Lazool"s true speed was so fast that it wasn"t that of a horse"s speed. For a moment, she thought–What if Lazool was also a witch, inheriting ancient power?
Astraea immediately corrected her thoughts back onto the present matter and continued to guide them to their destination. As for the time it took, it shouldn"t have taken that much from beginning to end. However, Astraea also felt that the situation had gotten worse while they were mobilizing. Well, Eos also felt that from the sound of many trees being mowed down.
“Eos, stop!”
“!!”
“We"ll leave Lazool here! It"ll be harder to go back if he gets too close and can"t use his legs!”
With those words, Astraea jumped down from Lazool.
The truth was that she knew that it would be better for Eos to fight with her, even if for just a bit. Eos doesn"t know how Astraea fights. Likewise, neither does Astraea know how Eos fights either.
But they couldn"t worry about that.
As they drew near, the chimera came into their sights. The escaping knights seemed to have already reached their limits as well. It was a situation where they couldn"t adhere to their principles.
Thus, it happened while thinking that.
Some escaping knights tripped. The chimera opened its mouth wide, ready to release its fire.
The chimera"s gestures were of a huge magnitude. Astraea was easily able to guess its intentions. A finishing blow.
The only action that Astraea could take upon witnessing that scene was to jump in between them.
With no hesitation, Astraea sped up like a gust of wind. She jumped between the knights and the chimera. Facing the coming blaze, she murmured in a small voice, “Please lend me strength.”
Upon doing so, light was cast from Astraea, stretching from both of her hands. Immediately after, a sound reverberated similar to gla.s.s breaking.
The chimera"s blaze collided against an ice wall that Astraea had just erected. It dissipated immediately after. The ice wall was partially destroyed as a result, but it succeeded in stopping the flames with the while taking the least amount of damage.
“That was just one shot, huh.”
Astraea glared at the chimera while drenched in cold sweat.
The chimera was more imposing than she had thought. She couldn"t help thinking that if possible, she wouldn"t have wanted to encounter it.
The chimera also stopped for a moment, vigilant of the ice wall that suddenly appeared. During that gap in the battle, Astraea, while staying aware of the chimera, peeped at the state of the fallen knights behind her and held her breath.
It"s far worse than I imagined…!!
They were breathing, or rather, they were so heavily injured, it was a miracle they had even been able to escape.
How long have they gone like this?– She already couldn"t imagine.
“Molga, Elba!! Get a hold of yourselves!!”
Even though Eos called their names, while facing the chimera without a sword, neither of them responded. Their breathing had already stopped.
But they shouldn"t be dead yet.
Astraea bit her lips. She knows of a method to save them, but it would thrust a dangerous role onto Eos. If she proposed it, Eos would definitely take it. However, she didn"t want to propose it. More importantly… I don"t want Eos to regret not being able to do anything in this situation.
She didn"t want him to regret it. Especially since failing to do anything then would lead to something that couldn"t be undone. Because, that"s because I would hate that!!
“…Eos, give me some time. Enough where you can count up to 200. If you do, I"ll be able to save these two.”
“Save, you say–“
“Never mind that! Yes or no, which is it?!”
Astraea also understood that according to what Eos knows, there was no way to cure them in this situation. Rather, it was clear that bringing them back to the fortress with those horrible burns coupled with the chimera"s poison would be dangerous.
That"s why–I"ll use recovery magic that Eos doesn"t know of!!
If she was being honest, it was magic she definitely didn"t want to use in public. He might think her lying, but that wasn"t the time to be considering such things, much less explain herself.
“…I"ll try to defeat it while you heal them.”
“Very good. But you just said something I didn"t like at the end, so stop that.”
After cracking a joke, Astraea once again thrusted out her right arm and firmly clenched her fist. Immediately after, she opened her hand. When she did so, in front of Astraea was an even st.u.r.dier ice wall than before.
If Eos is going against the chimera, then this should be able to defend against the fire it spits out.
It was perfect for also hiding the recovery magic she was going to use.
Astraea placed both the fallen soldiers within hand"s reach and inhaled deeply. Upon doing so, her eyes shone.
These wounds are serious. As expected, they"ve been infected by the chimera"s poison. I"ll have to focus from here on out or they may die.
After looking over the extent of their injuries, Astraea closed her eyes.
Guess I"ll also need to prepare myself for the same. It wouldn"t be weird for me to faint either.
Even if she doesn"t die, even if the pain and suffering doesn"t disappear, Astraea would still take it on herself. The only difference was that she recovers faster than normal people.
Well, there"s nothing that can be done even if I complain. I can endure it plenty if it"s the immortal me.
That"s why she was able to heal Eos and Lazool as well.
She concentrated on the nerves of her fingertips. She felt the magic in her whole body move as her blood circulated.
Astraea had felt such plenty of times, but still took in a sharp breath.
I"ll start now!
Immediately after, she unconsciously exhaled. She could feel an illusion of sorts where she was sustaining a terrible shock against her stomach.
Astraea clenched her jaw.
Of course, I can handle it if it"s only this much…!
The shock spread throughout her body. She even felt her blood rush about.
The injuries being taken on are healed on the spot — It was the reason for the intense pain. She thought that she had considerably grown numb of pain with such a long life, but that pain was like her body was being torn apart. She couldn"t take it. She could taste iron inside her mouth.
Such a degree of pain wasn"t Astraea"s first time. It was similar to when she healed Eos and Lazool as well. The difference was that they weren"t inflicted with a chimera"s poison.
Her biggest miscalculation, however, was that most of the magic power she used to heal Eos and Lazool didn"t heal her. The means of exchanging her own strength with that of the other"s severe injuries was enough to consume Astraea"s powers, powers said to have been the highest in all of history, and rampage inside her body. On top of that, she also had to take the chimera"s poison onto herself and also heal it. Her act was incredibly reckless.
As expected, this is really demanding. She was reminded of forbidden magic.
That"s right, the corner of her lips unconsciously rose.
Yeah, I"m not normal. If I was, I"d lose my life without even healing a single person.
She couldn"t breathe out. A scream was rising through her body.
Can I even end this within 200 seconds?
It"s not can, but will!
Astraea scolded herself for even considering such weak thoughts. She then earnestly prayed for their breathing to return within her hazy sight.
She could hear Eos fighting from afar.
He"s not giving up, so I need to bring these fallen soldiers to life as well— She strongly desired such.
After that, she wasn"t sure if she could really finish it within 200 seconds.
But the suffocating feeling, little by little, disappeared from Astraea. Color also began to return to her hazy view.
–I was able to save them!
Though small, the soldiers" breathing came back. They had crossed over the biggest hurdle. Judging so, Astraea supported herself with her unsteady legs and stood up.
She then took a deep breath.
Calm down, calm down, calm down.
Her immortal body somehow couldn"t quite get rid of the chimera"s poison. A huge amount remained, hence her action was too much. Yet despite realizing such, she couldn"t wait for it to heal on its own. Starting late was prohibited.
“All right.”
Slightly motivating herself, Astraea first quietly looked from behind the ice wall at Eos.
Sorry for the late chapter lol. Got busy again. Anyways, this will be coming out of nowhere but I had a talk with Alea and we agreed that because this story has grown boring for me now, I"ll have to drop it. Just can"t somehow get the motivation to do so.
If you guys enjoyed my translations so far, I mainly translate romance, shoujo, josei and the like so you can stop by my site at . As for my next project for AF, it"ll depend on when I get more time so do look out for my next project with Alea when it happens!
Chapter 11.>