Chapter 41

I felt a wet sensation on my cheeks. When I opened my eyes, I found a tearful Elerina above me.

“Thank goodness…”

For the first time, I saw her in her world, with Angen and Memorus behind her, without the use of a camera. I took a deep breath. The air tasted… the same, no, less fresh? Damp?

Why am I tasting air?

“He's there…”

“I can't believe my eyes.”

We were in the hallway leading up to the final boss. Memorus held the door shut, while Angen used magic to heal me. The door creaked and shook, probably receiving attacks from inside the room.

Everything was black. The only color came from the little light that bounced off Angen, Elerina, and Memorus. The color, or more accurately, lack of, reminded me of the world I’m in. I came here with a mission.

“Elerina, I met with your father.”

Her eyes widened when she heard that. I looked for a cloth to wipe her tears before telling them everything I heard, including the spell.

“He did all that…?”

It must be tough for her to believe. I would react the same if I knew that most of the memories in my life were fabricated. But she swallowed her questions and nodded. “Understood.”

She handed me the rifle. I threw away the almost empty magazine and loaded it with a new one. I wished I could get something more powerful, but the legality of it would be much more difficult. At least I could use the excuse of being a collector on this one.

With the trusty rifle in my arm, I looked toward the rest. Angen finished up healing the three of us, and Elerina readied her sword.

“You still remember how to use that, right?” I joked. Elerina wouldn't be using it, though, since she would be deploying her magic.

Elerina returned me a sheepish smile. “Probably.”

“Stop flirting, you two!” Angen shouted. We heeded her call and returned to Memorus’ side. Once everyone was ready, we gave him the signal. Memorus turned around and jumped away from the doors that swung open.

Three black swords flew through the air and stabbed into his shield. I guessed where it was coming from based on the angle, then fired the rifle through the door. A scream could be heard coming from inside, but the sword attack continued.

“Urgh…” Memorus struggled, and the sword attacks were too intense for him. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but there seemed to be more flying swords compared to before. Unlike before, Memorus wasn’t pushed back. In other words, the sword attacks were weakening, thus he needed to use numbers to make up for it.

We took up formation behind Memorus, hiding behind his shield. After taking a quick breath, I aimed and fired. Bullets streaked across the sky, and more screams could be heard. Bullets that previously struggled to hit anything now found their mark. His high-pitched cries hurt my ears, forcing me to pause and cover them with my hands.

Elerina, who was also struggling, took the dropped rifle and emptied the magazine. Finally, the sword attack stopped. We used the opening to move back into the room.

After entering, I witnessed the room for the first time. I took up position near the side and quickly reloaded. With the gun back in play, I brought its muzzle to the center of the room, where the imposing monster form of Duke Willeherima floated. Swords reappeared on his back. They now took up a full circle instead of the half circle from before. I sniped them, taking out as much as possible to buy time for the others to take up positions.

“Nicholas!” Memorus elbowed me, sending me tumbling to the side of the room. A boom came from where I was standing, accompanied by a puff of smoke. The smoke faded, revealing a black sword stabbed into his shield. An invisible force pushed it further, trying to slice the shield apart.

I took aim and fired at that sword. The shots managed to cause it to disperse. When I clicked the trigger again, nothing happened.

“Nicholas!” Elerina threw me the ammo from the other side of the room. I jumped up to catch it and reloaded, while Memorus moved to a new position.

“Protect me!” Elerina shouted. She stared down the figure that once used to be her father. She closed her eyes and began her chant. “Noreterasirksohu nazetarebukilasiza nuziefetegerusela…”

I remembered this long spell. Back when we just met, she revealed to me that it's the most powerful nature-based spell. I continued fighting off any attack coming her way. Despite my bullets not doing significant damage against her father, it did disperse any incoming attacks.

Sniping from across the room is tough, and Duke Willeherima’s attention was already on her, so I ran across. I took a kneeling position in front of her, becoming her shield. A risky move, but something I must do.

Nine black swords formed in the skies, their sharp ends pointing at us. I fired in single shots, trying to take out as many as I could. I missed three. They were about to hit when a magic spell took them out.

“Thanks Angen!”

“No probs!”

“... nezemorehikatum…”

Elerina was nearing the end of her chant. I set aside the gun and stood up, holding her right hand in my left.

