Chapter 157
Chapter 157
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: Second Encounter (6)
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“Freeman, thank you.”
“Hehe, it's nothing. Let's get out of this wretched place. I can support you no matter where we go.”
Marsha was taken aback by his unexpected words. Then, realizing the time had come, she spoke in a sorrowful voice.
“Freeman, I'm sorry. I'm leaving alone. I'm not taking you with me.”
“What? Why? What are you going to do all by yourself? The outside world is dangerous.”
“I'll be fine. I feel like I can do anything now.”
“No! I refuse! I'm going with you! You're not going alone.”
Marsha thought it over one last time. But no matter how she looked at it, she couldn't take him with her.
Freeman had a family.
Though he was little different from her own adoptive father, he was still his real, blood-related father.
“Freeman, I don't love you.”
Freeman's face flushed at Marsha's blunt words.
“W-what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You're a really good friend. But I will never see you as more than that. Following me will only bring you misery. I might even marry another man.”
Freeman felt his heart tear apart. Cruel. So cruel, Marsha.
How could she say something like that in this situation? This could be their last moment together.
Freeman clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
If Marsha said so, then it was so. Lingering by her side would only lead to him getting hurt in the end.
“I don't care. I'm still going with you. I'm sick of living with my drunkard father calling me a cripple. This is my decision.”
Marsha grew angry. Freeman's stubbornness was driving her crazy.
“You idiot! Why can't you understand? I told you, I don't like you!”
“So what? If you don't want to like me, then don't! I'll like you anyway! I don't care if you marry another man or have his children! I just like you! You don't have the right to tell me not to!”
Marsha, pushed to her limit, shouted back.
“Oh, really? Fine. Go ahead and die an old bachelor, staring at me your whole life. You want the truth? You coming with me would just be a burden. How long am I supposed to look after a coward who can't even kill an ant? You'll only make things harder for me!”
“I'm not a coward! I'll protect you!”
“And how are you going to do that! What can you even do?”
“Aaaargh!”
Freeman screamed at the ground. Then, spotting a sharp stone, he picked it up and began to scrape off his eyebrows.
Marsha, startled, tried to stop him.
“What are you doing, you idiot!”
“Let go! Let me go!”
Freeman was relentless.
The sound of skin being scraped away sent a chill down her spine. Marsha could only watch, dumbfounded.
Freeman rubbed the stone until his eyebrows were completely gone, then threw it to the ground. When he stood up again, his face was a bloody mess, like a demon's.
“How about now? Do I look scary? It was my eyebrows that made me a coward. No one will mess with me now. I won't be a burden to you.”
“Are you... crazy?”
Marsha was too stunned to speak. But Freeman was serious.
His impression without eyebrows was certainly frightening, but in truth, he wore the saddest expression in the world.
“I'll get stronger. I'll do whatever it takes to get stronger. So please, can't you just let me stay by your side? I'll never ask you to like me, so can't you just let me come with you?”
“You... Ugh, you idiot.”
Marsha let out a deep sigh. She felt she shouldn't allow this, but even that thought seemed to escape with her breath.
“Marsha.”
Freeman's eyes snapped open. The face, once distorted by burns, had now completely regenerated.
How much time had passed? He might already be too late. But he had to go. He had promised. Until Marsha died, not even his own life was his to claim.
“I'm coming now. Wait for me.”
The energy he had expended to return from the brink of death was immense. His body was heavy, and his legs felt weak.
But Freeman walked without rest.
To where Marsha was.
Amy gritted her teeth and ran along the mountain path. Her mental energy had recovered enough for her to think clearly, but she still couldn't cast any spells.
But she couldn't afford to slow down. The battle wasn't over. She had dealt with Freeman, but another formidable enemy, Falcoa, still remained.
“Hah! Just a little more!”
As her destination came into view, Amy picked up her pace. But when she finally crested the hill, an unexpected sight made her eyes widen.
A battered Rian was holding Falcoa from behind.
But that wasn't what surprised Amy.
It was Tess, charging at full speed, thrusting her saber at Falcoa.
Tess's eyes were fiercer than ever before. At this rate, Rian would be pierced by the sword as well. But the two of them showed no hesitation, as if they had already reached a silent agreement.
Finally, Tess's saber ran Falcoa through. Rian's eyes widened, and his shoulders convulsed.
A moment later, blood burst from Rian's mouth.
***
Twenty minutes before Amy's arrival.
Falcoa's attacks were the epitome of dazzling. But it was not a dazzling of skill, but the beast-like violence of pure ferocity.
Rian couldn't think about technique. Just enduring the impacts had already pushed his stamina to its limit.
Falcoa found an opening and slashed Rian's thigh.
He heard Tess's voice cry out, 'Rian!' Rian had held on longer than expected, but with his leg injured, half his strength was gone.
Enraged by her friend's injury, Tess launched an attack. But Falcoa was truly worthy of the name "demon of the battlefield."
He focused most of his movements on offense, as if he didn't care where he was hit as long as it wasn't fatal.
Paradoxically, this caused the frequency of Tess's attacks to drop. It was a moment that proved the old saying: the best defense is a good offense.
