episode_0044

The axe, the only weapon to fight against him, was stuck in the ground.

It was impossible to pull out the axe, which was stuck too deeply, right now.

First, I took out the leather pouch containing beeswax powder, the most threatening weapon against him, and stood in front of Killua as if to protect her, glaring back at his bloodshot eyes.

“Killua-nim. Please give your orders.”

She seemed significantly shocked by Rai’s betrayal, but I believed that as the White Mage, she wasn’t someone who would collapse so helplessly.

She clutched the hem of my clothes, which stood in front of her as if protecting her, and quickly analyzed the surrounding situation with tear-filled eyes.

“Your magic bullets and… beeswax. It seems somehow one of us can escape.”

We now only had two weapons.

Magic bullets woven from my magic, and two pouches containing beeswax powder, hanging from my hand and Killua’s waist.

“Only one person…”

At Killua’s judgment that only one person could escape, I bit my lip.

Although I was completely loyal to Killua, I couldn’t help but be afraid of dying.

However, I had no confidence in surviving at the cost of Killua’s life, who was my benefactor.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be the bait and create an opening somehow. You just need to break through the encirclement with your magic bullets and escape.”

As if resolved, Killua took out the beeswax powder hanging from her waist.

“B-but Killua-nim…”

At her decision to sacrifice herself without hesitation, I couldn’t help but be flustered.

But Killua calmly began to explain, untying the string that sealed the pouch containing the beeswax powder.

“I also have no plans to die a meaningless death. Somehow, you escape and punch Rai in the face.”

She inverted the pouch containing the beeswax powder over her head.

Then, white beeswax powder poured out from the inverted pouch, scattering white over her body.

“The third plan I told you about. Remember? To save me, they’ll have no choice but to kill Ariel.”

“……”

Killua wasn’t trying to make me escape out of simple pity or compassion.

She had thought of the best possible strategy with the highest probability of escaping the current situation.

“Losing both me and Ariel, or saving at least one of us. With this, even Rai won’t be able to hesitate any longer.”

“It’s dangerous… That’s insane!!”

If caught by a slime like that, Killua, who has no magic, would be treated as nothing more than organic matter to be digested as nutrients.

Although the beeswax powder scattered all over her body would protect her for a very short time, it wouldn’t be long before it instantly began to digest her body.

No matter how quickly Rai came to her senses and killed Ariel… Killua would inevitably suffer injuries that would result in damage to parts of her body and permanent disability.

As if she also knew this very well, Killua glared at the enormous slime monster with eyes filled with a mix of resignation, anger, and fear.

“This must be the price for my misjudgment of people.”

She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve to wipe away the beeswax powder on her eyelashes that was obstructing her vision.

On her sleeve, not only beeswax powder but also moisture that couldn’t be absorbed by the powder spread out.

“I… I will be the bait.”

I stretched out my arm and blocked Killua, who was about to rush at the slime monster.

“Mage-nim, you escape. Punching Rai in the cheek is your job, not mine.”

Compared to Killua, who had no magic, I, who had at least some magic in my body, would be able to last longer even if caught by the slime.

It was clear that the creature wouldn’t digest my body until it had completely drained all the magic from it.

“Don’t talk nonsense!!”

When I stood in front of her to sacrifice myself as bait in Killua’s stead, Killua shrieked in a sharp voice, as if wailing in grief.

Startled by her sharp cry, as if a glass plate was shattering, I looked at Killua with wide eyes.

“I’m not the Mage. I’m Killua!!”

Already, tears were streaming from her eyes, so much that even the beeswax powder couldn’t absorb them.

“I’m not that great person anymore… I’m a helpless person who can’t do anything by myself…”

The light in her beautiful and intelligent eyes faded.

The betrayal by the person she loved seemed to have broken her will, which had barely held on despite losing everything.

“How am I supposed to escape from that monster?! Even if I miraculously escape, how will I climb up to the tree where Rai is?! Don’t just blurt out whatever comes to mind, caught up in pointless heroism or sympathy!!”

What remained before me was not the great White Mage.

“I’m Killua… a more helpless Killua than you!!”

Only a frail woman remained, betrayed by the one she loved and kneeling before an insurmountable hardship she couldn’t overcome.

At her resigned cry, I bit my lower lip.

“W-wait a minute!”

The moment I bit my lower lip, a tingling pain shot through me, reminding me that there was still one option left in my mind.

“There’s the first method, isn’t there!”

It was precisely the first method.

That was to approach Ariel, who was being restrained by the slime monster, and directly pull out the fragment with my hands.

“Nonsense! That requires body enhancement magic and a foothold for leaping.”

The height at which the slime monster was restraining Ariel was approximately 10 meters.

The height a skilled mage or ability user could leap by strengthening their body with magic was roughly 7-8 meters.

Consequently, to reach Ariel at 10 meters, a sufficiently reliable foothold was needed.

“I will be the foothold.”

“Are you insane?”

“Still, it’s less insane than Killua-nim’s plan.”

If this plan succeeded, they could defeat the slime monster without anyone being in danger or seriously injured.

“Alright. Let’s say you become the foothold. What about the magic?!”

