576 – 7. Jealousy is my strength (76)
Only three shadows remained in the vast forest clearing.
Me, Seria, and Xian.
It has been a long time since the trees and rocks that were supposed to fill the vacant lot were pulverized and scattered. It was a yard where even the ground was terribly blown out, so everything standing on it had to fall away.
Of course, we weren’t all fine.
First of all, I ran so urgently that I couldn’t breathe properly. Since I reached High Expert, I haven’t had many breaths like this.
Moreover, my body had scars from fighting with the vampires. My blood-soaked face will not look normal no matter who sees it.
However, even this was nothing compared to the princess.
None of Shien’s limbs was intact. Blood dripped from the puncture wounds on her limbs, and her light gray eyes, which had suffered intense pain, were unfocused and blurry.
A girl with dragon blood.
You must have been treated with great respect since childhood. At least he wouldn’t have had his skin and muscles ripped in tatters like this.
How painful was it?
A cold sensation passed through a corner of my chest. There is only one sane person here.
There was only one junior with empty eyes.
I doubted if I could call that one my ‘junior’.
I tried to put on a calm smile.
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“The atmosphere has changed a bit in the meantime, Seria.”
“Senior… ….”
Seria’s attitude towards me was complicated.
I looked back blankly, then looked down at my hand in amazement, and after a while, he sent me a glowing eye. The expression on his face, filled with a sense of frustration, was in stark contrast to his cold expression before.
Before long, a faint moan escaped from her mouth.
“Senior, senior, senior… OMG… my, what am i…….”
“Seria?”
Light flickers like fireworks in Seria’s empty eyes as she staggers backwards. The more she did, the more her Seria’s face was filled with confusion and fear.
Something is strange.
From the beginning, I had guessed that Seria would not be normal, but originally, she did not have such violent tendencies.
To leave piercing wounds on an innocent girl’s limbs one by one.
She was Seria, who preferred to cleanly decapitate her enemies even when killing them. As the empty eyes suggest, it was reasonable for Seria to assume that she was in some kind of hypnotic state.
However, the depth of her hypnosis might not be as deep as expected.
It was just the way he was confused as soon as he heard my voice.
I took a cautious step with a faint hope. I wanted to run and hold Seria in my arms, but the incapacitated princess was standing next to her.
The life of the princess might be in danger if provoked hastily.
So I started calling her Seria’s name as carefully as I could.
“Seria, Seria? Are you okay?”
“Ah, uh, ah… This, senior Ian…….”
Finally, my name came out.
I was encouraged by that fact and took a couple of steps forward. Seria shook her body and looked at me with her terrified eyes, but neither did she, nor did she show any signs of going berserk again.
Could it end like this?
The wriggling voice stirred my faint anticipation.
“I-what am I… what how…….”
“Calm down, Seria… You didn’t do anything.”
The trembling gaze testified to Seria’s unstable mental state.
Her slender hands went into strength. She repeatedly fell out. I was a skilled swordsman, so I immediately understood the meaning of those muscle movements.
Should I swing my sword?
Seria’s hesitation was clearly visible. To that extent, Seria’s muscles were showing candid movements.
I decided to talk about the memories that suddenly came to my mind. I wonder if it will help Seria regain her sanity.
“Seria, do you remember the first time you sparred?”
“Daily, Dalian?”
“Yeah, you’ve been following me around ever since… What I said then, do you remember?”
Then, Seria’s complexion darkened rapidly.
The girl lowered her head and started muttering to herself. Seeing as she couldn’t hear properly even with her developed hearing, it was likely that she was a fragmented voice that didn’t even speak.
A dangerous glow shimmered in her blue eyes before long.
I stopped on the spot, breaking out in a cold sweat. I guess it was an ominous feeling.
So I have no choice but to prepare.
It took a little more time for Seria’s self-talk to take shape in her language.
“Gi, billion… memory, memory, memory… Ki, remember…….”
“Yeah, do you remember?”
Just like that, silence descends.
Thump, pound.
Only the sound of my heart pounded on my eardrums in the clearing where even the sound of breathing was quiet. My hand holding the hatchet was damp with cold sweat.
