“Ugh, 30 minutes feels so long… I should’ve just shortened the chant a bit…”
It had been over 25 minutes since Marin maintained the divide in the Galadun Sea. She muttered while wiping away blood streaming from her nose with her long, red sleeves.
No matter how powerful she was as a psychic, maintaining a split in the sea was clearly a daunting task.
Noticing her vision flickering intermittently, she felt her limits were nearing.
Yet, having declared she could do it, she was determined to last at least 30 minutes, even if it meant collapsing afterward.
Florene was using her tiny body to shield the huge centipede, while Dwight and Sylvia were doing their best to protect everyone from the incoming demonic beasts.
Scarlet was probably in some unseen place, battling the witch alone.
Everyone was fighting desperately in their roles, and Marin thought to herself that she couldn’t be the one to lose. Just then,
– Kiiiiiing─!
“Ah, the centipede…!”
“Fall back! Catch that thing—!! Ugh, what the hell’s wrong with these guys all of a sudden?!”
Suddenly, an unexpected twist occurred.
The giant centipede, having lost its head, was strangely moving towards the sea despite its tremendous injuries.
The enormous centipede that Florene and the others had been holding off suddenly let out an eerie wail, took a step back, and began moving in the opposite direction.
The heroes attempted to react quickly to the bizarre change after over 20 minutes of a stalemated situation, but they were unable to stop the centipede due to the demonic beasts that had suddenly gone wild.
“Damn it, wasn’t it on the verge of dying?”
“Why is it so fast?!”
Even though it was moving backward, the centipede’s speed was astonishing.
It was incomprehensible to believe that such a creature, with its head blown off and losing strength, could move at this rate.
As if it was making a final struggle before death, the centipede charged back to the location it had originally buried itself in.
There, it found a gigantic cave that must have been its lair.
After shoving its tail in first, the centipede went fully inside,
“…Is it dead?”
It let out a low whine before stopping its movement entirely.
Was this its last desperate attempt, wishing for a peaceful end in its lair?
No one understood the centipede’s mindset and thus couldn’t ascertain the reason, but that wasn’t what was important at that moment.
“Crap… That’s the, the entrance!!!”
“Catch it! Hold it steady!!!”
When the centipede inserted its body into the cave, due to the rough movements, debris that had been precariously stacked at the entrance was starting to shake and fall.
Everyone’s instincts kicked in.
If that fell, the entire unstable cave structure could collapse.
If it was just the centipede buried, that would have been fine. But within its body was the sacred remnants that Scarlet had to bring with her.
If that treasure got buried inside as well, the aftermath would be disastrous, so the hunting party quickly launched themselves to hold onto the debris and prevent the cave from collapsing.
However, although they narrowly managed to stop the cave’s collapse, a bigger problem remained.
“Now… it’s getting dangerous…”
“…Damn, what should we do?”
It alerted everyone that Marin, who had been holding back the sea for nearly 30 minutes, was nearing her limit.
Scarlet, who had promised to solve things in that time, was still unreachable.
They couldn’t just stay there, risking drowning, and thus they had to make a decision.
“…For now, we’ll retreat for a bit.”
“What?! Then what about Miss Scarlet?!”
“…She’s a witch; she should be able to hold for a while even under the sea.”
“But!”
“But what? There’s no other choice right now.”
“Ugh…”
“…Don’t worry too much. We’re not giving up on her. For some reason, the demonic beasts are confused, and the centipede is as good as dead. Now, the squad members can search inside the centipede’s body while preparing to face the witch. So, let’s retreat, rest for a bit until Marin can reopen the sea, and then return to rescue her and complete our mission.”
Reluctantly, the hunting party decided to retreat and rest for a while, then come back to continue their mission.
After a moment of hesitation, Sylvia realized they had no choice but to comply with that decision.
Scarlet will surely be safe until then.
Anxious but holding on to that belief.
However, even as the hunting party decided to retreat from where the sea was about to engulf them,
“Hey! What are you doing there? We need to retreat!”
“…Everyone, hurry up. Marin’s at her limit too.”
For some reason, people were staying put.
“Heh, we’ll stay behind.”
“We’ll remain here.”
It was Diakonos and the Dolos family.
“Hurry up! Florene will stay here!”
And there was Florene.
Unbeknownst to them, when Florene’s voice sounded, Diakonos was extremely flustered.
Regardless, the sudden actions of those people made the hunting party panic and shout.
“No, the seawater is coming! What do you mean you’re staying behind?!”
“Exactly! It’s not like we want to commit suicide, so what are you planning to do here… Ah.”
As they shouted, someone noticed something and let out a low sigh of realization.
It was because all of them witnessed it.
