CHAPTER 84: CHOICES (II)

Ishiki immediately ran and got down besides Yuki.

Filch skidded to a halt. He looked at the collapsed Princess. Then at the cave. His expression darkened.

Then he looked at the wall of death descending on them and made a choice.

It wasn’t a glorified hero’s sacrifice or a cinematic moment of bravery. It was just a messy, desperate calculation made by a man who simply wanted his friends to keep breathing.

"Ishiki... get to the cave. Fast." he whispered.

Filch grabbed Nina tighter. He dropped low and ran... he moved like water. But not for the cave, instead... He dove under the incoming wave of branches and used his unnatural agility to weave through the gaps in the attack.

He broke through the encirclement and vanished into the dark forest, carrying the girl away with him.

"Filch!" Ishiki screamed. "Have you lost your mind? Damn it!"

But there was no reply... he was gone. He was really gone, deeper into the hellish forest where survival was just another fantasy.

Ishiki body trembled with exhaustion and all the emotions that were running wild inside of his mind.

He was left alone.

Just him and the unconscious Princess.

And a hundred hungry trees... maybe more, but not less.

’Fuck me sideways, bastards.’

He stood up alone against the barraging wooden tentacles. Half of them had gone after Filch and more than half descended on Ishiki.

He summoned the helmet of [berserker’s Effigy], the black helm materialized on his head covering his whole face... leaving only space for the eyes to see through the slit. His blue eyes burned with the last dregs of his willpower, reflecting the cruel crimson light of the burning moon above.

[Curved Bone] became a windmill of destruction. He slashed wildly, hacking at the encroaching wall of wood.

But... still his mind hadn’t lost the calculating coldness. He was not fighting mindlessly... that would be straight up suicide.

It was a mindful retreat to safety.

He grabbed the Princess by the back of her collar with his armored claw and dragged her.

One meter.

A branch slammed into his helmet. The impact started a vicious headache in just one strike.

Two meters.

A root wrapped around his ankle. But... He severed it without looking.

Three meters.

He threw himself backward into the dark opening of the cave, pulling Yuki with him.

He landed hard on the stone floor, and kicked a few dozen branches that aimed for him. He caught the Princess and pulled her fully inside just as a massive, thorn-covered branch slammed into the rock where her legs had been a second ago.

Safe.

Ishiki collapsed against the cold stone wall, gasping for air that wouldn’t come.

Outside, the forest screamed in frustration, hammering against the ground just outside the short perimeter of the cave. They... didn’t dare enter the cave.

It was one of the miraculous... or maybe just cursed places where even the damned trees and the beasts didn’t wanna enter.

’Just like that... village.’

Ishiki shuddered at the thought. Had he just traded one trap for another?

But he had no strength left to contemplate about such things. Right now... he didn’t care if they were trapped.

All he knew was, that they were alive.

And that was a win. A hard-earned, ugly, painful win. Yet, he felt disheartened and pathetic.

Filch, that goddamned moron—he left him and Yuki here, and ran into the forest himself.

’What was that idiot thinking?’

Ishiki wanted to grind his teeth in frustration, but his jaw muscles refused to obey. All the agony of the past hour slammed into him as the adrenaline faded.

His mind shut down to cope up with all the fatigue, the armor was dismissed on its own as he lost consciousness.

His muscles felt as if they were torn apart and then put together, it hurt like hell. His bones felt brittle and hollow, Ishiki couldn’t even feel half of his body.

And then nothing at all.

***

Agony was a familiar tenant, but this time, it had moved out.

Ishiki’s eyes flickered open to the grey ceiling of the cave and relief. He expected to wake up with stiff joints, screaming muscles and the dull throb of a headache.

Instead, he felt... light.

He sat up sharply, hitting his head on the low ceiling.

"Ouch." He rubbed the spot, wincing. "Yuki... where’s Yuki?"

He looked around in panic and then stopped as he found her.

A cold draft hit him, making him shiver. The cave was tiny, essentially a crevice in the rock face, barely large enough for two people to exist without touching. He had just enough room to sit upright if he slouched.

She was right beside him.

