#096. The Weeping Woman (6)
—
「Aaaaaaah───!」
Lady Lenia’s chilling scream pierced through the air.
The destructive element carried in her voice spread outward, shattering everything in its path.
*Kugugugu──!*
Walls crumbled, and the ceiling tilted precariously.
*Pazik! Pazzik!*
Even the translucent barrier surrounding the two boys developed large cracks.
Ray quickly channeled white mana to reinforce the barrier.
‘…The power of this magic is no joke.’
He hadn’t realized it before, as they had been relatively out of range on the lower floors.
But now, witnessing it firsthand, its strength was beyond imagination.
Gales and sound waves—
The output of these two types of magic far exceeded Lady Lenia’s original Circle level.
And the reason it was possible—
‘Emotions.’
Grief and rage.
Hatred and regret.
Her emotions, running rampant within her vessel, resonated with the circle’s mana, creating an absurd level of efficiency.
「Aaaaaaaah─!」
The screams continued.
「My son. Our child.」
「Mommy will protect you no matter what.」
And amidst it all, a whisper echoed like a haunting lullaby.
Through the swirling debris and scattered objects, Lady Lenia could be seen clutching an old wooden box.
“I-If this keeps up, the mansion will collapse, and Lady Lenia will be seriously injured.”
“It’s not just her body that’s at risk.”
“What do you mean?”
“Her mind is in danger too. Her emotions are spiraling out of control. Her vessel won’t be able to hold out much longer before it shatters.”
Philip’s face hardened.
He knew what had happened to Walter when his vessel had shattered.
“Then… how do we stop it from breaking?”
“We have to calm her emotions.”
“……”
“You should be the one to know best how to do that.”
A former hotel manager.
A skilled negotiator who had successfully dealt with countless shopkeepers.
Philip had maintained an extensive network of relationships far beyond what was typical for his age.
He was well-versed in human interactions and the emotions tied to them.
That was precisely why Ray had brought Philip up to the fourth floor—
To find a way to calm Lady Lenia down without destroying the necklace.
“Do you have any ideas on how to soothe her emotions?”
“……”
The sudden question caught Philip off guard, but he didn’t panic.
Instead, he sifted through his past experiences, searching for the most effective approach.
“Comfort…”
“Comfort?”
“Emotions can be shared. You can ease someone’s emotions by offering them comfort.”
Anger. Sorrow. Despair. Emptiness.
There were countless ways to alleviate negative emotions.
Apologizing or offering a gift could help.
Providing practical advice could also be effective.
Or, one could even yell and shock the emotions away.
But regardless of the type of emotion, the most universally effective method was—
“Just tell her that it’s okay. That she must have gone through so much. That you understand. Hold her, pat her back.”
Philip explained once more, making sure Ray could understand despite his lack of emotional awareness.
“……”
Ray recalled the time he had patted his younger siblings’ backs in Sector 50 while they cried.
Back then, he had simply chosen the most efficient method.
But apparently, that had been comfort.
‘They had definitely looked relieved after that.’
Ray was certain that comfort would work this time as well.
“To do that, we’ll have to get close to Lady Lenia.”
“Yes, but…”
Philip trailed off, looking ahead.
*Whoooosh──!*
The violent storm of wind made it impossible to even consider stepping forward.
On top of that, the air was filled with flying debris, making it seem impossible to advance without getting struck.
「Stay away…!」
「Don’t hurt my child…!」
「You monstrous fiends…!」
Lady Lenia’s voice continued to ring in their ears.
Philip swallowed hard.
“She completely sees us as enemies. What was it that Veronica mentioned earlier? Tra… Tra…?”
“Trauma.”
“Yes, that.”
Trauma—
A severe emotional shock that leaves a lasting impact on the mind.
“Joshua isn’t anywhere in this mansion. If he was killed by others in the past, and that trauma is resurfacing, she might be mistaking us for his murderers…”
It was a reasonable assumption that explained her current behavior.
Ray, observing the storm inside, continued,
“If I narrow the barrier’s area and focus all my mana on reinforcing one person, they could push through the storm and reach Lady Lenia.”
“So the plan is to get close first?”
“We need to try something—whether it’s comforting her or something else.”
