Chapter 14: Awakening

I Became the Secretary of a Hero! — LNCrawler · All chapters

ELIAS nearly lost his mind watching as the most important person in the world to him limply fell over in Sutcliff’s arms. It was as if someone had trampled on his most prized possession with muddy feet.

Aki was the first person to ever need Elias, not as the Hero but as an individual. In turn, she had become precious to him, his greatest treasure, and the love of his life he wanted to protect from others.

Yet for all that, his failure to act fast enough led to her being kidnapped and harmed by the Shadow Tribesman.

…I have never felt such violent emotion before.

The Hero must be calm and collected at all times. The Hero must never be swayed by their emotions. Having been raised religiously on that mantra, he should’ve never become attached to anything. He should’ve been incapable of emotion.

“BASTARD! RELEASE HER!” Roaring with his mounting rage, Elias charged toward Sutcliff with his drawn Holy Sword.

By the way Aki had lost consciousness, the man must’ve done something to her through their connected lips. Did he use magic? Or did he force feed her something?

“Don’t tell me you… YOU made her drink POISON?!” Elias bellowed the conclusion he came to.

Sutcliff sneered on top of the mountain of boulders. “Yeppity yep! Bingooo! You’re so gooood at guessing games, Heroboy. If you don’t pick up the pace your precious Aki-pie might die, y’know?” He tilted up Aki’s chin. She couldn’t fight him now that she was unconscious.

STOP IT! Don’t touch her!

Sutcliff thrust his finger at Elias who was running faster than the wind to get to him. “Oooh, stop right there. I can’t let her rescuuueee be that easy on you, now can I? Why don’t you play with this guy first, Heroboy?” He rubbed his thumb against his index finger and snapped them together.

A cloud of dust exploded in front of Elias, choking him, and a huge black shadow rose within it.

It’s huge! What in the blue blazes did he just summon?! The top of it nearly reaches the domed ceiling!

Elias stopped his forward charge and swept the Holy Sword in front of him, scattering the dust obstructing his view and revealing the full form of the giant hiding within.

A snake?

A grotesque monster loomed above him. Nine entangled serpent heads stared down at him from atop a dinosaur’s torso with clawed hindlegs and forelegs. At a glance, he knew he wasn’t dealing with a monster, but a high level Magical Beast.

Once the dust cleared, the nine heads bared their fangs and snapped at Elias.

I should’ve guessed a Shadow Tribesman would have a powerful Magical Beast or two at his disposal.

Sutcliff possessed the necessary level and magic to tame an S-class serpent. Not an easy beast to take on alone, but Elias couldn’t let it stop him. He cast a glance at Aki locked in Sutcliff’s grip behind the giant serpent standing in his way.

Even from this distance, he could tell her face was rapidly losing all color as she dangled lifelessly in her kidnapper’s arms. Her life hung precariously in the balance. He needed to get the antidote to her ASAP. Unlike the Hero, Aki hadn’t been introduced to poisons and toxins her whole life. She had no resistance built up, and her level was too low to give her any bonuses.

Elias held the Holy Sword reverently in front of his face. He closed his eyes, exhaled, and kicked off the ground at the speed of a shooting arrow.

One of the nine heads swerved to take a bite out of him before the rest. He leapt aside, nimbly avoiding its venomous fangs. Raising the Holy Sword in position, he struck the neck of the snake from the side.

Green blood unique to Magical Beasts erupted from its neck. The giant serpent squirmed from the unbearable pain, and the eight remaining heads turned to see they had lost one.

One down! Eight to go!

The moment Elias fixed his eyes on the demonic serpent, the cross section of the neck without a head shined, and two new heads grew.

Elias stared on in disbelief. “Self-regeneration?!”

“Ding, ding, ding! Little sssnaky-poo here has this naaasty ability to grow two heads for every one you lob off. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Heroboy, if you dawdle playing with snakes in the fields you’ll lose Aki-pie.” Sutcliff hugged Aki extra close for show.

A nasty ability is right. Elias scowled. I can’t let it slow me down now. Regeneration is nothing. I just have to chop it into a million little pieces so that it can’t keep up. Aiming for the torso before the heads should deal more damage.

Years of battle experience told him harming the torso would weaken its regenerative capabilities. Elias expelled the air in his lungs to calm his mind. Then he silently changed his grip on the Holy Sword.

This is an opponent I can defeat if I remain calm.

Sutcliff ran his fingers through his hair as if displeased with Elias’s choice of strategy. “Uh-uh, that’s not it. That’s not what I’m looking for, Heroboy. Taking it down all calm and collected kinda voids the point, y’know? Uggh, now I hafta come up with another plan.”

What’s he rambling about? Suspicion creased Elias’s brow.

Sutcliff crisply snapped his fingers and a wickedly sharp dagger appeared in his hand.

Nothing good could come of that. What did he plan to use that dagger for?

