Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Time to Wake Up
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Jerry stared at the red woman before her with trembling eyes.
Rapne.
She was clearly the demon, and the other was human, yet she looked more demonic than any demon.
Her red eyes flickered in the air, glaring at Jerry as if to swallow her whole.
Under that gaze, Jerry unwittingly took a step back.
"How the hell is she resisting dream magic...?"
For some unknown reason, her magic had no effect on this woman.
"...In that case."
Rapne was the powerhouse who, just moments ago alongside Ken, had taken down the guardian up front.
Above all, Jerry had gauged her strength from the sight of her leaping atop the guardian in an instant and felling it with a single strike.
But her companions were all asleep, leaving them in a one-on-one standoff.
No matter how strong she was, handling an upper demon like Jerry wouldn't be easy.
"I'll strike first before she gets me!"
Space teleportation magic, paired with dream magic, was Jerry's specialty.
For short distances, she could shift positions in an instant without even chanting.
Shwoosh.
As the familiar flow of mana enveloped her body, Jerry's view shifted, and she appeared behind Rapne in a flash.
"Got you...!"
Even the strongest warriors showed a momentary opening against Jerry's vanishing act.
She didn't miss Rapne's gap, casting a spell the instant she teleported.
At the tip of her staff, a spell flickered to life—a simple attack magic executed purely through mana without chanting.
But that was enough.
All she needed was time to escape.
The moment she fired the spell at Rapne's back—
Just once.
She merely blinked once.
"Found you."
In the split second her vision was obscured—barely 0.1 seconds—
Rapne, who had been showing her back, had spun around and was now staring Jerry straight in the face.
"Hiiik—!!"
Suddenly confronted again by those chilling red eyes.
"H-How...?!"
Both of Jerry's signature spells had failed.
Neither the dream magic to induce sleep nor the spatial teleport to strike from a blind spot.
With everything countered, Jerry bit down on her molars in fear and tried to unleash her focused mana anyway.
But in the brief moment Jerry's eyes widened—
Rapne twisted her body in a flash and drove a kick into Jerry's side.
Kwaaang!!
"Kuheuk—!!"
She realized the pain only after slamming into the wall at tremendous speed, chunks of brick crumbling to the floor.
"Huh...? Why am I...?"
She had clearly been aiming her staff—yet now she was embedded in the wall, blood trickling from her mouth.
Step, step.
And she felt the devil approaching.
"Hey... I asked you, didn't I?"
"H-Hiiik!"
"What dream is Ken having?"
She clearly knew Jerry could teleport in an instant with magic.
Yet the red woman before her strolled leisurely toward Jerry.
Step, step.
As if catching the likes of her would be child's play.
"Answer me."
A chilling aura laced her voice, slamming into Jerry's heart through her ears.
"U-Uwaaaah—!!"
There was no way to beat her.
The way she'd fought the guardian was mere playtime.
She shouldn't have judged this woman's strength by that alone.
Every hair on her skin screamed to flee from her.
Fight that thing, and you'd die.
Overwhelmed by primal fear, Jerry screamed.
Her survival instincts fired her brain.
In a split-second surge of unprecedented mana control, she cast spatial teleportation.
Shwoosh.
Thus, Jerry tore through space, fleeing from the temple's third underground floor to the surface in an instant.
Her desperate will to live turned what should have been an impossible chantless mid-range teleport into success.
But.
"Gueeek...! Uuugh...! Guek...!"
In the razor-thin margin for her life.
The hastily cast chantless long-range teleport brought backlash.
Like an athlete who spasms after suddenly halting after explosive muscle use.
Jerry felt her mana rampage inside her and vomited blood onto the ground.
"Still... I made it this far..."
She'd survived.
She'd escaped in that moment of awakening.
"I-I can't stop... she'll chase me."
But given Rapne's movements from before, she'd notice Jerry vanishing from underground and catch up soon.
No time to sit and relax.
The instant Jerry hit the surface, she bolted despite the bleeding.
"She ran."