The end of a moment of silence.
“Gi, memory… There’s no way you can!!”
Along with her scream that burst out like a seizure, a bloody aura overflowed and burned from Seria’s sword blade.
Its height alone is several meters.
Seria’s momentum, which had regained her monster’s ferocity, was incomparably stronger than before. She even made me think that it would be difficult to guarantee victory or defeat in an instant.
First of all, the overwhelming amount of her mana was the most tricky.
The Lion’s Roar burst out from Seria’s center and hit her heart as it rolled over like a wave. Just the sound alone made my intestines feel entangled, and even the bloody aura exploded like an explosion, creating waves.
I will die at this rate.
Not me, but the princess lying down right next to Seria.
If I hadn’t prepared in advance.
The whole world is dyed in achromatic colors.
All things that lost their color gradually began to lose their momentum, and eventually lost all their power. I was the only one running through the white and black world.
Only a few seconds.
No, less than that.
I have already stopped time several times while fighting the blood of vampires. And unless you are a superhuman who has reached mastery, it is impossible to use such powerful power indefinitely.
Accumulated fatigue further shortens the maintenance time of the stopped world. Because of that, there wasn’t much I could do.
So my goal is only one.
As the stopped time started to flow again, the princess was already in my arms rolling on the ground. I quickly rammed her hatchet into the ground and had to carry the description of the harm.
Thump!
A sound resounded as if a tsunami was crashing against a breakwater, and the bloody waves began to fight against the silver walls. It was a barrier that soared as soon as I hit the hatchet.
It was an incomparable proficiency compared to before.
Of course, it wasn’t without cost.
The aftermath of the crash slammed through my body. My consciousness faded for a moment, and an unfamiliar landscape almost unfolded before my eyes.
Arid Wilderness.
As soon as the sight of the scattered corpses formed on my retina, I bit my lip and regained my sanity.
The fishy smell of blood awakens the drowsy mind. In addition, even the light breath that touches my chest.
The princess muttered with unfocused eyes.
“Lee, Sir Ian… ….”
“Are you all right, Your Highness?”
At my voice, which I pretended to be calm, a drop of dew flowed from the princess’s eyes.
“Sorry, sorry… Because I’m incompetent… Another lung…….”
“You did as much as you could.”
I purposely made my assertion in a strong tone. It was to let them know that the princess’ hard work was not in vain.
Actually, the princess did her best. Despite her apparent power loss, she held out well until I came.
So I had an obligation to make her performance not pointless.
“You have endured well so far. I will take care of the rest.”
“Yurdina senior.”
When I took out the healing potion from her bosom and sprayed it on her, the princess was suddenly so lucky.
The sound of panting was faint. Even so, the princess did not stop conveying her words to me.
“It’s not normal… There is no hesitation in using violence. He even said that he wanted blood, and he was going to give me the slightest hint of it, so it must be said that he doesn’t have much reason left.”
“I know.”
“Can you do it?”
With tickling eyes, the girl’s small hands carefully gripped the hem of my clothes.
My gaze meets the princess in the air. She had a very worried face.
I couldn’t even get my body to work.
“Can you cut Yurdina senior and Sir Ian?”
I didn’t intentionally return the answer.
Because I still didn’t know.
Cut Seria with my own hands?
It was a problem I had never even imagined. Seria has always been my ally, and she’s never had a real fight with a real sword that splattered her flesh and blood.
But there was one thing that was certain.
I will never kill Seria.
Let alone a fatal wound, it was doubtful whether he could properly inflict even a wound. And it’s not strange even if the opponent loses his reason and harms me as much as he wants.
The conditions were terribly unfavorable.
However, the time to worry was not long.
With a bang, the blood-colored waves exploded after the final offensive. And the shadow that moves lightly beyond the thick dust.
An ominous blue light floated in the air.
“Senior Ian… Are you digging your eyes out again?”
Listening to that bleak question, I pulled out a hatchet stuck in the ground and hung it from my waist. Instead, what was held in my hand was a single sword.
Since ancient times, prosecutors used to talk with swords.
I didn’t know that we would be competing in earnest like this.
I burst into a cold sweat and laughed bitterly.