Ch.134Chapter 134: The Fierce Battle at Year’s End (9)

The Adorator’s body swayed unsteadily.

One of the four Behemoths she had been nurturing as her trump card for the fortress assault—feeding it impure energy rising from various parts of the magical realm—

Before it could even inflict any significant physical damage to the fortress.

The shock was too great as she watched it split in half at the waist by an invisible, ultra-fast slash, its parts tumbling across the wasteland.

Her legs, already exhausted from superficially healing wounds inflicted by scarlet flames, completely gave out.

It was clear her body would collapse to the ground if left alone.

“…Kuh!”

With a faint groan, she poured every last bit of strength remaining in her legs.

The Adorator barely managed to maintain her balance.

But even with that precarious equilibrium…

Knowing her current physical state couldn’t dramatically change the situation, the words that left the Adorator’s mouth were brief and bitter.

“Ha… This has become boring.”

It was a statement born from her intuition that the fortress assault she had personally planned to execute had gone wrong from the very start, and that no ordinary effort could overcome this setback.

“What to do…”

A contemplative murmur escaped her lips, calmly suppressing her burning frustration.

Though it was hardly a complex matter to consider.

It was quite straightforward.

A decision that could be executed instantly once made.

It concerned whether to continue the fortress assault.

Of the four Behemoths she had confidently deployed for the assault,

One had been turned into a lump of meat rolling across the wasteland by the formless sword of a human woman possessing skill unimaginable for her apparent young age, before even reaching the fortress.

At this point, she had to decide:

Should she urge on the now demoralized Behemoths as the vanguard of the assault, followed by the human wave tactics of the mixed legion of undead and magical beasts soon to arrive?

Or instead…

“Should I withdraw from here to reduce what might be seen as meaningless casualties…”

As she just voiced.

Should she pull back her forces and plan for another day?

The Adorator continued to contemplate which path to choose at this crossroads.

In truth, this was a dilemma she wouldn’t have faced if her body had been in normal condition.

Even if those Behemoths, embodiments of destructive instinct, hesitated to advance after witnessing the death of their kind, momentarily paralyzed by the fear of death,

She could have spurred them forward with determined encouragement.

And despite the presence of that human woman capable of easily dispatching a Behemoth,

She could have engaged that woman herself with her body that remained unscathed even against a Holy Sword Knight wielding a sacred blade,

Naturally creating an environment where the Behemoths could focus on assaulting the fortress.

But now that was impossible, hence her unavoidable dilemma.

“How frustrating… so frustrating.”

The mere fact that she was entertaining such thoughts—ones she normally wouldn’t even consider—filled her with rising anger.

“…”

The Adorator could only glare with cold eyes at the one who had ruined her plans, finding her current predicament utterly ridiculous.

Moreover, the scene unfolding before her added even more weight to her miserable state.

The very person who had delivered that shocking slash that had unwittingly impressed her,

Woong! Woowoong-!!

Extended forward a sword rippling with aura containing light so dazzling it made one dizzy just looking at it.

“Three left, I see. I can ignore that demon back there who’s whimpering while trying to heal her wounds.”

Hearing such blatantly dismissive remarks about herself was the final straw.

Kuwoong-!!

This sound didn’t come from the wasteland plain where the Adorator stood.

It was the sound from within her heart—the heavy stone of helplessness weighing on her psyche, depleted from focusing on healing her wounds.

Normally, or even if she had been in a situation where she could move freely without responsibilities,

She would have undoubtedly charged at the human woman who made that remark, intent on tearing out her throat without a second thought.

“…Ugh!”

But in her current state, the Adorator could barely hide the groan that escaped her lips as she suppressed her momentary surge of emotion, which aggravated her wounds.

Moreover…

Hwarlruk-!!

When she saw the true culprit who had reduced her to this state once again raising scarlet flames—the same color as when she had set her own body ablaze earlier—

“Really… nothing’s going right.”

The Adorator could only lament as she took another step backward.

Though all kinds of negative emotions—regret, remorse—clouded her mind,

The Adorator had no time for mere self-pity.

The more time she wasted here,

The more certain it became that Sanguin, who had infiltrated the fortress alone to cause disruption inside, would face grave danger.

Though they were clearly at odds due to their vastly different values and constantly opposed each other,

The Vampire Lord, who was undoubtedly struggling inside, was still her comrade working toward fulfilling the will of the lord she deeply respected.

And to leave such a comrade in mortal danger without taking any action,

Was unimaginable for someone like her who possessed a sense of responsibility befitting a being with divinity, however slight it might be.

Therefore, she needed to choose quickly.

Whether to order Sanguin, who was surely fighting hard inside the fortress, to return,

Then gather the trembling Behemoths and withdraw, ending the situation as it stood.