Yuki laid unconscious and curled on the hard stone floor. Her combat armor was gone, replaced by a thin, white robe that looked tragically insufficient against the chill.

She looked... fragile, spent and almost lifeless. Her skin was pale, looking translucent in the dim light filtering from the cave mouth.

She looked cold.

Ishiki didn’t think much, he felt like he needed to do it. He shrugged off his own tattered upper robe and gently draped it over her.

"Great," he muttered, teeth chattering immediately. "I’m freezing."

He closed his eyes and focused. The armor he had gotten had something for times like this.

Motes of crimson light swirled around him, manifesting into the heavy, blood-red linen under-layer of the armor. It wrapped around his torso and arms, making him feel warm. It wasn’t much, but it stopped the shivering.

He looked down at himself. He was wearing a weird red linen cloth above and his pants were a disaster zone—torn at the knees, stained with mud, dried blood some read and some golden.

’I look like a beggar.’ Ishiki grimaced at the thought.

’Actually, I am one. When have I not been one?’

Then he summoned the Scenario detail window.

========================

⌜Scenario Details⌟

Total Participants - 1,132

Objective - Kill the Emperor of Aethelburg

Rewards - 20,000 Data Fragments, 50,000 NC, Skill upgrade.

========================

Ishiki looked at the numbers for a long moment. The number of survivors had gone down still, it was like looking at a counter which you knew was destined to go down and down, until nothing left.

Strangely enough, he felt a deep sense of failure looking at it. Not just fear, but failure. As if he were somehow responsible for the subtraction.

He shook his head and dismissed the dark thoughts.

He focused at the corner and the familiar admin chat window opened in front of him.

[Admin 83 - The kid is making sartorial choices.]

[Admin 292 - Haha, he looks like a dignified beggar. Very chic.]

[Admin 92 - Begging for mercy might be your best combat strategy right now, kid.]

[Admin 77 - This is so sweet. Look at him covering her.]

[Admin 98 - Will he survive?]

[Admin 124 - That’s the interesting question, isn’t it?]

[Admin 83- Let’s see.]

Ishiki scowled at the air. "Thanks. That was very helpful. Really boosting the morale here."

A weird kind of anger burned in his chest as he read the chats. ’Wretches, the day I find you, you are all dead.’

Suddenly... a window materialized in front of him.

==================

Personal Quest

Objective - [Survive in the Crimson Canopy for 24 hours]

Timer - [0/24]

(The timer will only work when you are out of Purity Epitomes)

Reward - [10,000 NC]

Penalty for failure - [Death]

==================

’Ten thousand?’

Ishiki’s eyes widened. That was a fortune, mixed with his current wealth and it would be enough to buy one or two serious gear.

And he found a new information... well just a name if looked at practically. The place he was in was called a Purity Epitome apparently and there were more around the Crimson Canopy.

He dismissed the window, feeling kind of low.

Sighing heavily he glanced toward the cave entrance.

Outside, the world was bathed in the familiar, oppressive glow of the Crimson Moon.

’I slept through the entire Silver Night?’

That meant he had been out for at least twelve hours. That was a long time.

He flexed his hands, there was no pain. The deep bruises from the roots had vanished too. He felt... refreshed.

’Did she do this?’

He looked at Yuki again. Her breathing was shallow but steady. Even in the dim, red-tinged light, her features held a serene, almost heartbreaking beauty.

The lines of stress were gone from her forehead and without the armor and without all the powerful skills, she looked less like an untouchable princess and more like... a girl.

He found himself staring and her face, his eyes were transfixed on the sleeping beauty. Her eyelashes were dark pink against her pale skin.

It made him wonder actually. ’Pink hair... how does a human have pink hair?’

It defied genetics, but then again, she defied most things. She held a regal beauty that felt incomparable to any woman Ishiki had ever seen, real or digital.

Her lips, usually set in a firm line of command, were parted slightly. He felt an irrational urge to brush a stray strand of pink hair from her face.

His hand slowly moved towards her face and stopped just a few inches away.

’Huh... what are you doing dumbass.’

He withdrew his hand and blinked a couple of times. His cheeks were flustered red.

Suddenly, her eyelids fluttered. Pink eyes snapped open, locking directly onto his blue one’s.