Chapter 128: Heavy pressure

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Translator: Soafp

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I asked Roland to wake up Ashera and the others when they woke up.

A maid came to wake me up, saying, “Lady Ashera and madam are having dinner.”

However, I couldn’t muster the energy to eat dinner and just stared out of bed.

It was midwinter, so the outside was dimly lit, and nightfall seemed imminent.

As my consciousness gradually awakened, Halva’s words from earlier pierced through me.

“I want you to cancel the engagement.” Halva’s voice wasn’t angry but rather filled with sadness.

That’s why I felt even more keenly that this gap between us wouldn’t be bridged.

Should I tell Ashera? No, that’s stupid… It’s not just Halva. I’d end up hating myself.

In the end, it’s my weakness in not being able to protect Ashera.

Even if this situation ends safely, as an Apostle, the battles will continue indefinitely.

Marl will be fine. He’ll protect the house in a safe place.

But Ashera… she’ll probably come with me.

Can I protect her…? I feel like I might die somewhere… I don’t have confidence in protecting her…

Halva is also a military man. He probably sensed that atmosphere.

If I stay with her any longer, Ashera’s life…

In the end, I couldn’t get out of bed and just continued to agonize under the covers.

Repeatedly tossing and turning in bed, I found myself again staring out of the window into the darkness of the room.

Someone grabbed my hand from behind, and I turned around.

Ashera was looking at me with a worried expression.

“Aldo… Are you okay?”

As soon as she spoke, I wanted to hug Ashera, thinking, “I can’t bear to break up with Ashera.” But then, I saw the elbow of my left arm hanging down from my shirt.

Tears welled up in my eyes again.

“My Apostle,” “Spirit,” “Goblin Emperor,” “Blue Ring’s crisis,” “engagement annulment” – my head was a mess, and all the problems were beyond my capacity.

I cried, leaned on Ashera’s lap, and cried and cried, finally bringing up the “breakup.”

Again in the dark room, I was alone, staring outside.

Ashera asked me for the reason, but all I could say was “I’m sorry.”

“Did someone tell you?” “Is it because of my missing arm?” “Have you come to hate me?” To all these questions, I could only respond with “I’m sorry,” and eventually, Ashera left in tears.

Having bid farewell to Ashera, I honestly didn’t care about anything anymore.

Running away was hesitated. Well, I had nowhere to go…

After thinking it through with my head in a muddle, the answer I came up with was to challenge the Emperor.

If by any chance, I could defeat him, I intended to ask Halva to reinstate the engagement with Ashera.

Even if I died, there was another Apostle, El. Originally, there was only supposed to be one Apostle, so it would work out somehow.

Muttering to myself that defeating the Emperor would… I reassured myself and took sleeping pills.

Early the next morning, I put on my armor in my room to avoid being found and used Space Kick to leave through the window.

The battle with the Emperor shouldn’t last long, so I only packed five days’ worth of food in my backpack.

In the realm of Aoi, magic power doesn’t diminish, so I’ll continue to move towards the limit of the territory with Space Kick.

Turning back once, the city of Blue Ring seemed strangely nostalgic.

As I reached the boundary of the territory, the ring began to glow.

“Aldo. Where are you going? If you go any further, I won’t be able to come out.”

“Can’t you only come out within the territory?”

“I’m asking where you’re going.”

“Aah, I’m going to defeat the ‘Lord’.”

“What are you talking about? Are you saying you’ll leave my territory and fight in the opponent’s territory?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan.”

“Aldo, wait. That’s… not… so… simple…”

“Well then, goodbye. Aoi, I’m counting on you.”

“Wait… Al… Wa…it”

It must be the limit of the territory. Aoi became thinner and thinner and eventually disappeared.

From here on, considering the consumption of magic power, I moved by running on the ground.

While moving, I recalled the Emperor’s movements.

He was definitely faster and stronger than the Kings.

But it didn’t make sense that he only appeared in fairy tales.

With that level of strength, I thought the rumored dragons would be stronger.

After running on the ground for about two hours from the Space Kick, I arrived at the Magic Forest.

Upon entering the Magic Forest, it was clear.

Whether it was the air or magic power… it couldn’t be expressed in words, but I had definitely entered a different territory.

In an open square just inside the territory, he was there. All the kings under his command had been killed, and he himself was on the verge of being cornered. He was waiting for me, whom he must have hated.

In his eyes, flames of joy and hatred burned brightly.

He gripped the large sword that he had discarded on top of the castle wall in his hand.

Strangely, I became unusually calm here.

Perhaps it was because recently, all I’ve been doing is mowing down enemies with Condense Ray.

Holding two daggers, I intended to use Sonar first.

Come to think of it, I haven’t used a single Sonar yet.

Despite being enraged about Ashera’s arm, I realized I lacked some composure.

To become calm amidst battle… I chuckled bitterly at the depth of my own sins.

“Are you alone?”

I knew words wouldn’t reach him, but I spoke anyway.

“Gyaa!”

He must be the same… Our eyes met, and for a moment, we shared a laugh.

Clashing swords.

In the next instant after our brief laughter, he swung his greatsword wildly at me.

I used Space Kick, daggers, and magic shield to parry the strikes.

When I brought out the magic shield, the Emperor hesitated, probably wary of Reactive Armor.

I wanted to use Sonar first… but I didn’t have many chances.

