Chapter 40
Red and sticky liquid filled my entire vision.
And it wasn’t my blood.
“…Ah, is this what love really is?”
My sight swayed. A sharp needle had pierced straight through Ian’s back. His body, which had been shielding me, slowly collapsed.
“…Ian?”
With trembling hands, I caught him as he coughed up blood. The familiar scent of blood thickly filled the damp temple.
“You two really are as the rumors say—such romantic lovers!”
The man laughed, clutching several bloodied dissection needles in his hands, his lips stretched into a grotesque grin.
His once pale face flushed red. Lifting his ragged arm, he caressed his own cheek in delight.
“Crazy bastard.”
So this was Smile, the one said to be managing the main temple?
I pulled Ian close and immediately absorbed the moisture from the ground beneath my feet. Blue light rippled outward from my toes.
The vibrations of water spread through the air, and that flow soon became waves radiating in all directions.
Surging torrents of water coiled upward, spiraling around us. In an instant, the rushing water changed direction, swirling into a spherical enclosure.
“Oh my. And what’s this supposed to be?”
The rising water column had formed a globe around us.
A shining, glasslike barrier of water. Within it, only we could breathe.
“Ma… Master…”
Jelly, who clung nervously at my side, spoke up. I gently laid Ian down and knelt beside him.
“It’s fine. He’s not dead.”
I forced myself to sound calm. But the sweat on his brow, and the gray pallor of his lips, made my chest tighten.
“…This much… is nothing,” Ian murmured as he strained to open his eyes. His blurred golden irises fixed on me.
“Don’t speak. Just stay still.”
“I think… the needle was coated with poison.”
“I told you not to talk, didn’t I?”
Why does he always ignore me? I swallowed my rising panic and checked his condition.
His shoulder blade, pierced straight through from the back, was drenched in blood. At least it hadn’t struck a vital point. Still, the wound was deeper than expected, and the bleeding wouldn’t stop.
His breathing was fading, like a candle flickering before it goes out. But it wasn’t just the wound—the poison seemed the real threat.
“Jelly. You can consume poison too, right?”
“Of course, Master! Leave it to me without worry!”
Jelly puffed up confidently, thumping its chest before approaching Ian. Its cheerfulness was a relief in itself.
Like when it absorbed seawater, Jelly enveloped Ian’s nose and mouth. Its enlarged body began to glow faint green.
The poison being sucked out was visible even to the eye. If it weren’t fine, that crybaby would’ve been whining already. So, it should be okay.
“Ahahaha, you really are the lovers of the storm! What will you do now, hmm? Your beloved has been hurt.”
Smile clutched his stomach and laughed. After trying uselessly to pierce the water barrier with his tools, he gave up on attacking and just kept spouting nonsense.
“Yes, yes… it is truly sad. When your lover suffers, it tears your heart apart.”
I ignored him and focused on steadying my thoughts.
If I fought Smile like this, the water barrier might collapse. We were in the middle of an island, not the ocean.
Fighting on water and creating water from nothing were two completely different things.
“Master! I finished consuming all the poison!”
Jelly bounced back toward me. I patted my competent little jellyfish on the head and checked Ian’s state again. Slowly, color was returning to his face.
“…Ah.”
Ian blinked sluggishly. I leaned closer.
“It feels like… this has happened before.”
“It has. Back when you got caught on our fishing line.”
He let out a soft, breathy laugh.
“Twice now, I’ve had my life saved by a jellyfish.”
“Well, maybe don’t throw yourself in harm’s way then—”
I shut my mouth tight.
The moment he had taken the blow for me, countless words had surged to my lips. But none of them were to blame him. It was just… I couldn’t understand.
“I admit I was careless.”
We had slipped easily past crude traps and cut down the hunters without trouble. It was too easy, so I had let my guard down.
“Who could’ve guessed the collapsed man would turn out to be a lunatic like that?”
I glanced toward the barrier.
“Excuse me, you two? I’m still here, you know~”
Smile was still knocking on the wall, his creepy grin intact.
“There are plenty of crazed people in this world. Forgetting that was my mistake.”
“No. That’s my—”
“Ian, hush.”
Why does the injured one have so much to say?
Still, the fact that he could talk meant the poison had already been neutralized. Even so, he needed rest. I quietly lowered my gaze to his wound.
Then pressed my hand against my chest, where a dull ache lingered.
…Was it guilt? Or was it simply worry?
Of course I worried—he was my comrade. But was that why he risked his life so recklessly? That, I couldn’t understand.
“Treasure your life,” I whispered.
Don’t throw it away for me.
If I died, maybe I could start over again on that ship.
But you can’t.
You could die for real.
I lowered my eyes for a moment, then slowly raised my head. His subdued golden eyes silently met mine.
“You don’t have to pretend to be my lover even here.”
“….”
Ian opened his lips, but whether he remembered my warning to stay quiet, or was just at a loss for words, I couldn’t tell.
“Oh, how cruel. Whispering your secret love all alone, without including me.”
Smile’s voice cut through the heavy silence, his shadow twisting beyond the barrier.
“Kanoe. Let’s deal with that hunter first.”
Ian slowly tried to stand. I caught his staggering body and protested.
“But… if we drop the barrier, he’ll strike right away! And you’re still in no condition—”
“It’s fine. Thanks to Jelly, the poison’s nearly gone.”
His cracked voice carried such nonchalance that I had no choice but to relent. Dropping the barrier, I gathered water’s energy at my fingertips.
“You really are excluding me…”
Smile spread his arms wide with a grin. At the same time, the shimmering droplets in the air warped into razor edges.
“Ahaha. Well, never mind. Looks like the time has come!”
Boom—!
Just as the transparent blades shot forward—
The temple ceiling thundered. Cracks spread through the labyrinthine walls. Dust poured from above as the whole structure trembled.
“Damn it.”
I clicked my tongue. This wasn’t Smile’s doing. The labyrinthine space itself was collapsing.
“Yes, yes! Let’s all go to heaven together!”
Still grinning, Smile picked up scalpels and needles, stepping forward even as massive stones crashed down around him.
“That lunatic!”
Did he actually mean to die here with us?
I summoned more water instantly. Torrents burst upward from beneath my feet, straining to hold up the collapsing ceiling.
Carefully controlling the pressure, I barely kept the falling mass at bay—
When suddenly, a hand grasped my wrist.
“What are you doing, Ian? We need to find the exit—”
Before I could finish, a faint breeze stirred.
“I haven’t fully recovered my strength yet,” he whispered, stretching out his other hand. The wind shifted, pushing through the gaps of the crumbling temple.
“Go on ahead.”
Realizing what he was doing, my breath caught, and I cried out.
“Are you insane? Why would you—!”
Before I could finish, a massive roar shook the air.
I clenched my teeth. I couldn’t hold much longer. Through the shattered ceiling, Smile’s distorted silhouette loomed like a twisted shadow.
“Ahaha! We’re going to heaven together!”
His crazed scream echoed as the heart of the temple split apart. The pillars I had been propping up shattered, and the ceiling collapsed in full.
“Ian!”
The wind shoved me toward an opening in the debris, carrying me out as he grew farther and farther away. I reached my hand toward him.
“…Perhaps, you…”
His lips moved faintly. But the rest of his words were swallowed.
Boom!
The crashing stone buried everything.
