Chapter 96 – 96 – Tena, Reunion
“Devil?”
I blinked repeatedly. I feel like I don’t know what I just heard. However, in case anyone was reticent, the explanation ended there.
I looked back toward Gunther. The black knife Tena was holding was piercing Gunter’s wrist. Nevertheless, Gunter looked triumphant.
As if he really wanted to be called a terrible bastard, Gunter tried to strangle me while throbbing with the knife stuck in his muscle.
“Can’t you let go of your regrets?”
“Shut up.”
“I’m so disappointed, Cheonggeum. In this corrupt world, the only person I can hope for is you. Don’t make me sad any more-“
The black sword was twisted. Gunther’s wrists are split open horribly.
Then Eshen and Nidroga rushed in and grabbed Gunther by the waist, as thick as a log. Then he pulled it up with force and threw it backwards.
“Get some sleep!”
Gunther’s spine makes a crunching sound as it meets the stone floor of the banquet hall at a dizzying angle. The sight of a giant weighing well over a hundred kilograms bouncing and rising from the thrown force made my stomach tingle.
It was a bonus that my wrist, which had been impaled by a knife, was torn off before my eyes. When I, covered in blood, tried to fall backwards, someone helped me up and even threw a handkerchief at my face.
“Wipe it.”
Rather than being thankful for being given something to wipe away the blood, I am now more afraid of having my eyes covered by a handkerchief. The thing that caught my eye as I took off my handkerchief and looked up was… The porter.
A porter wearing white armor just like Thena and carrying a bag covered with white cloth. His skin is pale enough to look pale, and he is about half a head taller than me, so it would be appropriate to call him tall.
The handsome porter smiled and picked up the handkerchief I had dropped.
“And rest assured that you are safe now. The blue-gold hero is strong.”
“···What?”
As his wrist fell and his broken neck became tattered, Gunther stumbled, his gear unable to withstand the impact.
However, even with his airway closed, words still escaped from his throat.
“I didn’t want to lose this body. This is the first time I’ve lost a large piece of it.”
“Soon you will lose all your fragments. The world will forget that you exist.”
“Not yet.”
Gunther placed his hand on the floor with the side that was still attached.
“To fulfill my role and to have a decisive battle with you. I guess I’ll need something to keep you and your friends here for a long time.”
The floor shakes and trembles. I’m starting to wonder what this son of a bitch doesn’t know how to do.
Sensing a sense of violence, Nya raised his staff. Before that, Morgan pointed a gun at the guy, and Lennie pulled out a knight’s dagger and threw it.
However, even though a hole was pierced in his forehead and a knife was inserted into his shoulder, Gunther did not move.
Rather, we started to shake. The bricks on the floor shivered as if they were cold, and the interlocking parts began to fall and fall apart.
Rod could have stuck his finger into the ballroom and crushed Gunter. If only some of us would risk being crushed together by those thick dragon fingers.
But Lorde’s choice was more moderate. Rod, who had ripped off the entire wall with the door, roared with a dragon’s voice.
[Run! Out!]
Instinctively, he carried his sister and placed Villena at his side. Linden’s vassals, who had extraordinary survival skills due to serving their crazy superiors, were fleeing through the open entrance ahead of our party members.
“Take me, me, me too! I will rule with treason!”
Archduke Barbo Lindborg’s cry rang out in sorrow. But no one turned around. Not only is it too late to go back because the floor is sinking and the building is collapsing, but the only person who will talk about treason will be gone the moment the castle tower collapses.
On the other hand, Tena tried to rush at the guy. Just like she did when she was young and met someone who scratched her pride.
And now I don’t have any free hands, so I can’t stop them like I did back then. The image of components of the castle tower falling on Thena’s head flashed through her mind for a split second.
Fortunately, the pale-skinned porter was frightened and wrapped his arms around Thena’s waist to stop her. The moment I saw Tena flashing up, I was relieved.
And in the next moment, the heat spread.
“What are you?”
“···You’re an idiot. I’m sorry for telling you to be safe and relax. It was dangerous even with Tena! Let’s run!”
“That’s not what I meant-“
“We can’t hold on for long! Everyone get out!”
Neña, holding her staff tightly, ran side by side and sobbed.
As I was leaving, I looked up at the ceiling behind me and my hair became bitter. Vines and twigs growing up the walls were barely preventing the building from collapsing.
And when I passed the door and looked down… I saw something even scarier than that.
