The Final Stand
Haa… Hoo…
Breathing was agony. I wanted to breathe, but my body refused to obey. Every time my lungs drew in air and pushed it back out, pain tore through me. Still, I had to endure. I steadied myself and drew another breath, forcing my breathing to calm.
In battle, strength alone wasn’t enough. Breath control, technique, and footwork—all of them mattered. But if I couldn’t even manage the basics of breathing, there was no fight to be had.
Blood poured endlessly from the wound in my side where the chimera had struck me. I’d tried to staunch it with torn strips of clothing, but the bleeding showed no sign of stopping. At first, things hadn’t seemed so bad. I’d slowly exploited the creature’s blind spots, chipping away at its stamina bit by bit. I even managed to sever the serpent’s tail that had sprouted from its body.
That had been my fatal mistake.
Cutting off the tail had gone well enough. But in its final desperate thrash, the serpent had wrapped around my leg, pinning me in place and leaving me wide open to the chimera’s attack. I’d barely managed to blind one of its eyes and escape, but I knew I wouldn’t last much longer.
If only I could use magic. I could have cauterized the wound with fire.
Should I use the skill that fully restores both stamina and mana?
But there was no guarantee it would heal my injuries as well. Thanks to the extra stats from the Grace of Nature, I was somehow still standing. Even so, the situation remained utterly hopeless.
The durability of the longsword I’d bought from the shop was nearly gone. Damn it. It was supposed to be a fairly sturdy blade, yet it was on the verge of shattering.
So even a half-baked chimera is still a chimera after all.
“This isn’t easy.”
The only viable strategy was to focus my attacks on its blinded right eye. But with my sword’s durability nearly spent, I would have to end it in a single decisive strike. The question was whether I had the strength left to do it. Could a blade that might snap at any moment even pierce that massive body? Even if I managed to tear through its hide, reaching its heart without the help of mana would be nearly impossible.
I was exhausted. I was badly wounded. Beyond the gash in my side, deep cuts crisscrossed my back and chest. My arms were shredded. My legs were covered in bruises and refused to move properly. And since we were in the middle of a mountain rather than flat ground, my movements were further restricted.
I was walking straight toward death.
But even if death was waiting for me, couldn’t I at least struggle until the end? I wanted to survive. I wanted to return home—to the family that was waiting for me.
Could I overcome this? No. It was impossible.
I had sworn I wouldn’t break. I had promised myself I would survive at all costs. But the situation refused to cooperate. Who in the world doesn’t want to live? We are always forced to make choices. And I had simply made mine.
Even if I could turn back time, I would make the same decision again.
Yes. I would simply keep moving forward. Even if nothing but despair awaited me at the end of this path, I would press on. I would claim that despair as my own and carve out a new road.
All so I could live.
“Hah… I really have gone soft.”
I had promised myself I wouldn’t give up. I had sworn that I wouldn’t let anyone die, that I wouldn’t die myself.
I reached down and picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground. Its blade was stained crimson with blood. I couldn’t tell whether it was my own or the chimera’s. But soon, this sword would be drenched in the chimera’s blood.
With my tattered arms, I gripped the hilt tightly. I planted my unsteady legs and took a stance.
“The real game starts now.”
├─ Hidden Active Skill
└─ Fully restores HP and MP once per day ★
As soon as I activated the skill, a red aura began swirling around my body. The fatigue that had weighed me down vanished. My body felt lighter.
But… something was wrong.
“Guh—!”
An excruciating pain exploded through me. It felt like my skin was on fire. It was as if hammers were smashing every inch of my body. My legs felt like they were about to snap. My arms hurt so badly I could barely move them. The sensation of steel claws ripping across my back struck me dozens, hundreds of times in the span of seconds.
The dizzying agony nearly made me collapse on the spot, but I endured. If I fell here, I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk the thorny path that lay ahead.
I clenched my teeth and bore the pain that assaulted my entire body. It only lasted ten to twenty seconds, yet it was suffering beyond imagination. They say anything in excess becomes poison. Even healing, when pushed too far, becomes toxic to the body.
My body couldn’t withstand the skill’s regenerative power. The healing energy that had nowhere left to go rampaged wildly inside me, placing an enormous burden on my system. But soon that same power began mending every wound across my body.
