Chapter 68: Heist (8)

“I’m going crazy.”

I muttered quietly, looking beyond the swirling dust. The numerous hordes of skeletons were no longer visible. But, that didn’t mean I could just relax.

Our side was also exhausted in many ways.

Regina was no longer in a state to fight. Even though she’s trying to get up somehow, saying she’ll fight next to me, the girl’s wobbly legs weren’t listening.

It was the same for me. I and Regina, who should be in charge of one-on-one battles, were too exhausted from dealing with the quantity.

“Ugh, I’m sorry for not being able to help…”

“No. Regina has done enough.”

I muttered that and sat Regina down in a corner of the flower garden. Still, I can fight a little more.

It’s hard to fight properly like this. Of course, there’s no way I don’t have a method I’ve thought of… it’s a method I want to save until the very, very end.

If Elissa’s Stigmata goes berserk, I could somehow win. But I had no confidence in what kind of consequences that method would bring.

My second Stigmata can only heal a berserk person in theory, and even that is only possible when Elissa has a firm mind.

“Elissa. Not yet.”

“Ugh…”

So, I grabbed Elissa’s arm, who was trying to force the fake Stigmata to go berserk. We could still fight more.

“Do you know why that damn necromancer is trying to drive us like this?”

“…To make me, go berserk.”

In fact, he already had a way to end this long and tedious battle quickly. Knowing that, the reason why he’s dragging out the fight is too obvious.

Perhaps when Elissa goes berserk, he plans to take Elissa away using some method. To prevent that, I also have to reveal my second Stigmata.

That was the situation I wanted to avoid the most. I didn’t want to reveal the trump card of the second Stigmata too quickly. Of course, if my friends are in danger, I’ll use it without hesitation.

“Huu…”

I took a light breath and looked back at Elissa and Yelena. Despite their tired expressions, there was no complaint or dissatisfaction on their faces.

I was so grateful for that. In the end, it was like I had dragged Yelena and Regina into the fight between me and Elissa. But, before I could express my gratitude, the other side moved first.

Whoosh-

All the dust covering the flower garden is blown away with a swirling, rough wind. Benedicto walked out with a relaxed gesture, causing the wind to swirl.

“You seem to be getting tired… do you have any intention of giving up at this point? If you give up and retreat, I won’t harm you.”

“Are you still saying that?”

Before Elissa could react, I quickly cut off his words. The sound of battle, which had been heard from afar, was gradually decreasing.

Soon the teachers will come to save us. So just hold on a little longer. He must have lost a considerable amount of mana because he lost the arena he had set up.

However, he continued to speak without caring.

“Salvation won’t come in time. There are still many obstacles between the academy’s main building and here.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. I don’t abandon my friends.”

“Do you really think so?”

However, Benedicto did not rush at us again, but instead reached out to the sky. Space ripples and something that had been hidden until then begins to appear.

A voice of contempt, of pity, flowed from him.

“Tsk. That ‘friend’ of yours, is just a monster in the end.”

A sinister aura is felt from somewhere. A cold chill that feels instinctively repulsive. A chill that feels like the skin is freezing.

I reflexively turned to Yelena, but Yelena just shook her head silently. She also seemed quite embarrassed.

Of the three, the first to realize what he was trying to do was Elissa. The sapphire-colored eyes looking at him began to tremble.

“Ooohhh”

“Elissa? Are you okay?”

“Ugh, no…”

As I approached Elissa, she flinched and took a step back. The girl’s eyes were fixed on Benedicto’s hand reaching towards the sky.

Only then could I realize what he was trying to do.

“If you guys think of that girl as a ‘friend’ so much. I’ll let you deal with her directly with the help of a ‘friend’.”

He, with a cold and eerie voice, declared and clenched his hand. Space shatters, and a new ‘seed’ that had been hidden until then was revealed.

The seed was pale sky-blue.

A jewel reminiscent of a cool permafrost crystal shone brightly.

“Ugh?!”