“Alright. Then what should I do? Should I stay back and wait for instructions in case of unexpected situations?”
Philip nodded resolutely.
But that resolve quickly turned into sheer bewilderment.
“You’re not staying here.”
“Huh?”
“You’re the one who’s going.”
“M-Me?”
“Yes. You.”
Philip was momentarily speechless before frantically trying to argue.
“Uh, um… It’s not that I *can’t* do it, but objectively speaking, wouldn’t you have a higher success rate?”
Ray was far superior in physical strength and agility.
And since his face resembled the boy in the photograph, Lady Renia might mistake him for her son.
“Plus, if Lady Lenia reacts unpredictably while I’m approaching, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. Even if I manage to comfort her, I can’t be sure she’ll actually calm down. This isn’t exactly a normal situation…”
“……”
Ray considered this.
Philip was suddenly talking a lot.
But Ray knew he wasn’t just scared of going forward.
‘Even though he’s timid, he always steps up when it matters.’
Philip was afraid that the plan might fail.
That Lady Lenia’s mind might completely shatter.
‘Would my success rate really be higher?’
Ray shook his head internally.
From his perspective, Philip had the better chance of success.
Physical ability and unexpected situations aside—there was a greater reason.
But there was no time to explain, so Ray decided to act in the most efficient way possible.
*Thud!*
“U-Uwah?!”
Philip, having just been kicked by Ray, flailed his arms as he was launched straight into the storm.
“W-Wait a secooooooond─! I-I’m not reaaaady─!”
His mind went blank.
He imagined himself getting torn apart by the storm.
Ah. So this is how I die.
Sixteen years of life, over just like that.
And he hadn’t even had a girlfriend yet.
*Thud.*
But when he managed to steady himself within the storm—
“……?”
Philip looked down at his body in confusion.
A transparent layer clung to his skin, leaving him completely unscathed.
His legs felt stronger than ever, allowing him to keep his balance.
‘I see… So he adjusted the barrier to fit tightly around me. That reduces the area exposed to damage, lowering mana consumption. He also increased the output of the enhancement magic.’
Realizing the strategy, Philip turned back in admiration.
Within the now much smaller barrier, Ray stood.
─You should start moving. We don’t have much time.
Ray’s voice rang clearly in Philip’s mind.
A message spell.
It felt like the voice was being transmitted directly into his head.
Philip met Ray’s gaze and nodded.
Then, he turned forward once more.
*Whoooooosh──!*
He was at the storm’s outer edge.
Determined, Philip took a step toward the center.
‘This wind…! It’s no joke…!’
The reduced barrier left his hair and clothes whipping wildly in the wind.
The sheer force made it difficult to move forward.
And debris continued to fly like deadly projectiles.
─Left. Duck your head.
─Two steps back.
But it wasn’t a problem.
Ray’s instructions were swift and precise.
Thanks to that, even Philip, who was not accustomed to physical activity, was able to evade the flying debris with precise movements.
─How is it? Do you think you can manage?
“Quite well. It’s not as difficult as I thought.”
His anxiety and tension gradually subsided.
In their place, his confidence steadily grew.
While staying alert to his own movements, Philip focused on observing Lady Lenia.
「Aaaah…!」
The room was quite large, meaning he still had a considerable distance to cover before reaching her.
Her screams continued to ring out, striking against the protective barrier.
「Aaaaaah…!」
As Philip steadily closed the distance at a slow but consistent pace, he suddenly realized something.
That wasn’t a scream.
It was a wail.
The anguished wail of a mother unable to bear the grief of losing her child, crying out as if her very being was being torn apart.
‘…….’
For a moment, his vision blurred, and an overwhelming wave of emotion surged through him.
They say emotions are contagious.
A shared emptiness left by missing family.
Unconsciously, he found himself painting her sorrow and pain within his own heart.
Old memories resurfaced.
A park. People. Voices.
The wind. Dust. Footsteps.
The crinkling sound of a biscuit wrapper.
The sight of his mother walking away, turning her back on him.
Her back, her back, her back, her back.
*Drip.*
“…….”
At that moment—
Philip faltered slightly in his stance.
Suddenly, his feet felt as if they were stuck in place, unwilling to move.
