Immediately after activating Elementalization, a translucent wind began to swirl around my skin.
[The Spirit of the Wind now dwells in your body].
I couldn't exchange a look with Erwen, much less a conversation, but I realized what she intended.
[All damage you take will be adjusted with the dodge upgrade].
With the Wind Spirit, dodge settings had a certain chance to activate. This probability was maximum for attacks classified as magical, so the Wind Spirit also included the following condition:
[Damage taken by magic is doubled].
This was why Erwen didn't usually activate Wind Mode when facing wizards or special ability users: because she considered the risk to be greater than the possible reward. A dodge ability that had a 50% chance of working might sound good, but if you took double damage on hits, you could be taking more risks due to the nature of the bet.
¡Zas!
The coin was already tossed, so it could only do one thing.
Hit.
Wait for the results.
¡Wiiiip!
After a split second where everyone's fate was at stake, the results were immediately evident.
[You managed to dodge.]
The End of the World thorn that was flying towards me to skewer me only brushed against my skin as if it had been blown away by a gust of wind at the last second.
¡Kabooom!
The black thorn stabbed into the ceiling with a thunderous roar. The force seemed to leave my body an instant later, and the wind that enveloped my form died away.
[All the Natural Power of Erwen Fornacci di Tersia has been consumed. Elementalization has been disabled].
So this was all you had left... No, think about that later.
I rolled on the ground and stood up, still with Erwen in my arms.
«Bjorn…»
Hey? No sir?
The sudden change of nicknames seemed strange to me, but I didn't examine it too closely. The first thing was to see how he was. «I know you're tired, but can you deal with the special abilities user on your side? You just have to keep it at bay».
«...I can do it.»
Well, the baton had been passed.
«You...!» As soon as I adopted my stance and turned around, a volley shook my shield.
"Kak!
Regal Vagos, the Dragon Slayer, was the person who first taught me what it meant to lose a comrade.
"Kak!
I blocked every vigorous blow of his sword, although I noticed that they seemed somewhat disordered.
I thought that when I saw him again, I would feel so happy that I could cry.
It wasn't exactly like that. Well, I figured it was to be expected. Although he had been desperately waiting for this moment, he had had to sacrifice many things to get here.
«You-you... how are you so stubborn?»
«I don't think the bastard who came here to hunt me has the right to ask that».
«¡Finish you!»
Vagos' sword was powerful. He seemed to be squeezing out every last bit of strength he had left in each fiery blow. The driving force behind each thrust was obvious. Wanting revenge on me was one thing, but he also seemed to be aware that his only hope of getting out of this fight alive was to kill me before I could kill him.
"Kak!
The current situation was simple. Erwen, who had had a recent brush with death, used her last remaining strength to mark the special ability user in the distance.
«Emily! I don't have to worry about that guy, do I?».
«...Don't say obvious things». Amelia, meanwhile, was engaged in a battle with the bald Repeles.
The rest of the enemies had fallen. Of course, there were still some alive among them, but they hung by a thread. They had no energy to fight.
"Kak!
The winner of this long battle would be decided now.
"Kak!
I threw my weight behind my shield to push the sword away. Although my Stamina stats had been shattered by the Backspace, I still had my Strength. I pushed my opponent three steps back with just that slight movement. Now that I had deflected his sword and calibrated his condition, it was my turn.
«Behel-aaaaaah!» I shouted to my ancestral gods and ran forward.
Although Wild Burst doesn't activate no matter how much he screams... Running without him is not the same. I don't get that excited.
¡Whooom!
I dropped my hammer with the power of my ancient gods behind it.
Run.
Vagos dodged it by taking two steps back, and then stabbed his sword into the slight gap that appeared when I brandished the hammer. He had a lot of combat experience.
Which means his instincts are extremely sharp.
Soon, his sword stabbed deep into my side. If before I couldn't feel the negative effect that Recoil had had on my Stamina, now I could definitely feel it.
Slash!
It's not that he couldn't have prevented or blocked the stab. However, if he had done so, it would have only served to lengthen the fight.
Latigo.
