Chapter 284: Lainella's Fate is Decided by Lainella (77)
Chapter 284: Lainella's Fate is Decided by Lainella (77)
The aftershocks hit the moment the adrenaline of battle faded.
My knees buckled, and I slumped into the dirt. Cold sweat poured down my face along with my ragged breaths.
Even the sensation of pain was faint.
I couldn't tell if it was because the analgesics were still working or if my brain had simply grown numb to the excessive agony.
Every muscle in my body was screaming.
I couldn't even lift a finger anymore.
For a moment, my vision blurred, and before I knew it, I was face-down on the ground.
My body began to go limp, as if it had finally found peace.
It was then that I felt several presences approaching me.
"Senior Ian!"
"Ian!"
It was Celine and Seria.
They were the two who had been sent flying by the Corpse Giant’s ground slam earlier.
Fortunately, their injuries seemed minor; there was no hint of pain in their voices. They were just a bit out of breath from rushing over.
That was a relief.
It was enough for me to be the one on the brink of death.
There was no need for my companions to suffer such terrible pain as well.
I was doing everything in my power to hold onto my fading consciousness.
If I let go of the thread of awareness now, I couldn't guarantee I'd stay alive.
Wheezing, I asked Celine and Seria.
"…Where is… the Saintess?"
"She—she’s coming! She’ll be here any second! Oh, what do we do…?"
Seria was fidgeting restlessly, and Celine’s face had turned deathly pale as she realized my condition was far worse than she had imagined.
Anyone would react that way seeing their childhood friend coughing up mouthfuls of blood.
Moreover, my eyes had lost their focus long ago.
One look at my dull, glazed-over pupils was enough for anyone to see.
My mind and body had already reached their absolute limit.
Celine fumbled at my torn arms before eventually bursting into tears.
"I-Ian… you’re not going to die, right? You have to stay awake… Just a little longer…."
"Don’t… cough! Don’t worry."
I tried to feign composure to reassure her.
The only flaw was the blood I spat out mid-sentence.
Seeing the crimson spray, Celine’s face turned even whiter.
She didn't seem to believe a word I said.
"S-Should I carry him and run? We might meet the Saintess sooner that way!"
"Don't you dare. If I take even one more shock… cough! I’ll actually die."
I was serious.
In my current state, I was confident that even a minor impact could kill me.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say I was one of the most fragile living things on the planet right now.
In the end, Celine and Seria could do nothing but stomp their feet in frustration.
The only saving grace was that the Saintess arrived shortly after.
Her breathing was heavy, as if she had run the entire way without stopping.
Her pink eyes widened in shock when she saw me.
With trembling hands, she began to frantically examine my wounds.
"Oh, Lord…."
A lament escaped her lips.
At that moment, the woman’s hands were bathed in a pure white radiance.
Soon, high-purity divine power flooded into my body like a tide.
Only then did my ragged breathing begin to steady. Feeling that warm heat, I let my head hang low, my face etched with exhaustion.
To be honest, I didn't know if I would fully recover.
But now that the Saintess was here, I would at least escape death.
Was she not the one who claimed she could save anyone as long as they weren't already dead?
Though I worried about side effects or permanent disabilities, for now, I had no choice but to trust her.
With that, I was finally about to close my eyes and let go.
That is, until someone’s anxious voice spurred me back.
"…If the emergency treatment is done, we have to leave this place immediately."
It seemed my long day wasn't over yet.
My eyelids, which had been sliding shut, slowly peeled open.
I glared toward the source of the voice with a look that said I was ready to die.
Standing there was Yuren, the androgynous beauty with jade-colored hair.
He looked incredibly anxious.
"Sister, are you still not done? We have to hurry…."
"Senior Ian defeated the Corpse Giant."
Yuren’s eyes shifted slightly to the side.
Seria was speaking up, her tone somewhat cold.
"Is there really a need to rush? As you can see, Senior Ian is in critical condition. If we push him because we're pressed for time…."
"…Defeated? Defeated what?"
Seria’s brow furrowed slightly.
She looked as if Yuren had just cracked an ill-timed joke.
"The Corpse Giant…."
"No."
But Seria’s repetition didn't move Yuren.
