Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: EP.192 55-4. Force Grows from Powerlessness
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The cold raindrops felt like blades slicing down.
Rivulets streamed from my head to my toes. It was as if a death sentence had been stamped upon me.
Being around the valley during a rainstorm was dangerous. The water could swell rapidly and sweep everything away in an instant.
There definitely hadn't been any forecast for rain this week.
'Did time get fast-forwarded?'
It wasn't impossible if I thought of it like a loading screen.
The valley stream turned into a muddy torrent, pouring forth.
The rushing current began to surge as if it would engulf every student from the academy.
A split-second decision would mean the difference between life and death. How the hell could I save everyone here?
Rain-calling? No. It would take time for the sword to descend, and I had no guarantee I could even catch it.
My body felt sluggish due to the Apostle's power, while my thoughts accelerated in response.
Right now, my body felt as heavy as a boulder. Like I had sandbags strapped to every limb.
No matter how desperately I tried to will it into motion, it refused to obey. My teeth ground together with a grit.
But I'd been through this plenty of times during training.
I'd internalized it while honing my skills with Drake, and revisited it while clashing against Emperor Locke.
What mattered wasn't technique—it was will.
Crunch. Force surged into my feet pressing against the gravel. Even as my arms moved with the slowness of eons.
I could move. I couldn't give up.
Blood surged through every muscle. My arms and legs felt like overstretched rubber bands.
My hands trembled violently from the strain.
I could do it. Just a little more...!
I finally mustered the strength to place my hand at the center of my chest.
'Perception... Longing.'
I didn't even have the breath to speak aloud, so I chanted it silently in my mind.
White flames bloomed around me.
A sword matching the color of her hair emerged from near my heart.
Gripping my Heart Sword restored the normal flow of time.
Thank goodness. My gambit had worked.
A sword that equalizes abilities with the opponent.
My Heart Sword was crystallized from my feelings for Pine.
'What now?'
The valley stream rushed toward us relentlessly.
The swollen waters of the gorge. Even if I dealt with the Apostle now, there was no stopping this natural disaster.
One second, two seconds.
My thoughts expanded like an inflating balloon amid the passing time.
A split-second decision would mean life or death.
I sprinted ahead of everyone else, toward the incoming floodwaters.
Rooooar—.
I swallowed dryly as the tsunami-like violence surged toward me.
No time to think. I raised my sword high toward the sky, preparing to cleave the oncoming rapids.
If even one casualty occurred, it would all be meaningless.
...At least, that's what I believed a hero should be.
'Emperor Locke would have done the same.'
In truth, the idea of slashing water with a sword was sheer madness.
No matter how much I relied on my Heart Sword—even if it could now summon a rain of glass shards—I couldn't teleport this many people at once.
Even creating a hill with something else risked it crumbling under another Apostle attack at any moment.
Better to turn the opponent's accelerated time against them.
I relaxed my entire body and slowly raised my sword. The rapids now surged past my thighs, up to my waist.
Composure. I had to find composure even in this chaos.
I needed to eliminate all unnecessary tension for the downward strike to succeed.
I closed my eyes. Having charged ahead toward the flood first, the rising waters already lapped at the nape of my neck.
The current threatened to sweep my entire body away. Behind me were the people I had to protect.
My unyielding resolve made my legs feel heavier.
'...Now.'
BOOM!!
Air exploded as a sharp sensation shot from the tip of my blade.
I'd successfully mimicked the sonic boom Emperor Locke created with his hand axes.
I poured every ounce of remaining strength into it. Again and again, until the incoming surge was fully severed.
Once wasn't enough. This wasn't my technique, after all.
Water droplets splashed my face with every swing.
I ignored the stinging pain and brought the sword down, again and again.
In the end, the stream split like the Red Sea, forming a V-shape behind me.
It bypassed the campsite entirely.
Finally, I unleashed a slash of sword energy toward the moon hanging in the night sky.
"...Hah, huff."
My strength gave out, and I collapsed to my knees. My trembling limbs and ragged breaths signaled my body's limits.
The gravel floor came back into view.
The muddy water had swept through once, leaving my clothes and face caked in filth.
"Kieeeeeek!!"