The largest horse cave I had ever seen in my life was rising from the floor.
“Nimi.”
—————-
There are bound to be days when something doesn’t work out. Maybe it’s been that way ever since I arrived in Linden.
Everything was fine until I tied a rope around the legs of Nidro, who had turned into a dragon, and had the party members hold on tightly.
However, it was not okay to see one side of the passage leading from one castle tower to another collapsed, and Tena, who was running at the back, fall.
Do they still follow the iron rule that a warrior is the last to emerge from a dangerous scene? I wonder how many times I have meditated today.
“···Go Nidro, fly.”
[But-]
“I’ll take Tena. Fly!”
As large fragments flew out of the rising demon cave and grazed the side, Nidrogar had no choice but to rise into the sky.
[I believe it!]
I ran to Tena without hesitation.
It’s quite tall. If you leave it as is, you will never be safe.
No matter how blessed you are as a Hero. Even if he was a guy who knew he was strong from a young age.
As she jumped, she twisted her body and fired a grappling hook. When I felt that the hook was securely attached to the bronze structure, I loosened the adjuster and let it stretch, then turned around again.
And then he fell at full speed and caught up with Tena.
“You’re quite aloof for someone who’s in free fall!”
“···Burnt?”
“Can I help you?”
Tena, who was looking down at the approaching ground and looking a little troubled, looked very troubled when she saw my face.
And soon she was gone. Just as she was about to become dumbfounded, she heard the sound of something scraping above her head.
When I looked up, I saw someone flying in the sky with his big wings spread. It was the pale and tall porter from before.
“···Flying in the sky.”
“Thanks to the artifact! Thena, are you okay?”
“I’m fine-“
The two voices fade into the air. I adjusted the output of the grappling hook, feeling like something was missing.
Having lost my purpose, I retrieved the hook on my own and stretched it out to circle the wall of the fortress. It loses its shape like a spider with a thread hanging from its tail.
The entire fortress was in the process of collapsing after being struck by the rising pyramid-shaped cave, so just walking away from the collapse was breathtaking.
“Can I help?”
A pale porter flew over in an instant, holding Thena in his arms and standing close to her.
···If you look closely, you can see that there are wings attached to the belt. It seems that you can defy gravity by simply unfolding it without making an ugly flapping sound. It’s an artifact that belittles the existence of the grappling hook.
I decided to protect the pride of my items.
“That’s Okay!”
“Don’t do that, let’s go together! Just grab my legs! My lifting strength is 30 times that of an average person!”
This time, my pride in my aptitude is challenged. I tried to get over the mental shock by telling him that it was difficult to find a porter worth ten times the price.
I could see a place where people who had escaped beforehand were gathered at a reasonable distance away.
I landed next to them in a position that protected my knee joints as much as possible. On the other hand, the winged porter and Tena went ahead, idling gracefully and landing. The people gathered in the safe area cheered when the last person left came back.
However, what bothers me more than the cheers is the sound of the two of them whispering to each other, asking if they were hurt.
As I listen to it, I get a strange feeling and my face curls up. Sensing my gaze, the porter, who looked like a gisaeng brother, turned around and spoke concernedly to me.
“What on earth were you thinking when you did that?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I don’t know how many meters that artifact can stretch, but it can save a person who has fallen by hanging on to a single rope.”
“But Tena was falling-“
“Burnt.”
Tena came next to me. I stopped talking, thought for a moment, and then held out my hand as if to shake hands.
“···Now that I think about it, I couldn’t even say I was happy to meet you. I was in no mood at the bar at the time. How were you?”
“Don’t worry.”
Silence flows. The pale-skinned porter glanced at the two of us, then he took a step back.
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t do that, I was just saying it was brave… No, I’ll stay out of it. I don’t know what their relationship is.”
I felt my eyelids tremble. What I just said didn’t sound like warm words telling me not to worry too much. It was an emotionless declaration of refusal to interfere.
“What?”
“There’s no need to worry about you.”
“Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you. Why are you talking like that?”
Eshen wrapped his arms around my neck and blurted out. Bile ran to me like a monkey, throwing her body to my side and clinging to her.
Nidrogar grinned and patted my back, and the sister busily felt around my body, asking if I was hurt.
And then everyone smiled and said hello to Tena, saying it’s been a while.
There was a strangeness in Tena’s expression. Eshen looked straight at Thena and shrugged. Still with his arms wrapped around my neck.
“You should know that I am grateful if you worry about me.”
