Chapter 150: A Long Story (1)
Yuria was bound all over.
Creak...
A tight rope was choking her neck.
"Kugh...! Kugh!"
Yuria's eyes gradually turned white. She was losing consciousness.
"It's working! It's really working," Raina shouted.
Although Yuria was under the protection of the champion's blessing, it didn't mean she was invincible. Without the nexus, a summoner could die.
The protection from the champion's blessing and the power of the nexus combined resulted in the half-immortal summoners.
"If one of them is taken out of the factor..."
Raina grabbed the rope and pulled it even harder this time.
"You guys will die too!"
Creak...!
As the rope tightened, Yuria became more frantic. Even though she was defeated, she was still an archer. Her arm strength alone could crush a minion.
She snarled, messing up her beautiful lips.
"These... these minions..."
Bzzzzzzzt!
White light gathered into her hands.
Flash!
Her tied hands were released because the hands were tied to her lower body.
"Hands! Tie her hands! Untie her feet then tie them!"
"Shit, I can't untie it!"
The tightly bound rope with hooks intertwined and wouldn’t be untied easily.
Yuria grabbed the rope choking her neck.
"You all... are already dead... No, you guys will beg me to kill you—"
At that moment…
Swish!
With the sound of wind splitting apart, Yuria's left hand was knocked away.
Pung!
It was Almond's arrow.
"You think I'll just leave you to do whatever you want?"
At the same time, two more arrows flew. One hit the center of Yuria's forehead and the other on her right hand.
Pubung!
Her right hand bounced back. Then the rope tightened around Yuria's neck again.
"Kugh...! You... you!"
Yuria strained her eyes, but the glow faded away. The protection of the champion's blessing was weakening.
'Victory is in our grasp.'
Almond emptied all of the arrows in his quiver onto the ground. Because victory was in his grasp, he had to give it his all now.
"Hey, Almond! Here you go!"
Holly, Julia, and other minions also placed their arrows in front of Almond.
They were supposed to shoot it themselves, but decided this would be for the best after seeing Almond's skills.
Almond expressed his gratitude with his right hand.
Chuk.?
Four arrows were wedged in his fingertips and immediately moved to the bowstring.
"Urgh.... urk! Eek!"
Yuria attempted to untie the rope around her neck again, squealing like a cornered animal. However, the arrows were already shot.
Almond's arrows instantly bounced off both of Yuria's hands.
Pubung!
Yuria's arms fell powerless once again.
"Kuuugh...!"
Yuria tried to grab the rope again, but Almond continued to shoot her hands away. Almond's speed of shooting the arrows was faster than her grabbing the rope.
As this meaningless fight continued, Yuria turned a pale blue.
Yuria would be out of oxygen soon. They were also humans who needed to breathe.
Even while shooting Yuria's hands, Almond didn’t forget to shoot at other vital spots like her face and neck.
Thwack!
Thud!
As this continued, the glow surrounding Yuria faded more and more.
"Eeek… urk...!"
As if Yuria sensed something, she convulsed and emitted a blinding light from her body.
"K-kill! I will kill you!!!"
Yuria's eyes glared at Almond as if to devour him.
But—
Almond's arrow flew straight into her pretty eyes.
Boom!
There was a blue explosion in one of her eyes.
Thwack!
"!"
And the other eye was hit by an arrow. From Yuria's left eye, gooey red blood spurted out.
"Aaaarggh!!!"
A terrifying scream echoed.
"What...?"
"Did it hit her?"
"The champion's blessing…!"
"T-The summoner... can shed blood too!"
The children muttered in a daze. Even in shock, they didn't let go of the rope. Even if they were careless, their fear of the summoner didn’t wane.
"Don't let go!"
"Pull it harder! She's almost dead!"
"Those without a tie, cut it with a sword! Or with the repair knife!"
The children's shouting echoed throughout the area.
Julia and Holly, who weren’t responsible for binding, quickly ran out. It was their turn to jump in.
"Y-Yuria... die!"
"You tricked us!"
From their tearful eyes, sadness flowed out instead of anger. However, their swords were filled with an overflowing murderous intent.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Two swords crossed and stabbed through Yuria's abdomen, tearing her insides apart.
A large amount of blood splattered onto their faces. Red blood stains covered the pure white faces of the children. This only made the children more insane.
"How many times have we died!? Who are you people?"
"How many times did you kill me! Yuriaaa!!!"
They screamed as if being stabbed and continued thrusting one after another. Since they didn't have the strength to pull out the swords they had already thrust, they kept thrusting new ones. It was like creating some kind of unpleasant art.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
All the iron spikes they had brought were stabbed into Yuria's soft white flesh. Now there was no place on her body that wasn't red.
Despite that, Yuria didn’t die. Her eyes still emitted her unique white light. However, that was almost the end.
Swish—?
Almond's newly shaped blade swept by, severing Yuria's neck.
Without looking at Yuria's severed head, Almond only grabbed the shoulders of the two children.
"Enough."
The children continued to stab with their knives even after the head was severed and eventually stopped.
