“Wuaaahhhh——!!”
The sudden loss of gravity made Veil instantly lose all sense of security inside the carriage!
She flailed about, grabbing at anything she could find, and before she knew it, she had latched onto something like an octopus!
Whoosh——!!
After a rapid free fall lasting nearly four or five seconds, the carriage was finally about to crash to the ground!
If it hit, everyone inside might be reduced to a pulp in an instant!
But… glug!
Yet in the very next moment, the Shadow on the ground seemed to turn into a swamp, instantly “swallowing” the plummeting carriage!
“Glug-glug-glug——!!”
A chaotic, sticky sensation, like being trapped in a suffocating marsh, enveloped everyone.
“Wuaahh——?!”
But this sensation only lasted for an instant, and amid Holly and Veil’s screams… the carriage was “spit out” from the Shadow in the side wall of the cliff…
As soon as the carriage emerged from the Shadow, the two horses pulling it collapsed to the ground with a thud!
From their eyes and nostrils, black “liquid” began to seep, and they died instantly.
“Ugh… cough cough… cough cough…”
A deathly pale Amisa rolled down from the driver’s seat at that moment, retching up some kind of black jelly onto the ground…
“Amisa!”
Ileya immediately tried to rush to Amisa’s side, but saw her make a gesture… telling her not to come closer.
“Mas… Master!”
At that moment, hearing Ileya’s worried voice, Holly also stumbled out of the carriage… Just as she was about to step forward to help her master up—
Whoosh——!
Boom!
Something crashed down beside the carriage, kicking up a cloud of dust!
“She’s overused her power and is now in a half-crazed state. No one should go near her…”
As the dust gradually settled, Arthur’s figure slowly emerged.
He had been driving his own carriage behind the girls’, and so had narrowly escaped disaster.
But since he’d already made a promise last night, Arthur would not abandon anyone.
So, he chose to jump down directly from the opening above.
He waved to stop Holly, who was gritting her teeth to rush forward, then pulled his harp from his coat.
A sorrowful yet melodious tune instantly echoed through the pitch-black space.
Amisa’s trembling body seemed to ease slightly at this moment.
Those eyes, which appeared to be completely dyed black by the Shadow, gradually regained their light…
And the moment she regained a sliver of sanity, Amisa began frantically devouring the black jelly she had just vomited onto the ground!
Like someone starved for three days who’s finally given a piece of bread!
In just a few bites, she gulped all of it back down.
“Huff… huff huff… cough… tha… thank you…”
Amisa panted heavily, her voice hoarse as she nodded to Arthur.
She seemed to have regained her senses completely, though her face was still deathly pale and drenched in cold sweat.
It wasn’t until this moment that Holly, seeing Arthur nod at Amisa, finally dashed forward and wrapped her first—and only—master in this foreign world tightly in her arms.
Ileya, however, did not disturb the touching scene between master and apprentice, but instead looked at Arthur with a somewhat complicated expression.
Arthur clearly understood what his Lady meant.
“Every Transcendent walks alone on a tightrope over an abyss of madness and danger. A single misstep and they fall, becoming a monster.”
“The Supreme Being’s power and Divine Gift… to humans, are really no different from a Curse.”
Arthur said this as he slung his harp back at his waist, his pale blue eyes under silver hair looking over at the Lady.
“But you… seem different. You can control the power inside you.”
His words were certain, and it annoyed Ileya.
This feeling of being seen through was even more unpleasant to her than being beaten up.
“Is… is it over?”
Just then, in the carriage… Veil, still clinging to someone like an octopus, asked dazedly, then cracked her eyes open just a bit…
But… the moment she opened them, she was greeted by Reliel’s emotionless face.
“Ugh!? Poker-face…”
She instinctively blurted out the nickname she had for Reliel in her heart.
This earned her a puzzled tilt of the head from poker-face.
◔‸◔?
“Uh.. cough cough.”
Embarrassed, she unwrapped her octopus-like limbs from Reliel and climbed off, clearing her throat twice.
“Well… Senior, I was just testing you!”
“As I expected! You… really are suited to be an excellent maid… huh?”
(• . •)? Where’d she go…
While Veil Senior was still trying to save face, she looked up only to find the spot in front of her… already empty.
Uuuuuu!!
That poker-face girl… how dare she ignore this goddess!!
(╯□╰)
Well… if she hadn’t been clinging to Reliel, she would’ve already left herself.
And the moment the girl walked out, she glanced at the others.
Hmm… No one’s missing.
She’d heard the voices outside too.
At this moment… she still couldn’t quite face Amisa, who’d been badly injured to protect everyone.
She was just too useless.
If she’d been able to bring Holly and Veil out of the carriage… Ileya, who could summon Insmouth, would absolutely have been able to protect herself.
In that case, Amisa wouldn’t have suffered, only having to look after herself.
But from that height, even if she could briefly unleash Silver-rank power, she could only guarantee she wouldn’t die herself—not take two others to safety.
With a heavy sigh, Reliel shook her head and began surveying her surroundings.
As she looked around, her brow furrowed slightly.
This was not, as they’d thought, a chasm formed by an earthquake, nor was it a natural underground canyon…
Instead… Reliel bent down and picked up a fragment of brick from the ground.
That’s right, it was a man-made piece of brick.
This… was a constructed space! The reason they fell was because the ceiling had collapsed from the earthquake-like tremor just now.
As Reliel was inspecting the area…
“Cough cough… Lady…” Holly helped Amisa over to Ileya.
“I’m sorry… Lady, I… was still so useless.”
Actually, at that moment, what Amisa was hoping for was… for the Lady to look at her like she was trash and say: “What a useless good-for-nothing…”
Maybe then her wounds would heal most of the way (impossible)…
But… Ileya only gave her a nod and a look of approval.
Finally, she reached out and patted her shoulder.
“Well done.”
Uuuu! That’s not what I wanted at all!!
But… Suddenly, Amisa seemed to remember something, and her eyes suddenly lit up!
“Master… just rest for… eh?!”
She pushed her bargain apprentice aside! Nearly stumbling and falling to the ground herself!
“You…” Ileya quickly caught her maid.
Noticing the crack in her Crystal Glasses on the bridge of her nose, and her… inexplicably flushed cheeks…
“Um… Lady! Could you… grant me one favor…?”
Her body slowly turned around, face deathly pale, eyes half-open in exhaustion.
It looked… as if she were at death’s door.
“Go ahead…”
“Could you… let me rest in your Shadow for a bit?”