Chapter 98: The Impoverished Viscount’s Second Son Searches for Eyes 20
*
The Dragon ignored its own wounds to store Magicka.
In other words, it was preparation for its Breath.
My very first thought was, Don’t underestimate me.
As if I’d let it hit me! I even felt anger towards the Dragon for choosing a seemingly desperate Breath attack now, of all times.
But, by the time I thought that, my body was already running at full speed.
My expression was likely filled with an overwhelming regret I couldn’t possibly swallow.
As my thoughts caught up to my body, the regret intensified.
Because I understood the Dragon’s intention.
My body, about to be sent flying in an unexpected direction, was stopped as I stabbed my Sword into the ground, clawed at the earth with my left hand, and took a stance like a four-legged beast, pinning myself down to kill the momentum.
Behind me, I heard the surprised voices of people as I suddenly appeared, scattering clumps of earth.
They were the voices of the adventurers, fleeing while carrying the Merchant’s carriage that could no longer run.
Dammit, I could hear Ezz’s and Pal’s voices too.
“Breath incoming! Scatter!”
I shouted, knowing full well it wouldn’t be in time.
I was the one underestimating the Dragon.
Whether by chance or design, it figured that if it aimed for the immobile carriage, I would stand before it.
And it was correct.
Because of the ideals within me, I wouldn’t choose otherwise.
And realistically, there were no other options either.
Today, I’m always just protecting the people behind me.
I’d grown too used to being with her, who stands beside me and sometimes entrusts her back to me.
What a luxury.
To think I’d get used to having someone by my side who should normally be far ahead of me.
If only Erica were here.
No, thinking that is truly being too soft.
I grit my teeth and think.
Make the Dragon face upwards? Its neck is retracted, impossible.
Move its whole body in another direction? Also impossible; if it just shakes its head, that’s the end of it.
That Dragon, while being slashed apart by me, had thought this through just to hit me with its Breath.
Even if the result was filled with malice, I had to acknowledge it.
That I let my guard down, thinking I could wear it down completely, kill the Dragon.
To lose to a Monster in terms of sheer desperation… it’s infuriating.
Shit!
Scatter—! Before the sound of “-ter” could even fade, the Dragon unleashed its Breath.
And I steeled my resolve.
*
I increased the intensity of my Physical Enhancement.
That was all I did after steeling my resolve.
After all, it was the only thing I could do.
However, this was the maximum intensity in a double Physical Enhancement state for the first time.
My memories of the Demon Realm Forest are blown away, so it’s fine to consider this the first time.
I poured Magicka into my abdomen and into the Magic Circle somehow constructed on my Black Leather Clothing.
I’m not smart enough to accurately put into words what happened in that instant.
But—I understood clearly that this was definitely not a domain my current self should be stepping into.
*
The moment I increased the intensity of my Physical Enhancement, my vision went completely dark, and I panicked greatly.
The light returned quickly, but just thinking about the lost time was enough to make me despair.
But the scene before me betrayed my expectations.
The Dragon’s Breath had just now been fired; it was exactly the same scene as before my vision went dark.
However, I quickly realized.
That was a trivial matter.
I was dumbfounded to realize that I was standing in front of me.
When performing Physical Enhancement, one often experiences the sensation of thoughts being left behind by the body.
But—no matter how you looked at it, this shouldn’t happen.
To see my own back with my own eyes… I’d never even heard of such a thing.
The me in front of me slowly lowered his Sword into a low stance, preparing to receive the Dragon Breath.
At that sight, I—the me whose thoughts were left behind by his body—started to panic.
But even that panic flowed into the past with terrifying speed.
No, this is… what the “current” me is feeling is, for me, something from the past.
While confused by the incomprehensibility of what I felt physically, I clearly understood that this perception was correct.
The moment I recognized myself as the past, I was swallowed by a flood of thoughts.
The fear that the Dragon’s Breath was something on par with the “Solntsaari Secret Technique” I was shown in the Demon Realm Forest, something that felt like certain death if you stood before it.
The number of blades of grass boiling from the Dragon’s Breath.
Thoughts about the Baked Goods I bought to eat with Erica.
The fact that the ground I was stepping on was too weak to support my current power.
The thought that I should just make the ground sturdy with Physical Enhancement too.
The strange sensation of not wanting to die, yet being naturally convinced I wouldn’t die.
The direction the air flowed, the rain-like sound of Magicka dispersing into the air.
Everything instantly became the past, flowing into my past self like a muddy torrent.
My past self became unable to think about anything due to the thoughts flooding in from the past that was now the present.
And then, thought was completely filled by intense pain.
My own internal organs were being crushed and distorted by my own physically enhanced body.
I felt like vomiting from the vast thoughts and the intense pain erasing them.
But the me who should be vomiting was swinging his Sword towards the approaching Breath right before my eyes, so it made no sense.
The sensation of vast thoughts being replaced solely by pain at tremendous speed is something that could likely never be understood, no matter how much I explained it.
Because of the pain, thoughts become simple.
Perhaps because of that, I felt like my past self was catching up to me.
It hurt to an absurd degree.
Thinking while looking at the back of my own head.
Why am I doing this, going through so much pain?
Adventurers die easily. Today, tomorrow, they die from small mistakes, carelessness, bad luck, or Iniquity.
Isn’t it fine to just abandon them and run away even now?
With my current self, even at this moment, even with the Breath closing in right before me, I could safely evade it, right?
Why am I going through such pain? Even if I abandoned them, no one would blame me.
Hey, me. Me.
What exactly do you want to become, doing something like this?
“Isn’t it obvious?”
I heard myself say that.
“I’m going to become a man who can stand proudly beside Erica.”
Ah, I see—.
That’s right. I am. That’s how it is.
Besides—, I smiled at myself.
That’s not something you ask while gritting your teeth with a face that screams “I’ll do it,” right, me?
No really, absolutely.
“Me (Me)” bit down on the pain with his molars and grinned, baring his teeth.