Raellan’s Sacrifice

The muggy wind, heated by magic, brushes against my cheek. The Holy Sword tears apart Raellan and Konrad’s magic, allowing Roel to advance a step. A fierce clash of magic and martial force. In that brief moment, my head cooled despite the Indomitable Courage skill not activating.

Figuring out how Roel parasitized me and absorbed everything I had was something to postpone. Right now, survival is the goal. There was no room for complacency against Roel, who had reached the ending. I had to focus all my nerves on survival to have even a slight chance of living.

The runic letters encircling my wrist were still red. If I could just hold out until they turned green, I could escape Roel, who was trying to kill me, and cross over back to my original world.

Having finished my assessment, I immediately recognized the surrounding spatial coordinates. Ilia was stuck to the wall, blankly watching our clash with Roel. That was fortunate for us, at least. If Ilia, who possessed skill equal to Roel, were to team up with him, Raellan and Konrad’s defense would crumble in an instant. Konrad and Raellan had practiced together many times, apparently, synthesizing their magic in mid-air to create a sphere of magical power containing immense destructive force.

Seeing that, Roel’s eyes gleamed as he cleaved the sphere of magical power flying towards him with the Holy Sword.

I waited for that moment. Even with a strong body capable of wielding a greatsword with ease, there were bound to be gaps in posture when swinging it.

Predicting the trajectory the swung Holy Sword would take, I created a dimensional entrance there. The space I designated as the exit was Roel’s left waist. My thought was that without a left arm, it would be difficult to respond to a sudden anomaly.

That thought hit the mark. But the Holy Sword stopped just before reaching Roel’s waist. With tremendous power and reflexes, he stopped the attack just before the Holy Sword made contact.

Roel glared at me, his blue eyes flashing. He seemed to have become cautious about the intervention of my existence, which could create sudden variables.

The gambit failed, but our side gained a significant advantage from that intervention just now. We bought Raellan and Konrad time to prepare their magic, and made Roel wary of my space magic.

A knight wary of arrows that might fly from anywhere cannot focus on the sword in front of him. Now, Roel had to be cautious with every step he took, every action he made with the Holy Sword.

And there was one more benefit. Seeing the attack fail, I immediately tried to close the dimensional passage. In a sparring match with Roel in the past, I had made him lose his weapon in this way. I wanted to see if it would work on the Holy Sword as well.

But as expected, when the dimensional passage disappeared and the exit closed, the Holy Sword instantly tore through space and regained its original form. A cheap trick didn’t work, huh? It was definitely a weapon worthy of being called the Holy Sword.

,This is different from Rosaline’s magic….”

Roel muttered something, but his voice was too quiet to hear. Just then, Konrad, who was blocking my path, shouted.

,Roel, get a grip! This isn’t the answer to saving the world!

,But it could be a chance to find the answer.”

Despite Konrad’s desperate voice, Raellan smiled slyly at Roel’s resolute appearance, determined to kill me without a hint of wavering.

,Coordinator-nim, persuasion is already futile. Why is someone who knows better than anyone that Roel’s justice is uncompromising wasting their time?”

No sooner had Raellan’s mocking words ended than Konrad retorted in an angry voice.

,Roel is our last hope! Of course, I can’t give up on persuading him!

Raellan let out an unpleasant laugh at Konrad’s cry.

,…He *was* our hope. Not anymore.”

Raellan waved his staff vigorously at Roel. A flash of green light shattered the floor and ceiling, exploding in front of Roel.

Kwaaaang-!

With the sound of the explosion, Raellan grabbed my arm, created a door in the wall with magic, and instantly escaped out of the house. Raellan said to Konrad, who followed us out of the collapsing house.

,Our hope is no longer Roel. A new hope, Ross, has appeared.”

At Raellan’s words, Konrad shouted as if in a fit.

,Can’t you understand yet! We can’t go to another world. Even if we avoid the world’s rejection by some means, the balance of that world will collapse. In the end, we can’t escape the predetermined destruction! Roel won’t kill us, will he? If I persuade him with you…!

Ignoring Konrad’s words, Raellan turned his back and met my gaze. His face was full of madness and elation. Raellan said in a low voice.

,Dying isn’t a problem at all. I just hate losing. So, I have to beat even the me in another world, right?”

I could feel Raellan’s true feelings in those words. He was indeed worthy of being called the Mad Strategist. Raellan is a strategist who must win with his own hands, no matter what. Even if it’s himself in another world.

Just as I was about to open my mouth to persuade Konrad, an unpleasant sensation flowed down my spine. It was a sensation similar to the premonition of death I had experienced countless times in the Trial Room.

In a split second, at the sound of a beast-like breath that brushed past my ear, I reflexively created a dimensional passage and jumped towards the entrance with Raellan. I couldn’t help it because I was too far away from Konrad.

I could see that my intuition was correct from Konrad’s appearance as I fell from the dimensional exit I had created in the air.

The defensive magic Konrad had created crumbled and disappeared. Konrad’s upper body, which had been holding the staff, slid down, scattering severed entrails onto the floor.

Konrad, the Great Mage who had earned the title of World Coordinator, had died, unable to withstand Roel’s strike using the Formless Breath.

