Chapter: 191
Fluff, fluff.
Jess shook off the white snow piled on her body like a puppy, using both hands to brush the ground. Perhaps out of consideration for Lian, she kept as close to the entrance as possible while shaking off the snow, ensuring no snow drifted into the cave.
‘Is it okay because she’s a beastman?’
Seeing that Jess looked surprisingly fine, Lian felt a wave of relief and a little question popped into his mind. His gaze automatically drifted to Jess’s now fluffier red hair since arriving in this cold region.
‘Thanks to her hair, it doesn’t feel as cold, but… there’s too much exposure.’
The tattered clothes worn by a slave had reached a point where they couldn’t even function properly during their escape from the castle. If the Gag Filter had completely lost its power, she might have been facing some serious exposure.
Lian quickly shook his head to dismiss the grim thoughts that crept into his mind. White snow fell lightly from his head.
Only then did he realize that snow was also accumulating on his body. It felt so cold that his thoughts seemed dull and sluggish. Finally entering a space where he could gather some warmth, his fingers were still red and trembling.
With a rattling hand, he brushed the snow from his head. His body creaked as if it were a rusty robot’s arm, but moving wasn’t a problem. Thanks to the remaining Gag Filter still working, he felt almost no pain.
His mind was foggy, and his thoughts bounced around uncontrollably. Like snowflakes scattered by the wind, they drifted toward the question he had consistently pondered since parting with the Demon King.
‘What was that ability back then?’
The ability that allowed him to hold the Demon King and peer into her deep essence.
That was entirely different from the power the God of the Gag World had given him.
‘It feels like that was a kind of power…’
Having used the power he had dubbed ‘Gag Filter’ for so long, he instinctively recognized that the power he had used back then was indeed a ‘power.’
‘Could it be a power that I forgot the God mentioned?!’
If it was the God of the Gag World, it would certainly make sense… but Lian shook his head lightly and continued to ponder.
‘No, it can’t be. This power existed even before that.’
The power he had owned long before receiving the ‘Gag Filter’ from the God of the Gag World—it was something he had possessed since a very distant past. He just hadn’t been able to define what that power was because he didn’t know what ‘power’ even meant.
‘It wasn’t like this back then, was it? Did it grow or something?’
As far as he remembered, that ability only allowed him to ‘assess’ others; it didn’t delve deep into their inner selves.
The ability to vaguely sense another’s general emotions and thoughts allowed him to be seen as someone who was ‘intuitive’ or ‘empathetic,’ but there was nothing extraordinary about it.
If he stripped away the fancy term ‘power,’ it was just being a guy with a good sense.
To be honest, if it weren’t for this incident, Lian wouldn’t have thought of that ability as a power at all. He would have just thought he was a little quicker on the uptake in his previous life, but nothing special—at least that’s what he believed.
The extent of Lian’s realization of his ability’s power was weak. That weak strength could only be explained if it had indeed grown stronger as the God looked down at his creations, as if by ‘enhancement’ or ‘growth.’
‘Maybe it’s because I’m in this fragile state without my magic sword… I should just be grateful.’
Even if it was a pathetic ability that vaguely let him know the other’s emotions, it was surely better than having nothing. When strengthened, it was even more unnecessary to say.
‘What can I use this for… or may…?’
He blinked.
His eyelids felt as heavy as if they were made of steel. He knew he shouldn’t close his eyes like this, but he had to force his thoughts to continue, which was easier said than done.
“Haa…”
As he exhaled, a small puff of breath briefly escaped his lips. His body temperature had dropped so drastically that there wasn’t much difference between the temperature inside the cave and his breath, so the puff couldn’t linger long.
‘This… is a big deal.’
His head felt sluggish, causing his thoughts to flow slowly. Lian gently placed his hand on his side.
‘Ugh… it’s already healed.’
During their escape from the castle, they had been ambushed by Outsiders, who seized the bodies of the executives. The wound remaining on his side did not come from the Outsiders.
It was a mark left behind when an Outsider, sent flying by Jess’s kick, smashed into a pillar, and one of the broken pieces had grazed his side. Most of the wounds on Lian’s body were remnants of such incidents.
‘Should I be grateful that the Gag Filter is working properly…?’
Thanks to the Gag Filter, he was able to dodge all the Outsiders’ attacks; but conversely, it also left behind some ridiculous wounds.
