Chapter 32: Charging You Up!

“It’s utterly unreasonable…”

The colossal waves loomed like a beast baring its fangs, swallowing the sky as they roared across the sea.

Their path aimed straight for the innocent spectators on the beach. 

The quick-witted among them, sensing the danger, grabbed their companions and fled the shoreline.

But Noi refused to budge, her anxious gaze fixed on the tiny figure of Lyte beneath the towering waves.

Lyte sprinted a few steps toward the surge, bending to snatch a piece of the shattered motorboat. 

With a powerful push against the water’s surface, his magic condensed into a single point and erupted, propelling him upward toward the crest of the wave.

What was he doing?

The question rippled through Hui and the onlookers who were still watching from the shore.

What Lyte did next left the unseasoned spectators dumbfounded.

“My goddess, Afiya… am I seeing this right?”

Amid the rising tide, a black-haired youth rode the wreckage of the boat like a surfboard, harnessing the tidal energy to glide with astonishing precision.

But what truly stunned the crowd was how Lyte enveloped the entire wave in his magic, severing Hui’s supernatural control over it. 

With delicate finesse, he manipulated the wave, bending it to his will, making it twist and turn at his command.

Deprived of Hui’s ceaseless energy, the wave was whittled down layer by layer by Lyte’s magic until it subsided into the sea, tame and unremarkable.

Hui clutched his head, disbelief etched across his face.

This ocean, brimming with water, was his ideal battlefield. 

Even the top enforcer of the great noble Lutos Bond, the leader of the trio, might not have bested him here.

Naturally, after his bold taunts, Hui hadn’t thought for a moment that he could lose.

But now, he had only fifteen seconds left.

No matter! 

Lutos had given him a death order: kill Lyte at all costs. 

His life had been saved by the lord, and now was the time to repay that debt.

“Huff! Ten seconds to go!” came the amplified voice from the beach’s loudspeaker.

The referee, who had fled earlier, was carried back by the curious crowd after Lyte tamed the wave. 

Whistling, he announced the remaining time in the match.

Hui steeled himself, clapping his hands together. 

His soul’s psychic energy and his body’s magic poured out in a torrent.

“Rumble!”

The seawater churned, twisted, and formed a circular wall of waves that trapped both Lyte and Hui within.

Heedless of his own safety, Hui was determined to take Lyte down with him.

After performing his final, desperate move, Hui collapsed, unconscious, his powers spent. 

He plunged into the water, doomed to drown without aid.

Facing the monstrous tide, Lyte stood firm on the sea’s surface, holy sword in hand. 

With a casual horizontal slash, a silver arc flashed through the air.

The circular wall of waves parted like soft tofu under a freshly sharpened blade, sliced cleanly in two. 

The lingering sword intent prevented the waves from reforming.

Without their base, the wave crests hovered briefly before crashing back into the sea. 

By the time they reached Lyte, they were little more than tickling ripples.

Diving into the depths, Lyte scooped up the unconscious Hui and swiftly returned to shore, handing him over to professionals to clear the seawater from his lungs.

He hadn’t planned to go to such lengths. 

As the Chosen One, his constitution rendered him immune to most elemental forces. 

The water’s elemental energy was far from enough to defeat him—perhaps it would only have knocked him off balance.

But Hui had fainted from exhaustion, so Lyte had no choice but to slice through the tide and save the drowning man.

“Lyte! Are you hurt?”

A white-haired girl hurried to his side, her movements frantic, like a young wife awaiting her husband’s return from work. 

She gently patted him down, searching for any sign of injury.

Lyte softly caught her wrists, guiding her cool little hands to his cheeks, a warm smile spreading across his face.

“No injuries, but I’m feeling awfully drained. Got any ideas to perk me up, little angel?”

“Mmm…”

Catching the hint in his words, Noi lowered her crimson eyes, pondering for a moment. 

Then, with puffed cheeks, she threw her arms around the black-haired youth, her petite frame clinging to him like an oversized koala.

“Charging you up!”

“Hah! Full health restored…”

Lyte’s hands traced the delicate curve of Noi’s shoulder blades, their elegant shape dipping into a smooth, tempting arc that slid toward her lower back, stopping just above her tailbone with lingering reluctance.

Her upper abdomen pressed against him, soft and sweet like whipped cream, sending a ripple of blissful warmth through his heart.

After a moment of indulgent closeness, the two parted reluctantly, their faces flushed like young lovers tasting romance for the first time, sharing a shy smile.

Noi turned her head away, feigning indifference toward this mischievous man who, despite being unharmed, had tricked her into a hug.

But soon, her longing for his attention won out. 

She stole a glance at his sharply defined profile with the corner of her eye.

As if sensing her gaze, Lyte, who had been discussing Hui’s condition with the staff, turned back. 

Meeting her curious eyes, he flashed a charming smile that made Noi blush and look away again.

In their previous world, drowning was a grave matter, but in Tria, the omnipotent power of magic made for miraculous recoveries.

Within a minute, Hui sat up, coughing and spitting out water, looking as lively as ever, with no trace of his recent collapse.

“Hey! You, the hero and the nun, come over here. I lost.”

Recalling his defeat, Hui’s face darkened, but he honored his promise.

Unable to complete his boss’s orders and failing even to die trying, he braced himself for a thorough scolding.

They released the birdman from the lounge. 

His name was Sano Frazer, a 13-year-old abandoned shapeshifting demon.

Sano, cloaked in a gray hoodie, fluttered his sparrow-like wings, his sharp brown eyes sizing up to the two people who rescued him.

Lyte wasted no time. 

After explaining their purpose, he bluntly asked about the whereabouts of the young noble, Andy.

“My employer? He…”

Sano paused mid-sentence, his eyes narrowing as he weighed his words.

His rescue had been anticipated by Lutos’s top enforcer Abai . 

To ensure Sano’s compliance, Abai had paid him handsomely—enough to cover a month’s meals.

Sano was grateful to Noi and Lyte, but his own interests came first.

“Andy’s been taken away. I think they went to the obstacle course. I haven’t heard of any minor noble.”

His account was deliberately vague. 

Sano had, in fact, seen the minor noble.

Sato Gris, the minor noble, had been lounging on the beach, ogling women in swimsuits with brazen nonchalance. 

When Andy found him, rage erupted, and a fight broke out.

After the scuffle, Andy tried to confront him, but Sato hid behind Hui, who had just arrived.

Hui locked Sano in the lounge, tied up Andy, and loaded him onto a dune buggy. 

Sano knew nothing beyond that.

Leading Noi and Lyte to the obstacle course was Abai’s order—a trap set through Sano’s words.

Lyte sensed something was off, but they were too deep in the game to back out now. 

They could only move forward, step by step.

Hui, with an air of false generosity, offered them a dune buggy, as if his loss had erased all grudges.

“Hahaha, you two take care now! Hurry along, your friend’s waiting!”

It wasn’t flattery—Hui’s urging carried the glee of someone hoping they’d stumble into trouble.

With Lyte by her side, the naive Noi left the thinking to him. 

Her instincts were sharp, but her stubbornness often kept her from puzzling out the “why” of things.

Noi settled obediently into the passenger seat. 

Lyte familiarized himself with the dune buggy’s controls, then fired it up, the engine sputtering as they sped toward the obstacle course.