Chapter 39
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Chapter 39
If Vivian suffered even the slightest injury because of me, I knew I could never forgive myself.
At that very moment, Rachel's blue eyes grew cold and crystalline as ice.
Suddenly, the sound of movement echoed from ahead.
Sensing this, Rachel swiftly cast a teleportation spell, materializing atop a nearby tree.
In that same instant, several men who appeared to be associates of the Kidnappers emerged.
"What's here? Didn't we just mistake some beast?"
"No, I'm certain it had the shape of a person..."
While the men murmured amongst themselves, Rachel used teleportation magic to leap toward the trees in the direction from which they'd appeared.
Engaging them in combat would waste precious time.
Moreover, there could be more of them ahead, and there was no reason to fight an avoidable battle.
Rachel continued teleporting toward the direction the men had come from.
After traveling further, another group of men came into view, and two additional men joined their ranks.
"Huh? Why are you here? Where's the hostage?"
"The good little child is off in dreamland. A high-level operative like myself can't stand to see such incompetence, so they sent me here."
"What if the hostage is stolen while you're away?"
"Don't worry. We have some kids hiding near the Cave. And even if they do steal her, she's a rat in a jar. We've got our people scattered all throughout this Forest."
Vivian was in the Cave.
Having gathered this intelligence from the men's conversation, Rachel continued using teleportation magic to leap between trees, pressing deeper into the Forest.
How much further had I traveled?
"...!"
As Rachel landed on a tree across the way, the world suddenly tilted, and I stumbled.
Teleportation magic, which transported one's entire body across space, required complex incantations and consumed vast amounts of mana.
Even though Rachel had trained magic consistently until now, I had never expended such a tremendous amount of mana in a single casting, so my body was inevitably straining under the burden.
Rachel gritted my teeth.
[That wasn't Princess Isella's fault. She did nothing wrong, yet she suffered for it.]
She was the only friend who had chosen to remain by my side, knowing the danger it could bring.
I didn't want Vivian to regret that choice.
'I cannot collapse here.'
Pulling my scattered consciousness back together, Rachel cast the teleportation spell once more.
But in that instant.
My mind fractured, and my landing foot twisted.
I barely regained my balance, but in doing so, the fallen leaves beneath my feet rustled audibly.
At that same moment, one of the men below the tree shot upward, launching himself off the trunk in a single bound.
"I thought it was an owl."
Rachel tried to evade quickly, but the man's hand, which seized my garment, was faster.
"Turns out it was a rat."
The man hurled the captured Rachel downward, away from the tree.
"Ugh...!"
Rachel exhaled in agony.
The impact and pain radiating through my entire body left me gasping for breath in that singular moment.
I had pushed myself to the brink countless times through magic and swordsmanship training, but this was my first taste of actual combat.
"A little brat making it all the way here alone..."
The men sneered as they advanced toward Rachel.
Four adult men.
Instinctive terror gripped me in this drastically disadvantageous situation, but the moment I thought of Vivian trembling alone in fear, that dread transformed into fury.
In that same instant, Rachel's eyes blazed with a different fire.
"Either you're fearless or you're showing us contempt!"
Rachel evaded the man charging with his sword using teleportation magic, then immediately unleashed an offensive spell.
"Gaaaah!"
The man struck by the magic flew backward and crashed into a nearby tree.
The men, who had dismissed him as merely a ten-year-old child, were startled by magic chaining speed that rivaled that of ordinary mages.
'What... a mere ten-year-old brat with magic speed like that...'
Only then did a sense of danger wash over them.
'I can't underestimate this one.'
The men gripped their swords tighter and launched a serious assault on Rachel.
Rachel, having already expended considerable magic, was struggling, but the moment I relaxed my guard, blades would come flying—so I had no choice but to hold the line with grim determination.
Even in this unfavorable position, Rachel swiftly struck down the men one by one with magic, creating distance to seize the advantage in combat.
But after repeating this pattern several times, my vision began to swim.
I could feel myself approaching my mental limit.
Until now, I had only attacked them hard enough to keep them alive, but I couldn't win this way.
They wanted to kill me, and I didn't want to kill them.
'In the end, I have to kill those people for this to end. Or...'
I die at their hands.
But for a child who had long since grasped the concept of death, deciding another's life or death was as terrifying as facing my own mortality.
While Rachel hesitated to commit.
A man who had crept close suddenly rushed forward with his blade aimed at Rachel.
Rachel's heart began pounding violently as I watched him approach.
'I have to kill him.'
If I don't want to die.
Rachel's pupils slowly began to fill with murderous intent.
Moments before, I would have used teleportation to create distance, then struck with a moderate spell.
This time, I didn't dodge—I cast a powerful spell instead.
That was when it happened.
"Watch out, Rachel!"
Along with a familiar voice, a massive dark shadow materialized and consumed the man who had been about to attack Rachel.
A gulp.
Then silence.
Rachel, watching the scene with wide eyes, turned toward the direction of the voice.
Before I could even register who it was, someone came rushing over and embraced me tightly.
"Are you alright?"
Vivian, her hair thoroughly disheveled, grasped my cheek and examined it from every angle.
Though Vivian had grown somewhat grimy, she bore not a single wound—she was entirely unharmed.
Rather than trembling with fear, seeing her concern for me first dissolved my tension. A soft laugh escaped me.
'And she's the one who was kidnapped.'
When I nodded to assure her I was fine, Vivian finally relaxed and broke into a bright smile.
Yet our joy at reunion was fleeting.
"This monstrous thing!"
Two other men rushed toward the black shadow that had consumed their companion.
But before they could mount a proper attack, they too were swallowed by the shadow, just as their ally had been.
The shadow, now containing three grown men, writhed violently.
"Ugh! Ugh!"
Faint male voices echoed from within the shadow, suggesting they were still alive.
'What on earth is this...?'
I regarded the black shadow that had consumed the three men with suspicious eyes.
Vivian, who had been watching the same scene, erupted in fury and cried out.
"They're bad men, so kill them, Blackie!"
The shadow responded to her command by beginning to writhe and convulse.
Simultaneously, a grotesque crunching sound emanated from within, followed by screams.
"Aaaahhh!"
Hearing that scream, Vivian flinched and hastily revised her command.
"Wait, no. Don't kill them—just break their limbs!"
Upon hearing Vivian's order, the Dark Spirit convulsed several more times before spitting the men out.
As if expelling chewed food.
Whether their limbs had been broken as Vivian commanded or not, the men lay face-down on the ground, capable only of groaning, utterly immobilized.
Having completed its task, the Dark Spirit shrank to the size of a child's fist and settled atop Vivian's head.
I regarded the Dark Spirit, which had become docile as though nothing had happened, with suspicious eyes and asked.
"Vivian, what exactly is that?"
"Oh. This is a Dark Spirit, and..."
As Vivian began to explain without thinking, she heard the men groaning from what the Dark Spirit had done to them, and she grasped my hand.
That wasn't what mattered right now.
"Let's get out of here first. We can talk about it—"
But before Vivian could finish speaking, a short blade came flying from somewhere.
Noticing it, I pushed Vivian aside by a hair's breadth, but we couldn't completely evade it.
"Ugh..."
A small cut had appeared on Vivian's pristine cheek.
Seeing the blood flowing from Vivian's cheek, my eyes, like a calm lake, grew still before igniting like blue flames.
Now I understood.
This cruel world in which we live cannot be survived without the resolve to kill someone.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org