Body enhancement magic required both magic power and knowledge of body enhancement magic.

Killua certainly had the knowledge to skillfully use body enhancement magic.

However, transmitting enough magic for her to use body enhancement magic by touching her body, as was done when using detection magic, would take too long.

The slime monster would certainly not patiently wait for them during that time.

“It won’t be efficient, but…”

The night Killua taught me how to manage magic.

I remembered the fact that she had transformed the magic fragments that I couldn’t throw and that were scattering and disappearing into the air into warm heat.

According to the trick I learned from Killua that night, I slowly rotated and accelerated the magic in my body, centered on my solar plexus.

“Hup!!”

As the rotations repeated and the magic was sufficiently accelerated, I instantly drew it out through my right hand.

Then, the magic from my body flowed out like water from a broken dam, coalescing into a large lump of magic.

“What are you doing!!”

At my sudden action of executing the plan without consulting her, Killua instantly grabbed the hem of my clothes, her face pale.

“Ugh…”

As most of my body’s magic was instantly drawn out, I began to feel dizzy, as if a large amount of blood had been drawn, to the point where my vision blurred.

“Now… this is the only way.”

“You… you really!!”

I hadn’t learned how to retrieve the magic that had already left my body.

Killua, with flustered eyes, alternately looked at my pale face and the huge lump of magic gathered in my hand.

Soon after, as if she, too, had made up her mind, she slowly nodded, biting her lower lip tightly.

“Y-you… You should consider it an honor that I’m going along with your crazy stunt!!”

Tears that had gathered around her eyes from Rai’s betrayal streamed down as she reached out her hand towards the huge lump of magic coalesced in my hand.

Burst!

The enormous lump of magic, which had no hostility, instantly dispersed in all directions as the power binding it gently loosened the moment it touched Killua’s hand.

Killua swung both her hands widely, gathering the remnants of magic that were losing control and rapidly dissolving in the air towards herself.

“Hoo!”

Gathering as much of the relatively intact magic remnants as she could, Killua formed a lump of magic about half the size of what was in my hand.

“Good. I’m ready…”

Killua, now holding the magic for body enhancement, looked at me with eyes filled with unease and concern.

Feeling dizzy from the excessive magic loss, I met her gaze and replied with a weak smile.

“Smile. Those eyes don’t suit the Mage-nim. Smile confidently, as always.”

“Damn it!! Don’t talk as if this is the last time!”

At my request to smile confidently, Killua, as if realizing something, instead scowled fiercely and shouted.

“We’ll just have to do it!! Do you think I can’t?! Let’s go, Jazel!!!”

“Hahaha… Understood!!”

At her powerful urging, I struggled to steady my dizzying consciousness and glared at the enormous slime monster.

“Then here we go!!”

As the one who had to be the foothold, I desperately moved my feet through my dizzying consciousness from magic shock.

“Uwaaah!!”

With a roar that seemed to pull forth my last will and courage from my blurry consciousness, I threw my body with all my might towards the enormous slime.

Fortunately, the creature, which thought it had a perfect advantage, merely watched our foolish, almost suicidal, actions with a strange fascination.

“Urgh!!”

My shoulder, which had recklessly rushed at the creature’s tough and elastic body, collided with it.

At the same time, as if waiting, small tentacles quickly squeezed through the gaps in my clothes, and I distinctly felt poison being injected through their sharp tips.

“Killua-nim!!”

“Just a little longer!!”

Killua, who had rushed over at my signal, crushed the lump of magic in her hands with both hands.

Then, blue magic flowing from her hands quickly coiled around both her legs.

“Hup!”

With a short deep breath, she stepped lightly on the ground and leaped up, gracefully treading on my shoulder.

“Go! White Mage-nim!!”

The moment she stepped on my shoulder, I used the elasticity of my entire body to push her foot upwards, trying to launch her even a little higher.

“Yaaaaah!”

With the elasticity of my body and the strength of her magic-enhanced legs, her small body soared towards Ariel.

Her outstretched hand was aimed precisely at the fragment embedded in Ariel’s chest.

“Ah…”

But there wasn’t enough momentum.

Was it that there was slightly too little magic for body enhancement? Or had the damned slime monster lifted Ariel’s body even higher?

Because of my blurry consciousness from magic shock, I didn’t know the cause, but what was clear was that Killua’s hand hadn’t reached the fragment.

With an anxious gasp, she stretched her shoulder as far as possible and flailed, but it was still far from enough to reach the fragment embedded in Ariel’s chest.

“It didn’t reach…”

Her fingertips, which had been soaring high into the sky, stopped without reaching their destination.

And naturally, due to the laws of gravity, she began to be pulled back down towards the ground, where she originally belonged.

As if welcoming her, the slime monster extended tentacles from its body, trying to seize and swallow her as she fell.

“Urgh?!”

At the moment when their final, all-in trump card failed, and only terrible despair lay before them.

From the slime’s tentacles in contact with my skin to inject poison into my body, a burning pain began to be felt.

-Don’t give up!!

Following that, an unfamiliar voice I had never heard before began to echo in my mind.

At the same time, strange magic began to flow into my body through the slime’s tentacles that were in contact with me.