87 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Before exiting the cave, it was quite predictable that the outside would be surrounded.

Unless I hadn’t seen their mages, I knew from experience that they would use Invisible magic to conceal their presence and become transparent.

Therefore, I intend to use that to my advantage.

I know very well that there’s no chance of winning head-on. No matter how hard I try, no matter the skill or talent, some things are just impossible.

I return to reality.

I jump over the blade thrusting straight at my face and float into the air. Even a Sword Master’s thrust isn’t impossible to avoid when anticipated.

I drank all the remaining breast milk on the way, recovering a bit of divine power.

‘Only one chance.’

As his thrust misses, the mages simultaneously unleash the attack spells they had pre-casted.

Fireballs blaze from all directions, intending to roast Iren and me whole.

Normally, you can’t change direction or gain momentum in the air.

But I have a body modified by Ju-ji and Chun-ma.

I gather all my divine power in my legs. I can feel the divine power in my chest moving to my feet.

And the divine power gathered beneath my feet,

Bang! Kaboom!!!

Exploding downwards like a rocket engine’s thrusters, the reaction propels my body high into the air.

If they had tried to surround and attack me normally, I would have been caught trying to fly away, but their mistake was trying to kill me all at once. They are making the same mistake I made at the beginning of the fight with the Sword Saint.

That’s why you can’t be without a backup plan.

Of course, this technique didn’t come without a cost.

“Ugh…”

I feel pain in my feet.

Release and explosion are different. My shoes are gone, and my feet are bursting, bleeding, but there was no other way.

Thus, I break through the enemy’s encirclement in one go and fly far away.

They hurriedly pour magic from below, chasing after me, but I fend them off with my spear as much as possible and escape out of range.

“What is that…?”

“Flying? Is that Fly magic?”

“The acceleration is too great for magic…”

Their dumbfounded faces recede.

My body, soaring hundreds of meters, goes over a small mountain peak and begins to fall.

“Uh…”

Whoooooosh!!!!

My body accelerates as it freefalls. The speed is… much faster than I expected.

“Aaaaaah!!! Peachina! What, what do we do!”

“I know, right? What do we do…?”

She screams even louder at my response.

“Kiyaaaaaaack!!”

There’s no divine power left.

I’ll just have to use my body…!!!

I see a large tree at the landing point. And sharp branches sticking out everywhere on that tree.

‘Damn it…’

I don’t care about myself, but Iren’s fragile body will be pierced by the branches at this speed.

I turn around, fold her in half so that her legs reach her chest, and hold her in my arms.

‘I, I won’t die, will I?’

Trusting in my defense, I simply close my eyes.

“Uwaaaaaa…!!”

Thwack thwack thwack!!!

Crash!!!!!

Beeeeeeep!!

A ringing echoes in my head.

I must have hit something unpleasant while landing, my whole body aches as if it’s breaking, and I can’t breathe.

‘Still, I, I’m alive…’

Iren is collapsed in front of me. I acted as a great dispenser, absorbing most of the impact, but she must have taken a considerable shock as well, as she staggers and can’t get up.

“Ugh…”

I grab my head and get up.

There are only two potions left, and this is the end once I drink them.

‘Sigh… It’s my fault for not anticipating such a trial…’

I open only one potion and leave the other.

Gulp… Gulp…

I drink only about 90% of the potion, leaving a little.

“Haa… Lady Iren, let’s go quickly…”

Feeling my body recover, I feed some of the potion I left to the unconscious Iren.

The effectiveness of potions is less for those with high Strength, Agility, and Defense stats, and better for those with lower stats. So, it’s better to share the potion like this than to use a whole potion on her.

There’s no time to dawdle. They saw the direction I fell, so the Sword Master and his men will be after me again.

I’ll have to clear this out of sheer spite.

I’ll clear this no matter what it takes, no matter what reward they’re planning to give for creating such an insane trial.

I pick up Iren again, still slightly staggering, and run.

My feet still sting, as the recovery isn’t complete, but I ignore it and run.

I cross mountains, cross rivers, and cross mountains again.

I keep running without rest while the sun moves from east to west.

‘They’re still chasing.’

I can feel the distance closing. I roughly calculate that they’ll catch up in less than an hour if this continues.

But I don’t give up.

This is the territory of the Luxendark Kingdom. Surely the kingdom will react in some way.

“……..”

No, maybe I just want to believe that.

I don’t want to kill Iren with my own hands and give up the trial, so I might be deluding myself with wishful thinking.

‘No, you never know until it’s over.’

I shake off the stray thoughts and run.

The wound on my foot is getting worse, but I run desperately.

I see a river ahead.

It’s a narrow river with a waterfall at the end.

‘Something like this is easy…’

I couldn’t cross it.

Because there were numerous soldiers waiting across the river.

