On the reef in the center of the lake.
Watching the Magic Whale’s tail fin, amid the muffled rumble caused by the peculiar reaction between silver and water at the lake’s bottom, it whipped up a furious wave.
The thunder and lightning roared in response, as if tearing the sky apart.
“Crack!”
The magic array shattered with a snap.
For seven years, she had come here every few days to offer her magic power, only to forge her own tomb and cage in shadow.
Now, with this strike, that shadow was shattered all at once.
Amidina finally regained a bit of strength.
Yet her wrist was still firmly bound by the chain.
She could only helplessly watch as the whirlpool, formed by the Magic Whale’s massive mouth, surged toward the reef where she was stranded, half submerged.
Before she could realize it, helplessly relying on herself and unable to break the chain, Amidina’s face showed a powerless expression.
A magic arrow crackling with lightning suddenly shot up from the lakebed, striking the chain on her wrist and cracking it.
Amidina abruptly looked toward the direction the arrow came from.
There, struggling against the whirlpool’s suction while swimming, he emerged from the lake’s depths.
He took out a second, smaller Spirit Pearl from his chest pouch, allowing her to see the way clearly through the fog and gloom…
‘Lin Nuo.’
“Buzz!”
Amidina’s mind went completely blank.
All her memories seemed to vanish in that single moment.
Only a faint image from her earliest years remained—a time when she understood nothing, holding a piece of paper with her mother’s handwriting, pointing at the words her mother had written, lifting her face and saying:
“In the future, when she finds her intended, it must be as her mother expected—unparalleled in the world…”
Long after, Amidina never understood why, upon seeing Lin Nuo that day, this long-buried scene covered by the dust of time surfaced.
His figure was so disheveled, clearly many times he had been in such a state, seemingly without anything memorable about him…
Yet she still wanted to admit that, at this moment, this silhouette coming from the darkness toward her, surpassed everyone she had ever seen before, and stood on the pedestal she defined in her heart as “the one and only.”
The swirling whirlpool in the lake made Lin Nuo sharply feel the suction behind him multiply several times.
He had a bit of a fear of deep water, and the monstrous creature before him was terrifying to look at…
Earlier, in front of Parkes, Lin Nuo had managed to keep a bit of dignity, but now he was cursing internally.
Not daring to look away, he raised the Frost Soul Bow and shot an arrow that narrowly missed the target.
Then he lifted the second prepared Spirit Pearl.
Fortunately, Amidina saw his signal.
She seemed to be telling him… to leave quickly?
Damn it!
He was already here; there was no way he could just leave now!
Moreover…
Damn!
The kick to his belly hurt more than he thought.
He regretted provoking the monster with his cheeky words!
Noticing he was running low on oxygen and there was no time to resurface for air, Lin Nuo tore off his already tattered concealment tool, staring at the only piece of equipment left in his hand.
This was something he had brought from the Sacred Relic Hall in the Manor:
—The Energy Draining Talisman Ring.
Inside it was the magic power Yulilian had temporarily stored just before departure.
“Dummy, it’s time to protect your sister!”
When Lin Nuo pulled the bowstring again, a wave of red magic spread over his forearm.
It was as if Yulilian appeared beside him, a tiny hand helping him pull, assisting his aim at the reef.
“Whoosh!”
The arrow flew out once more.
“Damn!”
That cursed bow—he still missed the target on the last shot…
But… Lin Nuo’s face showed a hint of relief at completing the task.
He couldn’t aim precisely, but at least Amidina caught the arrow this time.
She was saved…
With all his oxygen exhausted, Lin Nuo was pushed backward underwater by the arrow’s recoil, his powerless body drawn into the whirlpool.
As his eyelids closed, the last image he saw was Amidina catching the magic arrow, breaking the shackles on her wrist, and plunging into the water to reach for him.
Her graceful figure swam toward him with all her strength in a beautiful scene…
Then, his body continued falling deeper into the darkness, as if gently lifted by a warm force.
The water was chilly, but his lips suddenly felt as if wrapped in soft, warm clouds.
Oxygen was slowly being transferred in… and his lips felt the faint touch of being softly sealed.
Two fair arms gripped his own, as if subconsciously tightening in response to this bold move, causing Lin Nuo’s closed eyelids to flutter slightly.
Whether it was illusion or not, Amidina felt the person before her deepen the kiss she had taken the initiative to place.
***
Heavy raindrops the size of beans splashed onto the now calm surface of Silver Tears Lake, stirring a ring of ripples.
“Chirp chirp!”
“Cough… cough cough…”
As Lin Nuo helped Amidina out of Silver Tears Lake, Fatty Bird, wearing a straw hat and holding the largest leaf it could find in its beak, watched them both drenched from head to toe.
Finally, it jumped onto Amidina’s shoulder and tilted the leaf over her head to shield her from the rain.
Frustrated, Lin Nuo said, “You just see her wrist injured and give her the rain cover. My belly’s so big, I can’t see anything, and you don’t even care about me?”
“Chirp chirp!”
Fatty Bird quickly moved the leaf onto Amidina’s head, then flew and hopped onto Lin Nuo’s head.
Using its tiny hat to shield him from the rain, it tilted its head as if asking for praise.
“Why… did you save me?”
Seeing Lin Nuo take off his coat and drape it over her shoulders, Amidina’s peach blossom-like eyes were filled with a mixture of disbelief and inscrutable emotion.
“Damn if I know why.”
“Yulilian gave me all the preserved fruits and told me to keep you safe. I figured since I already had everything, might as well help her out a bit.”
“……”
Lin Nuo pulled a piece of the preserved fruit from his chest and fed it to Fatty Bird perched atop his head.
Amidina simply stroked the Spirit Pearl Lin Nuo had brought up from the lake.
Her peach blossom eyes suddenly brightened for a moment.
“What’s with those explosive silver pieces…?”
Having dispelled the chill with magic and regained some strength, Amidina asked.
Before she finished, a voice deep and repressed, laced with murderous intent, interrupted her question.
“I want to ask you as well, the unprecedented, unmatched young master Lin Nuo who brought back twenty-three worthless slaves without using any magic power, causing our seven years of efforts to vanish overnight,”
Ruding’s hoarse voice sounded as if it were rasping: “How did you do it?”