Soon after, the Apostle of Sloth screamed as my flying blade struck true.
Probably because my movements had been accelerated by the reversal of its sloth effect.
Guess those practice sessions at the academy's swordsmanship training grounds paid off.
"It's dangerous! Everyone, evacuate now... Huh? Licht?"
"Licht, what in the world happened...?"
With the status effect lifted, the academy members returned to normal. I scanned the surroundings, confirming everyone's safety.
Huh. But one person was missing.
Pine, who stood out in her sparkling glass armor, was gone.
No. Don't tell me.
My pounding heartbeat slowed: thump, thump-thump.
I sensed Pine's presence from far away, distant from my position.
And it was rapidly moving farther.
Did the floodwaters sweep her away? Or had she been the target all along, not me?
"...Damn it."
I bolted in pursuit, diving into the counterflowing rapids.
The torrent mixed with branches and rocks scored my body with every graze.
Even though I hadn't been in long, I'd already been carried far from the academy students.
The end of Calisium Valley.
As I reached the waterfall connecting the middle and lower reaches, I spotted the silhouette of the Glass Knight at the edge of my vision.
The moment I saw her floating limply, unconscious, my blood ran cold.
I summoned rain-calling to bring down a glass rain and attempted instant transmission, moving faster than the churning currents.
Please, please...!
I reached out, but fell just short. So close, yet not quite touching Pine.
"Got you...!"
The instant I finally grabbed her unconscious form, we plummeted over the waterfall without a chance to react.
"...We barely made it."
Calisium Valley had one useless feature I knew of.
A waterfall connecting the middle to the lower reaches, and a cave hidden behind it.
Just like something from an Easter egg-loving developer—a spot that looked promising but...
"Nothing there. Good thing it was unchanged."
I'd thrown rain-calling mid-fall and teleported us inside the cave.
On the damp cave floor, I stripped off my soaked dress shirt, spread it out, and only then laid Pine down.
Her well-being came first.
The overlapping heartbeat I'd sensed earlier had faded, so I pressed my ear to her helmet to check her breathing.
'...She's not breathing.'
Panic surged. I removed her helmet.
It came off easily with a clunk.
A fleeting question crossed my mind, but since we shared mana circuits, it had to be her.
Didn't matter right now.
In my haste, I prepared CPR and invoked Masterpiece on her glass armor...
"...."
To release it...
But what emerged wasn't her usual white academy uniform.
It was Pine in a black bikini.
My heart skipped, but I slapped my cheeks to snap out of it.
What kind of depraved thoughts at a time like this, with her passed out?
Thanks to my firefighter dad, I'd learned CPR hands-on.
I straightened my arms and pressed hard on the lower part of her chest.
Pinched her nose shut to seal her airway and breathed into her mouth.
How many cycles was that?
Finally, her heart resumed: thump, thump. Our heartbeats synchronized.
"...Kehok."
Pine coughed up water violently. Her breathing normalized.
"Pine..!!"
"L-Licht..?"
I shouted as she regained consciousness.
Thank goodness. If she'd died like that, I'd have regretted it forever.
"Don't move yet, Pine."
The downside of CPR: the strong compressions can crack ribs.
That's why, the moment she stirred, I cast healing magic with hand signs.
This should fix her up, even after drowning and passing out.
Pine didn't seem to have any major injuries visible, unlike me.
Masterpiece had saved her life.
Healing magic could revive the living, but not the dead.
"What... the hell... did you do..?"
Then Pine spoke without meeting my eyes.
Her cheeks flushed beet red. Her wolfish pupils shook and dilated.
Unlike before, her lips glistened moistly. She touched them, pulled away, and furrowed her brow.
"Huh? Just artificial respiration... Oh."
I realized my mistake as I said it. I'd only leaned in a little closer.
"Hic, pervert... puppy... sniff... ugh."
She flinched and jumped back in alarm.
Her pure white ears tucked like a frightened dog's, and she covered her chest with both arms as she fled from me.
I hadn't thought it through.
My mind had gone blank with the sole focus of saving her.
"...."
Warm, soft, with a faint rose scent.
The subtle sensation lingered on my lips.
In her life, this irreplaceable moment...
I'd claimed it all for myself.