Attu let go of the sword, slowly turned his head, and collapsed right there. Valorant caught him. Attu's face was splattered with blood.
Everything had begun a bit earlier. Attu smashed nearly all the skeletons trying to enter the room. He also took care of those trying to come through the window. The arrival of the skeletons had momentarily ceased. Seeing this, Attu decided to take a moment to catch his breath and stepped away from the window. Then he heard someone approaching from the door. Hearing the footsteps grow closer, Attu assumed a fighting stance, ready for the skeleton coming through the door. However, he froze in place, for before him stood not a skeleton, but Scott, a living man.
Scott's appearance had changed. His eyes were completely black, and bloodstains were spreading widely across his clothing.
Attu paid no attention to Scott and lowered his sword, saying:
- "Hello, Mr. Scott."
Scott did not respond, as he had already transformed into a living corpse. He lunged directly at Attu. Unsure of what to do, Attu tried to catch Scott by gripping the dull edge of his sword.
He repeatedly urged:
-"Mr. Scott, come to your senses. It's me—Attu!"
Scott slammed Attu against the wall, and Attu had no idea what to do. Scott began to strike Attu in the face. He took a punch to the left side of his forehead. A second punch landed squarely on his nose, causing it to start bleeding. Seeing the third punch coming, Attu instinctively turned his face away. Scott's blow hit the wall instead. Scott prepared to strike again. Seeing this, Attu slightly extended his sword. To distance Scott away from him, he then thought about using his mana. Without fully concentrating, he kicked Scott with his foot. The impact was strong enough to send Scott flying. He crashed into the wall on the other side of the room and fell to the ground.
Attu bent down to the ground. He noticed blood flowing from his nose and wiped it with his right hand, smearing the blood across his left cheek. The blow to Scott had barely affected him. Scott got up and charged at Attu once more. Attu couldn't find his footing quickly enough. Scott raced straight toward Attu. As Attu watched Scott come at him, he ducked under Scott's arm, causing Scott to slam face-first against the wall. Scott turned around. At that moment, Attu plunged a sword into his heart. Attu had stabbed Scott in the heart with both hands. Scott died at that very moment. Although Attu held the sword with both hands, it trembled. After Scott's death, dark magic began to escape from his body. Attu paid no attention to this, as he was focused on taking deep breaths while looking down at the ground.
As the dark magic left Scott's body, Valorant and Gustav entered the room. Attu slowly turned his head to see them. Upon seeing Valorant, Attu collapsed to the ground.
Valorant grabbed him by the shoulder and said:
-"It's all right, take deep breaths."
Attu's voice trembled as he replied:
-"I... I... killed him." His voice and entire body shook.
Valorant reassured him:
-"Don't worry, it's all right. He wasn't himself."
Attu protested:
-"Mr. Scott could have been alive. I…" and was interrupted by Valorant.
Valorant attempted to comfort him, saying:
-"You didn't kill him; that wasn't Scott. It was the dark magic that took over his body. You killed the dark magic, not Scott. He wasn't Scott at all."
Valorant held Attu firmly and sensed the disturbance in his mana flow. He worried that Attu might slip into a berserk state. I need to do something fast, or his emotions might consume him. We have to prevent him from going berserk, he thought. Attu's mind was racing with thoughts: I'm a murderer. I killed Scott. It's my fault. If I hadn't lost my temper, he would still be alive. Valorant understood what was going through Attu's mind and embraced him tightly, holding him by the shoulders.
As Attu leaned into Valorant's embrace, the noise of his racing thoughts began to fade away. All he could feel was the warmth of Valorant's embrace, and the tremors in his body started to disappear. Valorant let this moment last for a while.
Attu seemed to forget everything, and after a bit, he said:
-"Teacher, I feel like I'm finally coming back to myself."
Valorant said:
-"If that's the case, everything is fine," and slowly let him go.
Gustav, trying to lighten the mood, joked:
- "Attu, do you want me to hug you too?" and laughed.
Attu replied:
-"No, no, thank you. I'm fine with just my teacher's hug," turning down Gustav's offer. Valorant stood up and extended his hand to Attu.
Attu grasped his teacher's hand and stood up, saying:
-"Thank you."
