19 - Chapter 16: Episode 16 [Salvation]
"Gasp... Ugh... Haaah... Slurp... Haaahhh... Gasp..."
I could no longer even hear Aria's voice, already hoarse and torn.
The sounds filling the room were solely
mine and Ella's—
no, to be precise, Ella's sounds of devouring me.
The sounds of predation.
"Gasp... Ugh... Slurp... Haaah... Gasp, gasp..."
As my soul was being squeezed out, I felt something strange in the silence.
What happened to Aria?
Had Aria, who'd been screaming and smashing the Barrier,
collapsed from exhaustion?
I turned my head and saw
Aria, unconscious while standing.
Ah, ah...
How much,
how hard,
how agonizing it must have been,
I couldn't even imagine.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry...
But now I just wanted to give up everything.
It was too hard to keep going.
If I just let go of everything,
"I told you not to faint. If you don't keep your wits about you, I'll add an hour each time, okay?"
In this reality, even giving up wasn't allowed.
And she'd add an hour?
No, no, no!!!
Just imagining it was terrifying.
No, anything but that.
Ending this as quickly as possible was the only way to find peace.
"A-alright..."
I somehow squeezed out my already depleted mental strength
and held onto it.
To forcibly endure without fainting,
hoping this hell would end even a little sooner,
I gathered all my consciousness and endured the surging pleasure, enduring and enduring, when—
"Ugh... what?"
Something formed at the tip of her tongue.
Round and slightly tingling,
and then she dropped it into my mouth.
The slight tingling sensation each time it touched me—
was it her Mana?
That sphere
traveled down my throat.
Gulp, gulp.
"Gasp... what... what..."
"Just swallow it and accept it."
"Ugh... Yes..."
At that single word, my cells
faithfully swallowed that unknown something to carry out her command.
That which passed my throat
traveled deeper down my esophagus.
Gulp, gulp.
Just like when drinking high-proof alcohol,
I vividly felt the tingling sensation as it went down.
And
it finally settled in my stomach.
Then a tingling sensation began to spread.
"What is this...?"
Thump.
Thump.
What is it?
My heart is beating strangely.
Has my heartbeat always been this loud?
Thump.
Thump.
A feeling as if it's not my own heart.
Thump.
Thump.
"Ella, what on earth have you done to me!"
"Well, you'll find out in due time."
Shall we enjoy it again then?
Just then, a sharp sound of something cutting through the wind was heard.
Whoosh!
Boom!
Crunch!
Arrows flying rapidly and exploding,
and an endlessly blue longsword piercing the Barrier.
The owners of the arrows and sword were
Lily and Cynthia, my precious Comrades.
But I no longer had the strength to shout,
no, not even to utter a single word.
It was hard enough just to hold onto my consciousness.
"That crazy bitch, I knew she'd do something like this eventually, and she finally did it."
"Ugh, foolish Aria, wake up."
"She's completely out?"
"You still have some Elixir left, right? Let's give her that at least."
Cynthia took out a golden glass bottle from her pocket and fed it to Aria.
Only then did Aria regain consciousness.
"Ugh, how did you two get here?"
"Someone broke the contract on the way to the Demon King's Castle, you know?"
She showed the crimson-stained emblem on the back of her hand.
"At first, I thought you had broken the contract, but seeing the situation, I understand."
"Ella, I don't know what you were thinking to do this, but you know it's impossible now, don't you?"
Ella might be overwhelmingly powerful in raw firepower,
but if the three of them combined their power, it would be a force beyond disaster.
Yet, Ella showed incomprehensible actions.
"Heheheh! I can't give up."
Ella laughed like a madwoman.
Why on earth was she doing this?
"Haa... Ella, if you come out now, I'll give you the best possible treatment, though I don't know how much I can do."
"Hahaha! Heheheh! Me? Are you crazy?"
Just then, Aria, having recovered somewhat, stood up.
"No, we just have to break it. That bitch is destined to die by my hands."
"What on earth happened?"
"Heheheh! You bitches just watch from there as Yuria becomes mine."
"It seems you still haven't grasped the situation."
"Just watch from there as Yuria is raped by me."
Where did that confidence come from?
She approached me.
If they combined their strength, breaking this Barrier would be a matter of time,
yet, strangely, there was no fear in her eyes.
Only greed filled them.
What on earth was she thinking, approaching me?
Such a woman terrified me.
Therefore, instinctively,
I crawled away.
