Chapter 758: A Dose of Strong Medicine
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 758: A Dose of Strong Medicine
“Ariel…”
“Ariel.”
“Ariel!”
Ariel opened her eyes once more.
There was no sunlight, and no small courtyard.
There was only a familiar, breathtakingly beautiful face, currently twisted with anxiety.
“Miss Muse…”
“Don’t sleep, don’t sleep! I’m stopping the bleeding!”
Muen’s hands were a blur of frantic motion. Lacking any medical experience and stripped of the aid of healing scrolls or magic devices, he was utterly out of his depth in a situation like this.
Fortunately, his ironclad mental fortitude remained. Forcing himself to calm down, he peeled back the fabric over Ariel’s abdomen, revealing a gruesome wound. He didn't have a second to spare to admire her slender waist; instead, he rapidly applied pressure and wound layers of bandages around her to stem the flow.
But it did little good.
A wound caused by a cylindrical object was notoriously difficult to treat. Unlike a simple slash that could be closed by pressing the edges together, this hole was too large. No matter how many bandages Muen used or how hard he pressed, he could only temporarily slow the hemorrhaging.
Ariel had bled out and pushed her body past its limits countless times during the preceding battle.
Even with her superhuman constitution, who could say how much blood was actually left in her veins?
The blood loss alone was lethal.
The root of the problem… was that Ariel herself was too weak.
She had no Fighting Spirit.
No Mana.
No physical stamina.
Every drop of potential in her body had been squeezed dry. Combined with that final, desperate trump card she had forced herself to use, she simply had no strength left to trigger her own recovery.
“No… I can’t let this happen. There has to be another way, there has to be!”
Muen scanned their surroundings.
The metallic walls emitted a cold, eerie glint. Bundles of wires and conduits were piled in the corners of the narrow corridor, faint pulses of magical radiance still flowing through them.
After being teleported into the High Tower by a branch of the Eternal Cycle, they seemed to have landed in some sort of laboratory area. The space was filled with instruments forged from priceless magic materials.
“This is good!”
Muen’s eyes snapped wide.
If this was a lab, there was a high probability of finding healing equipment, magic devices, or medicine!
Though this place was likely a ruin from a thousand years ago, the faint magical fluctuations in the wiring suggested that time hadn't taken much of a toll here.
“Hang on, Ariel. I’ll find a way to save you!”
Muen hoisted Ariel onto his back. He no longer had the luxury of appreciating her "delicate beauty"; he simply carried her and sprinted through the cramped corridor.
“Miss Muse… where are we…”
“The Tower. We’re inside the High Tower!”
“Did we… make it in?”
“Yes, we’re in. Thanks to your bravery, we made it. We’re safe now!”
“Is that so… then did I, as a knight… help the beautiful princess?”
“…”
Muen paused for a heartbeat, then said seriously:
“You really, truly helped the beautiful princess… It was a massive help. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say you saved her.”
“I see… that’s… wonderful…” Ariel managed a soft smile. It was a gentle expression, one that hardly seemed like her usual self.
“It is wonderful. It’s perfect. So, don’t sleep! Stay awake! The beautiful princess hasn't even had the chance to thank you yet!”
Sensing Ariel’s presence growing even fainter, Muen gritted his teeth and pushed his speed to the limit.
As he cleared the long corridor, a thick, putrid stench filled the air. Muen turned his head and saw rows of cultivation vats filled with green fluid on either side. Bizarre creatures floated within them.
“What are these? Magic beasts? I wonder if they have any restorative properties.”
Muen shattered one of the vats, but as the stench intensified tenfold, his hope vanished.
It was no use.
The things in these vats had been dead for who knows how long. They were nothing but rotting corpses that only looked "normal" because they were preserved in the fluid.
“Dammit.”
With his hopes dashed, Muen pressed on. He encountered several locked doors along the way, but he didn't have the time or patience to look for keys. He drew Elizabeth and hacked through them.
The "Sharpness" enchantment specifically placed on the blade by the Old Loli allowed Muen to carve a path through every obstacle.
Finally, after several more disappointments, the environment ahead suddenly brightened.
“This is…”
Under the glow of luminous magic stones, lush vegetation remained vibrant despite a thousand years of isolation. Because no one had tended to them for so long, the courtyard—enclosed in a massive crystal vessel—was overrun with a chaotic tangle of dense plants and thick vines.
“A garden… no, it’s a botanical garden!” Muen realized instantly.
A dedicated area for plants within a laboratory was never meant for aesthetics.
It was almost certainly a research garden.
