65
My Villains Chapter 65
18. Erenar Radakalin (1)
"Lord of the Underground, a challenger has come!"
Rumble.
The stone chamber began to shake with a thunderous sound. No, not just the chamber, but the entire massive cavern of the underground lair started to vibrate as if an earthquake had struck.
"What is this-"
While Luke staggered to maintain balance, I quickly lunged towards Ellen.
"Ugh, damn it! Hurry and kill that bastard!"
Crack!
No sooner had his shout ended than a long fissure appeared on the ceiling of the stone chamber. The spiral staircase wobbled precariously, and the hill supporting the chamber began to tilt.
Boom, boom!
Huge chunks of stone torn from the ceiling crashed into the floor.
The Dulahan swiftly wrapped around Luke's body, while the remaining skeleton soldiers stumbled but still lunged at me.
Rumble.
The floor rippled like waves, but I maintained my balance with beast-like agility.
I was able to fend off most of the skeleton soldiers, but the one with the purple trident and the one with the bronze one-handed sword near Ellen continued to block my path.
"Grr,"
Trying to awkwardly dodge the trident aimed at my solar plexus, I ended up falling to the floor. As the blade rushed towards my neck in that opening, I instinctively stretched out my left hand.
Stab.
"Ugh!"
My already split hand was pierced again by the bronze blade, spurting blood.
Gulp.
At that moment, the bronze blade made a strange sound. Then - it started sucking up the blood like a sponge!
The appearance of the sword in his hand suddenly caught my attention. Although I was surely seeing it in person for the first time, its all-too-familiar form was-
"Hrunting?"
It's 'Hrunting', one of the unique weapons exclusive to Blood Knights!
Recalling Hrunting's fixed options, I tried to pull my hand back in shock, but this damned sword wouldn't let go as if it were glued on.
"Grr!"
As the skeleton soldier wielding Hrunting swung its shield repeatedly, I kicked the shield away and rolled to the side.
But Hrunting, which had pierced my hand, wouldn't detach as if it were stuck with superglue, and pain that felt like my hand was about to be torn apart shot through me. As I shook off my hand while swallowing a scream, crack!
Fortunately, the skeleton soldier's wrist detached first.
"Urgh,"
Gritting my teeth, I brushed off the hand bones clinging to the handle and grasped Hrunting.
Woong! A harsh sword cry.
A chilling sense of unity struck my brain, traveling up my spine.
Questions like 'Isn't it impossible to retrieve a skeleton soldier's equipment?' didn't even have a chance to arise. I merely felt the power surging through my entire body and let out a roar.
"Aaaaargh!"
Simultaneously, I swung Hrunting, and
Kangangang!
Like cutting a pipe with a high-speed cutter, sparks began to fly tremendously.
Along with it, Hrunting, emitting a brilliant red light, dug diagonally into the unique armor, 'Mirror'. My hand felt like it was about to tear apart, but I clenched my teeth and twisted my waist to finish the sword strike.
"Urgh!"
Swish!
Finally, Hrunting cleaved the skeleton soldier's upper body in two.
Despite its comrade being cut in half, the one wielding the unique trident 'Ecstatic Death' maintained its balance by planting the butt of the spear on the ground. Then, taking advantage of a moment when the vibrations weakened, it thrust its spear.
Clang.
But with the weapons now on equal footing, it was no match for me. I blocked the spear thrust with Hrunting while simultaneously entangling the blade between the spear's prongs and grabbing the shaft with my left hand.
Grrk, grab!
Then, pulling the shaft with my left hand while spinning my body, I quickly withdrew the blade entangled with the spear tip and struck the golden helmet with the forte (the part of the blade close to the guard).
Crack!
An incredible rebound - the 'Emperor's Gift' set boasted a hardness incomparable to the 'Mirror' I had just cut through. Despite my full-strength attack, there wasn't even a scratch on the helmet.
Thud.
Instead, the skeleton soldier wearing it couldn't withstand the impact, and its head with a broken neck bone rolled on the floor.
"Urgh, damn it! How dare you-"
Seeing this, Luke spat out bloody saliva and waved his staff. Simultaneously, a long green entity rushed forward at incredible speed. I instinctively raised Hrunting, but, hiss-
"Ugh!"
Damn, the attack was so sudden I couldn't block it.