A large army, hidden by Invisible magic, reveals itself, and the Sword Master chasing me arrives as well.

I’m instantly surrounded from the front and back.

Knights and mages are already lined up on the waterfall side, preventing me from jumping into it.

“……”

I put Iren down and silently grip my spear.

“So, Kyle is dead after all.”

The middle-aged Sword Master says, looking at the blue sword Iren is holding.

“……Yeah.”

“That child was a treasure of this empire. He wasn’t the type of talent to die in a place like this!!”

“Spare me the chatter and come at me, trash.”

“Hmph… Everyone, prepare the encirclement formation. Don’t think about showing mercy to the enemy. Kill him no matter what it takes!”

The knights who arrived behind the Sword Master immediately charge.

As I swing my spear, the knights attacking in unison are knocked back.

The empire’s Sword Master quickly pushes through the gap created by the knights.

I try to block him with my spear, but he charges straight through with a recklessly layered aura shield.

‘Crazy…’

Pushed by him, I collide with Iren behind me and fall into the river.

The river wasn’t deep. It was only between my shins and knees near the waterfall.

“Kill them all!!!”

Knights charge from all directions.

Magic falls onto the riverbed, and the Sword Master charges.

“Hahaha…”

What’s wrong with my mind? A senseless laugh leaks out.

With only a spear in my hand, I face them.

“Haaaaap!!!”

I fend off and stab the knights swarming from all directions, centering on Iren.

I rotate my spear to block magic and arrows.

I’m pushed back by the Sword Master, but I somehow maintain my balance and endure.

I endure even when cut by swords.

I swing my spear and endure without retreating.

And I protect.

Protecting Iren, I protect her even as my body is cut by swords and burned by magic.

As a result of my fierce resistance, the corpses of knights pile up one by one in the river.

“Stop resisting and die!”

My body can’t keep up with his swordsmanship.

In a hurry, I try to block with the spear shaft, but in the meantime, a knight approaches Iren.

“No, no!!!”

I thought it was the end.

But…

Thwack!!

The knight’s head flies into the sky.

“…?”

Iren is holding the Sword Saint’s sword and has beheaded the knight. The sword she’s holding is emitting a blue aura.

‘Iren isn’t using aura… is it the sword’s ability?’

Aura is emitted from the blue sword that the Sword Saint used.

The Sword Saint’s sword compensates for Iren’s lack of strength and aura.

‘That sword… was a cheat item?’

No wonder, even a Sword Master couldn’t keep drawing out aura like that, the secret to maintaining it was just free aura.

I thought he would get anxious as his mana ran out over time, but the reason the cheat-item Sword Saint was so calm was just because of the free aura.

“How could the Sword Saint’s Ego Sword…”

“That, that woman has been chosen by the sword?”

Ego Sword…!

Indeed, the sword must recognize its owner.

‘In terms of talent alone, Iren is better than that guy.’

But even though Iren has awakened the Ego Sword, it’s still not enough.

I was being pushed back in a 1v1 fight against the Sword Master, and even though Iren has talent, she has just started using a sword properly and lacks experience.

As the knights slowly pressure her without letting their guard down, she also begins to falter.

Moreover, she has no means to resist ranged attacks.

Eventually, a Magic Missile hits her in the side.

“Kyaaaaack!!”

Iren screams in pain and falls behind me.

Unlike the sword, her body is still that of a soft, ordinary person. She’s easily subdued by weak magic.

Thwack!

“Ugh…”

My forearm is deeply cut as I worry about the back.

I can feel the strength of my grip on the spear weakening.

“You put up quite a struggle, but it ends here.”

“Wait…”

‘It would be more helpful to the empire to raise Iren instead of the Sword Saint…’

It would have been nice if that had been the case from the beginning, but too much death and distrust have already accumulated to go back as if nothing happened.

“There’s no negotiation. Die!!”

The Sword Master seems intent on finishing things, as a large aura gathers on his sword.

And then,

“Necklace… I’ll use the shield magic!”

Iren manipulates the artifact she received from the Emperor to activate it.

‘Wait a minute… received from the Emperor?’

The mastermind behind trying to kill us is the Emperor, but there’s no way he would have given her an artifact with built-in shield magic…?

Feeling uneasy, I look around, and the empire’s Sword Master is actually taken aback, withdrawing his aura and stepping back. The others don’t seem to have noticed, but he seemed to know something.

“Iren, st…”

Click!

Before I can stop her, the artifact activates, and I can feel an enormous amount of magic power surging. And very strong fire attribute magic at that!!

Iren seems to have felt it too, as she makes a blank expression. There’s no way she would have known that the thing her father gave her as a gift to protect her was a bomb.

No, even if she knew, she might have wanted to believe it until the very end.

My body reacts reflexively.

