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Chapter 28: Unexpected Lessons

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“Gravia Luha,”

Julia’s voice was cold.

Or rather, her voice, used by the beast’s soul.

The dragon’s soul.

The man-sized sphere shot toward Krone.

He slid through the rocky hills, slithering out from his location, in mere second.

Yet the sphere did not stop there, it was homing.

Julia followed him. Her left eye left behind trail as it followed his movement, guiding the sphere.

Soon, the violet hue neared him, he could not escape.

Could not escape, from the deadly attack.

“So what?!”

He turned, his spear met the sphere.

The sphere sucked it, bending it. Krone did not wait, he channeled mana through the spear.

He knew that this thing, Gravia Luha, or Gravity Well, was deadly.

However, that was also its weakness. Before he attacked, he sensed the flow. He grasped the gravitational pattern within it.

And when he attacked, he jolted the flow. Channeling mana, he turned the spear to the side, in a motion, almost a circle.

A spiral.

‘Irnea Alir, work!’

The Mana Flow Arte, Irnea Alir.

The hardest Arte within his arsenal of skills.

Within that short moment, the sphere consumed the spear, completely.

Yet the momentum from his mana stayed. The sphere tumbled down, going to the side of the hill, slamming itself onto it.

KAA—

A sound as if a large beast, yawning in broad daylight.

Upon contact, the sphere dipped deep into the hill. Only a mere tip was left outside, pausing.

As if calming down.

‘Not much time!’

Krone did not wait, he moved toward Julia.

Her eyes trailed toward him, yet the sphere did not follow her, as if stuck.

Closing in to her, he made a fist. Close enough, he was about to strike her. In response, she had a small mana ball on her hand. Mana surrounded them, they were about to hit each other.

Time seemed to slow down.

The Gravia Luha shook.

Kah!

Flowing wind.

Turning violent, sucking them in.

Hao, hao, hao…

“Ah,”

“Ugh,”

Terrible wind, haunting.

As if ghastly ghosts, calling for the living. Originating from the sphere, it was not actually wind. Yet the sphere kept sucking the surrounding air, resulting in an outward presence of wind.

It kept sucking in Krone, and even Julia.

“Urgh,”

“Uhm,”

Krone kneeled, yet Julia did not.

Eyes on him, she kept her left hand aimed to him. The fierce wind kept them almost immobile, dragging them closer. Closing herself him, she struggled to land the mana ball.

Her hand was a mere metre from him.

When she was close enough, Krone slapped her arm away.

When he did, his expression changed.

He had slapped her hand toward the sphere. Within the split second, he could see her floating.

“Ah!”

“Damn!”

He extended his hand, stepping a step.

Krone’s hand grabbed Julia’s still-human hand. Another hand took a knife from his back, jamming it into the ground. He kept himself near the ground, slanted while Julia was flying backward.

While being sucked in, her eyes still had hostility.

As if she had to bite him, eat him out whole. Another hand, clad with scales, was about to strike him, forming mana ball.

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The sphere was sucking her, yet she still had hostility for him.

Epitome of stupidity.

‘It’s double enemy aggression thingy,’

“You wanna die?!”

His voice shook her.

While she was not familiar with human’s language, she somewhat knew it. The message was clear, from the emotion sent to her.

Finally realizing her current situation, she conceded.

For a while, hostility had to step aside, out clear.

Survival, first.

The mana on her hand vanished.

Her hand, on his.

He, was her lifeline.

She had no ground to hold onto, his was the only one. Grabbing ever tighter, hands refused to let the other go. The sphere kept pulling them in, a drag at a time.

======

Kent and three knights closed in to the position.

In the forest, he had asked a knight to take the three candidates away. Immediately, he and the three moved toward the shockwave’s origin.

Sliding the air.

As they neared, the aura seemed more obvious.

The knights grew anxious.

“Is it really a dragon?”

“Must be a stray youngling,”

“A mature one would not come without notice,”

“…We’ll see.”

Kent did not comment much. About to reach it, he sensed something.

