The girl would be sold, Jaden thought. They intended to kidnap Renee back to the Realm of Darkness and sell her as a good!
If this continued without us doing anything, Eugene and I would likely be killed, but the fate that awaited Renee would be even crueller!
Jaden couldn't just give up and let it become a part of simulation. She, like me, is a human— and just a 15-year-old girl at that. In that case, what I should do—
"There's only one choice." Jaden muttered. Beside him, the frozen body of Eugene moved at last. They had to save Renee no matter what.
Of course, it wasn't that simple. The difference in battle strength was too great.
While the 30 goblins were all equipped with machetes and armor equipment, Jaden and Eugene didn't even have a stick in hand. But even so, they had to go. What led to this situation were his careless words in the first place.
"Eugene." Jaden stared in front and quickly whispered. "Listen up. We're going to save Renee. Don't move."
"Got it..." the recently dropped Eugene replied.
Jaden immediately heard the response. Just as what he expected, the heart within him was rather strong.
"I'll count to three, and then we'll knock down those four at the front to break through them. Our sizes are different, and we'll definitely succeed if we're not scared. I'll take the left, you take the right." Jaden explained. "Don't throw away the lit grass. Once the flames are out, pick up a sword from the ground and cover my back. Don't think of trying to beat them. I'll use this chance to deal with the big one."
"...I've never swung a sword before." Eugene stuttered in fear.
"It's just like the axe. Let's go..." Jaden readied "one, two, three!"
They were on ice, but Eugene and Jaden didn't slip as they ran at the fastest speed they could muster. They kept praying that this luck would continue till the end, and Jaden roared out from the bottom of his abdomen.
"UWOOOOHHHH!!!"
Eugene was slower by a bit as he shouted "WAAAAAHHHH!!!" It sounded like a scream, but it did seem to be effective as the 4 goblins widened their yellowish-green eyes.
However, they probably weren't stunned by the shouts, but by the fact that the Ium brats lunged at them.
Jaden grabbed dust, and threw some to the eyes of few goblins. He then noticed some weapons laying inside a barrel. Jaden stretched his hands, and grabbed two swords. He tossed one to Eugene. "Just don't let 'em get close!" Jaden yelled.
Eugene reluctantly took the sword, and stepped further back.
"Ja...Jaden!?"
"I'll take 'em down." Jaden replied as his UI displayed.
...Initiate Battle Mode...
A group of goblins charged against him, but Jaden successfully dodged them as he delivered multiple hits. The goblins then tried circling around Jaden, attacking from every direction. Jaden, on the other hand, used [Arial Dash] and knocked most of them down.
Meanwhile, Eugene was struggling with another group of hungry goblins. They were surrounding him as his body was barely holding itself together. One goblin raised his machete, but stopped halfway as Eugene pushed his illuminating plant towards him. The goblin retreated, and looked very irritated.
Oh, does this light bothers them?, Eugene thought.
Eugene then, kept waving his lit plant to break the goblins away, so he can reach Renee.
Another group of goblins were charging towards Jaden. He stood for a second, and rushed towards them. "[Ground Swift]!!" Jaden yelled.
His sword slashed through each goblin coming his direction. One after the other, the goblins kept collapsing, and their leader wasn't at all happy.
"GURAAH! YOU LUM BRAT...YOU DARE TO TAKE ON THIS «LIZARD KILLER UGACHI»!?"
The leader glared at Jaden with one eye and closed in on him as it roared, drawing the large machete at its waist with its right hand. The pitch black blade had blood that seemed to show signs of rust on it, giving an abnormal pressure.
"NO! I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE YOU ON!" Jaden rose his blade. "I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU!"
He shouted, partly directed at the leader and partly directed at himself as Jaden immediately dashed through the remaining distance.
His left foot took a large step forward, using the sword to slash down at the left shoulder of enemy diagonally.
The goblin leader's reaction was a lot faster than what he had imagined. It ignored his attack pattern and swung its machete horizontally.
Jaden kept his body down and barely managed to dodge it. He felt that his some of his hair touched it since it felt like they were ripped off.