In the midst of our battle, I managed to shoot Sonar into the Emperor’s arm during a brief opening.

It didn’t make sense at first, but there was a strange sensation.

Despite the stalemate, I continued to shoot Sonar two, three times.

The Emperor stared back at me resentfully as I did so.

There were no effective hits, but gradually, the Emperor’s information was being revealed through Sonar.

After three times, six times, I learned that his strength was twice that of the King’s. His magic power was also doubled. Probably incapable of using magic.

I found it strange that with this level of power, he was treated as a fairy tale creature.

And the discomfort I felt since the first Sonar shot…

I felt like there was something strange about the Emperor’s right hand, especially the flow of magic from his index finger.

I had gathered enough information. It was time for an effective strike.

During one momentary gap in our sword fight, I thrust my dagger into the Emperor’s side.

The dagger didn’t go in…

When we fought on the castle wall, he had definitely been enveloped in magic, but there had been some resistance.

However, now… the amount of magic he was channeling was on a completely different level… Is he being supplied with magic…

Presumably, in his own territory, the Emperor was exhausting his magic power to the maximum for defense.

Normally, he would deplete his magic power, but this was the Emperor’s territory. It was irrelevant.

Magic intoxication… I briefly considered it, but the Emperor himself had used it as a strategy.

I couldn’t imagine making a mistake that would lead to magic intoxication.

More importantly, my magic power would deplete faster.

My magic power was already less than two-thirds.

Perhaps I had underestimated the Emperor and his territory.

Could it be that the fairy tale strength was only applicable within his own territory?

Certainly, within my own territory, I could cast Condense Ray three times like a cheat magic.

Honestly, the only way to penetrate the Emperor’s defense and deliver a fatal blow would be with Condense Ray.

If it’s just a scratch, I could probably inflict it with the “Fang” I made with Joe for fun, but it would be meaningless.

I felt like the Emperor noticed my impatience and laughed.

It seemed I had reached my limit here. A feeling of resignation welled up within me.

However, I didn’t want to die in vain. I had to at least take one arm for El who would follow after me!

I changed my aim to the right arm, which was emitting strange magic, and continued the fight.

The Emperor began to conspicuously avoid my attacks once he realized I had shifted my aim from his head, face, heart, to his right arm.

As I pondered this, the Emperor roared.

As I faced off against the Emperor, three Goblin Kings emerged from the bushes behind.

The Emperor laughed once again.

It was my mistake to think I had defeated all the Kings on my own.

At this rate, even taking one arm might be difficult.

My magic power was also nearing three-fifths depleted, approaching magic exhaustion, so I needed to thin it out as much as possible before that happened!

At my feet lay two Goblin Kings, each with a dagger thrust into their foreheads and necks, dead.

Currently, with two spare knives in hand, I faced off against one Emperor and one King.

Using Reactive Armor and Wind Bullet to defeat the two Kings had drained too much of my resources.

What’s more, the breaking of my magic shield was fatal. Although it didn’t cause any damage, it took a chunk of my magic away. My current magic was now less than one-fifth.

I was beginning to feel the limits of my strength when the Emperor roared once more.

I thought, “Surely…” but then two more Kings slowly emerged from the shadows of the trees.

The Emperor seemed to be laughing, clutching his stomach and pointing at me.

I steeled myself… I took a deep breath and exhaled quickly.

War Cry!!

With my inexperienced Vernier and Space Kick, I thrust my right-hand knife into the right King’s forehead.

In doing so, I succeeded in grabbing the large sword.

I then hurled the left-hand knife at the left King’s eye, causing him to scream in pain.

Using Vernier again on the remaining King, I plunged the large sword into its abdomen.

I then withdrew the sword, grabbed another one with my left hand, and beheaded the noisy King with knives protruding from its eyes while facing off against the Emperor…

Honestly, even the magic for enhancing my body was exhausting… If I let my guard down, I felt like I would pass out from magic exhaustion.

The Emperor looked at me with a shocked expression.

This would likely be my final attack. Whether it hit or not, in the next moment, I would surely be torn apart.

It’s strange how calm my heart feels. Perhaps it’s because of my second life, or maybe…

The last thing I thought of was “El,” “Mom,” “Dad,” “Clara”… and “Ashera”… I couldn’t help but laugh at my own pathetic sentimentality.

Perhaps mistaking my laughter for composure, the Emperor stepped back.

“Is that all, Kings?”

Even though I spoke, there was naturally no response.

However, I could see a hint of fear in the Emperor’s eyes.

We stared at each other for a while without moving…

Then the wind blew… In that moment, I squeezed out the last of my magic power and used Space Kick and Vernier to advance.

My weapons were two large swords. Despite being a technique I made with Joe for fun, I often use this “Fang” technique in critical moments. A smile crept onto my face.

I feinted with my gaze towards the Emperor. Pretending to aim for his neck, I extended my index finger in front of my body.

Perhaps he wasn’t good at tactics, as the Emperor swung his sword at me, cutting through my backpack. But I twisted my body and swung the two large swords. The “Fang” hit perfectly, and the Emperor’s index finger flew through the air.

“Serves you right…”

With just those words muttered, I released the large swords and fell to the ground.

As my consciousness faded, I whispered “Thank you…” expressing gratitude to everyone I had met in this world, until the very end.