What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 169

#169 Exit (5)

I knew Christel didn’t think of me as a backup battery, but I still felt a bit sulky.

When I avoided her gaze and didn’t answer, a dark cloud settled over the protagonist’s large eyes.

“I won’t do it again.”

“Aren’t we partners? What kind of companions only stick together when it’s convenient and split up when things get tough? Besides, you didn’t consult me this time either.”

“You’re right. But it’s dangerous, isn’t it? Your Highness is absolutely right.”

-Kugugugu······

Just then, the rocks shifted, and the air groaned. We simultaneously looked up at the dark sky.

The ‘Golem,’ which had been frozen like a statue by my oracle….

-Badeudeudeuk!

Was repeatedly swinging its fists.

‘Good heavens!’ The soldiers were horrified, and Commander Blanquer gritted his teeth.

He stuffed the cloth he had been using to stop the bleeding on his forehead into his chest and drew his sword.

Fortunately, everyone had entered my Sacred Domain.

Duke Cecil Blanquer raised his staff high. Paaaah! Light poured down, turning the whole world white.

“Your Highness, close your eyes!”

Christel abruptly turned my body the other way.

Thump, thump! The golem’s footsteps faded away and then came closer again.

It seemed that even a flash of light could confuse a creature without eyes.

Wajigeun! Kwaang! Bushes snapped and stones shattered in a direction unrelated to us.

Dame Elisabeth shouted.

“If that’s a golem, the oracle won’t work since it has no soul. It seems it only stopped because it was startled by Your Highness’s ether [a magical energy or life force]!”

“What’s the way to defeat it?!”

Christel asked. I desperately searched my mind.

I had definitely read about it in the .

Golems weren’t magical beasts but ‘magical creatures’ that appeared in legends.

They were created in places where natural mana had accumulated and condensed over a long time. Unlike magical beasts with souls and intelligence, they had no ability to think.

The people of the old continent called golems ‘judges of the gods.’

Since oracles didn’t work on them and they were difficult to defeat with water or fire, they must have been seen as divine punishment by the people of that time….

-Kwaaaang!

“Ugh!”

The golem finally struck down on top of us.

The golden dome of the Sacred Domain blocked the attack, and the priests who were healing the group screamed.

I abruptly opened my eyes. Duke Blanquer had withdrawn the light and was preparing for the next strike.

The Crown Prince, who had somehow snatched an emergency dagger from my bag,

-Chiiiiik······

-Pabababat!

He heated his dagger and my sword red-hot and threw them at the golem’s right shoulder. He was aiming for the connection point made of mud.

Sasaak! The blades passed through the area with a sharp sound, so fast that it was hard to believe.

At the same time, Duke Blanquer hurled a huge rock that he had lifted with telekinetic magic, Kwaaaang! onto the golem’s left shoulder. It was also an attempt to cut off its arm.

Christel stood in front of me, firmly gripping her whip.

We swallowed hard, assessing the situation.

-Jjeoeok······

“It’s done! It’s cut, Duke!”

The commander of the Knights exclaimed with an excited voice.

Indeed, the golem’s arms were separating as mud fell.

A look of relief flashed across the soldiers’ faces. However,

-Woowoong!

A very ominous noise followed.

The falling mud and rock stopped in mid-air, and soon, intensely compressed mana dwelled there.

Crown Prince Cedric clicked his tongue. The worst imagination was becoming a reality.

Kuoong! With a loud reverberation, the golem’s arms defied gravity and reattached to its shoulders.

The priests desperately prayed to their god.

“It’s just like the legends. There’s no way to immediately subdue it. We can only tie it down in the mountains until it exhausts all the mana within its body and naturally disappears.”

Duke Blanquer said calmly.

Damn it, it was really like that. The book described it that way too!

“Jacques, you lead the Knights to the Second Dungeon. We’ll take care of it.”

“Duke!”

“It won’t be easy. If another troublemaker appears there, you must stop them with your lives.”

Her dark brown eyes shone seriously. The commander bit his lip and bowed.

Dame Elisabeth also gave orders to the Imperial Guard.

“You are to return to the Lord’s Castle.”

“Vice-Commander, what do you mean!”

“For the same reason as the Duke. As the second sword of His Majesty, protect the people of the Empire.”

-Kuoong! Thump!

The golem began to stir up the lightless jungle again.

The distance closed in an instant as it took a step.

