I Awakened as a Dark History - Chapter 89

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 89
Blue flames surged skyward as Hunters tumbled across the floor, slick with lava and embers.
From within the rising black smoke, only the Boss Magic Beast emerged at an unhurried pace.
Crackle—crackle—
The flames persisted, but I had no Mana left to maintain the Blossom.
‘A Mana Potion. I have to drink one and cast a skill—’
I reached into my Subspace and stretched my hand toward empty air.
Thud.
“Healer!”
Before my fingers could close around the potion, my vision flooded with crimson flame.
Behind me, wings beat with a thin, papery sound.
I was dragged backward by the wings and felt the Boss Magic Beast’s fist connect with my sternum nearly in the same instant.
“Ugh!”
My body slammed into the wall, and the Blossom shattered.
“Healer!”
“I’m fine, cough! I’m okay!”
I’d managed to pull myself back just enough to avoid fatal impact.
Blood trickled down my forehead from where the stone had torn the skin, but it was bearable.
I flapped my wings frantically and launched myself into the air.
The Boss watched me intently as I fled skyward.
The Tanker charged at the Boss.
“Hyah!”
Crash—
The Boss caught the Shield with an effortless hand.
The Tanker threw his full strength into pushing the Boss back, but it didn’t budge.
Instead, the Boss pulled the Shield toward himself, destroying the Tanker’s balance, and raised his sword.
Crack!
The Boss’s blade came down on the Tanker’s head without hesitation.
The Protection Buff did not seep into the Tanker’s body.
As though it were useless.
The moment I realized this, silence fell over all of us.
It was like a television that had been playing for a long time had suddenly been muted.
Crackle—
The Boss picked up the Tanker’s corpse and hurled it toward the Stone Slab.
The body struck the Stone Slab with a dull thud, then fell into a pool of blood with a wet splash.
Only the ankles were soaked.
Only the ankles were soaked.
Blood had pooled so deeply it drenched the corpse, and the corpse dripped blood back into it.
The remaining Satyrs, still alive, threw themselves down before it and prostrated themselves.
The Naiads in the lava folded their hands together and murmured something.
The blood pooling beneath the Stone Slab gradually diminished.
My heart clenched as I watched the Stone Slab anxiously.
‘It doesn’t look like it’s opened yet.’
A small mercy. I rolled my eyes to check my Synchronization Rate.
[Current Synchronization Rate]
19%
Using Blossom had dropped my Synchronization Rate considerably.
It had climbed back up slightly during the battle, but even so, I wasn’t sure I could hold out like this.
“Sigh.”
The three stacked layers of Protection Buff had begun to weaken.
The first buff’s duration ended, and the second fell away immediately after.
The third had roughly five minutes remaining.
The Hunters had already noticed the buff was faltering. No one moved recklessly.
We all had to be ready to die here.
Flap—
Behind me, my wings beat with undiminished strength.
The tension of possible death terrified me, but beyond that fear, I saw what I had to do.
My life was too precious to throw away without doing anything.
Whoosh!
I pushed off the wall with my feet and flew forward rapidly.
“Healer! Don’t step forward!”
Behind me, wings beat in rapid succession.
I thought I’d moved with decent agility, but the Boss swung its sword at me without hesitation.
Clang—
A Shield flew through the air and knocked the blade aside. The Boss flinched, its body stiffening for a moment.
The Tanker who’d thrown the Shield caught it as it bounced back and swung it toward the Boss.
‘There’s still someone moving.’
Behind me came the sound of metal striking metal.
I flew straight toward the Stone Slab.
Blood trickling down my forehead—I wiped it away with my palm, smearing it across my hand.
They didn’t seem to have imagined that ■■ would be here at all.
I pressed my blood-soaked hand onto the Stone Slab.
“Ha!”
The satyrs bowing, the nixies praying.
At the center of it all, I laughed openly.
“Hahahaha!”
The Stone Slab, standing rigid in the pool of blood, seemed to lose its strength and began to tilt slowly backward.
Splash—! Crash!
The sound of the flat Stone Slab falling onto the water surface resembled a person collapsing.
That’s why the moment didn’t sit well with me.
“A mere chunk of rock. Better to toss it into lava and play.”
I couldn’t fathom how many had died gathering blood for this.
Maaah?
Aah—?
The satyrs cried out in sounds that suited their forms.
Despite the goat-like bleating of the satyrs, I picked up the Stone Slab as if to spite them.
My handprint was clearly visible on the surface of the Slab.
It had undoubtedly absorbed my blood and then stopped moving.
“You didn’t think I’d steal it, did you?”
Maaah!
