The Baby Isn’t Yours

ortex disappeared.

* * *

Bang! Clank! Clank!

Something exploded, and the door flew off as if blown away.

Ganini held the unconscious Ahim in his arms and looked towards the raging flames.

“Damn it.”

He had barely managed to secure enough air to breathe.

The red flames and black smoke that engulfed the swallowed-up area threatened Ganini.

He gritted his teeth and focused his mind while swallowing the curse.

The small barrier that could barely protect him and the child seemed like it would collapse at any moment.

‘What did I do to deserve this loss of strength?’

It was as if the underground had become hell and Ganini’s power had been completely destroyed.

For some reason, the gate leading to the fairy forest hadn’t even been created.

Some powerful force seemed to prevent anything from leaving this small space.

Nevertheless, Ganini managed to create a barrier to breathe and escape the heat.

But he didn’t know how long it could hold up.

He bit his lip.

He followed Kanal and searched the suspicious hut and heard the voice of a child begging for help.

He couldn’t ignore the sound of despair, even though it was suspicious.

In the end, he went down to the underground and found the human child that Tokan had brought.

At that moment, the door closed, trapping the two of them here.

“…I was stupid.”

He shouldn’t have come in recklessly…

No matter how much you can create a gate, it was wrong to be complacent. But as always, regret was already too late no matter how quickly you did it.

Ganini tried all his strength and methods to try to get out of here, but nothing worked. He spent time there and smoke seeped in through the door. And through that gap, he saw a bright red light flickering.

‘Fire!’

Finally, Kanal was trying to kill him by pushing in blazes into the underground tunnel with no windows. Ganini squeezed out all his strength to create a barrier, praying for it to hold until someone found them.

But…

Plop! Whoong!

The sparks gradually grew and the gray smoke became completely opaque and heavy, pressing down on the air. The concentration of the fire increased with a sizzling sound, creating a whirlwind in the midst of the flames, collecting the destructive force that seemed to explode at any moment.

‘No, if an explosion occurs here, this barrier will break.’

Ganini swallowed his dry saliva and pulled all his strength together. If he had a chance, it would only be once. He would condense the barrier as much as possible, cover himself like armor, and collide with the flames with his bare body to escape.

At least fortunately, the stairs would be short.

Taking a deep breath, Ganini waited for the flames to split at the timing where he could pass through the path that led to the door.

Just a little more, just a little more… now!

However, Ganini had to stop before he could even take a proper step.

Clang!

With the sound of the ground collapsing, the underground door was completely buried.

“…!”

Ganini’s face turned pale and he slumped down.

The fire spread its mouth like a snake and flicked its red tongue towards him.

‘…Did you still hear the voice of the next Fairy King?’

Helplessness crushed him.

Don’t be arrogant. Try more, try harder, harder.

As he thought this might be the end, he closed his eyes tightly.

-Kyuu?-

A small mole jumped up from his ankle.

Before he could grasp its identity, the mole looked at Ganini with a flicker and stretched both arms up and shouted.

-Kyu!-

Then the ground rose up and wrapped around Ganini.

The mole proudly raised her head and exhaled the breath.

Shrugging as if to say ‘Look at this’, but Ganini couldn’t see it completely wrapped in the ground.

-Kyuwoo…-

As Tierra lowered her shoulders and pouted, Fuego appeared next to her.

Fuego entered through Tierra’s tunnel and tapped Tierra’s butt with his tail.

-Shh, shhhh.-

The snake looked at the flames shaking his tail, as if it could explode at any moment.

As the snake flicked out his tongue, his body slowly grew larger.

The snake that grew his body spread the mouth towards the flames.

‘What’s going on?’

Ganini, who was trapped in the ground, moved his body.

But the ground didn’t budge like a rock and didn’t even drop a single piece.

At that moment, another explosion was heard outside the ground.

It was a huge explosion that couldn’t be compared to before.

The ground where he stood trembled, and he could feel the wind hitting the earth around him.

What the hell is going on outside?

A mole spirit suddenly appeared in the space where his natural powers couldn’t reach.

‘How did it get in here?’

At that moment, a faint scent of water passed by Ganini’s nose.