I hurriedly turned to look at the Duke and the Baronet. My voice naturally grew louder because the ground was shaking.

“Have the priests taken by one knight and one guard each. I’ll take responsibility for you all!”

The two nodded solemnly.

Christel gave a nervous smile, and the Crown Prince silently took off his gloves and looked at me.

I raised the corner of my mouth to reassure him. Yeah, go ahead and use your power as much as you want.

*

-Kuoong! Kuoong!

“That ignorant bastard!”

Christel shouted, doing a cartwheel over the maple leaves and gravel.

Puhuk! A deep hole was dug in the spot where she had been standing just a moment ago.

Taat! Dame Elisabeth, clinging to the golem’s leg with an incredible leap, stabbed her rapier into its knee and unleashed her sword energy.

She was cutting off its limbs to make it use mana for regeneration, but the stone golem was unfazed, probably thanks to gathering energy for hundreds of years.

Where was it going so diligently, thumping and thumping….

“I’ll take care of the Sacred Shrine.”

Taang! Duke Blanquer stood in front of an old tree, leaning on her staff.

The golem was, after all, a monster made of mana and instinctively showed aggression towards sacred objects.

Instead of me, Christel, and the Crown Prince’s Hyegeom [a magical sword], it stubbornly dug through the forest to find the ‘Sacred Shrine of Trees.’

I anxiously looked back at the majestic and magnificent entity located in the heart of the jungle.

-Kugung! Thump!

“······I have a bad feeling about this.”

The Sacred Shrine of Trees looked like just a tree at first glance.

Of course, it was by no means ordinary, considering its size was about the size of an average apartment building and it was about two thousand years old.

The green gem embedded brilliantly in the center of its trunk clearly revealed that the tree was a sacred object.

It didn’t look like a bow anywhere, but like Dduksumi [likely a reference to a character or object with hidden power], it was highly likely that this wasn’t its true form.

Eva came all the way into this deep place and received the blessing of the sacred object.

-Tat, tadak!

I was startled and focused on the front.

The Crown Prince, who had received a lot of my ether, was flying around.

He climbed the golem with light movements and reached the back of its neck in an instant.

Kwaang! Ppajijik! The golem flailed its arms wildly as if swimming.

The Duke continuously fired offensive magic such as light waves and lightning.

-Paaaaat!

-Kwareureung!

“······.”

The middle-aged mage, who hadn’t even had a mana break, let alone a moment to sit down, now looked truly exhausted.

Her upright posture remained the same, but fatigue was evident in her dark eyes.

It was astonishing that she wasn’t fainting immediately after using mana for 16 hours straight.

I unfolded the Sacred Domain, held the dagger that the Crown Prince had returned, and fretted alone.

I was anxious if I couldn’t see the situation, but it wasn’t like I felt relieved just because I saw it,

-Ssaeaeaek!

“Duke!”

The golem’s house-sized fist flew towards her in the instant that a gap appeared in the 8th-circle mage’s movements.

I ran madly towards the Duke. And barely…!

-Kwaaaang!

My Sacred Domain wrapped around her and part of the Sacred Shrine to protect them. I sat down, gasping for breath.

The mage staggered from the impact.

“Duke, you should really take a break. It’ll be difficult like this.”

“I can’t rest until that thing falls.”

“I understand your feelings, but,”

-Hwareureureuk! Kwak!

The sound of flames rising and a terrible tearing sound were heard.

When I hurriedly turned around, the Hyegeom, with bright red flames flickering, was embedded in the golem’s neck.

The Crown Prince, who had landed lightly on the ground, fluttered his black hair and raised his left hand. Then,

-Woowoong, paat!

The sword was pulled out to the opposite side and wrapped around his grip with a whir.

Then the man flicked his right finger. Ttak!

-Kwaaaang!

The golem’s neck flew away.

The embers he had densely planted in the pile of dirt exploded all at once.

Kuoong! Thump! The heavy body began to wander around, losing its direction.

Even though the opponent was a brainless guy, it seemed that the head was important.

Soon, two thick shins twisted,

-Wureureureu! Kugugung!

The golem collapsed haphazardly, like a stone tower collapsing.

Christel and the Baronet, who had been trying to cut off its legs for the umpteenth time, quickly moved out of the way.

The ground vibrated subtly due to the collapse of the magical creature, and dust rose from all sides.

