Rushing, crashing—what follows from there is, of course, a shock.

The impact was so strong that it shook the warehouse and made dust pile up in every corner. 

In an instant, dust rose everywhere, filling the field of view.

“Ugh…” 

Reflexively, I raised my arm and covered my nose and mouth. 

Even if I squint my eyes, I can’t see anything through the dust.

That brat Luena, the warehouse is probably too dusty because it isn’t properly managed. 

Did they finish it?

I stepped into the dust to check for myself, pressing down on the feelings I wanted to say casually.

“Don’t come…!” 

At that moment, Leon shouted. 

I pulled Deathwise out of instinctive anxiety. 

It’s still bright outside.

The surface of Deathwise is still black.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t suppress my anxiety unless I gripped the scabbard.

The dust gradually cleared away.

The scenery beyond that lightly betrayed my expectations. 

Leon was floating in the air. 

Leon’s expression, which was caught by Luena and dangling in the air, was distorted.

While Ethan was under Luena’s feet.

“Isn’t it cowardly to aim for me when I’m transformed? It would have been a big deal if I hadn’t been careful.”

“…If you attack while transforming, isn’t it manners to overcome it?” 

“In that case, it’s good manners to wait until I’m transformed. Well, it was a bit fierce, though.”

Luena smiled brightly as blood dripped between her lips. 

It’s not that there were no hits, but it was a complete failure. 

Even though I deliberately targeted the gap to transform and launched a surprise attack, she responded without difficulty. 

“It’s the first time I’ve been attacked while transforming. Wouldn’t it be better to come up with more solid measures next time?”

“Will you let go of that hand before talking next?”

“This?”

Luena shook her hand, holding Leon’s neck.

Seeing that, I narrowed the distance with Luena while stopping my breathing.

I’m not sure I can.

It was enough just to think I had to.

The excellent physical body moves more smoothly than I thought. 

Even though I was getting tired and the cut on my side hadn’t healed yet, I still swung the sword like I was controlling a game character. 

As if waiting for me like that, Luena reaches out with her empty hands. 

If I get hit, it’ll easily break my bone.

However, the movement to make a fist was already clearly visible.

If I see it, I can somehow avoid it.

Leaning my body to the side, I managed to avoid Luena’s fist. 

I made a shallow cut on Luena’s side as if I were passing by.

“No way, I didn’t expect you to avoid it from the front! It’s fun!”

Tuk, Luena let go of Leon’s neck.

The fist that has regained its freedom is aimed at me.

Again, I managed to cut Luena’s thigh, avoiding it with only a piece of paper’s difference.

Luena took a step back, perhaps because her leg had lost a little strength.

“Ugh…” 

With this, I even got Ethan back. 

The breath I had been holding came out all at once.

I had a fever because my heart was racing and my blood was boiling.

The wound on the side is hot.

Did I bleed too much? 

Either way, I know that the adrenaline is pumping like crazy with the excitement and tension of the moment.

“Are you both okay?”

“Except for a little tingling, it’s fine.”

“No problem.”

Ethan and Leon got up.

Only then did the tension ease a little.

“Did you purposely run to save your friends? It’s quite romantic.”

Let’s ignore what Luena is saying.

Now that this has happened, there is only one thing to do.

“Let’s go to the sub plan.”

“Whoo, okay!”

I made a sub plan in case something like this happened. 

To do that, Ethan took the sword and held the Kite Shield with both hands.

9

Clank, clank, clank.

The warehouse echoed with a sound like metal being struck and radiated.

Ethan Mertezaker held the shield tighter with both hands before he could hear the sound. 

He will miss the shield if he even just a little bit lets his guard down.

His hands have long since become numb.

It was odd that he was holding a shield somehow. 

Luena, who took on the form of a devil, didn’t stop attacking. 

Even though Ethan becomes the shield and Leon attacks from time to time, she isn’t pushed back at all.

Of course, even though the two of them made a surprise attack while she was trying to transform, they couldn’t even put on a proper snatch. 

The opponent who blocked the sword with the skin without any armor was no longer human.

Well, since humans don’t have horns growing from their heads, or wings from their backs, it was unreasonable to think she was human from the beginning. 

‘As expected, it’s overwhelming…!’

I have to think to defend myself. 

It was pointless to attack. 

And to be honest, there is no victory.

Wouldn’t it be a more realistic judgment to run away right away?

Ethan consciously weighed down on the weak mind that was creeping out of his head.

‘I thought it wouldn’t work even then.’

What comes to mind is an old memory.

Deep in the slums, an altar is hidden behind a cocktail bar.

When Ethan saw the skeleton that appeared through scary magic, he thought.

‘Oh, that’s too much. I can’t beat this.’

He can’t measure before winning or losing. 

He wanted to turn around and run away right away, but he held back because there was a child in front of him.

Of course, he knew best that nothing would be solved even if Ethan threw himself in there.

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But running away from it was unacceptable to him.

So Ethan yelled at Theo to take the children and run away. 

As if to deny this, Theo casually killed Anirza, the black wizard.

Ethan remembers that moment clearly.

The figure of Theo Agrit, who stepped forward and burst into glory at a time when everyone else wanted to step back. 

So now he didn’t back down.

