Chapter 233 (2/2)
「S-Stop struggling! Hey, Captain! Please snap out of it and help me out here!」
Larks stood still, his mind in a daze. Luka's screams sounded distant in his ears.
What… happened to Ludancia?
Ludancia was developing a clearly strange weapon which Ray used without hesitation. A girl was crying before him.
Should I really be doing this…?
His comrade who wished to share the same fate as him was tragically turned into a tentacle-covered monster squirming on the ground. This wasn't what they wished their last moments to be. But there was no turning back now.
「Captain Lark—」Ray's body stiffened.
「Claude! Claude! Clau—」
Luka, her face wet from tears, noticed the grip on her loosen. Then the young man collapsed, gasping for air. Blood stained the snow.
「Hey, you there.」a voice said.「Guy with the blue hair.」A familiar boy stood there, one with black hair and eyes.「Tell me how to get this tentacle things off of him. If you don't, I'll kill you.」
Hikaru's sharp gaze darted at Larks, the dagger on his hand dyed in deep red.
Hikaru's movements were quick. He spotted Claude on the ground, wrapped in something.
「Tentacles…?」
They looked familiar, like the ones that grew on the back of the earth dragon at Un el Portan.
『Hikaru, I got a bad feeling about this.』
「Drake?! What are you doing here?!」
『I smelled something strange, so I stuck to your back.』
Hikaru never thought that the drakon who did nothing but eat and sleep would go with him on his own volition. He didn't see the creature back in the apartment, so he thought he was fast asleep. Drake was on his back all along.
「Stay put, okay? I'm kinda p.i.s.sed right now.」
The young, deranged man made his way to Luka who just stepped out of the building. He didn't plan to do anything to Claude. With Stealth on, Hikaru closed in on Luka, went behind the man, and stabbed him with his Dagger of Strength.
「Captain Lark—」
「Claude! Claude! Clau—」
Hikaru could kill the man with a.s.sa.s.sination's effect, but he didn't care. Anger surged within him—more than he imagined—when he saw Claude, his friend, hurt.
「Tell me how to get this tentacle things off of him. If you don't, I'll kill you.」
「I, uhh… I don't know…」
The blue-haired man was surprised to see Hikaru appear out of nowhere, but more than that, the rage seething from the boy overwhelmed him.
「I see. Well, then—」
「I didn't want any of this to happen!」the blue-haired man screamed as Hikaru was about to move.「I didn't… I didn't wish to see someone turned into a monster… Ray said he doesn't even know where his heart is or how he's even moving… I… I just wanted to fight the warriors from Jarazack… I didn't mind dying at their blade…! H-How did it come to this?!」
The man fell on his knees, crying. Hikaru didn't know what kind of thoughts raced through his mind as he came here, but it would seem he really didn't know anything.
No, wait. There is something. He mentioned something about the heart…
The tentacle monster should have a core somewhere inside its body. Hikaru activated his Mana Detection and focused.
「Found it.」
There was a ma.s.s of mana in one spot of the creature's body. Hikaru inched closer and thrust his blade into it. The tentacles flapped about before going limp, and dropped to the ground.
「Claude… Claude!」Luka scurried towards him and pulled the tentacles away from his body.
「H-How did you…?」The blue-haired man watched in awe.
「Move.」Hikaru moved Luka aside and pulled the man clinging to Claude away from him along with the tentacles.
「Uh… L-Luka…」
「Claude!」
「Let him rest.」Hikaru said.
Claude was badly injured. His bones were broken in places. His insides were probably a mess too. Moving or hugging him would be dangerous. But leaving him here would only result to him freezing to death.
「What now…?!」
Hikaru could call for help, but he didn't have time to tie up the blue-haired man. But it would seem fate didn't forsake Claude just yet.
「Hikaru-sama!」
The third member of Hikaru's party came running towards them—Paula the Healer.
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