Chapter 67
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Academy (18)
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He nodded to Helena, who was stealing glances at him.
"Good job."
Leaving Helena blushing behind him, he smashed the jaws of the screaming bastards. They all passed out cold.
"Hah... Is it over...?"
Amelia's ragged breathing reached his ears. Her mana was completely depleted. Her face was as pale as a sheet.
"Amelia, you okay?"
"S-Sleepy... N-No, can't..."
It was mana exhaustion. Draining your mana to the bottom made it hard to even stand. In severe cases, you'd pass out like falling asleep.
"Mm..."
Her eyes, which she'd been fighting to keep open, slowly closed. As Si-woo supported her, she nestled into his arms and drifted off.
He checked on Amelia, who had gone limp in his embrace.
She seemed fine, nothing out of the ordinary. He was observing her closely just in case when Helena approached.
"May I take a look?"
"Oh. Yeah, thanks."
She smiled faintly.
"Si-woo saying thanks? Amelia will be the grateful one."
"Yeah... let's say that."
Helena pouted her lips and grasped Amelia's wrist, then flinched. She tilted her head and looked back and forth between him and Amelia.
"...It's just simple mana exhaustion. She'll be fine after some rest. But..."
"What's up?"
"Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine?"
Curiosity filled Helena's face. She hesitated, lips moving silently, before finally speaking.
"By any chance, your trait... Ah! Sorry. That was rude of me."
She was curious about his trait. After a moment's thought, he decided to tell her. Sharing secrets was one way to build closeness.
"My trait? Magic Resistance. Why?"
Magic Resistance was a legendary trait renowned for exceptional close-combat prowess. She nodded in admiration.
"Ah...! So that's how."
Her curiosity about how he'd broken the barrier was solved. Looking at the soundly sleeping Amelia, she nodded.
"Take her to the hospital first and refuse visitors for now. It's her business, so I shouldn't say more... Ah! And you can't just reveal your trait so easily like that. You really shouldn't."
"I know. I only told you because it's you, Helena."
"Eek...!"
Helena's lips twitched nonstop. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Fidgeting with the emergency teleporter on her waist, she said,
"Ahem... Communications should be back up soon. And about that clock tower I mentioned before..."
She seemed about to blurt something impulsively but clamped her mouth shut. She looked unusually troubled.
"Well, it's like..."
Seeing that, he decided to help her out a bit.
"Helena, this incident wasn't your doing, right?"
"Of course not. Absolutely not."
Her words rang true. No need to press further, then.
"Then we're good."
"...Huh?"
"You've got your reasons. If it's hard to talk about now, tell me whenever you want. No need to force it."
"..."
Helena pondered for a moment before speaking cautiously.
"Got it. Simply put, I'm... something like a prophet. I can glimpse the future, but not accurately."
"Something like" meant she wasn't a true prophet, ultimately. True prophets who could see the future clearly were rare.
'Something like... A regressor, huh.'
He nodded. Whatever it was, befriending someone who knew the future couldn't hurt.
Even without future knowledge, there was no reason not to get close to someone as pretty as her.
"Got it."
"Got it...? You believe me just like that?"
"Well... no reason not to trust you, Helena. So that elixir from earlier—you saw it in your vision?"
"Y-Yeah... Right."
In truth, it'd been Kang Su-ho's opportunity he'd snatched, but she was unapologetic. Once you started overthinking such things, changing the future became impossible.
No one had ever believed her so readily before. Her voice trembled slightly.
"...Thanks for believing me. I'll handle things here."
"Yeah. How?"
She looked down at the unconscious demons.
"Torture these bastards to root out their accomplices and punish them... And since we resolved it, we deserve compensation."
Si-woo nodded. If they were getting rewards anyway, better make them good ones.
He glanced down at Amelia in his arms.
There she was, passed out from mana exhaustion, constantly burrowing closer to him.
Hospital.
The nurse frowned as she looked at Amelia.
"Mm... Just let her sleep it off till she wakes."
"...Yes."
The nurse was acting strange. She hooked up what looked like an IV nutrient drip for Amelia, her hands shaking repeatedly.