A thing of dread.

“Halt!”

His fellow knights halted, abrupt.

‘Just what,’

“Guys, foxhole!”

The knights confused, but Kent took action. His hand waved, a few mana blades landed on the ground. Fiery, red light flashed.

It blasted the location, leaving a gaping hole.

“Shelter!”

The three did not understand, yet they did not question him. His urgency told them enough, they had no time. As soon as they jumped in, they understood.

A terrifying wind howled outside.

====

‘Damn it,’

His feet and knife kept dragging the earth, forming trail.

He had a feeling that the knife was reaching its end, near broken. With one hand, he managed to pull the girl closer to him. No time to be wary of her, the sphere was sucking in like crazy.

Wind howled around like hungry ghosts, unsatisfied with the living.

As if shouting;

Die, with us.

As Julia’s feet reached the ground, he put his hand on her shoulder, pressing her down.

Both embraced the swirling wind, as if tornado was around them.

The wind was starving.

It dragged in the uprooted trees from before, one tree coming over to them. Krone ducked, pressing Julia’s head even lower.

Huge tree passed over their head, tree roots scratched Krone’s back.

Heavy.

“Ugh,”

His tunic ripped open, blood came out.

Even his blood rushed away, taken by the wind. Still, he did not let Julia out.

He kept her head down.

Down, by his side. He shielded her, putting her head over his stomach.

Still kneeling, he made her curled into his embrace.

Close to him, she had a sensation.

Umm…?

The beast within her, did not quite understand.

Why would her enemy, gave her this familiar feeling?

The feeling it had back then, the feeling it longed for. That feeling was like a dream, a mere illusion.

Warmth.

Such feeling, did not exist.

…Or is it?

The image seemed blurry.

It did not quite remember, who?

All it could remember, several shadows took her from that place.

The only place it knew, ever since it hatched from its egg.

It was a long time ago?

Long enough, that it thought it was mere illusion.

Krone had his stomach on her cheek, his hand on her head.

Being a creature of emotion, it sensed his intent. It was an intent so strong, yet so assuring. And so much different than before, an intent she could not associate with an enemy.

No way.

An enemy must be destroyed, no matter what.

She did not know why, she only knew it to be a fact.

An absolute fact.

Yet this one, there must be some kind of mistake.

Is this an enemy, or…?

She turned confused, unsure what to do.

Especially so now, she was so close to him.

Close enough, her memory took her back to that very place, one she dreamed every so often.

Impossible.

“Crap!”

Tang!

His knife had broken.

No longer having connection with the earth, he took another knife from his ring.

This was his last, he did not stock them up yet.

Never did he imagine, he would need them so quickly.

‘Let this be a lesson, stupid Krone! Always be ready for emergency!’

As he took it out, the sphere dragged them over, closer.

Filling it with mana, he plunged the knife sideway on the ground.

Klang!

“…”

The knife broke.

He made a mistake, a stupid mistake. The ground he aimed for, seemed to have rock under it. Hard enough, to cause an iron knife to break.

‘Another lesson, observe things properly, crap happens!’

He had no spare anymore.

The green spear he inherited from his mother, would be of no use. It was more of a ceremonial spear, useless but important. Important enough, not to risk losing it right now.

He gritted his teeth.

‘There’s always a way!’

He slid away, taking Julia with him.

Sliding near the ground, he fought against the flow, yet covered only a few metres. He did it several times, finally landing on the nearest tree still standing. The tree was shaking like crazy, almost uprooted. Fortunately, it seemed its root was quite deep.

He plunged what was left of the knife into it.

Hands on the knife, he felt dizzy.

‘Damn, my mana already,’

His mana had depleted.

This body had too shallow mana pool, leaving his mind exhausted.

One hand on the tree, the other, on Julia.

This time, the girl had both hands on him, clinging.

Looking at her, she was more like a child than a deadly enemy. 

A child, with dragon scales covering half her body.

And a curved horn along her cheek.

Cute, in a sense.

Clinging to a man like this, in normal times, one would be joyful.

