Chapter 160
A five-colored beam of light descended from the sky.
The ultimate magic, containing the very path magic had developed along, pierced through leviathan’s massive body.
“Did we get it?!”
At the words uttered by Yuna, who had approached his side at some point, Franz looked at her with an appalled expression.
“Did we get it?” was a spell of resurrection that breathed life back into a dying enemy, after all.
Hadn’t countless tales proven that?
Fortunately, however, such a clichéd development did not occur.
With a hole blown through its body, leviathan’s massive flesh plummeted straight toward the sea.
With a deafening roar, a pillar of water surged toward the sky, and seawater rained down from above.
The massive dragon that had decorated a page of mythology slowly vanished into the dark abyss.
“Looks like they did well on their end too.”
Franz’s gaze was directed toward the distant land.
There, wave-shaped ice towered high, looking as if it would swallow the land.
It seemed Arian had somehow managed to resolve it well with Yusti-ah’s help.
“Ugh…?”
Was it because he felt relieved? Strength slowly began to drain from his body.
Even with the help of the staff, he had used magic equivalent to the 10th circle. It would be strange if there wasn’t a backlash.
Still, it was much better than those days when he used his life force as a price. It seemed it would end with him merely losing consciousness.
Gathering his last remaining ounce of strength, Franz barely managed to open his mouth.
“Watch out for the fall…”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Yuna asked back, but unfortunately, he had no strength left to return an answer.
As Franz lost consciousness, his body tilted, and at the same time, the foothold supporting him from below disappeared.
Therefore, falling was the natural outcome.
Along with Franz, Yuna and Hera began to freefall vertically toward the sea.
“This is a problem. Yuna, are you good at swimming?”
“Hera, is this the time to ask that?!”
“For reference, I am not very good at it. I will leave it to you, then.”
“You idiots…!”
One couldn’t swim to save her life, and the other had lost consciousness and fallen asleep. Ultimately, it was a situation where Yuna had to carry both of them to land by herself.
However, the distance by boat was over ten hours away, so it would be impossible no matter how good a swimmer came along.
So, Yuna decided not to swim.
“Yuna, what exactly are you doing right now…?”
“Don’t talk to me…! It drains my strength…!”
She was stepping on the water’s surface and taking the next step before she could sink.
Yuna was currently realizing the miracle of walking on water - something possible in theory but impossible in reality. And she was doing it with Hera and Franz tucked under her arms, no less.
Didn’t they say that true mastery could rival magic? This was the best example to prove that saying.
“Ugh, uwaaah-! We’re here-!”
Having completed a ten-hour boat journey, Yuna collapsed onto the grass in an instant.
Franz lay beside her, and Hera lay on the other side.
Yuna spoke while panting heavily.
“Hera, why are you lying down?”
“Wouldn’t it be a bit strange if I were the only one perfectly fine?”
“…I suppose that’s true.”
Yuna and Hera burst into laughter at the same time.
How many people could laugh even after facing a mighty enemy like leviathan?
It was only possible because they were the Hero’s Party, for whom such things were like everyday occurrences.
Not long after that, Arian and Yusti-ah arrived.
They had come sliding along an ice path created by Arian.
“Is everyone okay?!”
“Is anyone hurt?!”
At their worried questions, Hera and Yuna slowly shifted their gazes to Franz.
Franz was simply lying there quietly with his eyes closed, just like a dead person.
Of course, he wasn’t dead, but Arian and Yusti-ah ended up drawing the worst conclusion based on their own common sense.
“Wait…! I’ll do something about it…!”
“If he used that level of magic, there’s no way he’d be safe, even if he is the Magic Tower lord…!”
The golden divine power flowing from Yusti-ah’s body slowly seeped into Franz.
Arian was placing her hands on Franz’s body and infusing him with mana.
With nothing they could do right away, Yuna and Hera simply watched the efforts of the two of them.
It was not long after that.
“Ugh…”
“Franz…!”
When Franz regained consciousness and opened his eyes, Yusti-ah tearfully hugged him as he lay on the ground.
When Arian saw that, his eyes widened in surprise next to them.
“W-What are you doing right now…!”
