The preparations were all set.
All that was left was to buy some time.
By tomorrow lunch, no, even if it’s just by tomorrow morning, it was a matter I could handle without shedding a single drop of blood.
I discovered the location-tracking artifact and realized there was no communication device, so I was able to prepare in advance.
The very reason I intended to send Mariel to the temple was to leave evidence in case the Red Scorpion decided to cut its tail.
Even if an unexpected situation arose, I believed that, as I was now, I could protect both Noah and Hephaestus.
It was a perfect plan.
At least, that’s what I thought.
But what the hell is this situation…?
Hephaestus, who had fainted from inability to endure, lay heavily on my body.
Through my blurred vision and churning stomach, I looked around.
In the neatly organized gray-white room,
there were chunks of flesh that were utterly unrecognizable as human forms.
And at the center,
there was Noah, glowing with bright red blood aura and shyly smiling, along with a man who was stumbling down.
Noah’s body was in such a wreck that it wouldn’t be strange if they died at any moment.
Skin torn by their own nails.
Hands stripped down to the bone by the edge of a great sword.
Their tongue chewed to shreds and finally a pulpy mess.
Right arm and stomach embedded with ice crystals.
Blood was gushing from the holes in the legs, and the body was charred and melting everywhere.
Yet, Noah was still smiling.
The same smile they had only shown me, endlessly beaming.
I should rush over right now and heal those terrible wounds.
I needed to stop them, even if it meant grabbing their pant leg.
But my body wouldn’t allow it.
My mind wouldn’t allow it.
All it would permit was sitting there, holding back rising nausea.
“No, ah…”
Still, gritting my teeth, I crawled.
The one thought pulling my body forward was the desire to stop Noah’s bleeding.
My palms gripped on their internal organs.
Knee pressed against the squelching flesh.
Vomiting continuously surged up my throat, and the metallic taste filled my mouth.
But I didn’t stop.
I had to reach Noah.
I needed to stop Noah using the fragment.
I had to stop Noah from seeing people as monsters, from having such twisted thoughts…
“Ugh… No, Noah…”
The stench of putrid filth pierced my nose.
The horrific scenery tormented my vision.
“P… please look at me, Noah… I, I… ugh…!”
Trembling hands finally slipped.
My body tumbled to the floor.
Flesh, organs, eyeballs, teeth.
They clung to my shoulders, waist, legs, and head.
Before long,
Noah, who had been drifting away, sat up.
Chewing on their lips, they pulled my body up.
Thud- The things stuck to me dropped away.
With my eyes closed and holding my breath, I crawled again.
As I approached close enough to hear Noah’s breath,
a bright voice rang out.
“Shall I cover you with a blanket?”
To anyone’s ears, it would sound like such a random remark, but it reminded me of something Noah said earlier.
“I was so cold, I peeled off the skin from a subordinate to cover myself with it. It was really funny…”
I opened my eyes and lifted my head to look at Noah.
I saw their infinitely small back.
Their body, drenched in blood, was visible.
In their hand,
human organs and skin could be seen.
No! No… absolutely not.
I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.
My brain rejected Noah.
Instinctively,
my body.
Every nerve,
every single cell rejected Noah.
“Ugh… Huh… Ugh…!”
I beat my chest with my fists.
Scratched my flesh with my nails.
Bashed my head hard against the ground.
I jolted awake with pain.
Finally, I could get up and embrace Noah’s back.
Their ice-cold body felt stiff against mine.
Their sticky skin touched mine.
The foul smell of blood lingered.
Still, I wouldn’t let go.
I held on even tighter.
I poured in my divine power.
While reciting prayers in my heart, I channeled all my strengthened divine power.
But,
the blood aura swirling around Noah violently spat out my divine power as if it rejected it.
Instead, the mixed divine power and blood aura began to confuse me within my body.
The pulse I felt from Noah in my arms slowed.
That cold body became even icier.
The bleeding worsened.
“No… Ah. Noah, please… please… I beg you…”
At that moment,
“Damn it! I’ll take you with me!!”
The man, who had been sitting in front of Noah, shot an ice spear.
In this situation, it could hit Noah’s head directly.
Time stretched.
While my body remained still, my thoughts spun rapidly.
I couldn’t evade it.
I couldn’t perfectly block it as I was a second too slow in maneuvering my divine power.
The only thing I could do was protect Noah with my body.
I had to capture it with my divine power when the penetrating ice spear reached Noah’s body, as it wouldn’t be able to stick into me.
I could do it.
The worst-case scenario wouldn’t happen.
My body wouldn’t be destroyed.
I was used to pain.
“Move.”
I pulled Noah’s body tightly and turned.
I had to turn.
But.
Noah’s body barely budged.
And then, an out-of-place sweet voice flowed out.
“Heh… it smells delicious.”
Noah’s hand lifted.
It got pierced by the ice spear.
With that, it lodged deep into the man’s head.
The exploded eyeball splattered on his face.
“Crack… gurgle…”
“R, Rubia… the scent.”
Noah’s head turned.
Their creaking body jolted as they released my arm.
Gentle eyes.
That sweet voice.
That lovely expression.
Turned towards me.
“I’ll… eat well…”
“No, Noah…?”
Noah’s mouth slowly opened.
It tipped my head back.
On my defenseless neck,
Noah’s lips.
Her teeth,
sharp,
and soft.
Touched.
*
“Heh… it smells delicious.”
Crack-crack-
“Crack… gurgle…”
I’m thirsty.
