoosh——!

A fierce wind swept over the Dwarven Legion Temporary Camp.

The crimson dragon soared into the sky, heading straight for the volcano as well.

……

At the Red Mist Volcano.

The battle between Irus’ group and the Fire Demon Sugart had reached a white‑hot fever pitch.

Within the endless sea of fire,

a green meteor moved at terrifying speed. Blessed by the World Tree’s Blessing, she possessed a near‑immortal body. She had abandoned all defense, ignoring every attack from her foe, unleashing only full‑power, devastating strikes with every move.

However, her opponent was the same.

The vast sea of lava beneath his feet had become his second life, an inexhaustible source of power.

No matter how grievous his injuries, he could regenerate instantly as long as the magma surged around him.

By this point in the battle, the two sides had fallen into a complete stalemate. Neither could gain the upper hand over the other.