His sword hit home, but only shattered the metallic shoulder armor.
Jaden would have been overwhelmed by force if he stopped. He kept his center of gravity low and moved beside the enemy, aiming for the opened flank of the abdomen before swinging a horizontal attack. This time was the same as well.
Even though he had the feeling, Jaden couldn't break through the simple scale mail, and only managed to send maybe 5-6 sheets of metal flying. Dodging the counterattacking strike that came swinging down from above. The thick blade of the machete pierced through the ice floor on the ground, and Jaden shuddered
in fear of the goblin's arm muscles. Jaden then, countered using the Skill [Arial Swift].
At this moment, a phenomenon he had never imagined before happened.
Jaden sword let out a very weak light that still remained. At the same time, his body flashed through at a speed that far exceeded the physics of this world. It was as if someone was pushing him with an invisible hand from behind.
~Shaaahan!
The first strike that came swinging upwards from the bottom right position grazed past the enemy's left leg and stopped his motion. The second strike that swung from left to right horizontally sliced the chest plate of the armor and made a light cut on the flesh inside. The third strike that quickly swung down from the top right side sliced apart the left arm the enemy raised to defend himself from slightly below the elbow.
~Splatter!
The fresh blood that came out from the sliced off surface was shown as pitch black under the bluish-white light. The left arm of the goblin that flew and fell off.
~*kurukuru!
The amputated limb dropped into the lake on the left side, letting out a heavy water splash.
—I won!, Jaden thought as he checked the large goblin's HP. There's still plenty! But he might not be as strong now since he's bleeding.
That was a new level skill that was
a lot more effective than [Sharp Nail]
— it's called [X-rounder], Jaden thought.
However, why was I able to use a sword skill at this moment when it's been a while since I leveled up? Was it because this was a real battle? But how did the system decide whether the user was seriously battling...?
The goblin leader with its left arm sliced off was different from the polygon monsters, as it did not stop for even a moment. Its flashing yellow eyes didn't show any signs of
fear nor emptiness, just overwhelming hatred inside. The pitch black blood flowed out from the wound as a scalding roar—
"GAUUAAAA!!!" And quickly swung the machete in its right hand.
Jaden couldn't dodge the incoming heavy blade that was flying horizontally in time. The area near the tip grazed his left shoulder, and the pressure alone sent him flying by more than 2m as his back landed hard on the icy surface.
~Crash!
The goblin leader forcefully crushed the flesh to stop the bleeding. Its actions obviously weren't of the standard kind of AI.
Yes... I had noticed it the moment that thing declared its name to be «Ugachi». This wasn't a battle between player and monster, but two people wielding weapons trying to kill each other, he thought.
"Jaden! Are you hit!?"
Slightly further away, Eugene used his right hand to hold on to the curved sword while his left hand held onto the glowing grass to hold off the goblin's henchmen.
Jaden wanted to say 'It's just a scratch', but his stiff tongue couldn't move like he thought as Jaden
nodded with a trembling voice. As he used one hand to support himself onto the icy surface as he stood up—
A burning feeling came out from the left shoulder, feeling like it was going to burn through all his nerves.
~Saka saka!
Sparks appeared in his sight. Jaden couldn't help but cry out as his throat let out a groan.
Such— tremendous pain!, he said in his head. How could this possibly be the virtual world?
The point of the so-called virtual world was to eliminate all of reality's pains and difficulties, ugliness and filth, and achieve an environment that was clean and comfortable, right? What was the point of realistically creating such a level of pain and suffering? No— This pain was more than it would be realistically. If I had such an injury in real life, I would probably secrete brain chemicals or end up in a coma as a defensive mechanism, right? It wasn't possible for someone to endure such a level of pain...
—Maybe that was not it...
Jaden tried hard to look away from his wound and mocked himself before changing his thoughts.
"...Such humiliation, you'll never repay that even if I dice you up and devour you alive...however, let's do this." Ugachi swirled the machete over its head and slowly closed in. Jaden looked away from him, watching Renee, who was lying after being tied up tightly. His mind was thinking that he had to stand up, to stand up and fight, but his body just couldn't move. It felt like the negative impression that had developed in him had become a restraint in reality and bound him...
