episode_0085

“Uh…?”

“You crazy…”

It seemed even Killua hadn’t anticipated this situation, as he merely stared blankly at Ariel, who was slowly falling like a log after being pushed by the Hero’s foot.

“She was used goods anyway. I never had much affection for her from the start. And since I have better replacements, I have no regrets or lingering sorrow.”

Confirming our dazed expressions, the Hero, as if retaliating for Killua’s provocation, leisurely licked the blood-stained dagger with his tongue, then looked at Killua with eyes full of greed.

“Ah… Ariel!!”

Although her body and mind had been taken by the Hero due to the succubus’s schemes, she was still Ariel, whom I had once truly loved.

Unable to accept her falling so meaninglessly, I instinctively tried to rush towards Ariel.

“Calm down!!”

But Killua firmly grasped my wrist, preventing me from charging forward.

“She’s not… she’s not dead yet!!”

As Killua said, Ariel’s fallen body was twitching from the terrible pain of her lower abdomen being brutally stabbed by the sharp dagger.

However, just as Killua said, she wasn’t dead yet.

If she was left like this, it would only be a matter of time before she died from excessive bleeding.

“You still care for such used goods? Well~ if you want, I could provide some first aid…”

Watching our greatly flustered reactions to Ariel’s critically injured and fallen state, the Hero smiled irritatingly, then pulled out a potion containing a red liquid from his waist.

And he swayed it gently, as if he would immediately sprinkle the potion over Ariel’s head, saying:

“It’s very simple. Tie that woman’s hands and bring her before me. Then I’ll sprinkle this potion on Ariel’s body.”

“Bullshit.”

I unhesitatingly rejected the Hero’s offer to threaten me with Ariel’s life.

Anyway, he was a being from another world who regarded everyone else as beneath him, like livestock or pets.

There was no guarantee he would keep his promise, and I absolutely couldn’t bear to see Killua fall into his hands, even if it meant losing everything.

Instead of tying Killua’s hands as the Hero demanded, I simply picked up the logging axe the Herbalist Hero had given me, which was leaning against the side of the house.

“Pfft… You… you want to fight me? You, of all people?”

Seeing me ignore his suggestion and pick up the axe, the Hero seemed dumbfounded and burst out laughing.

“And your weapon is an axe… My, my… it perfectly suits a petty bandit or a small-fry thug.”

Tossing the blood-stained dagger behind him, the Hero leisurely drew a sharp sword from his waist.

Compared to my crude axe, covered in black grime, the sword he drew glittered with a brilliant light under the midday sun, as if it were a legendary blade.

“Killua… is there no way?”

Though my rage towards the Hero had reached its peak, facing him with his drawn sword made my whole body flinch and my confidence plummet.

“My magic… if only I had enough mana for just one attack…”

Killua frowned worriedly, looking at me.

She had almost completely depleted her mana to find and heal me.

“What if we use my mana?”

“It’ll be close. We’d have to use all the mana in your body, the mana remaining in mine… and even the fundamental mana left in the pendant.”

“Fundamental mana?”

At my words, Killua looked at her pendant, which had a single shard barely embedded in it, and said:

“This shard holds the last bit of mana that allows it to remain an artifact. If we use this too… I’ll return to being completely devoid of mana, just like before.”

“……”

In short, it meant losing the meager handful of mana she had barely acquired after all the pain, hardships, and tearful efforts until now, returning to her original state.

“Killua. I’ll somehow buy us some time… can’t you find a way to escape?”

“I told you not to talk nonsense, didn’t I?”

At Killua’s immediate refusal of my suggestion, I tightened my grip on the axe handle and continued in a serious voice.

“It’s not nonsense. Don’t you know, Killua? The mana in that shard is worth more than a thousand of me. It would be foolish to gamble on such a slim chance of success by discarding that power.”

“You are more precious than the mana in this pendant.”

“…?”

For a moment, I doubted my ears.

At her single sentence, I forgot even the current situation, turned my head from glaring at the Hero, and looked at Killua standing beside me.

Sensing my gaze, Killua looked at me and said:

“What? Why? You don’t like it?”

“Ah… no. Of course not.”

“I mean it, so don’t think anything else and focus on the current situation.”

“Ah… yes…”

After exchanging a few awkward words, I stared back at the slowly approaching Hero with a bewildered expression.

“Alright… are your last words finished? How will you fight? Together? Or a tag match?”

Thinking he had already secured victory, the Hero menacingly slashed the air with his gleaming sword.

His swordsmanship, carving sharp slashes in the air capable of cutting through anything they touched, forced me to swallow dry.