And as Jerry judged correctly, Rapne saw the spot where she'd been pinned vanish and looked to the ceiling.
A faint trace of demonic mana wafted from above.
"...Ken."
Rapne glanced at the sleeping Ken and the other two.
From what she'd overheard Jerry mutter, they seemed fine beyond sleep.
Now Rapne faced a choice.
Chase Jerry?
Or wake her companions first?
She didn't deliberate long.
"Ken said no monsters enter the guardian's room."
This place was safe even in the underground dungeon.
And Jerry had that instant relocation ability.
Delay too long, and she might lose the trail.
That would mean losing the demon sword.
And Ken would be sad if they lost it.
"...Neural acceleration."
Rapne activated her unique skill, just like when she'd fled with Ken long ago.
Her mind and body hyper-awakened, as if time itself slowed, letting her move faster than anyone.
In under a minute, Rapne raced from the third underground to the surface.
"Where'd she go...?"
At the temple entrance, Rapne scanned sharply.
She spotted faint blood splatters on the ground.
Maintaining the skill, she pursued Jerry's trail.
"Huff, huff, th-this should be...!"
Jerry clutched her chest, gasping ragged breaths as she halted, still gripping the demon sword.
Her side throbbed from Rapne's kick, and the overtaxed magic had wrecked her body.
She deserved praise for fleeing this far in such condition.
And she'd come far enough—no way even that monster could catch up right away.
"Sigh... haa..."
Stopping, Jerry steadied her breath and readjusted her staff.
She focused her mana.
Intercontinental teleport was impossible mid-chase, even for her.
But with this gap, she could reach a nearby city.
Calmly.
Slowly.
No mistakes.
Even in desperation, she composed herself, drawing up mana steadily.
The moment she filled her lungs with ordered mana to utter the incantation—
"Where to?"
A chilling voice whispered in her left ear.
A voice she'd heard only a handful of times today.
But one that etched into her mind like an electric shock down her spine.
Thus, Jerry slowly turned her trembling body.
The red eyes she'd thought she'd shaken off glared at her, exuding dark aura.
"P-Please... spare me..."
Tears streaming, Jerry could only beg for her life, body frozen stiff.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Rapne returned to the guardian hall on the third underground floor, tossing the unconscious Jerry nearby before laying the recumbent Ken across her lap.
"...Kuul."
Ken slept peacefully.
Rapne gazed at his face for a moment, then gently stroked his hair.
"So cute."
She smiled faintly at her beloved's form, voicing her honest feelings.
"...But he was cuter back then."
Recalling his old round, pudgy sleeping face, Rapne puffed her cheeks in mild dissatisfaction.
Ken seemed content with his slimmer build now, but she thought he'd look good with a bit more meat on him.
Sometimes she missed that Ken.
Of course, his firm body was thrilling to touch and very masculine too.
But puffy Ken had been sturdy and manly as well.
After leisurely admiring Ken's face—hers alone for the moment—Rapne satisfied herself and removed the pendant from her own neck.
The pendant that had protected her from Jerry's magic.
The talisman Ken had gifted solely to her.
She hung the precious item around Ken's neck.
Then.
"...Uh, uhm."
Ken, who had seemed deeply asleep, awoke as if a switch flipped, slowly opening his eyes.
"Rapne...?"
Rapne smiled wordlessly at his calling voice.
"Uhm... No way, still dreaming?"
Ken rubbed his eyes, thinking the dream continued, and looked at her.
Rapne had already grilled a terrified Jerry for details on Ken's dream.
So she leaned in slightly toward the mistaken Ken.
"Yeah, Ken's still asleep."
"R-Really."
Ken's cheeks flushed blankly.
"Wanna... do something naughty?"
Seeing him shy at the "still dreaming" line, Rapne grinned mischievously and stroked his chest.
"...Uh, uhm."
Ken averted his eyes as if helpless, accepting her touch.
In his turned gaze, he spotted the fainted Jerry.
"...Rapne, this isn't a dream."
"Ah, caught me."
The quick-witted Ken saw through her prank at once, and Rapne laughed ruefully.