“Cough cough! Kuluk!”

I put my mouth on my sleeve and observed the surroundings.

The protagonists, the Baronet, and the Duke were all safe, and there didn’t seem to be any magical beasts that had followed us this far.

The disassembled golem looked like an ancient stone tomb.

It seemed that it had run out of mana from regenerating its body so many times.

As I let out a sigh of relief, my forearm became hot.

“Your Highness, are you hurt anywhere?”

“Yes, I was inside the Sacred Domain, so I’m fine. Everyone, come here. I’ll heal you.”

Dame Elisabeth then smiled brightly, rolled up her blood-soaked sleeves, and approached.

Christel also had tears in her clothes in several places, and she seemed to have considerable scratches.

The Crown Prince silently swung the Hyegeom once and put it back in its scabbard. Yeah, good for you that you’re not hurt. I’m happy too.

I hurriedly checked on Duke Blanquer. She was taking a long breath.

“Duke, please take a rest too. I even got a magical signal flare just in case. If it’s difficult for you to move, you can wait until support comes from the castle,”

That’s when it happened.

-Kwaaaang!

The golem’s forearm, the part that used to be its forearm, aimed at the Duke.

To be exact, it was a final struggle towards the Sacred Shrine. Everything happened in an instant.

The moment I threw myself and hugged her, rolling away,

-Kureureure······!

With a roar, the earth finally began to split,

“Your Highness!”

“Dame Christel, no!”

Dame Elisabeth blocked Christel, who was running towards me, with her whole body.

The last thing I saw was the Crown Prince’s back as he drew his sword against the remnants of the golem.

-Kwareureure!

“Augh!”

The precarious floor collapsed. The deepest part of the deep forest, a pitch-black abyss, opened its mouth.

While all the hairs on my body stood on end, I instinctively flailed my hands. Kwak!

“Heok, Keut······.”

My arms, squeezing out every last bit of strength I had, trembled as if they would burst.

It was a miracle. That was the only way to explain it.

Hugging the unconscious Duke Blanquer with my right arm, I put the weight of the two on something that looked like vines or tree roots and hung on with my left arm.

A faint metallic smell lingered at the tip of my nose. A large amount of blood was flowing from the Duke’s head.

A groan escaped my lips as fear washed over me. My jaw clenched involuntarily.

“Your Highness, just hold on a little longer! Are you down there?!”

“Yes! I’m down here!”

Christel shouted desperately, and I answered as loudly as possible. But the ground was too high.

Even if I crawled up little by little with all my might, it seemed that I would lose my strength and fall before I could set foot on solid ground.

Wureureung! In the meantime, the earth shook and poured dirt and pebbles onto my head.

A battle was raging outside again.

I barely focused my mind and opened a healing circle.

“It’s okay. The Duke has received the blessing of the sacred object…. She will live a long life.”

‘She’s not someone who would die in a place like this.’ I whispered with difficulty.

Eva, with her red curly hair and pretty ribbon, came to mind, ‘Why aren’t you taking me? I’m a young duchess now too!’

A bitter smile hung on my lips. I’m glad I didn’t bring her after all.

Little ones should be in a peaceful and safe place.

“Please, please······.”

I repeated desperately. Blue ether particles were gathering on the side of the Duke’s head.

The bleeding was severe, but I was anxious because my circle wasn’t stopping it quickly.

I was so tired that my neck became stiff and my back ached. I couldn’t even feel my left arm anymore.

But I couldn’t give up. Still,

-Kwaaaang!

“Keuk!”

It was a tremendous shock. I plummeted straight into the abyss. The world slowly faded away.

On one side of the sunset sky, an emerald divine light drew an aurora.

I squeezed my eyes shut and hugged the Duke’s head. I didn’t even cancel the healing circle.

I didn’t want to deliver bad news to Eva, who admired her mother.

I didn’t want anyone else to experience such a thing besides ‘us’,

-Bbi, bbibibbi!

A familiar birdsong surrounded my ears. The moment my eyelids fluttered open,

-Peolleok, peolleokpeolleok!

My body soared into the sky like a bullet. The breath I had been holding in burst out.

Before I could thank Dduksumi, rays of iridescent light poured in from everywhere my eyes could reach.

Only then did I grasp the situation. A tingling, painful shiver struck my spine.

“Ha······.”

A total of five sacred objects were unleashing their power in one place.