Chap 88-Rebirth

 

My memories are hazy.

Or perhaps, I just don’t want to remember.

From some point, the thread of reason stretched thin, eventually snapping.

The world was only visible in shades of red and black.

The sound of flesh tearing and bones crushing echoed faintly in my ears.

Each time a magical beast’s claw dug into my shoulder, each time sharp teeth tore at my thigh, an intense pleasure, as if my brain would explode, shot up my spine.

“Hiss… Heuh… More…!”

I didn’t even know what I was babbling.

I simply abandoned myself to instinct, swinging, smashing, and tearing.

Being wounded felt good.

Being broken felt delightful.

In the midst of this hellish battlefield, I was immersed in a rapture more ecstatic than anyone else.

Even the acrid smell of blood and flesh mingled together felt like a sweet fragrance.

How much time had passed?

The screams of the magical beasts that filled my ears ceased, and I felt all the sensations that had been binding me slowly fading away.

My heart, which had been throbbing with excitement, gradually calmed, and my body, which had been burning hot, cooled down.

In the place where the wave of pleasure had receded like the tide, a vague emptiness returned along with my blurred reason.

When I suddenly came to my senses, my surroundings were completely covered in the corpses of magical beasts.

Torn and burst black bodies formed mountains, and the ground had become a swamp sticky with their blood.

And at the end of that hellscape, I slowly turned around.

There was Clara.

Her face was pale white, and with a trembling hand, she drew her sword and pointed it at me.

Her eyes were filled with contempt, along with the primal fear of facing an incomprehensible being.

Lea, standing next to her, was the same.

With a complex and wary expression, she kept her eyes fixed on me, watching my next move.

I briefly met their guarded gazes, and then nonchalantly took a step forward.

“D-don’t come any closer!”

Clara’s trembling voice broke the silence.

As if trying to overcome her fear, she tightened her grip on the sword, pointing the tip towards my heart.

But I lightly ignored her warning and took another step forward, thud.

I had something more important to do now.

Something I had to confirm.

I shifted my gaze past Clara’s trembling shoulder.

There, leaning against a tree, was the pink-haired girl, still unconscious.

‘Thank goodness.’

Lina, unharmed and simply sleeping peacefully.

The moment I confirmed that, I felt as if a heavy stone that had been pressing down on my chest had disappeared.

‘Admirable.’

I sincerely thought so.

I wanted to run over right now, ruffle the hair of the two who had protected Lina, and praise them.

But the fact that I couldn’t made me feel regretful.

Lacking strength, I simply collapsed onto the ground.

The ground was covered in blood and dust, but it felt like a soft bed.

‘Camilla… I have to go save her too…’

Thinking of her made my head ache.

How could I save her from that terrible Contamination?

I don’t know.

For now… I should rest a little.

I lay down on the ground as I was and tried to close my eyes.

Just as all the tension in my body was released and I felt like I was falling into a deep sleep.

Swish-

A presence and a shadow fell over my face.

Opening my eyes slightly, Lea was standing right in front of me.

“L-Lea! Be careful!”

Clara shouted urgently from behind.

But Lea ignored her warning and slowly squatted down next to me.

Then, she lowered her head and began to stare intently at my face.

‘W-what is it?’

Her persistent gaze was strangely burdensome.

After staring at me like that for a while, she suddenly opened her mouth.

“…Does it hurt?”

“……?”

I was so taken aback by the unexpected question that I couldn’t say anything.

Lea looked back and forth between my empty left arm and my mangled face, and then spoke again, but in a slightly smaller voice.

“Thank you. For saving us.”

At those words, my heart seemed to sink, and a corner of my chest fluttered.

A warm and ticklish, but at the same time uncomfortable and awkward sensation.

‘I feel like I’m going to throw up.’

Yeah, I don’t think I’m suited for words like that.

I tried to ignore the feeling and avoided her gaze.

Lea sighed and said to Clara, who was still on guard.

“Stop being scared and see if you have any potions. We need to treat this person first.”

“You’re… sure they’re not… undead…?”

Clara asked again with a suspicious look.

“Undead, my ass! Just look at them, they’re clearly a person!”

Lea snapped.

‘…They’ve gotten pretty close.’

I thought blankly as I listened to their conversation.

It was quite different from Lea’s appearance at the beginning of the group project, when she was endlessly intimidated by the nobles.

