Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 87: 21st Floor: A Midsummer Night's Dream Even before I left the cave, I fully expected to be surrounded.
Especially since I'd seen their mages, I knew from experience they would use Invisibility magic to conceal their presence.
And so, I decided to use that to my advantage.
I knew I had no chance of winning a head-on fight. No matter how much grit, skill, or talent I had, some things were just impossible.
I snapped back to reality.
A blade thrust straight at my face. I leaped over it, hanging in mid-air. Even a Swordmaster's thrust isn't impossible to dodge when you see it coming.
I had already drunk the last of the breast milk, recovering a small amount of divine power.
'I only have one chance.'
The moment his thrust missed, the mages unleashed the attack spells they had already prepared.
Blazing fireballs flew in from all sides, as if they intended to roast me and Irene alive.
Normally, you can't change direction or gain propulsion in mid-air.
But I had this body, modified by Juji and the Heavenly Demon.
I focused all my divine power into my legs. I felt it drain from my chest and gather at the soles of my feet.
Then, I took that power gathered beneath my feet...
FWOOSH! FWOOM!
...and unleashed it in a downward explosion, like a rocket engine. The recoil shot my body high into the air.
If they had simply tried a standard encirclement, they would have caught me. But they made the mistake of trying to kill me in one fell swoop. They were making the same mistake I'd made at the start of my fight with the Sword Saint.
That's what happens when you go all-in with no backup plan.
Of course, a technique like that wasn't without its price.
"Ugh..."
Pain shot through the soles of my feet.
Releasing power is one thing; an explosion is another. My shoes were gone, the skin on my feet torn and bleeding. But I'd had no other choice.
Just like that, I broke through their encirclement in a single burst and soared away.
They hastily launched spells from below, trying to give chase, but I deflected what I could with my spear and flew out of their range.
"What in the...?"
"Is she flying? Fly magic?"
"The acceleration is too much for magic..."
Their dumbfounded faces receded into the distance.
After soaring hundreds of meters into the air, my body cleared a small mountain peak and began to plummet.
"Uh..."
WHOOOOOSH!!!!
I started accelerating in a free fall. The speed... it was much faster than I'd anticipated.
"Kyaaaaaaah!!! Pichina! Wh-what do we do?!"
"Good question. What do we do...?"
My answer only made her scream louder.
"Kiyaaaaaaaaak!!"
I had no divine power left.
I'll just have to... brace for impact...!!!
I spotted a large tree at our landing point, its branches jutting out like sharp spikes.
'Damn it...'
I'd be fine, but if Irene's fragile body hit those branches at this speed, she'd be impaled.
I twisted around, pulling her into a tight ball against my chest.
'I-I won't die from this... right?'
Trusting in my own durability, I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Uwaaaaaah...!!"
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!!
KRA-KOOM!!!!!
BEEEEEEEP—!!
A sharp ringing filled my head.
I must have landed on something vital. My whole body screamed in agony, as if it had been shattered, and I couldn't breathe.
'Still... I-I'm alive...'
Irene lay collapsed in front of me. I had acted as a pretty good cushion, absorbing most of the impact, but she'd clearly taken a hard hit too. She staggered, unable to get back on her feet.
"Ugh..."
I clutched my head and forced myself up.
I only had two potions left. Once these were gone, that was it.
'Haa... It's my fault for not expecting a trial like this...'
I opened one potion, saving the other.
Gulp... Gulp...
I drank about ninety percent of it, leaving a small amount.
"Hoo... Lady Irene, we have to go, quickly..."
As I felt my body recovering, I poured the last few drops into the mouth of the still-dazed Irene.
Potions are less effective on those with high stats in strength, agility, and defense, and more effective on those with lower stats. That's why it was better to share one than to use a whole potion on her.
There was no time to waste. They had seen which way I fell; that Swordmaster and his men would be on our trail again soon.
Now, I was determined to clear this, if only out of sheer spite.
I had to wonder what kind of reward justified such an insane trial. Whatever it was, I was going to clear this stage, no matter what it took.
I hoisted the still-staggering Irene onto my back and started running again.
The soles of my feet hadn't fully healed and stung with every step, but I ignored the pain and ran.
Over mountains, across rivers, and over more mountains.
I ran without rest from sunrise to sunset.
'They're still chasing us.'
I could feel them closing the distance. At this rate, I calculated they would catch us in less than an hour.
But I wouldn't give up.
This was the territory of the Luxendark Kingdom. Surely, the kingdom would have to respond in some way.
"...."
No, maybe I just wanted to believe that.
Maybe I was just deluding myself because I didn't want to kill Irene with my own hands and fail the trial.
'No, it's not over till it's over.'
I shook off the distracting thoughts and kept running.
The wounds on my feet tore open further, but I ran with desperation.
A river appeared before me.