Or to trust in the numbers of the large legion that would soon appear behind her and press forward with the fortress assault.

“Huu…”

A sigh escaped her lips, meant to cool her head heated by deliberation.

As the sigh met the cold outside air and was about to dissipate like fog,

From the lips of the Adorator, whose cold eyes once again flickered with heat:

“I cannot waste precious resources on a reckless battle.”

Came the declaration that she acknowledged this operation’s failure and was proceeding with measures to prevent further losses.

#

Right after Sister showed her fantastic sword strike through her formless blade,

The Behemoths, overwhelmed by the fear of death that surpassed their innate destructive instincts,

-Guuu…

-Uu… uuuu…

-Oooo…

Emitting whimpers like frightened puppies with tails tucked between their legs rather than bloodthirsty roars,

Had reached a stalemate, stopping their advance toward the fortress. After some time had passed,

“Well then… shall I finish off those creatures too?”

“I’ll help you.”

“Stand down. You just focus on collecting the magic stones that will come from those creatures after I’m done.”

“Come on, Sister, aren’t you underestimating Excel’s skills too much? I can burn those big-bodied creatures better than dry firewood with just one streak of my lightning…”

Paak-!!

Sister and Excel were discussing the hunting of the halted Behemoths in a very cheerful atmosphere.

“Urgh!!”

“You’re getting cocky again. You have many good qualities, but that personality of yours could be your downfall, so always be careful.”

“I’ll take that to heart.”

“I’m not dismissing your skills, but Iriana isn’t so thoughtless as to entrust Behemoth hunting to a student still in the Cradle. Besides…”

“Besides…?”

“I just don’t want to see you getting hurt if you were to step forward.”

“R-really?”

“…Pretend you didn’t hear what I just said.”

“Every word Sister said today, I’ll write in my diary when I get back to the dormitory and put a permanent preservation spell on it…”

Paaak-!!

“Oh my, was I too forceful? Breathe, breathe.”

…The atmosphere was so warm that the sound of her gently patting Excel’s head was heard twice.

In any case, those two were clearly focused on matters related to fortress defense.

Unlike these two, however, there was one person behaving inappropriately for the current situation.

“Hehe…”

It was Shizu, who had buried her face in my arms and let out a bright laugh.

“Kal’s embrace… it’s so warm and nice.”

She stirred my heart with a soft voice that could melt one’s insides just by hearing it.

If this weren’t such an urgent situation where every second counted,

I would have desperately wanted to turn my gaze to Shizu and respond with an equally soft voice.

But I deliberately withdrew the gaze that was about to turn toward Shizu,

And maintained my vigilant watch on Adorator, who was just standing there without encouraging or gathering the Behemoths frozen in fear.

Though the threat level of Adorator, whose combat capability had been compromised after being engulfed in the scarlet flames emanating from my Dragon Armor,

Was clearly lower than that of the Behemoths who had stopped moving out of fear,

I could not neglect monitoring her under any circumstances.

[Keep a close eye on that crazy woman. No telling what she might do even in her weakened state.]

‘I’m already doing that diligently.’

[Good job.]

Since Paphnir used such a direct expression as “crazy woman,”

I was well aware that this quasi-deity harboring twisted divinity,

Had a tendency to go berserk regardless of the objective situation.

“Kal… why are you only looking at that woman?”

Even though Shizu’s sulky voice rang in my ears as she briefly tried to leave my embrace before returning as if nothing had happened,

I couldn’t afford to be tempted by those words and shift my gaze fixed on Adorator.

In the current situation, where I couldn’t even imagine the impact if Adorator were to make a sudden move in that split second I looked away,

I believed without a doubt that this was the best course of action.

However, as if mocking my judgment based on experiences before my regression,

[Huh, that crazy woman. Normally she would have gone berserk with a wild scream by now, but she’s actually holding back and retreating?]

Paphnir’s voice, filled with surprise despite not having a physical body yet observing more than I could, echoed in my mind.

When I enhanced my vision to observe Adorator more closely,

I could confirm that, just as Paphnir said, she was backing away even further than when she had been slinking backward to heal her wounds.

…What is this?

Is this quasi-deity—crazy as she might be, but one who prided herself on never turning her back to an opponent and fighting proudly until death—choosing to flee?

It was hard to believe, but,

[I’ve never seen her run away in the middle of a fight before.]

I couldn’t ignore such words coming from Paphnir, who observed more than I did.

So I carefully observed Adorator as she cautiously backed away.

I remained vigilant, thinking this might be her cunning strategy to feign retreat before launching a counterattack.

The situation was so urgent that I only then noticed,

From inside the fortress, the clash between the pure white fighting spirit I had found impressive days ago,

And the blood-red fighting spirit that made the blood in one’s body surge.