Chapter 24: Do All Your War Chariots Fire Laser Cannons?
Rast's vision gradually darkened, and coldness surged over his body — it was the shadow of death enveloping him.
Yet in the dimming field of vision, Rast still saw that beam of light... that starlight which pierced through the curtain of rain, illuminating the sky, intense and pure.
Sound disappeared.
Then, color followed and vanished.
The world fell into a soundless silence, leaving only the surging, scorching starlight.
The flowing brilliance stirred up countless vortices, swallowing the pitch-black tide formed by Iron Crosses before the ruins.
The bodies of the Iron Crosses disintegrated in the light in an instant, leaving behind only the earth that melted on contact, and white ash from the flesh and blood that had been entirely incinerated.
A girl with light brown eyes and a rapier landed in front of Rast.
In the darkness of his vision, her loose chestnut hair shone brilliantly, her entire body surrounded by pale silver flames.
Shiltina took out three emerald-green crystals and placed them on Rast’s chest.
At the same time, she recited an ancient syllable once more:
“Heal.”
The crystals shattered instantly, turning into countless sparkling green shards that fell onto Rast’s mangled wounds.
In a daze, Rast saw the ripples of water.
He was bathing in warm spring water; the darkness in his sight was driven away by light, the cold dispelled by warmth.
The drain of Rast’s vitality came to a halt, and the flame of life that flickered like a dying candle ceased to waver.
His wounds began to slowly heal.
After doing all this, Shiltina squatted down beside Rast and propped him up on her shoulder.
“All timed bombs have been installed. Where do we go next?” Her voice was like a heavenly melody. “Still using the ventilation duct from before?”
“No. We don’t have time to escape the port area through the ducts now before the explosions happen.” Rast forced his stalled mind to start working again, adjusting and thinking through everything that had just occurred.
“By the original plan, you should’ve been halfway through the escape tunnel by now, not here.”
There was no gloom in Shiltina’s voice. “So where do we go now?”
“Actually, I do have a backup plan, but I can’t guarantee it’s safe.”
“Speak.”
“Not the ventilation duct. We go to the port district’s watchtower. There’s a shortcut — go forward and take a left into the factory.”
Shiltina grabbed Rast’s arm.
With a firm stomp of her knight’s boot, she leapt high into the air.
While airborne, Rast saw the molten path that tore through the land.
That route of lava forcefully ripped apart the tide of Iron Crosses that had encircled him, turning the sand and stones along the way into white crystalline formations under the intense heat.
The surviving Iron Crosses within the pillar of light stared up at Shiltina in midair, even forgetting to shoot.
A few seconds later, Shiltina carried Rast onto an upper platform of the factory, then began a swift sprint.
Despite her slender frame, the hand securing Rast was surprisingly strong.
Rast felt like a kite, and Shiltina the little girl madly dashing while holding its string.
“Sixteen hundred kor.” said Shiltina.
“What?”
“Sixteen hundred gold kor. Kor gold coins are the currency of our world.”
Shiltina didn’t even look back. “To save you just now, I activated the second-tier ability of my Nightblade and released the true name of ‘Twinkling Morning Star.’ The cost was that my weapon became half-destroyed after the name release.”
“Sixteen hundred kor is the total cost for repairing my rapier and those three instant-heal crystals even I rarely use... Once we leave the Nightworld, don’t forget to pay me back.”
Rast looked at the scabbard on Shiltina’s waist.
The crystalline silver rapier within had already been shattered beyond recognition.
That earth-ripping power from earlier clearly hadn’t come without a price.
He paused. “You know I can’t possibly have your world’s currency.”
“Then work it off. Bartender, sculptor, stylist, veterinarian, or work at that... that kind of store... Aren’t you into that sort of thing?”
Rast remained silent.
Role-playing games and being forced to work off a debt were two entirely different experiences.
Just like how the players who enjoyed ‘Shawarma Saga’ wouldn’t actually work at a Turkish kebab shop rolling flatbreads.
Still, he didn’t speak further.
Rast understood — this proud female knight was showing her displeasure at him making a decision on his own to stay behind.
Perhaps because of his tacit admission, Shiltina didn’t dwell on the topic of debt repayment.
Rast was thus dragged by Shiltina as she sprinted wildly through the factory.
Each leap covered dozens of meters, while the scenery of steel and steam boilers rushed by in a blur.
He glanced at the Iron Cross brand fading from his body. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll bring the Iron Cross Plague out and cause a disaster in your world?”
“It’s fine. Once we clear ‘Nightworld Remnant,’ all pollution will be purified.” Shiltina didn’t pause her steps. “As long as you’re still breathing then, everything can be restored perfectly.”
“You shouldn’t have come for me.” Rast said. “According to the original plan, you’d already evacuated successfully. Now we both might die in the port.”
“You only have one life. And if I hadn’t come, I’d return to that endless, hopeless cycle of restarts. It’s a blind and irrational choice.”
“I know.”
“But just like you clung to your own resolve, enduring tens of thousands of failures without giving up… I, too, have a belief I cannot compromise.”
Shiltina’s voice was clear, making Rast think of wind chimes ringing at midnight.
“The family creed of the ‘Ranger’ clan—”
“As a noble, one must protect their people at all costs, even at the expense of one’s life; as a knight, as long as breath remains, one must never let a comrade die in front of them.”
Rast sighed. “Sounds like a stiff, old-fashioned, inflexible, and foolish rule.”
“You’re not the first to say that. My father and sister said the same thing.”
Shiltina smiled, a smile without a trace of gloom. “So I hope you won’t be the last either.”
Beside Rast and Shiltina, the monotonous scenery of steel and boilers disappeared.
In its place was a one-way path, at the end of which stood a towering watchtower.
The moment they burst out of the steel factory, the roar of crashing waves reached their ears.
Only that watchtower now stood between them and the ocean.
The sound of the tides echoed as though it resonated between the heavens and the earth.