The side effects were truly excruciating. Terrible pain accompanied the process, but the results were undeniable. It had been a gamble relying on the concept of overflow, but it seemed to have succeeded.
The torn flesh, the slashes, the ugly bruises—they had all been healed. Still, it was a method I never wanted to use again.
This was exactly why the Saintess was such an incredible character once you got close to her. Recovery potions basically drew on the user’s own life force to heal, which created a clear limit. But the Saintess, who healed with divine power, had no side effects and could keep using it without burden. It was completely overpowered.
Now that my body was fully healed, it was time to finish this.
I stepped out from cover and stared at the massive monster approaching from a distance. Its red eyes had already returned to their original yellow hue, and it was breathing heavily. The Berserk status effect had never been meant to last very long in the first place.
It should be wearing off about now.
An incomplete chimera’s base stamina was already below sixty percent. After I severed the serpent’s tail, the bleeding from its wounds, and the loss of its right eye, its remaining stamina couldn’t be more than twenty percent.
Since my body was fully recovered, I just needed to stay alert and aim for its blind spots. But even though I was healed, I couldn’t let my guard down. Complacency always led to ruin. So I would remain vigilant until the very moment I killed it.
I gripped my sword tightly once more. In response, the creature let out a deafening roar as if making one final desperate stand.
—!!!
It stopped roaring and charged straight at me.
“You don’t want to die either, huh? Sorry, but you’ll have to understand.”
I couldn’t die here either. I had made a promise.
“Let’s go.”
Gripping my sword firmly, I stepped forward toward a new path.
“This is the final blow. Farewell.”
Shunk!
…
“I heard a huge noise coming from where Vern is! Hurry!”
“Elin, are you sure this is the right direction? I’m not doubting you, but it’s nighttime and we can’t see anything…”
“This is the right way! We have to hurry! Vern is in danger!”
Elisha was following the pink-haired student named Elin toward the place where Vern was. But it was night, visibility was poor, and the mountain path was treacherous. Descending in these conditions was no easy task.
It had already been more than twenty minutes since they started down from the summit. Twenty minutes. She didn’t want to believe it, but by now Vern was probably…
The image of the changed Vern in her mind was not a pleasant one. Even so, she had never wished for his death. Still, facing a chimera alone was practically suicide. Even if it was an incomplete one… The Vern she knew had never taken good care of himself and was terrible with a sword. For him to risk his life to protect others—she simply couldn’t believe it.
Once they arrived, she would know for sure, but she was convinced Vern must have run away. He was never the kind of person who would sacrifice himself for others. Even for someone like her, risking her life in a situation where she couldn’t use mana would be incredibly difficult.
Yet a part of her hoped he had fled. She disliked him, but they had grown up together like siblings before he changed. Even though they had grown distant, she didn’t want him to die. So deep in her heart, she prayed that he had run away.
But her expectations were completely wrong.
When they arrived, a black-haired man stood motionless, covered head to toe in blood. A broken sword was clutched in his hand as he stared blankly at the sky. Strangely, his eyes looked almost relieved.
“Vern! You’re covered in blood…! Are you okay?”
“……”
“…You’re here. I took care of the chimera.”
It was unbelievable. If he had run away, she would have understood. But not only had he not fled—he had actually defeated the chimera. She didn’t want to believe it, but when she saw the chimera’s corpse turning to ash beside him, she had no choice but to accept the truth.
Yet that only made it harder to believe. He couldn’t use mana because of the barrier, and his sword should have been useless. How? Why?
“…Why didn’t you run away?”
“…Elisha, is it? There’s no particular reason. It’s just… explaining would be a hassle. Judge for yourself.”
“……”
Was that really the reason? He had staked his life on it? Vern Flame had?
As she was thinking that, the black-haired man added one more thing.
“Also, there are some guys collapsed over there. Call for help or move them yourself, whatever you want. I’m tired, so I’ll rest for a bit.”
“Ve—Vern! Come with us!”
With those final words, he disappeared with the pink-haired girl named Elin, leaving Elisha behind.
“………”
Lost in thought, she continued staring at the spot where Vern had stood. The long day was finally drawing to a close.