All-Master Player Of The Academy [EN]: Chapter 113

War Goddess – 1

-Woo-oong!!

The sword cried out, its Adamantium [a fictional, virtually indestructible metal] groaning under the strain.

Ignoring the protests, Ian continued to gather power, pushing the sword to its breaking point.

-Crack!!

Using the concentrated force, he shattered the pillar.

-Jjeo-jeo-jeong!!

The towering pillar cracked, fissures spreading rapidly across its surface.

-Pa-sa-sa-sak……

Unable to withstand the strain, the pillar crumbled into nothingness.

The cracks in the sky vanished, replaced by the original gray.

That miraculous power.

Marzanna sank to her knees, witnessing strength that even Slavda’s [likely referring to a powerful entity or location in this world] mightiest giant couldn’t match.

She knew.

She knew who could wield such an attack.

Lost in confusion, she stared mutely as Ian spoke, his tone indifferent.

“Go back to what you were doing.”

Slowly, she extended a hand, calloused from battling fierce storms.

A hand that hardly seemed fit for a queen tenderly enveloped Ian.

“What… are you?”

“I told you.”

He had.

He had called himself Ian Brandon.

And he had said something else.

“…You’re… No. A-Are you….”

Her voice trembled.

Should she ask?

Should she remain silent?

Her gray eyes darted back and forth. Ian jumped from her hand, meeting her gaze.

“Let’s go.”

As Ian descended, Myane returned to his shoulder.

He walked through the snow, boarded the ice ship, and took his seat. Marzanna followed, her expression still bewildered.

The ice ship moved.

Throughout the journey back to the ice fortress, Marzanna stole glances at Ian.

He, however, didn’t even spare her a passing glance.

“Is it… really you? No. Is it really… you?”

She spoke with forced politeness.

What if the human boy was him?

What if he was the one she knew?

What should she do?

At a loss, Marzanna swallowed hard.

She couldn’t bring herself to ask until the ship docked.

Ian, too, saw no need to speak.

A long silence stretched between them as the ship arrived back at the ice fortress.

“Open the path again.”

“…I cannot.”

Or rather,

She didn’t want to.

Marzanna spoke in a strained voice, not even returning to her throne.

“Just tell me one thing.”

“You want to know if I am Bogatir [a heroic warrior or knight in Slavic folklore], whom you knew?”

Marzanna closed her eyes at his bluntness.

Memories of events thousands of years past flooded her mind.

* * *

It was an age of war.

An era when countless giants and dragons clashed.

In that chaos, the giant city of Pale Dot was annihilated by dragon fire.

Only one girl survived.

Trapped beneath the rubble of a destroyed building, she cried out in pain.

“Ah… Aaa….”

Was this the end?

Would the giants be wiped out by the dragons?

If the giants disappeared, the dragons would rule the world and devour everything.

Was this the end of the world?

She wept as she watched the burning city.

No.

She refused to accept such an end.

She wanted to fight.

She would resist the dragons who had destroyed her city.

But death was already upon her.

Fierce flames, signaling the city’s demise, soared into the sky.

Yet, the gray eyes of the girl never lost their will to resist.

Then, the flames parted.

A human walked through the fire.

One of the smaller beings, the ones the giants called ‘small folk,’ the objects of their scorn.

The human extinguished the endless flames created by the dragons as he walked.

And stood before her, who was facing death.

“You haven’t given up?”

Even as the dragons pushed them back.

Even as the great city of the giants crumbled.

The giant girl, who had not abandoned her will to resist, nodded to the human.

Without wiping the blood from her face.

The gray-eyed girl reached out her hand.

“I… haven’t given up….”

“Then that’s good.”

The human smiled and took her large hand.

After that, the counterattack began.

Many dragons fell.

The monsters created by the dragons were defeated.

Not only giants but also humans, fairies, spirits, and beasts.

All who would normally have been enemies united around the human.

And they fought.

They fought against the mighty dragons who sought to burn the world to ashes and destroy it.

And eventually, they achieved victory.

When that victory was won, the girl had risen to the position of the Winter Queen.

“Master!”

The giant, who had now shed her childishness, ran to the human, who was sitting in a strange position.

Since the end of the war, he had always been there.

Many giants wanted to serve him.

Many humans regarded him as a hero.

Many spirits and fairies wanted him as a partner.

Yet, her master and father figure did not desire such things.

After the war, he simply sat atop a high tower, watching the world.

“Father!”

“What is it?”

He slowly opened his closed eyes.

The queen smiled at him.

“A parade has been prepared for you, Father. You must go now.”

The queen carefully embraced him.

She tried to place him on her shoulder, but he gently refused.