"... Huff... Pufff..."
"Huff... Puff..."
Covered in tears and blood, the children were shaking. It was unclear if it was because they were crying or just exhausted.
"Yuria is dead."
According to Raina, one summoner guarded the door at a time. They seemed to dislike staying here when there was no battle.
'It's probably because the nexus power doesn't reach here.'
When there was no battle, the nexus lost its light. That meant summoners lost the ability to revive.
Because the summoners became too accustomed to reviving, they hesitated even at the slightest danger and only kept one guard here at a time.
"It's over. Let's get out of here."
Now that the one summoner guarding the place was defeated, their escape was almost complete.
"Sniffle... Sniffle..."
"Waaaah! Waaa!"
Now that it was over, it was time to go. The children began to cry upon hearing that.
"We don't know until we get out. Let's cry later."
Almond helped each child one by one to get up. The main mission was to help Raina escape, but he also grew attached to these kids.
The children sniffled as they took Almond's hand and stood.
Tadadak.
He could hear a blonde girl running towards him from a distance.
"Almond!"
She immediately hugged him. Raina's face was also covered in tears.
"I-I never thought we would actually do it..."
As soon as Almond felt Raina's body temperature, he realized the strange sounds that had passed through his head earlier.
"Raina."
"... Yeah?"
Almond realized it even more when he met Raina's watery eyes.
"Demian."
Almond realized what his last name was.
"That's my last name. I just remembered it now."
Raina repeated the name.
"Demian," she smiled. "It's a nice name."
"Now, let's get out of here."
Raina energetically nodded.
Both of them turned toward the door at the same time. There was no one guarding the door. Only the white light remaining greeted them.
[RubySword has donated a whopping 100,000 won!]
[I-Is it over?! Congratulations!]
[Dobby has donated 10,000 won!]
[Wow!! Almond!! You crazy man!]
[DemainClub has donated 10,000 won!]
[Although I'm still salty about Almond taking Raina away as a fanboy, I watched this stream while crying. Sob... sob...]
The donations poured in. Almond was trying not to look at the chat, but the donations popped up on his screen.
They were mostly congratulatory donations for clearing the story. However, as opposed to their excitement, the story wasn't over.
Thump...!
A heavy sound echoed from the direction of the door. A huge, sturdy black shadow roared.
"You've created quite a mess, comrades!"
It was the Iron Monster, Bart. The minions' faces were filled with fear.
They had used up all the ropes. There was no time to untie and grab the ropes from Yuria either.
"Why don't you try playing with me now? Huh?" Bart spoke in a playful tone, but everyone could sense the anger in his voice.
Almond pushed Raina's back.
"Go now!!!"
Almond made a quick decision.
"Run! I'll buy some time!"
"Wha… What?!" Raina replied with bewildered eyes.
Raina was about to say his decision was crazy, but she became speechless when she saw what Almond held.
"Hurry up! Don't let my life go to waste."
Almond was holding Yuria's bow. No one else could touch that bow unless they were as strong as the summoner.
Bzzzt...!
Surprisingly, a white light began to gather in Almond's hands.
[Mana: 300]
[Something is about to happen now.]
After Almond killed Yuria, he accumulated countless amounts of mana.
'Killing a summoner is the fastest way to become the next summoner.'
Killing a minion only increases one’s mana by 1, but killing a summoner increased it by 300.
Moreover, Almond sensed that a champion was reacting to him. Perhaps Almond was becoming something similar to a summoner.
"Hurry up, Raina! Please! Are you going to kill all the kids!? Mott died as well!"
Raina and Almond's eyes met again.
Raina's pretty face turned into a frown as she started bawling. Then she grabbed the fallen children while bursting into tears.
One by one, they all began to run toward the door with Raina.
"Huh? Do you really think you can make it there? Minions—!"
Bart growled and rushed forward.
Slam!!
The ground Bart where jumped off from shattered into pieces. This showed that Bart was flying at an incredible speed.
Almond also pulled his bowstring.
'One shot or nothing.'
As Almond pulled back the string, his hand simultaneously released the bowstring.
Swooosh—?
Almond's arrow, which used to belong to Yuria, flew forward.
The arrow struck Bart, who was rushing toward the children.
Kwakwakwang!!
Bart's body was pushed back far away as a white light covered everything.
[Loading...]
At that moment, the game ended.
— ???
— Did it work?
— What about Almond?
— OMG, did it really work!?
— How did it work when he died himself?
—- Wow.... does he have to do it again?
Although no one knew whether Almond had survived, the mission was complete.
[Help Raina escape the battle! Complete!]
The only goal was to have Raina escape safely. Almond's survival wasn't a requirement.
[Achievement ★★★]
The image of a blonde woman sitting on the boulder was revealed as the bright white light gradually faded. It was Raina, fully grown.
"I rambled on for too long."
Looking down at the blue bow, Raina smiled sadly as the image of her childhood overlapped.
[Story Mode Completed]
***
[Beginner's Tip: The battlefield in the game adheres to healthy and fair regulations, so please be rest assured while playing!]