Screech—! Screeeeech!
The satyrs and nixies shrieked in unison, their cries piercing.
But their reaction barely registered.
Whoooosh—
Flames erupted from the Boss.
Fire cascaded toward me like a tidal wave.
I tucked the Stone Slab under my ribs and flew upward rapidly, dodging the inferno.
The satyrs caught the flames in my place. The nixies submerged themselves in the lava.
Boom—! Boom boom!
The Boss hurled fireballs at me as I soared toward the ceiling.
Even for my agility, the attacks were perilously fast and strong.
The Boss’s attention had fixed entirely on me.
“The Boss is focused on the Healer! Attack, attack now!”
The Hunters below charged at the Boss with weapons drawn.
They didn’t know where its vital points were, but they seemed to assume that attacking enough would eventually land a blow.
Crash—!
“Ugh!”
A fireball grazed my wing.
Fire caught at the wing’s edge, and my body lurched downward in an instant.
From the lava below, the nixies gnashed their teeth at me.
I clenched my jaw and beat my wings even faster.
Fortunately, the fire scattered at that moment. My body rose again into the air.
‘I thought I was dead.’
But my body had grown sluggish. The evasion that was already barely possible was now impossible.
Boom!!
“Argh!”
Flames engulfed my body completely.
My body tumbled across the scorching ground.
Yet my own body burned hotter than the floor beneath me.
“Cough, cough cough!”
Each time the heat made me cough, my throat and skin burned raw.
If I stayed collapsed like this, I would die.
“Healer! Choi Hunter! Get the healer!”
I heard the armored Hunter rushing toward me.
But Niksi blocked the space between us.
Sssshhhh—ssshhhhaaaa!
They shrieked with a sound like scaled reptiles, claws bared.
Some of them seized my arms and legs.
Kee-hee-hee-heek…….
Hee-heek.
With those grotesque laughs, they dragged me downward.
Clearly trying to pull me into the lava.
[Current Synchronization Rate]
37%
The Synchronization Rate was still too low. If only I could use a Protection Buff, things might improve.
‘No, the cooldown hasn’t ended yet.’
If my Blossom hadn’t been severed, I wouldn’t be in this state.
I clenched my teeth and moved my wings.
Thud—!
The Tanker approached, his armor ripped and torn from the Niksi.
The Niksi that had been gripping my ankle took a hit from his shield and rolled to the side.
“Healer, are you all right?”
This time, I couldn’t even manage a hollow reassurance.
I braced myself on shaking breath, barely getting to my feet.
My wings were already torn and singed, ragged at the edges. But I thought I could still fly.
“These creatures—I think they’re targeting me.”
“Right, so if we protect you—”
“I’ll draw them away.”
“What?!”
The Tanker cried out in shock. I saw the Synchronization Rate spike instantly at the edge of my vision.
I hadn’t aimed for that, exactly.
“What are you saying?! With a body like that, how could you herd the Demon Beasts?! You won’t even be able to dodge properly!”
“The Boss Room is cramped.”
But outside the Boss Room was spacious.
There was sky overhead and horizon stretching far ahead.
This Dungeon was said to be especially vast.
If that was so, then flightless Demon Beasts couldn’t possibly catch me.
“I’ll go first. Since the Boss is targeting me, I should be able to draw even the Niksi near the Gate away.”
Crackle-crackle-crack.
My wings made a sound completely unlike their usual beat.
At that sound, the Tanker clutched his head.
“What?! No, what is that sound?! What kind of raid team leaves their healer—! Healer!”
He had plenty more to say, but I had no time to listen.
Truth be told, their absence would help me more.
‘If I get far enough away, I might be able to synchronize into a different form.’
I flew again, deliberately. The Boss’s eyes, which had been intercepting the Hunters’ weapons, found me.
That gaze only deepened my certainty. The Boss and the rogue Demon Beasts following it would chase me.
Whoosh—
I slipped through the Boss Room’s doorway without hesitation.
“Wait, Healer?! Where are you—!”
I heard the Leader calling after me from behind, but the sound cut short.
Whoooosh—
The Boss rushed at me from behind with the roar of Flame.
[Current Synchronization Rate]
53%
An ambiguous Synchronization Rate, an ambiguous speed.
But it was enough to buy the raid team time.
‘When you’re actually angry or handling a crisis, you don’t feel a sense of duty in the moment. But when you look back later, you realize there was a sense of duty all along.’
Is this one of those moments?
Is what I’m doing right now driven by a sense of duty?
It doesn’t matter anymore.
I simply couldn’t bear to watch the people who had laughed and stood beside me fall.
That truth was what moved me.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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