The green entity clung to my right shoulder and began to melt the armor, spewing bubbles and smoke.
It's a similar phenomenon to when Grania was attacked by the black slime... It must be the 2nd rank skill in the Disintegration Magic series, 'Acid Arrow'.
What's this? I never allocated points to Acid Arrow for that character?
My doubts were short-lived as I quickly used Hrunting to cut through the fixing straps and hooks of the pauldron and vambrace. As the bubbling armor fell off, I dashed towards Ellen again.
"Ugh, hurry and catch him!"
Luke shouted, but the skeleton soldiers seemed to be struggling just to maintain their balance.
The skulls emitting blue light gnashed their teeth and lunged at me, but with almost no combat power of their own, they posed little threat.
Rumble!
I was worried about the Dulahan, but due to the tilting chamber and deepening cracks in the ceiling, it seemed to have no time to move as it was busy protecting Luke. Even with Hrunting, I wasn't confident in facing it, so this was a stroke of luck.
Finally, I was able to reach Ellen, who had collapsed by the window.
"Ellen!"
"Just hang on a little longer, just a little longer!" Ellen was already unconscious. As I quickly picked up her small body, Luke frantically shouted.
"Shoot arrows! Kill them both!"
At that command, skeleton soldiers wielding crossbows and longbows fired arrows. But attacks launched without even proper balance all missed pathetically.
Standing in front of the large arched window, I took a short, deep breath. Then, I leaped towards the pitch-black darkness.
"No-!"
Rumble.
Leaving behind a tearing scream and violent explosive sound, Ellen and I plummeted into the abyss.
The structure of the ‘Rotting Cave' is basically a cavern filled with underground water. Here and there, large and small mounds rise like islands, with a massive hill rising in the center.
No, the word 'hill' doesn't seem very accurate. Since the rock face and the stone chamber above it touch the ceiling, 'pillar' might be a more fitting expression.
Anyway, three sides of this pillar are made up of low sandy beaches, while the remaining side is a steep cliff.
Ellen and I were falling along that very cliff.
Whoosh.
The booming sound echoing all around and the fierce wind noise were almost deafening. I tightly hugged Ellen to my chest and curled my body into a ball. There was no time to look around.
There was no reason to anyway. There wasn't a speck of light anywhere, and even if I could see something, there was nothing I could do. I just gritted my teeth and prayed.
Splash!
"Urgh-"
Did my prayer work? What hit my back wasn't rocks or dirt, but cold underground water.
Of course, having fallen from what felt like the 10th floor of an apartment building, the back of my head was throbbing and nausea was rising.
But thinking 'At least I'm still conscious' wasn't appropriate yet, as the situation was still far from good.
Splash splash splash splash!
The underground water that had filled the cavern was swirling violently like rapids. As the cavern shook, cracks appeared everywhere, and the underground water began to rapidly decrease while whirling. It was due to the activation of the altar's event.
"Urgh-"
I couldn't think straight.
Caught in the vortex, I covered Ellen's mouth and nose, dodged stone fragments falling from the ceiling, and swatted away clinging insects and leeches with my sword....
I had no idea where we were drifting.
I couldn't tell if Ellen's heart had stopped or if it was still beating weakly.
Splash!
And finally, we were fortunately washed up on a small sandbar.
"Cough, hack!”
Spitting out water while coughing, I quickly pulled Ellen up.
Only after moving as far away as possible from the violently swirling vortex did I lay her down on flat ground. Then, after removing the cloth piece stuck in her mouth, I put my ear to her chest.
She's not breathing. But when I touched her chest, I could feel her heart still beating faintly.
What, what should I do? What am I supposed to do?
I racked my brain, trying to recall the first aid I learned in the military.
Chest compressions? No, her heart is still beating? She swallowed water, so should I do mouth-to-mouth?
Right, I'm not confident about chest compressions to begin with. I heard even skilled paramedics often break bones, and with my current body, I might end up shattering all her ribs.
-Secure the airway, remove foreign objects-
Somehow, Sergeant Moon's voice comes to mind. I lifted Ellen's chin and opened her mouth to check inside.
...Ugh, I can't see anything without light. No torch, not even my backpack....
I check around with my finger, and for a moment I got goosebumps when I felt her cut tongue.
I think I heard that if the tongue is cut, it rolls inward and blocks the throat, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Ellen.
