Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: City of the Sun, Solaria
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“Kiririri!”
“Goruk!”
-Slash. Stab.
In pitch-black darkness where nothing was visible, I swung my shotel relying solely on sound.
And as expected, the result was...
-Thud.
“Huff... huff...”
My utter defeat.
“Guroro! Guro!”
“Garirik! Garik!”
“Kirriru kirir!”
The Mukkis' mocking laughter echoed from every direction in the impenetrable darkness.
'Goblin bastards.'
Back when goblins killed our cathedral's useless fat holy knight, they laughed just as disgustingly.
“Hah, you idiots.”
But their antics looked utterly pathetic to me.
I pulled a faintly red stone from my pocket.
The heat-emitting gem I'd used up north.
Knowing the Mukkis would overrun the city, I'd kept it just in case.
Of course, deprived of magic power inside here, it gave off no heat and was just an ordinary rock now...
'But not to her.'
-Crack!
The gem, now no different from any stone, split in two against my shotel.
In that instant, a faint warmth brushed my hand.
Sensing my plan had worked, I smiled.
“I can't sense spirit energy or anything...”
But I trusted it'd be enough to call her.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Somewhere inside the black tower.
“Karara...!”
“Gorong! Gong!”
“Kyaaak! Gyudok, what do I do?!”
The mage heroine, Prelia Forestian, fled at full speed from the mysterious black monsters.
Thanks to her dark elf grandmother, she could see clearly even in darkness—but the tower's interior was nothing but black to her eyes.
To make matters worse, not a trace of magic power could be felt inside.
“Koro!”
“Hiyak!”
Utterly powerless, she ran from the Mukkis on foot.
“Someone, please save me!”
As tears streamed down her face, a golden something swirled around her.
[Gyuruk.]
A golden body that glowed, shaped like the cutest possible centipede.
Gyudok, the spirit contracted to Prelia.
“Gyudok! Do something!”
[Gyuruk?]
“Do what?! Just save—!”
“Kararara!”
“Kyaaak!”
-Swoosh!
With elven grace, she bent at the waist and dodged the attack.
[Gyuru.]
“10 out of 10?! I said help meee!”
She kept pleading with her useless spirit as she pushed forward.
She had no idea where to go.
“How do I even get out of here?!”
Everything black—no way to tell walls from floor, or paths from dead ends.
Her spirit Gyudok seemed brainless, but the situation was dire.
[Gyuruk! Gyururu!]
“Yeah, I said don't come in—did I expect this?!”
Just as she was about to snap at Gyudok...
-Afujana!
“Huh? A fire spirit?”
A faint child's voice, too soft to make out fully.
As a spirit handler, she instinctively knew it was a fire spirit—and traced its location.
[Gyuruk?]
“A newborn fire spirit's in here! We have to save it!”
[Gyururuk!]
At those simple words, Gyudok nodded eagerly. They veered off, chasing the fire spirit's energy.
Prelia could sense spirits and commune with them.
She tracked the faint warmth leaking from the fire spirit.
Newly born, its energy flowed wildly and strong—easy to follow.
She found it quickly.
“That person?”
A holy knight locked in a desperate fight with the Mukkis.
[Gyuruk?!]
“Gyudok?!”
[Gyurukgyuruk! Gyururuk!]
“Wha—? O-okay, fine!”
Ignoring Gyudok's fuss over the holy knight, just as Prelia opened her mouth to shout...
“Ah! You made it!”
His armor shattered, body scratched and bleeding profusely—yet he beamed at the sight of her.
Like a puppy greeting its owner. Prelia...
“Eh? He's cute...”
She murmured something wildly out of place.
Luckily, he didn't catch it. He yelled to her instead.
“Follow the fire spirit's energy—it'll lead you out! Connected beings like them are linked!”
He looked half-dead, yet poured everything into saving her.
Strangers or not, he seemed ready to sacrifice himself. Prelia called out.
“What about you?!”
“I'll hold the Mukkis' attention! Don't worry—just escape!”
“Got it! Thank you!”
Right then, her detected fire spirit zipped off somewhere. Prelia chased after it.
'The imperial heat stone?'
He seemed imperial—the spirit ahead was freshly hatched from their supply heat stone.
Heat stone spirits were interconnected by nature.
“Just follow it and I'm out!”
Hope lit her face as she pursued the fire spirit.
Of course, Mukkis chased her too.
“Not... passing!”
“Keurk?”
But the tenacious holy knight snagged their heels.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ “Huff...! Not... passing...!”
Thankfully, Prelia sensed the newborn spirit from the gem and came right to me. (Couldn't see in the dark, but knew by voice and that natural scent.)
I can't sense spirit energy, but trusted she'd pick it up.
The moment we met, I yelled for her to escape. Worried for me at first, she relaxed at my assurance and bolted for the exit.
Well, of course...
'No way for me to follow.'
While she sprinted for escape, someone had to block the Mukkis.
And holding them back? I was the best man for it.
Prelia survived. The Mukkis, ignoring her, toyed with me instead.
A Mukki hand touched me, glowing faintly. It gave me some vision... and I watched them evolve, shifting toward female forms.
They even started speaking—evolving further.
“Kere, master... pleasure? Eat? Eat master...”
“Master's so soft...”
“Me, fuck master...”
'Did the sacrifice ritual seep into them?'
Like bent on revenge—as if they could've grabbed Prelia easily, but one swing from me and they fixated on me.
Good for her escape, but here I was, stuck.
“Give, chase...!”
“Will have you...”
“Me master!”
“Bury... you...”
“Do... it...”
As if infused with the sacrifice's ritual, they closed in—possessive, murderous, enraged, lustful.
“...Won't go down easy.”
The sacrifice died, but its will lingered in them.
'Every torture imaginable. Might lose my purity too.'
That holy light glow? Probably to let you witness your fate.
No regrets. Without Prelia, our slim happy ending odds—already tanked by Ruin—would plummet further.
Still, I'd fight to the bitter end. Gripped my shotel.
“...Defeated, but unbroken.”
“Dog... dick...”
“Give...?”
“Me want...”
“Keurk.”
Their weird reactions aside, I thrust my shotel—
-Boom!
—when the whole tower quaked violently.
“Kerek?!”
“Kuluk!”
“Keurk?”
“Ugh?!”
Like it might collapse—we all hit the deck, Mukkis and me alike.
“Ugh, my eyes...”
The tower's top crumbled away. Sunlight flooded in, bright as day.
“...Ruin!”
'Ruin, you pulled it off!'
Only the hero Ruin could manage that.
At our darkest hour, protagonist's a protagonist, hero's a hero. Hope reborn thanks to him.
“...Ha, hahaha!”
Holy power surged back.
Losing it, then bam—euphoria hit.
Dopamine overload? Sure, but who wouldn't laugh here?
“Goddess forever! Hero forever!”
I channeled holy power into my shotel and swung at the Mukkis.