Chapter 336: The Perilous Wasteland (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 336: The Perilous Wasteland (2)
“...Cough.”
Dark red blood trickled from between her pale lips.
Held by the throat by a magical beast, Riyal couldn't struggle at all.
Her stamina and mana were completely depleted, and her family's heirloom dagger had long since broken.
Her eyes, unable to focus, trembled faintly.
“Grrrr...”
The massive magical beast let out a low growl.
It was an A+-rank magical beast, a Twin-Head Ogre.
It possessed the trait of instantly regenerating even if cut to pieces unless both its heads were severed simultaneously. What's more, this one was an elite specimen, nearly one and a half times the size of a typical Twin-Head Ogre.
Even if Riyal could unleash her full power, it was a formidable foe whose defeat was far from certain.
Nevertheless, Riyal had fought on without giving up until the very end.
The piles of magical beast corpses scattered around her proved it.
“Haa, haa...”
Riyal hung limply, gasping for breath.
To any observer, her defeat was not just imminent but certain. The right move would have been to use her ability to escape to the Phantom Beast Realm, but she didn't even have the mana for that.
She had scraped together the last of her mana to cast a barrier for Shin Minha.
Thump, thump!
Of course, seeing the other beasts pounding on the barrier, it didn't look like it would last much longer either.
Seeing the helpless Riyal, the Twin-Head Ogre gave a ghastly smile.
It was clear mockery.
While magical beasts showed an abnormal hostility toward humans, it held a different feeling for Riyal, a unicorn.
It was a mix of fury toward the insolent prey that had stabbed it with a dagger time and again, and the thrill of being able to torment her to the brink of death.
“Krrruk!!”
Once a magical beast surpasses A-rank, it possesses intelligence greater than a chimpanzee's. The reason it didn't snap Riyal's neck right away was for its own amusement.
Squeeze—
“Ugh, ughhh...”
As the pressure on her neck tightened, Riyal let out a pained groan.
As death drew palpably near, Riyal's blurred eyes welled with tears and trembled.
'...I don't want to die.'
Even if one fought with the resolve to risk their life, most people cannot remain composed in the face of death.
And that was true for Riyal, the unicorn, as well.
Worse, if she were to die without even managing to protect Shin Minha, her death would be meaningless.
With eyes that couldn't even focus, Riyal watched the ogre's claws approach her.
It seemed intent on gouging out her eyes.
At the sight, Riyal squeezed her eyes shut.
She was terrified.
So terrified that she felt tears would burst out at any moment.
Bite—
But what ultimately trickled down was not tears, but crimson blood.
She recalled her family motto: a direct descendant of the proud Everhart family must never lose their dignity, no matter the circumstances.
If she had to show such a pathetic side in her final moments, choosing death would be the more honorable choice.
But born of a high-ranking phantom beast's bloodline, she wouldn't die from simply biting her tongue.
Instead, a memory she had tried so hard to ignore surfaced vividly.
'Why am I thinking of him of all people...'
Riyal scowled as Kang Hyun-woo's face flashed through her mind.
-I have no intention of marrying you.
He stole my first kiss, we did... that, and now what?
He has no intention of marrying me?
Grind.
'Does he think I enjoyed bringing up marriage with some human male?!'
Just thinking about it made her blood boil even now.
But the feeling was fleeting, and Riyal let out an involuntary, hollow laugh.
'To think his face is the one that comes to mind in my final moments...'
After that burst of laughter, her body, which had been trembling like a leaf, seemed to calm down.
Of course, dying was still terrifying, but she wouldn't act pathetically anymore.
Riyal opened her eyes and stared defiantly at the ogre.
A clear fighting spirit flickered in her gaze.
“Grrrr...!!”
At that moment, the ogre's face twisted grotesquely.
For the ogre, who considered watching its prey tremble in despair and fear a form of entertainment, Riyal's gaze, burning with fighting spirit, was utterly intolerable.
“KRRRAAAAAAR!!!”
A savage roar shook the surroundings.
Just as the ogre's rough, sharp claws were about to crush Riyal's eyes—
Swish—
The ogre's arm was sliced in half.
“Kruk?!”
