Chapter 196 - Neana's Shallow Victory

Neana unintentionally took a step back.

Her fear-stricken face was more than enough to show how terrified she was of the gaze directed at her. And, if that weren't enough, the two of them were maintaining a strange amount of eye contact. It was as if Neana couldn't look away.

She was terrified, frozen in fear. Neana couldn't do anything but act on instinct. And, her instincts were telling her to do one simple thing right now: run.

Knowing that she needed to get out of there, Neana took an instinctive step back. It wasn't much, but she was one step closer to getting away. But then, something caught the corner of her eye. It was something that shocked Neana back to reality and regained her focus.

It was Rynold. Well, the sight of the bloodied, injured, and barely conscious Rynold put things into perspective. It reminded Neana of why she came here in the first place.

But, with how things stand, it might be a bit too late for that.

Rynold wasn't moving. Not in the absolute slightest. From where Neana was standing, there were no signs of life coming from Rynold's body. The blood that covered most of his face showed no signs of stopping. Not only that, but his arms were also getting blood on them. Whether it poured down from his face or it was some fresh wounds, there was no way to tell.

Regardless, Neana knew she had to save him from whatever this was. As it stands, however, there was no way to do that safely. Risks came with any attempt that would dissolve the situation. Risks that Neana now wished she knew before getting to any of this.

However, Neana wasn't one to give up so easily.

With both feet planted on the ground, Neana refocused her determination. A part of her still wanted to leave, but there was now something else that overwhelmed that.

That said, Neana pulled her weapon out from her inventory. It was none other than a mage staff that was Mana-Bonded to her. Although it was on the weaker side, the mage staff still served its purpose. Neana waved it around and activated her spells in one fluid motion.

Three stone golems rose from the ground in front of Neana. It was the best she could do in such a short time. All of the training that she had gone through was leading up to this point. So, naturally, she had no reason to hold back.

After their summoning, Neana commanded the golems to charge forward in the same manner as before. However, knowing this straightforward and brainless attack wouldn't work, Neana had another step to the plan. But first, she had to get away for a bit.

With the golems charging in without a care in the world, Neana jumped a few steps back to create some distance. She kept going until the golems were near the point of destruction. And, as soon as the cracks became visible, she quickly turned around and faced the creature.

Once she fully faced her opponent, the golems broke down the same way the others did before. But, the brain creature became aware of Neana this time and started to levitate towards her. During which it carried Rynold along with it and headed straight to where Neana was. It became clear that the brain creature didn't like getting golems thrown at its face.

Neana, on the other hand, wasn't about to let that happen. She waved her mage staff once more, and more golems appeared. These new golems did the same as the ones before. They barreled towards the creature with no regard for their safety.

It was all really just an attempt to slow the creature down as Neana got to execute her plan.

Blocking the view of the creature headed her way, Neana raised her mage staff up high. Then, like magic, a large-sized magic array appeared on the ground beneath her.

It was a spell that Neana had never used. In fact, she never wanted to use it and shelved it away because of how unnecessarily excessive this spell was.

She secretly hoped that it would have never come to this. But, seeing as the new batch of golems got crushed before her very eyes, Neana had no other choice. She braced for what was coming as the creature approached her at a considerable pace.

Neana lowered her mage staff and pointed it at the creature. From there, she fully released the magic within the magic array, making it shine brilliantly.

"Eat this, you piece of shit! Arcane Magic! Follower's Respite!"

A concentrated beam of Mana fired directly at the creature. It was Mana of the highest purity. It was to the point of toxicity for any being that didn't reach a godlike status. It was overkill, Neana admitted, but she knew how effective this would be in bringing the creature down.

Arcane Magic: Follower's Respite was a high-level spell that required the caster to be still for a ten-second charge time. Not only that, but Arcane spells were notorious for being way too overpowered for any Magic User. Such that there were even some other prerequisites before activation. The conditions of which Neana had perfectly filled out.

One. For Follower's Respite to properly work, the target of the spell, in this case: the brain creature, would have to destroy the creatures summoned by the caster. It does not count if a different party was to destroy the summoned creatures. Nor will it work if the caster were to cancel the summoning.

Two. There shouldn't be anything blocking the way between the caster and its target. The spell would only work on the target that dealt the killing blow on the caster's summoned creatures.

Three. The damage of this spell was heavily dependent on the number and individual strength of the destroyed summon creatures. If there were no summoned creatures, Follower's Respite would fail.

In which case, if Neana didn't accomplish these conditions, the spell wouldn't activate. Not only that but, even if Neana tried to force her way for the spell's activation, she would receive a severe backlash from it.