Yet he, was thinking something else.

‘This girl, heavy, damn heavy. Those scales,’

“Oi, grab the tree, not me!”

“…Um?”

She had an innocent, clueless look.

Yet with Krone pointing the tree with his face, she knew what he meant.

As she let go of him, the wind turned stronger.

Barely able to grab the tree, her hold was not strong enough.

“Ah…”

“Again?!”

She flew, backward. Krone shouted in anger, just how careless this beast girl could be? He let go of the knife, jumping over to grab her.

She saw the view, his face, his hands.

Again, time was procrastinating. How lazy.

Yet thanks to that, she took in her view, in full. He was annoyed, but there was no hatred. He was angry, but not to her. Instead, he was probably cursing himself, angry at himself for whatever reason.

Concerned, with her.

She felt him, as he wrapped his hands onto her.

Her shoulders, overlapped with his.

He held her tight, refusing her escape.

Within her, a familiar feeling arose.

“…”

Krone activated his Air Sliding.

Yet in just a few metre, it was stopped, abruptly.

‘No more?’

Without mana, he could not move on air.

If he had proper equipment, that would be another story. However, he did not prepare anything yet.

They started to fly backward, turning.

He saw the hungry sphere, consuming trees, rocks and even birds.

Those which entered it, were crunched and flattened. As he saw this, a thought crossed his mind.

Barely four days since he restarted to this time, yet…

‘Dying already? Damn, that’s a shame,”

He wondered what kind of face he would make, when he faced the man in white again.

After all that speech about protecting his next generation, his people?

To die in a mere four days?

Shameful.

Beyond shameful.

On top of that, he could not even save this girl.

In addition, he only caused her early demise.

‘Aii, I really lose face big time,’

As he thought so, a face was observing him.

Close, so close, he did not notice. She, who was observing him, knew what he needed.

Mana.

It was a kind of instinct.

She did not even know the name human called it, but she knew how to use it.

Along with the magic incantation needed, she inherited her mother’s soul memory.

The one protecting her right now, needed it.

She tightened her hug on him.

Startled, Krone had no time to respond. Before he could even wonder, mana started to pour into him.

‘This, this is!’

It was not his first time.

There were many times in that timeline, when his comrades would share their mana with him.

However, one’s mana could pose a problem of affinity to another, and the level of mastery needed to do so was rather high. One ought to at least be an Adept to be able to do it well.

Yet when he got the mana, he knew.

Her control, was superb. It was naturally gifted.

Looking at the fierce sphere again, that was logical. One cannot cast this ridiculous thing without high mastery. However, controlling the sphere when it hit was too much, even for a master.

Too much, even for her.

As for affinity, there was never any need to worry.

His affinity was, after all, the infamous neutral.

Mana kept pouring into him, his mind revived.

Having enough, he slid in the air.

Several metres forward, several metres backward.

Two metre forward, double more backward.

A mere metre forward, more metres backward.

No more.

‘Air Sliding’s no good, we’re too close!’

Finally, his Air Sliding could only stop the pull.

For a short time.

‘At the very least!’

Aurelian Arte.

He embraced her, tightest ever. Mana surrounded them. Thick, violet mana along with whites. He used his full mastery.

Unsure how effective it would be, he just had to try.

Soon, the sphere sucked both of them.

As it did, it shuddered.

…

From afar, the eight teams saw the small violet sphere.

Kneeling, as the wind was sucking them in. Fortunately it was too far, too weak.

In their view, a tinge of red came out from within the sphere, sparkling. They saw how it expanded, many times over.

They witnessed it.

Red light, clashing with the violet. In a moment, the larger violet burst.

The wind halted.

Later, a mild shockwave reached them.

Ka, ka, ka…

Rocks and sands hurled themselves onto them, even branches and birds.

They raised their arm, covering their face.

Soon, it calmed down.

They breathed in, heavy.

They turned to each other, much in disbelieve.

As they recalled what they had seen, familiar thought crossed their mind.

The hell, was that?

===== Chapter 28 End =====