〈6. Proof of Existence (45)〉
Even if a knight buys time, what use is it if a mage buys time? There aren’t many things a knight can accomplish in a short time.
But Mr. Reynolds’ will seemed firm.
“While doing so, you do something to draw attention. Then, no matter how much she wants to focus on me, she’ll have no choice but to divert her eyes.”
“But, how…….”
“I trust you. You’re a man who can at least save his fiancée.”
Isn’t that just passing the buck?
I was flustered and wanted to retort somehow, but before that, the girl’s mouth opened first.
“Ah, no matter when I hear it, it’s sweet and enjoyable music… The screams of foolish ones, how sweetly delicious they are.”
Swish, along with her voice trembling in ecstasy, the blood-red curtain closed again.
The thin blood-red threads flickered following the wildly shaking blood-red sun.
And the blood-red threads heated to their limit soon headed toward the screaming faceless monsters.
The unpleasant sound of hundreds of threads piercing flesh echoed.
While I slightly furrowed my brows at that unpleasant noise, screams several times louder began to burst out from all directions.
Monsters dyed red all over were bursting through the threads and charging out.
It was then that Mr. Reynolds slapped my back with a smack.
“Then, start!”
Immediately after, the storm of lightning scorched the ground once again.
Bang, bang, bang!
Explosions erupted, but the red-dyed monsters didn’t go down easily. Rather, they didn’t slow down even while taking the barrage of electricity and even charged at us.
I gritted my teeth and swung my sword horizontally again.
The Milky Way left a trail as it poured down.
The complexion of the monsters touched by the silver aura gradually faded. The monsters that had been vividly red lost their color while passing through the silver mist and collapsed one by one with thuds.
There was no time to hesitate anyway.
My running legs instinctively headed toward the girl’s back. To the place where Senior Elsie, Celine, and my younger sister Ria were.
Then, the blood-red whip slashed in front of me with a bang, exploding the ground.
Golden eyes were looking at me. Along with a thick smile at the corners of her mouth.
“Where are you going, Oppa? You have to play plenty with your long-lost younger sister… Just like you did with that fake!”
By the end, it was a scream let out like a desperate cry.
Like a guillotine, two strands of whip alternately pounded the ground. I had to roll my body this way and that to avoid being hit by those blood-red steel wires.
Forward, backward.
If that didn’t work, with the sword.
With a thudding heavy shockwave, my lungs shrank. My body, unable to fully withstand the momentum, dug into the ground by about an inch.
At least I could endure thanks to using 結 (結？).
If I had tried to scatter the whip using 解 (解？), I would have already been incapacitated and rolling on the ground.
It was fortunate that the girl had no intention of killing me.
If she did, I would have turned into a handful of blood long ago.
Watching my struggles, the girl sang a merry hum.
“Good, good! Nice dance? I’ll respond in kind……!”
Snap, a vertical line was drawn from the sky.
The girl’s eyes, witnessing that golden line, blankly turned upward. The direction that solid line was aiming for was clearly where the girl was standing.
A golden roar erupted.
A pillar of lightning struck the girl directly. Just the aftermath made my muscles tingle. I caught the voice riding the wave of that explosion.
“Nephew-in-law! Hurry!”
It was a tone quite strained.
To not miss the opportunity Mr. Reynolds created, I kicked the ground again. Even at a glance, it was a magic of terrifying power, but the gap it created was truly just a moment.
Snap, the lightning scattered in all directions as if tearing the mucous membrane.
Inside was the girl with a solidly angry expression. Just from the rising voice that followed, it was clear.
“This old bastard, really… You want to try me now……!”
Then, the golden eyes inadvertently followed me.
It was a short time, but enough to achieve my goal. I was kicking the ground with all my might.
The end was clear. Because I had no intention of hiding it.
The place where the hostages were restrained.
And from the sword blade in my hand, silver aura was scattering again.
Various thoughts passed over the girl’s retina.
Yes, think about it.
How did I release the restraints?
It wouldn’t take long for the fragmented clues to find their places. The girl’s mouth opened slightly, then clenched.
The golden eyes burned like a fierce flame.
“Such worthless actions……!”
The blood-red whip flew in, but it was already too late.
With a snap, the drawn hand axe immediately shattered the nearest restraint.
It was Ria. Seeing Ria’s pale complexion, I hurriedly asked about her well-being.
“Ria, Ria… You must have been so scared? Now it’s oka… Kuhuk!”