Eugene, on the other hand, was looking from a distance. He wanted to go and help Jaden, but his body didn't agree with his intentions.
It's scary, he thought. But— I have to go, or Jaden will...
Eugene just recalled the vision of how Elaine was taken away.
The heavy footsteps suddenly stopped in front of Jaden. The air was rumbling, and he felt that the giant blade was about to be lifted up. It was too late to either dodge or counter. Jaden gritted his teeth and waited for the moment he was to be released from this world.
However, after a long while, the blade of the guillotine never dropped down.
~Za-zaa!
What replaced it was the sound of the ice surface being trampled on, and then, there was a familiar voice shouting,
"JADEN—!!"
Jaden widened his eyes in shock as he watched Eugene leap past him to slash at Ugachi. He continued to swing his right hand wielding the curved sword wildly and forced the enemy to take two, three steps back.
The goblin was startled at first, but he immediately regained his composure and wielded the machete skilfully with only one hand and parried away Eugene's attacks from left and right.
For an instant, he forgot about the pain and yelled "STOP IT EUGENE! HURRY UP AND RUN!!"
However, he continued to yell while losing himself and continued to swing the blade.
As expected of someone who'd been swinging that heavy axe for a long time, every single hit's speed was eye-popping, but unfortunately, the motions were too simple.
Ugachi first looked like he was enjoying the resistance of a prey as he continued to defend enthusiastically, and then, "GUASS!" It roared and used his toes to kick Eugene's supporting leg. As Eugene lost his balance and tripped, it easily raised its machete—
"STOOOPP ITTTTT——!!!"
Before his shout reached them, it casually swung horizontally.
Eugene took a hit to the abdomen and was sent flying far away, landing right beside him with a blunt sound.
~Declass!
Jaden instinctively turned around, and a sharp pain occurred in his left
shoulder like a flash, but this time, Jaden ignored the pain and nudged over.
Eugene's wound was a lot more serious than Jaden's. His upper body was sliced open horizontally, and the jagged wound was giving out a lot of fresh blood at a horrifying rate. Under the light of the grass that was still held in his left hand, the irregular workings of the organs inside the wound were laid bare to his eyes.
~Cough!
With a heavy sound, Eugene's mouth choked out blood with bubbles mixed in.
The green eyes lost their light as they stared right above emptily. However, Eugene never stopped trying to stand up. His mouth breathed out air that had some red mist mixed within, trembling as he used both hands to support himself off the ground.
"Eugene...that's enough...it's..."
Jaden couldn't help but say.
The pain on Eugene's body was not something that could be compared to mine. It's definitely much more than what the normal consciousness
could endure.
At this moment—the eyes that lost their focus looked straight at Jaden, and he blurt out the words that were drenched in blood. "I can't just let you bear responsibility all alone—"
"No, Majd!— I.." Mado freaked out. The fact that his dear friend that he was eagerly intending to retrieve his memories, might meet his end.
At this moment Eugene's arms suddenly lost their strength. Jaden hurriedly reached out his arms to grab his body. Just when Eugene's slender yet muscular weight was transferred onto him.
Jaden's vision was surrounded by an interrupted white flash, and then, he saw his friend's face. Majd's smiling face.
.
.
"...Don't worry about it," Majd said. "Our group will become better than Malak's group! I'm here with you..."
.
.
.
—— Majd...
Jaden could not feel the pain on his shoulder anymore. He gently put the unconscious Eugene onto the icy surface, raised his left hand in mid-air as he turned to face the goblins leader. At that moment, few tiny glowing clustered spheres appeared, and floated around Jaden. He intended to use the Inferno summoning magic.
"..Come forth.." he whispered. "Engineblade.."
The Engineblade teleported from inside Jaden's ship, deep in the southern forest, and materialized in his hand.
~Shinn!
Jaden swung his sword horizontally as he stood up. The Engineblade gave off an ignition sound.
