As the excitement of battle dissipated, the aftershock arrived.
My knees buckled, crashing into the ground. Cold sweat trickled down as I gasped for breath.
Even the sensation of pain felt faint.
Perhaps it was due to the painkillers still coursing through my system, or maybe my brain had grown accustomed to the exceeding pain.
Every muscle in my body screamed.
I could barely move a finger.
In an instant, my vision blurred, and before long, I found myself sprawled on the ground.
Only then did my body begin to relax, as if it had finally found peace.
It was then that I sensed several presences approaching me.
“Ian-senpai!”
“Ian oppa!”
It was Celin and Seria.
They were the two who had been thrown by the Corpse Giant’s ground slam.
But it seemed their injuries were minor; there was no sign of distress in their voices—only a slight breathlessness from rushing to me.
Thank goodness.
It was enough for me to face death alone.
There was no need for my companions to endure such terrible pain.
I was doing everything I could to hold onto my fading consciousness.
If I let go of the thread of awareness like this, my life couldn’t be guaranteed.
Gasping, I asked Celin and Seria.
“…Lady Virgin Saint?”
“She, she’s coming! She’ll be here soon! What, what should we do…?”
Seria was visibly restless, and Celin’s face turned pale upon seeing my extremely serious condition.
If they saw their childhood friend pouring out blood, anyone would react that way.
Let alone I had long since lost focus in my eyes.
Seeing my dimming eyes, it was clear to anyone.
My mind and body had already reached their limits.
Celin fumbled around my torn arm and eventually started to cry.
“I-Ian oppa… You’re, you’re not going to die, right? You have to pull yourself together… Just a little longer…”
“Don’t… cough! D-Don’t worry.”
I tried to sound calm to reassure Celin, but I ended up spitting up blood in the middle of it.
Seeing the suddenly expelled blood, Celin’s face turned even whiter.
There was no sign she believed my words at all.
“Should I carry you? Then we can join the Lady Virgin Saint a bit sooner!”
“Stop it, if I take even a small shock… cough! I-I’ll really die.”
It was sincere.
In my current state, I was sure I could die from just the slightest shock.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I was one of the most fragile beings in existence.
In the end, Celin and Seria were only pacing with anxiety.
The fortunate fact was that the Lady Virgin Saint arrived shortly thereafter.
Her breath was ragged as she ran without even pausing to take a breath.
The light pink eyes met mine, filled with a blank expression.
With trembling hands, she fumbled over my wounds.
“Lord…”
Her voice was mixed with a sigh.
At that moment, her hands glowed with a pure white light.
Soon, a high concentration of divine power surged into my body like a flood.
Only then did my ragged breathing calm down slightly. In that warm embrace, I lowered my head in exhaustion.
To be honest, I couldn’t know if I would be completely healed.
But since the Lady Virgin Saint had come, I should be able to escape death.
Wasn’t she someone who could save anyone who wasn’t dead?
Though I worried about side effects or disabilities, for now, I had no choice but to trust in the Lady Virgin Saint.
Thus, I finally intended to let my guard down and close my eyes.
If not for the anxious voice of someone spurring me on.
“…Once the first aid is done, we must leave this place.”
It seemed my long day was still not over.
My eyelids, which were slowly closing, fluttered open again.
With eyes that looked like they were about to die, I searched for the source of that voice.
There stood Yulen, a androgynous handsome man with jade-colored hair.
He looked very anxious.
“Sister, is it done yet? We need to hurry…”
“The Corpse Giant was defeated by Ian-senpai.”
Yulen’s eyes briefly shifted to the side.
There, Seria was speaking in a somewhat cold tone.
“Is there really a need to rush? As you can see, Ian-senpai’s condition is dire, and if we end up in a hurry…”
“…Defeated? What did you defeat?”
Seria’s brows furrowed slightly.
It was as if Yulen had made an ill-timed joke.
“The Corpse Giant…”
“No.”
However, Seria’s retort didn’t move Yulen.
Instead, Yulen responded with frustration, as if he was doing a dry wash.
“No, it’s not defeated… It’s not that kind of monster.”
I had no choice but to fall into a daze upon those words.
