Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Rampage and Awakening
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Florian didn't hesitate at my shout.
He was always the one who trusted any request of mine without a second thought, no matter what it was.
The moment the overwhelming light of Divine Grace wrapped around the ceiling, a racket like fireworks exploding rang out, followed by a colossal roar as if a landslide had begun.
Boom, boom, boom—!
Sporadic blasts echoed one after another, and with a deep rumbling, the cave ceiling started crumbling down.
"This way!"
Florian grabbed my hand and pulled.
We sprinted toward the safety of the wall, dodging the falling rocks.
Florian's Divine Grace blazed endlessly, incinerating the debris of stalactites plummeting from above.
The cave looked like a meteor shower crashing inside.
Screeeeech—!
Beneath the flaming stalactites falling like comets, the Giant Leech let out a prolonged scream, writhing in agony.
Brilliant moonlight poured in through the massive hole in the ceiling.
Over the crimson-black inferno that blanketed nearly the entire cave, pristine white moonlight descended—an utterly surreal sight.
"Florian, look over there."
The Leech's exterior, tough as armor, was slowly melting away under the moonlight.
Maybe the legend of the beautiful Leech maiden came from someone long ago witnessing a Leech dissolve like this in the moon's glow?
Screeeeech—!
The Giant Leech's death throes dragged on for what felt like forever.
But soon, its outer shell had fully melted, its twitching ceased, and silence fell.
I plopped down right there, staring at the cave—half-collapsed in places, rubble everywhere.
That's some terrifying power.
Florian, who'd wrecked nearly half the giant cave, stood calmly in silence instead of collapsing like me.
I shook my head and caught my breath.
"It's really over, right?"
At least something good came of it: fleeing and fighting had taken us pretty far from the workshop area.
We could go back and gather evidence again.
"Let's rest a bit, then head back for proof. I think we lost the box we grabbed on the way out."
Occasional tiny Leeches scattered with faint sounds, but the few left fled into the deep shadows the moment they saw the bright moonlight.
They posed no threat to us.
"You okay?"
Florian didn't answer.
He'd been unusually quiet since earlier. When I turned to him, I saw the crimson-black light still flickering around him.
More intensely and unstably than before.
"Florian?"
As I called his name and cautiously stood, his arm came into view.
An arm wrapped in red rashes.
Countless bite marks—that's what they were from the Leech.
And it wasn't just his arm. His neck and the insides of his wrists, glimpsed briefly, were a mess too.
I'd hallucinated just from a few bites. I took a slow step back.
Florian, eyes downcast, slowly lifted his gaze to stare at my retreat.
"Duke Petherzen..."
The moment he uttered those distant words,
crimson-black flames surged up around me, blazing fiercely.
"Hot, hot!"
Like when I was little, I flailed my hands to shake off the heat and twisted away, but Florian's flames clung relentlessly.
Every spot I stepped exploded with heat.
Leech venom overdose!
The aftereffects of too much fluid injected at once were kicking in now.
Locked in hyper-awakening, he stared into the distance as if seeing some past day—not me.
Duke Petherzen.
The ruler of the south—Florian's oldest enemy.
I stumbled dodging the flames, couldn't overcome the one snagging my ankle, and tumbled to the ground, rolling.
"I'm not Duke Petherzen—I'm Mariella!"
My voice didn't seem to reach his ears in that hyper-awakened state.
He frowned briefly, mumbled "Baby?", looked around.
His dazed eyes reflected the Giant Leech—its shell melted, only bits left.
"Gigantia..."
In an instant, Florian's mind flashed back to our childhood.
A boom, and flames roared higher.
They weren't just burning around him.
The runaway Divine Grace was consuming Florian himself.
Flames clung to his hands and arms, charring cloth and skin bit by bit, yet his face showed no pain.
"Baby, just wait a little. I'll save you."
His hallucination had shifted to me now, apparently.
Florian started walking.
Straight into the pitch-black flames burning so viciously they threatened even their master.
He'd fought more Leeches than me—he couldn't calm his own runaway Divine Grace alone.
What happened when Dietrich rampaged?
I recalled our childhood friendly match.
Dad had suppressed Dietrich's rampage with his own Divine Grace.
I need Divine Grace.
But I couldn't use mine yet.
How do you awaken it?
What did Dad say during training with Dietrich?
"Think of Divine Grace as part of your body. Keep your senses sharp at all times."
Exhausted, my hands sluggish like in water, I slammed the floor.
Some awakening effect lingered—my swing felt strong, but barely any pain.
Dad said to hone senses sharply.
So I had to drive out the awakening haze with pain, awaken my whole body's senses somehow.
I clenched my fist and slammed the floor again.
Please, come on!
While I flailed uselessly, reddish burn marks began blistering on Florian's body—the one that shouldn't harm any fire.
I saw the runaway flames creep up his neck like strangling him.
Please, please!
I pounded the floor over and over with my hand.
Then the crimson-black flames started climbing the cave walls.
The remaining ceiling, already cracked and half-down, clung precariously.
The flames' tongues licked it—stones tumbled with plinks, then the sound grew.
A heaven-shattering boom followed.
The ceiling collapsed onto Florian's rampaging Divine Grace.
Only he, lost in the past, didn't notice.
If those rocks hit Florian...!
That instant, a cool, gentle energy spread from my heart.
No time to marvel at the refreshing purification washing over me—I thrust my hand toward Florian.
A massive ice shield sprouted from the floor, propping up the crumbling ceiling.
Divine Grace felt just as Dad said—like a part of my body from the start.
So this is it!
Naturally, I turned the other way—water flowed, smothering the black flames.
Hiss—and steam rose.
Florian eyed the water over the black fire; hostility flickered in his gaze, and flames blazed fiercer.
His blaze nullified my clumsy Divine Grace in one go, arrows of fire raining down.
What do I do?
I had to pull Florian from his dark past.
To do that...
"Save me, Fairy!"
I shouted the words from when we first met—Florian's body froze mid-motion.
"Don't let go, absolutely! Others will come save us soon!"
"You..."
"Hold on no matter what!"
The day Gigantia crushed our house, everything collapsing.
Florian, frozen under the precariously held-up ceiling I'd propped, slowly moved toward me.
Starting slow, then picking up speed.