~Vouhm!
The enemy roared out in surprise as its body swayed slightly. Jaden used the momentum as he stood up to ram right into its abdomen. The goblin swayed again and took two, three
steps back.
Jaden pointed the sword in his left hand into the center of the enemy, took a deep breath, and exhaled.
I have experienced an absolute pain that far surpassed that, he thought. This kind of injury was nothing comparing to the pain of losing someone important. The pain of losing was the only thing that would never disappear no matter how anyone tried to manipulate through machines.
Ugachi let out a loud roar of intolerance, and the henchmen around him that were cackling away, all shut up.
"White lum...don't get cocky!!"
Jaden gathered his consciousness onto the blade tip of the machete as Ugachi charged over ferociously.
~Kiiiin!
With this sound, everything else in his sights disappeared as radials. It was an accelerating feeling that Jaden had forgotten for a long time, where his nerves started to feel hot. No— in this world, it should be said that his soul was burning.
As he faced the machete swinging down, Jaden took a step forward to dodge it and slashed from the bottom left side, to cut off the right arm of the enemy near the shoulder. The machete that was swung together with the giant arm spun, vuun vuun, and landed in the midst of the surrounding goblins, causing lots of screams.
Ugachi, who lost both its arms, was showing anger and more surprise in its yellow eyes as it swayed back. The black liquid that continued to seep out from its wound landed on the ice and created steam.
"...How did great me lose to a lum...a mere lum brat..."
Without waiting for the panting voice to finish, Jaden charged forward with all he got.
"No. My name's not Ium!" he subconsciously said this.
At the same time, the toes on the left foot, the fingertips on the left hand, and the sword tip that reached the fingertips became as sharp as a whip.
"I AM...MADO LUQMAN!!"
The blade shone again, and this time it was a light-green light. Jaden then used a new one-handed thrust sword skill.
Jaden steps became blurry and fast as he rushed towards the angry goblin. He was as though he was moving at a higher— much faster pace. Jaden swung only once, but it was unnoticeable and deadly.
"[SONIC LEAP]!!!" he yelled as the Engineblade collided with the monster's neck in a split second.
~Pyun!
As the sound of the ripping air reached his ears, Ugachi's giant head was already flying high into the air.
That head seemed to fly up straight before turning and falling. Jaden reached his left hand out to grab it, holding it on the decorative feather that was standing like a cockscomb, raised the head of the leader that was still bleeding and yelled "I TOOK YOUR LEADER'S HEAD! ANYONE WHO WANTS TO FIGHT, STEP
RIGHT UP! THOSE WHO DON'T WANT TO FIGHT, SCRAM BACK INTO THE
REALM OF DARKNESS!"
Jaden glared at the surrounding group with his utmost killing intent with both eyes. The goblins started to
panic as they saw their leader die, each of them looking at each other and letting out panicked sounds.
~Gii gii!
After a while, one of them, who was standing at the front row, holding a stick behind its shoulder, walked out. "Gehe, in that case, once I kill you, I, Abuli, will become the next head..."
Right now, I don't have the time to patiently hear it finish its words, Jaden thought.
His right hand gripped the head as he dashed forward, using the same skill and speed as before to slice that guy from the right rib to the left shoulder. With a blunt sound, blood splattered next, and the upper body slid down the sliced off area before landing on the ground.
With that, the remaining goblins seemed to have finally made their decision. They all screamed out and rushed towards a corner of the dome. Several goblins pushed each other and moved through the exit Jaden and Eugene didn't enter from, and soon disappeared without a trace. The echoes of footsteps and screams gradually faded away and vanished.
The ice-built dome entered an icy cold moment of silence, as if the commotion just now was a lie.
Jaden took a deep breath, endured the pain that came out from his left shoulder again, and threw away the sword as it disappeared, and went back to the ship. Jaden turned around
and ran towards his friend who had collapsed.
"MAJD!! HANG IN THERE!!"
he shouted, but his pale face wasn't moving at all.
