Episode 159. Falling Flowers
Meson came running when he saw that.
"Are you alright?"
Noah glanced at Meson, whose right cheek was exposed, and muttered bitterly.
"Mind your own business. Your face has melted."
"I think we will have to retreat."
At Meson's words, Noah looked around with troubled eyes. Most of the naval uniforms, designed to withstand acid, had melted, and the same was true for the boots.
Like demons that keep crawling out no matter how many times you kill them, Krakens in the sea were constantly sticking their heads out toward the land.
"Your Highness!"
Noah turned his head and looked at the warehouse.
Since the city is beyond this warehouse anyway, they cannot retreat that far.
Noah made a quick decision.
“Retreat behind the warehouse zone. Use the warehouse as a defensive wall and hold out until reinforcements arrive!”
Every time he makes such a judgment, he feels like he's placing a sin he does not want to bear on his shoulders. Weighing another person's life, or something equivalent to life itself, really does not suit his nature.
"All right."
As Meson blew his whistle upon receiving Noah's order, the soldiers fighting the Kraken in various places retreated in unison.
As Usher and the guards also retreated in step with the soldiers' movements, the warehouse owners watching from a distance screamed.
“No, Your Highness!! No!”
“Please protect the warehouse, sob sob. Without it, we’re as good as dead.”
Noah thought that he might have to step down from his position due to his responsibility for this situation.
“Your Highness!! Please spare my life, Your Highness!!”
Snowflakes began to fall unexpectedly.
Noah walked through the snow as cold as frost.
A job title, what's so special about it?
"Your Highness, sob sob."
Sorrowful crying and wailing strike his ears hard, screaming at him to please save him.
Noah felt helpless for the first time in a very long while.
A thick, black, and suffocating emotion like a swamp.
Noah thought of Olivia.
Was every day like this for you? Even by my side.
“Noah!!!!”
Someone's voice knocks on the distant ear. In the distance, Usher can be seen struggling to run toward him, and the guards holding him back can also be seen.
Noah slowly turned his body as if everything in the world had fallen away from his life.
A pitch-black shadow fell over his head, and he could see a huge leg slowly falling toward him.
“...Olivia.”
As death was descending upon his head, Noah blankly murmured the name.
The name that had consumed him woke him up at the critical moment.
Noah rolled to the side with an animalistic movement. It was the very moment he immediately sprang up, severed the creature's leg with magic, and was about to lunge at it to avoid the ink.
Whoosh, thud!
“...!”
It was a light like a flash.
Noah looked back in the direction from which the light had come.
Two Magic Domes that had been shrouded in darkness were shining.
All eyes turned toward the Magic Dome. The moment desperate hopes mingled in everyone's gaze, a beam of light rushed furiously toward the Kraken's heart, as if to prove it was not an illusion.
The people who saw the beam of light shooting out of the magic dome roared in unison and burst into joy.
“Waaaaaaah!!!”
A thunderous roar erupted.
The magic cannon struck the heart of the Kraken hiding in the sea, and the Kraken rose to land. The sea raged violently at their movements, as if it were about to be torn to pieces.
The reason why the Magic Dome was bound to seize global security was clearly visible.
Noah slowly inhaled and exhaled, looking back at the soldiers who had retreated. Those who had been withdrawing had stopped in their tracks and were looking at Noah.
Noah jumped high toward the nearby Kraken and shouted as if asking what it was looking at.
“All troops, deal with the Kraken on land! Do not retreat; return and hold your posts!”
As his silhouette with his back to the moonlight turned golden, another magic cannon cut across the air and embroidered the sea.
The tables have turned.
As soon as the news reached them that the light of Magic Dome 2 had returned, newspaper companies distributed extra editions. This was thanks to the fact that they had already prepared the newspapers in advance after receiving a summons from King Leonard.
Standing in the swirling snow, people unfolded newspapers on the street.
“...The Princess repaired the Magic Dome...?”
“What does that mean?”
They looked at each other with their faces lifted from the newspaper. Then they lowered their gaze back to stare at Olivia's photograph.
Snowflakes landed on the picture of Olivia smiling brightly, creating round, black marks.
“...I wonder... what on earth this person did...?”
A lucky woman who succeeded in rising in social status overnight by winning the Prince's love. The interest, which had stopped at just that level, flared up.
The woman who had aroused people's curiosity stood before the black sea where snowflakes were falling. The blowing wind, already laden with cold, struck her cheeks sharply. However, Olivia did not even notice the cold.
The sheer mountain range still stood before her eyes, and she had only just taken one step onto it.
