“Ugh…”
I was using Space Magic to keep the Behemoth immobilized, but it was definitely not easy.
It felt like I was trying to hold up several steel beams on my arms.
Even though I was just suppressing it like an immortal sea monster, pain surged through my arm muscles, as if they were about to tear.
Yet, I couldn’t release the magic.
The moment I let go of my strength, Nina would be in danger.
As the pain lengthened, my facial muscles twisted, and the smile I had slowly faded away.
The pressure that I had to hold out until the purification of the stake was complete weighed heavily on me.
I clenched my teeth, pouring all my strength into my arms.
“Are you watching me?”
Even though I was dying from exertion, the Behemoth was staring at me intently.
Its eyes were so large that I wondered if it was even really looking at me.
But once I heard its voice in my head, all doubts washed away like the tide.
“Human.”
“What? You could talk?”
“Free me!”
“Hang on a bit. I’ll let you go in a bit.”
“Let me go now!”
“You impatient bastard. Just wait quietly. Everything we’re doing is for you after all.”
“Let go! Let go! Let go! Let go! Let go!”
“Ugh! So freaking loud!”
The Behemoth, losing its sanity to the stake’s wicked energy, was rampaging.
I thought it was sane when it first spoke to me, but that was not the case.
It was half out of its mind, screaming to let it go.
Since it was directly sending its will to my brain, I couldn’t block it out, so I could only hope that Nina would finish the purification quickly.
My arms had already reached a level where I couldn’t feel them.
“Oh!”
Just when it felt like my arms would break off, a blinding flash erupted from the Behemoth’s neck.
It seemed Nina had finally succeeded in purifying the stake.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment.”
Once the malevolent energy with the anti-magic effect was purged, pulling out the stake was no longer a problem.
I set the coordinates I had checked beforehand from the high ground and sent the stake somewhere else.
Now that the irritating spike that had deeply lodged itself had fallen out, it should soon regain its sanity.
I loosened the magic that was constraining the Behemoth, alleviating some of the pressure on my arms.
“Human, I will kill you!”
“Wha-what?!”
Even with the stake removed, the Behemoth still wasn’t back to its senses.
I applied pressure again, but it was already too late.
The Behemoth forced its way through the fixed area and crushed it completely.
It was practically absurd, but the creature I was facing now was a disaster.
It was only natural that common sense, which I had always taken for granted, did not apply here.
“Kugh!”
The Behemoth, shaking off all restraints, charged fiercely at me.
The tangled-up enhanced mermaids were blown away, along with it swinging its nose wildly.
The Behemoth’s snout shattered underwater rocks as it surged towards my position in an instant.
I used Space Transfer to narrowly escape to a nearby trench.
As the Behemoth’s snout swept past, a cloud of sandy dust was raised and sucked into the trench.
Watching the sand stick to the wall and being swallowed into the trench, I occasionally spotted the remains of indiscernible creatures.
If I had been even a moment late escaping, my body would have turned to mush.
“Nina is in danger…!”
There was no time to feel relieved about surviving.
Now that the guard was all gone, I was the only one left to protect Nina.
Before the sandy dust could settle, I crawled out of the trench.
I cleared away all the dust surrounding me to get a better view.
“Nina!”
Nina was being flung from the Behemoth’s neck and falling slowly.
She didn’t seem to move her limbs at all, likely having lost consciousness from the impact.
The problem was the wide-open mouth of the Behemoth right in front of her.
If this continued, she would be caught and eaten by the Behemoth.
I tried to use Space Magic to pull Nina to my position, but for some reason, the magic wasn’t working.
“What is this? This has never happened before…?”
I wasn’t out of mana, yet the magic did not respond.
There were no other options. If bringing her here was impossible, I had to go to her.
Fortunately, I was able to move to where Nina was and pulled her into my arms.
“Damn it! What’s wrong with this?!”
I held onto Nina and tried to escape, but the magic failed to activate.
It felt like my mana was trapped by the anti-magic.
In order to figure out what was causing it, I looked around frantically and finally figured it out.
“Crazy….”
Beyond the Behemoth’s throat, I felt the presence of yet another stake lodged inside it.
No, it was a far stronger energy emanating from within.
“There was another stake?!”
The problematic stake was surely the one lodged in its neck.
But the filthy and ominous energy that was coursing through my skin wasn’t an illusion.
Most importantly, the fact that the Behemoth was still rampaging even after the first stake was pulled out was proof of it.
“Yeah, I was too complacent.”
I had thought that since I had Space Magic, I could resolve anything even when unexpected events occurred.
But the Behemoth was a tough opponent even with Space Magic, and it was clear that I couldn’t resolve the stakes without Nina.
Even if I had grown significantly stronger than the original Daniel, I couldn’t afford to get intoxicated by that strength.
I should have prepared more meticulously to handle whatever arose with composure.
“If I’ve made a mistake, I must bear the responsibility.”
I am a completely different person from Daniel.