Next, I pinched her nose and blew air into her mouth. I blew as hard as I could, until my head felt dizzy, but there was no response.
"What, what should I do."
Muttering like an idiot, I reached into my pocket.
Thanks to the Blood Vanguard's attack, the breastplate was torn and dented, but luckily, the glass bottle with the metal rim was intact.
Rip.
After untying Ellen's robe and spreading it out, I tore her blood-soaked shirt. Then, feeling my way through the darkness, I undid her belt and lifted her chemise.
As I felt around the wound, I held my breath. Something hot was protruding slightly. It was undoubtedly a severe, fatal wound.
With trembling hands, I pushed something back in. Words like hygiene or bacterial infection didn't even cross my mind.
Then I immediately opened the glass bottle and poured about half of it over the wound. I took great care to spread it evenly over the entire affected area.
Hiss.
The potion's unique fishy yet sweet smell spread, and bubbles fizzed up. The wound seemed to be healing.
I don't know who invented the healing potion, but I feel like I could kiss their feet right now. This is truly a miracle in itself.
This isn't the time. I should probably make her drink the rest of the potion....
I too am wounded in various parts of my body, including my left hand. I felt like collapsing at any moment, but I gathered my will and organized my thoughts.
Breathing, I need to make her breathe first.
I blew air into her mouth again, and mustered the courage to do chest compressions as well.
"Center of the chest, press vertically...."
Struggling to save a life in the darkness was not an easy task. But as if possessed by something, I repeated CPR relentlessly.
"Cough, urgh!"
Finally!
While giving mouth-to-mouth, Ellen coughed up something. Judging by the taste and smell of the liquid that touched my lips, it didn't seem to be blood.
"Huu, hu-"
"Ellen, breathe deeply. Deeply."
"Uhu-"
She still seemed to be unconscious.
Ellen coughed roughly a few times and then breathed shallowly. I poured the remaining half of the potion little by little into her mouth.
"Drink, please. You have to drink."
But the sticky potion didn't go down Ellen's throat, instead sticking to the wound on her tongue first. The tongue, which had been docile, regenerated and grew uncontrollably, actually hindering the healing process.
Still, I patiently poured the remaining potion into Ellen's mouth. She swallowed the potion with difficulty, her throat moving slightly.
The potions I had casually tossed to Grania and Arnal flashed before my eyes.
I really need a healing potion, or even an infrared vision potion right now....
All I could do was resent my past self while massaging Ellen's limbs. But Ellen's body only grew colder.
"Why, why is this happening?"
She regained her breathing and the wound has almost healed, so why?
"Ellen, wake up. Ellen!"
"Uu-"
"Ellen!"
She rarely groaned and continued to breathe shallowly. Cold sweat ran down her wet hair. If only I had a dry towel-
My brief thought was interrupted by Ellen's voice.
"Ah, uu- Phoenix?"
"E, Ellen? Are you conscious?"
"Why, can't see anyping-"
"It's because there's no light. We fled in such a hurry that we couldn't grab torches or flint or anything."
As I fumbled for words like an excuse, tears inexplicably streamed down my face.
"I treated your wounds, but- your body won't warm up."
"Co, cold-"
"The wound, I think it's because you lost a lot of blood. What, what should I..."
My voice keeps choking up, making it hard to finish my sentences.
The anxiety crushing my chest makes it feel like my heart might jump out of my mouth. Swallowing back nausea, I continuously massaged Ellen's limbs. But Ellen's body just kept getting colder.
"I, I-"
"Yes, speak. I'm listening."
"Cold. Dy, ing-"
"No, you're not dying. Why would you,"
I breathed heavily. Ellen spoke so quietly it was barely audible.
"Hug, me."
"Huh?"
"So cold, hug me."
Wordlessly, I pulled Ellen close. I embraced her small body completely, as if hiding her from the world.
Amidst the strong scent of blood, the pungent smell of potion, and the odor of mud and water, there was a faint lime scent. It was the fragrance coming from Ellen's hair. I was going to ask what the secret was....
"Ellen, Ellen."
Ellen didn't say anything.
Unlike my heart, which was beating faster and more violently, her heartbeat was growing fainter.
"Ellen. Answer me, please."
Again, Ellen said nothing.
And finally, her heart stopped.