It was the smell of water energy gathering.

As he tensed up, another mole appeared under his feet, and a small snake with a tongue licking out appeared alongside it, as if it had eaten something delicious.

Before Ganini had a chance to wonder, something solid hit the earthen wall.

Kwaaang!

“…!”

The ground shook, and moisture rose from it. The earth above him also became wet and gradually crumbled.

“Are you okay?”

A clear and neat bass voice.

A voice he had heard before politely asked him. Then, another voice called him worryingly.

“Brother!”

Ganini was surprised and looked up.

It was then that he noticed the surroundings that were around him.

The hut had disappeared without a trace, and he was standing there with the child he was holding in his arms.

And the two of them were watching him from higher ground.

One was Kalia’s man with silver hair, and the other was Gaia, who was holding a bow covered in yellow flames.

“What happened…?”

“It’s a long story. Are you okay, big brother?”

Gaia jumped down and ran towards her big brother, her eyes were busy checking if his body was healthy.

Ganini looked at Gaia with a confused expression before turning to Simon, who explained briefly.

“The ground was soaked with demons. I purified it and burned everything to the ground.”

“…More importantly, how did Gaia and you end up here?”

“The mole over there told me something was happening here. I summoned Gaia. Is that okay?”

Neither Simon nor Gaia answered his question.

Kalia, who came from the opposite direction of the forest, reached out to Ganini and asked,

“What happened here? What about grandfather and the others?”

Ganini’s gaze naturally turned towards the Primordial Tree.

Ganini’s expression hardened as he confirmed the direction.

It was because gray smoke was rising from the towering Primordial Tree.

“Well, I guess we have to find out together. Let’s go there for now.”

* * *

The fire on the Primordial Tree, embracing Leah, was a black that resembled darkness.

The fire that ate away at the tree couldn’t be extinguished with ordinary water.

As a result, Kalexia had no choice but to hurt himself once more.

It was a fire that could only be extinguished when his blood, which contained the power of purification, was mixed in.

He couldn’t bear to see his wife and the tree burn in that eerie flame.

He deeply cut his wrist and drew out blood like a fountain.

“Ah, Father!”

Hoa and Nua were surprised and tried to stop him, but Kalexia didn’t flinch.

“Don’t stop me. This is the quickest way.”

Even if the four elemental spirits were not present, there was still a way to summon water.

He mixed his own blood with the moisture in the air and the water flow of the lake to extinguish the black flames.

Despite discovering the fire early and making a quick decision, the burn marks were still too large.

The Primordial Tree was tightly holding Leah.

“This… They have hurt you too much.”

He sadly murmured as he alternated between looking at Leah’s hair, which was not damaged, and the burnt tree.

Hoa and Nua tried to help the tree recover by sharing their strength, but the tree didn’t recover.

Kalexia, who was stopping the bleeding on his wrist, raised his head.

First of all, she needed to wake up Leah.

“Hoa.”

At her father’s call, Hoa stood in front of her sleeping mother with trembling steps.

The fruit she had been holding tightly in her fist began to emit a faint light as it approached Leah.

As she swallowed her dry saliva, she put the fruit in front of her mother’s lips, and it turned into light and seeped into Leah’s mouth.

Silence filled the space.

How many tense seconds passed like that?

The Queen’s eyelids, which had been tightly closed for 25 years, trembled.

Kalexia waited for her to open her eyes completely without saying a word.

Blinking, the eyelids swayed, and the weapon returned to the blurred retina.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly got up.

Like someone who had fallen asleep last night and just woken up, she stood up sluggishly and looked at her partner who was staring at her stiffly.

Her eyelids lowered halfway and created a smile.

Kalexia bit his lip at her eyes, which were so full of life that he hadn’t seen them for so long.

“Kalexia, what are you doing?”

Leah called Kalexia with a beautiful voice that was hard to believe had been asleep for decades, and spread her arms.

“Come quickly and hug me. Why are you hesitating?”

“Leah…!”

Kalexia, who called her name like a wail, ran to her and hugged her.

He deeply sniffed the woody scent of her neck.

A powerful force seemed to crumple him up.

“I wanted to see you too, Kal.”