But as someone who liked him, I felt that I should at least emulate his beliefs.
Daniel was, in my opinion, the most ideal educator.
“I’m trapped in here anyway.”
With no magic to utilize, my physical body couldn’t escape from the Behemoth.
So there was only one method left. I needed to pull out the stake myself.
As soon as I made my decision, my body immediately moved.
I carried Nina and entered the mouth of the Behemoth.
Fortunately, every time the Behemoth breathed, it sucked in a large amount of water, making it easy to infiltrate.
I sharpened my senses to locate the stake and began my search.
Going down through the esophagus, I spotted a wooden column sticking out unnaturally.
Its outer surface appeared to be a normal wooden material, but it was surrounded by a wicked energy that made it appear black.
This was yet another root of the problem.
“Now I understand why the Behemoth arrived a day early.”
If just one stake could render it powerless, then having two lodged inside would be unbearable.
Especially since the worst of them was stuck in its esophagus like a fishbone, it was only natural that it went out of its mind.
“Can I really do this?”
This stake was imbued with a sinister force similar to dark magic.
If I tried to pull it out physically, I’d surely face severe consequences.
But I didn’t know when Nina would regain consciousness, and the breathing apparatus the mermaids gave us was nearing its limit.
If I didn’t act now, both Nina and I would just end up being the Behemoth’s nutrients.
“I can do this. No, I have to!”
I stretched out my arm and gripped the stake tightly.
As soon as my skin touched the stake, a searing pain shot through my nerves and pierced my brain.
“Ughhh!”
The intense agony made my whole body tremble, and my instincts screamed at me to let go of this hand immediately.
The feeling was as if my cells were melting.
The pain I felt while restraining the Behemoth was nothing compared to this.
“Ughhhh…!”
A rancid taste lingered in my mouth.
I had reached the limits of what a human could endure, and my brain was starting to fry, filling the air with the smell of burning and blood.
My vision turned red, the blood flowing from my eyes mixing with the seawater.
I couldn’t let it continue like this.
This was pain that a human body could never withstand.
Desiring to seek another way out surged within me, yet I wouldn’t let go of my grip.
However, I genuinely didn’t have the strength left to pull.
“Wait…!”
There was still one more method.
With my left hand gripping the stake, I reached into my pocket with my right hand.
I grasped the vial at my fingertips.
I had used all five kinds of drugs that Paul had given me, leaving nothing behind.
However, I still had one last potion left.
The magical amplification potion that Celestia had made for me.
What good would it do when I couldn’t use magic? But I was willing to gamble on the slightest possibility.
Desperation breeds miracles, after all.
As I opened the cap with my thumb, I poured the contents directly into my mouth.
A bitter taste surged down my throat into my stomach.
It was a fiery sensation on top of the already intense pain.
Yet, all the mana inside me surged at once, breaking the restraints of the anti-magic that had been binding me.
“Ugh…!”
I could now utilize little bits of Space Magic, but bad news followed.
The treasure that allowed the mermaids to breathe, which had helped me in that cursed water, had broken down.
Water flooded into my mouth, choking my throat and preventing me from breathing.
Since Nina’s treasure had also malfunctioned, her unconscious self became more perilous.
I squeezed out the remaining small amount of mana to isolate the space, preventing any water from reaching Nina’s body.
The little mana I had left was used for the task of pulling out the stake.
“Just a little more…!”
The stake began to stir slightly, thanks to my Space Magic.
Amidst the agony and suffocating pressure, I bled from every orifice in my face as I tried to pull out the stake.
As my brain fried and the world faded to white, I focused all my energy on the strength flowing into my arms.
“How did I even breathe before?”
Finally forgetting how to hold my breath, I let in the oncoming water.
“Am I just going to fail?”
As my consciousness began to fade, feeling my energy draining, a tender sensation brushed against my cheek, and I felt a warm body temperature on my lips.
At that moment, a breath flowed into my mouth, making my vitality begin to return.
I couldn’t see in front of me, but I felt someone giving me breaths for my sake.
I could even feel the heart contained within that breath.
“Do your best, Professor…!”
Right, I am a professor.
And I have many students whom I need to be responsible for.
I have the duty to raise them properly for the sake of their happiness.
Above all… I cannot allow myself to…!
“I can’t die!”
I clenched my hand, which had loosened slightly, tightly once more.
I exerted all my remaining strength, pulling my arm connected to the stake with all my might.
“Kraaaah!”
With a mighty roar, I yanked, and the sensation of pulling something out trailed behind me as my body leaned back.
I wasn’t sure if I had truly pulled it out or if it was just wishful thinking in my desperation.
I couldn’t see, hear, or feel anything.
After exerting every last bit of strength, I felt all my energy leave my body, and my eyelids grew heavy.
My whitened vision had long since darkened, and my mind began to dull, feeling… like fading… away…
N…o…w… I… just… want to… rest…
“Rest easy, human.”