“Your Highness!”
Another soldier who had come to take Olivia called out to her. He was looking at her with the anchor ropes that had been tied to the boat, untied.
Olivia jumped onto the boat, sat down, and fastened her seatbelt.
"I will depart!"
"Thank you for your hard work."
"You worked hard."
Pierre, who had decided to stay at the Magic Dome, bowed his head respectfully. Olivia watched him walk away, then turned her gaze to the sea passing by.
The boat sped toward land, cutting through the waves.
The moon, encircled by a white halo, floated above the rippling sea. Snowflakes spewed out by the clouds swirled over the moonlit sea.
The weather was completely different from when they were sailing toward the Magic Dome.
Just like the weather turned upside down, she, too, had become a completely different person from when she crossed this sea. When she set foot on land again, what awaited her would surely be a world different from what she had known until now.
There is no gradual and kind change.
Change is sudden. Just as it was with every change she had experienced.
“...Everything turned over like a flip of a hand...”
Bang!!
Olivia's voice trailed off as she mumbled blankly.
The wind blows through the hair.
Her gaze, which had been fixed on the moonlit sea, for some reason had now reached the sky where snowflakes were scattering.
It felt like she had been struck by something. Even as she stared blankly at the sky, Olivia couldn't realize what was happening. She felt like something was hurting, but she couldn't tell what it was.
“Olivia!!!!!!”
It feels like a scream of excruciating pain is coming from far away.
“Your Highness!!”
The soldier steering the ship urgently reached out his hand to her and shouted.
“Fasten your seatbelt...!!”
With his shout as the last thing to happen, a long, black thing stretched across the sky, casting a shadow over her. Olivia fumbled with the buckle of the seatbelt securing her to the boat.
That's strange.
Why can't I put any strength into my fingers?
Olivia stared blankly at the Kraken's huge legs approaching her.
Am I going to die?
A flash of light brushed across her retina, which had stepped back a step from the world.
The approaching bridge split open, and something splashed onto her face. Then, someone appeared through the gap in the split bridge. He climbed onto the breaking ship, plummeting downwards, and threw himself toward her.
The moon shone brightly behind him, and his shadowed face seemed to be distorted in a mess.
Although it cannot be seen clearly, there must be a look of contempt in the eyes gazing at her...
Like leaves dyed in autumn, it must be brilliant, red, and blue.
“...Noah.”
The boat that embraced the two people plunged into the sea.
Suddenly and sadly, like falling blossoms signaling the end of the season.
Bang!!
The world stopped for Noah as he stood on the dock waiting for Olivia.
The scene of the boat carrying her soaring into the black sky, where snowflakes were swirling, was so surreal that he wondered if he was dreaming with his eyes open.
His salvation was falling over the sea.
"Olivia!!!"
A fear worse than death washed over him.
Noah stepped over the Kraken's carcass exposed above the water's surface. Using one leg that was still twitching as a support, Noah leaped into the air and roughly severed the Kraken's leg as it rained down on Olivia.
Through the gap in the split legs, je saw Olivia staring blankly at him.
Noah threw himself toward Olivia.
“...Noah.”
At the faint call that seemed about to break, he felt as if tears were welling up.
Noah unbuckled the belt binding her. His hand slipped several times because it was slippery, but he finally succeeded and held Olivia in his arms.
Even assuming they would sink in the middle of the ocean, he vowed that he would save her at all costs.
Noah used all his might to push off the boat and spring up before it plunged into the water. He landed on a nearby Kraken carcass, then leaped to another. He barely managed to reach the dock by jumping over numerous corpses, but Noah did not stop.
The splendid navy uniform was already in rags, and his exposed back was stained red as if covered in a rash. Even his gloves had melted away, revealing the flesh on the backs of his hands as well.
He looked extremely exhausted, but he absolutely did not put his wife down. The floor was soaked with acidic ink, and he could not place Olivia among a pile of corpses that might squirm at any moment.
The people surrounding him guided him.
Noah walked forward, then repeatedly looked down at Olivia in his arms. Olivia was silent, as if asleep.
"Good night."
Noah tried to soothe the strangely serene face with light words.
However, the turmoil in his heart did not subside. He had saved Olivia, so why was he so anxious?
And a short while later, Noah's anxiety eventually became reality.
It was only after laying Olivia down on the blanket spread by the soldiers that Noah realized her condition. More precisely, it was only after discovering that his white military uniform, which had held her in his arms, was stained crimson.
Noah could not believe that this bright red bloodstain was Olivia's.
No, he didn't want to believe it.
