Cassian staggered backward, her legs trembling.
Is this really happening?
Her hand instinctively slid toward her stomach. Her fingers met a warm, sticky heat.
Blood. Far too much blood. It flowed, hot, almost burning against her skin.
She was surprised it was so warm.
Her knees gave way. The world tilted. She collapsed heavily.
"CASSIAN!"
At the same instant, Lena and Hiro lunged at Haloy from two opposite angles.
Haloy immediately turned toward Lena and threw a punch.
She raised her sword just in time to deflect the trajectory, but the impact was so violent that the blade vibrated in her hands and her entire body was flung backward like a ragdoll.
She tumbled several meters before stopping.
Haloy followed through without even looking: he dodged Hiro's wide axe swing with a simple shift of his torso, then struck with an ascending knee. Hiro twisted his torso at the last second; the knee only grazed his ribs.
Hiro immediately retaliated with a roundhouse kick aimed at Haloy's temple.
Haloy absorbed the shock without flinching, seized Hiro's outstretched arm, and yanked him brutally forward.
A punch sank into Hiro's stomach.
Hiro felt it in 4K Ultra HD.
Every fiber of his being screamed.
"Huh…" Haloy raised an eyebrow, almost amused. "You're holding up better than expected. Interesting."
He pulled Hiro toward him with a sharp gesture and struck again, harder, releasing his grip at the last instant.
Hiro's body was catapulted like a cannonball, crashing down much farther than Lena, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Without losing a second, Haloy turned toward Lucia.
The priestess had just barely placed her glowing hands over Cassian's gaping wound, her face tense with concentration.
Haloy raised his fist to crush her.
BOOM.
A translucent, almost invisible barrier stopped his blow dead. The shockwave made the air around them vibrate.
He struck again. And again. And again. Each impact resonated like a dull gong, but the golden surface showed not the slightest crack.
Haloy's irises turned violet.
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For a moment, Lucia saw Hiro in Haloy's place.
Her mind fogged partially.
"Remove the barrier," Haloy said in a reassuring voice. "There is no danger."
Lucia almost believed him.
But her own golden eyes suddenly lit up with a blinding clarity.
The illusion tore like paper.
She discerned Haloy's true face again.
"Tch." Haloy clicked his tongue. "I didn't know the mental resistance of the Sun God cult's priestesses was this high."
He smiled.
"Since you don't want to kindly remove the barrier, I'll make you regret it."
His eyes turned green.
"Relentless Growth."
Thick, black roots burst from the ground, coiling around the barrier like hungry snakes.
They squeezed, creaked, exerted a titanic pressure.
Other finer rootlets crept underground, seeking a crack, a gap.
Nothing.
The barrier was perfect, closed upon itself.
So the main roots gathered beneath and brutally lifted the entire dome—Lucia included—several meters into the air.
Haloy was about to hurl it violently against the ground when Lena surged forth like a fury.
Her blade cleanly severed the thickest roots in a gush of black sap.
She leaped, caught Lucia in mid-air, and landed in a crouch, holding her tightly.
---
Lying on his back, Hiro stared at the sky.
He uttered each skill name.
"Restorative Blessing."
A wave of gentle warmth coursed through his veins. Fractures, internal bruises, muscle tears slowly closed.
"Enhanced Strength."
His muscles tensed.
"Bodily Acceleration."
His body suddenly felt lighter, sharper, as if freed from all inertia.
Then he said:
"Heroic Fury."
[SKILL UNAVAILABLE. COOLDOWN REMAINING: 2H11MIN]
Hiro gritted his teeth.
"Heroic Fury."
[SKILL UNAVAILABLE. COOLDOWN REMAINING: 2H11MIN]
"HEROIC FURY!"
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO BORROW THIS SKILL DESPITE THE COOLDOWN?]
Hiro clicked yes.
He didn't have time to wait.
[YOU HAVE ENTERED DEBT MODE.]