The explosion doesn’t happen immediately inside the necklace, but there’s a time for complex magic circles to activate in succession. It’s probably a method where all the magic circles are activated and explode at once.

I grab the artifact, floating in the air and trembling as if it’s about to explode, from Iren’s neck and throw it at the Sword Master.

“Oh no…”

He tries to catch the necklace again and throw it back at me, but…

Weeeeeeeeee!!!

A bright light bursts out from his hand in one, two… streaks…

And explodes.

Wrapping my body around Iren and diving into the river, an enormous shockwave and flames sweep through the area at the same time.

────!!!!

My eardrums are ruptured by the shockwave, and I can’t hear anything. I can feel my body being engulfed in hot flames.

I bury Iren’s face between my chest and desperately protect her. I somehow hold on as my head shakes and my consciousness tries to fly away.

‘Iren will die if I lose consciousness here…’

I was definitely in the river, but the water is gone, and there’s fire everywhere.

It’s hot. It’s painful…!!

I can feel myself being swept away somewhere, engulfed in flames.

‘I can’t end like this…’

No matter how hard I try to resist, I can feel my consciousness fading in the pain. The pain of the flames entering through my wounds and roasting my insides makes me want to give up everything, close my eyes, and be at peace.

And just as my consciousness is about to break,

Splash!!!

Along with a stinging sensation on my back, I can feel that I’ve entered the water. I must have been lucky enough to fall below the waterfall.

‘I’m alive…’

I quickly pull Iren up to the surface. She was already unconscious.

“──!”

‘My throat is gone… or is it that my ears are gone and I can’t hear?’

It seems to be both. I tried not to breathe, but I must have instinctively inhaled a few times.

My eyes are also a little blurry, dry, and stinging.

I swim to the shore and check Iren’s condition.

Her face was unharmed, but her lower body and back were completely burned. The scraps of clothing that had burned were even pressed onto her skin.

But she’s still alive, judging by the fact that she’s still breathing.

But with this level of burns, even her internal organs would have been damaged. She’ll definitely die if left as is.

Without hesitation, I use the last remaining potion entirely on Iren.

I feed her half and apply the other half to her damaged and crushed skin.

‘Oh dear, our Iren… her beautiful skin is all ruined…’

The major wounds have been healed, but the wrinkled skin on her back and legs remains as is. She’ll probably live with those scars for the rest of her life.

I pick her up and leave the area to avoid any possible pursuers. I tightly bind her using the remaining clothes from the Illusionary Armor and run.

Looking back, the place where we were was a black mushroom cloud rising like a large bomb had exploded, and flames were spreading everywhere.

I keep running.

Something is wrong with my body, blood is coming out of my mouth, and my legs twist and I fall several times, but I still run.

I’m strangely out of breath even though I’ve only run a little, but I still run.

The sun is setting and it’s raining.

At some point, my vision became blurry.

My senses are also strange, and the number of times I cough up blood increases. I can’t breathe well, and I feel like something is stuck every time I breathe.

‘It’s okay.’

I run through the rain, breathing heavily.

My vision gradually blurs until I can’t see at all, but I can still sense the rough outlines of objects with my energy.

I don’t remember how long I ran through the rainy mountains.

At some point, the rain stops, and I can feel the warm sun shining down.

And I sense the presence of a cabin and one person.

Even when I spread my energy widely, I don’t sense a village or anyone else.

I knock on the door, gasping for breath.

A man comes out and seems to say something, but I can’t hear his voice.

‘He must have given permission?’

I naturally follow him into the room and lay Iren down. Whether it’s because the Ego Sword has a function to follow its owner, the blue sword is already placed next to her.

And finally, the status window message appears.

I can’t see the front, but the status window is clearly visible as if it’s being shown directly into my brain.

[Cleared the 21st floor trial. Reward grade increased due to solo play. Reward grade increased due to achieving the hidden ending ‘Soulmates’.]

The Tower is actually giving a name to the hidden ending.

‘So, it was a hidden ending… No wonder the difficulty was insane… But that’s not important right now, quickly…’

You can receive the rewards after moving to the waiting room.

[Would you like to enter the next floor’s waiting room?]

‘Yes.’

And at that moment, I can feel Iren regaining consciousness.

I want to say goodbye, but… I can’t. I can’t speak, and I can’t hear. Above all… I’ll die if I don’t leave now.

As I stop running, I can feel the cells in my body rapidly dying.

I can feel Iren crying and saying something, but I can’t hear it.

‘Goodbye, take care… Iren.’

Whoosh!

I move to the Tower’s waiting room.

I can see my familiar, crudely decorated waiting room.

“……Ah. Ah.”

My voice returns to normal, and I can see in front of me again.

The piercing pain throughout my body disappears, and I feel very refreshed.

“Ah……”

It felt like I had a very long dream.