This feels good.
I’m so thirsty!
I feel like I could die!
Right now, I’m the happiest person in the whole wide world!
I feel like my throat’s tearing apart.
Look at this! I have a hole in my stomach, but it doesn’t hurt at all!
I have nothing left.
Even though I’m losing all this blood, I’m totally fine!
I don’t need anything anymore.
Hehe… I caught all the monsters!
They were pretty tough, but I was tougher!
I don’t need anything dead.
It’s a pity I had to kill them without skinning them.
But that’s still fine!
Fresh blood.
It was sooo cool just now!
I wonder if Rubia saw me?
Even if my body can’t quite handle it…
I was told not to use the fragment…
Still, I have to eat.
Will I get scolded… ugh…
Ah.
Oh?
Heavenly aroma.
That sweet, familiar scent…!!
Delicious smell.
It’s Rubia’s fragrance!
“R, Rubia… the scent.”
I withdrew the arms that bound me and turned my body.
Even if I might get scolded, I wanted to be wrapped up in her warm embrace.
And then…
“I’ll… eat well…”
I want to eat. Right now. Every single drop, no leftovers!
“No, Noah…?”
A terrified expression was drawn on her face.
I opened my mouth wide.
I could feel her trembling body.
With my teeth bared.
Yet the arms tightly gripping me…
Stretched out to tilt my head back.
Her voice seemed worried for me.
I could feel the warm blood flowing from a shallow wound.
The gentle warmth.
I brought my lips closer to the stream of flowing blood.
“Ugh, ah…”
Tears touched my face.
Biting softly into her smooth skin.
Every bit of Rubia quenched my thirst.
“Uh, um…?”
Suddenly,
a jolt in my lower abdomen.
My body became immobile.
The delightful sensation that had me entranced suddenly vanished.
“Ugh…”
Though my memory was clear, and my senses remained,
I didn’t understand why I acted like that…
I didn’t know why I was sucking on Rubia’s neck, although I wanted to… Hmm…
“Huh…”
“Uhm? Munch munch.”
Having caught Rubia in my hands, I sucked even harder because she was so delicious.
Slurp-
“Guhh- ugh… No, Noah…”
In the end, while playing around with a monster, Rubia almost got attacked, but I barely saved her.
Phew… I got too careless because of the fragment…
Slurp- Slurp-
By the way, that fragment effect is amazing…
In the game, I thought it was just useful for effects like preventing stiffness or stun, or continuing the fight.
But it means I wouldn’t feel pain at all!
Okay, it does have the downside of needing to see the blood to maintain it, but it’s epic!
Hmm… I do feel a surge to drink blood…
Since I often got monster blood in my mouth while hunting, well… that’s not a huge drawback!
Slurp- Slurp-
Oh… but wait…
When’s the penalty coming—
“Cough cough?!”
Terrible pain shot through my hole-ridden arm.
From my abdomen, legs, back, and neck.
Not a single place was spared.
All of it.
The pain hit me all at once, threatening to kill me.
My body twisted as I pushed Rubia away.
Tumbling over the floor, covered in corpses, I gnawed my teeth.
Holding on to my fading consciousness, I twisted my body.
No, was I twisting, or was my body twisting on its own?
I couldn’t pass out.
If I passed out like this, Rubia would be crazy with worry.
I’d have to explain myself somehow.
I don’t know. It hurts. It hurts so much!!
Would it hurt less if I just let go of my mind???
If I wake up, would Rubia’s healing be over, and would it hurt less?
“Kyaaaahhh-!”
As I rolled on the floor, a shard of glass got lodged into my wound.
Extreme pain made me drop my great sword.
I can’t see anything.
I don’t know, I don’t need it.
It hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts!
Tears streamed down my face.
No, they just burst out!
It hurts, it hurts! So much pain…
“No, Noah!”
“Huff, cough… argh…”
Familiar hands pulled my body.
Warm energy enveloped me right away.
The energy that had been roaming inside me now started heating up, clawing furiously into me as it grew hotter.
“Ugh… ugh… gag… cough…”
Black blood surged up my throat and burst forth from my mouth.
“Huh… cough… ugh…”
Again, and again, and again.
I spat out the reverse-flowing blood until it could choke me.
Only after a while did the torrent of blood finally cease.
The torn and split skin began to heal.
I felt the holes in my arms, legs, and abdomen closing.
As the blazing energy within me finally ceased,
the pain gradually faded.
“No, Noah… Noah, Noah!!”
Rubia’s panicked voice rang in my ears.
“Ugh…”
I didn’t know where Rubia’s face was, but I reached out my hand.
Hmm… this should be the nose.
I gently lowered my hand and drew Rubia’s neck closer.
“Noah…? Is that you, Noah? Is it really you? Are you back to your senses? Huh?”
“Yes… Huff…”
Continuously calling out Noah’s name felt like pressing a talking doll, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Cough cough! No, Noah—ha ha ha—!”
“Ugh… S-stop it…”
After pouring her worries into me, Rubia then finally began to choke back her cries while gagging.
It felt like I had been crying for ten minutes…
“Did… did you cry it all out…?”
“Huff… Ugh… sniff…”
I felt her head bobbing slightly.
Now…
“C-can you find my great sword…?”
“Ugh… Yes, I will…”
Slowly distancing herself from my body, Rubia made a sloshing, sloshing sound and approached again to place my great sword in my hand.
“Thank you… ah?”
The very moment my spirit activated,
a woman who was carrying Hephaestus appeared.
