Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 224

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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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224
Episode

“There! There he is!”
“Grab him!”
Harun’s expression twisted as the encirclement tightened from all sides.
“Where do we go?”
For a criminal organization, the Black Market had an astonishing number of guards.
That these people built their existence on violence alone, conducting no legitimate economic activity and becoming a cancer upon society—it was truly lamentable.
What was this nation coming to?
“Surrender peacefully and stop resisting… Ugh!”
Each time the encirclement drew close, Harun unleashed his Invincible Technique to break through, but that could only work so many times. The enemy was flooding in far too quickly.
In the end, Harun made his decision first.
“You go ahead.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll hold them here and escape afterward.”
“Will you be all right?”
Harun’s eyes betrayed his thoughts.
If anything, Harun seemed inconvenienced by my presence. It was clear he couldn’t fully unleash his power while protecting me and the girl.
‘Even what I saw just now was impressive, and that wasn’t even his true strength? Just how strong is Harun?’
The question lingered only briefly before I took the girl from Harun’s arms.
“If you keep heading that way, you should be able to pass through the sewers and exit into the back alleys.”
“All right. Got it.”
“Be careful.”
“You too.”
“We will see each other again, won’t we?”
Harun recognized me without hesitation, yet whether I was real or a phantom remained a mystery to him.
“Next time, I’ll see you again!”
“…Yes.”
Harun turned his back to us. How reassuring that figure looked.
‘Will he be all right?’
But this was Harun—his martial power was something I could trust completely.
A tremendous crash erupted from behind, startling me, but I quickly changed direction.
“If only I could escape straight to the surface.”
If only I could use Spatial Transfer.
I unconsciously moved my mana, then felt an excessive heat bloom near my heart and stopped myself.
No. That won’t work.
“There’s a reason my master is lazy.”
I’d constantly criticized my master for solving everything with magic without lifting a finger, saying it caused muscle loss, but now that I couldn’t take the easy road, my body itched with restlessness.
“Heavier than expected.”
She was only nine, yet surprisingly weighty. Not that I could abandon her. I supposed I should be grateful that the Divine Beast at least followed along of its own accord.
“Is it this way?”
That was when I found the passage leading to the back alleys, just as Harun had described, after navigating the labyrinthine Underground Sewers.
Swish.
In an instant, something thin as thread sliced past me.
“Ugh.”
A sharp sting, and I reflexively stepped back. Then a sinister voice emerged from the darkness.
“My, where are you rushing off to so urgently?”

* * *

Left alone, Harun subdued the forces rushing toward him with ease.
Even if they’d tried to encircle him in open ground with coordinated attacks, Harun would have held the advantage. In these narrow corridors where barely two could pass abreast, they came at him haphazardly with no coordination whatsoever—hardly a challenge.
In fact, it would have been harder if he’d still been protecting the others.
‘Did Arelin escape safely?’
Truth be told, he still wasn’t certain it was really her. If he saw her again, he’d know for sure.
‘What was Arelin doing here in the first place?’
She surely hadn’t come all this way just to steal a single artifact.
Harun tilted his head, thinking of the Beast-girl Arelin had rescued.
Now that he thought about it, there had been magic on the iron bars holding the foreign girl—how had she broken through that?
Though the question came late, Harun hadn’t even begun to ponder it when another voice interrupted.
“There! There he is! Get him!”
Another group emerged from nowhere, blocking his path. Harun swallowed his sigh and revised his understanding of the Black Market.
He’d thought it was merely a criminal organization that made money illegally, but clearly there was something more.
“If I take them all in, something will come to light.”
Harun was adjusting his grip on his sword when—
“Well, that would be rather problematic.”
A relaxed voice, oddly mismatched to the tension of the moment, cut through.
Harun’s expression hardened as he saw the man in a suspicious robe blocking his way.
“…A mage?”

