Drip. Drip.
Blood flowed along the blade, dripping onto the grass, dyeing the green crimson.
“I won’t lie to you…” Ron muttered to himself.
He was afraid of Isis. That was the truth. Without the nourishment of that fear and wariness, Casalima’s subconscious hypnosis wouldn’t have taken effect so quickly or so thoroughly.
But he didn’t want to let Isis down. He didn’t want to disappoint or deceive the lone hero who had fallen into such a hopeless situation because of him.
“Teacher!”
Lifa was frozen in shock at Ron’s sudden movement. ‘Was her teacher infected with the curse? Why else would he harm himself out of the blue?’
“I’m fine, don’t come closer, Lifa.” Ron didn’t have time to tell Lifa more. The pain had twisted his voice into nothing but agonized roars. He still had to search out and remove the lingering threat Casalima had left.
“Take care… hiss… to be safe… get, get away from me!”
The dagger piercing his skin wasn’t just a momentary puncture wound.
As the spiritual energy conversion progressed, Ron felt as if a constantly spinning drill had bored into his shoulder, voraciously devouring the flesh and blood around the entry point.
‘Isis, is this the kind of pain that became so routine for you that you went numb?’
Ron’s lips were already stained with traces of blood from his own biting. He didn’t dare imagine how Isis had spent these past few years. Just this one transformation’s pain was etched into his bones.
“Ha—Hah—” Ron took deep, heavy breaths. In direct proportion, his mental energy and concentration were unprecedented. He easily found and dispelled Casalima’s interference.
“Teacher… Sister Ash…”
Not far away, Lifa suppressed the urge to disobey her teacher’s orders. She supported Isis’s body and walked to a spot about ten steps from Ron.
She glanced at Isis, then back at the suffering Ron, and clenched her fists. If only she could do more.
She felt she had learned a lot from living in Enid and taking on adventure requests, but why was she still unable to help at all?
Lifa supported the still-unconscious Isis. She unclenched her fist and instead grabbed the storage pendant Ron had given her, silently praying for her teacher and friend’s safety.
“Seriously, this is going to… kill me with pain…”
At that moment, Ron was half-kneeling on the grass, panting heavily. Pain is a sensation. When one’s spirit is invigorated and senses become sharper, the perception of pain is often magnified infinitely.
But soon, a smile appeared on Ron’s sweat-drenched face. It wasn’t because he had awakened some strange fetish, but because he had quietly discovered an unexpected blessing.
‘Is this a twist of fate?’ Ron muttered to himself, placing his hand on the dagger embedded in his shoulder.
For a long time, his personal condition had been terrible. Translated into the game system, he was probably a blank slate cannon fodder with no levels or equipment, his stats no different from an ordinary person.
But now. First, there was the boost from the mental potion Isis had given him. Then, the massive amplification from the secret technique in this weapon.
The current situation, brought about by various coincidences, had actually caused Ron’s soul realm and mental energy to achieve a substantial breakthrough, reaching the threshold for using some mental-type skills.
“Lifa, bring Miss Ash over here.”
Even though his voice was weak and he still had to face the second wave of excruciating pain from pulling out the dagger, Ron was extremely happy and excited.
This not only meant he was no longer completely helpless in combat, but also that at this critical moment, he could provide some help to the hero fighting alone. Who said he couldn’t use some mental-type skills?
As Ron watched Lifa supporting Isis approach, the anger in his heart toward the Ashen Demon King Casalima quickly ignited several revenge methods worth trying.
He was different from Lifa, Isis, and other natives of the Uthis Continent. Ron had a wealth of gaming experience, having tried almost every class and race.
For him, those skills, knowledge, and techniques were all stored in his mind. It was just that the terrible condition of this body made it impossible to access the treasure.
“Teacher, were you infected by the demon race’s curse just now?”
Lifa carefully leaned Isis against a tree, then handed Ron a healing potion and asked quietly.
“Something like that.” Ron shook his head.
“I can’t use this. Lifa, do me a favor. The injury caused by the dagger’s transformation can’t be healed with a potion.” He then pointed at the dagger in his shoulder. “Pull it out for me.”
“Okay.”
Lifa indicated she understood very straightforwardly, but before acting, she blushed and tore off a corner of her sleeve, crumpled it into a ball, and signaled Ron to bite down on it.
“Teacher, I’m sorry…”
The golden-haired girl gripped the dagger’s handle with both hands. Her self-blame was met with Ron shaking his head and then gently patting her head.
Click.
“Mmph mmph mmph.”
As the dagger came free, Ron somewhat ungracefully fell straight toward the grass. Fortunately, Lifa caught him in time, so he didn’t suffer a second injury.
“Teacher, are you alright?”
Lifa looked at the crimson in her palm, her disgust for this feeling of powerlessness reaching its peak.
“I’m, I’m fine.”
Ron spat out the cloth wad from his mouth. If Lifa hadn’t carefully noticed that detail, he felt he might have bitten off his own tongue.
It was at this moment, when neither of them was paying attention, that the unconscious Isis beside them furrowed her brows.
“Isis!”
“What the hell are you doing!?”
Casalima’s furious shout echoed throughout the space. The harmonious atmosphere of their previous dialogue was completely gone. Now the petite Demon King was fleeing in disarray, chased by Isis.
“Let me out.”
The hero’s sword spun into a sharp flourish. Isis’s attack, accompanied by a leaping motion, crashed straight down at Casalima.
(Damn)
“I really don’t get you. Do you want to die or live?”
After being hit and dispersed by the attack, Casalima’s form reappeared, her face full of anger and annoyance. From the moment Ron stabbed himself with the dagger, she knew things had gone wrong.
But even though she quickly closed the external broadcast, Isis still went crazy and clashed with her.
And using a method that would harm herself as much as her enemy—burning her own mental energy and strength to fight head-on.
For Casalima, who already regarded the hero’s body and mind as her trophy, it was like watching her own precious porcelain being thrown around like stones.
“Unreasonable.”
Casalima gritted her teeth, becoming more irritated as she dodged. The souls of the Child of Destiny had too many uncontrollable factors, so earlier she had chosen Ron to implant the hypnotic suggestion to kill Isis.
She had hoped that this method would make Isis despair and accelerate her demonification. Who would have thought Ron would break the situation that way, and even give Isis that ridiculous sliver of hope.
“Heh, in the spiritual world, I can’t lose…”
Casalima gave orders to her prepared backups, and at the same time stopped dodging Isis’s attacks. Raising her hand, a mass of iron chains surged from the darkness and wrapped around Isis.
“Isis, do you think I can only rely on you to kill the Child of Destiny?”
Casalima looked down at the hero whose limbs were bound, a mocking smile on her face.
“Idiot hero, watch how I deal with those two…”
Click.
The bratty little Demon King’s voice suddenly cut off. She, who had been looking up, saw a crack open in the pitch-black spiritual world above, which she had dominated.
“Huh???”
A ray of light broke into the darkness, so dazzling, shining straight down on the small area where she and Isis stood. The Demon King was stunned. The hero looked at the radiant light in disbelief.
This feeling…
[Reason for buying you?]
[Isis, I couldn’t bear to let an adorable child like you face the darkness alone~]
That moment when her master led her out of the slave market.
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