Translator: Nox

Erika: My Friend Is Obsessed with Me

Chapter 30

Thrust—!

She struck the monster’s massive, bright yellow eye.

‘…….’

Shhk—!

The moment she wrenched the embedded blade free.

‘……!!!’

A massive, soundless roar erupted.

Though she couldn’t hear a single sound, her head rang as if it would split open.

Wuuuung—! A shockwave of wind spread wide across the entire forest.

The violent vibration made her dizzy. For an instant, her vision blurred.

“……Erica! Get down from there!”

The monster threw its massive maw wide open.

Hiss, shhhk—!

A virulent fog spewed forth. Taking over the humid air, it seethed in pitch-black waves.

“Ghk.”

The black mist was acrid, unmistakably deadly poison to anyone looking at it.

Thick and viscous. Utterly opaque, blocking all sight.

“…….”

Erica was trapped within the black smoke. She could see nothing.

Nothing except the remaining yellow eyeballs directly in front of her.

“Erica!”

She did not answer Chaud’s shout coming from far below.

Stab—!

Without hesitation, she attacked the remaining eyes one after another.

The poison fog spewed ceaselessly, but Erica paid it no mind.

Whoosh!

With every swing of her sword.

‘…….’

Fwhoosh—

The poison mist scattered around the Mithril Sword.

‘……What is this.’

The dark green fumes simply could not draw near Erica.

As though she were protected by a divine breeze.

It was definitely because of the sword.

‘What kind of insanely cracked sword is this?’

Thanks to it, she remained entirely unaffected by the toxic mist.

The thicker the poison fog grew, the clearer the Barrier formed by the Mithril Sword became.

To protect its wielder—it was a truly extraordinary blade.

Just where had Chaud gotten a masterpiece like this?

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a legendary holy relic.

Even without knowing for sure, not even the blacksmiths of the Heavenly Emperor's Castle could ever forge such a sword.

‘……And I keep feeling weird, too.’

Her grip on the sword had been burning hot for a while now.

Paradoxically, it was also as freezing as though she were holding a block of ice.

It wasn't just her hand. Her arm, her shoulder—her entire body tingled with sharp static.

Her heart in particular felt ready to shatter and burst at any moment.

‘Is this because the sword is special, too?’

She figured that must be it.

It was an unfamiliar sensation. Just as she thought it was rather strange and adjusted her grip on the hilt—

“……*Cough*.”

A faint cough echoed from far below.

Due to the thick poisonous mist, she couldn't see Chaud, which made the coughing sound all the more puzzling.

“What, was that cough just now from you? A Swordmaster doesn't even have poison immunity?!”

Erica yelled down toward the ground. It was her way of nagging him not to play weak.

“……*Cough*, *cough*, this is too…… virulent…….”

“A Swordmaster going soft, seriously! I grew up watching my master detoxify deadly poisons, you know!”

“……*Cough*, down here right now…… the air is boiling……. For it to be this thick…….”

“Then hurry up, detoxify, and get up here!”

Is this really the time for that guy to act frail?!

“Its mucous membranes seem to be the weak point! I think we can kill it if we go inside its mouth and stab through the throat!”

Given its sheer size, it was better to be thorough and drive Aura directly into it to kill it.

“Chaud?”

Though she called several times—

“Hey!”

No answer came from below.

Question marks practically popped up over Erica’s head. Why wasn't he coming up?

Right then, an eerie chill crept over her. She glanced sideways out of the corner of her eye.

‘…….’

Roll.

The single remaining yellow eyeball rolled around.

Erica realized her gaze had locked with its eye.

It was looking right at her.

The giant eyeball, the size of a table, blinked hideously.

“What are you looking at, you bastard.”

Cursing, Erica raised the Mithril Sword high.

‘…….’

Flinching, the vertically slit serpent's eye narrowed to a slit.

* * *

“Vice Commander! Please reconsider!”

“I told you all to head back first!”

“We cannot do that! You must return with us!”

It was amidst a torrential downpour.

The Holy Knights 8th Squad argued with their swords drawn.

Even while surrounded by the mad beasts of the Illusionary Forest, plunging their blades into the monsters' maws.

