Chapter 895 – 895. God’S Atlantis
As she fell endlessly towards the ground, Elena stared blankly into the void.
「Entering Sector 9,371, the Drought Hell.」
Sector 9,371. Drought Hell.
It was a sector she had never heard of before. However, she knew a little about the hell sectors.
An uncaptured sector zone. Among them, a hell-type sector located in the rearmost part. It was known that the difficulty of capture was close to hell, just like its name.
‘…It’s impossible to return alive.’
Elena looked around as she fell. The sky was gloomy, and the ground was a red desert. Just looking at the blood-soaked sand sent shivers down her spine.
‘Monsters are gathering.’
They were monsters with appearances she had never seen before. They all looked vicious, and there were particularly many with horns.
‘A characteristic of demonic beasts.’
Demonic beasts.
Monsters with the power of demons.
They were more ferocious and stronger than regular monsters.
‘Just by looking, there are over 200 of them.’
They were all raising their heads, waiting for Elena to fall. For the demonic beasts, it was like food falling from the sky, so they must be very happy.
‘My remaining lifespan is one year… no. Now, it’s less than half a year.’
When she saved Sung Yoo-jin and fell instead, she used illusion magic. The power of the black horse, called World Leap or something, was extraordinary, so it was impossible to save Sung Yoo-jin from afar.
‘It’s for the best. I was tired too… and I protected the honor of the Baldert family. The citizens have seen my achievements with their own eyes, so the Emperor won’t be able to touch the Baldert family.’
Elena had become a hero of the Empire. Her achievements were legendary. The Emperor, who cared about his reputation, would not be able to touch the Baldert family.
‘The Baldert family will decline.’
A collateral line would take over the headship, but its limitations were clear. There were no talents at the level of the Empire’s Five Greats in the collateral line. It would be fortunate if they were not demoted to a marquisate within 10 years.
‘…That’s enough. I’ve done my part. I failed, so I must die. It was a life lived for the Baldert family, and it will be a life dying for the Baldert family. I have no regrets.’
Elena closed her eyes. Suddenly, Sung Yoo-jin’s face came to mind. There were times when he was frustrating or absurd enough to make her want to punch him, but he was a capable guy in his own way. And above all, he never betrayed her.
There were many opportunities to betray her.
He didn’t know, but she had deliberately created opportunities for betrayal to test him more than 30 times. She had offered money or used beautiful women to encourage betrayal. But Sung Yoo-jin never betrayed her until the end.
‘If a little more time had passed, I might have come to trust him. …No. Did I already trust him more than halfway?’
Either way, it was all meaningless now. Elena erased Sung Yoo-jin from her mind.
‘Am I going to fall into hell and die? I always thought that if I died, I might fall into hell, but I never thought I would really fall into hell. …Hmm. Not bad.’
She would fall and die like this. Her head would explode and she would die instantly. She was relieved that she wouldn’t be eaten alive by the demonic beasts.
As she accepted death, she vividly felt the pain throughout her body. On the outside, she looked fine, but her insides were a mess. Every single cell that made up her body seemed to be screaming in the face of death.
‘…….’
Beyond her closed eyelids, a light flashed. At first, she thought it was just a coincidence. It was common for sunlight to sweep across her face.
KWAANG!
A roar echoed. It sounded like thunder.
‘…Thunder?’
Elena opened her eyes without realizing it.
Numerous blue lightning bolts were falling to the ground around her. So many lightning bolts fell that it was hard to count, massacring the demonic beasts gathered on the desert.
A little late. A thunderclap, loud enough to burst her eardrums, echoed.
And above the sky.
A man was falling like lightning. Elena’s expression twisted as she recognized the man’s face.
“Why are you here, Yoo-jin!”
“Why else? I jumped in to save you.”
“You crazy bastard! Do you know where this is?!”
“It’s hell.”
Sung Yoo-jin reached out and grabbed her shoulder. He carefully held her body as if he were holding a princess. Elena felt Sung Yoo-jin’s mana enveloping the surrounding space. The speed of their fall to the ground was gradually slowing down. It was an excellent mana control ability. Sung Yoo-jin, who had received the ‘Blessing of the Moon,’ was stronger than Elena had imagined.
“…You’ve ruined my sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice? Who told you to do that?”
“Can I hit you?”
“I didn’t do anything wrong. Just like you saved me as you pleased, I’m saving you as I please.”
“You’re something else. Are you planning to die with me?”
“Dying with you wouldn’t be bad, but I think living with you would be better.”
“……”
Normally, she would have laughed it off without a second thought. She wouldn’t have if the man in front of her hadn’t thrown himself into hell to save her, just as he said.
“Haa.”
Elena sighed and raised her hand to her face as if she had a headache. In reality, it was to hide her flushed face.
“What are you going to do….”
Was the words she unconsciously uttered directed at Sung Yoo-jin? Or was it directed at herself? Elena couldn’t decide.
•••
Thud.
Landing on the ground with Elena in my arms, I looked around. The red sand was covered with the corpses of demonic beasts. I spread my energy once. There were no living demonic beasts.
‘I’m going crazy.’
I didn’t show it, but the situation was the worst.
The reason I can massacre the demonic beasts right now is thanks to the ‘Blessing of the Moon.’ When the buff effect of the Blessing of the Moon ends, I will become prey in this hell sector. I would have to use all my strength to fight just one demonic beast.
‘Space teleportation scrolls don’t work in the 9,000s hell sectors.’
And the 9,000s hell sectors have a terrible characteristic. They inflict debuffs on those who enter the sector.
「Moisture is drying up. Dehydration is progressing.」
「You can only consume 100ml of water per hour.」
「Every 24 hours, a random stat will be reduced. Current stat reduction: Luck (-11)」
‘Here it comes.’