“…I need you to be more panicked, more desperate, more miserable, for this to work. It’s only when you’re driven to the edge with no way out that the powers sleeping deep within you will surface.” Sutcliff fleered and ran his red tongue along the dagger’s gleaming blade. He cupped his left hand under Aki’s lolling head, lifting her face into view.

“What the hell are doing?!” Elias thundered, accidentally letting his emotions get the better of him.

Sutcliff’s green eyes flashed. “Yes. Yessss. That’s what I’m talking about, Heroboy. Aki’s really the best tool to get to you. Go figure. It’s always the girl, isn’t it?”

Elias wanted to race to her side, but the giant serpent whipped its serrated tail against the ground in front of him, dashing away his single-minded emotion. He gnawed his lower lip, drawing another derisive smirk from the Shadow Tribesman who reveled in his every miserable reaction.

Sutcliff brought the bare dagger blade closer to Aki’s defenseless cheek.

Sickening sweat poured down Elias’s temples. He wouldn’t!

“STOP! DON’T HURT HER!” Elias’s plea fell on deaf ears as Sutcliff pressed the blade against Aki’s cheek and quickly slid it along her delicate skin, slicing through flesh like butter. Blood spouted from the thin slice and spilled down her snow white cheek.

“Ow…!” Aki moaned, her face contorting with the pain that forced her awake.

Her blood dripped down the silver blade, outlining it in red. Ecstasy glimmered in Sutcliff’s eyes riveted on the trickling blood before he jutted out his chin and looked down his nose at Elias.

“Did that do the trick? Feel like you’re ’bout to blow your top, Heroooboy? The despair of watching the person you love get sliced up in front of you is all consuming, yeah? Unless, maybe, you’re into watching her suffer? Don’t ya worry, I ain’t stopping here.” Cruel intentions flashed in his eyes. He tossed the dagger into the air, caught it in the reverse position, and held it a foot above Aki’s right shoulder.

Elias’s eyes bulged from his head. “Wait. Please… Please! Don’t do this…!”

Imagining the horrific scene to follow, Elias burst into a run at such a speed he nearly tripped over his own legs.

Sutcliff swung down the dagger—the sharp tip glinting as it whisked toward Aki—in slow motion.

All ten snake heads lashed out at Elias. But their vicious bites meant nothing in this moment.

“AKI—!” Before his outstretched hand Sutcliff’s raised dagger slammed down into her slender shoulder.

“…Ghh! UWAAAAAAAAH!”

Fresh blood sprayed from the hole ripped open by the blade. Aki screamed in agony. Forced awake, her eyes flew open and her whole body shuddered from the burning pain.

“Aki! Stop! Please! Don’t!”

Please don’t…make her suffer anymore…!

Elias’s tormented wail turned Sutcliff’s lips up in sheer delight. He pulled Aki, her eyes dulled with pain, against his chest and licked the blood off her cheek.

“Ah…ahh…” Tears gushed from her anguished eyes.

Watching on in horror, Elias froze where he was, despite the ten snake heads snapping at him. Indescribable rage wracked his body from the inside out. He was enraged at Sutcliff for hurting her. But the greatest source of the feverish fury escalating within was his weak, worthless self for failing to protect the one person he allowed himself to care for.

“Where should I aim for next? Any part of her you want carved off? How ’bout her left fooooot?”

Witnessing Sutcliff about to bring the dagger down on the gasping Aki made Elias’s blood boil.

My body burns. My forehead feels like it’s on fire. Just like when we entered these ruins and I stopped them from resonating with Aki.

“…Let go,” he growled. “Let go of her…!”

A mighty power capable of tearing him apart from the inside out rose from his core. Some sort of ferocious monster was stirring to life inside him.

I can’t…control it. It’s consuming my awareness. Some unknown power is taking control of me!

“Eli…as…”

Through his fading awareness he vividly heard Aki’s feeble voice and saw her weakly reach out for him.

Sutcliff knocked her to the ground, straddled her legs, and raised the dagger over her left thigh.

“Alrighty, you’d better awaken with this one, Heroboy!”

He’s going to slam that glinting dagger into Aki!

“STOP! STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!”

Burning pain seared his forehead in direct response to his fury, and together with the intense pain, light bright enough to illuminate the entire underground field flashed from him. Platinum light spread from his hands clutched around the Holy Sword, spreading from the handle to the tip. Surging power broke free of his body and released to the surface.

Tremendous power overflowed from within him in correspondence to his weakening self-awareness. The hot lump of energy solidifying in his chest left him feeling only the pain of being torn asunder.

…It’s no use. I can’t hold on to my sanity any longer…!

The power called forth by his unbridled rage numbed his heart, stopped his mind, and left only the feverish heat in control of his body. Everything was growing distant. Aki, Sutcliff, and his sense of self.

Through his rapidly fading consciousness, Elias reached for Aki.

Aki…I’m coming for you…right now.

I swear I will protect you…from everyone who can possibly harm you…!