“First… Killua. To use our combined mana, we need someone to distract the Hero, even if just for a moment.”

To use Killua’s and my mana together, we had to divert the Hero’s attention.

And in this situation, there was only one person who could do that.

The Herbalist Hero.

He was a strange fellow, as if his head was full of flowers, but if he could just capture the Hero’s attention and gaze for even a little while, it might be possible to complete the spell to deal with the Hero.

“He abruptly left the house to search for you two as soon as you went missing… He’ll probably be back soon.”

“Then I’ll have to buy time until then.”

Killua, injured and with her mana depleted, couldn’t face the Hero directly.

Ultimately, in this situation, I was the only one who could confront the Hero and buy time until the Herbalist Hero returned.

“Hey, Otherworlder. Let’s make a bet.”

Killua, who had been contemplating for a moment while watching the Hero’s menacingly sharp slashes in the air, suddenly proposed a bet to him.

Perhaps intrigued by Killua’s words, the Hero stopped menacingly swinging his sword in the air and looked at Killua as if to say, ‘Go on, speak.’

“If you fight Jazel one-on-one and win, I’ll obediently play in your hands.”

“Hahaha. What kind of trick is this? I can just cut him down right now, so why should I bother with something so annoying and troublesome?”

The Hero burst out laughing, as if Killua’s suggestion was absurd.

“On the condition that you don’t aim for Jazel’s life.”

However, a meaningful smile spread across the Hero’s lips as he pondered for a moment, trying to grasp the intent behind Killua’s subsequent proposal.

“So~ you want to save Jazel’s life, is that it?”

“…That’s right.”

It seemed the Hero had originally planned to kill everyone here except Killua.

Thanks to that, it seemed he had interpreted Killua’s intention to be to use the one-on-one duel, set on the condition of not targeting the opponent’s life, to allow at least me to survive and leave this place.

“Puhahahaha!!”

At Killua’s suggestion, the Hero burst out laughing in disbelief.

“After provoking me so much, acting as if you know everything in this world and are the best… you immediately tuck your tail between your legs as soon as the situation turns unfavorable?”

“I never imagined you’d be so crazy as to treat human lives like objects.”

Despite the Hero’s taunts, Killua didn’t even twitch an eyebrow and glared back at him, her head held high as if she had nothing to be ashamed of.

Perhaps finding Killua’s reaction intriguing, the corners of the Hero’s mouth slowly curled upwards.

“That sky-high confidence and self-esteem… I like it very much. It’ll be fun to mold you to my liking, won’t it?”

The Hero already seemed certain that Killua would become his, as he gave a lewd and vulgar eye-smile.

“Alright. Even if you manage to leave this place, I’ll torment you so much that you’ll wish you were dead… so it might be interesting to humor this bet.”

Following that, the Hero extended his hand towards Killua and said:

“This is a Soul Contract. You, being clever, know that well, don’t you?”

Then, clear strands of mana began to connect Killua and the Hero.

“I, Kwon Sanghoon, will engage in an honest one-on-one duel with Jazel, not targeting his life, and if I lose the duel, I promise to retreat from this place without harming either of you.”

Killua also extended her hand towards him, as if responding to the Hero’s pledge, and said:

“I, Killua, will accept the outcome of the duel between Kwon Sanghoon and Jazel without objection, and if Jazel loses, I promise to fulfill all of Kwon Sanghoon’s demands.”

The mana of the two intertwined in the air, and the words they had spoken began to be etched into the void.

After their names were written on the contract formed in the air, it vanished as if melting away.

“Was there a need for a Soul Contract?”

A Soul Contract was an absolute contract, as it involved betting one’s very soul.

If one tried not to fulfill the contract, their soul itself would shatter…

It was the most powerful among contracts, but also the most dangerous for that very reason.

“It’s alright. I trust you. Now that bastard won’t be able to target your life, so you just need to hold on somehow until the Hero returns.”

“Understood.”

To respond to Killua’s earnest trust, I steadied my trembling heart and stepped forward before the Hero.

“As per the Soul Contract, the Hero absolutely cannot target your life… so just play defensively and buy time as much as possible.”

Looking at me, Killua’s worried voice came from behind.

Just as Killua said, I only needed to protect my vitals and maintain a maximum defensive posture until the Herbalist Hero returned.

“Huu…”

The Hero, watching me take a deep breath to prepare myself, smiled thinly as he sheathed his sword.

Then he unfastened the strap holding the scabbard to his waist, and pulled out the scabbard with the sword still inside it, showing it.

“I’ll defeat you so thoroughly that you’ll wish for death.”