Jaden could feel some slight breathing from the slightly opened lips, but it seemed that it could stop at any time. The devastating wound on his abdomen was still bleeding. Jaden knew that he had to stop it, but didn't know how without the slightest equipments. So, he used his stiff right hand to quickly draw a mark and knocked on Eugene's shoulder, looking at the window that appeared with a praying attitude.
The life—HP Points was indicated to be [244/3425]. Also, the value in the front was dropping at a horrifying rate of 5 points every seconds.
In other words, Eugene's Life would be at its end in no time— there were approximately 5 minutes left.
"...Hang on. I'll immediately save you! DON'T DIE!" Jaden yelled again and immediately got up, dashing towards the wheelbarrow that was left aside. On the cart, there was Renee, all tied up amidst the wooden barrels and containers with unknown contents and many weapons. Jaden pulled out a knife from a nearby box and
quickly cut the rope.
He carried her petite body, laid her down on the wide floor and quickly checked her, but there was no obvious external wounds. Her breathing was a lot steadier than Eugene's. Jaden grabbed the shoulders on her nun habit and shook her with the minimum amount of
force.
"RENEE...RENEE! WAKE UP!!" he shouted.
Renee's long eyebrows immediately twitched, and the light brown eyes opened with a blink. It seemed that she couldn't recognize Jaden with just the light of the bristle-grass tossed beside Eugene as her throat let out a small cry. "No...noo..."
Renee waved her arms and tried to push him aside, and he held her down before shouting,
"RENEE, IT'S ME! JADEN! DON'T WORRY, THE GOBLINS WERE CHASED AWAY!"
On hearing his voice, Renee immediately stopped. She reached her fingers out tentatively and gently touched his face. "Jaden...is it really you, Jaden...?" she said.
"Ahh, I came to save you. Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" Jaden replied.
"No... Not at all. I'm fine..." Renee's lips curled aside, and then she immediately leaped over to hug him on the neck.
"Jaden...I...I...!"
The slight breathing sound could be heard beside his ear, letting out a child-like cry—but before that could happen, Jaden carried Renee with both hands, turned around and started running.
"Sorry, cry later! Eugene's severely hurt!!"
"Eh..."
The arched body immediately froze. He kicked aside the shattered ice on the ground and the junk those goblins left behind as Jaden dashed towards Eugene and put Renee down.
"It's too late for ordinary treatment... use your sacred arts to save him, Renee, please!" Jaden said.
Renee listened to him as she held her breath and kneeled down before gingerly reaching her right hand out. She touched the deep wound on Eugene, and suddenly moved her hand back.
After a while, Renee shook her head that was tied into three braids hard.
"...I can't...this kind...this kind of wound, my sacred arts... can't..."
As she used her fingers to touch Eugene, her face went pale."Eugene... you're lying, right... because of me..."
Tears trickled down Renee's face, landing onto the pool of blood on the ice. She took her hands back and covered her face, letting out a cry. Jaden felt that it was cruel to say this to such a girl, but he yelled "CRY AFTER YOU HAVE HEALED HIM! NO MATTER WHETHER THERE'S A WAY, JUST TRY IT! AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE THE NEXT SISTER!? YOU'RE THE SUCCESSOR TO ELAINE, RIGHT!?"
Renee's shoulders jerked hard for a moment, but immediately slumped back weakly.
"...I...couldn't be like my sister... I couldn't even memorize the spells she spent three days to master even after a month. Right now, what I could only heal are... very small wounds... "
"Eugene, he..." Jaden was driven by the emotions rising up within himself as he said desperately, "Eugene came to save you, Renee! He risked his life not for Elaine, but for you!"
Renee's shoulders jerked again, this time, more than before.
During this time, Eugene's life was dropping towards zero. There were only 2 minutes left, maybe even one. An instant moment of silence felt so long it was unbearable.
Suddenly, she lifted her face. The expressions of fear and hesitation she had from several seconds before was all gone.
"—It's too late for ordinary treatment. We can only try a dangerous high-ranked sacred art." Renee said. "But, I need your help."
"I-I understand. I'll do whatever you say." Jaden replied.
"Give me your left hand." she muttered.