Diakonos and the Dolos family members bracing themselves firmly against the debris that was precariously swaying moments ago.
Florene, standing at the cave entrance, was immensely enlarging the morning star she held, planting it into the cave’s floor and ceiling like a pillar.
How could they have not realized what their intentions were after seeing all that?
No one could have missed it.
The cave’s entrance, which had been precariously shaking till just moments ago.
If the seawater rushed in there, the impact could cause the entire cave to collapse.
Yet, everyone remained silent because they thought it was just a matter of leaving it to fate.
Even if the cave collapsed and they faced difficulty searching, it would be a consequence they simply had to accept; it wouldn’t be surprising to argue that bad luck was to blame in such a scenario.
“This cave will be a huge problem if it collapses.”
“Don’t worry, Florene will keep it from collapsing no matter what!”
But in order to prevent uncertain misfortune from occurring, Dolos resolutely decided to make an uncertain but undeniably necessary sacrifice.
Was it for atonement?
No, even if that reason didn’t exist, their actions wouldn’t have changed.
For the sake of humanity, the Dolos family had always been the type to carry out whatever deeds for the greater good.
Knowing this, the hunting party silently honored their determination.
However, there was one person who couldn’t just watch their sacrifice unfold.
“…Don’t be so calm. Don’t talk nonsense.”
Dwight Neinhart, who had jumped onto the flying spell created by Sylvia for their retreat, muttered as he leaped off.
Before anyone could stop him, he rushed toward Florene,
And with a bewildered expression, he spoke to her.
“…Did you think we’d be grateful if you died like this?”
With a fierce expression, Dwight posed his question, and Florene shook her head with a bitter smile.
“…No, I didn’t think that.”
“…Then why are you doing this?”
“…You know, Dwight. Florene made a huge mistake tricked by the witch and I’ve been feeling so guilty about it, so I want to repay it, even like this.”
Hearing Florene’s reply, which was said with a sorrowful smile, Dwight clenched his fist and muttered.
“…If you felt that guilty, you should be thinking of repaying it by living.”
Dwight gazed at Florene standing firm, gripping her weapon as if to keep the cave from collapsing, her feet planted into the ground like spikes, resolutely.
He knew that no matter what he said, he couldn’t dispel the intentions of his little friend.
The girl he had watched over all this time was more stubborn than she appeared.
Thus, instead of trying to change Florene’s mind, Dwight stood still and drew a magic circle in the air.
The magic seals drawn in an instant flew off in different directions.
Gazing at the seals that attached themselves to both Florene’s body and his, they shone with light, Florene asked,
“…What kind of magic is this?”
“It’s a spell that supplies oxygen to your lungs. With this, you should be able to hold out a bit longer under the water. I sent some to your family outside. Aside from that, it’s a reinforcing spell that can help keep the cave from collapsing.”
Dwight answered before placing his hand on Florene’s gripping weapon.
His actions, which were clearly showing he meant to stay here, led Florene to cautiously ask,
“…Dwight, are you planning to stay here?”
“I can’t change the mind of someone who’s decided to die, so there’s no choice. I’ll have to stay and see how to keep you alive. Honestly, I’m not very confident about it. Magic is great, but if you’re unprepared, it’s hard to show its true power.”
No matter how great his magic was, what were the chances of survival?
Florene understood that, so she hoped Dwight would change his mind about staying.
However, feeling Dwight’s hand resting on hers tightened with determination despite his lack of confidence, Florene realized she wouldn’t sway her blunt friend’s will.
He was someone who, despite his gruff demeanor, never changed his mind once it was made up.
With a complicated mix of emotions, Florene asked Dwight,
“…Why are you going this far for me?”
Dwight answered her question in a serious tone.
“…Because you’re a precious friend to me.”
“More than magic?”
Feeling joy and an inexplicable embarrassment, Florene teased him with a slightly mischievous question.
However, in response to that question, Dwight pondered seriously for a moment,
“…If I say you’re as precious as magic, would you be disappointed?”
He replied.
Florene burst into laughter at that answer.
As she laughed, tears began to flow for some reason.
She had been taught tears come out when one is sad, but for some reason, they kept spilling out even though she wasn’t sad.
Swallowing that back down, she quietly asked Dwight,
“…You know, Dwight Neinhart really, really likes Florene Dolos. How about you?”
To that question, Dwight responded,
“…I’ll answer that when I safely return.”
“…Okay.”
Thus, the two held onto each other through the hands resting against each other, quietly waiting for the incoming torrent.
Feeling the strong bond between them, one that wouldn’t break under any wave.
However, what came for them was not the rushing seawater ahead,
“…What are you two doing?”
“…Huh?”
It was the flames bursting from behind.
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