Immediately after the sword strike, my arm shot forward. My target was his neck. Since the difference in our strength stats was obvious, I assumed that if I managed to grab him, he would have no way to escape. But it seemed like he was aware of it too.
Run.
Vagos backed away quickly. He was in such a hurry that he didn't even take his things.
«Do you leave this?» I pulled the sword out of my side with clenched teeth and smiled with my mouth full of blood. «I don't need more swords. Seriously, what kind of swordsman keeps losing his sword?».
I made a gesture as if it was pathetic, and my opponent's face hardened. His eyes were so filled with hatred that it seemed like they were going to fire daggers at any moment. But his actions told a different story than his eyes. Vagos seemed panicked, clearly unsure of what to do without his sword.
Jump.
Then he ran, not towards me, but to the side. Once again, his thought process was incredibly obvious.
Are you going to use that sword on the nearby ground?
Come to think of it, the same thing happened in the maze. Once he couldn't use his sword, he ran towards Missha and stole hers. Until Rotmiller took that sword with his own body, proclaimed it his own, and placed it in the Treasure Vault, I could only watch helplessly as the Dragon Slayer swept away.
This time it's different.
So, he gave me two options - the worst evil and a minor one - and I had to choose one. But now, the situation was completely different. I wasn't the one choosing, it was this guy.
Run.
As soon as Vagos took his feet off the ground, I too ran forward. The distance was reduced by a second, and his eyes widened. He seemed to be weighing whether it was a good idea to keep going for the sword or not.
¡Whooom!
The choice he ended up making as he watched the hammer swing toward his head was pathetic.
Run.
Vagos surrendered with his sword on the ground and began to roll.
He didn't even need to worry about a feint.
If it had been me, I would have pretended to pick up the sword and instead caught him off guard.
Well, I guess he's not willing to do something like that since he's a swordsman. Hmm, but if swords are really that important to him, he should have been willing to sacrifice a shoulder to get his hands on it... Maybe he's behind something else.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't find his decision regrettable, but I put my mind together cautiously rather than carelessly. That was much smarter than underestimating the enemy and getting screwed as a result.
¡Whooom!
I brandished my hammer again, careful not to get too close.
¡Run!
Vagos shuffled back.
Hit.
We repeated the process several times and finally his back hit the wall. At that moment, his dragon pupils widened. That's when I realized.
This bastard... wasn't even thinking about the wall.
The secret move I thought I was looking for? Never existed. He was just running like a headless chicken to avoid my hammer and ended up being cornered. That was all.
¡Crack!
As if to prove it, the hammer hit his left shoulder as he fell.
«Ugh!» Vagos tossed to the side, moaning with bloodshot eyes. It seemed like a strange movement. More precisely, it seemed useless to him.
«If you have given me your shoulder, you should at least receive something in return».
If you were going to end up letting him break your shoulder anyway, you might have risked picking up the sword sooner.
Instead of rejoicing at my enemy's poor judgment, I felt angry.
Squeeze.
I dragged him by the back of the head as he tried to escape like an eel and threw him against the wall.
¡Bang!
He stood with his mouth open and coughed up blood.
"Father!
I brandished the hammer again. The target was the top of his head, but he managed to lunge to the side again and dodge it.
¡Crack!
Thanks to that, his left leg was completely crushed.
«Aaaaaagh!» Shout. It didn't feel satisfying at all. The woman he had killed earlier, Six, did not lose her composure even as her head was crushed.
This is a childish son of a bitch.
«Only... by someone like you...»
But his desire to survive, at least, was formidable.
Drag.
Vagos tried to walk away, crawling on the ground with his leg crushed. I looked where he was going. It was where Amelia was fighting a fierce battle with Calvo. Did you plan to have his help?
Presioné.
I stepped on his back to stop him. I guess that finally forced him to face the facts.
«...M-Kill me», he said through clenched teeth. It was great luck. Although he stuttered a little, he did not beg for his life. If I had, I would have been in a very bad mood.
¡Kwa claim!
I looked quickly at Amelia. She was still engaged in fierce combat as we spoke. I made a decision. Without delaying any longer, I was going to say what I wanted to say and then I would finish.
«Do you remember Riol Warb Dwalkie?».