Riyal was freed from its grip, but the problem was that she was 25 meters above the ground.
“Kyaaah?!”
Plummeting at high speed, Riyal let out an involuntary scream.
Normally, she could have landed lightly, but in her battered state, she couldn't even break her fall properly.
Just as she squeezed her eyes shut, enveloped by the feeling of weightlessness—
Thud—
“Why are you going around with stuff all over your lips?”
“...?”
Feeling a hand brush against her lips and hearing a voice that should not have been there, Riyal slowly opened her eyes.
Soon, ripples began to form in her gaze.
The lanky height, that infuriatingly handsome face.
It was too vivid to be a dream.
“W-Why are you here...?”
Riyal's voice trembled more than ever before.
But Kang Hyun-woo's reaction was utterly indifferent.
“What do you mean, why? I came to save you, obviously.”
“...What?”
At Kang Hyun-woo's nonchalant words, Riyal was struck speechless.
Although she had sworn to curse him out the next time they met, her mind went completely blank. All she could do now was move her lips silently while held in his arms.
But that, too, was brief.
The image of the injured and collapsed Shin Minha flashed through Riyal's mind.
Grab!
“Minha, Minha is...!!”
Riyal clutched Kang Hyun-woo's clothes and frantically pointed in the direction where Shin Minha had fallen.
Seeing Riyal rambling incoherently, Kang Hyun-woo tapped her forehead with his finger.
As a purifying energy flowed from his fingertip, the turmoil in Riyal's eyes quickly subsided.
Kang Hyun-woo then set her down on the ground.
“Calm down. The professor is safe.”
“...Huh?”
Perhaps because her vision, narrowed by tension and confusion, had returned to normal.
Riyal could finally see Shin Minha being treated by two women she had never seen before.
Plop.
“...Thank goodness.”
Perhaps from the sudden release of tension, Riyal collapsed to the ground.
“What do you mean, 'thank goodness'? Here, drink this.”
“This is...?”
Kang Hyun-woo handed Riyal a high-grade bottle of Holy Water.
She was in better shape than Shin Minha, but she was still severely injured.
“Grrrr...”
Sensing a powerful presence, Kang Hyun-woo turned his head.
His gaze fell upon the Twin-Head Ogre, which was approaching with a menacing killing intent.
The arm he had severed had long since regenerated.
“A Twin-Head Ogre... First time seeing one in person. It's bigger than most golems.”
Kang Hyun-woo placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
From the aura it exuded and its immense size, he could easily tell it wasn't a normal specimen.
It was safe to say it was stronger than a boss-level beast from a B+-rank Gate.
No, it might even be comparable to a boss from an A-rank Gate.
Despite this, there wasn't a shred of tension on Kang Hyun-woo's face.
If anything, his expression was frozen, tinged with a subtle anger.
As it glared at him, both of the Twin-Head Ogre's heads suddenly opened their mouths.
The moment Kang Hyun-woo hastily cast a barrier over the others—
-!!!
The Fear of a top-tier magical beast spread in all directions.
The overwhelming power, enough to make even high-rank Hunters faint, shook the very heavens and earth.
“KRRRAAAAAAR!!!”
The Twin-Head Ogre swung its fist at Kang Hyun-woo, who was seemingly paralyzed by the direct hit of its Fear.
KABOOOM!!!
An impact greater than that of a missile struck the ground.
But the beast didn't stop there.
BOOM, KABOOM, KABOOOOM!!!
Despite its massive frame, it swung its fists faster than the eye could follow, trying to annihilate the prey—no, the 'enemy'—before it.
In an instant, the wasteland became a chaotic mess, and a thick cloud of dust covered everything.
“Kruk, kruk!”
The ogre watched the scene with satisfaction, a foul grin on its face.
But that, too, was brief.
Whoosh—
“Kruk?!”
Something shot up through the dust cloud into the air.
It was Kang Hyun-woo.
KIIIIIIING!!!!
The Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword in his hand shrieked bizarrely, spewing out Aura.
“You're a fucking nuisance.”
At that moment, the ink-black and golden Auras merged, beginning to emit a pure white light.
Emptiness (空).
It was gentle, as if it could warmly embrace everything, yet it also held an overwhelming tyranny that seemed ready to devour all creation.
