Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers - Chapter 117



116 – Awakening (9)

As I’d heard beforehand, the vampire was trying to manipulate the blood flow of me and my comrades. A chilling bloodlust washed over the Valkyrie, the Saintess, and the fox sisters in turn.

I deflected all of it.

And yet, I was surprised. Normally, by this point, I should be wheezing from mana exhaustion… but I felt no fatigue at all.

Finally cornered, the vampire fled behind a blood wall.

[“Well done, disciple.”]

[“He was hit by white phosphorus stone, he won’t last long.”]

White phosphorus stone.

The magic stone that once traumatized the Valkyrie, but now was essential to protect her.

The moment he was hit by that stone, his body would be seared until his last breath. Having come this far, we should consider it a victory. Unless the vampire used ‘that method.’

[“……Immolation.”]

I knew it.

The b*stard was starting his last struggle.

[“I implore the Demon, grant me a deluge to sweep away these insignificant creatures. I demand inevitability. If necessary, you may take my life from this very spot!”]

Not a typical immolation.

A grand immolation, where even sacrificing one’s life is not a waste.

The devil is known to offer a greater reward the more valuable the life of the sacrifice. Only the parties involved would know how much the lifeblood of a vampire who has lived for hundreds of years is worth.

“…All this, for Him.”

*SWISH!*

Dark crimson blood gushed from the vampire’s mouth. Her body swayed back and forth, pulled by the recoil of the bloody torrent. It was the final magic, using life as fuel.

“Shit.”

The NIS soldiers beyond the wall of blood are retreating.

“Seal the gate! Join the Palyeonghoe at the altar!”

“What about these guys?”

“Abandon them.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Do you even know what a burnt offering is? If you don’t counter with an even stronger force, you’ll be swept away, that’s what a burnt offering and sacrifice are. If we don’t close the gate, we’ll all die! Instead of listening to your conscience, save your own damn lives!”

“Ah, yes sir!”

The vines leading to the altar were rapidly closing.

“Sir! Are you abandoning us!”

I shouted.

“You said you thought of me, of all the soldiers, as your own sons! Why are you abandoning your children!”

There was no response.

“…Ha.”

“Erich, we don’t have time for this! The blood is already up to our knees!”

I have to do something.

[“Disciple, as you know, stopping this sacrifice requires mana manipulation skills far superior to the demon’s power the caster bargained with.”]

“Everyone, focus on breaking the blood wall! Master and I will handle the blood demon’s main body!”

Everyone nodded at my words.

The four Valkyries stepped forward and plunged their respective weapons into the blood wall. As holy power was injected, the blood wall, which was nothing more than a mass of mana, began to writhe. They created holes in the wall, draining as much water as possible.

Meanwhile, Salbira and I cut through the water, approaching the vampire’s main body.

Ominous mana seemed to pierce my skin. All of it was energy flowing out from the vampire.

“Just… what…”

The vampire had lost her reason long ago. She had been reduced to a blood-spewing machine. She was still breathing, but that was all. Once we drowned, the demon would surely take her life too.

Was it because she received power from the demon? Gaining the upper hand in mana manipulation was not as easy as before.

No, it was close to impossible.

[“Befisha… Did you really want to revive that person, even if it meant dying?”]

[“Master!”]

[“I’ll do my best!”]

Salbira and I focused all our strength. The surface of the water rose to our chins. We were truly out of time.

But then, the next moment.

[‘Senior, watch out!’]

[“Beep Beep! Beep Beeeep!”]

A cluster of blood vessels surged up, then rained down upon Salbira and my head.

*

I’m suffocating.

The vampire’s blood wasn’t just thick and disgusting. Touching it brought on a nausea-inducing stench and a bone-chilling cold.

If my mana manipulation faltered even for a moment, all the blood in my body would be drained.

In a situation where even breathing was impossible, my body began to feel the terror of death. I didn’t want to face it head-on, couldn’t easily open my eyes.

Something appeared in the pitch-black darkness.

My companions.

Rachel, Tiria, Riyo and Miyo, Adora, women I’d been traveling with temporarily, more out of a need to survive than true camaraderie.

David, Calon-sunbae, Rachel’s close friends, and the ladies named Daisy and Olivia, the ones I killed.

And even Salvira, the spider monster I came to revere as my second mentor.

If I fail here, everyone might die.

No.

I have to save them.

I have to get out alive. I promised, didn’t I?

Everyone went through hell for months to get this far. We can’t just die like this.

Stubbornness flared.

I struggled to open my eyes in the congealing blood. Beyond the landscape that looked like someone had dissolved red paint, I made out the outlines of my companions and the drones, floating listlessly.

Everyone was unable to control their limbs.

Except for one, Salvira.

It looked like Salvira was trying to use her surgery to turn the surrounding blood into threads. It wasn’t easy. The mana hidden in the blood was beyond her ability. Only a few strands of tangled blood clots floated around like noodles.

I have to help.

But… how?

I’m still just a greenhorn who doesn’t even know how to handle housework?

My heart races.

Then, a piece of advice flashes into my mind.

[-Disciple, the more hurried you are, the further you must circle back.]

The more hurried you are, the further you must circle back.

Salvia is a powerhouse who’s lived for hundreds of years. Putting aside the fact she’s a demon, let’s think about it. It wasn’t just something she said for the hell of it.

That’s right, I get it now.