“I have no intention of doing that.”

“But so many people have prepared it. There are many who want to give you rewards and gifts….”

“I don’t need them.”

“Huh? What do you mean….”

Her heart trembled.

He had always been like that.

He had no desire for wealth or fame.

And he had said that when the time came, he would leave.

Feeling a strange unease, she tried to smile and hold him back, but he calmly said.

“There is nothing more I can gain here.”

“There is much to gain. There are still dragons left….”

And he had to lead the giants.

She wanted him to guide the young giants as he had taught her.

She tried to stop him with a smile, but he slipped out of her grasp and simply looked down at the world from the top of the tower.

And sat down again.

“As I always said, not gaining anything for me is like death.”

“You always said that.”

“And I have obtained everything in this world.”

“Still. We need you, Father.”

Ian shook his head at Marzanna’s words.

“The remaining dragons are also necessary to form the world. And the giants, spirits, fairies, humans, and beasts. All of them have become able to live on their own.”

“Even so, we need you, Father.”

Her voice was earnest.

If the story ended, it felt like everything would be over.

“Tell everyone. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Father!”

And he closed his eyes.

Seeing that, the queen had a bad feeling.

“Fath… er?”

That was the end.

Just by closing his eyes and saying one word.

Her master, her father, and the hero who saved Slavd.

The great human who had revealed himself as Bogatir had gone to the side of death.

* * *

She snapped out of her past memories.

Marzanna slowly opened her eyes and stared at the foreign human boy.

He had clearly died.

No mighty giant, no fearsome dragon.

Could do something like returning from death.

Moreover, it was quite a long time ago and even in another world.

She didn’t expect it.

She had held such expectations too many times.

She had placed too much hope in the word ‘reincarnation’ and had been deceived.

But what should she do about her wavering heart?

Marzanna clenched her fists tightly, feeling nervous.

Meeting her gaze, Ian opened his mouth.

“If you ask if I am the one who met a young giant in the shattered ruins of the destroyed Pale Dot who had not given up on resisting. Yes, that is correct.”

That uneasy expectation.

Ian fulfilled it so easily.

At those words, Marzanna sank to the ground.

It was something that still remained in her memory.

Something she could never forget, something no one else knew.

Only two people knew.

Herself and her master and father, Bogatir, who were the parties involved in the incident.

When Ian mentioned it, Marzanna trembled.

“Why…?”

The word contained several meanings.

Why did he leave like that?

Why was he here?

Why was he in that body?

Ian tilted his head at her question.

“Didn’t I tell you?”

Marzanna as well as the giants and humans had been told.

That once the Slavd worldview collection was complete, his reason for being there would disappear.

Until then, he would help them fight the dragons.

After that, he fought with them and collected the worldview.

And after the war ended, the worldview collection was completed, and he simply left.

Just like he had done in other worlds.

Marzanna’s face flushed as Ian looked up at her with an indifferent gaze.

“Many people mourned Father’s death. Everyone missed Father. But why.”

“Then let me ask you. Did the giants remember me until the end, and did they follow my will?”

“That’s….”

No.

After Bogatir’s death, the world returned to its old ways.

Not even a hundred years after the human hero Bogatir died, the world returned to normal.

The giants despised humans and received tributes from them.

It was natural.

Although the Zmey [Slavic dragons] were weakened, the monsters that followed them still remained.

The humans, except for a few heroes, were weak and wanted protection.

And the giants were the same.

They valued their power and wanted to keep the spirits and fairies captive.

The spirits and fairies also wanted to rule the world.

And.

They continued to fight.

Marzanna lowered her head and said as if making an excuse.

“The giants fought.”

“Among themselves, I presume.”

As he said, it was true.

When the external threat disappeared, the giants turned their spears and swords against each other.

And they fought for profit.

Only a few hundred years after his death, the world fell back into chaos.

She hated that.

She hated the sight of the giants fighting for their own desires rather than resisting oppression.

That was why she had taken the defeated humans and created the ice country, wasn’t it?

“But I fought.”

She resisted the giants who despised and wanted to domesticate humans.

She fought the monsters who tried to trample on humans.

She fought against the spirits and fairies who wanted to eliminate humans.

To protect them.

For the sake of those of the same race as her teacher.

Ian smiled at her cry.

And lightly jumped onto Marzanna’s shoulder.

-Thud.

Ian’s hand touched her rough gray hair.

Marzanna felt her heart stop at the stroking touch.

It was her master’s touch.

Her father’s touch.

She was greatly shaken by the touch that she had felt so long ago and thought she would never feel again.

“You’ve worked hard.”

At that one word, Marzanna shed the tears she had been holding back for a long time.