311 Vol. 5 pt. 19 (2/2)

”He knows that explosions are worth it.”

”You're all crazy.”

GG and all of the dragons are safe, too. Those who don't have the best protection to hide behind are supplementing their safety with magic, defensive barriers that shield them against Azalabulia's near-overwhelming power.

As for Eva, she decided to stay behind one of the smaller pillars on her own. As for why she chose such a small pillar when she could have went with the dragons instead – well, the reason for that is because she wanted to conduct more research.

The pillar that she is hiding behind just so happens to be the one closest to Fenrir and his girlfriends.

Because of her decision, she has gotten to listen in on all sorts of interesting things even if she does feel bad for eavesdropping on private—and sexual—matters.

Then again, she is not the only one who could hear what they were saying.

As Rao would tell them, they really need to work on their conversation topics when around other people. They need to work on how loud they talk about such topics at the very least.

Cracking sounds come from above Eva.

When she looks up, she notices large cracks appearing through the pillar above her.

Then, it breaks.

The upper half of the pillar breaks into several chunks of rock that fall straight down toward her. Fortunately for her, and as she has already proven, her body isn't just for show. A shot of energy from her angelic eye breaks one of the rocks into much more manageable chunks that won't hurt her, and she's able to defend against the last falling rock with her armored arms deflecting it.

Fenrir's attention gets grabbed between the sound of her eye's ability and the rocks crashing onto the ground.

She might be nodding to him to let him know that she's alright, but she isn't noticing the cracking ceiling above her.

Fenrir looks up and then back down to her.

She's too busy rubbing her bruised arms to see him.

He could shout, but she might not react in time.

”Fen?” Cassiel asks as he gets up.

Not wasting a single second, Fenrir rushes through the burning magic still flowing through the cave while shouting, ”Watch out!”

Large chunks of rock are already falling from the ceiling by the time that he reaches her.

Pushing her out of the way would push her into the same flames that he just ran through. Putting her into danger of those would defeat the purpose of protecting her from the falling rocks.

There's only one option that he can think of now.

Eva notices him and asks, ”Wha—”

Fenrir grabs onto her, essentially hugging her, and pushes her up against the bottom half of the pillar to keep her as safe as he can as he hides her smaller body underneath his.

Rocks from the ceiling pile up around them.

”Fen!” Cassiel shouts before looking around at the ceiling.

Those runes put in place to stabilize the cave are working fine except for one problem.

Any sections of rock between the runes are cracking and falling apart.

There was no rune above where Eva is since the dragons believed the runes would be close enough to protect the ceiling.

They underestimated just how powerful Azalabulia's spell would be.

”Hang on,” Fenrir says, leaning over Eva.

”What are you – why are you protecting me?” Eva asks.

”It's what friends do.”

”But… you know that this is just a game and that I would have been fine, right?”

”Shut up.”

Even if it is just a game, it is an extremely realistic game – a game that makes it incredibly easy to forget that the players have lives outside of it.

And Fenrir has always been one to get fully immersed.

Groans and grunts of pain force their way out of his mouth as rocks collide against his back, piling up around the two.

”How are your arms?” he asks.

”Should you really be worrying about my arms right now?”

”They look hurt.”

”And you're getting hurt.”

”Eh. It's just another day.”

”What are you, a superhero?”

”Just a weeb.”

Eva cracks a smile before getting a look up at his face.

Her face was previously against his chest. Now that she's looking at his face, she can see just how much pain he's in.

”I should really disable that pain setting already,” he groans.

A large rock crashes into his back, forcing him—and Eva—down onto their knees.

”Shit,” he grunts. ”Cass Cass is going to kill me after this.”

”Seriously, why are you doing this? Why'd you protect me?” Eva asks, her voice lower now.

”Like I said. We're friends now. Friends – tch, friends protect each other. Damn it, my tail and hair are going to be full of dust after this.”

More rocks pile on top of them.

Another crack.

Only, this crack isn't from the ceiling nor pillar.

Fenrir's arms go limp around Eva and he slumps forward.

”Fenrir?!” Eva shouts.

”I'm right here, you know,” Fenrir answers. ”Don't need to shout. My hearing is more sensitive in this game.”

”You… are you alright? Did—”

”I'm pretty sure my back just broke, yeah. It's not as painful as I thought it would be even if I only have my pain set to fifty percent.”

”Are you stupid? Why would you—”

”Told you. Friends. Also, sorry if I'm heavy.”

”Why are you worrying about something as stupid as that?!”

”I told you my hearing is sensitive. Could you stop shouting? I can already barely see.”

”You – you… you unbelievable dumbass!”

”I'm not used to getting fanservice like this from anybody but Pupaya and Cass Cass.”

”I would have been fine! Even if I died, I have a respawn set back in the village! And I don't care about dying in the first place! You should know all of that but you still did something so – so… so illogical! It doesn't make any sense!”

”Kick reason to the curb. That's how Team Soaring Wolves rolls.”

”Are… are you making some kind of reference while your spine is broken and you're dying on top of a girl who's pissed off at you for doing something so stupid and illogical?”

”My tail is the fluff that will pierce these rocks.”

