episode_0087

The one-on-one confrontation with the Hero was a unilateral beating, so much so that it shamed the name of ‘confrontation.’

Unbefitting his slender frame, the sword sheath he swung contained destructive power, as if he were swinging a heavy hammer in a full arc.

Thwack!!

Another heavy thud, and his left arm hung limply, as if his shoulder bone had broken.

“Ugh… Ughhh…”

Now, not even a scream would come out.

No, the act of breathing itself was agony, so he couldn’t even scream.

Every time he inhaled, he distinctly felt the clattering movement of his broken ribs in his chest, and the pain of his muscles shrinking as they were pricked by those ribs.

The bone of his left arm, broken and trying to tear through his skin, the blood gushing out from the torn wound, and the pain of inflammation boiling up inside his body…

Thanks to the power of the pill that forcibly kept his consciousness awake, preventing him from fainting in any situation, he could feel his body breaking apart, piece by piece, very clearly.

“Wow… So tough, so tough!!”

The Hero looked at him, still standing, resembling little more than a half-corpse, and let out an incredulous exclamation.

At the Hero’s exclamation, he could only stare blankly at the Hero, his eyes bloodshot red from the blood flowing from his broken and torn head.

He wished he could just die.

The pain was that horrific.

He was in so much torment that he felt confident he could die within a minute if he just closed his eyes and lay down on the ground right now.

“Enduring in that state, wouldn’t it be more comfortable to just die?”

Had he read his innermost thoughts, looking at his eyes that had lost their focus and were simply staring blankly into the air?

The Hero said with a smug smile.

“No, is there any value to this pain and suffering you’re enduring? This is just a formal confrontation, isn’t it?”

He raised his head and looked over his shoulder, as if looking at Killua-nim behind him.

“Hey, hey. Surrender quickly. This guy will really become a cripple if this keeps up. You’re trying so hard to save his life, shouldn’t you at least send him back with all his limbs intact? There’s nowhere left to hit him!”

The Hero lightly tapped his shoulder, which was barely holding him up, as if he might collapse any second.

It was just a light tap, but his body, almost at its limit, swayed greatly even from such a small impact.

“Ugh… Ughhh…”

He staggered, letting out groans that were akin to whimpers, trying to steady his legs that wobbled as if they would give out from even a small shock.

“Tsk… This guy can’t even speak properly now. What are you going to do?”

Clicking his tongue as if he found him pathetic, the Hero lightly poked his sword sheath into his armpit, supporting his swaying body that was about to collapse.

He wanted to shake off the Hero’s sword sheath that was supporting his body, but…

Due to the intense pain squeezing and gnawing at his entire body, he could only helplessly gasp for breath.

“Alright.”

Killua-nim’s voice came from behind him.

“I’ll surrender. So, please don’t take Jazel’s life as per the contract.”

Her voice was mixed with a faint sob, as if she had resigned herself to everything.

“Good. That’s how it should be.”

A disgustingly greedy smile spread across the Hero’s lips.

At the same time, as if he no longer needed to show interest or consideration for him, he pulled out the sword sheath that had been supporting him in his armpit.

“Ughhh…”

When the supporting sword sheath was gone, his almost broken and ruined body collapsed weakly onto the ground, unable to even support itself.

“You made something easy to solve so difficult, didn’t you? Because of your foolish stubbornness, regrettable victims like this have appeared.”

The Hero lightly tapped his head with the sword sheath, as if formally pitying him.

“As per the contract, I won’t take Jazel’s life. Since I’m in a good mood, I’ll even give you a potion to heal your wounds as a bonus.”

As if giving alms to a beggar, the Hero casually tossed a small potion bottle in front of him, where he was slumped on the ground.

“There. I’ve fulfilled everything as per the contract, haven’t I? Now it’s your turn.”

The Hero grinned broadly and lightly snapped his fingers.

Then, behind him, a door appeared, connected to a sub-space that was his villa and undetectable even by Killua-nim’s magic.

“Come… come in.”