«Hehehe...» About to die, he scoffed when he discovered my Achilles heel. Not that it would make much of a difference at this point. «Aren't you talking about that half-mage back then?».
That day, he hadn't even been able to get his body out of the maze, so we had to hold a funeral with some of his memories and nothing else. That day, he had decided that one day, when that time came, he would say this.
«Sit there and listen». I broke his remaining shoulder with my hammer and said: «Riol Warb Dwalkie. That half-mage who saved us all in the labyrinth that day...» Although it took a long, long time - almost three years - «He didn't lose. Because thanks to him, now I can kill you. He won, you understand?»
This time he didn't answer either. Was it his last bit of pride that made him bite his tongue? I turned him around and grabbed his chin, forcing him to nod.
So is it all over?
It didn't seem real, but it did.
¡Crack!
Now die, son of a bitch.
***
¡Crack!
After taking care of the Dragon Hunter, I joined forces with Amelia to also destroy the bald boxer.
[Manua Repeles has been defeated.]
Next up was the special abilities user who was doing an entire production trying to evade Erwen. He chased him insistently.
[Kayle Elbad Zenegger has been defeated.]
With that, all the enemy skulls were crushed. The moment my brain recognized that fact, the heat of the arduous battle rushed out of my body and cold air enveloped me.
¡Shaaaaaaaaa!
Without the enemy around, this place was as quiet as the moment after the end of a storm. Was that why? It finally seemed real.
«It's over...»
Finally, the battle was over, but there was no time to rest.
«Amelia, check if any of our enemies are still alive.»
«I'll help too!» erwen said.
«No. Resting is the most useful thing you can do right now».
I left the confirmation process in Amelia's hands and forced Erwen to rest, as she had exhausted her energy to the limit.
Squeeze.
I picked up the members of our squad who were lying on the cold ground. I checked the extent of the wounds of those still breathing and closed the eyes of those who had lost their heat. Horrible was not a strong enough word to describe this situation.
Sven Parav, Melend Kaislan, Lilith Marrone, Titana Akurava, Ravien, James Calla, Versyl Gowland, Erwen, Amelia y yo.
«Ten people...» That was the number of team members who had survived this expedition. Everyone else was dead.
«Yandel... I found four potions.»
After searching the Order of the Rose and Noark, Amelia found some potions that were quickly divided and distributed among us based on the severity of our injuries.
«I'll see if there are more potions».
«Thanks, Emily...»
The potions were not nearly enough to guarantee all the wounded a full recovery. But because we administered them on an urgent basis, those at the crossroads of life and death were able to heal a little and came to their senses one by one.
«So... we really are the only ones who survive».
Darkness fell into the eyes of the squad members upon learning the extent of the damage we had suffered over the course of this expedition. The reason was simple. We now knew too much about each other to be happy to have survived while others died. Anger arose before relief had a chance.
Howl!
Although the rest of us did not burst into tears like the magician Marrone, we weathered our sadness with clenched fists.
«Mr. Ashed... said his wife was waiting for him. The priestess Eriabosti... had a son».
«Ventis Gerod dreamed of reaching the Abyss one day».
«Mr. Iriban said he wanted to open a store when he finished this search.»
«None of them... should have died in a place like this. They shouldn't... but... but why...?»
Sadness soon mixed with our anger.
«Mr. Yandel... tell me. What... what did we do... so wrong? Why did everyone have to die here like this?»
After a long detour, we come to the question at the heart of it all.
«Did we do something so bad?.. something so bad? Bad enough... to be punished like this?»
«...The first thing I'm going to do is kill my clan commander. Even if I die in the process.»
«That won't work. We have to spread the word and protest. Tell people what we had to go through!»
«It won't be easy with the palace involved, but... It could be possible. Ravien is a dragonian. And Akurava, you have quite a bit of influence with dwarves».
«Lord Yandel, you were a candidate for chieftain, right? And Miss Erwen has a very important position with the elves».
«Yes, if the four races unite and join forces...!»
The more they released their emotions, the colder my head and heart grew. I also wanted to unleash my anger like them, but I couldn't.
«You... will definitely... become the... Giant...»
To become the kind of person Old Didi wanted me to be, I couldn't act like that.
