Nowhere Safe to Look
Where the hell was I supposed to look…?
I'd been sure we were heading the right way. And yet the path kept twisting into something stranger by the minute.
Especially this cave hidden behind a massive waterfall—what was it, exactly, that kept drawing us toward it?
"Hnn… cold…"
Inside the cave, past the curtain of falling water, only a heavy, damp silence hung in the air.
Ruby sat crumpled on the freezing stone floor, trembling like a leaf in a gale. She'd dodged a direct hit, but she hadn't been able to fully block the icy spray the waterfall threw off.
Her current state was…
Honestly, it was so dangerous I had no idea where to put my eyes.
Gulp.
Was there a man alive who could look at this and feel nothing?
The Ruby Scarlet in front of me was danger itself.
Her crimson uniform, soaked through, clung to her entire body like a second skin. The usually full, spreading skirts of her dress had drunk their fill of water and hung heavy and limp, laying bare the ant-waist curve of her midriff and the explosive flare of her hips that had been hidden until now.
And that wasn't even the half of it. Her chest…
The volume was no joke. Had they always been that big…?
Through the wet fabric, the outlines of her nipples—stiff from the cold—stood out with merciless clarity.
Those two overwhelming peach-blossom paradises.
Every time she dragged in a rough breath, that massive volume swayed with a heavy, unreal weight. Water droplets rolled down her pale, blanched skin, tracing the delicate line of her collarbone before vanishing into the dark cleft between her breasts.
Her lips, blue from the cold, trembled faintly. Wet hair stuck to her cheeks and the nape of her neck, painting a picture that was pure and yet steeped in an unspeakable, forbidden allure.
The proud Crimson Witch of flame was nowhere to be found.
All that remained was a dripping, half-transparent little demon, flashing bare skin and bewitching any man who looked.
"Hey… you gonna look away or what?"
Ruby must have felt my relentless stare. She hurriedly crossed her arms over her chest and curled in on herself. But there was no strength in it—not a scrap of real threat in her voice.
"You pervert bastard… where the hell are you looking… I-it's all see-through…"
Ahem. Pervert, she says…
I was only appreciating the view like a gentleman. A little harsh, wasn't it?
I put on my most gentle smile and shook my head.
"I'm looking because I'm worried. Don't get the wrong idea."
I shrugged out of my jacket as if it were nothing and draped it over her shoulders. Then, without hesitation, I caught both of her ice-cold hands and wrapped them in my own.
"Hik?! Wh-what are you doing?!"
"Stay still. Sharing body heat will get your mana circulating faster."
I held her hands and breathed a long, warm hooo across them.
"L-let… go…!"
Ruby put up a feeble struggle, trying to pull free, but I only tightened my grip. Her resistance cut off all at once.
No—if anything, she quietly laced her fingers through mine, as if craving the heat of my hands.
Warm.
True to an elf who commanded flame, she was cold on the outside, but a low fever still burned underneath.
"…It's warm."
Ruby buried her face in the jacket and mumbled. The flush on her cheeks didn't seem to be from the cold alone.
She peeked up at me with wet eyes and let out a weak little line she would never have spoken under normal circumstances.
"Hmph. For a human, you're a pretty decent heater."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm just… cold, that's all."
Ruby huffed through her nose, putting on airs—but she never once let go of my hands.
For a while, the two of us simply shared body heat in that narrow cave and caught our breath.
A strange current ran between us.
Close enough to hear each other's heartbeats.
I was just thinking that if we stayed like this any longer it might get dangerous—
Flash—!
Killing intent.
An instinctive alarm stabbed straight down my spine.
"Hey, Doc! Look out!"
I shoved Ruby hard on pure reflex and twisted my body aside.
Shhk!
A razor-edged blade of sword-ki scythed through the space where I'd been standing. The solid rock floor split open as cleanly and silently as a block of tofu.
—Whoa. He actually dodged that?
What the hell is this guy…?
Two shadows stepped out of the dark.
Family crests engraved on silver armor. Not ordinary elves.
From the look of them, they worked for the Silverrain family.
"So the little rats were hiding in here? Heh heh."
"A chance to hunt the Red Witch… Guess kissing noble ass was the right career move after all, huh?"
…Judging by the talk, they hadn't been with the Silverrain family for long. If they had, they would have found some way to put down the headache named Ruby Scarlet—the one who'd gone on a rampage through the city and threatened their patriarch.
"Hey, that crazy bitch looks exhausted. Now's our shot."
Still, they were professionals. They'd read that the cold had left Ruby's condition at rock bottom, and they went straight for the kill without wasting breath on conversation.
"You bastards…!"
Ruby staggered, trying to rise—but they were faster.