A narrow river that ended in a waterfall.
'A leap like this should be...'
I couldn't make it.
Because countless soldiers were waiting on the other side.
A massive army, hidden by Invisibility magic, revealed itself just as the Swordmaster who'd been chasing me caught up from behind.
In an instant, I was trapped.
Knights and mages were already positioned to block any escape into the waterfall.
"..."
I set Irene down and silently gripped my spear.
"So Kyle is dead after all."
The middle-aged Swordmaster said, his eyes fixed on the blue sword in Irene's hand.
"...Yeah."
"That boy was a treasure to this empire. He wasn't some talent meant to die in a place like this!"
"Cut the crap and come at me, you piece of trash."
"Hmph... Everyone, form a pincer. Show no mercy. Kill her, no matter what it takes!"
The knights who had arrived with the Swordmaster charged at once.
I swung my spear, knocking back the knights who were coordinating their attack.
The imperial Swordmaster instantly pushed through the opening they created.
I tried to block him with my spear, but he simply charged forward, protected by a ridiculously dense shield of aura.
'This is insane...'
He shoved me back, and I collided with Irene, sending us both tumbling into the river.
The river wasn't deep. Here, near the waterfall, the water only came up to somewhere between my calves and knees.
"Kill them all!!!"
Knights charged from all sides.
Spells rained down into the water, and the Swordmaster charged.
"Hahaha..."
Was I losing my mind? A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
With a single spear in hand, I faced them.
"Haaaaaap!!!"
With Irene at my back, I parried and stabbed at the knights swarming me from all sides.
I spun my spear, deflecting spells and arrows.
The Swordmaster pushed me back, but I somehow managed to regain my balance and hold my ground.
I endured the sword cuts.
I swung my spear, refusing to retreat.
And I protected her.
My body was slashed by swords and burned by magic, but I kept protecting Irene.
My fierce resistance began to pile the knights' corpses, one by one, in the river.
"Stop resisting and die!"
My body couldn't keep up with the path of his sword.
I hastily blocked with the shaft of my spear, but in that opening, a knight closed in on Irene.
"Ah, no!!!"
I thought it was the end.
But...
Slice!!
The knight's head flew through the air.
"...?"
Irene had grabbed the Sword Saint's sword and sliced off the knight's head. A blue aura pulsed from the blade in her hands.
'Irene isn't using aura... is it the sword's ability?'
Aura was pouring from the blue sword the Sword Saint had used.
The sword was supplementing Irene's own lack of strength and aura.
'That sword... it was a broken item, wasn't it?'
No wonder. Even a Swordmaster shouldn't have been able to pump out that much aura continuously. So that was his secret.
He should have grown desperate as his mana dwindled, but the reason that gear-dependent Sword Saint was so damn calm was because he had a free supply of aura?
"Damn, how did the Sword Saint's Ego Sword..."
"That... that woman was chosen by the sword?"
An Ego Sword...!
I guess a sword really does know its true master.
'In terms of talent alone, Irene is better than that guy.'
But even with Irene awakening the Ego Sword, it wasn't enough.
I was losing my one-on-one fight against the Swordmaster, and Irene, for all her talent, was still an inexperienced novice who had just started wielding a sword.
As the knights cautiously pressed their advantage, she began to fall back.
Worse, she had no way to defend against ranged attacks.
Eventually, a magic missile slammed into her side.
"Kyaaaak!!"
Irene screamed in pain and collapsed behind me.
Unlike the sword, her body was still soft and human. Even a weak spell was enough to take her down.
Slice!
"Tch..."
Distracted by her fall, I took a deep cut to my forearm.
I felt the strength in my spear hand fading.
"You struggled quite a bit, but this is the end."
"Wait..."
'Wouldn't it be more beneficial to the empire to just raise Irene instead of the Sword Saint...?'
It would have been great if things had started that way, but too much death and distrust had piled up between us to pretend nothing had happened.
"No negotiations. Die!!"
The Swordmaster gathered a massive amount of aura into his sword, preparing to end it.
And then,
"The necklace... I'll use the shield magic!"
Irene fumbled with the artifact she'd received from the emperor, activating it.
'Wait... received from the emperor?'
The emperor was the one behind this attempt on our lives. Why would he give her an artifact with a shield spell...?
A sense of dread washed over me. I glanced around and saw the imperial Swordmaster, looking flustered, retract his aura and take a step back. The others didn't seem to notice, but he clearly knew something.
"Irene, sto—"
Click!
Before I could stop her, the artifact activated. I felt a tremendous surge of mana—powerful fire-attribute mana!
Irene must have felt it too, her face turning vacant. She couldn't have known. The gift her father had given her with a smile, telling her it would protect her... was a bomb.
Or maybe, even if she knew, she hadn't wanted to believe it until the very end.
My body moved on reflex.