Aprieta.
«Lord Yandel! What do you think, Lord Yandel? You're not going to stay silent, are you?»
I stared at them all as they trembled with burning anger. Then I spoke. «Not me..., we will, actually».
«... Sorry?»
«Because only then can we survive. Kaislan, you are a gentleman, so you would know. Even if the four races unite and break into the palace, we will all die».
Not even Kaislan, who always influenced public opinion in my favor, responded this time.
So you don't want to answer.
I continued despite everything. «To begin with, it is impossible for the four races to join forces. If we asked them all for help, do you really think they would risk their lives to fight at our side? With the fate of their entire races at stake?»
I don't think so. This was not a fairy tale. The people who lived here did calculations and made decisions on cold, hard foundations, not on flower gardens.
«Still...! We have to do something!»
«Even if we all die as a result?»
«It would be better than doing nothing!»
«Marrone, do you really think that? Do you think the dead will be happy if you waste your life like this?»
«So... then what do you want me to do?!» It was strange to see this magician, who never seemed to lose the laughter in her voice no matter how difficult the situation was, yell at me like that.
I didn't cower. «As I said before, we have to stay silent. We can't say anything, much less protest. We'll have to pretend we think there was some other reason the head unit didn't come. We'll also have to act like we haven't killed the secret apprentices on Noark's eighth floor».
It would be considered a great military achievement if it were made public, but we couldn't reveal it to anyone.
«And the legendary Order of the Rose?» This was more of the same. Although facing them was an achievement worth showing off at drinking parties for the rest of our lives, that's how it had to be. «We never met them».
We were the only ones who knew what had happened here. So if we lied about what happened, the people who sent us here would reconstruct the events on their own in a way that was acceptable to them. Maybe something went wrong. Perhaps the Order faced the enemies that were pursuing us and we were lucky to survive.
«So... what about the people who died...?» marrone asked through tears. «Those guys...»
I bit my lip before letting go: «Those guys were killed by monsters after escaping Glacier Eye».
«¿Monstras...?»
«Yes, they were exhausted from the trip outside Ojo de Glaciar. And with our equipment gone and our lack of food... It's not totally unreal-»
«That's a lie! They didn't die like that! We fight powerful enemies! And it was so exhausting that... I thought so many times that maybe... Maybe I should let myself die instead of fight... But we still fought... until the bitter end, without anyone giving up. We fight and we win... but... but... Monsters? Were they killed by monsters?»
«Enough, Sra. Brown…»
«Wahhh!» Kaislan hugged Marrone and calmed her down while she cried.
This time, Sven Parav stepped forward. «So... what happened next?»
«We hid like cowards until closing day and held on until we were the only ones who survived. That will be the ending we will tell the world».
«I see. It certainly seems the most likely way to ensure our survival. But...» His eyes locked on mine. «I don't like it at all». Her voice was firm in a way I had never heard from him before, but there was no hostility in her gaze. Because? «But I'll do what you say».
"¿Because?
«Because from your look I know that you are the one who likes this option the least».
I was speechless, and Akurava took the opportunity to get ahead. «You won't be... planning to stay silent forever... right?».
«Of course not».
«Then I'll wait». Akurava took a step back.
Next was Calla. «I... will try it too. Although I will have to face the clan leader and act as if nothing had happened... At least that will be better than today, when I couldn't even see my comrades die...»
He could feel her burning fervor even through her closed eyes. I approached the rest of the crew and secured their support one by one. Once I had spoken to all of them, I finally turned to the magician collapsed on the ground.
«Lilith Marrone».
When our eyes met, she looked at me and asked: «How long... How long do we have to wait?».
Well, I don't know. But if I had to give an honest answer...
«Long time». It would be more than a few years before we could draw our swords, but one thing was clear.
«...I see»
It was the seventy-first day of our expedition inside an ice cave on Ice Rock, on the seventh floor. A chill came from the ice around us, but there was a wave of anger burning within each of us.
«If I wait... yes waiting will make it possible...! I... will wait».
The cold made rage cold: the kind of rage that wouldn't burn out no matter how much time passed. Each of us lit a cold flame in our hearts, where they would remain for a long time.