As if zapped by static, she flinched over and over, then bolted away the moment she was done.
'What the hell, creepy.'
Si-woo watched over the sleeping Amelia in the hospital bed.
She seemed to be having a nightmare. She groaned uncomfortably, sweating coldly.
Her fingertips trembled finely, as if pressed down by some invisible force.
'Should I wake her?'
If it weren't for the mana exhaustion, he'd have shaken her awake. But there wasn't much he could do. Just in case, he took her hand.
"Mm..."
Miraculously, the tension drained from her body. Her breathing evened out peacefully, and the groaning stopped.
She clung to his hand like a lifeline, so he intertwined their fingers.
He massaged her hand gently. It felt soft and pleasant. She seemed to like it too—win-win.
'Hm...?'
Something was off with the mana flow from Amelia's hand. With senses sharpened by the elixir, it took a while of holding on to notice.
A flow he hadn't sensed before was now detectable. Some murky energy leaked from her into him.
But the black energy had no effect.
Starting with Magic Resistance, then Mental Barrier. Either one alone would block it.
'What is this...'
He gathered the energy as it mingled into his Mixed Origin Qi and vanished. A tiny amount, but examining it gave him a hunch.
'Kinda like that demonic energy from before? I think I've learned about this kind of energy...'
Unlike normal energy, it focused on attacking its host. He almost had it.
He infiltrated her body with his Mixed Origin Qi for a closer look. The energy waged war against hers.
Her own energy was overwhelmingly weaker due to mana exhaustion, putting her at a disadvantage.
'Hmm...'
After some thought, he sucked out the black energy in a steady pull.
"Hnnng..."
Amelia's body shivered. Worried she'd wake, he drew it out gently. He absorbed it bit by bit, purified it through his Mixed Origin Qi, and returned it.
'...This feels kinda lewd.'
Exchanging energies before even getting physical. Things with her were all jumbled up. Felt like skipping steps.
"Hah..."
But as he drew it out, her complexion brightened, so he couldn't stop. She even let out pleased nasal moans.
'Is this why she passed out from mana exhaustion?'
Normally, you didn't faint unless you'd pushed your mana to the absolute limit. Her passing out had seemed odd.
After extracting for a good while, he spotted the source deep in her heart. That seemed to be the curse's origin.
'Can I absorb it?'
He undid her patient gown. He pressed his palm to the skin closest to her heart, pushing aside her ample breasts to slip his hand into the valley between.
Squish.
'So soft.'
The heavenly, yielding texture. Her breasts molded perfectly to his touch, overflowing with maternal warmth.
Her flawless white skin felt springy too. Before he knew it, he'd been kneading them for a while.
'Oops.'
He snapped out of it. Examining the curse's source in her heart, he concluded his current skill couldn't resolve it.
'Yeah... This is as far as I go.'
Black energy kept seeping from the source in her heart. Memories of learning about this phenomenon surfaced.
'Did she get cursed?'
Now he understood why she snapped at anyone who touched her.
'And why she slept all the time? A sleep-related curse?'
No matter how sleepy, dozing off on the street wasn't normal.
Suddenly, he felt sorry for her. He gently stroked her hair, and she smiled contentedly.
Having a good dream, maybe. Her face beamed with worldly bliss.
"Hnnng..."
Color returned to her once-pale cheeks from the mana exhaustion.
Pet, pet.
He kept stroking her hair. She twitched happily, rubbing her head against his palm like a cute puppy acting affectionate.
Lost in time petting her, her eyelids fluttered.
Her violet eyes met his. Half-lidded, dreamy gaze.
"Ah..."
"How's your body feeling?"
Her face was flushed deep. Lips moving silently, she murmured softly.
"Mm... Good..."
Amelia smiled faintly, tilted her head, then looked down.
She stared blankly at the hand on her breast.
Only then did Si-woo realize he'd forgotten to pull away, lost in the exquisite feel.
'Uh...'
Unconsciously, his grip tightened. Fingers sank into the soft flesh.
"Ahng...!"
A sweet sound escaped her reddened face.