Even if his arms didn’t move, he endured by burning his fighting spirit 

“Ugh…!”

However, the limits that can be overcome by the theory of mind are clear.

Ethan was eventually pushed back by a powerful attack.

Ethan’s knee was bent, which was pushed out with his shoe dragging. 

Ethan stood up again and hit his tired, shaking thigh with his fist.

Luena stuck out her tongue as she watched him run again.

“Do you have good guts for a weak subject?” 

“Because I’m weak, I should at least show my guts!” 

He has never been strong. 

He has always been weak since before.

But if he were weak, there was a way to fight like he was weak, so Ethan stood in the way of Luena.

Again, the shock strikes the shield.

Ethan managed to hold on.

He never gave up, no matter how many times his knees gave out and his arms went numb.

It’s been a long time since the metal hit and spread out like that.

The moment when Ethan’s body, which eventually reached its limit as a living thing, was about to stop. 

Clank!

For some reason, the fist striking the shield felt lighter than before.

Ethan was momentarily taken aback by the incomprehensible phenomenon.

It felt as if his limbs would be cut off at any moment. 

However, the limbs moved properly with a strange sensation—

‘As if something dwells in me…’

It’s a feeling he experiences for the first time in his life. 

Raising his shield even higher, Ethan swung his shield wide the moment he was attacked.

An unexpected counterattack pushed Luena one step back.

Leon also swung his sword without missing the gap.

The attack of swords and shields that filled each other’s weaknesses only made Luena take a step back.

“Aaaaaaaa!!” 

Luena took a step back from the shield, which he wielded powerfully by squeezing out all of his remaining strength. 

Ethan immediately tried to increase the distance, but this time his knees buckled.

“Ah, ugh…” 

He can’t feel the power that was in there, as if everything had been burned by the blow from earlier.

His vision is blurry from the rushing fatigue.

Theo carefully tapped Ethan on the shoulder, who was trying to hold on somehow.

“Great job.” 

Theo, holding the sword, stepped forward.

Theo’s back, which is infinitely small compared to Ethan, now only feels big.

Towards his back, Ethan said as if vomiting.

“Operation, as it is… I did it… So, the rest… I’ll leave it to you…” 

It was Ethan who collapsed and fell on his face. 

A faint smile hung on his lips.

10

There are two strategies discussed before dealing with Luena.

One is a strategy to surprise and win when Luena transforms. 

The other is a strategy to draw time until I come out when the surprise attack fails.

The first operation failed.

The second operation, which had no choice but to be carried out, was somehow carried out by Ethan.

The result is now.

The sky seen through the broken window is black.

As if in response, a red pattern appeared on the surface of the demon sword.

With the demon sword’s specs, it was easy to deal with Luena.

So there is no need to get thrilled.

However, I feel quite terrible.

Why?

If I think about it coldly, the answer comes out easily.

In short, it means I’m angry.

Strangely, ever since I jumped on Luena and got excited, my anger has accumulated until it finally exploded. 

A failed plan is no reason to be angry.

Because I made a sub-plan with the possibility of failure in mind in the first place. 

There’s no reason to be angry when the sub-plan is successful.

But just seeing Ethan lying down behind me made me mad.

Even Leon, who is still standing, is not in such a good condition. 

Neither has any visible wounds, but they are about to collapse from exhaustion and tension. 

Leon and Ethan, as well as the people I’ve encountered in this world, are somewhat different from the NPCs I’ve seen through the monitor.

I understood it in my head, but now I can feel it vividly. 

That’s why I know that I can’t help it even if a variable like this incident occurs. 

Most of them won’t have anything to do with me, but I have to step in if I have to, whether it’s a variable or not.

However, it can’t be pleasant to see the two people who have spent the most time getting wrecked here.

In other words, I feel terrible even if I say it can’t be helped. 

Not to mention that those two overworked their bodies in that way because I asked them to.

To think that even if I hadn’t asked for it, they would have intervened and produced the same result— it’s just optimism that wants to avoid responsibility. 

Thus, it was I who originally involved those two.

That’s why I was quite angry with myself.

“…No, it’s not me who’s bad, it’s that person.” 

The problem is that Luena and Zeist shouldn’t have committed evil deeds in the first place.

When I glared at Luena, making it clear that she was to blame, she smirked.

“Your face is scary. Is it a concept to step out because your friends are in crisis?”

“It’s your fault that you talk too much.” 

I have no intention of talking at all.

I laid Deathwise on my side.

Thanks to the buff, I only took a step, but I dug into Luena’s arms.

Slash—.

Deathwise cried.

At the same time, Luena’s upper body was deeply cut.

With an expression that she didn’t know what had happened, Luena sat down, bursting with blood. 

The half-human, half-demon doesn’t die to this extent because she has great regenerative abilities. 

A wound like that will heal without leaving a mark even after a half day.

On the contrary, it means that it is impossible to overpower her unless it is this much attack. 

The taste of the hand mixed with the sword was unpleasant, but I suppressed it and picked up the artifact that fell next to Luena.

To think that this could happen because of just one dagger.

It’s complicated but— I turned around and helped Ethan.

“Let’s go back.”

Ethan didn’t say anything.

Instead, he raised his thumb with a trembling hand.

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