LIGHTNOVELWORLD Episode 26
Chapter 26
[Guardian= Protection]
“I’ll handle it. Rio, keep Hyann restrained.”
“Wait, I’ll go.”
“I want to experience true combat with someone. Besides, with you holding the necklace behind me, I don’t need to worry about stray attacks from the opponent. Also, if we were to take our time changing positions and got ambushed, it would be troublesome.”
Alshade turned her back to me and aimed Finbul straight ahead.
I knew she didn’t want to put me, the weaker one, in a fight against enemies. However, what she said made sense.
Even if I had some knowledge of martial arts, I couldn’t afford to engage in a lengthy back-and-forth with enemies when they were closing in.
As I sighed at the situation of being the one who needed protection, the sound of approaching footsteps became louder and a man jumped out from behind the bookshelf.
In response, Alshade kicks the ground.
“Shi…!”
“What!?”
The man cries out in surprise at Alshade’s charge but manages to counter with his sword in hand.
However, the man’s sword was easily severed by Finbul, and he got cut from his chest down to his abdomen.
The severed blade tip grazed Alshade’s left cheek and lodged itself in the floor behind her.
Seems like she instinctively twisted her neck to avoid it.
It was a heart-stopping sight, and I unconsciously placed my hand on my chest.
“…Phew, I should be more careful about the sharpness. But it seems it was only a shallow cut.”
Alshade readied Finbul again.
On the other hand, the man facing her seemed more frightened by the severed sword and frozen wound than the depth of the wound itself.
When he noticed Alshade was about to attack again, he hastily released his sword and put both hands behind his head.
“W-Wait! I surrender. I’ll give you all the information I have, so p-please spare my life!”
The man pleaded for mercy, but his words seem to have angered Alshade.
“I hate betrayal more than anything in this world.”
“W-Wait…”
Cutting off the man’s plea in a cold voice, Alshade swung Finbul down on him.
Though no blood flowed from the frozen wound, it’s clear the man’s head and body have been separated. He’s undoubtedly dead.
“It’s over.”
“Are you alright?”
“I heard killing someone is tough, but for now, I’m fine.”
I’ve heard that killing someone takes a heavy toll on one’s mind, so I express my concern, but other than being slightly irritated, Alshade seemed normal.
Perhaps because he was an enemy and someone who intended to betray even Hyann.
Still, I should be careful as her state of mind might change when she calms down.
“Understood. Let me know if it gets tough. So, what do we do with this guy?”
“We need to get information from him, so let’s capture him alive.”
Alshade looks down at Hyann with cold eyes and gives straightforward instructions.
“Don’t look at me like that! I-I hold a powerful magic sword, aaargh!”
Hyann starts screaming for no apparent reason and receives a thunder shock.
As he convulses and becomes immobile, I releases the tip of Tonitos from his neck and stands up.
“It’s best if you just stay quiet.”
“…Thanks, Rio.”
“It’s not something to thank me for. Anyway, shouldn’t you heal that cheek wound? It looks like it’s bleeding quite a bit.”
The blood flowing from the wound on her cheek had stained it red, and a droplet fell onto Finbul as it traced down her jawline.
“Don’t worry, it’s just flashy. Now then, ah…!?”
Alshade’s words are abruptly cut off, and an eerie chill starts emanating from Finbul, despite no magic being applied to it.
“This is bad! Rio, forget about Hyann, we need to run away right now!!”
“I-It’s impossible! My hand won’t let go of the handle!”
“Guh!”
“Eek!”
As I approach to help Alshade, my hand is blown away by the gust of wind released from Finbul.
However, the necklace ring activates “Guardian,” preventing me from hitting my back against the bookshelf.
A swirling white wind centered around Finbul, something I had seen before.
“Al, are you okay!?”
Her figure was not visible, blocked by the wall of white wind.
Considering she hadn’t responded to my earlier calls, she was probably blown away by the gust and lost consciousness.
“You’re causing a self-destructing situation by harming your own master, you messed up, Yandere Magic Sword!”
This was undoubtedly Finbul going berserk.
With blood on its blade, Finbul realized its master had been hurt and was now raging out of control, acting on its own without Alshade’s restraint.
In the original story, if the protagonist chose to retrieve Finbul after defeating Alshade, it would go berserk and freeze him to death, serving as a bad ending trap.
In the original, Alshade kept Finbul firmly under control, and it wouldn’t go berserk unless there was a stimulus of being hurt by her own master.
However, the current Alshade is lacking in many ways.
Finbul might consider itself more of a protector than a master, and the extreme reaction is probably due to Alshade getting hurt.
Moreover, the thought process of a magic sword is hardly anything reliable.
It might even get angry at something like knocking its own user unconscious.
To be honest, this is just plain annoying.
“Hyann… I don’t really care about him. He’s probably caught somewhere within that white vortex and has undoubtedly frozen to death.”
Given his position, he’s most likely been caught in the centre of that swirling cold and is without a doubt dead.
While he would’ve been a valuable source of information, I don’t want to take risks for a dead man.
For now, I float a few small fires with “Fire” within the “Guardian” barrier to counteract the rapidly dropping temperature.
“If this goes on, we’ll undoubtedly freeze to death after running out of magic power.”
While “Guardian” can protect against cold air, it can’t prevent the temperature from dropping.
Additionally, while “Fire” is a low-consumption spell, if I increase the output to provide warmth, it will consume more mana.
The difference in output between basic magic and the power of a high-level magic sword is too significant.
Furthermore, if the mana stored in the ring’s gem is depleted, I’ll also need to use mana to maintain “Guardian.”
It’s clear I’ll be running out of mana soon.
Furthermore, there’s another problem if we wait too long.
“Alshade can’t expect Finbul to keep the temperature normal just around her…”
That meant she might freeze to death in the centre of the cold.
Her resistance to the cold is quite high by nature, but even so, with her current state, if she continues to be exposed to Fibul’s cold for too long, she won’t survive.
Expecting Finbul to notice and stop the cold is unreasonable.
After all, a magic sword is just that—a magic sword—and it can’t possibly comprehend human limitations.
It’s a damn difficult choice, but waiting until Alshade dies might be the right decision if it were an ordinary magic sword.
However, if it’s a high-level magic sword, it might continue to go berserk and become even more uncontrollable.
The only way to survive might be to remove Finbul from Alshade’s hand and pray that it returns to its senses from the impact.
It’s the same method the protagonist in the fourth installment used, a reliable method.
In other words, there’s only one option: to make a direct assault.
“Well, well, this can’t be true…!”
Once the decision and determination are made, the swirling cold starts to change. The area of the white wind gradually shrinks.
As it narrows down, a giant ice-made beast’s leg appears first, followed by a wolf’s face, then its body, hind legs, and finally its tail.
The creature that emerged is a giant ice wolf.
『Grrraaooonnn!!』
The height of the giant wolf is easily taller than an adult, and the hostility it exudes is more terrifying than any opponent I’ve faced so far.
But if I don’t break through this, I won’t be able to reach Alshade.
The resolve is already set, so now I just need to execute the plan.
“Fine, you damn magic sword. After this is over, I’ll snap you in half!”
――――――――――――――――
Afterword
And so, Finbul-kun becomes the final boss of this turmoil.
—
If you like this novel, Please leave ratings and review in NovelUpdates.>>HERE
If you’d like to make a one-time donation to support our translations or subscribe to read up to 5 chapters or more (depending on the novel) ahead, you can do so via Ko-fi: