Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: How to Save Erina Esnatia
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[The One Cursed by Fate]'s second form.
Its white wings have been torn off, and its sclera is stained black.
The second form of [The One Cursed by Fate].
"HOLY SHIT!!! JESUS CHRIST!! What the hell is this?!"
Erina Esnatia must have thought it was all over, because her face twisted in despair.
It was definitely a form that could make anyone freak out.
No wonder her mind was reeling at the sight.
Of course, it was even stronger than the first form.
From this point on, it took on a type opposed to divinity.
'If demons exist, this is what they'd look like.'
But the most troublesome part was...
[Give up. Resisting fate leads only to death.]
No, even if I don't resist, I'm gonna die anyway!
"Shit!! Bullshit like a dog's bark is echoing in my head!"
Erina Esnatia grimaced in agony.
It was hitting her with such a powerful mental attack.
"Snap out of it!"
"Shit... Is this my destiny?"
Erina Esnatia mumbled in a dazed voice, her eyes glazed over as if she'd accepted her despair.
"Damn... This is bad if it's already like this."
Even if she collapses, she needs to get past the first pattern first!
The first pattern of the second phase.
It swings a black longsword directly with its own hands.
If we can just survive this pattern, there's a way to survive using Erina Esnatia.
"There’s no prince of destiny or anything..."
"Please snap out of it!"
Thanks to Erina Esnatia's [Heavenly Blessing] on me, I'm holding out against the mental attack.
She'll retire once the second pattern starts anyway, leaving me to fight [The Cursed One] alone.
[Heavenly Blessing] isn't a skill that can be applied to multiple people, so I told her to use it only on me.
'I thought it'd be fine since she has high mental resistance by default.'
She has mental fortitude boosted by [Heavenly Blessing]. And yet she's like this?
Isn't that just a lack of mental strength?
...
With Erina Esnatia in this state, she'll get sliced in the first clash.
A black sword writhes and blooms from the fingertips of [The Cursed One].
Just looking at that sword made her stomach churn with revulsion.
[A fate unseen blooms here.]
The voice echoed in my head.
Erina Esnatia's condition was deteriorating further.
"Do I have to block it alone somehow?"
[The Cursed One] swung the sword that had bloomed from its hand toward the ground.
Chwaaak—
Black blood splattered onto the ground, accompanied by the sinister sound of air being sliced.
'No way I can block something like that!!'
Without Erina Esnatia's shield, taking that hit would send me straight to the afterlife.
What do I do?
Slap her cheeks?
...
If something like that worked, [The Cursed One] wouldn't be C-grade.
...
Jjaaaak—
A clear, refreshing sound rang out.
But you never know.
I had to at least try.
"..."
Erina Esnatia said nothing.
Failure, huh.
"HOLY SHIT!!! I felt a chill! Like the touch of KIMCHI...!"
Erina Esnatia's eyes snapped open as if she'd come to her senses.
She was shivering like she'd gotten goosebumps.
'My, my touch is stronger than [The Cursed One]'s voice.'
Let's think positive.
It's like I'm launching a mental attack too.
And it wouldn't have worked without her high mental resistance.
'Yeah, that's definitely it.'
Otherwise, it'd be too inhumane.
"KIMCHI! Did YOU get hit by the attack too?! Time is urgent!"
"Ah... wait!"
Jjaaaak—
A hand flew toward my cheek right after her words.
"OH! Looks like you're back to your senses. KIMCHI!"
...Does this girl hold grudges?
[Accept it.]
At that moment, [The Cursed One] thrust its sword at Erina Esnatia.
Kang—!
The blade was perfectly blocked by Erina Esnatia's shield.
"SHIT! If I just keep my head straight, I can block a blade from a BITCH like YOU!!!"
Is this girl crush?
Cool as hell!
"You're doing great, keep it up!!"
"Useless KIMCHI!! Instead of ZI, do something!!"
When did she learn to curse like that?
[Your fate ends here. You cannot escape.]
"Your vocabulary's expanding the more time you spend with me. I'm proud!"
"SHIT!!! My insides are bursting!"
But Erina Esnatia was too busy venting her anger at me to hear it.
Yeah, focus on me hard.
That way you won't fall for that crap.
And right now, all I could do was hide behind Erina anyway.
"Just hold out for three clashes. I have a plan after that."
"KIMCHI!! Are YOU gonna block three clashes? Does it look EASY because ME is tanking it?!"
"You can do it!"
"HOLY!!!!! JESUS CHRIST!!!!"
Exactly three clashes.
Survive three, and it moves to the next pattern.
That's how we get a way to take it down.
'Hang in there, Erina Esnatia!'
"Haa... haa... As YOU said, three clashes without skills. Blocked! Now do something!"
"Just stay put."
"SHIT!!! I was a B for trusting KIMCHI!!"
"No..."
Good that she's not affected by mental attacks anymore, but why does she seem to be breaking down more?
Even in Awakening to SSS Hunter Academy, it wasn't this bad.
'Maybe it means our chemistry is great!'
[My despair. Your fate. All of it is the providence of the 'Karmic Chain.']
A cry echoed in my head.
At the same time, an exit glowing with bright light appeared.
"KIMCHI!! It's here! The exit!!! Ignore that BITCH and escape! Escape!! Fate hasn't abandoned me after all...!"
...Tempting, but no.
The real fight starts now.
[Fool blinded by hope.]
The voice resounded in my head, and Erina Esnatia collapsed to her knees.
"K-KIMCHI... Something's wrong. My body... my strength is draining..."
It's starting.
Phase 1 could be directly countered with Erina Esnatia's skill [Heavenly Might].
Phase 2. [The One Cursed by Fate].
The skill it uses forces nearby enemies' support skills onto [The One Cursed by Fate] itself.
This continues endlessly until the opponent is exhausted.
Plop—
"K-KIMCHI..."
I caught the collapsing Erina Esnatia and laid her aside.
'Mana exhaustion, probably.'
Her skill [Heavenly Might].
It grants holy power to a specific target.
It forced her to keep using it on [The Cursed One] until she was drained.
But [The Cursed One] is literally cursed by gods and fate.
So [Heavenly Might] ended up debuffing her instead.
'Self-harm, basically.'
Of course, even accounting for that, normal tanks carry one or two support skills.
Draining them is a huge gain.
But.
'This girl's is special.'
An A-rank holy support skill.
Erina Esnatia in full condition tanked it until her mana ran dry.
That drops the boss at least two ranks lower, to E-grade.
And I'm under [Heavenly Blessing] too.
'The field's tilted, you bastard!'
Kieeeek—!!!!!
[The Cursed One] let out a agonized screech.
[Accept it. You will become like me too!]
"Cut the crap."
Taking a hit made it unleash a frenzy of mental attacks.
'Gotta stay sharp.'
This was no different from hypnosis.
Just ultra-powerful suggestion hammered directly into the brain.
How to resist hypnosis.
Keep denying it.
Don't get sucked in for even a moment.
The instant you affirm it, even for a split second, it's over.
Now the real twisting begins.
"K-KIMCHI...?"
Kim Si-woo's figure battling the boss monster alone before her eyes.
'No way he can match it.'
There's absolutely no way he can win.
That's what she thought at that moment.
"Graaaah—!"
Kim Si-woo charged at the boss monster with speed impossible for an ordinary person's leg strength.
'H-How?'
It wasn't telekinesis carrying Kim Si-woo.
It was definitely Kim Si-woo—his own power.
'Am I seeing things?'
And that wasn't all.
Kim Si-woo wielded countless skills like extensions of his own limbs.
Kim Si-woo definitely had only one skill and was E3-grade hunter.
Yet his movements looked like those of a top-tier hunter.
'What... Is this really Si-woo Kim...?'
The man she'd only heard rumors about, Lee Seong-hyeon.
She couldn't be sure Kim Si-woo was on his level, but he was far from weak.
'He really is a liar...'