The Hero gestured towards the villa’s door with an exaggeratedly elegant motion, as if inviting Killua-nim to a royal palace.

The moment Killua-nim passed through that door, guided by the Hero…

He would never be able to see her again.

Even if by some miracle he could meet her again, the Killua that remained would no longer be the Killua-nim he remembered, but the Killua who had become the Hero’s possession.

“I… I haven’t fainted yet…”

With a bloody tongue slurring between his broken and shattered teeth, he forced his slumped body to rise.

The trembling joints of his knees felt as if they would dislocate and pop out at any moment, and his shattered spine, broken to the point of imminent collapse, felt like it would give out if he put any pressure on it.

But rather than watching Killua-nim become the Hero’s slave before his very eyes, it seemed better to die stubbornly resisting like this.

“The confrontation is over, and the soul contract has expired. If you resist, you will truly die. This isn’t a metaphor or an analogy. You’ll truly die like that old hag.”

The Hero drew his sword from its sheath and pointed it at Ariel, who lay fallen without a twitch.

But his provocation was, surprisingly, welcomed.

He would rather die.

Rather than suffering his entire life from the pain of losing Killua-nim, it felt better to die now.

“Jazel.”

As he leaned his body forward, preparing to charge at the Hero…

A small hand gently gripped his shoulder, restraining his movement.

“Actually, this was the real plan.”

“Killua-nim?”

At her words, that this was the real plan, he looked at her with trembling eyes, as if unable to believe it.

“To gather your magic, I need at least two minutes with our bodies in close contact. Honestly, even if a herbalist Hero came, there’s no way they could buy that much time against a monster like that, right? It was impossible from the start.”

Killua, standing before him, gently wrapped her hands around his, which were torn, swollen, and bloody, her eyes filled with tears, as if truly sorry.

“I didn’t know you would put in so much effort… I’m truly… truly sorry, Jazel.”

“A lie… It’s a lie, isn’t it? This is… Killua-nim’s scheme too, right?”

Unable to believe her apology, he slowly shook his head, his eyes trembling.

But at his reaction, the tears in Killua-nim’s eyes slowly began to flow down her cheeks.

“Live on, forgetting me, Jazel… Because you are special now.”

With those words, Killua-nim released the hands that had been gripping his.

Clutched in his hands, which she had embraced, was the pendant that had hung around her neck.

“Ah… Ughhh…”

The pendant capable of holding all the magic of the White Mage.

Her transfer of that pendant to him meant that she had completely given up her life’s goal, which was to return to being the White Mage.

Realizing instinctively that everything Killua-nim had said to him was true, the strength drained from his stubbornly tensed body, and he collapsed onto the spot.

“Hee hee hee… Are your goodbyes finished?”

The Hero beckoned Killua-nim to hurry, as if every second was precious, anticipating what was to come.

Killua-nim wiped away the tears flowing down her cheeks, then took a deep breath.

With an unperturbed expression, she boldly and fearlessly took steps towards the Hero who was beckoning her.

“Like this… like this is…”

Unable to bear watching Killua-nim fall into the Hero’s clutches, he lowered his head, whimpering as if resenting his own helpless and pathetic self.

“…Huh?”

Just then, something strange appeared beyond his tear-filled vision.

He thought the ground seemed to shimmer due to the tears filling his eyes, but…

Upon closer inspection, something was wriggling in a regular pattern on the ground where he was slumped.

“A sli…me?”

It was a very small slime, about two finger-lengths long.

The creature formed its head into a triangle and desperately wriggled, extending and retracting its body repeatedly, as if begging to be noticed.

It was as if it had turned itself into an arrow pointing a direction.

“A slime… Could it be!!”

He strained his creaking neck, lifting his slumped head in the direction the slime was pointing.

The slime was pointing directly behind the Hero.

There, he saw a space filled with fallen leaves and soft earth.

He could see tiny slimes, so small it was hard to notice them without looking carefully, moving quickly and ferociously beneath the fallen leaves and through the soft earth.