Circling back doesn’t mean taking the long way around. It means it’s okay to face it head-on, but slowly, without panicking, to untangle things one by one.

In that instant.

On the verge of death, unable to even breathe, I felt a new vision open up within me.

It’s like the world looks different as if I’m wearing night vision goggles. There were currents floating around me. Something was screaming to come this way, to touch this. I soon realized that was my survival instinct.

I gathered my focus.

And I moved through the water as if walking a path.

Lost in thought, without differentiating between nature and myself, as if I had become a part of nature.

“Hoo…”

I exhaled.

That’s right. I breathed underwater. I breathed using mana as a medium.

Immediately after, the hazy secrets of the world solidified in my grasp.

Ignoring all the theories and training that had supported me until now, I moved my hands purely with the magic and intuition permeating this place.

I don’t speak it in Whiyeon.

Asking myself doesn’t require the devil’s power.

“——.”

*

Befisha’s life is about to be cut short. But because of the contract with the devil, she doesn’t have to die until their breath is cut off.

Look at those hideous things.

Gasping for air in the blood is just like a fetus right before a miscarriage!

After I drown them, I’ll make Admiral Ditz a guest of the blood fiends. Because the contract with the devil ends there.

It’s a shame I won’t see the Demon Lord’s resurrection, but the ancestor’s blood will be continued anyway…even if I die, it won’t be a complete death.

That’s what she was certain of, certain of victory.

“——.”

Along with an indescribable utterance of unknown origin, the space began to harden like stone.

This isn’t some blood clot or something.

It’s not just the blood solidifying, either.

The crimson blood was gradually fading.

“……!”

Could it be that the iron is separating from the blood?

That’s impossible. I’ve even given my life to the devil. So I’ve obtained this presumptuous power, but someone’s pushing it back with just instinct and mana manipulation, without even a sacrifice?

Who is it? Salbirein?

No.

What reached Befisha’s gaze, still pouring out blood, was a man. A handsome man wearing a neat Magocracy military uniform newly received from Admiral Ditz.

Jeriem?

“———.”

Not Jeriem. That guy couldn’t speak the language of the goddess.

Erich Ronstein.

Just what the hell are you?

“Just what the hell are you doing, messing with, messing with my magic…!”

In the blink of an eye, all the blood was filtered into iron ore and other components. Everything that had been liquid solidified. Bepisha, his spell broken, coughed up a final mouthful of blood and slumped, collapsing to the floor.

At the same time, the devil’s voice rang out.

[-I haven’t returned what I received, so I will only take half your life.]

“……Huh?”

The connection with the devil was severed.

[“Hey…? You there? Are you listening to me? What the hell is going on?!”]

No matter how many times he called out, there was no response.

Bepisha, fury blazing to the tips of his hair, clutched at his still-burning body and erupted in a roar.

[“Wait a minute, what, what are you ending on your own accord! Why aren’t you doing your job right?! Hey! Answer me! Answer me——!!”]

*

At the same time, Thilia and the others, on the verge of losing consciousness, swept away by the bloody tide, heard the pronouncement.

To be able to speak the language of the goddess meant one was chosen by a god.

The vast majority were born with that power innately, like Thilia, but sometimes there were those born as commoners who sharpened their steel-like wills until they moved the gods, and were thus able to naturally use their language.

As far as Thilia knew, there was only one person here with that much merit.

Even if he denied it, he was a man who always put others first.

“Cough, cough… Erich?”

Tiria turned her head. Erich, shaking off the remaining blood, sighed and took a step forward.

He looked different than usual.

I couldn’t feel Sephiron, but why did I sense a holy aura?

Perhaps it was because he was chosen by Leberon, the Goddess of Embrace.

*

I don’t know what I just said.

But I felt something.

A different world than the one I had seen until now was unfolding. As if the world were mine, as if I were of the world, I became aware of that profound truth.

Everywhere my hand went, it turned to stone.

Even if I didn’t touch it, I could feel it, and I could manipulate it.

Thud.

With a light stomp, the lumps of iron extracted from the blood freely transformed, forming the shape of hands. With these hands, I took care of my comrades who had just emerged from the blood.

“Is everyone alright?”

“Haa, haa, I’m, alri—”

I helped Rachel to her feet.

It felt like only a few minutes had passed. No one had swallowed too much water. It was fortunate, in the midst of misfortune.

Soon, we reformed our ranks and approached the vampire. Of course, we didn’t let our guard down, but the vampire seemed to have already exhausted all its strength.

Even Salbira, who had been a longtime comrade, remained silent. I was the first to speak.

“It’s all over.”

The vampire chuckled weakly.

“…The worst possible match. Not only do you have the skill to completely negate my mana, but you learned incantation in that brief moment too. Are monsters like you popping up all the time among humans these days?”

“You wanna know why you lost?”

“Yeah.”

“Because you’re one, and we’re many.”

“Just a dozen or so buggers at best…”

“You really think it’s just a dozen?”

“What?”

“All of us, we received help from countless people to get this far. We learned, mastered, and tried not to forget the teachings of heroes and sages.”

The renowned mages who directly and indirectly taught me magic, the people from all walks of life who supported those mages, and most recently, the women soldiers from the enemy nation and even Salbira, who shared life and death with me.

We were standing on the shoulders of giants named ‘them’, so we could see further than our predecessors.

“In other words, you didn’t lose to me.”

“What…”

“You were defeated by humanity.”

At my words, the vampire looked like he’d been struck on the head.