You Can Rely on Me a Little More

Galan buried Oris himself.

Along with that longsword

He was buried in a patch of forest land that had not been affected by the fire.

He felt no resentment towards this Dwarf warrior.

Even though she was almost killed by him.

From his perspective

He was simply following the organization's bylaws.

He did nothing wrong.

But Galan wasn't wrong either.

This Galan is not that Galan.

He is no longer the Shadow Warrior, but an ordinary person who wants to live a good life.

Even if he tried to explain his situation, no one was likely to believe in the idea of soul transference, right?

In Oris's eyes, it's highly likely

This is nothing but a ridiculous excuse concocted to evade trial.

The burial process was extremely difficult.

Having no suitable tools, he used the sword to pry up the soil bit by bit.

After digging a pit large enough to fit a person, he put Oris inside.

Then they gradually filled the pit back in with the soil that had been piled up outside.

They were being so careful, as if they were trying to bury a secret that no one else could know.

He repeatedly turned over the blood-stained soil into the ground, finally smoothing out the mess completely.

When spring comes next year

This place will surely be filled with a magnificent sea of flowers.

For a soldier, this is a decent ending.

After inserting a makeshift, crude cross...

Galan leaned against a tree.

His hands hung limply to the ground, his eyes staring blankly at the darkening sky.

The Alchemy Longsword was stuck in the ground beside him.

My brain is numb as it receives the excruciating pain from my body.

But he didn't even have the strength to cry out in pain.

Only after the effects of the medication wore off did he truly realize how bad his body was.

The cut on his shoulder had scabbed over with large black scabs, making it look like a large black tarantula was crawling on it.

The bones throughout his body emitted terrifying sounds, like scaffolding about to collapse.

The chest and abdomen were in even greater disarray.

His internal organs were tangled up in a mess, and he would experience excruciating pain with the slightest movement.

I must say, soldiers are incredibly resilient.

It's a miracle that he's still alive in this state.

In his mind, a dark tide gradually engulfed his consciousness, like a prelude to falling into a deep sleep.

Galan strained to keep her eyelids open.

He knew that if he closed his eyes now, he would never open them again.

"--Don't die."

A clear, ethereal voice, seemingly coming from nowhere, echoed in his mind.

It sounded as if someone had traversed countless years alone, a voice filled with sorrow and bewilderment.

But right now, he was all alone, with only the Staff with its faintly glowing Unicorn Core beside him.

That glimmer of light was so faint, yet it allowed Galan to feel a warm current flowing into his body.

It must be an auditory hallucination...

The sound of hurried footsteps came from afar and reached his ears.

This time, the sound was no longer as ethereal or elusive as before.

He turned his head with difficulty and saw Lia running towards him, her face showing a panicked expression.

She knelt down beside Galan, reached out, uncorked the bottle, and put a bottle full of Potion into his mouth.

Like a raging fire, or like gasoline.

It was poured into the nearly stagnant machine.

After a few breaths, his weak and feeble heart began to beat strongly again, like an engine restarting, roaring joyfully.

Blood flowed rapidly through the body like a torrent, as if being pushed by a powerful water pump, giving the nearly broken body a new lease on life.

The damaged organs are rapidly recovering, being pushed back to their original positions by the writhing muscle groups.

Every part inside the body returned to its place and began to rotate slowly, starting to operate this complex human machine.

"Cough--!"

Galan suddenly covered his mouth and spat out a mouthful of black blood onto the ground.

But then he felt his body return to a state where he could move again.

My eyelids no longer felt as heavy as if they were being crushed by a thousand-pound boulder, my mind gradually cleared, and my vision became clearer.

Although some drug resistance developed due to the previous use.

The response this time wasn't perfect.

But without a doubt, he was saved from the brink of death once again.

"Thanks."

He raised his head, wiped the remaining blood from his lips, and looked at Lia with feigned nonchalance.

To be honest, the recovery process was still extremely painful, like a metamorphosis where you peel away layers of skin.

The damaged muscles and organs are constantly being regenerated; it's nothing like cutting your own flesh while trimming your nails.

To be honest, it was more like an internal medicine surgery performed without anesthesia.

But he no longer wanted the girl in front of him to worry about him.

The moment the battle ended, he told Lia the location of the medicine and asked her to go back and retrieve it.

My legs are almost completely immobile; I simply can't make it home.

Without the aid of Mana

Galan hadn't expected her to get back so quickly.

"It's always been like this, it's always been like this, one person always bearing the brunt..."

Lia wiped the bloodstains from his face and chest with a clean handkerchief.

Because of the potential forcibly stimulated by the drug,

During the battle, his blood vessels would occasionally rupture due to the immense pressure emanating from his body, leaving his skin covered in blood.

His own blood mingled with Oris's blood, flowing through his body and making him appear to be in a more gruesome state than he actually was.

They looked like blood-soaked figures crawling out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

The originally plain white handkerchief was immediately stained bright red upon contact with Galan's skin, as if it had been soaked in a dye vat.

"... You can rely on me more often too."

Her voice was very soft, like the soft murmur of a lark.

"This opponent is far beyond our capabilities... We're only alive because the Goddess is on our side..."

Galan gave a wry smile.

Aside from luck, they had nothing that made them better than Oris.

Even now, he still feels that it was unrealistic for the two to win.

Only by facing him head-on can one truly understand how strong Oris is.

Even Flag, whom he had fought before, couldn't survive more than a few dozen rounds against Oris.

After all, having taken the medication, he was over 70% confident he could defeat Flag at that time.

But Oris still pinned him to the ground and beat him.

"I'm stronger now than I was before... and I'll become even stronger in the future..."

"That would help you..."

Looking at the girl's head bowed in front of him,

Galan was overwhelmed with indescribable emotions.

"So... you can rely on me a little more..."

He wanted to say something, but found himself speechless.

Finally, he simply stroked her head affectionately, as if comforting a frightened kitten.

Just like countless times in the past...