What do you mean it’s not defeated?
A question that arose without thought escaped from my lips.
“…I destroyed its core, though?”
Yulen sighed.
He seemed about to explain something, crossing his arms and flicking his lips.
“Well, you see…”
Yulen’s kind explanation was interrupted shortly after.
Fog began to descend upon the battlefield.
It happened in an instant.
Thick smoke rose, blanketing the view in white. In the ominous atmosphere, Seria and Celin visibly panicked.
I immediately pleaded with Seria.
“…Take Lady Airen and run away, right now! Hurry!”
It was Lady Airen who had taken a direct hit from the Corpse Giant.
She would be immobile for a while.
Seria looked bewildered but soon nodded and hurried in some direction.
The Lady Virgin Saint bit her lip.
“Just a little more, just a little more…”
“Sister, we need to hurry… She’ll wake up soon!”
Celin was also stiff with tension in the unusual atmosphere.
She swallowed hard and asked.
“W-Wake up…?”
“If it’s lost its core, it needs to find a new one.”
Heh, I let out a hollow laugh.
What a ridiculous situation.
I could momentarily understand my future ‘self.’
Why couldn’t it be defeated?
Why did we have to run?
The answer was finally becoming clear.
Oooooooh—!
Unsteadily, the corpses began to rise.
They were the corpses that made up the Corpse Giant.
The body of the endlessly regenerating Corpse Giant was made up of hundreds, if not thousands, of corpses.
Some of them melted away immediately after separating from the Corpse Giant, but there were still others that retained their forms.
They stood on the ground again with bloodless legs.
A low curse escaped from Yulen’s lips.
“…What the hell.”
At a glance, the numbers were more than we could handle alone.
Though there were soldiers from the Yuridina Clan and magic troops from the Rainelle Clan, there must be a reason Yulen was urging us to flee.
Only then did the Lady Virgin Saint seem to finish the first aid.
“…There! Yulen, can you carry Ian?”
“Let’s get moving immediately.”
Yulen hoisted me onto his back without further ado and started running. Naturally, Celin began to carry the Lady Virgin Saint as well.
It was then that my dazed mouth finally opened.
“We need to hold them off; there are still territory residents who haven’t evacuated…!”
“Thanks to you shattering it, we bought some time. At least for a while, the corpses will wander around this area… You did well.”
Yulen continued to run while trying to calm me down.
The space contracted, and the scenery whizzed by. Each time it happened, I felt a dry thirst building.
“If we add the soldiers from the Yuridina Clan…!”
“It’s useless; they regenerate too.”
That meant they were truly an insurmountable opponent.
Even so, I couldn’t give up and scanned the surroundings.
Was there any way out?
It was rare for the Corpse Giant to be this weakened. If the demon god’s retinue resurrected, I didn’t know what would happen next.
At least, more power than today’s would need to be invested.
Just then, a horrific wail brushed against my ears.
Kieeeeeeeeeek!
“Get lost!”
A corpse rushed at us at terrifying speed.
The four-legged corpse moved incredibly fast. It was drastically different in quality from the sluggishly moving corpses before.
But Yulen, as if familiar with it, simply kicked the corpse aside.
The corpse shrieked again, crashing to the ground, and Yulen stomped down on it once more.
That was just once or twice.
The corpses were inexplicably targeting Yulen and me.
It was as if at least a few were chasing after us.
I asked in shock.
“Why are they acting like this?!”
“Because you defeated the Corpse Giant; that memory is still lingering!”
In other words, it meant they wanted revenge.
It was absurd coming from those who were already dead.
Even so, I couldn’t afford to laugh.
The momentum of the attacking corpses was far too terrifying.
Yulen, who was carrying me, couldn’t use his hands at all. Naturally, there was a limit to the number of attacks he could respond to.
As a result, Yulen ended up getting bitten on the ankle by a corpse lying on the ground.
Though Yulen grit his teeth and tried to hold on, in that brief moment, the corpse’s arm wrapped around Yulen’s leg.
Yulen fell over, and I rolled across the ground again.
It seemed I was forced into an unplanned escape act.
After defeating the enemy, no less.
I had to let out a hollow laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all.
