Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers

56 – Heavy Relationship (5)

Tiria calmly examined Erich.

One penetrating wound in his side.

Better than a stab to the chest or head. But it couldn’t be called lucky. There was a high probability of organ damage.

“Wh-What do we do?”

Riyo whimpered. Tiria took a deep breath and answered.

“Leave it to me.”

Tiria pulled out herbs and natural gauze. She quickly ripped Erich’s shirt open. No time to be shy. He was bleeding bad.

She deployed divine power, disinfecting the wound and packing it with gauze. Stopping the bleeding was the priority.

Even packed tight, the blood wouldn’t clot, not even close. Tiria’s face darkened every second.

Liyo fidgeted and asked,

“W-why is this happening? Why won’t the blood stop?”

“…Mana.”

“Mana?”

Tiria looked up. Rachel and the tree monster were locked in combat.

“That monster injected some kind of weird mana. It’s completely stopping coagulation.”

“Then what do we do?”

“I’ll try injecting more Sephiron.”

When Sephiron and mana meet, they turn into Ekirel. Ekirel is mostly harmless to the human body, just a bit heavy. She decided to try to use that neutralization reaction.

But.

“…The neutralization isn’t happening at all. Something’s gone wrong.”

“So you’re saying you can’t stop the bleeding?”

More blood was leaking out. Tiria bit her lip hard.

At this rate, the mage is going to die.

She felt powerless.

What kind of Saint is she anyway? Not even able to save one single person.

Rather, all this time, he’d been nothing but a dogmatic zealot, covering souls and sending them to nirvana. Killing the already dead again and again. Vile. Another evil parading under the guise of virtue.

And so.

“Erich.”

He wanted him to live.

“Please, there has to be some way…”

“…There is.”

The voice came from Riyo’s mouth.

“If mana and Sephiron can’t be mixed, then we can just extract the mana itself from the mage’s body.”

Something felt different about Sergeant Riyo’s demeanor.

No, it had changed. Someone else had taken over Riyo’s body.

“I’ll try.”

“…Who’s there?”

“This kid’s older sister.”

Miyo offered a calm smile. She sat cross-legged and slowly began to breathe.

Tiria knew what that posture was.

Breath weaving, Mirkill.

A posture Erich often used when gathering mana.

Miyo recalled Erich’s teachings.

“Hooo…”

Inhale, exhale. Infusing gravity into each breath. Minutely adjusting the amount of air released.

The wizard didn’t teach any theory at all. Said this stage was all about gut feeling.

Why was that?

Miyo understood.

It was because magic science was an experimental discipline.

Unlike mathematics, built on deductive logic. You observe, you try it yourself to get a feel for it, and it’s not too late to ask ‘Why?’ after.

“Hssssss.”

In a desperate situation, the mind actually calms.

Pure mana was gathering.

Miyo took the wizard’s hand. Tainted mana flowed through her body, then began to be replaced with normalized mana.

*

Rachel exchanged blows with the monster a few times. She could grasp not only its skill but even its identity.

“Hey.”

Rachel opened her mouth in a low voice.

“You’re the little shit that was stuck on that huge guy’s head earlier, right?”

[“……”]

“Looks like you were trying to control him to fight, too bad for you.”

The monster grinned, revealing pearly white teeth.

[“Vignole.”]

“Vignole?”

[“That is my name. Technical advisor to the Third Army of the Demon King. Behold my power.”]

Bigneul ripped a handful of the fruit from his head. Then scattered them on the ground.

[“Sprout.”]

Magstones burrowed into the earth. Shoots sprouted from the spots. Little demons, identical to Bigneul, burst from the ground.

[“Even though we’ve ended up like this, our skill is as strong as it was hundreds of years ago. Brat, I’ll carve the terror your ancestor felt into your very bones.”]

“Tch.”

Rachel lowered her stance. She had no intention of listening to what the demon said. Right now, she was furious.

“How dare you… how dare you put a mage in that state…”

Erich Ronstein.

He was the mortal enemy she had to fight again. Having lost even family and friends, severing all human connection, he was the reason she lived now.

To die at the hands of a pathetic demon… unforgivable, even in death.

Rachel drew upon every last bit of her divine power.

It was no exaggeration.

She was trying to pack literally every bit of power into her body.

Because of that, not only the spear, but also around her body, white moisture was beading.

[“That’s… Sephiroth condensation?”]

Bigneul’s lips turned down.

[“She’s a damn lunatic. Aspiring to power beyond what the goddess granted. She’ll ruin her body doing that.”]

Using more divine power than received from the goddess creates a ‘debt’. That debt becomes a sin for showing arrogance before the goddess, and she’ll be charged for the sin equivalent to the exceeded divine power.

[“I don’t know how much she’s pulling, but she could die doing that?”]

“…I know.”

Whatever the monster was saying, the meaning came through.

Calling upon Sephiron this intensely, she’d burn out just like a mage. Worse, she could die screaming.

Recklessness.

That’s what the Holy Order called this arrogance. The Order advised against using it unless it was truly for nobility’s sake.

Rachel asked herself.

Is now the time for that nobility?

“Yeah, it is.”

Even the mage had done his part. He’d suffered mana exhaustion twice, landing a fatal blow on the monster. Something he couldn’t have done without trusting enemies like them.

There was no reason Rachel couldn’t either.

To survive, to minimize the damage.

End this quickly.

[“Foolish b*tch.”]

A smirk crawled across Vignol’s lips.