“With something of that scale, what more confirmation could you possibly need?!”

The ominous energy erupting from the northern reaches of the Illusionary Forest was extraordinary.

An ear-splitting shriek tearing through the air.

Black poisonous fog soaring high into the sky.

There was no need to check. Every single holy knight sensed it instinctively.

“It has definitely awakened……!”

The ancient king of the Illusionary Forest, a monster that had fallen into corruption alongside the woods.

“What else could that be if not the Basilisk?!”

They had to return to the Temple and report immediately. The 8th Squad's mission was merely reconnaissance, not subjugation.

“It is a stroke of sheer fortune that we confirmed it from this distance! There is no need to go closer!”

“……At the very least, we must bring back soil tainted by its venom. If we return empty-handed without proof, the Temple will not believe us.”

“If we draw any closer, we will die!”

“If that is my duty, then I must bear it.”

“Vice Commander!”

The holy knight Hugo finally leveled his sword, blocking the Vice Commander’s path.

“Why on earth are you being like this? There is not a single one among us who did not grow up reading the Temple's scriptures.”

He simply could not understand.

“‘The corrupted dragon-kin is the monster among monsters! And its breath is the curse among curses—’”

Chasing after the Basilisk was nothing short of throwing their lives away.

“‘—Against which not even the master of the azure light can stand!’ Is my memory mistaken?!”

Even if they immediately sent a request for imperial reinforcements to bring in Tenearha, it would be the same.

A legendary venomous beast that not even a Swordmaster could detoxify.

Every record in the ancient texts warned against confronting it.

Hugo urgently dropped to one knee.

“I, Hugo Maxter of the Holy Knights 8th Squad, deem our mission complete as of this moment and formally plead for our immediate return!”

“You, disobeying my orders……!”

Right at that moment.

Swish—

Their vision went completely dark.

“…….”

“……?”

A pitch-black darkness enveloped them as if midnight had suddenly fallen.

Hugo, the Vice Commander, and the knights of the 8th Squad craned their necks upward.

It was not the night sky.

It was merely a shadow cast over them.

‘…….’

By something unfathomably high and colossal.

Hiss.

Slither— Pitch-black scales slid past.

A dense spray of rain scattered. An eerie chill hung in the air.

* * *

Erica sprinted through the forest.

Splash, splash! Water sprayed every time her boots kicked violently off the muddy ground.

She was running on her own two feet.

“Chaud, tell me what else you're feeling besides trouble breathing.”

She spoke to Chaud, who was carried on her back.

“Does it hurt? Are you dizzy?”

No answer came.

All she could hear by her ear was the occasional, ragged wheezing of his breath.

“Fuck, where the hell is the exit?!”

The Illusionary Forest was dreadfully vast. It was because the same spaces were entangled and repeating endlessly.

No matter how much she ran and ran, she couldn't escape the poisonous mist saturating the air.

Erica recalled the source of this toxic fog.

‘……It vanished. Through Space Distortion.’

The monster had evaporated in an instant.

As a result, Erica had plummeted straight out of the air.

Even though the serpent's head beneath her feet had disappeared, all that went through her mind as she fell was sheer confusion.

Yet right after sticking the landing—

“What the—what's wrong with you?”

Erica had been shaken to the core.

It started the moment she found Chaud on the muddy ground, struggling to even draw a proper breath.

First came worry. Then, rage.

She felt as though she wouldn't be satisfied until she hunted down that poison-spewing snake right this second and hacked its head off.

“Is the poison not neutralizing at all? Or is it just a bit slow? Are you actively trying to detoxify right now?”

“…….”

“Say something.”

For now, she ran and ran just to get out of the Illusionary Forest.

Yet the scenery shifted repeatedly, leaving her completely unable to find an exit.

The only relief was that Chaud’s body against her back was still warm.

“…….”

Chaud's arm, draped limply around Erica's neck, lost more and more of its strength.

Feeling this, Erica turned her head to check Chaud's complexion.

He had always been fair-skinned, but he had never looked this pale before.

Resting heavily against her shoulder, his handsome forehead was drenched in rainwater.