Jaden immediately reached his left hand out, and Renee used her right hand to hold it tightly.
Then, she used the left to hold onto Eugene's right hand, which was lying on the icy surface, tightly.
"If the art fails, both you and I may die. Be prepared." Renee said in a serious tone.
"Just let me be the one who die then—ready whenever you are!"
Renee stared straight at him with sturdy eyes, nodded and closed her eyes before taking a deep breath.
"System • Call" she iterated. "Transfer • Human Unit • Durability.. Right • To • Left!"Her voice echoed.
~Kiin!
The sharp voice became louder— and then, a blue light pillar appeared, with Renee in the middle. It was a lot brighter than the grass, extremely glaring, as it dyed all corners of the large dome in a light blue color.
Jaden couldn't help but narrow his eyes, but this was only for a moment as his left hand that was held by Renee suddenly had a strange feeling surrounding it, which caused him to open his eyes wide.
It feels like my entire body disappeared into the light as it flowed out from my left hand, Jaden thought. My body is actually creating lots of small spheres of light, moving from my left hand to Renee's right hand.
Jaden looked over at where the spheres of light were moving towards, and the light flowed through Renee's body, increasing in brightness before being absorbed into Eugene's right hand.
Transfer Durability. In other words, it was a sacred art that transferred one person's Life, or HP points over to another, Jaden thought. If I opened my window now, I would be able to find that my HP is dropping. It's fine. Just take it all.
Renee, who was acting as the conductor of the energy and the booster, looked as if she was in pain too. Jaden realized the cruelty of this world again, and how great the price of living was.
Pain, suffering, and sorrow. The reason why there was such a deliberate intent to emphasize on these things that weren't required in the virtual world was obviously
something closely related to the existence of Lacrima. If the technicians of this mysterious staff
were trying to gain some form of breakthrough by torturing their subjects.
As the life transfer continued, Jaden body was surrounded by a strong chill. He used his gradually fading sight to observe Eugene. The wound looked a lot smaller than when the spell started, but it wasn't completely healed at all, as the blood flowing out didn't stop in the slightest.
"Ja-Jaden... are-are you still alright...?"
Renee panted in pain as she said in an interrupted manner.
"No worries... a little more, give Eugene a little more!"
He immediately answered, but in fact, his eyes had almost lost all their sight while his right arm and leg were going numb. The left hand Renee was holding onto was the only thing throbbing warmly.
Even if I lost my life in this world, Jaden was thinking. I would've been intending on retrieving Majd. At least, if I told him everything I know, he might be able to find the others...or get the Keys...
—— And so, I couldn't let Eugene die here.
Eugene still hadn't opened his eyes. Even after spending all his life, it wasn't enough to heal his wound and
drag him back from the edge of death.
"...I...can't...if I continue, your Life will...!" Renee's crying seemed to come from afar.
Don't stop, continue, Jaden thought. Even though he wanted to say this, his mouth couldn't move, and trying to even sustain his own thoughts became gradually more difficult.
Is this death? The simulated death of the soul in Lacrima... or, will the death of the soul kill the physical body in the real world?
What caused Jaden to think about this was the cold he couldn't endure and the terrifying loneliness.
Suddenly, he felt someone's hands on his shoulders.
They were warm. It felt like his body that was frozen in ice was gradually melting.
I— know these hands. Hands that were delicate like the feathers of a bird, yet grabbing onto the future more forcefully than anyone, Jaden thought as he felt a breath near his left ear.
...Who, are you...?
Jaden asked without letting out his voice, and his left ear felt that soft breathing. After that, he heard a voice that was so nostalgic that it made him want to cry.
『Mado,... I've been waiting for you. I'll continue to wait... once you get all the seven keys...』
Her glowing hair let out a light like the stars and filled him within. The overwhelming energy gushed through all corners of his body, and seeped out from his left hand as if it was looking for an exit.
Right after that, the tan skined young man collapsed at last. His falling body landed on his injured friend.
"Oh no!" Renee cried. "Jaden, pull it together, please?!"
"JADEN!!"