Chapter 238: Running Is Not an Option

"Still no news from him?" Renna asked the Witch serving as a messenger beside her, as she waited outside the camp.

"No, Lady Renna." The Witch had already lost count of how many times she had answered that question.

Hours had passed since Magna left, yet they still hadn’t heard anything from him.

Renna had considered sending more scouts to check on him several times, only to change her mind whenever she thought about what might be waiting for them.

If something had happened to Magna out there, sending more scouts would only mean sending them to their deaths. What she needed was a proper rescue team, if he was still alive to be rescued.

She clenched her fists as she waited, her chest tightening with every passing second as her thoughts grew more tangled.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, she turned to the Witch. "Prepare a team for me. I’m leaving in half an hour."

She had only just reunited with her old friend after all those years. The thought of losing him again was bringing back the pain of her past.

Fortunately, before she had to leave, something heavy fell from the sky and landed in front of them.

The 2 Witches raised their hands to shield their faces from the rising dust and ash. The sudden noise also brought everyone in the camp rushing toward the entrance, but before anyone could raise their guard, Magna stepped out of the dust cloud.

"Where were you?" Renna snapped, her relief at finally seeing him mixed with anger at how long he had taken.

That anger quickly faded when she noticed the empty armor in his hands and the rust-colored wounds on his body.

"Is that all that’s left of him?" Her voice was firm, without a tremble, though her tense posture made it clear she was holding her feelings back.

Magna didn’t answer. With the empty armor right in front of her, there was little he needed to say.

He handed it, along with the pieces of bone inside, to the Shadows approaching him. The men silently took their comrade’s remains before stepping aside to let him pass.

Magna had recovered enough on the way back to jump again, though he was still a little unsteady on his feet as he stopped in front of Renna.

Everyone was watching him, waiting for him to speak.

He finally let out a heavy sigh. "That monster..." He paused, unsure how to even put it into words. "Unless you have some nuclear weapons, don’t even try to fight it."

After what he had seen, it was the only advice he could give them.

If that monster appeared on Earth, he was sure the best they could do would be to drop every nuclear bomb they had on it, quarantine the entire continent, then sit back and pray it was dead.

Though Renna had no idea what a nuclear weapon was, she understood enough to realize how serious his warning was.

"You saw it?" Her gaze wavered slightly at the thought of Magna getting that close to the Desolation.

Even she had only seen a crude drawing of it in a book back at the Tower. The people known to have gotten close enough to see the monster themselves could be counted on one hand.

None of them had ever tried to fight it. They had merely written down what they saw and felt, but reading those accounts alone was enough to make people feel their terror.

Magna nodded. "Yeah." He went on to describe everything. What it looked like, how it affected its surroundings, and what had happened to his body.

As he spoke, the faces around him grew pale. Every now and then, their eyes drifted toward his wounds.

They all had a fairly good idea of how durable Magna’s body was by now. Hearing that the monster had left him in that state without even attacking him made his warning all the more frightening.

It was something they wouldn’t want to face even in their nightmares.

Renna certainly agreed, but unfortunately, avoiding it wasn’t as simple as leaving the camp. She had to think about what would happen after they left too.

"We can’t just abandon the camp and retreat," she said helplessly.

Magna was slightly taken aback. "Didn’t you hear what I said? If that thing comes here, there won’t be a camp or any farms left."

The monster moved very slowly, but by his estimate, its aura would begin reaching the camp in 2 days, 3 at most. Another day after that, the whole camp would be reduced to ash.

He had thought Renna was worried about losing the farms.

As she rubbed her temples and continued, however, he realized there was a more serious problem.

"The entrance to our realm is here. If we abandon this place, we’ll lose our only way home. Besides..."

Her voice grew heavier, as though she didn’t even want to think about what she was about to say.

"If they open the entrance while that monster is here instead of us, the people on the other side will die before they even realize what’s happening. There’ll be no one left to close it. You can guess what happens after that."

Magna finally understood her concern. He couldn’t argue with her when leaving the monster here meant giving it a chance to enter their realm.

If it passed through the entrance, the people on the other side would have another enemy to deal with.

Worse, Renna had told him that the Witches’ current base was very close to the mountain where the Underworld entrance was located. Their homes would be the first place the Bleeding Desolation reached.

Even if the 5 Grand Witches managed to stop it, a battle against such a powerful being would surely leave the surrounding area in ruins.

"So what should we do?" Magna asked.

Running away was no longer an option he could accept. He was part of this universe now. This was his new home, and these people were his new friends.

With each passing day, he also felt a growing responsibility to protect them as much as he could. Even if he hadn’t created any of them himself, he was still responsible for their creation.

Beyond that, he cared about Renna too much to leave her facing a problem like this alone.

"I don’t know." Renna lowered her head, hiding her face beneath her red Witch Hat.

Despite the situation, Magna chuckled at the familiar gesture. It was little habits like these that reminded him she was still the same rebellious but fragile girl he had known years ago.

As he thought back to those days, another memory came to mind.

His eyes moved to her clothes, his expression turning thoughtful before he spoke.

"I’m just curious. How come your clothes don’t burn when you use your Bloodline Trait?"

"What?" Renna suddenly raised her head, revealing her surprised face.

It wasn’t really the question that surprised her, but the way he had asked it. She had heard those exact words from him before, in a moment she could still remember clearly.

It had been after she lost her mother, when she secretly ran away into the forest to confront the Faceless Witch.

She had wandered through the forest without finding her. As her search continued to lead nowhere, she had felt so miserable that she had even considered burning the entire forest down.

That was when Magna had suddenly appeared in front of her with that question, his face full of innocent curiosity.

Now he was here again, asking the same question with the same expression, as though that trivial detail was all he wanted to know, as though they weren’t facing a battle for their lives.