Chapter 29 - 29 : A Long Winter (1/2)
While Arthur braced himself for the impact, and the [Hell Arrow] accompanied by Yamak charged at the blue light, a deafening sound was created for the impact.
It seemed the Blue light targeted the mountain but Arthur and the others didn't escape the danger.
The sound was so loud that it could be heard from afar, even the students in the academy did hear it.
From afar, it was as if a nuclear attack struck the ghost island, moreover that blue light is a condensed mana and its power is immeasurable.
Once the blue light struck, Arthur could feel his back disintegrating and burning like hell, it was as if it's being eaten by the blue light, but soon the light covered all his body and the pain increased even more.
even the black robe showed signs of breaking, blood flowed and wounds covered his body, the light never ended so he could only grit his teeth and cover Lucy, he knew if she was exposed to this light like him she would die as she didn't have stats like him.
Even when he tried his best to protect her, the light managed somehow injure her in her arms and legs but compared to Arthur, it was literally nothing.
Even his conscience began fading, he could no longer hold and the light didn't seem to stop, heck! Even his ears were bleeding from the sound of impact, though it's supposed to only be the sound of the impact, it didn't stop and the ringing made his headache like hell.
Fortunately, just as he was going to fall unconscious the light disappeared but if one looked at the scenery, they would be dumbstruck, especially if one knew the previous scenery.
Now it only looked like a huge pit, you could only see darkness as if it was a long forgotten abyss, there was not even a place to land in.
Arthur didn't have the time to be surprised, with barely any strength left, he commanded the cloud to quickly find a place to land on.
After a dozen of minutes they finally find a place, actually it was a huge cliff, and on the far horizon you could see the forest, but it seemed unusually quiet as if all beasts were afraid.
Arthur paid that no heed and with his last strength he landed the cloud at the cliff, then he finally fell unconscious, he knew Lucy was fine so he breathed a sigh of relief.
If one would see him now, they would surely not recognize him as a human being, his left leg is gone and his right one is half gone too, with some bones sticking out, his chest isbloody and full of holes as big as fists, as for his back, there is nothing left of it, it's as if he didn't have a back, no bones, no blood, just nothing, if one saw him they would surely think he is dead for sure.
Lucy was trembling as she saw his state, she thought he was dead yer she subconsciously began calling for him while shaking his body.
”A-Arthur!..Arthur!...”
Even in the middle of calling out for him, she began sobbing as she was afraid of the possibility of him dying, then she would come back to being alone in this world, but of course she can't handle that anymore, not after experiencing true warmth, and being cherished and loved by someone, for her death is way better than being alone again.
After some time, she still didn't get any response, nevertheless she didn't give up that easily, she dragged Arthur's body or what was left of him and didn't stop until she found a small cave, she knew it's a dangerous forest, so she made a curse allowing her to cover the cave, it was a simple curse that distracts weak beasts or makes them feel as if the place was ominous, it may work on weak animals but against powerful beasts like an imoogi, they would be easily discovered, so she could only hope for the best.
Lucy really didn't know what to do, she didn't have any powerful healing skills, even normal healing was not available for her, so she could only use the miraculous healing potion he gave her.
She had hundreds of them, so she made him drink them.
This time she didn't restrain herself in any way and made him drink those portions using her mouth, it can be considered kissing, but she didn't care, as long as he is healed then it's fine, though it's the first time she kissed him on the lips, and she didn't do it in the past because she was afraid of her fears resurfacing again, but for the time being what most scared her is him dying, and if he wakes up she would no longer be shy about something like this.
She had a lot of objects in her storage ring, so she took out a bed which Arthur gave to her from his storage back then, and then she put him on the bed.
Her mind was much calmer now, and after some thinking and observation, she saw that his wounds were healing but for some reason or another, his healing is extremely slow.
Lucy would feed him a potion twice a day and never ever leave his side, she had enough food to eat but she didn't eat, she would fall asleep while sitting next to him.
She held his healed arm gently as if afraid of hurting him, and would sometimes start sobbing silently while calling out for him
”Arthur*sob* please wake up *sob*, I-I would never reject you again*sob*, please*sob*.....I love you..”
Days passed quickly, and after 2 weeks his body was half-healed, only his back is still gone, Lucy didn't lose hope but she still felt extremely depressed.
Not even once did she leave his side, she only ate enough for her to live, and every day she would shed tears while calling out to him.
Her heart ached, looking at his state and his back, she knew he protected her using his body, and she would rather die than make him suffer this again.
Lucy would stroke his chin with her beautiful white hand while lovingly smile at him but become worried the next second and anxious thoughts would overwhelm her.
...
A month passed and Lucy never stopped giving him the potion, in any case, she started giving him more, and fortunately, his back started slowly healing.
She became extremely joyful as she saw that, she couldn't wait for the day he would wake up.
......
2 months passed since the incident, and now his body is completely healed, including his back, Lucy was beyond happy and waited for every second with impatience, hoping to see him open his eyes, but that never happened, a week even passed but he still didn't wake up.
Having passed 2 months taking care of him, Lucy became anxious seeing him not wake up, however, she didn't feel lonely, even though he was unconscious, he is still next to her, and even if there is a chance in a million that he will wake up, she would still stick with it.
Every day passed like the previous one, from morning until night, she would stay next to him on the bed, the cave was sealed with a huge rock, and a fire was lit not too far from them.
In fact, it was winter right now, and even with the cave being sealed, it was still cold, so she lit a fire and she would sleep next to him under the blankets.
What was more surprising is that she would take his and her clothes off and stick to him closely for better heat, first she felt embarrassed but after that she no longer felt shy or anything of the sort, more so, not even once did she become afraid of him even when sleeping naked with him, quite the opposite, in fact, she hoped he would wake up and hugged her back, but to no avail, he never woke up and she would end up soundlessly crying...
There were some accidents when strong monsters discovered the cave, but she fought them until the bitter end, then she would come back to his side with bloody wounds on her, if he saw her like this, Arthur would fly into an endless rage.
There was even a time an imoogi found out about the cave and attacked them, so she had to lure it very far away then barely escape, but she didn't come out unscathed, she was seriously injured and could barely walk, the imoogi was too much for her, nevertheless she never gave up or even thought of giving up, heck! Even when she was luring the imoogi she was worried about the snow wolves that might ambush Arthur.