Chapter 5
“I… damn it, why isn’t there any response?”
Whether it was because of his large build, or some unknown problem she couldn’t identify, even after pouring in a considerable amount of mana for quite some time, the man’s body showed no change. However, since she had already decided to save him, she couldn’t stop halfway. Freya continued to pour her mana into him.
‘Huh? What is this?’
At some point, it began to feel as if her mana was being sucked away like dust being drawn into a vacuum cleaner. It was being drained out of her in waves. At the same time, the man’s body—once cold as ice—began to feel warm, and his face, which had looked as pale as blank paper, showed a faint trace of color.
The moment she realized this, Freya quickly pulled her hands away from his back.
“Is this guy… a black mage?”
She had heard that among dark magic, there were spells that devoured a person’s life force. But she quickly dismissed the thought. If he were truly a black mage, she would have sensed that dark aura immediately.
“Whatever he is, I almost got drained to death.”
Freya grumbled while glaring at the man as if he were her sworn enemy.
According to her grandmother, she possessed mana equivalent to the 5th Circle. Since her great-great-grandmother had been a 8th Circle Archmage, it was by no means a small amount. Normally, no one should be able to drain her mana so easily that it caused physical changes. And yet, this man had absorbed so much of it that her head rang and dizziness washed over her.
After a while, once she stabilized her condition through internal circulation techniques and cultivation methods, Freya shook the man again. Her movements carried a hint of personal frustration and were rather rough.
“Hey. Wake up.”
But the man only let out a faint groan and remained unconscious. Freya pressed several acupressure points, including the philtrum, one by one. Only then did he slowly regain consciousness and struggle to open his eyes. Meeting her gaze, he muttered in a dazed voice.
“Goddess…?”
“A goddess, my foot,” Freya almost snapped back, but quickly corrected herself.
“Yes. A goddess. The goddess who saved your life. So stay conscious and hold on tight. Even if I am a goddess, if you lose consciousness—”
Before she could finish, the man drifted unconscious again. It seemed his blood loss had been too severe, causing his blood pressure to drop.
Thinking that stopping the bleeding came first, Freya carefully examined his body. The wound on his side had already dried with clotted blood. The other wounds were much the same. Then she noticed something else—the faint scent of sulfur mixed with the smell of blood.
‘Where is that coming from?’
It didn’t take long for her to find the source: the thigh pierced by an arrow. The skin around it had turned black and was rapidly necrotizing.
It seemed the arrowhead had been poisoned.
Her healing magic couldn’t cure poison. That was its one weakness. Poison destroyed internal organs faster than they could be restored.
Given the sulfur-like rotten egg smell and the rapid tissue necrosis, it was most likely a highly lethal poison known as Busucho poison.
‘But what is this guy?’
If it truly was Busucho poison, as she suspected, he should have died of cardiac arrest long ago. The toxin was so potent that it melted internal organs and caused blood coagulation. Most people would develop respiratory failure within five minutes of exposure, followed by cardiac arrest.
And yet this man—whether due to a special constitution or resistance—was still alive, barely hanging on, even though far more time had passed.
‘Well, aren’t you just ridiculously lucky.’
It was fortunate in every possible way. Not only had she found him deep in this remote mountain as a physician, but she had also brought multiple antidotes with her, suspecting that her father’s sudden worsening condition might have been caused by poison. Among them was even an antidote for Busucho poison.
In the Great Forest, known as a treasury of flora and fauna, lived the Mia tribe, a primitive clan. They were extremely territorial, killing any intruder—human or beast—with poisoned arrows or spears coated in Busucho toxin.
But Freya had been an exception. Because of her medical skills.
The Mia tribe first used herbal remedies when sick, then resorted to shamanic rituals. If that still didn’t work, they declared it a divine curse and cast the afflicted out.
Freya had saved those exiled people using medical knowledge from her previous life, combined with mana and herbal medicine. Among those she saved was the grandson of the tribe chief. From then on, she became an ally of the Mia tribe.
As their relationship grew into friendship, she was able to learn not only about antidotal herbs for Busucho poison but also many medicinal plants not recorded in this world’s medical texts.
The Mia tribe was especially knowledgeable about poisons, as their homeland—the Great Forest—was home not only to ferocious beasts but also highly toxic flora and fauna. Absorbing their knowledge with enthusiasm, Freya had unknowingly become something of a poison expert herself.
Returning from her memories, Freya decided to stop the spreading necrosis and administer the antidote before the poison reached his heart. Removing the arrow would come after.
However, even in a hurry, she couldn’t administer the antidote here. One of its side effects was a drastic drop in body temperature. It had to be used in a heated room or near a strong fire.
Fortunately—or perhaps fatefully—there was such a place not far away. The only problem was that the man was unconscious.
There were two ways to move him to the cabin: carry him on her back, or drag him on a stretcher.
After considering it, Freya chose to carry him. Although she could technically make a stretcher from wood using his sword, it would take too much time. She needed to administer the antidote as soon as possible.
She took ropes and bandages from her bag, propped the man against a tree, then lifted him onto her back. She tightly bound their bodies together so they moved as one. It was possible because most of the arrows had struck his back.
With his sword and spear used as walking sticks and her bag slung over her shoulder, Freya began stepping forward slowly. Only her ability to use mana kept her from collapsing under his heavy weight.
Once they reached an incline, the man’s weight shifted forward, making it feel even heavier. She couldn’t help but mutter.
“Damn it… I thought this kind of march ended in my past life. Never thought I’d be doing it again here.”
She had once trained in her previous life by running laps around a field while carrying a 70kg sack of rice under the name of endurance training. Compared to dragging logs or tires weighing over 100kg, it was still manageable—but it had been exhausting nonetheless.
“Ugh!”
The man suddenly let out a pained groan. A branch sticking out from the side must have scraped his wound. In the dense forest, his groans continued intermittently—likely because branches kept striking both his side and the embedded arrow.
“Huff…”
Finally, when they reached the cabin, Freya let out a sigh of relief.
Standing at the door, she coughed loudly in case anyone was inside. When there was no response, she pushed the door open wide.
“Wow…”
A satisfied exclamation escaped her lips as she looked inside.
The interior—about five pyeong in size—contained a thickly padded bed, a fireplace, cooking utensils, bowls, a water jar, and even firewood.
Judging by everything inside, this wasn’t just a temporary shelter for a night. It seemed more like a place used by hunters or herbalists who stayed for extended periods to accomplish their work.
Once again, Freya realized how incredibly lucky this man was. Having a cabin that protected him from cold and wild beasts was already fortunate enough—but it was also stocked with tools that could aid in treatment.
It felt as if the goddess herself favored this man. Or perhaps someone’s desperate wish not to let him die had moved the heavens.
Whether it was divine favor or someone’s earnest prayer, the final act of saving him now rested in her hands.
Freya untied the ropes and bandages binding them together, then carefully laid the man face down on the bed. With nearly 90kg of weight finally lifted from her back, she felt as if her body could float away from relief.
