Chapter 64

Chewing— Chewing—

Epherene, lying on the floor of the study room, chewed on a piece of dried squid. She then drank a soda to quench her thirst.

Gulp— Gulp—

She took three sips and fumbled through the plastic bag, seemingly still unsatisfied. Her eyebrows furrowed when she found a chocolate bar.

“You bought some good stuff. I can eat it, right?”

“Uh… yeah. You did more on this project, so this is the least I can do… but weren’t you in pain?” Eurozan felt dumbfounded by Epherene’s behavior.

“Huh? Oh, well… I admit it’s my fault this time for making no sense.”

Dreaming? Hallucinating? What she said wasn’t something wizards that always focused on reality should even think about.

Chomp—

She looked at Sylvia as she chewed on her snack, the taste of which couldn’t be found in the countryside. She couldn’t even fathom why it was white.

“…”

Sylvia closed her eyes, sharing her familiar’s vision outside the tower as it flew around the campus.

Everything looked fine at first glance, so much so that the students didn’t even pay much attention to it.

However, using magic, she saw an entirely different sight.

The tower’s entire lower portion was buried in ashes.

Bzzzz— Bzzzz—

Her familiar alerted her as well, signaling that their connection was in danger of being cut off.

Sylvia opened her eyes after ordering it to ‘go home.’

“The situation’s dire.”

“Dire?”

The other four people in the room asked, their eyes growing wider.

“The University Tower is engulfed in ashes.”

“The University Tower?!”

“Then are we locked in here?!” Dane asked.

Sylvia nodded.

“Encroachment occurred on the lower floors, and the entrance has also been blocked. No one seems to be aware of it, though.”

“No one?”

“The ashes themselves seem to have been imbued with the nature of ‘enchantment.’”

“What about the professors? Can’t they help?”

The ashes covered floors 1 through 25.

The middle and upper floors where the professors stayed didn’t seem aware of what was happening yet, and even if they were, most of them would be away, preparing for the final exams.

Boom—! Boom—!

“Ugh!”

The study room door shook.

Boom—! Boom—!

Roton banged on their study room’s door outside. Possessed by the ashes, he seemed to have forgotten how to open it, but his fists were slowly scorching its surface.

“Roton, that crazy bastard, what happened to him?”

“… Whew.”

Epherene took a deep breath.

With her eyes closed, she composed a formula using ‘wind’ and ‘earth’ as constituent elements.

Boom—! Boom—! Boom—!

“What are you trying to do, E-Epherene? Just leave him be!”

“If we do, the door will burn.”

Epherene grabbed the doorknob and swung it open. Roton’s unfocused eyes looked bizarre, but she didn’t panic.