Meson came running when he saw that.
"Are you alright?"
Noah glanced at Meson, whose right cheek was exposed, and muttered bitterly.
"Mind your own business. Your face has melted."
"I think we will have to retreat."
At Meson's words, Noah looked around with troubled eyes. Most of the naval uniforms, designed to withstand acid, had melted, and the same was true for the boots.
Like demons that keep crawling out no matter how many times you kill them, Krakens in the sea were constantly sticking their heads out toward the land.
"Your Highness!"
Noah turned his head and looked at the warehouse.
Since the city is beyond this warehouse anyway, they cannot retreat that far.
Noah made a quick decision.
“Retreat behind the warehouse zone. Use the warehouse as a defensive wall and hold out until reinforcements arrive!”
Every time he makes such a judgment, he feels like he's placing a sin he does not want to bear on his shoulders. Weighing another person's life, or something equivalent to life itself, really does not suit his nature.
"All right."
As Meson blew his whistle upon receiving Noah's order, the soldiers fighting the Kraken in various places retreated in unison.
As Usher and the guards also retreated in step with the soldiers' movements, the warehouse owners watching from a distance screamed.
“No, Your Highness!! No!”
“Please protect the warehouse, sob sob. Without it, we’re as good as dead.”
Noah thought that he might have to step down from his position due to his responsibility for this situation.
“Your Highness!! Please spare my life, Your Highness!!”
Snowflakes began to fall unexpectedly.
Noah walked through the snow as cold as frost.
A job title, what's so special about it?
"Your Highness, sob sob."
Sorrowful crying and wailing strike his ears hard, screaming at him to please save him.
Noah felt helpless for the first time in a very long while.
A thick, black, and suffocating emotion like a swamp.
Noah thought of Olivia.
Was every day like this for you? Even by my side.
“Noah!!!!”
Someone's voice knocks on the distant ear. In the distance, Usher can be seen struggling to run toward him, and the guards holding him back can also be seen.
Noah slowly turned his body as if everything in the world had fallen away from his life.
A pitch-black shadow fell over his head, and he could see a huge leg slowly falling toward him.
“...Olivia.”
As death was descending upon his head, Noah blankly murmured the name.
The name that had consumed him woke him up at the critical moment.
Noah rolled to the side with an animalistic movement. It was the very moment he immediately sprang up, severed the creature's leg with magic, and was about to lunge at it to avoid the ink.
Whoosh, thud!
“...!”
It was a light like a flash.
Noah looked back in the direction from which the light had come.
Two Magic Domes that had been shrouded in darkness were shining.
All eyes turned toward the Magic Dome. The moment desperate hopes mingled in everyone's gaze, a beam of light rushed furiously toward the Kraken's heart, as if to prove it was not an illusion.
The people who saw the beam of light shooting out of the magic dome roared in unison and burst into joy.
“Waaaaaaah!!!”
“All done!!!”
The magic cannon struck the heart of the Kraken hiding in the sea, and the Kraken rose to land. The sea raged violently at their movements, as if it were about to be torn to pieces.
The reason why the Magic Dome was bound to seize global security was clearly visible.
Noah slowly inhaled and exhaled, looking back at the soldiers who had retreated. Those who had been withdrawing had stopped in their tracks and were looking at Noah.
Noah jumped high toward the nearby Kraken and shouted as if asking what it was looking at.
“All troops, deal with the Kraken on land! Do not retreat; return and hold your posts!”
As his silhouette with his back to the moonlight turned golden, another magic cannon cut across the air and embroidered the sea.
The tables have turned.
As soon as the news reached them that the light of Magic Dome 2 had returned, newspaper companies distributed extra editions. This was thanks to the fact that they had already prepared the newspapers in advance after receiving a summons from King Leonard.
Standing in the swirling snow, people unfolded newspapers on the street.
“...The Princess repaired the Magic Dome...?”
“What does that mean?”
They looked at each other with their faces lifted from the newspaper. Then they lowered their gaze back to stare at Olivia's photograph.
Snowflakes landed on the picture of Olivia smiling brightly, creating round, black marks.
“...I wonder... what on earth this person did...?”
A lucky woman who succeeded in rising in social status overnight by winning the Prince's love. The interest, which had stopped at just that level, flared up.
The woman who had aroused people's curiosity stood before the black sea where snowflakes were falling. The blowing wind, already laden with cold, struck her cheeks sharply. However, Olivia did not even notice the cold.
The sheer mountain range still stood before her eyes, and she had only just taken one step onto it.
“Your Highness!”