"You're next. First we deal with this annoying human brat!"
One of the Silverrain dogs closed the distance to my face in a blink. Unavoidable speed. A longsword drove straight for my heart.
"D-Doc…!!"
Ruby's scream rang through the cave.
"Ahh…?"
But I didn't panic. In my hand I still held a cube-shaped item that hadn't lost its light—the Phase Shifter.
"…?!"
"My, my… drawing steel on me already? That's terribly rude."
I smiled, perfectly at ease.
Phase Shifter. Time to show off its first ability: physical attack nullification.
Whooosh—!
The elf swung again.
But—
Woom—!
A strange blue ripple wrapped my body.
Shhk.
The enemy's blade passed straight through my chest.
No—it didn't pierce me. It phased through my body as if cutting empty air.
"…What?!"
The eyes of the one who'd stabbed me flooded with shock. He'd clearly thrust—and felt nothing. The alien sensation of cutting a phantom.
I used the opening to shout.
"Ruby—now!"
I didn't miss the instant the bastard froze and left himself open. Poison lit in Ruby's eyes.
"You dare touch my Doc?!"
FWOOOOM!
Maybe rage was the detonator. Explosive flame erupted from Ruby's body. She yanked the Phoenix Whisper off her back and nocked it in one motion.
Hwaaaaaang—!
A searing sphere that looked like it had swallowed a sun. Weaker than the first time—but still enough heat to cook the cave.
"Idiots! Raise your shields!"
The elves snapped mana shields into place. Hired by the Silverrain family or not, their defensive posture was flawless. No matter how strong Ruby's firepower was, punching through those solid shields head-on would take time.
But…
I still had another ability left.
"…Hmm? Those shields won't mean much, you know."
I activated the second power of the Phase Shifter in my hand. I opened my palm toward them and let a lazy smile curl my lips.
"…Think you can block this?"
I turned my face toward Ruby and shouted.
"Ruby—shoot now!"
"Ha?! Right now?"
"Yes!"
"You son of a—! Fine, whatever!"
KRAAAAAAAAAANG—!!
The instant Ruby released the string, I triggered the Phase Shifter again.
Phase Transfer.
A broken ability that let physical matter pass through as if space itself were being rewritten—and that could grant the same "phasing" property to an ally's attack.
—Zzzt-zzzt-zzzt!
"Wh-what the hell?!"
"This fucking shield—!"
In that moment, the solid blue barriers flickered and went translucent like holograms. Defense: zero. Shells with no physical interference left in them.
"What?! What's wrong with the shields?!"
"…Hmph. Die!"
Ruby's flames reshaped themselves into a raging phoenix and passed straight through the ghosted shields. Then they slammed dead-center into the faces of the bastards who'd been hiding behind them, feeling safe.
KRAAAAAANG!!!
"GYAAAAAAH!!"
A massive explosion hurled them backward like burning straw. Defense shredding. In RPG terms, it was armor break—no, it was pure defense-ignore damage.
That was the true broken power of the Phase Shifter.
"Haa… haa…"
Confirming the enemies had been reduced to charcoal, Ruby dragged in ragged breaths. She pushed wet hair back with a hand still radiating heat and grinned.
"…Nice shot, Doc."
"You too."
We bumped fists lightly.
Worst condition. Strongest enemies. And our timing had been perfect.
From the look of things, nothing else stood in our way. Bright light poured in from the far end of the cave. We squinted and stepped outside.
"…Whoa."
A short gasp slipped from Ruby's lips.
It was an ancient altar at the edge of a cliff, floating as if above the clouds. From this height the central temple looked tiny far below. In the middle of the altar, bathed in red moonlight, a golden victory trophy blazed with radiant light.
Not the false temple. This was the real one.
"Found it…"
Joy lit Ruby's eyes. Take that and it was over. Her proof. My survival.
But—
The moment we started to step onto the altar—
—What a shame.
A languid voice that still sent a chill down the spine drifted from behind the altar.
—If you'd just shown up a little later, we could've taken it without lifting a finger. Right?
—Indeed. These worthless half-breeds…
Click. Click.
Someone walked out of the deep shadow behind the trophy. Overwhelming presence. A sharp killing intent, different in texture from Ruby's hot flames—like a current of electricity pricking the skin.
"That the one? The Fire Witch…? Younger than I expected."
"Long time no see, you cocky little human bastard."
Two women appeared.
One was a dangerous-looking stranger of an elf, black robe pulled over her head, blue sparks crackling over her entire body.
The other I recognized at a glance. The armored elf who had handed me the Heavenly Spirit Tournament invitation at the hotel.
Ruby's expression went rigid the instant she saw her.
"…Who the hell are these bastards?"