"Oh... don't come closer."
What emotions did she feel seeing me like that?
Ella trembled, covering her face with both hands, as if unable to contain her joy.
"Haaah! Cute Yuria, just lie down quietly."
"Ugh... Yes."
I still couldn't resist her and lay down obediently.
Being forced to obey her commands,
and showing it to my Comrades, was humiliating, but
nevertheless, clinging to the hope that these events would soon end,
I held onto my mind and spirit.
Just a little longer, I told myself.
I could see the expressions of my Comrades, who were watching, souring in real time.
"Fuck, Ella, you're dead."
"Hey!! Stop it, you'll really die!"
Yet Ella didn't stop.
It was as if she treated them as invisible.
"Boom!"
"Clang!"
"Crunch!"
"I need to proceed quickly before the Barrier breaks."
"Slurp, kiss."
Her lips covered mine.
Huh?
And a sphere formed again.
No, this was an oval shape.
Like an egg...
"Swallow it and accept it."
"Ugh... Yes..."
As expected, I had no right to refuse.
The egg-shaped something went down my throat, esophagus, and into my stomach.
"Ugh..."
My stomach, my stomach was hot...
Gasp.
Haaah.
"Gasp, gasp, gasp."
My stomach felt like it was burning.
"Save me..."
My lower abdomen glowed red.
It was too hot.
"Ugh!"
A pain as if my whole body was thrown into a ball of fire,
as if my whole body was burning, enveloped me.
"Save... me..."
""ELLA!!!!!""
Beyond the Barrier, my Comrades, looking like devils, were smashing the Barrier as if to kill immediately.
"Waaahhh!"
"Smash!"
"Crunch!"
"Boom!"
The Barrier began to crack.
Crack, crack.
It seemed to recover again, but
it collapsed faster than it could recover.
Shatter, shatter, shatter.
CRASH!
The Barrier finally shattered.
Through the crumbling fragments of the Barrier, I saw my Comrades rushing in.
"Yuria!!!"
Thud!
Countless Mana blasts struck Ella and exploded.
BOOM!
I, too, was thrown back by the shock.
However, since it wasn't Mana directly embedded in me, my superhuman Hero body was merely thrown without major injury.
And at the end of that flight,
Thud.
I fell into someone's soft embrace.
"Ugh..."
"Yuria, are you okay?"
The person who caught me from behind was
the Knight, Lily.
I was held in her dependable arms.
"Ugh... haaah... Thank you, Lily."
Seeing them,
the tension I had held onto until now released,
and I finally let go of the mental strength I had squeezed out from the bottom,
and fainted.
Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria Yuria
A woman ceaselessly scratching at the door in front of the room where Yuria was.
Crunch!
Crunch!
Crunch, crunch, crunch!
This woman was none other than Aria, the Saintess of the Empire.
Her sacred appearance was nowhere to be found;
in a state close to a wreck, she was scratching the door, muttering only the name Yuria.
Just then, the door opened.
"The treatment is over, Aria."
The person who opened the door was Pope Jude Herace.
As soon as his words ended, Aria rushed into the room.
"Yuria, Yuria!!!"
As soon as she entered the room, she checked Yuria's condition, who was lying on the bed.
Only after checking his condition once,
did she settle down beside him and hold Yuria's hand.
Yuria lay motionless, as if dead.
"Ah, ah..."
Sob...
I...
I couldn't protect him.
It's my fault, I'm so sorry, so sorry.
I'm sorry...
From now on, I will never leave him.
No matter what happens,
forever and ever.
Just then, the Pope, Lily, and Cynthia entered.
"Yuria is alright, isn't he?"
"Well, I don't know either. We can only entrust him to the Goddess's guidance."
"Why? What's the problem?"
"The problem is that his mental strength has completely broken through the bottom."
"What's wrong with that? We can just heal him."
"The stronger one's mental strength, the deeper it can go, but it cannot break through the bottom. Before that, the mind would collapse. But the Hero managed to do that."
"But Holy Power can heal anything, can't it?"
"But... if we force a Mental Cure, the Hero's mind might collapse. It's difficult to intervene easily."
"Then..."
"Don't worry too much. He won't be unconscious forever. If we let him rest, he will probably wake up."
"Then when will he wake up?"
"That... honestly, I can't give you a definite answer as to how long it will take."
Aria and Lily fell into a panic.
"Why..."
"No, Yuria, Yuria..."
"I have a method."