“... nizisokuzetarema.”

The second she stopped speaking, I shouted, “Izoma!”

A surge of green light engulfed us both.

“Aaaaeeeeaeaeaeeeee.” Duke Willeherima let out an ear-splitting screech, one far more powerful than the ones we heard before. It was so bad that Angen and Memorus fell to the ground, covering their ears. It hurt so so much. My head felt like it would explode, but I held Elerina's hand firm. Her grip tightened. She stood strong.

The black body began to warp, turning into indescribable shapes. It looked painful. The screeching continues. Elerina's hand shook. My knees weakened. We both fell to the ground, but I tried my best to keep at least my body upright.

“It… hurts…” I could hear Elerina's whispers in between the shouts. It was incredibly faint. I closed the distance and let her rest on my shoulder. It was as if a knife was stabbed into my ears, then twisted inside. Something prevented my ears from outright bursting. Maybe it was the magic coming out of us. Had it not been there, I would be deaf from the first few seconds of exposure to this scream.

After one more painful minute, the voice finally died down. Angen and Memorus had lost consciousness, Elerina was still shaking. I didn’t feel like I had the strength to stand.

“Are you alright?” I asked her. Elerina lifted her face, her tearful eyes staring back at mine. She didn’t answer, nor did she nod. She turned toward the center of the room, where the monster had once been. At the center of the room was the body of an elf. He looked quite young for his age, should be expected because he didn’t age these last few years. Right next to him was a small, pitch-black stone, likely made of the same material as his swords.

I supported Elerina onto her feet. With her body leaning onto me, we walked to where the elf lies. I picked up the stone that lay next to him and stuffed it into my pocket, then turned to Elerina’s father. At first, I thought he was dead, but noticed his hands on his chest moving up and down. Elerina noticed the same thing. She kneeled down next to the figure and touched his wrist.

“His heart is still beating, at least…”

“What… happened?” Angen rose to a sitting position. Her eyes went to the figure lying on the ground. “Who’s that…?”

“Elerina’s father.”

“You’re…” Angen looked toward Elerina. Elerina had a conflicted look in his eyes. I couldn’t understand completely what she's going through, but she had just had her curse lifted and her memories restored. The person before her was someone that had created a lot of pain not just in her life, but in the lives of countless others.

Yet, he was still her father. She must have remembered all the good times they had back when she was little, before her father disappeared and tempered her memories.

“... We should heal him first.” Angen went to check on Memorus, and after healing him and waking him up, she began healing Elerina’s father. She poured a lot of magical energy into Duke Willeherima, visible from the trail of green light coming out of her hands and into Duke Willeherima’s body.

“This is a tough one…” She gritted her teeth, pouring more and more mana. She even chanted over and over every time her healing began to fade away.

“Elerina, can’t you heal?”

Elerina gave me a slow nod. Excess mana couldn’t be stored, so her years of not using magic didn't mean she had any extra, and a majority of her existing mana had been exhausted when she used the powerful nature spell earlier. Despite having the curse lifted, her flow of healing magic was far weaker than Angen’s.

“We should take him somewhere safe,” Memorus said, gazing toward the opened doors. Elerina nodded and stopped healing. She took his father onto her back, and I reloaded the rifle.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“This is nothing.” Elerina answered with a smile.

Memorus would walk in front, and Angen protected our rear. We followed the hallways back toward the entrance. The outside world looked just like when we entered, still filled with darkness.

“Can you ride?”

“Yeah.”

There were only three hoverboards, but I didn’t have to worry. The knowledge of what I needed to do to move between worlds had been planted in my brain. All I needed to do was say the words ‘Transport’ while thinking of my world, and I found myself back on Earth. That said, I was no longer connected to Elerina.

Seeing Elerina not there caused me to panic for a moment, but I quickly remembered why I was here. I took one of the spare hoverboards and with it in my hand, uttered the words ‘transport’ once more.

“Where did you go!?” Elerina asked after I arrived. The shocked expression was clear on her face.

“I went back to Earth to pick this up.”

“You can do that now?”

I shrugged. “Apparently, yeah.”

Using the hoverboard, I rode with the three of them. It’s honestly impressive how Elerina could ride the hoverboard while carrying her father on her back.