At the same time, I felt like my whole body was freezing. The heart heated by the heat of battle cools down, and the hostility towards him disappears. The earnestness of wanting to protect a friend literally evaporates.

The emotions that had supported me until then disappeared, the thing to protect disappeared, and the will to fight disappears. My body, which had reached its limit, collapsed on the spot.

“What is this…!”

Yelena was also embarrassed.

Because she was basically better in physical specs than me, she didn’t collapse foolishly like I did, but judging from the fact that her expression was gradually turning pale, it seemed like she was caught in the influence of the seed.

Only then could I know.

If the effect of the cherry blossom seed I had was ‘charm’, the ability of the pale crystal of the Dark Cult that he was holding was to freeze the emotions themselves, a kind of ‘brainwashing’-like effect.

“Ugh…!”

[Elissa (Lv.45)’s fake Stigmata goes berserk]

[Elissa (Lv.45) activates the fake Stigmata ‘Enhanced Mana Manipulation’]

[Elissa (Lv.45) activates her unique magic ‘Water Domain’]

Wooong….

The surrounding mana fluctuates, and Elissa’s eyes begin to glow blue. Water starts to flow backward in the waterlogged flower garden.

Transparent water droplets rise into the air. Fierce water currents began to swirl around Elissa, who was sitting down and in pain.

“Ugh, no…! No more…”

Elissa’s painful voice is buried in the sound of rushing water, and the fragile girl’s body is hidden between the streams of water. Benedicto smiled at the sight.

Taking a step back from the swirling stream of water, he muttered in a relaxed voice.

“Well then, I’ll be going. Why don’t you try dying at the hands of the monster you called ‘friend’?”

As his words ended, two raised streams of water intertwined and were sharply aimed at us.

It was a density on a different level from the previous haphazard mana operation. The two thin arrows floating in the air contained far more mana than the huge streams of water.

“Sian. Be careful.”

Yelena muttered that and re-gripped her longsword. At the same time, the arrows were shot at us. A terrifying stream of water pours down from the sky.

At the same time, Yelena’s sword moved.

[Yelena Frost (Lv.50) activates ‘Winter’s Boundary’]

Crack!

Ice crystals summoned along Yelena’s sword path wrapped around me and Yelena. A half-beat late, a heavy impact sound of thud was heard.

“Ugh?!”

“Ahk!?”

Crack-

With an ominous sound, the ice wall that wrapped around Yelena and me began to shatter. Five huge spears are additionally created in the air.

“Tsk. What is this…”

Yelena was quite confused. She knew that the sky-blue stone that the necromancer guy was holding was making her body feel strange, but it was difficult to fight properly.

To be precise, should I say that I don’t feel the will to fight? The will to live, the reason to fight. I don’t feel anything. I can’t even understand myself, who has been fighting so hard until a little while ago.

“Ugh… are you okay, Yelena?”

“Yes. For now, I can still fight more.”

However, even in that state, there was one emotion that clearly raised its head. The desire to protect the girl in front of her. The feeling of not wanting to hurt her.

I don’t know if this is simply a protective desire, or a feeling as a friend. If not, I don’t know if it’s a feeling beyond a simple friendship.

But, I didn’t want to let this girl get hurt. I didn’t want to see this girl despair at losing a friend. So, Yelena, who handed her hand to Sian, who had fallen, strengthened her will.

“Can you fight more?”

I nodded lightly and looked ahead.

Benedicto’s purpose, it was not difficult to figure it out even if I did not think deeply.

He will make me and Yelena, and Regina, kill each other directly with Elissa’s hands, and then he will brainwash Elissa, who is mentally driven because of guilt.

I can’t let that happen. I couldn’t die here. I couldn’t let Yelena die because of me. I didn’t want to see Regina, who went to the next round, despair.

So, I closed my eyes and pulled up the pink mana sleeping deep in my body. My eyes are mixed with a faint light pink, and the ends of my hair are dyed pink.

[The set Stigmata is changed to ‘Cherry Blossom Garden’]

[Activate Stigmata ‘Cherry Blossom Garden’]