Another soldier who had come to take Olivia called out to her. He was looking at her with the anchor ropes that had been tied to the boat, untied.
Olivia jumped onto the boat, sat down, and fastened her seatbelt.
"I will depart!"
"Thank you for your hard work."
"You worked hard."
Pierre, who had decided to stay at the Magic Dome, bowed his head respectfully. Olivia watched him walk away, then turned her gaze to the sea passing by.
The boat sped toward land, cutting through the waves.
The moon, encircled by a white halo, floated above the rippling sea. Snowflakes spewed out by the clouds swirled over the moonlit sea.
The weather was completely different from when they were sailing toward the Magic Dome.
Just like the weather turned upside down, she, too, had become a completely different person from when she crossed this sea. When she set foot on land again, what awaited her would surely be a world different from what she had known until now.
There is no gradual and kind change.
Change is sudden. Just as it was with every change she had experienced.
“...Everything turned over like a flip of a hand...”
Bang!!
Olivia's voice trailed off as she mumbled blankly.
The wind blows through the hair.
Her gaze, which had been fixed on the moonlit sea, for some reason had now reached the sky where snowflakes were scattering.
It felt like she had been struck by something. Even as she stared blankly at the sky, Olivia couldn't realize what was happening. She felt like something was hurting, but she couldn't tell what it was.
“Olivia!!!!!!”
It feels like a scream of excruciating pain is coming from far away.
“Your Highness!!”
The soldier steering the ship urgently reached out his hand to her and shouted.
“Fasten your seatbelt...!!”
With his shout as the last thing to happen, a long, black thing stretched across the sky, casting a shadow over her. Olivia fumbled with the buckle of the seatbelt securing her to the boat.
That's strange.
Why can't I put any strength into my fingers?
Olivia stared blankly at the Kraken's huge legs approaching her.
Am I going to die?
A flash of light brushed across her retina, which had stepped back a step from the world.
The approaching bridge split open, and something splashed onto her face. Then, someone appeared through the gap in the split bridge. He climbed onto the breaking ship, plummeting downwards, and threw himself toward her.
The moon shone brightly behind him, and his shadowed face seemed to be distorted in a mess.
Although it cannot be seen clearly, there must be a look of contempt in the eyes gazing at her...
Like leaves dyed in autumn, it must be brilliant, red, and blue.
“...Noah.”
The boat that embraced the two people plunged into the sea.
Suddenly and sadly, like falling blossoms signaling the end of the season.
Bang!!
The world stopped for Noah as he stood on the dock waiting for Olivia.
The scene of the boat carrying her soaring into the black sky, where snowflakes were swirling, was so surreal that he wondered if he was dreaming with his eyes open.
But despite his doubts, his body was instinctively rushing toward the gurgling pit of his stomach.
"Olivia!!!"
A fear worse than death washed over him.
Noah stepped over the Kraken's carcass exposed above the water's surface. Using one leg that was still twitching as a support, Noah leaped into the air and roughly severed the Kraken's leg as it rained down on Olivia.
Through the gap in the split legs, je saw Olivia staring blankly at him.
Noah threw himself toward Olivia.
“...Noah.”
At the faint call that seemed about to break, he felt as if tears were welling up.
Noah unbuckled the belt binding her. His hand slipped several times because it was slippery, but he finally succeeded and held Olivia in his arms.
Even assuming they would sink in the middle of the ocean, he vowed that he would save her at all costs.
Noah used all his might to push off the boat and spring up before it plunged into the water. He landed on a nearby Kraken carcass, then leaped to another. He barely managed to reach the dock by jumping over numerous corpses, but Noah did not stop.
The splendid navy uniform was already in rags, and his exposed back was stained red as if covered in a rash. Even his gloves had melted away, revealing the flesh on the backs of his hands as well.
He looked extremely exhausted, but he absolutely did not put his wife down. The floor was soaked with acidic ink, and he could not place Olivia among a pile of corpses that might squirm at any moment.
The people surrounding him guided him.
Noah walked forward, then repeatedly looked down at Olivia in his arms. Olivia was silent, as if asleep.
"Good night."
Noah tried to soothe the strangely serene face with light words.
However, the turmoil in his heart did not subside. He had saved Olivia, so why was he so anxious?
And a short while later, Noah's anxiety eventually became reality.
It was only after laying Olivia down on the blanket spread by the soldiers that Noah realized her condition. More precisely, it was only after discovering that his white military uniform, which had held her in his arms, was stained crimson.
Noah could not believe that this bright red bloodstain was Olivia's.
No, he didn't want to believe it.
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