“Looks like someone cut in line?”
“Indeed. I suppose we can’t just leave it at that.”
Following Yusti-ah, Arian, Yuna, and even Hera piled their bodies on top of Franz.
Even if he was strong, Franz was ultimately a Mage. Unless he wrapped himself in mana, he was no different from an ordinary person, so there was no way he could withstand the weight of four people.
“Hey, wait, I can’t breathe, ugh…”
In his fading consciousness, Franz thought.
Somehow, the four women in front of him seemed scarier than leviathan.
Ultimately, after some time had passed after his second faint, Franz opened his eyes.
“Don’t climb on top of people. I thought I was going to die.”
At Franz’s nagging, the four of them pouted their lips sullenly.
Will there never be a quiet day?
Thinking that, Franz let out a long sigh.
“Still, they were a big help.”
Thanks to Yusti-ah’s healing and Arian’s mana, he was able to regain consciousness quite early. Furthermore, if it weren’t for those two, the land would have been devastated by the aftermath of the battle.
In terms of the battle, he had also received a lot of help from Yuna and Hera, both by buying time and by landing a blow at the end.
In the end, just as they had said, relying on them was why this matter had ended smoothly.
He wasn’t used to saying things like this at all, but…
“Everyone worked hard on this. It was my personal business, so thank you for helping me.”
When an embarrassed Franz scratched his head, the four of them burst into laughter.
“We help each other when times are tough.”
“You’re the grand chieftain, so technically we aren’t strangers, are we?”
“If you overdo it again, I won’t let it slide.”
“Who says otherwise? Every time this happens, my heart clenches as an ordinary Mage’s would, you know?”
Maybe he shouldn’t have said that after all.
Even as he thought that, their words didn’t sound too bad.
'Well, that’s that, and I need to finish the job to the end.'
There were two purposes for this trip.
Defeating the Seven Great Evils in Ganiphus and retrieving the holy relic guarded by the Seven Great Evils.
Since they had defeated leviathan, one of the Seven Great Evils, the first objective could be said to have been achieved at 200 percent.
Then what remained was the part about the holy relic.
Franz reached his hand out toward the sea.
Through mana detection, he found the shield that must have sunk somewhere in the deep sea, and moved it with telekinesis.
Not long after, a brilliantly golden shield popped out above the water’s surface, flew through the sky, and arrived in front of Franz.
“Franz, is this a holy relic…?”
Yusti-ah asked upon seeing the shield.
Even if its power had weakened due to being sealed, a holy relic was a holy relic. It was only natural for her, a saintess, to feel its divine power.
“Yes, it’s an item used in the Mythical Era.”
Franz shoved the massive shield into a small pouch. It was possible because the pouch had a spatial expansion function.
“It would be better to unseal it tomorrow.”
Although his physical condition wasn’t too bad, mental fatigue was a separate issue.
Since the intense battle had caused considerable fatigue, it seemed best to take a good rest for the day.
“Let’s all head back.”
Franz and the group immediately returned to the villa.
Because quite a bit of time had passed with all that had happened, his dream of catching up on sleep with a nap was not fulfilled.
Instead, they leisurely enjoyed themselves while eating various foods and drinking fruit wine, so it could be said that it wasn’t too bad.
“Franz, you’re an idiot…!”
It was a day he vowed never to let Yusti-ah drink alcohol again.
He had a reasonable suspicion that perhaps the Goddess had made her a saintess because her drinking habits were so bad.
As time flowed on, the next day arrived.
His fatigue was considerable, so he had planned not to leave the bed until late, but uninvited guests ended up arriving to ruin that plan.
“Who are these guys now…?”
Multiple mana reactions were felt nearby.
Since it wasn’t an ominous feeling like the ones those cultist bastards evoked, it would be right to assume they were Mages or knights.
Franz let out a sigh and got out of bed, and not long after, he faced them.
Several armored knights and Mages had come to the villa.
“The King wishes to meet with you to inquire about yesterday’s events.”
Meeting nobles was annoying enough, but the King of Ganiphus?
“I really want to decline to get involved in politics.”
Franz sighed at the premonition that something troublesome was about to happen.