”I don't think anything of yours is going to pierce these rocks.”

”Yeah. Probably not, huh?”

”You're unbelievable.”

”That's a compliment coming from one of you scholars. I wonder if that fish armor from Thelmes would be helping out right now. Maybe I should've asked him for a copy of it.”

”Is this how you cope with being in intense pain after doing something so stupid? Making references and jokes?”

”Sounds about right, yeah.”

”You're insane.”

”Thanks, girl who has experimented with falling to her death, dying by lava, and all sorts of other crazy things.”

”At least there was a logical reason to that! It was for science! This is – there is no good reason for this! You can't tell me that you're doing this to see how it feels or for science or anything!”

”I could tell you that, but I won't, because I'm not. I already told you why I'm doing this.”

”Sacrificing yourself for a friend you barely know and only just met when you know that she'd be fine isn't a good reason!”

”It's good enough for me.”

”What if we weren't friends? Then what?”

”Then I'd still be doing this. Well, unless you were some evil asshole who deserves to be crushed under rocks. Then I'd just let you die from it.”

”So, you're telling me that you'd do this even if we weren't friends? Even if we were complete strangers?”

”Yeah. Is it really that hard for you to believe?”

”It absolutely is!”

”Oh well.”

”Don't just 'oh well' me!”

”You know, I have to admit that I thought you'd maybe be a tiny bit more grateful instead of shouting at me so much.”

”Because it doesn't make any sense and that frustrates me!”

”We're back to the not making any sense bit, huh?”

Fenrir looks down at her and sees a surprising sight.

She's the one who's crying.

”What's wrong?” he asks.

”You! I hate things I can't understand!”

”Ouch. So you hate me?”

”You're not even taking this seriously!”

”Well, it is just a game. I'll be fine.”

”That's what I said!”

She starts crying even harder.

”Alright. I'm sorry. Look, I just honestly did this because you're my friend now and I wanted to protect you. I wasn't thinking, I'm not going to say that it was logical, and I knew that you'd be fine even if you got killed. It's just a game. Even so, I still wanted to protect you. It was just… instinct yelling at me to. That's as good as I can explain it.”

”I just – I don't get you. I don't understand why you'd feel that way.”

”It's just how I am. Haven't you ever wanted to protect anybody before?”

She looks away and doesn't answer him.

”I'm sure you would in the right situation. Maybe if it was in real life and if you had a kid or something. I'm sure you'd want to protect them.”

”There's a difference between a parent protecting their child out of maternal instinct and a guy in a game sacrificing himself over somebody he barely knows for no good reason.”

”Close enough. In the end, you're still protecting.”

”I… I give up. I just – I understand what you're saying, but I can't relate to it at all. That's what is frustrating me.”

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”That's alright. You can't always relate to everybody else in life. I know that I'd never be able to relate to Nell's past life as a prin—piano player.”

”Prin-piano?”

”Yeah. It's the latest rage.”

”I haven't heard of it.”

”I'm sure you will.”

”Does it hurt?”

”I figure getting hit by a prin-piano would hurt, yeah.”

”I'm talking about your back.”

”Oh. I'm not sure how it feels. Let's just say that it feels weird.”

”They'll be able to heal you as long as you can survive until we're dug out of here. It sounds like things have calmed down out there, so it shouldn't be long.”

”What? You worrying about me now? I thought I was a dumbass who you hated?”

”I was being irrational. You're not a dumbass and I don't hate you. So… sorry about saying that.”

”It's fine. Sorry for being so frustrating.”

”But… I think I get it now. Kind of. Maybe.”

”Get what?”

”I'll let you know after my research is over. A scientist shouldn't share their theory before they have enough evidence to support it.”

”Whatever you want. By the way, can you be careful with your horns? They're getting kind of close to stabbing me. That's already happened to me with Nell and I'd rather not get stabbed after breaking my back.”

Eva repositions her head so that her horns are no longer close to stabbing him in the face.

Then, the sounds of rocks being moved out of the way reach them. It doesn't take much longer for a worried girlfriend's words to reach them, too.

”Fen!” Cassiel shouts.

”I'm going to go deaf between you and her,” Fenrir tells Eva.

”I want to say that you deserve it for being so stupid, but… tha—…thanks. Thanks for protecting me even if you shouldn't have.”

”You could have left out that final bit.”

”Too bad.”

”So cruel. I was teased earlier, just broke my back, and now I'm being teased even more. I see how it is.”

”Fen! Are you alright?!”

”Can you tell her to stop shouting for me? It's kind of hard to talk any… louder than this,” Fenrir says, his voice growing weaker and weaker.

”Hurry up!” Eva shouts.

”That's the opposite of what I wanted. That's just more shouting.”

With much of the weight lifted off of them, Eva is able to move her arms to help in pushing the rest of the rocks out of the way.

The more light that breaks through the openings, the more blood Eva can see all over Fenrir's back and sides.

Even if it's just a game, it's an extremely realistic one.

She knows that there is no good reason to worry right now. Eva knows that he'll be fine even if he dies – he'll just respawn elsewhere.

But, for whatever reason, seeing him so battered and bloodied makes her want to get help to him immediately.