As the battle wore on, more and more cuts appeared on Rian and Tess. They avoided fatal wounds, but like clothes getting soaked in a drizzle, after ten minutes, their bodies were little more than ragged messes.
“Khahaha! Is this the end? It's been fun, for a change.”
Ignoring Falcoa, Tess glanced back at Rian, who was breathing heavily.
“Rian, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I can manage. What about you?”
Tess couldn't speak, her eyes welling with tears. How could he say he could manage? The marks of Falcoa's sword were clearly etched all over his body.
She had never felt so upset in her life. Who was this piece of trash to dare injure Rian?
Tess gripped the hilt of her saber tightly. She would end Falcoa's life, even if it cost her own.
“Hyaaaaaaah!”
Tess charged, pulling her saber close to her body. It was the signature charging stance of the Eljain family.
But the gap in their power couldn't be closed even with a secret technique.
Tess's forward speed was incredible, but Falcoa retreated at a speed that surpassed it.
As he created distance, his intention became clear. A wicked grin spreading across his face, Falcoa suddenly kicked off the ground and surged forward. With a fluid motion, he deflected Tess's saber.
“Huk!”
Falcoa moved to Tess's side and slammed his knee into her ribs. The impact crushed her lungs, momentarily cutting off her breath.
“Keke, not bad. But you're still a novice.”
Falcoa's longsword descended on Tess.
Tess felt time slow down. She could clearly see the trajectory of the sword as it came for her neck.
But she couldn't move. Just as time had slowed, so had her body.
*'I'm sorry... Rian. I wanted to at least get one hit in for you.'*
In that moment, Rian charged like a bull and tackled Falcoa.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Falcoa's feet left the ground. But Rian's tackle had failed. With terrifying balance, Falcoa righted himself in mid-air, landed on his feet, and pulled Rian's head down, driving his knee up.
“Keok!”
The impact pierced his solar plexus, went through his stomach, and seemed to exit out his back.
Was this the combat prowess of the demon who lived for war? It seemed there was no way to faze Falcoa.
“How pathetic. Don't you worry. I'll take good care of your woman.”
Rian's fading consciousness snapped back. They usually bickered, but Tess was a good friend. She was someone he respected and acknowledged as a fellow swordsman.
“To a bastard like you...”
Gripping Falcoa's collar, Rian pulled with a strength that seemed to burn through his entire body.
“I won't hand my friend over, you bastard!”
“Kugh!”
Falcoa was bewildered as he was dragged toward Rian as if caught in a wave. He knew Rian was strong, but not strong enough to match his own Schema.
So where did this sudden strength come from?
Rian moved behind Falcoa and put him in a wrestling hold. With his arms pinned under Rian's armpits, Falcoa couldn't swing his sword.
“You bastard!”
Falcoa flexed his lats, forcing his arms downward. Rian's face contorted. His body screamed as if horses were pulling at his shoulders with ropes.
“Grrrrrrrgh!”
But Falcoa couldn't break free.
It was strange. The opponent he'd fought moments ago wasn't stronger than him. So how could he be producing this kind of power?
“Dammit! You son of a bitch! Let go!”
“Heh heh! Go on, try to escape. This is the Imagination Schema, you bastard.”
Mages train the mind, and swordsmen train the body. But even for swordsmen, whose primary goal is to strengthen their physical abilities, there was one organ closely related to the mind.
The brain.
Could it be that thoughts also affected the body?
Though they were very few, some Schema users dedicated their entire lives to restoring the brain's diagram.
Rian didn't know it, but the name "Imagination Schema" was coined by them.
Does the thought 'I will not let go of Falcoa' affect the body? If so, does the effect change depending on the intensity of the thought?
If all this were possible, and since thought itself has no limits, then how much could the effect be amplified if one were to strengthen a thought to its extreme?
Rian thought, *I must not move*. He had given his body a specific command and locked it into that state.
A kind of mental locking mechanism.
The prevailing theory was that the Imagination Schema wasn't a true Schema, but there was no other way to explain Rian's current monstrous strength.
“Aaaargh! Let go! Let go of me, you bastard!”
Falcoa thrashed about wildly. It didn't feel like he was being held by a living creature. Rian's body was as unmoving as if it had been turned to stone.
“Tess! Stab him!”
“B-but...”
Tess realized what Rian was telling her to do. It was a rational decision. If not now, they would never have another chance to defeat Falcoa.
But Tess couldn't bring herself to do it. To kill Rian. She would rather die with him than stab him with her own hands.
“Rian...”
“Aaaargh! Hurry! I can't hold on for long!”
Warning signals flared from all over Rian's body. His body was merely carrying out the mind's command to the letter, but its limits were clear. If Falcoa broke free, it would only be after Rian's body had been shattered to pieces.
“Tess! Do it now!”
“Hyaaaaaaah!”
Tears streaming down her face, Tess charged. Rian was putting his life on the line to fulfill his duty. If she missed this chance because of pointless sentimentality, she would be making a fool of him.
It was at that exact moment that Amy arrived.
“Tess! No!”