Chapter 69: Lola Of The Maniacal Floor II (1/2)
「The grace of the hidden name」
I nocked an arrow, and then channeled a small amount of magic power into the hand drawing the bowstring. No, it didn’t accept my magic power and the hero possessing the hand protector imbued the arrow with a feeling similar to ecstasy instead.
The arrow won’t miss.
As if it would miss a second time.
This one arrow will put an end to it all.
It’s time to put the quarry that had escaped being hunted down to rest. To put the long history between us to rest.
After hundreds of years, ”I(feminine)” have encountered my sworn enemy again.
The faceless part of its head slid open, revealing a skull-like and wrinkled face. The darkness in its eye sockets was far darker than what was normal. The flesh on its arms sloughed off, and two scimitar-like claws emerged.
Its lower body disappeared like a mirage, and its skin drifted like a cloak off its skinny and emaciated upper body.
「It's an ironic appearance, but I won’t mistake you! Lolaaa!」
At my shout, Souya's party members and my girls froze.
Lola also uttered a shriek.
And then, tried to escape again.
The petty fool who called in the large spider that defiled this land and country is trying to escape again.
There’s probably no reason or intellect left in this trash anymore. This detritus has lived on in the dungeon only because of her obsessive desire to survive. By sipping on the lifeblood of monsters, sipping on the lifeblood of people, sipping on the blood of my descendants!
Die! I’ll finish you off here! Until your reason returns, I'll hurt you and force you to remember! What you did! What you triggered! And then, die! Die! Dragon-eater Lola! The shame(also means impurity) of the clan who ate my mother’s honor!
「Onii-chan! What's the matter?!」
「You’re in the way! Girl!」
My girl is in the path of the arrow. It’s a foolish act. That probably shows how much she trusts Souya. Even parents won’t stand in front of their children when they have an arrow nocked.
It’s a far too foolish act.
It's foolishness that has already doomed her to be pierced through at the same time as Lola.
Even if she’s my descendant, my obsession cannot be stopped.
As the sound of the explosion echoed in the passageway, Lola raised her claws overhead,
That wasn’t it.
She was spreading her cloak to abduct Ea.
No one,
No one other than me could see her. No one was even reacting. I ran, jumped, and struck her claw with my bow.
I though I heard Lola laugh.
Two hits, and both my shoulders were torn open by her claws. The blade-resistant poncho couldn’t stop them at all. Too optimistic blood sprayed from my wounds.
However, I had been able to cover Ea with my body. Lola tore my back asunder as she left. I felt heat rather than pain. I let out a breath. The taste of iron filled my mouth.
「Onii-chan!」
「It’s here, isn’t it?」
I had protected her.
I had my sister in my hands.
「Souya! What's with those wounds?」
Starting with Shuna, everyone in the party expressed their surprise at my wounds. They were unable to see “that”. It probably looked to them like my blood had sprayed out all of a sudden.
I had been caught off guard. I was aware that she was likely an opponent that Lumidia had a history with, but to think that she held so much anger and obsession towards Lola that she took over my body. She had almost been about to shoot an arrow through Ea.
「Lys, can you heal me please?」
「No problem」
I was still lying on top of my sister, but I couldn’t move. Perhaps because the wounds on my back were deep. Ea stroked my head with a worried look on her face.
「Gather light, heal, pray, and implore. In the name of――」
「Urgh」
Though it wasn’t as bad as when Rana healed me previously, heat and pain spread throughout my wounds. It felt as if the flesh on my back was fusing together and closing the wounds. It felt the same for the wounds on my shoulders as well.
「You’re fully healed」
The pain disappeared. With my sister lending me a shoulder to lean on, I stood up.
Naturally, my poncho and combat uniform remained torn.
「Lys-san, is what you’re called, right? What is that magic that you used? That healing speed. It's beyond the realm of human knowledge」
「Hah, mediocre mortals won’t understand it」
「What did you say?!」
Lys and Frey got confrontational. I had Shuna check the condition of my wounds, but it seemed that there were no problems.
Unexpectedly.
Otou-san was cloaked in an eerie silence.
………………Huh?
「No way」
I exclaimed as I surveyed the party.
Ea, Shuna, Lys, Frey, Lazarissa, Gashuraku-san, Otou-san.
「Rana?」
She wasn't there.
『Huh?』
Everyone except for Otou-san looked at one another in shock. It was no wonder. A person right beside them had disappeared all of a sudden. I would likely have been unable to cope with it if I hadn't been prepared.
I stepped away from Ea and snapped out of it.
「Yukikaze, you’re tracking her using the tracer, right?」
『Yes. Many apologies, team member Souya. There was a problem with Yuikikaze’s functionalities, and Yukikaze was unable to detect the anomaly with madam』