* * *

Shwish—
The sharp sound of air being torn.
In that instant, something unseen targeted me.
Flinch.
I barely dodged the strike, but a gash appeared on my arm.
Damn. If only Ether were here, she’d shield me.
I felt the absence of Ether, whom I’d sent off with the others, but for now I had to deal with the man in front of me first.
“A mage?”
I voiced the first name anyone would think of when facing such an anomaly, then shook my head.
If this were magic, I’d sense mana moving. But this had no process—only the result.
Which meant—
“An Ability User?”
Sylvia’s words came back to me. The rumor that the Black Market employed both Ability Users and mages as guards.
‘So it wasn’t just a rumor after all?’
“Hmm? You can tell? Interesting—most people assume it’s magic.”
“There’s no mana moving.”
And if this man were a real mage, I’d already be captured. What do you take mages for?
‘It seems to be a psychokinetic-type ability, most likely.’
Which made this all the more bewildering.
“How can you even use an ability like this? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Abilities in this world had more conceptual qualities than simple superpowers.
Like being favored, or opening the doors of an obscure world, or seeing approval ratings.
“Of course you haven’t. This power is mine alone.”
“Yours alone?”
“Hehehehe. Curious how I came to possess such strength?”
Again, an invisible force targeted me.
“Ggh.”
This time I had no choice but to ignore the heat in my heart and raise a Protective Barrier.
It wasn’t just myself I had to protect—there was the girl in my arms.
“I came to possess it.”
Even as I defended, my mind was working rapidly. While mages were constantly being born at the Magic Tower, Ability Users were different.
Most abilities were powers you were born with.
Which was why families and bloodlines were used as categories to manage them—because of that very nature.
Ability Users were born, not made.
That had been the understanding until now.
“Kehehehe, are you curious?”
Denying my curiosity would be a lie.
“It was a gift from Him. I have been chosen! With this power, I shall become New Humanity!”
“New Humanity?”
I had no idea what this madman was talking about, but the conviction hardened in me that continuing this conversation was unwise.
What cult had this lunatic gotten himself tangled up in?
“Kehehehe, feel my power! See how magnificent it is!”
Intoxicated with his own strength, the man unleashed it recklessly. The vast power shaking the very ground forced me to raise another Protective Barrier.
‘If this keeps up, should I just do a Spatial Transfer to the Magic Tower?’
Either way, suffering was my future—whether I defended until my condition worsened and died, or took a gamble, wouldn’t a gamble be better?
If I could just reach the Magic Tower, my chances of survival would skyrocket…
This moment, with my opponent distracted, was perfect. My mind raced as I calculated which method would work, which timing would be ideal for Spatial Transfer.
Crash!
“White Tiger!”
The White Tiger, who had been following quietly, suddenly lunged at the man.
Bang—!
“What, a mere beast?”
The Tiger didn’t even land a bite before being slammed into the wall, and I bit my lip at the sight.
“No!”
Despite the obvious impact, the White Tiger trembled but managed to rise, growling defiantly.
This wasn’t good.
“Hmph. Perhaps this beast needs to learn its place in the food chain.”
Growwwl.
Seeing the White Tiger radiate a killing intent even sharper than what I’d faced, I found myself paralyzed with indecision.
Should I use magic? But then what? And I couldn’t just abandon the White Tiger to die either.
My thoughts twisted into knots. As I hesitated, unable to choose either path, a breeze seemed to blow from nowhere.
“I wonder what Grinia was searching so hard for.”
A voice both strange and familiar.
“I thought some Divine Beast had gotten lost, but it turned out to have a master? Never thought I’d find you here of all places.”
Sirua, astride an enormous tiger, appeared and immediately scowled upon seeing the girl in my arms.
“If there was this kind of situation, you should’ve explained beforehand! What if I hadn’t found you?”
Still grumbling, Sirua descended to the ground with a sigh.
“Siru, bite!”
The large White Tiger, alongside the smaller one, charged at the man.
“Good thing I came quickly.”
Sirua smiled with satisfaction and clapped his hands.
“…….”
Fession, holding a blood-dripping sword and looking deathly serious, stared at me.
What was Fession doing here?
Seeing someone I hadn’t expected to meet in this place, I could only blink blankly.
Fession approached swiftly and seized my wrist.
“Who did this to you?”
Fession’s eyes blazed as he examined the wound on my arm.

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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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