“Ariel…”

The fact that she could control slimes was a secret between him and her, one even Killua-nim didn’t know.

He didn’t know what she was preparing, but this small slime was conveying a request to him: to somehow get the Hero into the area filled with fallen leaves and soft earth.

It was his last hope.

“Ugh… Ughhhhh!!”

Looking at Killua-nim’s pendant clutched in his hand…

He ignited all his will and determination to seize the hope he had barely found.

He put strength into his knees, which felt like they would buckle at any moment, and, prepared for his broken bones to pierce his flesh, he clenched his muscles and forcibly lifted his broken arm.

Then, as if he didn’t care if the Hero’s sword cut his neck or body, he let out a roar and charged at the Hero, who was about to lead Killua-nim to his villa.

“Oh, really?”

At his sight, charging with a roar as if to show off, the Hero began to draw his sword, as if to cut him down in a single stroke.

“No!!”

But Killua-nim, horrified by the Hero’s action to strike him down, suddenly grabbed the blade emerging from the sheath with her bare hand.

The Hero’s sharp sword immediately cut into Killua-nim’s delicate flesh, instantly staining it with blood.

“Are you insane!!”

When Killua-nim suddenly grabbed the blade emerging from the sheath, the Hero screamed and stopped his action to draw the sword.

Thanks to that, he, in his ruined state, crashed straight into the Hero without any obstruction.

Startled by the impact, the Hero took a few steps back and nervously brushed off his body where it had touched him, as if covered in dreadful filth.

“Ugh… Seriously, how disgusting… Both of you are acting crazy!!”

A simple body slam couldn’t inflict significant damage on the Hero.

However, after taking about two steps back, his feet landed on the edge of the clearing, which was filled with fallen leaves and soft earth.

“Hey…”

At the same time, a calm voice, unfitting for the situation, echoed faintly but very clearly through the forest.

Even the Hero stopped abruptly, as if doubting his own ears, and looked towards where the voice came from.

His gaze landed on the fallen Ariel.

“I’d be bored falling into hell alone, you know? Let’s go together.”

Ariel, whom he had been certain was dead, lifted her head from where it was pressed into the ground and glared at the Hero.

Her two eyes, filled with madness and rage, were so red they had turned black, like a demon risen from hell.

The moment he met those eyes, even the Hero seemed to feel a chill, taking one more step back with a pale face.

And so, his retreating foot finally landed in the very center of the clearing.

At that moment, the slimes hidden among the fallen leaves and soft earth revealed themselves.

“Wh-What is this?!”

Tiny slimes, about two finger-lengths long, gathered densely.

They were slimes that seemed no threat at all, but they were gathered around the Hero in the form of a gigantic magic circle.

Instinctively sensing that something was seriously wrong, the Hero looked around with bewildered eyes.

“I’ll turn you into charcoal.”

Ariel clenched the slime in front of her, uttering a curse-filled remark.

Then, following the slime she held and the linked slimes, immense magic, as if containing her entire being, flowed rapidly towards the slimes forming the magic circle.

As the magic circle, perfectly formed by the slimes, was rapidly filled with immense magic, the slimes glowed red, and the magic circle they formed activated.

BOOM!!

Immediately, a tremendous storm of flames raged around the Hero, devouring his body with such an overwhelming force that his screams couldn’t be heard.

“My God…”

Slimes were creatures vulnerable to magic, but they were also creatures with high magical conductivity.

Using such slimes, she had prepared a magic circle in advance, and then rapidly supplied it with immense magic, instantly activating a destructive spell of incredible power before the Hero had any chance to react.

Even Killua-nim seemed genuinely surprised by Ariel’s creative use of slimes, as she could only stare blankly, wide-eyed, at the colossal pillar of flame raging high into the sky.

As if to demonstrate Ariel’s grudge against the Hero, the colossal pillar of flame fiercely and persistently incinerated the very space where he had been, as if determined not to leave a single trace of him in this world.

Crumble…

Immediately after, as if to prove the Hero’s death, the door connecting to his villa, which he had created, collapsed as if turning into ash.