n

n

n“Guess I’m not getting out of this easily!”

nThere was nowhere to run, being pincered in by the two groups.

nAs Loren decided that the only way out was to cut through them, he heard Oxy finish chanting her spell.

n“Scatter the sands, bring upon slumber! ”

nBased on Oxy’s movements and line of sight, Loren saw that she was using on the goblins in front and was irritated at her decision.

nHe knew that she was trying to help Sarfe and Naron, but if they were to successfully retreat, it was better to use it on the goblins behind them.

nBut Oxy was too focused on them and didn’t seem like she noticed the goblins behind them.

nLoren changed his mind and thought that they still had a chance if they could at least get through the goblins in front, and waited for Oxy’s spell to take effect. But he narrowed his eyes, seeing a strange light coming from the goblin mage’s necklace.

nAt the same time for an unknown reason, Lapis, who Loren was still holding her by the collar, became limp.

nAs her knees buckled, Loren immediately let go of her and before her knees could hit the floor, he managed to catch her and lend her his shoulder.

n

n

n“Hey! What’s wrong?”

n“This is…”

nHe didn’t have time to check what was wrong with Lapis, who looked dumbfounded, because he heard Oxy’s panicked voice.

n“What? How!?”

nLoren soon found out why.

nAlthough the spell had been used, there was no sign of any of the goblins going to sleep. The goblins then rushed at Sarfe and Naron at once.

n“You bastards! Get away from me!”

n“S…stop! Let go of me!”

nThere was no way Sarfe could get up and fight with an injured shoulder and leg.

nNaron, who injured her flank, was unable to go against them either and they pushed her to the ground.

n“Hey! Get away from her!”

nThe goblins showed no mercy, bringing their weapons down on Sarfe.

nAs dull swords chipped away at his flesh and the clubs struck bone after bone, Sarfe screamed in pain.

nNaron shrieked as the goblins started to rip her clothes off.

nOxy became pale at the sight and before she could do anything, the goblins tackled her from behind and covered her, not even letting her scream.

nLoren knew that he couldn’t save them.

nHe then started to take steps forward.

nFor a second,the thought of leaving Lapis here crossed his mind.

nLapis couldn’t move her limbs, much less grab onto Loren’s shoulder, and was getting carried by Loren. To him, she was dead weight.

nIf he left her, he would be able to move around quicker and the goblins would be focused on new prey, letting him run away with little to no problems.

nThe only problem was dealing with the guilt later, but considering the pros, he thought it wasn’t a bad choice.

nLapis looked up at Loren, who was still trying to decide, and gave out a small sigh.

n“It can’t be helped, just leave me.”

nIt was a completely different tone than until now.

nLoren was more surprised that she told him to leave her here than the change in the way she talked.

n“I’m in the way, correct? They won’t kill a woman that easily, but they will kill you for sure. Don’t mind me and just go.”

nHe sensed a feeling of defeat in her voice.

nBut what struck his heart was that she was saying all this just for him.

nSo what Loren did was silently grip the sword in his left hand tighter and put Lapis under his right arm.

n“Hey?”

n“Shut up, you might bite your tongue.”

nAfter getting a better grip on her, he gritted his teeth and took a step forward, then suddenly started dashing toward the exit.

nAll the screaming from behind him and weird moaning sounds coming from Lapis didn’t reach his ears anymore.

nHe swung his left arm in a wide arc right at the base of a goblin’s neck.

nThe goblin’s body tore into two pieces and Loren kicked them away, then bashed the forehead of another goblin who jumped at him.

nThe blade lodged into its head and broke off.

nLoren, as soon as he felt it break, hurled the rest of the sword at another goblin, then picked up a club and continued to speed up.

nHe rushed past Sarfe, who was getting hacked to pieces in a pool of blood, and Naron, who was stripped naked and held down on the ground, and went straight toward the archers.

nA few arrows were fired at close range.

nNo matter how bad they were at using bows, Loren was close enough that it was almost impossible to miss.

nBut to the goblins’ surprise, not even one of them managed to hit Loren, and before they could even act confused, they got a knee to the face and flew away.

