Chapter 212

EP.212 Meddling #4

“Didn’t it look like I came here secretly? What if you tell Adeline? I wanted to tell her first…”

“Yes… I’m sorry.”

“Still, thanks. For making sure Adeline didn’t get upset. But… I really felt why Adeline keeps complaining that you’re a guy with no sense of tact.”

“…..”

I sighed, my lips trembling slightly, and focused on piloting the fighter jet.

As we headed that way, Silvia squinted her eyes and asked.

“Are you upset?”

“No… My ears hurt. You’ve been repeating the same thing for two hours.”

“That’s how disappointed I was. Are we there yet?”

“Yes. We’ve arrived.”

“It’s raining? The sky’s pitch black.”

As she said, a heavy downpour was pouring over the Grand Canyon.

The water was rising in the wide, long canyon, visibly so.

Perfect conditions. The heavens are truly on my side.

“Yes. The rainfall is significant. It looks like there might be a flood.”

“I thought the Grand Canyon was dry…”

“It pours heavily about twice a year during the summer and winter transitions. It’s a bit unusual for it to rain now, but given the rampant abnormal weather on Earth, it’s not entirely unbelievable.”

“Right… By the way, it has a different charm from when I first came here. Beautiful… I just hope no one gets hurt.”

Silvia was completely immersed in the grandeur of nature.

Agreeing with her admiration, I spoke in a very businesslike tone.

“There’s a lot of lightning. It’s likely to cause rockfalls. We’ll need to reinforce and prepare after this…”

“What did you say broke?”

“Lightning struck right above the Explorer, and a pretty large boulder fell.”

“What a coincidence. Should we be thankful it wasn’t a direct hit?”

Coincidence? Absolutely not.

I broke it on purpose.

“It would’ve been better if the lightning had hit. There’s a lightning rod near the Explorer. Let’s check its condition.”

I set the fighter jet’s engine to hover vertically and zoomed the camera on the Explorer.

The Explorer was completely crushed on one side.

It was also half-submerged due to the rising water.

The Portal, a bit away from the Explorer, was in the same state.

The protective walls around it had collapsed due to the rockfall, and water had seeped in, damaging it.

It was perfectly made to look like natural disaster damage. As expected of Marcella.

Silvia, who was watching the monitor with me, muttered worriedly.

“It looks really bad…”

“Yes. It’s serious. We’ll need to retrieve both the Explorer and the Portal.”

“Should I go down and get them? Do you have a rope or something?”

“You’re from a planet with advanced science, yet you want to risk your life doing it manually?”

Silvia clenched her fist.

“Hey… Do you know how annoying your tone is right now? Lower that arrogance a bit, will you?”

“Watch closely. This fighter jet has various functions…”

Just as I was about to boast—

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Hundreds of black tentacles emerged from the rushing water in the canyon and charged at the fighter jet all at once.

Crash—!

They pierced through the sturdy body of the fighter jet, aiming for Silvia and me.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

As a human, I couldn’t react at all.

I felt an immense force pulling my body to the side and a dull pain near my right temple before I lost consciousness.

**

Rumble—!

A thunderous roar that shook my entire being.

I jolted awake, sitting up abruptly.

“Gasp!”

Then, a sharp pain shot through my right arm, and I clenched my teeth.

“Grr…!”

My right arm was in a simple wooden splint.

It hurt. Near my shoulder was a palm-sized wound, as if scraped by a belt.

It wasn’t from the tentacles. This was from the seatbelt scraping me.

“Haah…”

I frowned deeply and looked around.

Inside a cave that looked like it was home to black bears or cougars.

A campfire was lit beside me, and outside, it was dark with heavy rain still pouring.

After roughly understanding the situation, I groaned and moved my butt, leaning against the cave wall.

Not long after, Silvia, soaked from the rain, came in.

I raised my left hand to greet her.

“Hello. Good evening.”

At my playful tone, Silvia made a dumbfounded expression.

She then chuckled and said.

“Glad you seem okay.”

She squeezed the water out of her light red hair and approached me.

Her wet jeans and black T-shirt clung to her body, revealing her curves. Even in pain, it was enough to make my lower half stir.

She sat beside me and briefly examined my splinted arm.

“Your arm’s fine. It’s set well.”

“Huh…? Set well?”

“Well, here’s what happened…”

When the fighter jet was destroyed by the tentacle demon, Silvia, using Aiter’s power, grabbed me and pulled me aside to save me from having my head pierced.

At that moment, my arm got caught in the seatbelt, dislocating it, and I was knocked out by a tentacle strike.

Silvia cut the seatbelt with a dagger, escaped the crashing fighter jet, and found this cave while fleeing.

While I was unconscious, she set my arm and went back out to kill the tentacle demon.

After explaining everything, she let out a long sigh.

“That was fine, but… the body of the one I killed spawned offspring. The place is crawling with demons now.”

“Crawling with demons? What do you mean?”

“I’ll help you up. See for yourself.”

Silvia draped my left arm over her shoulder and stood up.

I really wanted to grope her perky chest through her tight T-shirt, but I held back. The opportunity will come.

With her support, I reached the cave entrance and gasped in exaggerated surprise.