The explosion wasn't immediate. There was a delay as complex magic circles activated in a chain reaction. It was probably designed to detonate once all the circles were active.
I snatched the trembling artifact from Irene's neck—it was already hovering, about to explode—and hurled it at the Swordmaster.
"Shit..."
He tried to catch it and throw it back at me as he fled, but...
VMMMMMMMM!!!!
A bright light erupted from his hand, one stream, then two...
...and it exploded.
I shielded Irene with my body and dove into the river just as a massive shockwave and a wall of fire swept over the area.
────!!!!
The shockwave ruptured my eardrums. I couldn't hear a thing, only feel my body being engulfed in searing flames.
I buried Irene's face in my chest, protecting her desperately. My head swam, and I fought to hold on to my fading consciousness.
'If I pass out here, Irene will die...'
We were just in the river, but now the water was gone, replaced by fire on all sides.
It's hot. So painful...!
Engulfed in flames, I felt myself being thrown somewhere.
'It can't end like this...'
No matter how hard I fought it, I could feel my consciousness blurring from the pain. Flames seeped through my wounds, roasting my insides. The agony was so intense I wanted to give up, to just close my eyes and let it all end.
And just as my consciousness was about to snap,
SPLASH!!!
A stinging sensation on my back told me we were in the water. It seemed we'd been lucky enough to be blown over the waterfall.
'We're alive...'
I quickly dragged Irene to the surface. She was already unconscious.
"──!"
'My throat's shot... No, wait, is it that I can't hear because my ears are gone?'
Probably both. I'd tried not to breathe, but I must have instinctively inhaled a few times.
My vision was blurry, my eyes dry and stinging.
I swam to the shore and checked Irene's condition.
Her face was fine, but her lower body and back were completely scorched. Remnants of her burnt clothes were fused to her skin.
But she was still breathing, so she was alive.
With burns this severe, however, her internal organs must have been damaged. If I left her like this, she would die for sure.
Without hesitation, I used my last potion on Irene.
I had her drink half and applied the rest to her ruined, burned skin.
'Oh, Irene... your beautiful skin is ruined...'
The worst of the wounds healed, but the puckered skin on her back and legs remained. She would likely carry those scars for the rest of her life.
To escape any potential pursuers, I hoisted her onto my back, using the remnants of my Illusionary Garment to secure her tightly, and ran.
When I looked back, a black mushroom cloud was rising from where we'd been, as if a massive bomb had gone off. Flames were spreading in every direction.
I kept running.
Something was wrong with my body. Blood trickled from my mouth, and my legs kept giving out, causing me to stumble and fall several times, but still, I ran.
I was strangely out of breath after running only a short distance, but still, I ran.
As the sun set, rain began to fall.
At some point, my vision started to blur.
My senses felt off, and I started coughing up blood more frequently. It was hard to breathe; it felt like something was catching in my lungs with every breath.
'It's okay.'
I gasped for air and ran through the rain.
My vision grew blurrier until I couldn't see at all, but I could still perceive the rough outlines of my surroundings with my aura.
I don't remember how long I ran through the rainy mountainside.
Eventually, the rain stopped, and I felt the warmth of the sun on my skin.
My senses picked up a hut and the presence of a single person.
Even when I spread my aura out, I couldn't sense a village or anyone else nearby.
Gasping for breath, my lungs feeling ready to burst, I knocked on the door.
A man came out and seemed to say something, but I couldn't hear his voice.
'He must have given permission, right?'
I followed him inside and laid Irene down. The blue sword was already lying beside her, as if it had a feature that kept it close to its master.
And then, finally, a message appeared in my status window.
I couldn't see, but the status window was perfectly clear, as if projected directly into my mind.
[You have cleared the 21st Floor Trial. Reward grade increased for solo play. Reward grade increased for achieving the hidden ending 'Match Made in Heaven'.]
For once, the Tower even gave the hidden ending a name.
'Right, it was a hidden ending... No wonder the difficulty was insane... But that's not important right now, quickly...'
I could receive my rewards in the waiting room.
[Would you like to enter the waiting room for the next floor?]
'Yes.'
At that exact moment, I sensed Irene regaining consciousness.
I wanted to say goodbye... but I couldn't. I couldn't speak, and I couldn't hear. More importantly... if I didn't leave right now, I would die.
The moment I stopped running, I felt the cells in my body begin to die off at a rapid pace.
I could sense Irene crying and saying something, but I couldn't hear her words.
'Goodbye, take care... Irene.'
Shwing!
I was transported to the Tower's waiting room.
*
My familiar, crudely decorated waiting room came into view.
"...Ah. Ah."
My voice returned to normal, and my vision cleared.
The piercing, full-body agony vanished, leaving me feeling refreshed.
"Ah..."
It felt like I had just woken up from a very long dream.
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