Instead, Yuren wiped his face with his hand, looking frustrated.
"No, you can't defeat it… It’s not that kind of monster."
I couldn't help but go blank at those words.
I didn't defeat it?
The question that instinctively rose in my mind leaked out of my throat.
"…But I destroyed the core?"
Yuren let out a sigh.
He crossed his arms and pursed his lips as if trying to figure out how to explain.
"Well, you see…."
Yuren’s kind explanation was cut short immediately.
Mist began to settle over the battlefield.
It happened in an instant.
Thick smoke billowed up, turning our vision white. Seria and Celine were visibly flustered by the ominous sign.
I immediately turned to Seria.
"…Take Sir Irene and run. Now! Go!"
Sir Irene had taken a direct hit from that Corpse Giant.
She wouldn't be able to move for a while.
Seria looked dazed for a moment, but she quickly nodded and rushed off somewhere.
The Saintess bit her lip.
"Just a little, just a little more…."
"Sister, you have to hurry… It’s about to wake up!"
Celine was also stiff with tension at the unsettling atmosphere.
Swallowing hard, she asked.
"W-Wake up…?"
"If it lost its core, it has to find a new one."
I let out a hollow laugh.
That crazy bastard.
For a brief moment, I could understand my 'future self.'
Why it couldn't be defeated.
Why we had to run.
The answer was finally revealing itself.
Uuuuuuuu—!
The corpses began to stagger to their feet.
They were the very corpses that had made up the body of the Corpse Giant.
The giant's infinitely regenerating flesh was composed of hundreds, if not thousands, of bodies.
While some had melted away the moment they fell off the giant, there were still corpses that maintained their form.
And those things were now standing on the ground with bloodless legs.
A low curse escaped Yuren’s lips.
"…God damn it."
Even at a glance, there were far too many for us to handle alone.
The Yurdina private soldiers and the Lainella Magic Corps were present, but there had to be a reason why Yuren was so insistent on fleeing.
The Saintess finally seemed to finish the emergency treatment.
"…Done! Yuren, can you carry Ian?"
"Let’s move, now."
Without a word of complaint, Yuren hoisted me onto his back and began to sprint. Naturally, Celine ended up carrying the Saintess as they ran.
It was then that my dazed mouth opened.
"We have to stop them. There are still residents who haven't evacuated…!"
"You bought us time by smashing that thing. At least for a while, the corpses will only wander around this area… You did a great job."
Yuren spoke soothingly as he continued his sprint.
Space seemed to compress as the scenery blurred past. Every time it did, I felt a surge of thirst.
"If we add the Yurdina soldiers…!"
"It’s no use. Those things regenerate too."
It meant they were an opponent for which there was simply no answer.
Even so, I couldn't give up and kept scanning our surroundings.
Was there really no way?
The Corpse Giant would rarely be this weakened. If the Agent of the Evil God was resurrected, there was no telling what else they might do.
At the very least, we needed more power than we had today.
Just then, a hideous shriek pierced my ears.
Kieeeeeeeek!
"Get lost!"
A corpse lunged at us with terrifying speed.
The way it moved on all fours was incredibly fast. It was qualitatively different from the slow-moving corpses.
But Yuren simply kicked the corpse away as if he were used to it.
The corpse rolled across the ground with another shriek, and Yuren kicked off the earth once more.
But that only worked once or twice.
The corpses were targeting Yuren and me with bizarre persistence.
It looked as if at least seventy percent of them were chasing us.
Startled, I asked.
"What’s wrong with them?!"
"You’re the one who took down the Corpse Giant! The memory of that is still in them!"
In other words, they wanted revenge.
It was an absurd situation for things that were already dead.
Yet, I couldn't bring myself to mock them.
The momentum of the lunging corpses was far too savage.
Yuren, who was carrying me, couldn't even use his hands. Naturally, there was a limit to how many he could deal with.
As a result, Yuren’s ankle was eventually caught by a corpse that had been flattened on the ground.
Yuren grit his teeth and tried to push through, but in that brief opening, the corpse’s arms wrapped around his leg.
Yuren tripped, and I went rolling across the ground once again.
We were in the middle of a desperate escape.
Even after defeating the enemy.
I had to let out a hollow laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all.