There had to be medicinal herbs here!
Muen carried Ariel into the garden, laid her down gently, and quickly gathered a handful of different plants from the vicinity.
He didn't recognize any of them; he had never even seen their like before.
Since they were carefully cultivated here, these plants must have been extremely rare even a millennium ago.
But…
“Ariel, you should recognize these. Quick, look and see if any of these can help you!”
Muen thrust the plants before Ariel’s eyes.
He was clueless, but Ariel, who carried a "cheat mentor" and had been taught knowledge far beyond this era since childhood, would definitely be able to tell them apart!
He didn't know why that "Old Grandpa" hadn't appeared even though Ariel was this close to death, but now wasn't the time to dwell on that.
Time was running out, especially for Ariel.
“Ariel, hurry!”
Ariel’s eyes were dull and glazed, as if she could no longer see anything at a distance. Muen had to bring the plants right to her face.
After seeing what Muen held, Ariel weakly shook her head.
“What about this one?”
Another shake.
“This?”
Shake.
“This!”
Shake.
“And this!”
After a dozen different plants, just as Muen’s frustration was becoming unbearable, Ariel finally gave a slight nod.
“This one… can heal wounds… and… help recover Fighting Spirit…”
“It can recover Fighting Spirit?”
Muen was ecstatic.
Ariel’s biggest issues were her total exhaustion and extreme weakness. If she could recover her Fighting Spirit, even without healing properties, her own natural recovery rate would be enough to…
“But…”
Ariel suddenly managed a weak smile.
“It’s poisonous.”
“…What did you… say?”
Muen’s hand trembled, and his joy was instantly doused like a fire under a bucket of ice water.
“It’s toxic… My teacher used to use it to help me temper my body… precisely because… while it rapidly restores Fighting Spirit… it is also a deadly poison.”
“…”
Muen’s mouth hung open, his throat dry. He didn't know what to say.
The hope that had just flared up died out again.
Deadly poison.
To Ariel in her normal state, it might be nothing—she could even use it for training. But to her current self, this poison would be a literal death sentence.
Furthermore…
“Right. How could I forget?”
Muen murmured, his spirit crushed.
In his desperation, he had overlooked a crucial fact.
Even if he found the perfect herb to heal her, how was she supposed to digest it?
She was so weak that Muen doubted she had the strength to process the medicinal properties directly from the raw plant. And Muen himself…
He had no idea how to brew a potion.
So, while this place was filled with rare plants and herbs, they were effectively useless to Ariel.
“What do I do? What do I do…?”
Muen’s mind raced.
Searching for another method of treatment would take too long. He had to find a solution using only what was currently available.
Think, think! Muen Campbell, the person in front of you is the Child of Destiny who is supposed to save the world. You can’t let her die here! What happens to the world if she dies? You’d basically be the villain who destroyed the world!
“Wait!”
Muen’s eyes lit up. The tangled mess of thoughts in his head finally yielded a single thread.
It was simple. If Ariel couldn't digest the medicine…
“Then I’ll digest it for her.”
Without hesitation, Muen grabbed the medicinal herb and shoved it into his mouth, swallowing it whole.
It was bitter and tough. Most of the herbs were roots still caked with soil, making them difficult to chew.
But Muen didn't bother chewing much. He forced them down his throat, then, like a man possessed, he grabbed more and more, stuffing them into his mouth!
Then, his azure eyes were once again consumed by a deep, abyssal darkness.
His spiritual power was nowhere near recovered, and he shouldn't have been using the Black Flame yet.
But he used it anyway.
The darkness surged within him, but it didn't consume everything.
Under Muen’s precise control—despite the agonizing mental stabs of pain—the flames only devoured the toxins and impurities within the herbs. He left only the life force and medicinal essence behind, which he then rapidly digested, allowing it to flow through his limbs and vessels.
This was why he had chosen to ingest the herbs. Anything incinerated by the Black Flame would normally turn into his own Fighting Spirit and Mana.
But his Fighting Spirit and Mana couldn't save Ariel.
His life force, however, could.
In short, he was using his own body as a cauldron to refine the medicine!
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!”
Neither the tearing sensation in his mind nor the searing heat in his gut could make him waver. The only thing that mattered was time.
No matter how fast he was, converting the herbs into life force took time.
And time was the one thing Ariel didn't have.
He didn't know if she could hold on until the moment he was ready.
“Ariel, listen to me. Don’t sleep, okay?”
Sensing that he had processed enough of the medicinal essence, Muen endured the pain and returned to Ariel’s side. He gently shook her shoulder to keep her conscious.