But Erina Esnatia knew better than anyone that there was no time left.
"We have to escape right now..."
She herself was a D-rank hunter.
She could tell the monster they were fighting wasn't ordinary.
No matter how strong Kim Si-woo was, he couldn't take on a boss like that solo.
No, not even the rumored Lee Seong-hyeon could win here, it seemed.
"SHIT... KIMCHI... Run away."
But the Kim Si-woo before her was throwing himself into the fray to keep [The One Cursed by Fate] from reaching her, even at the risk of injury.
"This is my fate... My destiny really is this pathetic."
Her shitty life so far.
She'd believed in fate to deny it.
"Just run away, even if it's kimchi..."
No matter how much she believed in fate, she knew.
She was already a dead woman walking.
And the best choice now was for Kim Si-woo to escape.
'The door's already open, why isn't he running? Is kimchi a sucker sinner too...?'
But her words weren't reaching Kim Si-woo at all.
[The One Cursed by Fate] emitted a powerful aura.
Its sword swung with a deadly hiss.
"Kuaak!"
Kim Si-woo's left arm tore like paper from the sword strike.
'Why go that far...! Run now, stupid!!'
Why was he pushing himself like that?
He could just use her as bait and run.
Soon, [The One Cursed by Fate] approached Erina Esnatia slowly, leaving the fallen Kim Si-woo behind.
The cursed blade was aimed at Erina Esnatia's throat.
In that instant, her vision darkened like fog rolling in.
'Can't see a thing... They say your life flashes before you before death, but that's all lies.'
-Tap tap tap tap
Panting breaths and movements cut clearly through the darkness.
'This is OK. Kimchi just needs to run.'
Erina Esnatia.
Suddenly, she wondered if she'd ever expressed her emotions this strongly recently.
'99% anger... but it was kinda fun. Might not be bad to properly talk with KIMCHI once.'
Now she was curious about Kim Si-woo's true identity.
'Not that it matters anymore.'
[Those unloved by fate, curses seep into your souls.]
"Ha..."
A hollow laugh escaped her.
A girl who believed in fate dies unloved by it in a temple of fate.
How ridiculous.
[That is fate.]
[No matter how you struggle, fate is inevitable.]
She had fully synced with the echoes in her head.
'Then I accept it.'
The moment the girl thought that.
The tip of fate's sword was about to touch her throat.
-Kang!
'...?'
Through the darkness, Kim Si-woo's faint back came into view.
Far more reliable and manly than she'd imagined.
'Am I hallucinating?'
Then a voice rang out, reminding Erina Esnatia this was real.
"Graaaah!!"
It was a split-second moment.
Impossible to reach.
Too far.
Yet Kim Si-woo blocked the enemy's blade right before her eyes.
'H-How...'
"Fuck fate! As if something like that exists!"
'W-What?'
A voice denying fate.
[An inescapable flow...]
"Cut the bullshit! Fate? Me being here is already a denial of fate!"
Erina Esnatia. A denial of the fate she'd believed in her whole life.
She couldn't do anything by her own will.
If the misfortunes of her past weren't fate, whose fault were they?
She'd believed only fate could pull her from this hell.
[Accept it...]
"You think I can accept that kind of fate?!"
Kim Si-woo's shout as he stabbed his sword into the ground and rose again despite collapsing.
Something hot stirred in the girl's heart.
"That trash fate where I have to die like you say! That fate where you beat me here! I won't accept any of it!!"
[Foolish and lowly noble. The world's fate is already written.]
She thought Kim Si-woo could never win.
She thought her fate ended here.
"Fate or no fate, I'll pass. I'll only acknowledge the fate I forge myself! So! Erina Esnatia! I'll rewrite the fate where you die right here!"
Erina Esnatia realized.
The hot emotion was clearly her heartbeat pounding.
Protecting the princess until the very end.
Just like in the fairy tale she saw as a child, the one who saved her...
'This man...'
Faintly through the darkness.
But a clear beam of light.
"[Dark Strike]!!!"
[Dark Strike]