If the Gag Filter had worked flawlessly, those wounds would have disappeared in an instant, and he wouldn’t have had to worry about them, but the half-functioning Gag Filter took a good amount of time to heal, causing all the injuries to remain until he exited the Demon King’s Castle and entered the snowy mountains.
Since the wounds hadn’t healed, he thought of digging into them to try to wake up from the pain, but by the time they climbed the snowy mountain, they seemed to have all healed.
Wondering whether he should be grateful for the slow healing from the Gag Filter or not, he found himself drowned in meaningless thoughts as the time passed, and his eyelids grew heavier.
“Ah… Jess…”
Not wanting to fall asleep like this, he attempted to call out to Jess, asking her to scratch his arm. He barely managed to turn his heavy eyes toward her, but everything was just a blurry mass without focusing properly.
“I’m… so… sleepy… but…”
His words dragged out, and his thoughts began to fade. If he lost focus for even a moment, it felt like he might faint into sleep.
“I… need to—”
Just as he was about to blurt out his request for her to scratch him, he noticed something strange.
Jess appeared hazy, like a picture with a mosaic filter. Taking a moment, he dismissed it as fatigue—until what came next struck him.
“Jess…?”
Her red hair, white skin, and tattered clothes should have blended together, but all he could make out was the colors of her pale skin and red. This meant that—
Before Lian could come to a conclusion, he suddenly smelled something familiar getting closer.
“Gah?!”
Against the backdrop of his frozen body, Jess, with her excessively high body temperature, embraced him. His frozen body couldn’t react and simply surrendered to her warmth.
The shock was so overwhelming that it snapped him back to reality, jolting his dazed mind like being thrown into icy cold seawater. Lian stared blankly at the collarbone and shoulder that were suddenly so close.
“W-wait! Jess, what’s going on?!”
Finally regaining his senses, Lian desperately attempted to push Jess away, clutching her waist with stiff hands. The warmth and softness he felt beneath his palms made his body go rigid.
His mind, somewhat trained by Noah, malfunctioned as he struggled to comprehend what was happening. Meanwhile, Jess wrapped a blanket around both herself and Lian.
Their bodies were now concealed within the blanket.
“J-Jess, this is really not okay. I’m really…! I’m really fine, so!”
Though Jess had persistently shown her affections toward Lian until now, he had never felt pursued by her—not even once.
To get closer to Lian, Jess had no choice but to utilize her ‘childlike beastman’ persona. Because of this, Lian could not perceive her as a ‘woman.’
Considering her more of a large child, Lian instinctively reacted in a way that made him feel like a grownup doing something naughty to a child, causing him to panic.
“Grrr…”
“…!”
He heard a growl mixed with a threat in his ear. It sounded like the growl of a predator, sensing its prey, causing his body to freeze in fear.
After a minute of being frozen like a statue, the growling subsided. During that time, Lian’s body had become significantly warmer, enveloped in the sensation reminiscent of diving under a warm blanket. Consequently, his eyelids felt twice as heavy as before.
‘I can’t fall asleep like this.’
Even if no one was watching, it would be no different from social suicide. As warmth seeped in, his body’s sensations began to return, and he started feeling Jess’s skin, which only felt hot moments ago, in a more proper way. He needed to escape before feeling it too vividly.
“Jess, I’m fine now so—AAgh!”
Suddenly—thud!
Before he could finish his sentence, one of his ears was bitten sharply. The unexpected pain shocked him once, then again as the Gag Filter seemed to be malfunctioning, delivering more pain than usual, and again when Jess licked the bloodied spot, leaving him surprised three times over.
‘What’s going on? Is there some strange plant growing in this cave? Is it something like grass that can cause hallucinations? Or did I accidentally chow down on something weird while dozing off?’
His mind swirled with confusion as Jess hugged Lian tightly while lying down.
Somehow, a tattered blanket had been laid out on the ground, likely from her bag. The two of them collapsed onto the layered blanket.
Lian was turned easily to the side, with Jess’s upper body lying against his back. Her legs wrapped around his, constricting like a snake, while her arms pulled him close to her shoulders. The heat and softness pressed against him, no matter how many times he experienced it, remained unfamiliar.
Staying stiff, like a doll, he intertwined with her warmth, only to feel her breath against his ear.
“Jess…”
Just as Lian was about to plead again for her to let him go, Jess whispered softly.
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