Reading the notification window, I held back the complaints that were about to burst out. I didn’t want to show Elena a pathetic side of myself. This was an opportunity. If I was going to put on a show, I had to keep it up until the end.
I looked at Elena in my arms. She was covering her face with her hand. I could see her slightly flushed face between her fingers. Thinking about her current condition, I took off my cloak and wrapped it around her body.
“What’s with this all of a sudden…. Are you planning to treat me like a newborn baby by wrapping me up like this?”
Elena glared at me and grumbled. She knew very well that it wasn’t the case, so it was just an awkward remark. She got out of my arms and stood on the desert.
“It’s the Hecate Cape. It will help you.”
「Hecate Cape
All stats +1.
Acquire resistance to magic below A-rank.
Adapts to polar environments.
B-rank natural healing effect.
S-rank stealth available.
Rank: SS」
It was a cloak with polar environment adaptation, natural healing (B), and stealth (S). It was an essential item for Elena in her weakened state.
The red-cloaked Elena was silent for a moment before opening her mouth.
“It’s not right to say this to you, who fell into hell to save me, but I’m going to die soon. I used too much power. My current physical condition is worse than that of an ordinary person. To put it more directly, I’m a burden. Abandoning me would be more helpful for your survival.”
“If that were the case, I wouldn’t have come down to hell. Don’t say that again. Even if I die, I will never abandon you.”
“……”
“What’s your remaining lifespan?”
“About half a year. Unfortunately, this is hell. There’s nothing but sand. There doesn’t seem to be a way to extend my lifespan.”
“There’s something I don’t understand. How do you know your lifespan exactly? If your body is getting worse, can’t you just use potions to recover?”
“I’ve researched a lot about lifespan. To make it easier for you to understand, the lifespan I’m talking about is the innate energy. Innate energy is the energy that a living being is born with.”
Elena explained.
In the case of ordinary people, the vessel of this innate energy gradually decreases as they reach old age. The weaker the innate energy, the more frequent the illnesses, and when all the innate energy disappears, they die.
“Innate energy can be seen as a vessel that holds life force, not life force itself. The vessel of my life force is not only smaller now, but it’s also cracked to the point where it wouldn’t be strange if it broke right away.”
“Can’t you increase it with elixirs?”
“There’s a limit to ordinary elixirs. The lifespan that can be increased is at most a few weeks. Even that will gradually decrease if you take them repeatedly.”
“……You must have taken elixirs in the past?”
“Wouldn’t it be stranger if I hadn’t?”
Indeed. It wasn’t like Elena didn’t have the ability to obtain elixirs.
‘Could I restore it with the elixir I have?’
The possibility was high. Elixirs could even restore congenital diseases or disabilities.
‘Let’s keep the elixir as a last resort.’
It wasn’t because I was being stingy. Elena was in a weakened state. She had no choice but to rely on me. It was the perfect opportunity to seduce Elena.
Although she didn’t seem to have any will to live.
“Elena. Let’s walk for now. If we just stay still, we’ll eventually die.”
“I think the probability of survival is less than 1%. Wouldn’t it be better to die comfortably by suicide? If you’re interested in my body, you can do whatever you want. I have no intention of resisting you. It’s meaningless anyway. It wouldn’t be bad to give you my body in exchange for dying together.”
“You sometimes throw out jokes that are hard to respond to.”
“I’m serious?”
“Stop talking nonsense and let’s move. We have to find a way out.”
I had no intention of raping her. It wasn’t like I had never had the chance to sleep with Elena before. I had a few amazing items like aphrodisiacs. If I was going to sleep with her using cheap methods, I would have done it a long time ago.
‘How could I do that after all the time I’ve spent on Elena?’
“Haa….”
I glanced at Elena. She looked somewhat dejected.
“Don’t be so pessimistic. Food and water are fine since I have my subspace. I have everything else too. We just need to find a way out of this hell sector and a way to extend your lifespan.”
“…That’s news that raises the survival rate by about 5%.”
Elena said cynically. She and I walked through the desert. We walked for more than two hours, but we saw nothing but red sand and demonic beasts. We killed every demonic beast we saw.
Thud.
Elena, who was following behind me, collapsed. I was startled and ran to her.
“Elena! You can’t die!”
“…I’m not dead. My legs have reached their limit. I can’t walk.”
“If you use mana….”
“I’ve already used mana to recover my body. Recovery magic isn’t my specialty, and it’s obvious that it won’t be effective, so it’s the worst.”
“Is it dangerous? Or not dangerous?”
“…It’s not dangerous. My legs are just tired. But I won’t be able to walk for the next few hours. I recommend abandoning me.”
“I told you I won’t abandon you.”
I piggybacked Elena.
I was going to carry her like a princess, but piggybacking her was easier to respond to when demonic beasts appeared. And I couldn’t give up the feeling of Elena’s chest touching my back.
“You’re obediently getting on my back?”
“I just didn’t have the confidence to break your stubbornness. And it’s true that it’s more comfortable to be carried like this.”
“I would have carried you if you had said so from the beginning.”
“Do you think I would do that?”
“Well, with your personality, you would never do that.”
“…Change that thought. Your back seems more comfortable than I thought, so I’ll use it often. Understand? If you’re not going to abandon me and take responsibility, then take responsibility until the end.”
“Of course. I’ll take responsibility until the end.”
Squeeze.
Elena hugged my neck tightly. Her hair and breath tickled my neck. The feeling of her chest pressing against my back almost made my dick angry.
“What?”
“…The ride isn’t good. Move more smoothly.”
“You’re such a noble, aren’t you? You’re asking for a lot.”
“Hmm. It’s quite comfortable now.”
Soon, I heard Elena’s even breathing. She seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep. I carried her and walked silently. I had to find a safe place before the Blessing of the Moon ended.