[EXPLANATION: THE MORE POWER YOU BORROW, THE MORE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH WILL DEGRADE. DEGRADATION IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE POWER BORROWED. THE LONGER YOU TAKE TO REPAY THE DEBT, THE HIGHER THE INTEREST. TO REPAY THE DEBT, YOU MUST REPAY THE BORROWED POWER PLUS INTEREST TO THE SYSTEM.]
At least there's a repayment option, Hiro thought.
Anyway, he had to borrow.
It was his fault Cassian was in this state. If they had never come to Lapithathon… Cassian wouldn't have this gaping wound in her stomach.
She would never have had to endure this.
He clenched his fists.
Anyway, now is not the time to hold back.
I have to give it everything.
[CONFIRMED.]
---
Lena was backing away step by step from Haloy.
She felt a dreadful terror.
A sensation of immediate danger.
Like facing a dangerous predator.
She glanced at Cassian, motionless, lying in her own blood.
That could happen to me, she thought. I might be next.
Lena couldn't look away from Haloy's pink eyes.
She felt that if she turned around, she would die.
If she attacked, she would die.
Suddenly, Haloy dodged.
At least, he thought he had dodged.
Three gashes appeared on his body.
His eyes turned white.
"Veil of Dazzlement!"
A blinding light exploded, erasing the world in pure white.
Haloy made out Hiro, hands pressed over his eyes, staggering.
He had been hit.
"Impossible to be faster than light," Haloy said with a smile.
Yet… something was off.
This Hiro was no longer the same one he had crushed moments ago.
The power emanating from him was different.
Abnormal.
Haloy charged toward Hiro, taking advantage of his temporary blindness.
Better to kill him now.
Hiro, still blind, swept the ground with a wide backhanded axe swing.
Haloy jumped over it… and got caught mid-air.
Hiro seized him by the throat, swung him around, and slammed him into the ground with a telluric rumble.
BOOM.
The axe descended in a deadly arc.
Haloy's eyes turned red.
He grabbed the arm holding the axe and shoved Hiro back.
"Deluge of Winter's Stakes!" Hiro shouted.
Several ice stakes appeared and rushed toward Haloy.
Hiro used it because the skill had system-assisted targeting.
Even if he couldn't see, he could still hit the target.
Haloy dodged several stakes.
Hiro used the sound of the stakes hitting the ground to charge toward Haloy.
He kept feeding the skill with mana.
The stakes kept raining down on Haloy, turning the battlefield into a forest of sharp stalagmites.
---
Meanwhile, Lucia was trying to heal Cassian.
But Cassian's mana and the ambient mana were unstable.
It bothered her.
"Stop that!"
She slapped Cassian.
The wounded woman's eyelids fluttered. A moment of consciousness.
"STOP MAKING THIS MORE COMPLICATED!" Lucia shouted. "I'M TRYING TO HEAL YOU!"
Cassian lost consciousness again.
Immediately after, the ambient mana and her own mana became more stable.
Lena knelt beside Lucia.
She observed Cassian's pale face.
"We actually know almost nothing about her," Lena said softly.
Lucia nodded without lifting her eyes from her task.
"That's true. We don't know where she's from, why she was lost in the cursed lands… a whole bunch of things."
"Also," Lucia continued, focusing on the wound, "after saving her from the cursed lands, she didn't even try to go home. On the contrary, she deliberately stayed with us."
Lena frowned.
"Do you think she's a runaway elf? Or just… that she no longer has a home?"
Lucia looked at Cassian with a gaze full of sadness.
"Maybe she lost everything. A village razed. A family massacred."
Lena slowly nodded.
"That would explain a lot."
Lucia lowered her voice.
"We found her by the water's edge."
She paused.
"Do you think… that day, she wasn't actually trying to end her life after losing everything?"
Lena froze.
"…That holds up."
Lucia managed a fragile smile.
"It must be fate that we found and saved her."