The ogre frantically threw a punch toward the white sun rising in the sky, but it was already too late.
Formless Sword Art (無相劍訣), Six Voids (六虛).
A pure white sword strike covered the heavens and the earth.
At the beautiful yet overwhelming sight, the ogre, forgetting even its blind hostility toward humans, stood mesmerized.
And then, it belatedly realized its line of sight was strangely low.
Thud—
At that moment, as its heavy head fell, its massive body also began to slowly collapse.
*
Finding Shin Minha and Riyal was, for all intents and purposes, a miracle.
While running across the vast wasteland and repeatedly using mana detection, I suddenly had a feeling that someone was beyond the horizon. Thanks to that vague intuition, I was able to find them.
But now that the situation had calmed down, I realized there was a more rational explanation.
“Was it you?”
I stared intently at the open dating app on my screen.
Of course, there was no reply, but it was obvious this thing was the culprit.
“...Thanks.”
I bowed my head in sincere gratitude.
If it weren't for the app's help, I wouldn't have made it in time, and what I would have found upon my late arrival would have been their cold, dead bodies.
Of course, we weren't that close, but I still didn't want to see the dead bodies of people I knew.
Especially with Riyal. We'd done pretty much everything except have sex.
[...]
The app remained silent.
Whether it was being silent or just ignoring me, I couldn't tell.
I put the screen away and got up, walking over to the corpse of the Twin-Head Ogre sprawled on the ground.
Looking at it again, its size was incredible.
If I took the whole corpse and put it up for auction, it would easily fetch billions. A Twin-Head Ogre's hide and flesh, not to mention its organs and blood, all sell for a high price.
But I had no intention of doing that.
“Eat.”
Kruk!
The moment I gave permission, Tam (貪) [Greed] emerged from the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword.
Tam let out a happy sound and began to tear into the ogre's corpse.
Since entering the Gate, I'd learned a few new things about Tam.
As I already knew, when Tam consumes a human corpse, it absorbs a portion of the target's memories and energy from when they were alive.
In that case, the consumed corpse turns into something like a mummy.
On the other hand, when it eats a magical beast's corpse, it tears and devours it savagely, like a carnivore.
Of course, feeding it magical beasts doesn't mean I absorb any energy, but Tam grows instead.
It's as if it's absorbing the murky energy contained within the beast.
If I kept feeding it magical beast corpses like this, there was a chance the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword's grade might increase.
'For now, that's just wishful thinking, though.'
Chomp, chomp!
Anyway, the ogre's corpse was so large that it seemed like it would take quite a while to devour it all.
It looked like it would take at least 30 minutes, to be generous.
Stab!
My stomach wasn't strong enough to watch it chew and swallow the ogre's entrails, so I stuck the sword into a suitable spot and left.
It'll eat on its own.
As I headed for the tent, I saw Noel.
“Ah, Master!”
She ran over with a bright smile upon seeing me, and I lightly patted her head.
Noel looked like she wanted a hug, but the spikes on her armor made that difficult.
“How are they both doing?”
“The one with blue eyes is sleeping, and the one with the horn is eating.”
“Is that so?”
Hearing Noel's report, I entered the tent.
It was a temporary tent, but the inside was reasonably spacious.
“...Ah.”
I came face to face with Riyal just as she was about to put a spoonful of soup in her mouth.
Shin Minha was asleep on the cot next to her.
“It's been a while.”
“...”
I gave a small wave, but Riyal just quietly lowered her head and put down her spoon.
Feeling awkward, I scratched the back of my head.
'...Is it because of what happened last time?'
Then again, considering what happened, it would be weirder if we could greet each other casually.
She's probably only being this quiet because I saved her.
“Ahem, anyway, I'm glad you seem to be safe.”
“...”
Riyal didn't answer this time either.
Instead, she slowly nodded.
Thankfully, it seemed she wasn't completely against talking to me.
“By the way, where are the others...?”
Just as I was about to get to the main point—
Tiring—
[You've captured the heart of a pure female unicorn, not some bicorn! Are you sane, human?!]
[Would you like to register Riyal Everhart as a match?]
[Y/N]