[“If you fall, the ones behind you die too. To charge in without knowing that, you’re dumber than I thought.”]

To Vignol, Rachel seemed consumed by rage.

Was she in some special relationship with that mage?

Not a particularly important fact. What mattered was that once he dodged this attack, it would all be over.

Rachel surged forward. Vignol’s clones, swarming from all sides, were uselessly repelled. They were no match for Rachel.

In a brief instant, less than a few seconds, the tip of Rachel’s spear was right in front of Vignol’s nose.

An immense holy power. If it landed properly, he’d die.

It wasn’t like he could dodge either, the chances of a follow-up attack in that split second were too high. He’d realized that after exchanging a few blows.

Then, he defends.

[“Exploding Palm.”]

Exploding Palm was a method of focusing mana on a point to repel divine power. The pinnacle of mana-based combat, requiring immense concentration.

No matter how much divine power, this one Exploding Palm could block it perfectly.

He sees it, the opponent’s trajectory.

It was the moment Vignolle was about to be certain of victory, having unleashed Exploding Palm.

[“Pierce Through.”]

Ting——!!

A heat ray erupting from behind Rachel deflected Vignolle’s attack first. Throwing him off balance.

[“……!”]

With a lag of less than a second, Rachel’s makeshift spear shot up and pierced his gaping maw.

“Oh Goddess.”

Rachel, drenched in white sweat, clasped her hands in prayer.

“Forgive this girl’s recklessness.”

Flames lit up the night.

Vignolle’s body shattered into pieces. Simultaneously, Rachel crumpled to her knees and fell forward. She gasped for breath.

Her head swam. Sweat blinded her eyes. This was the price, the price of overreaching before the Goddess.

Soon, Rachel’s consciousness faded. She collapsed after landing the blow.

[“Fucking, hell.”]

Bignole was facing his final moments. Before closing his eyes, he sensed the pure mana aura behind Rachel.

[“Who was truly the foolish one?”]

A wheezing voice cut through the air.

[“The Valkyrie who squandered her divine power? Or the remnants of the Demon Lord’s army, who charged in knowing their skill was so lacking?”]

The mage, Erich Ronstein. He was rising, clutching his side.

How is that b*stard getting up?

He should be on the brink of death after taking that hit?

[“Clearly, back then, he passed out…”]

[“…Since when did you think I was unconscious?”]

Erich frowned.

[“I knew it from when you launched the night raid. You’re weaker than the Valkyrie. Having even your puppet stolen so easily, you must’ve thought a sneak attack was your only option.”]

[“Kuh, kuhuhu.”]

[“The torturer of the old Demon Lord’s army, was it? What is this island? What are you b*stards plotting?”]

[“There’s nothing I’ll tell you.”]

Bignole’s consciousness slipped further away.

[“That I, would be defeated by mere brats…”]

Death had come for him, after hundreds of years. The price for ignoring the speed of humanity’s progress.

*

As the monster vanished, it scattered mana stones like rain. But among them, one shone with particular prominence.

[‘Looks like that’s the key to the next island.’]

[“Senior, are you alright?”]

I collapsed the instant I picked up the mana stone. My legs gave out. Valkyrie was lying weakly beside me.

We looked at each other and let out empty laughs.

“Idiot.”

“Moron.”

I wanted to grill her for recklessly using divine power beyond her capacity, but sadly, I didn’t have the strength for that.

Instead, I raised my hand. Valkyrie struggled to move her arm as well.

Thump.

Our fists lightly bumped and then fell apart.

“Magician!”

I pressed my ear to the ground and felt vibrations. It was the Saintess and the Combat Engineer.

“How can you use magic again right after being treated! Are you stupid?”

I didn’t have the energy to answer.

“I just disinfected you, and now I have to do it again!”

To be hearing that from the Saintess of the enemy nation… my fate is truly twisted.

I really almost died. I was pretending to be unconscious, but they must have injected some strange mana because the blood kept seeping out. I couldn’t even use Mirkill, so I was cornered.

Miyo was the one who helped me then. She, who had just awakened to mana circulation, suddenly went into Breath Weaving. She extracted the murky mana and poured pure mana into my body. I thought it would take three months.

Thanks to her, I could use at least one small spell. I shot a blue jade at the monster to throw off its posture, so Valkyrie’s attack could hit. It was an improvisation, but it successfully brought the monster down.

The Saintess and the Combat Engineer helped us both up. Fortunately, the base wasn’t too far away, so we arrived quickly.

The Saintess’s voice was much louder than usual. She seemed seriously angry.

“Both of you get some goddamn rest! You total morons! You’re a perfect match, you know!”

After getting patched up, Valkyrie and I were laid out side-by-side on the stone bed.

Rough breaths filled the room. The Saintess and the Engineer were sniffling, and Valkyrie kept hissing under her breath.

“Valkyrie.”

“Mage.”

“It’s lucky it turned out okay, because that was reckless as hell.”

“Just please don’t go down easy to some scrub. If you die that pathetic, I’ll chase you down in the afterlife and kill you again, got it?”

Valkyrie closed her eyes first. She pushed her divine power to the limit; it’d be stranger if she *wasn’t* exhausted.

I was about to close my own eyes and try to sleep when…

“Mage.”

The Engineer’s voice.

“…Sleeping?”

Curious, I cracked an eye open and squinted.

In the darkness, the Engineer was looking over Valkyrie and me. She fidgeted, then carefully began to take off her clothes.