Attu asked:
-"Is it all over?"
Valorant replied:
-"Yes, it's all over."
Gustav said:
-"I'm glad to see you're okay."
Attu responded:
-"I'm glad to see you both safe and sound."
Gustav then asked:
-"So where are Suna and the Little Lady?"
Attu said:
-"Oh, right, they were with me. I had hidden them in this cupboard over here," laughing and pointing to the cupboard door.
Valorant remarked:
-"Let's hope they're not stuck inside the cupboard."
Valorant and Gustav turned to look at him. Attu went to open the cupboard door but noticed it was blocked by a box. He removed the box.
Attu exclaimed, "Here they are!" and opened the door, turning to Gustav and Valorant.
At that moment, both Suna and Anna shouted:
-"Low blow with the clothes hanger!" and struck Attu in a sensitive area below the waist.
Valorant and Gustav exchanged glances, both exclaiming:
-"That's not good."
Attu doubled over, holding his sensitive area. Suna, regardless of who had opened the door, yelled:
-"Take that, you jerk!" and began hitting Attu on the back of his head with the clothes hanger.
Anna also wanted to strike him but looked at Attu and said:
-"Suna, Suna," trying to stop her.
Suna opened her eyes and looked at Anna, saying:
-"What are you saying, Anna?"
Anna replied:
-"Stop hitting him; that's Attu."
Suna turned to Attu, realizing that he was the one who had opened the cupboard door, and said:
-"You fool, why didn't you open the door and say it was you? I thought you were a skeleton." With that, she hit Attu on the head again.
Attu responded:
-"Sorry, I'll remember to do that next time."
Gustav approached and said:
-"Suna, little lady, don't look this way; come over here," and he led her out of the room, away from Scott's lifeless body.
Valorant instructed Attu:
-"Get up and jump over there with your sword."
As Attu stood up, he said:
-"Everything is fine; the pain has faded. What do we do now, teacher?"
Valorant replied:
-"My mission was to protect Anna and take her to the Elf Kingdom Ygdrasil after Alaris's death."
Attu responded:
-"If that's the case, who was supposed to deal with Duke Alaris?"
Valorant asked:
-"Are you implying that if we had left, someone would have killed Alaris's undead body?"
Attu answered:
-"Yes, that's right."
Valorant explained:
-"According to the plan, Gustav was supposed to kill the undead and resolve everything. The plans have changed; there's no need for that now."
Attu said:
-"Then let's return to our cabin."
Valorant added:
-"If Gustav is with Anna and keeps an eye on the house, we can return to our cabin."
Attu lamented:
-"Yeah, I don't want to leave this place."
Valorant asked:
-"What? Is it because of the hot food and warm house?"
Attu replied:
-"No, I just don't want to leave here anymore. After being in such a great place, I don't feel like going back to our cabin."
Valorant said:
-"One day, we will have to leave this place."
As Attu sniffed the air, he remarked:
-"Teacher, can you smell smoke too?"
Valorant also inhaled and replied:
-"Yes, I can."
Attu asked:
-"What could be burning?"
After thinking for a moment, Valorant recalled that when the skeletons had tried to enter the house, they had thrown torches inside.
Remembering this, Valorant ordered:
-"Run after me quickly!"
Attu responded:
-"Okay," and began to run after Valorant.
Both Valorant and Attu ran towards the main entrance of the house. As they approached the door, they saw that everything inside was engulfed in flames. Meanwhile, Gustav, Anna, and Suna were trying to carry things out of the house.
Gustav shouted:
-"Suna, get those out! Take those small boxes too!"
Suna, frustrated, saw Attu and yelled:
-"Why are you just standing there? Come over here and help!"
Attu and Valorant joined in to help carry things out of the house. Just as the flames were threatening to consume everything inside, Anna attempted to go back in.
Attu grabbed Anna and said:
-"No, don't go in there; you might get burned too."
Anna cried:
-"My grandfather and the books are inside!"
Thus, the fire continued to blaze until morning when the sun rose. In the morning, everyone's faces were covered in soot, and their clothes were darkened.
Attu laughed and exclaimed:
-"Ha-ha-ha, now we definitely have to go to the Elf forest!"
Upon hearing this, everyone laughed except for Anna.