Raellan, who had landed safely with magic, looked at Konrad’s upper body rolling on the ground and said with amusement.

,The me over there must have thought highly of you. To teach the Formless Breath to an outsider, keh heh heh. I didn’t even teach it to this Roel. To think it’s powerful enough to kill a Great Mage in one blow, amazing.”

I was momentarily speechless at Raellan’s appearance, caring more about the other world’s self who had taught the Formless Breath than the death of his comrade who had fought alongside him until just now. I hesitated whether I should really accept Raellan as a comrade.

Reading my expression, Raellan tapped his temple with his staff and said.

,Hey, don’t give me that look like you don’t trust me. I’m risking my life for you right now. And I told you, I want to see you beat the me in another world. I won’t do anything stupid like betraying the only hope, so please don’t worry about useless things.”

At Raellan’s words, I let out another sigh, not knowing how many times I had sighed today.

,…Understood.”

Raellan was about to explain something further, but he had to turn his head because Roel, who had appeared in front of us, was there.

,Ross, did you think I’d let you escape?”

With that voice, the same one he used to playfully grumble about me forgetting our dinner appointment someday, Roel once again declared his intention to kill me. At that sight, Raellan shook his staff and asked in a sly voice.

,You’re not even giving us time for a strategy meeting? We just lost a Great Mage over here.”

,I can’t let you use your head. You’ll definitely find a way to turn the situation around.”

With that, I heard the beast’s breath again. The moment Roel’s figure disappeared from my sight, I heard the sound of chains in the air. When I looked up, I saw Roel, bound in the air by chains made of magic.

,This is….”

Raellan burst into wild laughter at Roel’s bewildered appearance.

,Konrad had a curse magic that bound the target who took his life. He said that when the time came to sacrifice his life for you, it was to buy you time, at least. Keu keu keu, I never imagined that you would be the target of the curse.”

Having shouted that, Raellan grabbed my arm and whispered in my ear.

,Alright, let’s get the hell out of here while we have the chance.”

At those words, I immediately created a dimensional passage to the farthest possible location. Raellan waved his staff around, destroying the machines installed around the collapsed house, and escaped through the passage with me. Raellan quickly scanned the surroundings, distorted his face, and glared at me. I looked at Raellan with a bewildered expression at his strange reaction.

,What are you doing? I told you to run away, why did you come to such a nearby place?”

I scratched the back of my neck, feeling unfairly accused by Raellan’s incredulous look.

,…This is the maximum distance.”

,You’re telling me it’s not even 50 meters…?”

I sighed and nodded at Raellan, who looked at me suspiciously as if he couldn’t believe my words.

,What the fuck… I naturally assumed I could escape to a nearby city like Rosaline…. Oh well, I have no choice but to use it as much as possible to escape. Because I broke the magic camouflage device, the Chaos Worms will soon swarm here. Let’s move quickly.”

The machine Raellan broke must have been the magic camouflage device. I had no choice but to keep creating dimensional passages and running away.

As I was creating another dimensional passage, Raellan suddenly said.

,Just in case, say this briefly when you have the chance. The way to persuade the me in your world is surprisingly simple. Tell him that it wasn’t poison that killed our father, but a letter. That should be enough.”

,Not poison, but a letter…? What does that mean?”

When I asked while connecting the dimensional passage, Raellan avoided answering, telling me not to pry.

,It’ll be more fun to hear it directly from the me over there.”

He smiled slyly as he said that, which felt ominous for some reason, but I felt the ground rumbling loudly, sensing that the Chaos Worms were approaching.

,Do you still need time to return to the other world?”

At Raellan’s question, I looked down at my wrist. The runic letters were still red. But it seemed like they would turn green soon. I roughly estimated the remaining time and said.

,About an hour….”

Raellan sighed at my weak voice.

,I don’t think we can buy even 20 minutes against Roel, even if we use the Chaos Worms.”

Raellan scratched his eyebrow with his staff and smirked at me. Raellan, who had stepped back from the dimensional passage, said.

,Well, I’ll try to hold out somehow.”

,Ra, Raellan….”

Realizing that he meant to stay here and buy time, I looked at Raellan with a flustered face. Then Raellan twisted one corner of his mouth.

,Hah, this is why it’s annoying to have a master who needs explanations. I can only get a chance to turn things around if you live, right? And you’ll think about accepting me as a comrade even a little more if I owe you my life like this. Keu heu heu, it’s all calculated actions, so you don’t have to make such a complicated face.”

It was a calculated statement, but in the end, it meant that he would sacrifice himself to buy time. I couldn’t help but know that he was deliberately speaking sharply so that I wouldn’t feel burdened by his sacrifice.

But Raellan’s choice was not wrong. Buying even a little time would increase my chances of returning to my original world. This was, as Raellan said, owing him my life.

I bit my lip and looked at Raellan’s nonchalant face before turning my body towards the dimensional passage. And I said with sincerity.

,…I will definitely keep my promise. I need your wisdom too.”

,Yeah, I believe you. I don’t even have to worry about being betrayed by a stupid master. Keu heu heu.”

Leaving Raellan’s laughter behind, I passed through the dimensional passage.