“Oppa!”
Clang, the blood-red whip striking my side.
I barely blocked it with the hand axe, but I couldn’t fully offset the impact. It seemed quite sincere, as just the aftermath made my side numb.
The sensation multiplied several times delivered dizzying pain to my mind.
But I forcibly gritted my teeth and endured the groan. Deliberately putting on a warm expression, my hand fumbled and stroked Ria’s cheek.
Of course, the hand axe didn’t stop.
Clang, clang!
Like a blacksmith hammering down, I swung the hand axe with force. Each time, the restraints wrapping Ria peeled off one by one.
The words soothing Ria continued endlessly.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Ria… I’ll save you.”
Then, grit grit, the sound of clenched teeth shattering was heard.
The girl’s eyes, suppressing anger to the limit, were burning fiercely with hatred and jealousy as fuel. In fact, it was as I intended.
You can’t take your eyes off, right?
Because that’s how you were born.
While that point was regrettable, I felt disgusted at myself for somehow exploiting it.
I wanted to save my companions that much.
If you think about it, aren’t I of a similar kind?
A sneer toward myself faintly formed at the corners of my mouth. Until now, I had been smug thinking I was different, but when an emergency comes, everyone compromises.
If I were to go back to the past.
Could I really say not to use the Blood Crystal?
In that case, I would have become half-crippled, and the evil god’s minions would have roamed the land.
The answer was unknown. Perhaps, who knows.
As the girl said, maybe God doesn’t exist.
Even if cowardly, I chose to compromise with reality.
“How dare, how dare… How! In front of me!!”
Anger exceeding the limit rather delays action.
In that gap, I fully released Ria and patted her back once.
“Hurry and take cover, Ria. She won’t kill you.”
“O-Oppa?”
I showed a smile instead of answering.
And with a bang, my body slid back. It wasn’t just the blood-red whip. Blood threads were surrounding me like a spider web, narrowing the encirclement.
“To that damn fake!!!”
Regardless, I ran toward Senior Elsie. While stabbing the sword in my hand into the ground with a squelch.
It was around the time the blood-red threads approached me.
With a bang, along with the explosion, silver aura spread while tearing the blood-red threads.
It was already the limit. Perhaps because I had squeezed out mana to the bottom, my meridians were screaming.
But this much is enough.
Just before Ria swung the blood-red whip again.
Buzz buzz, and.
The still air began to emit cries.
The girl tried to ignore even this, but in front of the high-density mana dyeing the world blue, there was nothing she could do.
Everyone’s gazes turned toward the source of the gale.
There, the Great Mage stood in silence.
The wheels of lightning rising behind his back were spewing electricity and beginning a fierce rotation. The stronger that rotation became, the stronger the air waves emanating centered on the Great Mage grew.
Before long, no intact monster existed around him.
A groan-like exclamation leaked from the girl’s lips.
“How already……!”
Whoosh, tap.
The middle-aged man covered in sweat, blood, and dirt had a weary expression. Nevertheless, he didn’t stop throwing and catching the pitch-black rod in his hand.
A faint smile rose at the corners of the Great Mage’s mouth.
“What will you do?”
At those words, the girl’s brows furrowed deeply.
If she checks Mr. Reynolds, she has to give up the hostages. In that case, the choices for me and Mr. Reynolds become simple.
We can just escape.
Because there would be no reason to confront the girl head-on.
Conversely, if she protects the hostages?
She has to withstand the Great Mage’s full-powered magic. This was a burdensome choice even for the girl, as she showed signs of hesitation, unable to decide easily.
In that gap, I further released Senior Elsie.
The girl’s head dropped.
“Heh, hehehe…….”
Has she given up?
The girl’s blood-red whip rotated like a wheel. What it was aiming for was the Great Mage.
I quickly approached Celine and swung the hand axe.
Clang, clang!
Even while the restraints were being peeled off, Celine couldn’t properly regain consciousness. She only groaned.
An urgent plea leaked from my lips.
“Wake up, wake up. Celine!”
Bang, bang!
The sound of whip clashing with lightning echoed. Mr. Reynolds also didn’t seem to have any intention of easily canceling the incantation.
We won.
The moment I was about to have that certainty.
“Puha, Ahahahahahahahaha!”
The girl’s mad laughter echoed.
Squelch, and the kick from Celine, whom I had just freed, struck my solar plexus.
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