Well, it’s understandable, since they’ve been through this hellish crisis together.

Anyway, I felt like I was going to be exposed if I lingered here any longer.

Just as I was about to get up, thinking that I should go back to Camilla soon.

A familiar presence.

Ah.

‘…This is bad.’

I jumped up from my spot.

“What is it, all of a sudden?”

Lea asked, startled.

Without answering her question, I looked around for a moment and spotted a particularly leafy tree.

‘There!’

Just as I was about to run towards the tree, something pure white shot out of the forest like an arrow.

Krrr-

A pure white cat, with its back arched like a bow and its fur standing on end, snarled and blocked my path.

“Nabi…?”

Why is Nabi here?

“Where are you going in such a hurry?”

…This is the worst.

That voice.

If I’m seen like this…!

I desperately tried not to turn my head towards the direction the voice came from.

“Professor Bella!”

Clara called out her name happily, her voice filled with relief.

“Clara, Lea. You’ve both worked hard.”

At Bella’s warm words, I could see the tension on their faces easing.

“Lina…?”

Bella asked worriedly as she looked at the fallen Lina, and Lea quickly replied.

“Lina is just unconscious! She’s not seriously injured, so you don’t have to worry!”

At those words, Bella finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Um… are the other students… all safe?”

Lea asked cautiously. Her voice was a mixture of hope and anxiety.

At that question, I, who had been turning my back, also perked up my ears.

I had tried my best, but what if there was a student I hadn’t been able to save?

The thought alone made my heart clench.

“Yes. Everyone has been rescued.”

Bella’s firm answer.

At that one sentence, I unknowingly let out a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness.

Really…

Thank goodness.

“Everyone… has been rescued?”

Lea asked again in a disbelieving tone.

She was speechless for a moment, and then glanced at me with a complex and unreadable expression.

‘Hmm? Why is she looking at me with those eyes?’

I couldn’t understand the meaning in her gaze, and tilted my head in confusion.

“You there.”

My senior’s voice was colder and more subdued than usual.

“Turn your head this way.”

“……”

Ugh… so the moment has finally come.

I resigned myself and turned my head very slowly.

I couldn’t bring myself to meet my senior’s face, so I kept my gaze fixed on the ground.

“……”

There was no sound for a while.

I could only feel my senior’s gaze, as if she was piercing through me.

The suffocating silence made Lea, who was next to me, restless and stepped forward.

“Professor Bella! That person saved us! You don’t have to be so wary…”

“I know.”

Bella replied curtly, cutting off Lea’s words.

At the end of her voice, there was a deep sigh.

“Clara, Lea. Take Lina and go south. The practical exam is now over.”

“But…”

Lea opened her mouth as if to say something more, but my senior was firm.

“That’s enough. Go now.”

At those words, Clara carefully picked up the unconscious Lina without saying anything more.

Lea quietly followed behind Clara.

Even as she headed south, Lea kept looking back as if she had some regrets.

Her complex gaze lingered on me, with my hideous appearance, and on Bella, who was silently watching me.

After Lea, Clara, and Lina’s figures completely disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

Only the two of us remained in that place.

Amidst the sound of insects filling the silence, a suffocating silence flowed.

I still couldn’t raise my head.

I didn’t have the courage to look at her face.

How much time had passed?

A tearful voice calling my name quietly reached my ears.

“…Yeon.”

I reluctantly raised my head slowly.

And I met Senior Bella’s face.

Her eyes were red as if tears would spill out at any moment, her expression distorted with sadness and pity.

She was simply looking at me, injured, and holding back her tears without saying a word.

At my senior’s expression, I finally…

Swish-

A faint light and a magic circle rose from behind my back.

As I drew up Mana, my torn and broken body slowly began to regain its original form.

From my empty left shoulder, transparent flesh filled in, creating the shape of a new arm.

Blood vessels sprouted, muscles intertwined, and white bones took their place.

The skin on my mangled face was smoothly regenerated, and a lightless white eyeball returned to its place in my empty right eye.

Like rewinding time, the terrible wounds disappeared like melting snow.

When the regeneration was complete and I had completely regained my original form.

Senior Bella still approached me slowly, without saying a word.

Then, she took out a soft handkerchief and began to carefully wipe away the bloodstains that remained on my face.

That touch was…

Too gentle for someone like me.