“That… that’s…”

Tentacle demons, the size of fully grown Siberian tigers, were scattered across the Grand Canyon amidst the thunderstorm.

Some were massive, standing about 15 meters tall.

There were even a few moth-like demons with wingspans of nearly 30 meters in the air.

It felt like witnessing the end of the world. I feel great.

“How many are there…? Roughly, it looks like over a thousand. Are you saying they came from the body of the demon you killed?”

“Yes. And that’s just the ones you can see. The entire Grand Canyon is probably covered.”

“Ha… This is truly despairing… What about the fighter jet? Is it completely destroyed?”

“Yeah. When I went back to check on you, only fragments were left. Even those fragments were from the demon’s body.”

“So it ate everything…? My phone, communicator, everything’s there…”

“Same here. We’ll have to wait for Dr. Cash or the World Union to find us.”

I shook my head skeptically.

“How long has it been?”

“About five hours.”

“If it’s been five hours and it’s still quiet, something must be wrong. It seems like they have no idea what’s happening here.”

“Let’s wait. They’ll figure it out eventually.”

Will they really?

“Can’t you just carry me and escape? You’re fast, aren’t you?”

“I don’t have much Aiter energy left.”

“How much is left?”

“10 percent.”

I made a confused face at her answer.

“Why so little? After the Kon Belt battle, you definitely had…”

“Yeah… About a third was left. But the tentacle demon was huge, and the moths in the sky were a headache. It took a lot of time. I’m weak against those giant ones.”

And against numbers too.

I’ve figured out all your weaknesses from fighting Orbas.

That’s why I sent out demons tailored to you.

In short, you’ve fallen into a trap.

“We’ll have to conserve it since we don’t know what’ll happen.”

“We should.”

Silvia, who had moved me back inside, raised both hands near the campfire.

I stretched one leg and sat down, asking.

“What if they attack this place?”

“It’s been five hours, and we’re still fine. This place seems safe. They don’t seem interested in this area. So let’s just wait quietly.”

“You’re so carefree… Here, wear this.”

I groaned, took off my flight suit, and tossed it to her.

Silvia caught it quite skillfully and asked.

“Why this?”

“Your clothes are soaked. Change before you get hypothermia.”

“It smells musty.”

“Smell…? Your lips are turning blue, and you’re still picky… Just wear it, okay?”

I spoke curtly and lay down, facing the wall.

So Silvia could change without feeling awkward.

Soon, I heard the sound of clothes being removed.

Silvia had taken off her wet clothes and dropped them on the floor.

Despite her words, she must’ve been cold.

“I’m done.”

“Okay.”

“… Hey.”

“What.”

“You got upset because I said it smells, right? It just smells like dirt.”

“Who’s upset…? The problem is you, Silvia. You jump to conclusions on your own. And recklessly slaughtering demons without a Device is also a problem.”

At that, Silvia flared up.

“You’re one to talk… You’ve got plenty of issues too.”

“Like what?”

“First, you’ve got a big mouth. You go running to Adeline, tattling on everything…”

“Here we go again… What’s wrong with being honest between lovers? And if we’re going there, you’ve got a big mouth too, don’t you?”

Thud!

Something small hit my back.

I turned my head and saw a thin twig lying beside me. I chuckled and sat up.

“You’ve got nothing to say, so you throw things… Really, I’m speechless.”

“Then I’ll throw a rock. One as big as you.”

“Not scared at all.”

Silvia picked up another twig and threw it.

I tried to catch it with my right arm, but the splint limited my movement.

This time, the twig hit my forehead, and I gave a hollow smile.

“This is unfair. I could’ve caught it.”

Silvia giggled and teased me.

“Then why are you acting up?”

“Who knows? Felt like it? Oh, Silvia.”

“What.”

“Calling you reckless was out of line. I’m sorry.”

“I know. Don’t worry about it.”

I like how straightforward you are.

“And thank you for saving my life. I mean it.”

At my sincere gratitude, Silvia fell silent for a moment.

She stared at me for a while, then shook her head.

“I’m grateful too.”

“For what?”

“For understanding my situation.”

She’s thanking me for handling things well with Adeline. She must really like her.

But what can I do… I’m planning to win your favor today.

In a battlefield, you can only rely on your comrades. Let’s build some camaraderie through shared hardship.

“Well… I’m just cautious about everything.”

“And yet you just called me reckless? Want another hit?”

“Why are people so violent…”

I grumbled, leaning my head against the wall, and turned my gaze to the cave entrance where the rain was pattering.

Silvia then cautiously asked.

“What’s wrong? Worried the demons will attack?”

“No. You said it’s safe, so it must be. I’m just listening to the rain. It calms me down.”

“Really…?”

“How about you, Silvia? Do you like the rain?”

“I don’t really think about it.”

“How cold… Then take a moment to listen. The pitter-patter is quite charming.”

At that, Silvia quietly listened.

Then, her eyes widened.

“You’re right. It’s kind of soothing… I like the sound of the water too.”

“See? If it weren’t for the demons outside, it’d be perfect…”

“Quiet. Let me listen to the rain.”

Silvia cut me off and focused.

We’ve found common ground. Very good. I feel like dancing.

Chuckling inwardly, I looked outside the cave with her.

To be continued―――――――――――――――――――――

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