nRight before the arrows were launched, Loren immediately jumped to the side and as soon as the arrows flew past, he jumped and kicked off the wall, propelling himself towards the goblins and landed the attack.

nHe didn’t even bother looking at his work as continued running, at a speed that seemed impossible to reach while holding a person.

nHe dashed toward the goblin mage, who was standing behind more archers.

nBut the goblin mage wasn’t ready to back down without a fight.

nIt started muttering something and raised a finger and pointed it at Loren. A ball of fire appeared at the tip and started moving in Loren’s direction.

nIt was the beginner level magic spell , and it flew at him faster than the arrows.

nLoren couldn’t dodge in time and it struck him on the left shoulder.

nLoren grimaced at the impact and the pain of fire burning his flesh, but it wasn’t enough to slow him at all.

nThe goblin mage, shocked that the spell didn’t stop Loren, was readying another spell.

n“Too slow!”

nOf course, Loren wasn’t about to give it time to use another spell.

nCutting off the pain in this left arm from his consciousness, he rammed into the goblin mage.

nHe took a wide swing at it and the hit immediately crushed its head open.

nAt the same time, he threw away the now broken club, and before the goblin mage could fall onto the ground, reached out and snatched the necklace that emitted the strange light when Oxy used her spell.

n“I wish you would just leave that.”

nLapis muttered in a small voice, looking at the necklace with the corner of her eye, but Loren ignored her and jumped into the tunnel in front of them.

nIt was the other way they came from, but they didn’t have a choice.

nThere was a chance that the tunnel led to a smaller space, but there were side tunnels and

nLoren prayed that they could use them to dodge the goblins and escape.

n“How are you running so well without any light?”

nLapis asked him, sounding impressed.

nHer tone was a lot more relaxed, but lacked the politeness that Lapis’ usual way of talking had and Loren wondered if she was putting on airs until now, but he didn’t answer her and continued to run.

n“Don’t tell me you can see in the dark?”

n“Shut up, you’re loud. I can’t focus.”

nThere was no way Loren could see where he was going in the dark tunnel.

nBut back when he was a mercenary, he learned how to figure out his surroundings by using the reflections of sounds that he made.

nIt was a technique mostly used during times where they couldn’t use a light, such as during an ambush, and although it helped, it wasn’t the most accurate. If he lost focus there was a chance of tripping over uneven ground or crashing into a wall, so he didn’t have any time to spare talking to Lapis.

n“Getting carried around like a sack gets pretty boring.”

n“I don’t have time for that. It’s a matter of life and death so please be quiet.”

n“That’s true, but how about this.”

nAs soon as Lapis said that a soft white light shined, illuminating their surroundings.

nLoren squinted and realized that the light was coming from his chest and guessed that Lapis had something to do with it. He slowed down slightly and looked down at the girl.

n“Can you see now? I won’t ask you to carry me like a princess, but can you at least carry me on your back?”

nLapis asked him with her limbs still dangling.

nHe could’ve ignored her, but he felt an eerie tone from her voice and gently let her down from under her arm and proceeded to put her on his back.

n“Ah, that’s better. Now that that’s out of the way, Loren, thank you for saving me back there.”

nAs soon as she got on his back, she started talking politely again.

nLoren wondered what the change in her way of talking meant as he continued deeper into the tunnel, now illuminated by the light.

n“But why did you decide to save me? You left everyone else to die back there.”

nLoren didn’t flinch at the fact that she said he left Sarfe and the rest to die.

n

n

nHe knew that she was simply just asking him what she was thinking, so he answered her in a daunting manner.

n“I just felt like it, you were lucky, I still owe you money. Just choose one. I’m sure one of them is the answer.”

n“Is it okay if I take it that Loren is a kind person?”

n“If that were true I wouldn’t have left the others.”

nHe told Lapis with a wry smile and a teasing tone, but she didn’t seem to be offended at all and quietly leaned onto his back.

n“But you still saved me so I’ll think of it as that.”

n“Think of it as you want to then.”

nIt didn’t matter to Loren about how Lapis thought about him.

nWhen Loren told her to do as she liked, she told him she would with a smile on her face.

nーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

n