It wasn't just because people with severe blood loss often never woke up once they drifted off; it was also because no matter how "easy to swallow" he made this medicine, Ariel had to be active to absorb it.
The life force in her flesh was nearly spent, and the skill that could trigger her rapid recovery was an active one that required her to be awake.
“Miss Muse… are you still there?”
Ariel’s voice was a mere wisp. Her pupils were becoming increasingly dilated; she no longer seemed to know where she was looking.
“I’m here. I’m right here.”
Muen took her hand. “Just hold on a little longer, okay?”
“Miss Muse, actually, I…”
Ariel spoke as if she couldn't even hear Muen, lost in her own thoughts.
“I just… I dreamed of my mother again.”
“Your mother? Is she… is she doing well?”
“It’s so strange… she’s been dead for ten years… yet I still dream of her…”
“…” Muen wanted to slap himself. The situation was critical, but he couldn't let his panic make him say something that would further distress her.
“Is that so? What did you dream about her?”
“Mother… she asked me that question again.”
“A question? What question? Can you tell me?” Muen began to carefully follow Ariel’s lead.
“Before… when she asked… I didn't even know how to answer… but this time… I think I can answer at least a little bit.”
“A little bit?”
Muen was stunned. What kind of answer was "a little bit"?
No, no, now wasn't the time to get hung up on that.
“Miss Muse… I’m sorry…”
“Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for.”
If anything, he was the one who owed her a mountain of apologies.
“Before… I said those nonsensical things… about talking things out… about opening our hearts… It was weird, wasn't it? Even though… I don't actually have any romantic experience at all… I was acting like some emotional expert to deceive myself…”
“…”
How… how am I supposed to respond to that?
Was it really okay for him to know this? Even if Ariel was saved, wouldn't she die of embarrassment once she found out the truth?
Muen decided to play along.
“I-I see. It’s fine, really. That kind of thing is… it’s normal. Totally normal…”
“Actually.”
Ariel suddenly interrupted him.
“I was just… afraid.”
“Huh?”
Afraid?
“That’s right… afraid… afraid that Miss Muse… would suddenly disappear again, just like the last few times… That’s why… I said those things.”
Ariel’s lips moved slightly, her voice tiny, but it rang with absolute clarity in Muen’s ears.
“I’m sorry… Miss Muse… please don’t be angry with me… okay?”
“…”
Muen’s neck felt stiff as he slowly lowered his head.
He could no longer ignore Ariel’s eyes or her expression.
At this moment, the girl who inherited the Mandate of Heaven—the "Soaring Phoenix" protagonist who, in the original book, crushed all who stood in her way—was as fragile as any ordinary girl.
She seemed to realize her life was fading, which was why she was saying these things now.
Things that were completely unlike her.
But…
“She can’t be serious, can she?”
This girl… she isn't actually serious about 'Miss Muse,' is she?
Otherwise…
Slap.
Muen gave himself a hard smack across the face.
Bastard.
What am I doing playing dumb?
If Ariel wasn't serious, would she have risked her life for him multiple times? Would she have plunged into danger without a second thought?
Did he really think she was just playing a game of "knight saves the princess"?
From the very beginning, she had never backed down. On the contrary…
“Damn it. You’re acting so cool… if I were actually a beautiful girl, I might really fall for you.”
Muen gave a bitter laugh and leaned over Ariel.
After saying her piece, Ariel seemed to lose the last of her strength. Her eyelids began to flutter shut.
“Don’t sleep, Ariel.”
“…”
Ariel seemed completely unable to hear him now. She gave no reaction, lying as still as a Sleeping Beauty from a fairy tale.
“I see…”
Muen let out a long sigh. He gently brushed his palm against Ariel’s cheek, tucking away the strands of hair that had stuck to her face from the cold sweat.
“Since you told me your secret, Ariel, I’ll tell you mine.”
“…”
“Actually…”
Muen leaned close to Ariel’s ear and whispered:
“In this world, there is no such person as Miss Muse.”
“…”
Ariel’s fingers twitched violently.
It’s working. Good. Keep going.
“And not only is Miss Muse a fake…”
Muen leaned even closer, his voice dropping to a low, demonic murmur:
“I’m also a man. That’s right—the very thing you hate most.”
“…” Ariel’s brow furrowed deeply, as if she were trapped in a horrific nightmare.
“And more importantly… my true identity is actually the person you hate most of all. I am Mu—”
“!!!”
Suddenly.
Ariel’s eyes snapped open, her expression a mix of grief and absolute fury.
“You… shut your mouth!”