Neana never really experienced it for herself but, just by reading the description, she knew better not to attempt anything like it. She even went so far as to lock the spell away, promising herself not to use it under normal circumstances.

But, right now, this situation had gone beyond normal.

Boom!

Just like that, an explosion of bright light encompassed the creature as the beam of Mana decimated its weird body. The attack worked, but the cost of the spell still took its toll on Neana.

Collapsing on her knees, Neana used her mage staff to hold herself up. With her Mana reserves as it was, she could only watch what happened to the creature.

However, as luck would have it, she won.

The creature got thrown back from the attack as Rynold was let go of his stasis. His bloodied body rapidly fell to the ground, face first. He was unconscious and barely breathing. The blood that covered his body now seeped to the ground, making the green grass turn slightly brown.

But, Neana paid this no mind as she watched the creature land a considerable distance away. The attack she threw out had worked, despite the reluctance she felt during the process.

Unfortunately, Neana had exhausted a significant part of Mana now. She could barely stand up as the strength she once had was nearly gone. She would need time to recover. But, by the look of things, Rynold needed it more.

With that, Neana pushed herself off her knees, using her mage staff as leverage. Then, she moved forward at a staggering pace and headed straight towards where Rynold was. His bloodied body covered most of the ground below him.

There was no mistaking that Rynold was losing a lot of blood and fast.

As exhausted as Neana was, though, she found herself reaching Rynold a bit sooner than she thought. Regardless, Neana kneeled before Rynold and maddeningly checked on his condition.

Which, as Neana would soon find out, was nothing good.

'No. No, no, no, no. No!'

Her thoughts in a flurry, Neana flipped Rynold over to let him face up. It was then that she realized that the situation was significantly worse than what Neana had thought.

Rynold was barely breathing. His chest wasn't even moving up or down anymore. It might have been because of the blood that clogged his throat. He might have even been drowning in his own blood. Rynold was injured beyond reason, as Neana could only helplessly watch.

Neana shook her head with every ounce of denial she could express. Then, as a sheer move of desperation, she tried to lift Rynold up. But, as things were, she currently didn't have the strength to do so. The only thing she managed to do then was to cover her own hands with Rynold's blood.

In doing so, Neana looked at her hands with a look of worry. Then, that worry soon turned to fear as she came to fully realize how bad things really were: that Rynold was losing his life before her very eyes.

And, if that weren't horrible enough, a sound came from where the creature had landed.

Turning her gaze in an anxious, overly worried manner, Neana was scared of what she might see. Deep down, she desperately wished it was something else, that the sound came from anything but the creature she put every point of Mana she had to kill off.

But, alas, she wasn't so lucky.

Her eyes widened as soon as she saw the creature come at her with incredible speed. It was undeniable that it was coming for her. The expression on its face was a clear sign of that, even if it were the first time Neana ever saw it change.

With the creature fast approaching, Neana squirmed. She had no idea what to do in this situation, as her Mana reserves were barely enough to summon a single golem.

All she could do right now was to wait for her death.

Just like that, Neana lost hope. Her face visibly darkened as Neana slowly came to accept her defeat. And the death that soon came with it. There was no getting out of this situation anymore. That brief moment of hope and the fleeting sense of victory were nothing but a pipe dream.

As she closed her eyes and waited for her oncoming death, Neana looked back to her past. And, for some reason, Rynold was somewhat in most of the memories that she held most dear.

Having noticed this, Neana opened her eyes and turned to Rynold's still and bloodied body.

For a second there, Neana was secretly glad that she was about to meet her demise next to Rynold. Although the situation was far from romantic or survivable, it had forced her to come to this realization — that dying next to him wasn't the worst thing, that it wasn't the worst way to go.

That said, Neana grabbed Rynold's hand in a calm manner. Her hands were soft as they held Rynold's heavy and cold hand. Then, without another thought in her heart, she closed her eyes once more and entered a state of tranquility.

"D... do... it..."

A sound came from Rynold's mouth, although too weak for anybody to hear. He was unconscious and sleep-talking. There wasn't much going on there as Neana didn't respond to anything that Rynold said.

"I...," Rynold spoke once more, this time a little louder. His eyes opened slowly and weakly as Neana's saddened and defeated expression greeted his bloodshot vision.

"No.., not... yet..."

No matter how much he called out, nothing he could say would matter anymore. Rynold was broken. His body could barely move. His strength was nowhere to be found. His entire bodily senses were numb to the absolute degree.

But, somehow, a sense of power swelled from within him.