Until a figure like a city wall blocked her sight and the blade. The crisp sound that rang out was like a heavenly bell.
When Viseliane realized she couldn’t protect Dolores, her heart had been filled with rage and unwillingness. In that same moment, she saw Grin’s fleeting gaze—furious, but with the same rage directed at these attackers and enemies.
In her moment of despair, Grin appeared before her.
Dolores supported Viseliane, her own hands trembling uncontrollably. She was just as afraid. She had wanted to stand in front of Viseliane, but Count Kanko’s sword was faster than her movements.
She thought Kanko would have reservations about her status or have other motives, but this was the first time she clearly felt how fast these powerful people fought.
Before her thoughts could even move her body, it was supposed to be over.
If not for Grin’s appearance…
Dolores was also carrying a significant amount of guilt toward Viseliane, especially since the woman had once again exhausted everything to protect her.
At the thought of this, Dolores’s hands trembled as she hugged Viseliane tighter from behind. She didn’t dare think about what state of mind she would be in if she had seen Viseliane’s blood spray everywhere.
They both harbored mutual guilt toward each other. In moments of despair, these feelings would trigger intense emotions.
Just as these emotions were about to reach their peak in fear, Grin appeared before them like a savior.
His tall figure brought them an extreme sense of reliability and safety.
Grin slowly stood up, the massive shield held in his left hand. This was the “Sword in the Stone” he had obtained at the Golden Square.
Given the urgency, he could only rely on the shield’s Teleportation Guard skill to block the attack for Viseliane and the others.
“Bastards! You must pay the price in blood!!!”
Grin reached back with his right hand and drew the greatsword that should have been held with two hands. With the shield in his left and the greatsword in his right, he let out a roar.
His body was covered in deep, gruesome wounds, but he had successfully fought his way out from below.
He had given his all to fight his way out, yet he still had enough strength to battle these bastards!
His heart pumped blood fueled by rage, power coursing through his veins. His muscles bulged, making him look like a savage and furious lion.
Blood flowed from his countless wounds, trailing down his arm from the hilt to the blade, where it instantly ignited into fierce flames.
Count Kanko’s expression dropped immediately. He could feel that Grin’s strength was already far superior to his own, and it was still climbing.
New grudges—referring to the explosion just now and the act of harming Dolores.
Old hatreds—the countless heartless things the man had done in the Land Kingdom in his previous life.
Settling both old and new scores, Grin swung his sword, sending out waves of fire several meters high. A succession of strikes forced Count Kanko into a defensive stance.
The magic released by the distant mage was absorbed by the shield in Grin’s hand. After a sudden tremor, the reflected damage struck Count Kanko, sending him flying backward heavily.
Dolores tightly gripped Viseliane’s hand, her eyes filled with Grin’s god-of-war-like figure.
“Grin…”
She looked down and saw Viseliane’s haggard and weak expression, her face instinctively showing heartache.
“Princess, I’m sor—”
“Viseliane, don’t apologize. You did very well. Leave the rest to him. You were wonderful, Viseliane. You protected me… you got hurt for me…”
Dolores interrupted her apology and offered comfort.
One strike, two strikes, three strikes—Grin’s flaming sword suppressed the two of them until they could hardly breathe.
The most effective tool was the shield in Grin’s left hand. It possessed an incredible deflection and reflect effect, which greatly limited their offensive options.
The two were already thinking of escaping. The guards on the city wall had been dispatched by several of Grin’s flaming sword strikes along the way. They had no allies around them. Moreover, others from the Royal Palace would likely arrive soon.
Perceiving their intent, Grin threw down his shield to protect the two girls and charged his greatsword. The flames seemed to light up the sky.
“You want to run now?! Too late!”
A strike carrying peerless power swept out. Although Count Kanko was prepared to dodge, his right arm and entire right leg were incinerated, and he let out a shrill, agonizing scream.
The remaining black-robed mage used magic to whisk the screaming Count Kanko away.
Grin’s next flaming Sword Qi struck empty air.
With the threat removed, Grin turned to look at the trembling girls behind the shield.
He gradually reined in his anger.
He reached out his hand and tried his best to restrain his raspy voice to comfort them. “It’s okay… they’re gone…”
At this moment, both Dolores and Viseliane had tears on their faces. Their already petite appearances now looked even more pitiful.
Unknowingly, the collapse had reached within 4 meters of them.
Suddenly, Grin coughed, spitting out black blood as his entire being grew weak.
‘When did they poison me… but fortunately, I still made it in time…’
‘It’s okay… we’re safe…’
At the mention of poison, Viseliane’s entire body shuddered.
“Thank you… Grin…” Dolores thanked him first.
In the next moment, the ground beneath the three of them suddenly collapsed. Grin instinctively used all his strength to push Dolores and Viseliane away.
Viseliane opened her eyes and saw Grin pushing them out of the collapse zone while the ground beneath him fell.
His tall frame tried to straighten up, but the black blood he had spat out and his momentary weakness were glaring. Grin stood up, seemingly wanting to jump over with them, but he appeared to have lost his strength due to the poison.
Just one jump. He only needed to jump once to follow them.
He still held his hand out toward Viseliane. After losing gravity, that hand instinctively moved closer to them, reaching out straighter…
Grin had pushed them to safety.
They were like people on the edge of a cliff, while Grin, falling with the ground, was like a survivor trying to grab the edge of the cliff to stop himself from falling.
Viseliane used the last of her strength to break free from Dolores’s hand, reaching out to grab Grin’s.
But it was just short—a distance of only 10 centimeters. she could have grabbed it.
It was Grin who had run out of strength.
He should have had the strength to take that leap.
Those enemies… they hadn’t poisoned him at all.
It was her. It was her…
Viseliane’s hand was just a hair’s breadth away from Grin’s.
She watched with her own eyes as Grin, who had just protected them—the Grin who had climbed up from below at the risk of his life to save them—fell once again into the bottomless abyss.
It was clearly just a little bit away, just one step…
She could have grabbed him.
Grin shouldn’t have lost his strength at that moment.
He saved her. He saved her and the Princess.
He had saved them yet again.
In such a critical situation, he had risked his life and everything to save them. Even his final instinct was to push them to safety.
A powerful sense of guilt tore Viseliane’s heart to pieces.
Viseliane could no longer control herself. She lost all composure and wailed loudly for the first time.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
“Grin… I’m sorry…”
Her hands pressed against the edge, but her falling tears would not reach the bottom, and her cries would not reach Grin’s ears.
Grin no longer had a shred of strength left in his body.
Perhaps that had been a final burst of energy. He had climbed up while enduring intense pain and weakness to begin with. Exhausting his strength now seemed reasonable.
He just didn’t know when the enemy had poisoned him. It seemed… to be related to the soul.
As Grin felt his power being drained, a sharp pain shot through his head.
The System, which he had almost forgotten, finally spoke again.
**[Host, detection of soul toxin ‘Elven Secret Poison’ erosion. Would you like to enter Dolores’s [Punishment] Memory (2) to evade?]**
Grin’s expression briefly flickered with disbelief, but as he tumbled through the air, he murmured to himself.
‘How do I always think of the worst-case scenario… it’s probably just a name coincidence, right?’
He chose to enter the memory.
There was a layer of monster corpses he had just killed below; they should serve as a cushion.
Hopefully, he would wake up before being torn apart by new monsters.
But for this second memory, would he still see the Dolores from the memory?
And…
He hoped that the poison in his body wasn’t because of Viseliane…