His hands and body no longer responded as he intended.
It felt as though invisible hands had risen from the ground, pulling his entire body downward.
─It’s magic. Don’t panic.
At that instant, Ray’s pale-white eyes reflected a soft pink glow of mana.
「Aaaaaah…!」
The owner of the pink mana—
Was Lady Lenia.
The pink mana surging within the circle resonated violently with its master’s emotions.
*Wooooo──!*
The mana was crying.
Grieving, wailing, and screaming in agony.
It cast a deep sense of helplessness and exhaustion over every living being in the room.
Even Ray, who was outside the door, wasn’t entirely free from its effects.
‘My body won’t move properly.’
The primary elements composing the pink mana were weakening and deterioration.
It was a rare elemental force, one that even Graham had little knowledge of.
Back then, the explanations he had heard were nearly nonexistent, but that wasn’t a problem in understanding the current situation.
By simply observing the flow of mana and its resulting effects before his eyes, Ray was able to grasp the nature of the element and the magic at play.
─Keep moving. Now’s not the time to stop. Other than restricting movement, this spell doesn’t have any additional effects.
Ray redirected most of the mana he had allocated to his protective barrier into strengthening Philip’s enhancement magic.
“Got it…!”
Philip wiped his tears away and gathered strength in his legs, snapping back to reality at Ray’s voice.
A fierce tug-of-war began between the enhancement magic reinforcing his body and the weakening magic suppressing it.
*Wooooong──!*
The result was a slight advantage in favor of the enhancement magic.
Thanks to that, though slow, Philip was able to continue advancing with firm determination.
*Kugugugugu──!*
“……!”
Just as he was about to reach Lady Lenia, the floor beneath him collapsed.
Philip instinctively stretched out his hands and grabbed onto the jagged edge of the exposed floor.
*Crack—*
Fragments of the floor crumbled and fell.
As he glanced downward, he saw that the supporting pillars of the structure had completely collapsed.
─Are you alright?
“I-I’m… for now.”
To think something like this would happen right at the last moment.
Philip tried to pull himself up using his arms, but the persistent weakening magic made it exceedingly difficult.
“Haa… Haa… Can you increase the output of the enhancement magic?”
─This is the limit. I’ve been exhausting my mana since we were on the first floor.
Philip gritted his teeth.
Frustration gnawed at him.
The thought that he might fail to save Lady Lenia made his heart race uncontrollably.
“Take the mana used for my protection and divert as much as possible into my enhancement magic.”
─……You’ll get hurt.
“It’s fine. I don’t care.”
Immediately, he felt his body surge with renewed strength.
At the same time, the protective barrier weakened significantly, and a searing pain tore through his hands gripping the floor’s edge.
The sharp edges of the broken floor bit into his palms, and the raging windstorm above slashed at his exposed skin.
“Grrrk…!”
Enduring the pain, as if his hands were caught in a grinder, Philip forced himself upward.
And finally, he saw her.
Lady Lenia, sitting collapsed on the ground, clutching her head with both hands.
*Step. Step.*
With exhausted steps, he approached, knelt down, and wrapped his arms around her.
“It’s okay… It’s okay….”
He was at the eye of the storm.
Yet the wind no longer seemed to reach him.
He wasn’t sure what he was saying.
Or what exactly was supposed to be okay.
But the words came naturally, as if drawn out of him by some unseen force.
The woman lifted her head.
Her unfocused, tear-filled eyes met Philip’s.
“Joshu… a?”
The wailing stopped.
The raging windstorm, too, weakened and finally dissipated completely.
Silence filled the room.
The only sound that remained was the faint patting of a battered hand on the woman’s back.
*Tap— Tap—*
And so, for a long time, he continued.
Until both Philip and Lady Lenia, exhausted, seemed to have fallen into a still slumber.
Then suddenly—
The shadows of the collapsed debris stirred.
From within the wreckage, a jet-black figure leaped forward.
A figure entirely concealed by a mask and dark robes arced through the air—
His killing intent unmistakable as he descended upon the boy and the woman.
And then—
*Kwoooom──!*
With an overwhelming sense of helplessness crushing down on them, the figure crashed into the floor.
