Vol 4 Chapter 26

Perhaps because he had been thrown back with such a great impact, Kapros's concentration was broken, causing Inferno to almost disappear and Aerial Servant to vanish. It was questionable whether the spell he had barely managed to shout while staggering would manifest, but immediately, electricity generated in mid-air with a crackling sound blocked Caesar who was rushing towards Un-o.

Boom!

"Ugh!"

"Kap!"

But despite the attack hitting its mark, Caesar was relatively unscathed, and instead, as Kapros groaned, feeling dizzy from excessive concentration and mana use, Kran finally ran over to him and pulled him into an embrace.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. But that guy..."

As Kapros gritted his teeth and glared at Caesar, Kran lowered his eyes.

"I'm sorry. My abilities were still too lacking to stop him. It seems we should retreat."

"It's not your fault."

Just as Kapros was about to say that he was the bigger fool for not being able to use magic properly and going down in one hit, Kran supported him to stand up and gestured.

"I'll hold him off, so go near the entrance and attack. You're both ranged attackers, right? I'm counting on you!"

"Kran!"

And before Kapros could stop him, Kran quickly ran towards Un-o. As Kran, who had rushed at Caesar, began to focus solely on attacking while recklessly abandoning defense, a cold smile appeared on Caesar's face. In an instant, attacks too fast to be seen with the naked eye were exchanged dozens of times.

Bang bang bang! Bang! Boom boom boom! Clang! Clang!

Kapros saw Un-o coming towards him, bleeding here and there while evading those power-packed attacks.

"Un-o!"

"Hyung."

Given the situation, it seemed there was almost no other option but for Un-o and Kapros, who were relatively weaker in stamina and strength, to retreat first towards the exit as Kran had said and cover him with ranged attacks, while Kran retreated with them in the meantime. Kapros clenched his fist and pulled Un-o.

"Quickly, to the exit over there first!"

Un-o looked back and forth between Kran and Kapros for a moment, then nodded vigorously as if he had understood the meaning and started running. Chasing after him, Kapros also started running, trying to gauge and re-gauge how long the sound of clashing swords could continue.

Kapros's health and mana weren't in great condition from the start due to the grueling tournament match he had just won. Moreover, after moving two 6th circle spells more intensely than ever before, and then having his mana-infused sword shatter, he was now dangerously close to rock bottom. Because of this, he felt as if all his strength had drained away, but he had to endure this much. After running for a while, he saw Un-o, who had reached the exit area hundreds of meters ahead first, taking his bow in hand.

Just as Kapros was about to catch his breath, panting heavily, he suddenly saw Un-o's usually indifferent expression contort with surprise.

"Hyung!"

"Kap...!"

"Blin...!"

As Kran's tired cry was heard simultaneously, Kapros instinctively sensed danger and was about to shout "Blink" with his almost depleted mana when something suddenly extended from behind and pierced his chest. A small sound of bones breaking was heard.

"The game of tag, now, ends."

With a shock strong enough to make him lose consciousness, Kapros felt his breath stop as he sensed the sword that had pierced through his chest from behind stirring inside his body.

"Kap!"

'Huh...'

In that moment when time seemed to stop. In the eternal-like silence, just as Kapros was about to close his eyes and take a deep breath, suddenly, an intense golden light burst forth from around his chest.

Fwoosh!

'This light is...?'

As Kapros felt a small question while anticipating the pain that would soon come, he suddenly felt Caesar roughly pulling out his sword and slightly turned his head to look back. Caesar was looking at his own body with a surprised face. Caesar and Kapros were trapped together in a space of golden light, and Caesar's armor, limbs, and even his face were being distorted and eroded as if being attacked by something.

Caesar, his expression contorted, hurriedly threw himself out of the light, but the wounds he had received in that brief moment remained as blackened scars. As Kapros stared blankly at that, then lowered his gaze with a strange feeling as if his mind had emptied, surprisingly, he saw that his chest was intact as if it had never been stabbed in the first place. There wasn't even blood, let alone a wound.

Feeling dazed by this, the moment Kapros turned around.

"...Kran...?"

He saw Kran falling in the distance, blood gushing from his chest.

As Kran collapsed to the ground with a thud, the golden space also disappeared. Only then did Kapros come to his senses and was able to run towards Kran, feeling as if he had been doused with cold water.

"Kran!"

He couldn't understand at all what had just happened. As he turned over and pulled Kran's body, which was almost completely soaked in blood, he saw his pale face.

"What on earth... happened?"

Un-o, who had rushed over soon after, also knelt beside Kapros, unable to hide his shaken expression.

"Kran!"

Kapros hurriedly shouted and placed his other hand on the ring on his finger.

"Healing potion!"

He quickly grabbed three of the potions that poured out instantly, opened the lids, and started pouring two onto Kran's wound and one into his mouth. After using all the remaining potions as well, the amount of blood flowing from the wound seemed to decrease somewhat. The high-grade potions that Un-o had recovered had proven their worth. Still, while firmly pressing on the chest that was still bleeding, albeit less, Kapros called out repeatedly, and after a long while, Kran's eyes finally opened slightly.

"Haa... ha... I... guess I'm not dead yet."

"What on earth did you do?!"

As Kapros tightly grasped Kran's hand, feeling as if he would burst with indignation, Kran grinned as if all of this was nothing.

"It's thanks to 'Holy Transfer'. I told you before that it would show its true value when you were in danger, right? I didn't know it would turn out like this either, but I'm glad I was able to save you in the end. Kap, you're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

At Kran's words, Kapros suddenly remembered the incident when they had faced the Chilaka, which he had momentarily forgotten.